last minute crafting (aka priorities all wrong)

I should be packing. I should at least be making lists. But I can't stop sewing! Its a disease!
I am inspired by this new use of FOE (fold over elastic) and this stunning new echino print - this is a gift for a friend's daughter down south but I have many more of these in me:

You're just going to have to imagine it ironed, unshadowed and without the dirty cupboard as a background!

And birthday presents for my mum (mum if you are reading this, stop....):

Now this you're going to have to imagine this rotated clockwise! A-line skirt. The fabric is from Maningrida. Hand silk screened on linen.

back applique:

and a bag to match:

and an inner pocket from that (?) Marrimekko rip off recently found at Spotlight (anyone else?). Sorry the bird looks decapitated - its just the angle.

Ok. Feel purged now. Thanks. Better go pack.

Local crafts rule

I love Darwin - I love its personality, culture and sweaty nature. But as a crafty blogger it can sometimes feel really really far away from all the bloggy crafty down south action and funky independent fabric shops. And that's why it was such a treat to meet Bianca Jae at the Mararra craft fair on the weekend. We bought one of her fabulous chalkcloth rollups which has been a hit with both kids ever since:

I have met a handful of lovely local crafters now - in my more Virgo moments I am having dreams of a big (or small) Top End sewing convention thingy for those who sew and blog and sell stuff. A bit like Sew It Together. So we can get technical and talk geeky stuff like fold over elastic and echino furuya and stitch selection and other scintillating topics. Anyone keen?

Spacey

Ah its been a rocker of a week with a break in (bad) and then a miraculous return of our most precious possession - family photos (on the laptop). I would not believe it if it hadn't happened to me. I have crafted birthday presents - a skirt for my beautiful sister and a kindle cover for my wonderful dad. And the countdown to holidays has begun, with the charts to be crossed off on the fridge and the list making commenced.

So, one last mangolime thing before we head off on holidays - I have donated a small rockets mangolime nappy to the online auction being held by the Childbirth Education Association Darwin as a fundraiser. There is a heap of wonderful stuff there up for auction, for a good cause. Bidding begins at 8pm tomorrow night (Sunday November 28th).

Mangolime will be closed from December 8th to January 18th - wishing you all the most wonderful Chanukah, beautiful Christmas, happy happy holiday and a peaceful and safe new year.

Random

And now for something completely diferent:

It is the end of mango season, they are rotting on the streets, but never fear there is even more tropical fruit delights to replace them! So, on Sunday we ate rambutans. It is such a Dr Seussish fruit - just had to share the beauty.

Last mangolime stocking for the year!

Don't know about you, but I am ready for my the last mangolime stocking for 2010...and what a year it's been. I won't get all reflective on you now, will save that for mangolime's 1st birthday party in February 2011!

So this stocking has all your favourite nappies, as well as a couple of new dresses and the new line of shorts which I am loving making. So many ways to use all my beautiful fabric. Love it.

There's a few new nappy prints:

All items are now able to be previewed on the site, and will be able to be purchased from 7.30pm Central Standard time, so, for the chronologically challenged, that's:

• 7.30 pm for NT
• 9pm for NSW, ACT, Victoria and Tassie
• 6pm for WA
• 8.30pm  for SA
• and 8pm for Queensland
• (ahhh the madness of it all)

 After this stocking, and maybe, just maybe, some custom slots available through my facebook page only), mangolime is off on a loooong holiday, sashaying our way down the south east coast and across and down again and across the Tasman, playing with lovely old friends and family along the way. We so so need this holiday, I cannot tell you! We'll be back in January but then its all about school and work and cleaning up the Wet-season mould for a while so I can't imagine much sewing will happen till February. Will keep you posted. Hope your day is happy!

Feeling the love

There is a mother's group in Darwin where all (or almost all?) the babies are proud mangolime wearers. This group must be the nicest mother's group in Darwin, not just on account of the good taste of its members(obviously), but also because everyone I meet from this group just seems to be so ...well...nice! They did a photoshoot of all the bubs in their mangolime nappies a little while ago, and I've only just gotten around to posting it now. I cannot tell you how much happiness this photo brings me. How cool is this?

And the flipside...

Now if I was in the running for a mother's group, this would be my top pick. Thanks Tanya and Jackie ♥

Excuse me while I get a bit ruffly

I am not much of a girly girl when it comes to fabric and designs. You won't see much in the way of lace or pastels or that kinda thing around here. But....I have a newfound love of the ruffle. Especially since discovering my overlocker can do gathering (have I told you how much I love my babylock?). So here are some more shorts/capris, but this time with a ruffle cuff. They have a double gauze designer ruffled cuff with a rolled hem, high rise for cloth bums, finished seams, and a gathered round back pocket trimmed with ivory satin ribbon. Just because. Size 1. More of these to come I think, in the November stocking. If you like them?

Shortstuff

Lately I've been getting in to making shorts - as well as nappies and dresses. They are linen blends with reversible cuffs from all my fave designers, with pockets and a high rise in the back to cover the cloth booty bums. I'll be stocking these and more later this month, for my last stocking of the year before we head off on our road/air/sea trip.

