Bye, bye Australia, bye, bye 45....hello, biscuit tin.

As Australia draws to a close, so does 45.

Tomorrow, I will be 46.

 Oh - my - goodness!!!  How on earth did that happen???  46 is scarily close to 50, which seemed a lifetime away not so long ago.  I think I'll have a mid-life crisis of change and rash decisions.  Maybe I'll stick all options in a biscuit tin and pull one out at random.

21 years is a long time to stay in one place. 

A year is a long time to sell the same designs.

46 is not a year for standing still.

I will miss many things about Melbourne.

I will miss the delis, the food, the knitware - the boutiques.
Spending time with Josh.

I've loved seeing Josh and Issy together.

Catching up with Fiona.  

The blue skies and yellow light.

The photogenic boxes.

The stadiums!

On the plus side, it's summer in the UK and that means light till 10pm, with birdsong at sunrise.

Market Night! All items in stock and ready to go.

                       
                         MARKET NIGHT!
                        
                         Sunday, 14th July
                         5pm to midnight.

Items included in the sale will have a 10% discount applied, excluding postage, and will be posted the following morning.
The first person to comment ''sold'' under an item gets that item at the sale price.

Owls included in the album will include Birdsong, Snoozy Songbird, Willow, Sybil, Blossom, Amaryllis and Peony.
There will also be a selection of cushions and doorstops.

 See you there!
Sarah at The Sherbet Patch.

https://www.facebook.com/TheSherbetPatch

The lure of Marimekko and 10 dollar skinny jeans.

Chapel Street, South Yarra.
A mecca of sales, food and boutiques.  
And where else could I find the perfect pair of skinny jeans for 10 dollars.  Which (sort of) justifies the rather more than 10 dollars I spent in Marimekko on fabric.

Oh my goodness...Marimekko fabric!  Finnish, crisp and scandanavian.  Vibrant colours, bold patterns and strong, monochrome designs. 

I've been looking for the perfect black and white designs for ages, but with no luck in the UK.  Or Japan.
Unfortunately, everyone else must also appreciate the perfect Marimekko monochrome designs aswell, as not one of them was included in the sale. So, I emerged with a bag full of colour and not a monochrome among them.  
Now, that's willpower!

http://www.au.timeout.com/melbourne/shopping/venues/2159/marimekko

The charismatic Kangaroo.

On Tuesday I saw my first kangaroo in a natural setting - my first kangaroo anywhere!
Soooo sweet, so charismatic - I was very excited.
Move over squirrels, you've been replaced by a Kangaroo.  Call me fickle, but they are very cute...

Musing - with the distraction of a foodie paradise.

The thing about getting away is that it gives you the chance to evaluate.
The downside of getting away so far is that by the time my bodyclock's adjusted completely, we're halfway through.  
And bunions don't like planes. Or blisters.  Or ankles.  It must be a forty thing.
And Llanrhidian seems rather dull.  

I have stagnated in Llanrhidian.  It's easy to stay too long.  Fantastic for Josh to grow up in, for work, for safety, for the backdrop.  But now Josh has moved on, and my work is no longer in the village.
In fact, Llanrhidian is probably not ideal for craft.  Understatement.
And it doesn't have a deli.

Last year I was completely unprepared for the Christmas rush, and closed my order book in early November.  I also undercharged, and regularly worked till 2am to get orders out.  
Lesson learned...I'm not naturally gifted in business sense!

This year, I am going to be more prepared. 
 Funny to be thinking about Christmas in June, but not thinking about Christmas in sunshine was my big mistake before. So now, I'm going to think in upside down seasons!

And I'm wondering what other craft sellers learned during their first year of business?

Melbourne - two glasses is all it took...seduced by boiled wool and gorgeous stripes!

A boozy lunch with Josh.

Great idea...until he directed me to the most expensive shopping district in Melbourne.

No vintage shops here - no retro, no charity - no fabric. All shiny chrome and guards at the foyer.

And I entirely blame the prosecco for launching my creditcard in a rainbow hued knitwear shop on not one but two items.  

But do they really count if they were in the sale?  As really, if they're half price it's just like buying one!

And I did get a nice carrier bag and lots of tissue paper...

Seduced by boiled wool and gorgeous stripes. 

Melbourne - 30 men in shorts and foodie heaven :)

Day two in Melbourne.

Blue skies and crisp air, city of delis and - for this week - The Lions.

Yes, I am a (temporarily) converted Lions fan. 

My newly 21 year old son is fanatical, and having celebrated his 21st birthday mid flight to Melbourne from the UK, we were at the Aami stadium yesterday evening for The Lions versus Melbourne Rebels.

There is something very photogenic about thirty men in shorts.

And leaving 30 men in shorts aside, it was also special because Josh's dad was there too.

Tomorrow I'm going to track down some fabric shops - by my logic Australia is closer to Japan than the UK, so Kokka fabric should be much cheaper here. And Australian vintage.

 Although the same can't be said for cheese. 

That would be the very nice cheese with the very expensive, non existent price tag I found in the deli. 

Lesson learned - do not buy from the very first deli in the deli-filled arcade, as they get cheaper the further away from the entrance.

 $35 DOLLARS!!!