You say goodbye, and I say hello ....

Is there an ad on TV at the moment with that song? It's in my head and it seemed appropriate.

Well, I've thought it through and I think I have it clear in my head now. If that is ever possible.

Less me, less kids, less family life. More sewing, crafting and general associated disasters.

Good bye Mummy Jo. It's been fun.

Hello to The Complete Adventures of Violet & Rose ...

I'll see you there!

Remember Me ???

Well, time is marching on. Violet & Rose is becoming a reality. I am sewing like a mad woman in every spare second of every day. The wonderful thing about this is that it is still a joy, never a chore.

I am trying to create stock to sell at the two Christmas markets I am participating in. In amongst this, I was roped in to make some items for Beth's school fete. Apparently they were desperate. I don't mind doing this, it's just the timing. Which is bad!

So, even though there is nothing to show, except for some wonderful artwork created by a very, very generous friend, come on over and visit "Violet & Rose". You'll get the gist of it.

In trying to guess how much to make for the markets, I am either going to fall very short of very excessive of what I need. I'm hoping for very short, but if it's very excessive, you'll find it all on the site around December 2.

I'd love you to subscribe to Violet & Rose so you can tabs on my exploits!

Cheers!

What am I doing?

Two weeks since my last post! Hmm, something must be going on here. And it is. I'm just not quite sure what. Are you following? Good. Keep up.

I was going to write a more detailed post today, but in this modern day of having no shame, I feel obliged to tell you that Beth came home from school with HEAD LICE! Oh my god! I am the eldest of four girls and my mother's epitaph will read "None of my girl's ever had head lice". So it took me a while (and a consultation with "dishcloth purse" friend) to confirm my suspicion. Last night and today have consisted of steady streams of de-lousing treatments, washing, more treatments (we have all been "done", but only Beth seems to have any, and only eggs. My mother felt better when I told her this), hanging washing on the line, taking washing off the line, changing beds, re-making beds. You get my drift.

So that's today's excuse.

I am re-thinking my direction and my options. I have decided to call the "business" "Violet & Rose". I have booked myself in to do two local school Christmas craft markets. One on the 15th of November, the other on the 1st of December. I even have a notebook where I am keeping track of my costs, writing down all the things I need to make (this makes me a little giddy) and other assorted useful pieces of information. I am feeling very "real" about this little commitment.

And you know, that was one of the reasons I started this blog. To inspire me to get my act together, follow my dream, reach for the stars. OK, it's getting a bit melodramatic. But the blog has been a way for me to test the water, show people what I do, get some feedback. And it's been the best thing I ever did. But the reason I started the blog may be the reason I end it. In this form, anyway.

I am starting to feel a little, well, scared. People I know in the real world are finding my blog, and they have been very complimentary, but they have been "good" people I know. What happens when the "bad" people I know find it? And the chances of my two world's colliding once I start promoting "Violet & Rose" are high. Especially when I will be promoting it within my local community. Do I want my children's teacher's to read my blog? Do I want my children's friends mothers to read my blog? Is this fair to the girls? Will people take this information about my family and run with it and use it in a way that I never meant for it to be used? Hmmm...

Also, having a fortnight's break has shown me how much more time I would have and how many other things I could be doing besides sitting on my backside on the computer. I really haven't been looking after myself when it comes to exercise and good diet. My life has consisted of sitting in front of the computer with a chocolate bar, cake, piece of slice, all intended for the girl's to eat, of course. But somehow, sitting at the computer goes hand in hand with sweet eating. Lately though, I have been exercising a little more and watching what goes in my mouth a tad more. As most mother's would know, thinking to take care of yourself is not high on our list of priorities, but I have decided that I need to be a little kinder to myself. That, and none of my summer clothes fit me anymore. Nothing like a skirt that no longer does up to spur you on.

So, I hear you say, what is she going to do? Well, I'm keeping my flick-r account, I'm still visiting all my wonderful blogging friends, but I think I am going to wind Mummy-Jo up, and move on to "Violet & Rose", which will have a blog/web site/online shop, but will have less about me and my girl's and have less frequent posts. I feel a bit sad saying that, because another reason I started blogging was as a way to document our lives, but perhaps the internet is not the best place to be doing that. There are other way's for me to keep a diary. Hey, perhaps I could keep a diary the old fashioned way!

Anyway, this is not the end, it's only the beginning. And I will post again and let you know about what the absolute final decision is and where you will be able to find me.

But can I just say "thank you"? To you. Sitting at your computer in the next suburb or on the other side of the world. If the world was made up of lovely mummy crafting bloggers, what a better, lovely and far more stylish and pretty world we would have.

Take care my friends, will "talk" again soon.

TACK Challenge ...

What started out as a bit of fun, rapidly developed into one giant pain in the butt for me. It was like a mill stone around my neck. I had better things to do than sew something with bad quality, tasteless fabric.

Hang on, maybe I could really challenge myself and try and make something that was vaguely attractive? Hmmm, no, that was never going to work.

