Post Handmade Expo

Well I'm sure a good time was had by all stallholders and customers alike ! I always have a good time...I was away for four days this time as I needed the whole day Friday to set up all the tables and chairs etc for the Handmade Expo and to set up my own site as well.

I had some spare time on Thursday and called into Day and Night Pharmacy, cnr Wharf and Brisbane Streets, Ipswich where they promptly loved and bought heat packs from me to stock in the chemist.. I was very excited !

Then ofcourse I had a bit more spare time for which I used to go to the Op Shop , I bought these, all ten of them in perfect condition !

Damask Napkins no less for $5 !

Then in the Antique shop in the Old Flour Mill I found this totally Retro, quite large table cloth, brand new, still in the packet and got it for a song...la la la la la !

I got these beauties shopping at the Handmade Expo

OMG I had put this on my shopping list, but when I saw it there was no question...I had to have it, you can get them at Apple Cottage Designs and you wont regret it ! Val has done a wonderful job.

Then there were these...

A great X Large tote in my fave colours from min nah , they dont have a website but they are at the Handmade Expo each month with their funky childrens clothes and accessories, also is a dyed scarf from Trishalan Designs and ofcourse fudge from Elite Treats.

And last but not least is the Frankie mag I finally picked up, the book that was launched at the Handmade Expo by Pamela Lamb and.....boring a book to put all my expenditure and income..yuk, yuk, yuk !!!

Will start reading tonight curled up on the lounge !

Brisstyle Market

Please come and visit us next Saturday 4th July, for a list of all 50 stallholders pop over to ruby 2 go go's blog, or have a look at the Brisstyle blog for lots of great info on all the Brisstylettes !

Nearly Ready for Expo

So I have spruced up my market table cloth with hot pink chenille fringe, the old fringing was getting a bit daggy!

I have packed the singlets, cushions, burpers, luggage tags, hats and misc bits of other stuff.

I wanted to show you my range of funky colours before I pack the clothes rail up ! We got the clothes stand at an Antique shop last Saturday for $10 and I thought it was a bargain!

So here we have the lime greens, particulaly gorgeous with navy spot and navy paisley, on the right we have soft pinks and so many colours go with this, specially liking the pale green and rosebuds.

Skirts now made in sizes 1 through to 4. They are $18, All the pants are $20 and are made in sizes 0 through to 4.

Next we have the mid to hot pinks, ever popular and some new very pale shabby lemon and pale citrus green, just to die for girls !

Now you've got your ever popular aquas and other blues and some new mauves and pinky purplies...

The old faves are still with us, with a seemingly endless supply of oranges and browns and some other shades of green.

And last but not least....the other colours, creams and beiges, caramels and red ( mainly save for xmas but it's a stray! )

Plenty to chose from anyway ! There are also the famous heat packs in nearly all these colours and we are needing those right now here in sunny Queensland, I can tell you !

So pop by and say hi at The Handmade Expo this Saturday or if you need something I've got, then just leave a comment! If you cant get to us on Saturday you can always pop in and say hi to Liesa at Handmade Heaven, I have put a selection of goodies in there as well.

Off to pack these things now !

The Handmade Expo June 27th and Handmadies

Well this Saturday The Handmade Expo is on again and stallholders have been busy getting ready ( I know this cos I've read about it on their blogs ! )



There hasn't been an Expo in Ipswich since March so everyone is chomping at the bit to get there, customers and stallholders alike. It's sure to be like the first one we held when we were over run with people. Not only will many many locals support us but there will also be 3 coaches full of eager shoppers coming from the other side of Brisbane on Cross Country Tours. This is a bit of a coo for us and we are excited! Originally there was to be one coach and suddenly there are three! Amazing !



If you live in South East Queensland, dont be shy :) and if you come, make sure you intro yourself to us!



Saturday 27th June, Ipswich Show grounds, Warwick Rd, Exhibitors Pavilion

8 am - 2 pm, Entry $2 Adults, Children Free

M.S will be holding a BBQ and we have a fantasic Coffee Van.

