The Weekend...

Today I am doing alot of market prep. After not doing a market for a whole month, I am really looking forward to tomorrow's Monkey Markets in Eltham, but I also have alot of work to do to get ready such as re-washing and pressing my table cloth, and as I discovered this morning, pressing my bibs.

After sitting in a box for a few weeks they were pretty crumpled, so today I am VERY thankful for my Elna Press. It doesn't make the process any quicker, but it does make it possible to multi-task because while one bib is pressing, I can be doing something else important like making a cup of tea :p

One, two, three... 

Nicely pressed bibs for the market! And I got 2 loads of washing one while I was doing it, and afterwards had time to get some more bibs as well as some nappies pinned together and partly sewn. Better get back to it actually... 

Hope your weekend is lovely, wherever you are. If you are in the neighborhood (or not, I'm definitely not against travelling) make sure you head into the Monkey Markets tomorrow in Eltham.

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The last few days

A few days off here this week, I've been busy being a mama and girlfriend as well as cleaning and getting ready for our new couch which was handed on to us from Mick's sister on Wednesday.

We got together with some of our family on Australia day and had a BBQ, in true Aussie style.

We had sausages in white bread with tomato sauce, gorgeous marinated rump steak which was massive and delicious apparently (I didn't end up having any). And sat around watching the kids play cricket and tennis and soccer.

The kids jumped on the trampoline, ate donuts with yellow and green icing and played under the sprinkler having a great time! Mick's dad got his camera out and of course took some lovely photos of the kids playing under the sprinkler. I wont post any of Oliver as he didn't have any clothes on.

Ruth, when Mick was squirting her with the sprinkler

and after squirting Oliver with the sprinkler, check out the evil face!

It was a wonderful day out, and was great to get out in the sun (yes there was a small amount among the overcast grey clouds) and the kids had a great time playing together.

As you can also see from the button on the right hand bar, the auctions and raffles have all finished now as well and we raised such a wonderfully large amount of money for Queensland. I am so proud to have been involved in this initiative and its wonderful that we raised so much money! Thank-you to all who bidded in auctions and entered raffles you have helped make such a big difference.

Mick is back at work after his super long weekend and I am back working on WeePantz stuff again, getting ready for my first market of the year which is on this Sunday in Eltham.

Oh and I've run out of pins, this must mean back to the sewing machine, oh and the snap press too. It's funny how the idea of snapping nappies makes me think of all the other things I need to do like wash the nappies, vacuum and mop the floor and bake muffins, cookies and slices.

Auction #1 - Alexander Henry 2D Zoo Designer Nappy Set.

For my first auction, raising money for the Flood Appeal. I am offering a designer nappy set made with Alexander Henry 2D Zoo Fabric.

The set is made of - 

1 x WeePantz Designer All In Two Nappy

 Made with gorgeous Baby Pink Minky and Beautiful Alexander Henry Designer Fabric.

1 x WeePantz Bib 

Made with matching fabric to the Nappy and backed with terry towelling.

The Little Details...

The size of the nappy is a standard WeePantz Small, which will fit bub from about 4kg until 11kg. For more information on WeePantz sizing with waist measurements please click here.

The absorbent snap in booster pad for this nappy is made from 420GSM bamboo fleece which is designed to absorb LOTS of liquid. There is also a "stay dry layer" that will sit next to baby's skin so that they don't feel wet like with traditional cloth nappies.  For more information on the nappy and what is in it etc. click here.

For those of you who haven't tried modern cloth nappies before, these are a great starter as they are very easy to use. You can read some more about Modern Cloth Nappies Here.

The bib is one sized. It will fit a baby from birth to be used as a burp cloth right up until about 2years (depending on your baby's head size, these bibs still fit quite comfortably around my son's 50cm head). The surface area of the bib is approximately 25cm x 50cm making it catch all of the drips.

The RRP of this set is approximately $45.

How This Auction Works.

1. Bidding will start at $20 Australian.

2. You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount AND your e-mail address. Please ensure that your bid is higher than the previous bid.

3. Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.

4. This auction is open to everyone and postage will be FREE worldwide.

5. The auction begins NOW and will END at 9PM EDST on Monday the 24th of January 2011.

6. At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment contains your email address :] ). The winner will pay their amount directly to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal and send me  proof of your payment via email. Once your payment has been received I will post your nappy set to you.