And today I'm finishing off a pair of ruffly shorts dsign for girls which, if I were only several decades younger, I would be keeping for myself. I love them. Will post pics later, depending on how tolerant Arlo is today with me.....(he should be super tolerant considering I slept on a 20cm sliver of bed last night after he crwaled into our bed following a nightmare (apparently it was about a "broken chair".... must have been terrifying.)

To custom or not to custom - that is the question.

One of the way I have managed to keep my life under control, and not to let mangolime swamp me completely, is to not do custom orders. For those who aren't sure, "customs" is basically where a customer orders the item (nappy, dress etc) that they want, from a selection of available materials. It is a great way of making sure some people get exactly what they want, but it also means that you are working under deadlines rather than producing what you choose, in the quantities you can and you when you can. Instead, I have opted for the "stockings" way - where I make however many nappies I can each month or so, and then its first in gets them. I figured this is a fair way to make sure everyone gets at least a chance to get a mangolime item, and also guarantees that I can remain semi-sane as I'm setting my own deadlines. (How's that working for me? Might need to ask the mangolime family for the answer to that one!)

But....I am always getting emails and requests for custom nappies, and this month I broke my 'no customs' rule and made a custom for someone, and then in the spirit of newness I opened up 3 custom slots on facebook which were snapped up quick as a wink. I think I will probably do this every now and then, as it is nice to meet someone's needs completely isn't it? I think at this stage I will do it through the facebook page only. (So if you're not a fan, maybe its time?!)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!


In the meantime, here are the customs for this month which have gone out to Michelle, Kylie and Justine:

I have also opened up 3 custom slots on dresses which have not yet been snaffled, the details are here. May be cheeky for a Jewish girl to say so, but wouldn't these be great Christmas gifts?

For Ruby

I have just (almost) finished a dress for a very old and lovely friend's little niece Ruby. I can't stop staring at this cotton/linen fabric it is so so beautiful and full of the most whimsical little details. The dress is an A-line pinny style (still to be snapped), with a lined bodice in contrasting fabric, decorative top stitching etc etc. I added a strip of green birds in flight from another matching fabric to the bottom of the back and I love how its turned out. How nice to know there will be a mangolime wearer in New Zealand!

New stocking . . .

Hi all

I have some new nappies made up and they will be able to be purchased on Monday at 7.30pm CENTRAL Standard Time (now that we have daylight savings, that is 8pm in Queensland, 9pm in NSW, ACT, Tassie and Victoria, 8.30pm in SA, and 6pm in WA...I think.). You can preview them on the site now.

There are mostly medium nappies and a couple of smalls and larges. I am still putting the finishing touches on my new pants/shorts/capris . . so they may have to wait a little bit longer. There are still a few dresses available and one last nappy wallet! I'll do more of them soon too.

It seems that I have birds on the brain (or am just a birdbrain quite possibly) - without planning it many of this month's nappies feature birds, and in fact many of the fabrics in my stash and birdy. Maybe it is because we recently got chickens?


So, I am by no means a twitcher, but I do love these images...

And to continue with the thematic journey, I am having a love affair with my new little scissors which are in the shape of, you guessed it, a bird! I know these are just a cheep-cheapy (get it!) spotlight buy, but with their faux vintage brassy tones I do like to imagine they have been in my family for generations, passed down through the maternal line....Ah the things that get you through all the snipping.





Wanna see the rest of the nappies on offer this month?

Ahhh and now its raining. Gotta love a build up that feels like The Wet!

october's mangolime model

This photo is a month old now but still takes the cake, I think. This is Mietta (love that name) in her mangolime cherry nappy and matching applique top. Mietta is the daughter of a dear old friend of Mr Mangolime, and we hope to meet this squishable poppet in real life in Melbourne soon! How can anyone resist such all-encompassing happiness?

going slightly potty

Now it may be weird to write about toilet training on what is really a blog about nappies (amongst other things) but we here at mangolime are going through a spot of it at the moment, and it is proving harder than I remember with Mr J. I seem to remember him announcing one day he wanted to use the toilet and wear 'big boy undies', and that was it (with the usual accidents now and then).

With Mr A its a bit of a different story. He says he wants to do it (which I know is the main reason to start), and he's pretty good with wees after much prompting, but the poos always end up dragging down his new undies (which, by the way, have fighter jets on them, not just planes but fighter jets, bought practically over my dead body but they were the only ones that fit. Meanwhile the girls' undies have stars and rainbows, but of course there are none in his size. I just hate not only that undies (undies?!) are gendered, but that they are gendered in such a girl = peace, boy = war and violence way.) Just saying.

He is, however, very chuffed about the whole thing, particularly the liberally dispensed treats upon potty successes, and the phone calls to the toilet training fairy to report on progress. And, despite the war-mongering design, the undies.

A: I have undies.
Me: Yes you do.
A: I look very comfy.

So....any tips on toilet training greatly appreciated over here!