Perhaps I could make something hilariously funny, like my fellow TACK challengees, Nicole and Alison . No, I had no time for humour.

So this morning I sat down and made this. No fan fare. Just here it is. And I've kept my end of the bargain. A giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Now, back to sewing something that I may actually enjoy.

The grown-up's version ...

I've always had a thing for stationery. I was the kind of child who would just sit and go through my school bag the week before we went back to school. I would fondle and caress and smell the new books and love the newness of my pencils. I loved covering my books and sticking on the book labels from the "Woman's Weekly". And first week back at school, my favourite thing for the year was to make the cover page on the front page of my exercise books. I think that is why I loved making the pencil rolls so much. It was that thing of unrolling the roll and seeing all the pencil's laid out and in order and none missing.

I went into Kikki-K on the weekend. I love all the note books and pens and pencils and other paraphanalia in there. I think this may be what inspired me. What about a pencil roll for grown up's? Stylish, with a compartment for a note pad or diary and then a couple of compartments for pens. Perfect for someone like myself who has pens and note pads and diary floating all around my hand bag. So I made this one. For me! I think I may make some more.

Thank you to everyone for their input on what I should call my little fledgling business. I was purposely vague in my thoughts to see if I could get an unbiased result. Like on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" when the contestant says something like, "Well, I'm thinking it might be A, but I'll ask the audience." Guaranteed, the audience will come back and A will win. Catch my drift?

Anyway, "Pink Milk Designs" has out polled "violet and rose" 57% to 41%.

To answer some questions. Yes, I prefer just plain old pink milk, but when I checked, it is already registered as a business name. And then some very kind people let me know that there is an Etsy shop called pink milk and there is indeed a pink milk website where you can buy "Charlie and Lola" merchandise. And for those who missed the link, yes, I took the name from "Charlie and Lola".

So, now, my dilemma. Has pink milk been milked dry?

I know that my tag line is going to be "Funky Old Fashioned Favourites". The idea behind the things I make is that they are a new take on old ideas. I toyed with the idea of just calling it FOFF. But no.

Maybe I'll go against the grain and use "violet and rose". I like this because it can be interpreted in so many ways. Flowers, colours, names. Not quite so restrictive.

Decisions, decisions.

I'm off to do some sewing now. If you're wondering what, check here or here and stay tuned.

The weekend and other assorted goodies ...

Hmmm, where to begin, where to begin? We had a lovely weekend staying in the centre of Melbourne at The Westin. If you are ever looking to spoil yourself in Melbourne, The Westin is the place! Almost felt a little European, with our beautiful hotel room with little balcony that opened up to a view of this. This is the spire of St. Paul's Cathedral. It has recently had a lot of restoration work carried out on it and only last week did all the scaffolding come down. I believe they timed it especially for our visit. Well, maybe not. But I'm glad we got to look at this and not scaffolding. Now this photo below was also taken from our balcony window. It is of the Nicholas Building on Swanston Street. The significance being that it is home to BUTTONMANIA. See how close we were? How could we not visit?
Hamish came along with me, which quite frankly, stunned me. And even more astonishingly, he actually enjoyed it. He helped me to go through the boxes and find these buttons. I got a couple of each. They are going to go on another lot of the little girl's bracelets that I am going to make. Kate, the lady who owns "Buttonmania" was lovely and chatty and was telling us about the hundred year old button presses that she uses to make covered buttons. She told Hamish to go out and have a look at them, which he did. Boys and machines. Even button machines! Then it was off to Clegg's for some trim shopping. His eyes did start to glaze over a bit by then. So we just strolled the arcades and lanes, bought presents for the girl's at Haigh's chocolates, Suga and Jasper Junior, which is a fantastic toy shop. We had dinner at Feddish, which was good. Not all time memorable great, but still good. Strolled back to the hotel for my double Bailey's. Next day, more food, more shopping. Worth ten year's of marriage, I tell you.

Speaking of the good life, I have received some lovely mail in the past few days. Last week, I did a swap with Suse and received one of her lovely hand knitted face washer's. It is so soft and gorgeous. Thanks Suse.
And then, just because I told Lesley a really bad joke, I won a set of her beautiful note cards. And I can't wait to use them. Thank you Lesley. As if by some kind of madness, she must have known the current obsession shared by girls old and young in our house for glitter gel pens, and she popped one in with the cards. It is a cherry red colour, which we don't have. I'm off to hide it away before small six year old girl comes home from school and find's it and claims it for her own. Bye.

What were you doing ten years ago today?

I was getting married.

Ten years. Best ten years of my life. Which doesn't necessarily mean the best "bed of roses" years of my life, but often, the things that you have to work hardest at are the things you appreciate the most.

One husband, two children, many kilo's and grey hairs later, I wouldn't have it any other way.

We are celebrating this weekend, staying in the city at The Westin and just eating, shopping, strolling, hanging out. Just like we used to.

I'm a little bit excited.