It's all about me me me!

Yep folks, the theme of today is.... well... me! Starting with a couple of my fav birthday presents that I've been meaning to show. My very lovely in-laws gave me a voucher to spend on Etsy for my birthday, so I decided to try and find myself some clothing. So much beautiful stuff on Etsy I tells ya, but with the AU dollar crash everything seemed to be just outside my budget. And then I discovered Victoria n' Bird.


I can't tell you how much I love this dress - I've tried it on with just about everything I own and I love how I can dress it up or dress it down. Oh, and it's got pockets (and I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I adore dresses with pockets).

Another favourite present is this gorgeous cookbook that I got with a book voucher (one of the gifts from my lovely husband).


I'm sure I'm probably the only person to not know about Frankie Magazine's Afternoon Tea, but hey, even if I'm late on the bandwagon, I'm so glad I got there eventually! Not only are the recipes drool-inducing (I'm busting to make:

Nelly's apple shortcake..

...as well as


Pip's Best-ever choc chip cookies) but the photos are just divine, in that wonderfully stylish, crafty, vintage way that Frankie has. And the recipes are all old-fashioned, simple treats.

They remind me of the big morning tea spreads we would have at our outback country tennis tournaments, where all the local mums would try and outdo each other with their home-baked treats. Morning tea was always my favourite part of weekend tennis :P

Lastly, a little present from me, to me.


After making countless market totes for other people, I finally got round to making one for myself, and I love it. I used some gorgeous organic cotton/linen blend fabric from Duckcloth, with a piece of vintage linen tablerunner across the front, and orange homespun on the inside.


And the wooden buttons seemed to go with the natural fibre feel of the bag. It has been getting quite a workout lately, and not only at the markets!!!

And so what would a post about me be, without a meme all about...well....me! Lin from Paper Doll tagged me for the 6 unspectacular things about me meme some time ago and I've been super slack in getting it done. I know I've done this a couple of times already so I've been wracking my brain for some new and interesting mundane facts about myself. So anyway, here they are (feel free tune out or wonder away from the computer now....)

1. I get nervous about memes. I like reading them, and I don't mind doing them, but I worry about passing them on. Like really worry. So my solution is to leave them as an open invitation (so play if you like - just let me know and I'll edit this post and link to you :))

2. I love the smell of mangoes but don't like the taste or texture of them. Blurgh!

3. My favourite time of day is late evening, just before twilight, when there is a sepia toned glow to everything and sounds travel further and have a certain echo to them. If someone is cooking something yummy for dinner and the smell wafts over then even better. The ambiance of it always makes me feel like all is right with the world. Unfortunately, since having kids I rarely get to enjoy this time of day. Usually I am doing the dinner/bath/stories dance with the kids, who at that time are tired but fighting it so it's all kinda manic....*sigh*

4. I think one of the most useful things I learnt in High School was touch-typing. It is a skill I use every day :P

5. Speaking of touch-typing, I got through a whole year of typing class in high school, only to find out at the end that the teacher didn't even know my name. She actually asked me what "Bet' was short for - she thought it might have been something Norwegian. When I said "No, Bec - short for Rebecca" she was genuinely astounded. She was pretty old I guess, and probably a lifetime spent around manual typewriters did nothing for her hearing!!

6. If I was rich I would only ever buy ethically made fabrics. I come close to this by mostly only using salvaged and reclaimed fabrics in my sewing, but I would love to use more new organic fabrics, and fabrics made from hemp and bamboo. Sewing with the organic cotton/linen blend fabric I got for my bag was SO satisfying (in fact, I think it may have been the most beautiful and pleasing fabric I've ever sewed with). I'd love to do more of it.....just have to find the $$$$

Ok, so enough about me - I promise I'll keep myself out of future posts...for a while anyway:)

Can you tell....

...that my sister used to work in marketing? Jade and I re-opened the Beckybean shop last Monday, and since then I've done nothing. No blog post, no forum postings.... NUDDA! I hadn't even told Matt.

Thank goodness Jade is on the job! Not only that, but she also got one of the bags she made onto the front page of Etsy.


What the?!!!! SUCH a little sister thing to do.....humphhhh.....(can you tell I'm the 'hard-done-by' older sister who struggled as a teenager to be allowed to go out at night with my friends just once a month, then when my little sister gets to the same age she goes out every weekend? Yep, I've got oldest child syndrome. I own it.) Although technically that is me in the photo, so I will tell myself that my super professional modeling skills contributed to the achievement...right?