7. If you have any questions please contact me.

8. Thank you for participating and happy bidding.

**teddy bear not included**

Auction #2 - Doohikey Designs Owl Roll Call Designer Nappy Set

For my second auction, raising money for the Flood Appeal. I am offering a designer nappy set made with Doohikey Designs Owl Roll Call Fabric.

The set is made of - 

1 x WeePantz Designer All In Two Nappy

 Made with gorgeous Baby Blue Minky and beautiful Doohikey Designs Fabric.

1 x WeePantz Bib 

Made with matching fabric to the Nappy and backed with terry towelling.

The Little Details...

The size of the nappy is a standard WeePantz Small, which will fit bub from about 4kg until 11kg. For more information on WeePantz sizing with waist measurements please click here.

The absorbent snap in booster pad for this nappy is made from 420GSM bamboo fleece which is designed to absorb LOTS of liquid. There is also a "stay dry layer" that will sit next to baby's skin so that they don't feel wet like with traditional cloth nappies.  For more information on the nappy and what is in it etc. click here.

For those of you who haven't tried modern cloth nappies before, these are a great starter as they are very easy to use. You can read some more about Modern Cloth Nappies Here.

The bib is one sized. It will fit a baby from birth to be used as a burp cloth right up until about 2years (depending on your baby's head size, these bibs still fit quite comfortably around my son's 50cm head). The surface area of the bib is approximately 25cm x 50cm making it catch all of the drips.

The RRP of this set is approximately $45.

How This Auction Works.

1. Bidding will start at $20 Australian.

2. You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount AND your e-mail address. Please ensure that your bid is higher than the previous bid.

3. Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.

4. This auction is open to everyone and postage will be FREE worldwide.

5. The auction begins NOW and will END at 9PM EDST on Monday the 24th of January 2011.

6. At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment contains your email address :] ). The winner will pay their amount directly to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal and send me  proof of your payment via email. Once your payment has been received I will post your nappy set to you.

7. If you have any questions please contact me.

8. Thank you for participating and happy bidding.

**please note... teddy bear not included **

The Weekend...

This weekend is an incredibly long one in our house. Mick is a tradie so he has Saturday through Wednesday off for work so I decided that yesterday I would relax as well. 

As its my first market of the year next Sunday, I thought I might relish in my last weekend off, since I have finished my orders for the week :) So yesterday afternoon, I traced off and cut out this pattern, whilst watching Harry Potter with my family. 

My original plan when I bought this pattern was to make the mini dress. But when I measured myself, I needed to add 3" to the length for it to be the length it was on the cover, so I am making the"dress" from this pattern as it will sit at the mini dress length for me... Oh the joys of being 5'11"!! (I also measure a medium bust, large waist and small hips!... hows that for a weird body shape for you?!?!)

Anyway, so I hope to sew this up today... I also spent yesterday reading this book which I had half finished and lost. But now it is done and I'm onto the next one in the series. I am determined to finish them before the last movie comes out so I know what is happening. I am slightly addicted!

I've also been watching the Auctions very closely :) Make sure you go and bid on them to support this good cause :)

Auction Update

I just wanted to update to everyone about the auctions #1 and #2 that I am hosting to raise money for the Premier's Disaster Relief Fund.

An update about the finishing time. As a lot of us were finishing our auctions at midnight, Toni has recommended that we finish them a little earlier so that if our bidders were watching the auctions, they could until the last minute :) So my auctions will now finish at 9pm on Monday the 24th of January 2010.

Thanks to everyone who has already placed a bid, remember to keep checking back to make sure you are still winning :)

Okay a few housekeeping notes as well.. 

A note about PAYMENT...if you are the winner of an auctio, please make sure that all payments are made into the Premier's Disaster Relief Fund.  In order to have your winning goods posted to you, you will need to show proof of payment to the owner of the auction/raffle. 

If you make your payment by Credit Card you will have an email sent to you.  This email should then be forwarded to the owner of the auction/raffle so that they can verify receipt number (for raffle winners) and/or payment amount (for auction winners).

