Townmouse

This amuses me

An image sent to me by my husband.  I had to laugh though.

Summer in the studio

It's a cold, dark Melbourne day - perfect for staying indoors.  I'm fitting a day's work into the school holidays as I have to get my summer patterns, specs and fabrics off to my manufacturer.  They are expecting me next Tuesday morning and there is a lot of work to do between now and then.

I've been matching trims to fabric for a summer top.  This page of swatches will go in with the spec so the makers know what goes with what.

I've been fortified by serves of last night's apple crumble.  We are all apple mad in the house at the moment after picking up one of these nifty gadgets.

What an amazing invention.  We love it.  The image is from this lovely site, which I read about just the other day on the beautiful blog Simplesong.  This new favourite blog of mine is always full of divine photos and lovely products.  I get lost for hours wandering through her well chosen links.

Birds from Mexico

A while ago Loobylu mentioned a beautiful blog that I instantly fell in love with.  I spent about 3 hours reading back through Geninne's archives and oohing and aahing over all her creative endeavours.

I couldn't resist ordering some of her bird prints.  We arrived home from New Zealand in the dark last night and I found a parcel from Mexico shoved under our garden gate.  The package was lying on the wet paving and looking worse for wear.  I was worried the insides might be creased or water damaged.  But Geninne had packaged them up perfectly -  there they were, safe and sound, with a sweet little note.

This morning I took the 3 boys through Ikea to pick up some simple frames to display them in.

The birds are now cheering up the studio above my boxes of cotton thread.

Che bella vista

It seems the livestock around here enjoy magnificent views too.

These old stone cattle yards are situated on a little promontory on the lake's edge.  It was freezing cold when we took a walk to explore the yards.  We had to seek shelter in the shearing sheds before running for the car in the rain.

 

It has snowed around the homestead for the last two days.  What a novelty it is to sit inside and watch the flakes floating down to earth.

We have had such a lovely week in New Zealand.  We've voted it one of our favourite family holidays ever.

Travelling far for R&R

Last week was busy, busy, busy.  After selling nearly 100 pieces of cashmere from our living room I have shut up shop for a week.

  

We have brought the boys to the farm in New Zealand's high country.  We have been enjoying quiet nights in front of the fire and cold, clear days exploring with the boys.  The ice puddles and frozen streams have kept them busy for hours.

The surrounding countryside is so spectacular - it takes your breath away.  And the colour palette of this country is wonderful.  There are stunning steely blues from the lakes, bright oranges from the bare trees and bleached out greys set against rich lichen greens.  Mmm, I think I could happily live here.

I haven't checked my phone messages or email all week so I have no idea what is going on in the crafting, blogging world.  I'm sitting in the local internet cafe now.  Soon I'll have to head home.  We are having the neighbours and their children for dinner so I'm cooking roast chicken - hearty winter food.

Friends from Christchurch are staying with us on Friday night so we will be a full house of 10.  There is some snow around so we might take the boys skiing for the day on Thursday (before NZ schools break up for holidays).

Our winter escape will be over all too soon.  Being in a remote location with little interaction with the outside world is a wonderful way to rest up and wind down.  I think even Will is managing to chill out a bit.  I might even finish a book or two.  I think next year I'll pack a quilting project for the nights by the fire.

Three words together that cause a stir

Well I'm not sure what to expect this Thursday morning.  I've invited a reasonably large number of girls on my mailing list to an open studio morning where I will have the Townmouse winter range on sale as well as some lovely Italian cashmere at wholesale prices.  And those three words together - Italian + cashmere + wholesale - seem to create quite a stir.

Through Will's Italian contacts his office was distributing this brand in Australia.  There is a small amount left which I am offering to my customers.  I'm rather excited about it, as it's really lovely stuff - the menswear particularly.  In my probably biased opinion the Italians do knitwear like no-one else can.  This brand is very classic and the colours are great.

Right now I have teetering towers of boxed knitwear in our front room.  My brother dropped in yesterday and picked up 5 pieces, my mother and father a couple each.  Will has been wearing one over the weekend.  My neighbours have also dropped in to raid the stash. 

It's not that easy to prepare for a large number of customers during school holidays.  I've got a little bit of help on Wednesday in the shape of a nanny to entertain the boys and a visit from my clever housekeeper to do what I don't do well - keep house. 

We shall see what Thursday brings.

Winter solstice

Ten years ago today I was here.  (Photos from here and here.)

I remember it so clearly.  As Will and I enjoyed the longest day of the year sitting outside this little restaurant in Rome, back home in Melbourne it was the winter solstice.  We were heading home in a couple of days so I said to Will, "Savour this moment, because in a few days we'll be back at work and back to a Melbourne winter."

We ate the best risotto we'd ever had, taken with a glass of wine and the gentle northern hemisphere sunshine.  It definitely was a moment to remember.

Via Margutta is a wonderful little spot in Rome.  Famous artists have had their studios here.  The cobbled street is dotted with artists studios today - sculptors, furniture restorers.  It really is very charming.  From memory I believe it was also the location of Gregory Peck's character's apartment in Roman Holiday.  Put it on your itinerary if you're lucky to be in Rome sometime.

Speaking of the winter solstice - Happy Birthday Jen.  I've always thought it curious that your birthday is in the dead of winter, when you're such a beach babe and lover of all things summery.  But on your birthday we are no longer heading away from last summer, we are heading towards next summer, which I know is a good thing.

Laundry bags

Earlier this week I had a call from a stylist that I have provided stock to in the past.  She wanted either a creche bag or laundry bag to photograph for a magazine article.

The laundry bag has been in my range for many years now.  I confess to finding it a very handy thing to have.  Mine lives in one of our overnight bags, so I never forget to take it away on weekends.  I love coming home from a weekend with the clean and dirty clothes already separated - it makes for a much better Monday.  I am rather tired of the denim however.

So when I received the product request it was all the motivation I needed to whip one up in some linen scraps.  It was a bit of a rush job though.  I even forgot to sew the pegs on!

 

I don't love it though.  The 'clothes line' is too heavy. I think I'll have a play around with either a gocco printed clothesline, or a fine chocolate wool embroidered chain-stitch.

Sewing for summer

Today I pulled out an old pattern from the Townmouse summer 2006/07 range and made a custom order.

This little top in pretty Liberty is now winging its way to Europe with a few other goodies for a little girl currently enjoying a northern hemisphere summer.

This pattern gave me a lot of grief at the time I developed it.  The perfectionist in me demands that the flutter sleeves are just so.  If there's too much gather or stiffness in the sleeves they stick straight out and dominate the garment.  So Liberty is perfect to achieve a soft and flattering sleeve, but then Liberty is perfect for so many things. 

Here is how the pattern appeared in the summer range two years ago.  I love this little grey spot.  It worked well with the linen skirt.  Most of my little customers went for the top in the pink colourways (which is no surprise), but the grey was my favourite.

Open studio morning

Wednesday is open studio morning.  Customers arriving at the studio spy this basket of Frill Jeans which sits in the window.

To keep me company between visitors I'm listening to the new Coldplay album.  You can preview it here.  I was enjoying it so much last night I stayed up until 2am.  It was quite a productive night.  Hopefully by the end of today I'll have some new creche bag options on the website.