Ok, so I'm surly AND I'm slack. I've got a meme to do (Lin I will do it this week I promise!!!), I've got things to show and tell (haven't even posted about my wonderful birthday - although, actually Jade did post about that too, so maybe I can skip that one in my desperate attempt to catch up). Oh, and all my Pay-It-Forwards went out last week (only 4 months before the deadline....sorry everyone, I'm sure you all thought I'd forgotten about it my now!) and they should be received any day now, so I'll have some of that to show you soon too!!

Until then, I'll leave you with a picture of what I HAVE been remembering to do. And that is take some time to smell the roses.


Or the 'rosy tea' as Dorothy the Dinosaur would say.

Cheers Bigears,
XX

Sock it to me!

This fantastic present (Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori) arrived in the mail this week - a birthday present from a lovely friend in Melbourne. So of course I ended up at Op Shops this week on a sock buying spree! So far I have only made one little character.



Lee has named her 'Elsie'. I think she will need some new friends soon. So many to choose from...




I am dying to find a pink glove so I can make the pig....but in the meantime, maybe a patch-eyed dog!

I have also finally gotten around to making something to add to my Etsy Shop (after setting it all up I suddenly lost interest in making bags for a while, and became all obsessed with making clothes, clothes and more clothes).



Anyway, this one is called the Dame Washalot shoulder bag (has anyone guessed the theme to my bag names yet? So far, no-one has said anything, so maybe it's just me who gets it, and everyone else just thinks I'm plain weird...).

I have also finally made myself a new bag, cause hey, what's the point of being a bag-maker unless you can make yourself a new one to play with every once in a while!



Admittedly, this bag was originally going into the shop....but how could I part with these gorgeous buttons...(yes I know, the button fixation again....get ready, as I think there may be more to come on this topic...ahem...stayed tuned - or don't, if you're really sick of me and my buttons :))

Birthday bliss...

Do birthdays get any better than this?



I don't usually like putting up proper pics of myself, but this was such a happy occasion, and I think I look as happy as I felt in this picture. Had a big family birthday lunch. Mum made vanilla and chocolate profiterole cake...oh my..it was amazing!!!


With toffee drizzled all over it!!!!!


I was given some amazingly thoughtful presents from everyone. Above is some vintage japanese fabric (this is just a portion of the stash) from Matt's family. From a very cool shop in Richmond (Melbourne, Australia) called Zigusagu.



Matt ordered a custom-made knitwit bangle from Liana Kabel (to fit my teeny wrists). I can't tell you how much I love this! Matt also said that Liana was so very friendly and easy to deal with, and that she made and shipped the bracelet the same day that he ordered it, and he received it the next day. How good is that!



Presents from Lee and Kate included these two books that have been on my wish list for quite some time. Apparently Matt suffered a lot of embarrassment searching for The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket (of Yarnstorm), which is no-where near as 'anti-feminist' as it sounds. In fact it is really the opposite, and is just interesting and intelligent musings about how there is as much art, creativity and intelligence to be found in domestic arts (such as knitting, cooking, gardening etc), as there are in the corporate world. But when Matt asked the 19 year old salesgirl for this title (and mentioned it was for his wife) he said she looked at him with such horror and revulsion, like he was some guy who wanted to force his wife into some 1950s 'barefoot in the kitchen' way of living (or like he was John Howard...well, kinda same thing really :P). But being the lovely boy he is, he gritted his teeth, smiled, and waited patiently, bearing the daggers while he waited for the girl to look it up...he he he...what a guy!



Had to show the back of this book - I mean, how can I ever resist a book that celebrates the beauty and goodness of buttons?

Anyway, Matt had no such embarrassing problems with buying Cool Hunting Green, (although he was a bit disappointed that this book was sitting, easily accessible, on the bookstore shelf, so there was no way to regain his 'cred' by asking for it). Cool Hunting Green, compiled by Dave Evans, is a book featuring all sorts of recycled, repurposed and renewable objects, and includes a website for each so you can find out more info, or even buy the stuff. Some very cool things in this book.



Like these little bobby pin flower rosettes made with reclaimed cashmere and a vintage bead centre. I think I may have to visit Remnant Clothing to pick up a couple of these.



And how amazing is this chandelier made of BiC pen rolls! Check out Enpieza for more details.



And lastly, do you recognise this one? Yep, Liana Kabel has lots of her work featured in this book, and Matt and I were both amazed to see the bracelet in this book was EXACTLY the same as the one made for me. Another one of those nice synchronous things!

Thank-you to everyone for your wonderful company, and ever so thoughtful gifts. I've been a very lucky girl indeed!