If your payment is made by internet bank deposit transfer, you can save a pdf file at the time of making the transfer.  

In the worst case scenario (i.e. receipt email has been deleted or pdf of bank deposit has not been made) you can take a snapshot of your bank statement on their computer screen and crop the appropriate area so that it displays only the donation information.  That way, you are still sending proof of payment, but not viewing sharing your whole bank statement

Now don't forget to head over to the auctions and bid. Also, head over to Toni's blog and check out the master list! There are lots of auctions and raffles going on at the moment!

Baking...

Since having my new oven installed earlier this week, I have spent some time rekindling my love of baking as well as getting to know my new oven!

I made raspberry and white chocolate muffins on Tuesday as well as roasted some chicken pieces that night.

I made a quiche for the kids' lunch on Wednesday, which served as a hot lunch for Mick yesterday at work.

Yesterday I made some muesli bars from this recipe...

I followed the recipe this time, but next time I will make it with nut free peanut butter and sesame seeds so its school friendly.

Today's plan is to make cookies...

I've bought the cookie cutters, some squeezy bottles for the kids to use for the icing and am borrowing a recipe from here.

Sounds like an afternoon to keep the kids busy! They will be decorating cookies while I finish off another wholesale order :)

LOTS of fun!!!

I'm also going to roast butterflied veal for dinner. Oh how I love my new oven!!

My Creative Space

I've been spending a lot of time sitting at my kitchen table the last few days with this view...

I've been sitting and watching the kids play while I sew, like I said last week, and it is really proving to be quite productive. 

I've had a few orders, and with my first market for 2011 being next week I'm fairly busy.

So the kids have a movie or some music on, get to play with their toys and mummy can supervise as well as work :) Yesterday we did finger painting... more on that another day...

Now that the post is back up and running in QLD I also have to post this today, so I had better get moving!!

For more creativeness head over to Kirsty's.

Dont forget the auctions either.... Right hand side bar... I found out yesterday that so far we have collectively raised $45,000!! I feel so privileged to have the opportunity and ability to be involved in this :) Bidding is still open for a few days, so if you have been outbid its not too late :)

Something to brighten my day...

Firstly... Don't forget to bid on the auctions! Links over on the far right side bar!

You might remember that a little while ago, I found a button on the ground at the market... Not long afterwards, my sister came to visit me and turned it into a beautiful flower which I proceeded to leave on my bench... (I'm so very organised... :-| )

Anyway, I was tidying up yesterday and found it so I turned it into something to brighten up my sewing room...

I stuck some magnets to the back, and now it will sit on my order board :)

So it was a lovely little bit of improvisation that I will notice every day :)

(ps dont look at the brown bit, I may have spilled coffee on it...)

What is something you have improvised on that turned out to be something to brighten your day?

Out with the Old....

... and in with the new...

Apparently there was a very very secret squirrel mission going on around here for my birthday. I had mentioned to a friend that I had intercepted some calls and eavesdropped so I knew there was something coming and thought it was for my sewing room...

BOY WAS I WRONG!!! On Saturday afternoon, my lovely boyfriend called me into the other room and there stood a new oven. I was completely shocked! And also taken by surprise as I was expecting something else, I don't know what I was expecting, but a new oven, I wasn't expecting that at all!!

My old oven still cooks stuff, but it needs a new element in the grill and a new thermostat as that has never worked and I am constantly burning things in it. A new oven was on the bottom of my needed things list as I knew we couldn't afford it, so I was just making do. 

I can't even begin to express how grateful and spoiled I feel to have a new oven. I LOVE to bake so I will most likely do a lot more of that from now on! 

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou to my lovely family for getting this for me, I am a very lucky lady.

As for the old oven... not sure what to do with that... I'd love to donate it or give it away, all it needs is a new thermostat and a new grill element. Not sure where to even start looking to do such a thing, might look into it :)

Don't forget about the auctions either... Links in the far right side bar :)

Tomorrow....

Tomorrow is the day (well tomorrow afternoon or night) I will be putting up the auction for the flood appeal. So I am working very hard at creating some super gorgeous sets that will be auctioned off...

A bit of a sneak peek here. I am working on 2 designer nappy sets. One for girls, one for boys.

