Cheeky faces

My goodness its been a long, long time. I am finally coming out of a completely cursed interlude - involving cyclones, floods, power cuts, car crashes (my fault. minor.), crying on random stranger's shoulder in supermarket carpark (following car crash. so not me.) and general malaise. The absolute worst thing was Arlo broke his little 2 year old leg. It feels so horrible just to write that. It was the smallest, most everyday fall, from standing height, on to carpet. But there you go. Apparently "toddler fractures" are pretty common. he is the bravest, most cheerful, zen-like creature I have ever known - drags his fire-engine red cast around behind him in a bum-shuffle crawl and has not complained once. Not once. He is awe-inspiring.

I have decided that the cursedness is now finished. There shall be no more curses! Yesterday we went out and bought a new king sized bed and mattress. (King!!! Luxury!) I'm not sure why this signifies something but it does. My next stocking will be pretty soon, and I have a full day of sewing (without little helpful fingers) on Wednesday. And tomorrow I get to hang out with new blogland/IRL crafty friends which will be food for the soul I just know it. Happy now. Much much happier.

And I am now finally putting up some happy mangolimer photos from way back. This one is my sister-in-law's sister's son Sebastian modelling his mangolime t-shirt- does that make him my sort of nephew-in-law? I'm gonna claim him anyway as he is so so cute:

And this one is my newest little cousin Zac. He is a wakling (crawling?) advertisement for having 3 kids - we kept forgetting he was there when we stayed with our lovely cousins in Sydney. Of course with his beautiful smile he cannot stay uncuddled for long.

Hmmmm.....clucky.

Many happy returns

On Friday February 11th mangolime turns the ripe old age of 1. Yippee! What a year its been, lots of learning and experimenting and happiness feelings, as well as a dash of stress and juggling-overload. But it feels like so much a part of my life now that I can't imagine not doing it. If that makes sense.

Anyway, to celebrate.

I am going to do a sale of all the current stock in the store - everything that is now up in the shop can be previewed, but won't be on sale till Friday. The sale will last for 3 days, so if you buy anything in that time it will be 25% off. Happy Birthday!

I am also going to do a birthday giveaway/comp for one lucky fan on my facebook page, once we hit 300 fans. If you are already a fan, thanks for that, and can you tell your friends? If not, why not come and join us? If you absolutely hate facebook and refuse to join even though you love mangolime, I get it. Really I do. But maybe you have a friend on facebook who has no scruples (but a fabulous sense of style) and could join for you?

The giveaway will be one of my new skirts, which will also feature in my next stocking (coming up in a couple of weeks). Here is one of them being gloriously twirled by my little friend Audrey, who shared her farmland paradise with us on our recent holiday.

The blurry foot is as a result of ABBA dancing, much of which was done on this holiday. I never realised I knew all the words to Chiquitita.

Harnessing the Virgo within

I had the best day today - a day off from my real job (which I do love) to spend on my mangolime job. The wonder and glory of being able to create 9-5! Loved loved loved it.

I spent most of the day cleaning up though. I decided that only fabric that I love can stay, all other fabric, despite its inherent beauty, must go. So after a big destash on facebook, I am left with only my favourites. The ones that inspire me to create. The survivors have all been disciplined into mini-bolts, an excessively Virgo concept which I embrace entirely. If you'd like a how-to, check here. I need to blog these pics as I can't imagine my space will ever look like this again.

Isn't that a joy to behold! I may turn into a Nigella equivalent and rub my hands up and down the little shelves in pleasure.....(as she does in her pantry. I would do that too if I had a pantry. But that's another story.)

Wanna have a closer look?

There is some order to this. The top left shelf is designer cottons, and the one to the right of that is mostly home dec weight - Ikea and my all-time favourite Jessica Jones. Just looking at it makes me happy.

Some more designer cottons and then some of my upcycled vintage fabrics. More of these are on the line. Not quite sure where to put them....oh the trials.

Mmmmmmm......Echino.

But wait. There's more.

More Echino that is. And oh look! Space for even more Echino! How convenient....

Then there's all the solids (linen) and coordinates. To the right of this shelf is the outcast fabric that does not get the royal mini-bolt treatment, silently suffering in their daggy little piles. Poor things. There are other shelves with scraps and notions and patterns and drill and solid cottons, but they don't look like this soI'm not gonna show you. It'd tarnish the image. And we can't have that.

I have also put all my ribbons, self cover button stuff and bias binding in jars:

Shiny. Happy.

So overall it looks a little something like this:

Not quite A Room of One's Own, but good enough for me. And with this view how can I complain?

Thanks for indulging me.

I'm gonna go back to checking on Cyclone Yasi now and sending positive thoughts to the FNQers....