There will be over 90 Stalls of Handmade goods.

Only a couple of stallholders have eftpos, so bring cash!



And....I'll be there ! Just inside the door, if you need a heat pack, get in early, in this weather they sell really quickly.

On a different subject, I wanted to tell you about Mickys new blog. She only started on the weekend after much persuasion and she is calling her new blog Handmadies. She is going to be blogging about her handmade finds and I'm sure it will explode into the biggest thing ever !! Why not pop over and show her what you do, intro yourself and let her discover your world a bit more closely. Tell her where you found her too cos she loves stuff like that !

Here's the winner !

Thank you to all the lovely bloggers who entered my 100th post giveaway and left your lovely comments. I wish I could send you all something nice in the mail instead of just sending nice thoughts and wishes.

Mr bubba drew the winner, so any correspondence needs to be entered to him ! Ha! I can guarantee he is as honest as the day is long ! Trust me ! I sew and blog !

The winner is Hey Harriet! Tracy ! Congrats ! Tracy was worried that any supplies would go to waste on her, but I assured her that I would just send handmade lovlies if she won....YAY !
Thanks again for all your comments and watching the awesome video! (doe a dear a female dear, ray etc etc )

See you for the next 100th ( hopefully !)
Miriam

Giveaway in two more big sleeps !

Hi, Just wanted to remind you not to forget to enter my giveaway. I will be drawing it on Sunday after my nanna nap! Thanks for the comments so far, the vid is great isn't it?
Going small farm hunting tomorrow and probably Sunday, That's why I'll need a nanna nap !
Good luck! Hope you win!

Love Ya Award

I got this lovely, cool, much appreciated award from the very lovely, Lisa from Cute as Buttons today and I would like to forward it on to the very lovely people at the end of this post.

This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming.

These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

7 Things about me

I will be forever grateful that I was able to give up work to follow my dream.
I have tried to drink only "real" coffee but I get lazy and make instant.
I have a sweet tooth for anything sweet, I dont care what it is!
My sewing machine is a Janome
I am so proud of my two daughters and their babies.

I am forever getting sidetracked with my crafts.

I love vintage chenille.

I am going to pass on this award tonight to the following bloggers who definitely fit the bill:

Liesa at Handmade Heaven

Bonnie at Calamity Janes Cottage

Jay at Finki

Kris at Tag Along Teddies

Helen at Ruby to go go

Christina at A Little Bird Told Me

Allison at Lark

Val at Apple Cottage Designs

I'm a lucky winner..THRICE

I have to do a seperate post on my luckiness lately, I'm one of those people who actually never wins anything and just lately I have won three times ( greedy hey !)





First I won a hand knitted scarf on the sew mama sew giveaway from The Butterfly Mom , I dont have a pic unfortunately as my lovely daughter decided she wanted it, needed it more than me, but it was nice and chunky and warm and beautifully knitted by Jill in Los Angeles, Thanks again Jill.





Secondly I won green bag number 5142 from the green bag lady in the US also, the number representing how many bags her and her team have given away to try and reduce plastic bags, really interesting reading her story too, Thanks green bag lady!

And last but certainly not least, I won a gorgeous giveaway from Michelle at Pedrosprout in Brisbane, The most delightful little tote, some coasters and a cute little pincushion, Love your work Michelle ! Michelle is also opening a shop soon, so go and check her out... Thanks Michelle, Hope to see you soon.

Above, my bag from The Green Bag Lady

Above, My delightful giveaway win from pedrosprout

It must be good Karma from a couple of posts ago.

Away from Heaven

I had to leave Heaven this morning to come home to Mr bubba, after all he needs me too and he cant be having frozen stuff for tea all the time ( just when I disappear for a night or two here and there! )

Opening day at Handmade Heaven was delightful though, with lots of lovely visitors and lots of lovely sales (mine included ! Yay! ) A beautiful lady bought my first place in the Show handbag right after someone said to me "Oh how could you sell it?" So I was kind of having second thoughts, then it was gone ! Better to get it over and done with quickly I spose....