I am also gazing today at the flowers that turned up on my doorstep yesterday evening from my mum, my sisters and their partners and kids as a belated birthday gift. Apparently the florist ran a day late on getting them to me.

Just beautiful.

My Creative Space

Today I am continuing on with orders from stockists as well as some from friends. And I am also preparing some nappies with matching accessories for the auction. 

I am busy creating time for myself to actually get work done during the school holidays. I feel like every time I go into the sewing room I cant really supervise the kids properly as they are in a completely different room with doors and walls between us. 

So yesterday I just simply decided to move the work to the kids. I set up on the kitchen table and cut some fabric then carted out my sewing machine and got more work done than I would have otherwise. AND the kids were entertained because they had all of their toys, and mummy. So it is definitely the plan for the rest of the holidays. As much as I am creating more work for myself to have to set up and pack up my machines every day, my work time has become more productive which makes it all worth it.

Cutting PUL for Aqua Basics Nappies

I've been nursing a sore finger too.. I busted open the skin on my knuckle when I was cutting through 4 layers of bamboo fabric at once. Perhaps I need an electric cutter, but then I'd probably cut my arm off or something most likely as I am a but of a clutz. Thankfully no blood got on the fabric, in fact it didn't bleed at all....

Today is also my birthday :) The kids have made me some pictures and my Mother In Law sent me a little package which made me feel very special. 

The day has only just begun, but I will most likely spend it working as I said before, lots of work to do and creating to happen! Hopefully I will also enjoy a yummy dinner tonight, that is not cooked by me :-p

Hope you are having a great day and those of you in QLD are safe and dry. 

Flood Auction Update

A few notes for all of you who are awaiting to see what I will be auctioning! I will be doing 2 auctions that will start on Sunday night. 

Both of the auction items will be things from the shop for babies. One auction will be girlie things and the other for boys. 

The auction will be included in Toni's master list that will be uploaded to her blog on Sunday Night.

For all of you who are in flood affected zones, please stay safe!

Queensland Flood Appeal Auctions

The devastating floods in Queensland over the last few weeks have been very close to my heart as not only did I grow up in Emerald, one of the towns that was heavily affected by the floods 2 weeks ago, I am sitting anxiously as my Brisbane based family is watching the water levels rise. 

So many people have been affected and I have read countless stories of people returning to their homes to find nothing left that can be selvaged. I think that as a community of crafters, we should be rallying our talents and our efforts behind these people and helping them any way we can.

If you have a craft based business or if you would like to help by donating and auctioning a handmade item for the Queensland Government Flood Relief Appeal then please head over to Toni from "Make it Perfect's" blog and reply to this post to express your interest in helping out. 

If you can't help out by auctioning off something handmade, please help out by supporting the various auctions that will be listed on Toni's blog or by donating to the Flood Relief independently.

I will be having an auction here on Monday the 17th of January where I will auction off an item made by me, I am unsure if it will be a WeePantz item or something else yet. I will have to let my creative juices flow on that one and get back to you all!

Thankyou for helping in any way that you can.

Oh so Green and Spotty

I made some of these up last year but never got around to posting them on the website, so as of today they are available to purchase online.

I am in love with this fabric. It is so soft, so fluffy and absolutely gorgeous. 

These nappies are available in both the All In One & All In Two styles and all 3 of the WeePantz Sizes.

The inside of these nappies is made from microfleece, absolutely soft and droolworthy, as well as keeping your bub dry after they wet. And we have the usual WeePantz absorbency sewn into them!

Head over to my nappy information page if you require more info on how my nappies work or what is in them, it also outlines the difference between my AIO and AI2 nappies.

Fluffy Grand Opening!!

My stockist Misty from Fluffy Buns is having her grand opening today! And from now until the 30th of January there is some great savings and special offers to be had on her website :)

The best saving she is offering is that if you buy 3 WeePantz Minky AIO Nappies you will get a free Bib!

She is also offering a 5% discount on all orders over $50 when you use the code "grandopening" at the checkout!

Head over to Fluffy Buns and see what else is on special. :)

Getting Organised...

So 2011 has officially begun for me as WeePantz re-opened yesterday.

