A stash flash, gingerbread, market news and this week's giveaway #8!

What a wild weekend! I was not alone in my prayers for the wind and rain to disappear Friday night, but come Saturday morning, it was wet and windy as ever.  Luckily some brave and or foolhardy people ventured out and I was happy with my sales for the day, having covered costs and some more, but I can only imagine what it might have been like if the weather had been nice. As it is, some marketeers came and didn't set up, some set up and were blown over in the process, so packed up or moved elsewhere, and others left early. Many held on grimly to their canopies in a spirit of a wild mercantile adventure! This first pic shows the view from the front of my stall. The poor jewellery seller had a whole table of rings flip with the sound of tinkling silver flying through the air! His neighbours never unpacked. I got to visit with a couple of stalls across the way with some gorgeous handmade toys tees and brooches as well as vintagey goodness. Just how I like it!

It was a struggle getting the canopy and walls up on my own and hard to decide whether to keep the sides open or closed. Closed kept you dry but made a big sail for the wind. Open gave a better view but you got wet and things flew off the table even more often!
My stall was fairly secure so I held on until the last 30mins but next time I'm doubling the corner weights! I hadn't been to the loo all day and was busting so asked the lady next to me to watch my stall as it was very quiet people wise. While in the loo, I heard a loud roar and drumming sound and  thought it was raining again. (and no dear DH the sound was not emanating from within my cubicle). Turned out it was a huge gust of wind that had 4 men holding down my marquee, all my gear strewn over the grass and dirt. So the 3mins I wasn't there, disaster struck! So that was it for the day. Call me crazy, but it was kinda fun :)


If you look closely on the table, you can see some Keyka Lou bubble pouches which I made and added a loop and carabiner clip to. Here they are:

Here they all are waiting for clips and to be taken to market. These were a lot of fun to make. with the clip they can hang from your purse strap or pram or from your belt or belt loop. I particularly like the pirate pouches and am making more for boys. After all, pirates need a pouch for their treasure!

More about these later....

Beccy has finished school for the year and yesterday baked some gingerbread with Pearl and Michael. They just love baking and all 3 wore their special aprons I made them. Last night for Family Home Evening, we decorated them together. Pearl loved the pretty silver cachous best. We made up a plate for a ding-dong dash, wrapped in cellophane. It was fun, 7 of us piled into the van and sang carols all the way there and back. Sarah got to run in, ring the bell and leave the plate of gingerbread and snowballs (white chocolate and coconut covered marshmallows). She came dashing back and jumped into the car. She didn't quite shut the door so it was ajar as we took off. It was the side sliding door and everyone was buckled in, but it slid open as I put the pedal to the metal. A little braking and it slammed itself shut and we got out of there. I do hope they heard the doorbell and the ants or animals didn't get their treat! I'll keep my ears open tonight at a meeting to see if they received any mysterious packages :)

Mmm I love gingerbread! Later in the month we will make gingerbread houses as well.


Yesterday, my main goal was to "rationalise" the bookshelves. I took 8 shopping bags of books to the Op shop! don't worry, I still have plenty lol. But it did make room for more fabric :) when I get the room all tidied again, I will take a pic. I'll just let you imagine the "before" pic.

In the process, I uncovered a carton of vintage fabric I scored at a little church Oppy nearly 6 months ago. My supersonic crafty ears picked up a conversation between two old dears pondering what to do with all these boxes of fabric from so and so the dressmaker and I was right on hand when they brought out these cartons and got first pickings! Here they are with some of my favourites picked out.

In the same vicinity, at another little old church oppy, I also picked up some lovely barkcloth potholders. When I got home, I painstakingly picked them apart and found some beautiful scrappy treasures. Wonderful water colour vintage prints of silky soft cottons and fluffly flannels. The photos just don't do them justice. One of the potholders covers became this little Keyka Lou bubble pouch, lined with Ginger blossom and with a resin snap closure.

And this my dears, is this weeks giveaway! It is so very sweet and vintage. Just leave a comment and I will randomly choose the winner next Sunday evening as per usual.

ETA I usually would draw this about now but I will give it another 24 hours, for our cousins over the ocean in the US, trailing behind us time wise.

 Don't forget to check out my own list of giveaways in the right hand menu. There are all sorts of treasures including OOAK lampglass owl beads and owl softies, just to name two.

Even more giveaways at Meet Me at Mikes, 46 participants in their 3rd birthday celebration giveaway.

Sew Mama Sew just happens to have 2ndDec as giveaway day and has a HUGE list of giveaways this week. I'm sure there will be lots of goodies to win and fabulous blogs to explore and discover.

Sew Mama Sew

Goodluck!