Caydence

Here is another little mangolime model. I love seeing my nappies in action. This is Caydence in her Pop Garden Medium nappy - she is nearly 6 months. Thanks Justine for sharing the love....

Stocking tomorrow

The stocking of new nappies and dresses will be on tomorrow (Tuesday September 21st) at 8pm Central Standard Time. All items can now be previewed on the site. Hope you get smething you want! Remember for locals you can pick up your items and not have to pay postage, just click request totals and send me a message to let me know.

Finally.....mangolime dresses

I cannot tell you how much fun I am having making mangolime dresses. I have been pondering this for a long long time, and experimenting, and sourcing and accumulating fabric (my top skill), and have finally got to the point of actually making some dresses. I tell you what - I am on a roll. I love making these beautiful, wearable, pieces of art. Mostly they are a walking ode to Etsuko Furuya, my favourite designer of all time. The full details will be on the mangolime website in a couple of days when I stock (I have not yet put them up on the site), but the two styles are a peasant dress and a pinafore style, both of which can be worn as dresses or tops. I have done a couple of photo shoots with my beautiful little friends and nieces and feel ready to launch this new line! I hope you like it. I am starting off with 5 special dresses, and have so many more fermenting in my head. These will be available at the next stocking along with a new batch of nappies, which at this stage, depending on Mr Mango's imminent return and hence return of some me-time, is looking like Tuesday night.

(Don't those little pudgy arms just reach out of the screen and say "squish me! you know you want to!"???)

Am loving this function on our new camera bought in Singapore - Did I tell you we went to Singapore? The function highlights one colour of your choice, which doesn't give a totally accurate image of the product as it leaves out all the other beautiful colours, but it makes for a gorgeous nostalgia shot, especially with all that coordinating bougainvillea!

and just because i can't resist another one of my littlest niece Amelie, the easiest baby in the whole world to babysit:

Singapore - the land of breakfast, breakfast, lunch, lunch, dinner, dinner....and tiffin

Mr Mangolime and I had such a good time in Singapore. It is amazing to just be a couple again, without all the non-stop super-consciousness necessitated by having kids. We felt so indulgent and selfish, sleeping in, walking lots (no little voices: I'm tiiiiiired), looking at museums (no little voices: I'm booooored), eating (no little voices: this is spiiiiiicy and yuuuuky), shopping (no little voices: I just did a wee on the floor!), and lots of other fun stuff. The children had a wonderful time with their beautiful cousins and lovely aunties, uncle and grandparents - we are so lucky to have such support. 

Singapore truly is the land of good food. How can you not love a city where every time you turn a corner there is another food hall? It is my perfect place. We gorged on masala dosa, vadai, vegetarian thali, yum cha, more masala dosa, banana prata, all washed down with lassis and lime juice. Yum.

In between meals, I did search a bit for fabrics. Apart from Malin Textiles which had some cute Japanese stuff, most of what I saw was synthetic. Oh well.....looks like I may need to go to Tokyo next!

a plumber's house is always leaky

I'm sure its the same for anyone else who makes stuff to sell - their own kids run around in shabby crap and they wear whatever is not in the wash. People expect me and my kids would have a beautiful handmade wardrobe, but the reality is Little Mr A gets all the nappy seconds and the pile of beautiful fabrics that I want to make into skirts for myself just keeps getting bigger and bigger....one day. Sometimes it takes a last minute clothes crisis to spurn me on, and a national conference at which I am giving the opening welcome was just the thing I needed!

I love this hand screenprinted fabric from the Babbarra Women's Art Centre of Maningrida in East Arnhem Land, featuring long necked turtles and lily pads. I have some more fabric from the Centre that I will whip up into skirts, next time I feel the pressure! And yes, that champagne went down VERY well....

mango season

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging - its all been a whirlwind here of conferences, visitors, the Darwin festival, family, projects and the election I can't even bring myself to talk about....

And although we are sad to see the end of the Dry (and what a crappy Dry it was), and although we are dreading the build-up which seems to get worse every year (or is it just our tolerance declining?), we are oh so happy to see, touch, smell and gorge ourselves on this season's mangoes. Yum. Little A has a permanent orange stain around his mouth - looks a bit like Homer Simpson. Little J makes this groany sound as he tucks into a mango which is nothing but the 6 year old chime of pure pleasure.

It is both scary and exciting that Mr Mango and I are off to Singapore on Friday for a child-free weekend! I've never been to Singapore before. Don't suppose anyone knows of any fabric shops there (or any other recommendations)?

When I'm back I promise to fill you in on all the gaps - how I made a new skirt one night in utter desperation, doona covers for the twins, hopefully a Singapore stash, and the next mangolime stocking.

August stocking...finally!

And finally we have a June July August stocking. I am sorry about the delay. I really want to do more regular stockings but it is so hard to squeeze everything in, so I hope this one is worth the wait. The stocking will be on this Monday at 8.04pm Central Standard Time, and all items can now be previewed on the site. There are a few nappy wallets as well as nappies. Some old fave prints and some newbies too.....

I've had a few request for wetbags and swim nappies too......Do you think I should try my hand at those?