Img Source

I made the decision, after receiving some gorgeous stationary for Christmas, that I will use my new items to organise myself better, because of course if you don't use your stationary then you will never be able to buy more. Stationary, as I have before let you know is one of my great loves, so if I were unable to buy more stationary, I might die a very painful and paper and penless death...

So I have been writing to do lists. I got a small journal (leather and hot pink ahh this boyfriend of my sister's who bought this for me, he's a keeper I tell you!) and the small journal is getting filled with every day to do lists for when I am out. It lives in my handbag with its matching pen (black ink but it can be changed so not a complete tragedy) and ha little scribbles already beginning to form. I am not a huge fan of scribbling on paper,  but crossing off things on a to do lists is one of my favourite things to do!!

I also got a big A4 journal with the small pink one which is going to be great for storing my sewing must remembers such as tensions for the OverLocker and other interesting things, this will reduce the amount of random little pieces of paper strewn across my sewing table.

My current desire though is for a bigger whiteboard! I like to write my current orders and to do list on a whiteboard right in front of my face when I'm sewing so I know what I am aiming for, my current whiteboard is only small and it definitely needs replacing! I think I need to write BUY WHITEBOARD in my little pink journal! Oh how wonderful it will be to cross that off the list... 

Does anyone else do this list writing? If so... where did you get your whiteboard?? 

In the mean time, head over to the site, there are some great specials that will be up for the rest of today so you will get a real bargain  :p and you will give me an excuse to buy a new, very big and exciting, whiteboard for my studio!!

Holidays!!

Finally, we are back from our 2 week break away in Queensland. It was great to catch up with family and oh my my children were AMAZING!! They didn't whinge about being in the car, and were so well behaved. 

I am still amazed as to how a 2 year old and a 5 year old didn't drive me completely insane with whinging and whining on a trip that was 2 full 12 hour days each way! It was an interesting drive for us as we saw first hand the flood damage in Central New South Wales as we drove by fields which had been turned into inland lakes and encountered a few closed and damaged roads along the way. I thought I had taken a few photos of this, but for some reason cant find them...

I am so very blessed to have a beautiful partner who loves driving and during the whole trip only had to drive for an hour. I really am not a very good long distance driver as I tend to fall asleep, but lasted my short driving stint with the help of a coffee, a bottle of water and interesting stories on Triple J of people's already broken New Years' Resolutions.

On our way to Queensland, we got to stop at "the dish". I have been there before, but Mick and the kids havent so it was pretty informative, and we played with the whispering dishes as well. 

Myself, Ruth and Oliver with "the dish".

Ruth with the Whispering Dish at Parkes

Christmas was great as it was the first time that Oliver really understood the present giving and Santa thing. His excitement at all of the presents he got to unwrap really only half made up for the fact that Miss Ruth was off with her dad for Christmas Day for the first time. I missed her from the second I woke up until I went to sleep every day she was away. I always do, but thankfully I have her back with me now and I can give her as many cuddles and kisses as I want. 

Oliver sure understood what presents are by the end of this massive stack!

There was also a gorgeous Christmas Lunch in my mum's true style which was DELICIOUS!! The only thing lacking was my sister's fantastic potato bake. She is very heavily pregnant and didnt want to stand in the kitchen peeling potatoes for it (might I add that this excuse was only just passable :p)

Christmas Lunch at mum's place

It was wonderful to sit around with my family as I hadn't seen most of them since Easter!

Me sitting waiting to unwrap Olly's presents with him... he opted to open them with Daddy instead lol!!

When we were in Queensland we saw a lot of rain... Not really the sunshine state that week!! and at one stage didn't think we were going to get home as the highway was closed in some areas due to flooding. Thankfully we were able to get home fine with a slight detour on the first day.

Oliver enjoying some ice cream with his cousins Emilia and Charlotte.

On the way home we also stopped in to spend a couple of nights in Bright with Mick's mum. I always love going to her place as the kids are free to run on her massive block and they just love following her around. Oliver in particular just loved spending time with his Granny and shafted both me and Mick on a few occasions!!

When we are in Bright, I can never resist heading into the fabric shop there. I picked up a couple of patterns and a little bit of fabric to keep me occupied until Saturday when I start with WeePantz again.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Holiday too, I hope to update with one project very soon!! Fabric is pre-washed and ready to iron and sew!