'tis the season...for consuming

the minnie mouse side of dress 3.  oh and merry christmas from the de Greenlaw kiddies.

aaah christmas.  not to get all bah humbug but with every passing year you get more about 'giving' and less about family, love and relaxing.  growing up christmas was the shizz.  we got six weeks off school, i got a heap of presents and we went on our annual road trip to sydney.  as i got older christmas became more special because no matter how much my parents fought during the year on that one day we all came together and had a day when none of that mattered.  my favourite christmas's were the ones that were just the melbourne family, just the four of us eating tinned oysters on the beach or yogo for breakfast then watching silly movies all day.  now that i'm a 'big girl' all i can think about is whether i'm going to get all my pressies sorted in time and how early is too early to make an escape from christmas lunch with my dad and his new partners family.  it's not that i don't like my dad's lady friend, i really do, it's just that christmas does not hold that magic for me anymore.  i would so much rather just hang out with my best mates who i consider to be my real family.
and don't even get me started on the whole presents thing.  i could count on one hand the things i have recieved that were exactly what i wanted and completely awesome.  it's become so important to just have something, anything, to give on the big day that we just hand over dollars by the fistful without even thinking about it.  i know i would appreciate a thoughtful handmade card and a donation to a charity a million times more that any gift basket or trinket that i will never wear.  maybe that's just me...i guess it will come as no surprise then that i am making all my gifts this year.  and as per usual i haven't started sooo this week is going to be a flurry of stitching and pasting and baking.  i feel at this stage that i have it loosely under control but i will report back...

the pretty pink summertime side of dress 3.  as to what's going on in this photo all i can say is that my bro and i are making a calendar for dad.  can't really explain why we chose to do this for March...

on a completely different topic dress 3 is almost done.  i wore it to the chrissie party and on the weekend, all it needs is a bit of tulle on the hem and it will be ready to party the summer away.

such a big weekend for such a little girl!

one of the major motivations to start this whole thing was to de-clutter my life.  so far my room, my haven, has remained as messy and war zone like as before i'd started the challenge.  this is a major cause of stress.  as much as i love to retreat to my room it makes me sad when i look around and there is nothing but shit as far as they eye can see.  i decided to make some inroads into this problem by holding a market stall on saturday.  i was ruthless when going through my clothes.  previously i had three large racks stuffed to the brim as well as a comprehensive floor-drobe and several shelves just full of STUFF.  i was super happy with myself as i managed to whittle it down to just one rack.  i didn't realise how emotional the process would be though.  as i placed each item in the hallway to sell, memories came flooding back as to when and where i had bought it and the good times i'd had in each piece.  these feelings had been one of the major causes for my hoarding and i knew i just had to let it go.  who cares if i bought it overseas or kissed a cute boy in it or danced til dawn in it.  the memories remain, i don't need a physical reminder to reflect on good times had.  besides a lot of the clothes where from the 'thin' days and i really don't need to fool myself into thinking that there will be a return visit to the fabulous skinny me.  just torture really.

our lovely friend lauren dropped by

  so carla and i i trundled off to the fitzroy market, with help from the awesome brandon and his wonderful truck and the love interest, and set up shop.  unfortunately it wasn't as busy as i would have liked and i only sold about a quarter of my stuff.  oh well i made 175 buckeroos to put in to the overseas fund and had a lovely day.  could have done without the horrendous sunburn though...

little nicky came to visit.  didn't buy anything but did complain excessively about the heat.  

then today (sunday) i had the first ever meeting of my sewing club!  yay!  after putting it off several times it finally happened and was a resounding success.

kim and carla cut out their patterns.

i really do love sewing.  i know that it comes easily to me because i have been doing it for so long but it does make me sad that so many of my friends don't know how to sew.  so i thought since it's just about the only skill that i have i may as well share the love.  kim, alex, bri, carla and my mum all turned up today brimming with enthusiasm and fire in their bellies.  and i have to say that i was like a proud little mother hen when they modelled their finished pyjama shorts.

snowy's sweatshop

despite a slight hiccup in the sizing of the shorts they all looked fabulous.  we used a pattern for mens pyjamas but i'm not sure what man was supposed to wear them because they came out blood restictingly tight.  not to worry though a cheeky little panel down each side and we were in business.  we had so much fun in fact that a second date has been arranged for two weeks from now and perhaps i'm a little over confident but i have slated a shift dress as the next project.  hurrah for handmade!

awesome shorts!  where did you get them?  oh you made them... how clever!