Of course I couldn't resist some things to buy for me too..

Some beautiful shabby serviettes from Sweet Tea and Roses and a Vanilla Soy Candle from Red Hot Wicks, mmmmmm delicious, 90 hours of sweet scent !

I went to the dreaded habby store that opened a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised by the service, that was yesterday but this morning before I left I couldn't drive by Bargain Box Fabrics without calling in. All their patchwork fabrics are $12 a metre or less and I am a real sucker, so I picked up a few just in case I need them !..

These are great for the trim around the bottom of pants, stars and spots, great for boys stuff !

Dont forget my Giveaway, I will draw on Sunday night, It's a painless and rewarding thing to watch the video clip on my previous post, Trust me, you'll thank me for it ! And I have been collecting some lovely little items as part of the giveaway !

Giveaway post.

If you love a great gig you simply must watch this..
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

I'll tell you what... This can be my giveaway post, it is after all my 100th post.
Leave me a comment about how you felt whilst watching the youtube clip, and tell me your fave colour and you can have one entry, follow me and you can have two entries. I'll draw the entries by hand, (because I am passionate about handmade !) on Sunday 20th after my nanna nap !

I'll make up a collection of goodies for the winner, including some chenille to play with and you can rest assure everything will be handmade ! Good luck and I cant wait to read your comments ! !

I loved this clip sooo much, there were tears !

My Piles are growing !

Hi All, I'm back in the land of the living a bit more today, thanks to everyone for your kind words from my last post and although I seem to have lost some mojo I still need to push on so that when it returns I'm ready for it !


Ive been cutting out nearly all day...it's so time consuming but the end result, ENORMOUS !





I went from this

to this in no time flat...(They are the "piles" I headed this post with ! ha ha )

I have two weeks until my super busy time starts, so I really want to be ready for it ! PLUS I have my things at Handmade Heaven and that opens on Monday, I think I am going to have to work on keeping my space there stocked too as I have already had sales and it's not even open yet !

It's freezing here in Toowoomba today, perfect weather for curling up in a ball, watching a movie or doing some hand sewing, tell me I'm dreaming, who gets to do that ?

How do you like my new Blog ? This is my 99th post too so keep your eyes peeled or follow me or whatever you do to keep track of giveaways cos I'm just about to have one !

Breaching the code

Due to two recent incidents, I would appreciate people not copying my ideas. I thought there was an unwritten rule about this and although I have read mentions of this on other peoples blogs, I never thought it would happen to me. I now understand how they felt and how it kind of takes away a piece of you.. I have had two experiences where I have wanted to make something (and then change it to suit my style of work ) that I have seen someone else do, but I spoke to them about it first and in one case I even got written permission. I hate to talk about this and cant believe it's happened... but you need to be aware of it going on and you maybe the next one it effects.

I'm sure a good night sleep is what I need now, Going to Ipswich tomorrow to take my things to Handmade Heaven .

HANDMADE HEAVEN YOU CAN COME TOO !

A bit of a play on words there, all will be revealed !

As you may or may not know, My daughters and myself run the Handmade Expo, basically a monthly market with around one hundred stallholders selling handmade goodies only.

Daughter number one (21 minutes older than daughter number two ! ) Liesa, is about to embark on a new project and that is a retail shop aptly named Handmade Heaven. It's in Ipswich in The Old Flour Mill, a heritage listed building consisting of some very quaint little shops. Here is a pic before painting or any changes that are to be made..

Ok, this is about as cute as Handmade Heaven can get ! And the point is you can go to Handmade Heaven before you actually die !

There has been an overwhelming response with people wanting to be involved and show casing their gorgeous handmade lovliness.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, then pop over to Handmade Heaven and you'll find Liesas contact details there.

Only a couple of weeks til the Grand Opening..