Frosty

Walking to work this morning, Mr Honi's phone said it was 5 degrees. The chill made my cheeks flushed and I could see my breath escaping from my mouth like puffs of smoke. The grass on the soccer field was frosted an icy shade of white and the leaves on the ground had tiny icicles scattered along their edges. You can just see the ice glistening in the sun in the picture below. I love these frosty wintery mornings!

Vintage, 1977 Lounge For Sale

I’m not normally one to spruik goods on my blog, but this one is for my Ma - plus it’s vintage so I’m sure it will grab a few readers attention!
For sale is a vintage velour modular lounge in an Olive colour (circa 1977). There is a 2 Seater (165cm Long x 90cm wide x 80cm high)

and a 3-4 seater lounge (260cm long – same height and width as the 2 seater) and a square ottoman (not pictured). It is excellent condition – with only some small marks on it. $250 for the lot- and you’ll need to pick it up. If you’re interested – email me honidesign(@)gmail.com

I had my cake....and ate it too!!!

What does a 30 year old crafter, who's never grown up, have for their birthday cake??

.....a Dolly Varden cake of course!



Made lovinly by my Aunty - thankyou so much Aunty!!! (she actually even piped each sugar flower!)

The Big 3-Ooh!

I swear I saw another wrinkle appear this morning. The day dawned and I got another year older. Mr Honi totally spoilt me this morning with an overlocker!! If you're reading this- Thankyou my love :) I'm a very lucky girl.

Hope you all have a great weekend- I know I'm going to!
(Ps sorry about the poor pic I took it hurridly- and am now posting from my mobile, on the bus)

Vintage Viewmaster Love

When I was younger my childhood friend-down-the-road had a viewmaster with 2 divine sets of reels- “The Wizard of Oz” being one and “Winnie the Pooh” the other. She must have got so sick of me saying “can I play with your viewmaster?” every time I went over to her place.

My parents didn’t see the value of a vewimaster so wouldn’t buy me one (please don’t read into this as an “emotionally damaged child” story or anything!!) But one day when rummaging through a church fete sale, I came across a 50c viewmaster with 1 reel and I was allowed to use my hard earned pocket money to purchase it. I think I managed to look at that 1 “Ghostbusters” reel a million times. I never bought any other reels…..until now.

The wonderful world of eBay allowed me to purchase my very own “Wizard of Oz” and “Winnie the Pooh” reels which are just as magical as they were when I was 5. I’ve actually purchased about 30 sets of vintage reels ranging from Vintage Disneyland scenes to Mary Poppins, to Christmas favourites such as the Little Drummer Boy and Rudolph (see my previous Rankin Bass post)

In fact eBay has allowed me to purchase many favourite childhood items – such as my Vintage viewers, (which were in Frankie!!) books, and other “3D Viewers” that I have always been fascinated with.

What favourite childhood items have you bought on eBay??

Spider Flower

Have you ever seen anything like this? Mr Honi and I found this flower on a tree during our walk this afternoon and named it the 'spider flower'. Maybe not so anatomically correct, but appropriate don't you think?

My Creative Space Thursday

This week for my creative space, I managed to leave the work laptop at home at headed out to enjoy some time with the Brown Owls. We went to a new venue this week which was great. We used the sewing machines there and walked through this tutorial on how to make the perfect zippered pouch. I only managed to get through a bit of mine as I spent more time talking.
It was great to get out and get a bit of my crafty mojo back – in a very creative space!

What has become of Vinnies?

Japanese donkey S&P figurine - hidden with my other treasures

I know I’m selfish and a hypocrite but I loathe it when “MY vinnies” (well, my local one) becomes a hot-spot for every man and their dog when they have their 50% off sales!!

I adored my Vinnes a few years ago. Quiet, cheap and a cornucopia of precious items from local deceased estates. I’m an area that is evolving from an aged population to a younger, trendier one- a population that is cluey on thrifting.

Gone are the days where I would spend an hour trawling through wonderful linens – cross stitched table cloths and floral printed sheets. I was in my own little sanctuary with the only interruption from the kindly man from the front desk asking me if he could be of any assistance. Last weekend there was a QUEUE to look at the linen section – people were actually looking at their watches whilst make coughing noises in an attempt to intimidate me to move on.

I watched as people picked up delicate plates and then chucked them carelessly back on the pile. Another woman knocked over a whole basket of items simply scooped them all back up.

True, I managed to score these 3 treasures – and it WAS wonderful that with %50 offer they came to a total of $20 but I left the store sad and disappointed that my little treasure trove haven had been ‘raped and pillaged’ by vultures with no care for what they man-handled.


"Enchanted" patern Royal Albert Teacup (with my Gram Shirley in the background"


1973 Simplicity pattern

A third of my Life...

Yowsers – It’s been 2 weeks since my last post. Work is sucking the life out of me at the moment. As I come closer towards the big 3-0 (gasp) I realised last night that I have been at this company for a THIRD OF MY LIFE. Yes, ONE THIRD. Kinda scary actually.
I’m working late into the night most nights which means no craft time – hence the lack of things to blog about! However, my pattern making course is going really well and I hope to get some serious sewing done this long weekend.

I also have some grand plans for a new project - it's in very early development at the moment, but I'm excited.

For now, I’ll leave you with a picture that makes staying up late to finish presents worthwhile. Remember this quilt? I'm so glad to see that it’s appreciated and loved…