Blueberry Paper

I love the beautiful cards from Blueberry Paper. They're printed in Australia on recycled paper and the designs are whimsical and somewhat quirky. I have just ordered a few to stock up my greeting card box!

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Lamonster at Montage

Auntie E, Miss M and I have been doing a little bit of shopping lately for Miss M. She is growing fast and there is a gap in her wardrobe as far as winter clothes are concerned. She has been slow to grow and we have had months of wear out of her sized 00 onesies, but the cooler weather - when it shows up! - has meant that we have started to add lots of leggings and long sleeves to her wardrobe.

We have been searching for some lovely outerwear (to be the subject of another post) and today we had a look at the Montage Popup in Northbridge. There were many beautiful local and handmade items to enjoy, but my focus was on Miss M and I was excited to see a rack of Lamonster dresses. These gorgeous dresses are lovingly handmade here in Perth. Even better, the particular dress that I had been drooling over on Etsy (see below) was there on the rack and available to purchase! I snapped it up to add to Miss M's winter wardrobe, as well as a larger sundress that should see her through the winter and hopefully next summer as well.

As the weather gets cooler I plan to team the dresses - and in fact all of Miss M's dresses - with leggings and long sleeves. Happy days!

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Finding decent maternity clothes in Perth

I found it difficult to buy decent maternity clothes. In the end I gave up trying to find Australian made, as the choices were so limited! I also struggled to find maternity clothing that was cotton or wool or some other natural fibre. E and I went shopping on a day that was meltingly hot, and I kept seeing polyester clothes everywhere!

Dressing for work was easy, I was early pregnant in summer and starting to show as we went into autumn. I teamed company sponsored polo shirts (black) with black maternity skirts or pants.

As the weather cooled down and my belly expanded I moved towards dresses and tights. I bought three non maternity dresses that had enough stretch and length (barely!) to keep some sense of modesty, and kept warm with tights. I struggled to find maternity tights in any colour besides black, so ended up wearing regular tights scrunched under my belly for comfort!

I bought a couple of maternity singlets and wore these under everything. They were very handy to keep my belly warm and cosy.

For the last month that I was working, I moved back to head office in the Perth CBD!  While I was there I indulged myself - I grew sick of wearing boring blacks and blah greys, and purchased some primary coloured shrugs.  They brightened up my wardrobe with the added bonus of fitting me after our baby was born.

As far as sleepwear was concerned, I ended up wearing one of C's tshirts.  He is that much bigger than me that it easily covered my belly!

I purchased maternity specific clothes at the following stores:

• Room for Two - dress
• Ripe Maternity - skirts and pants
• KMartM - singlets
• Pumpkin Patch - skirts, dress, tshirt
• Myer - tights

inuk love

One of my favourite local labels is inuk.  Now that I have someone super special to dress, I can indulge! 

Little Miss M is super cool in her Starlight Onesie and looking forward to being super sweet when she grows into her Sugar & Spice dress.

It is not just for girls either, inuk can also dress your little man with style!

We cannot wait to see the inuk Autumn/Winter 2013 collection, due for release in March.

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It has been a while since I recorded any of my purchases, expeditions or desires! There has still been spending in my world, however the focus has changed. Home decor, maternity clothes and now baby products have been the staple purchases.

I have a bit to catch up on, so will take it one step at a time.

My Upmarket Haul

E and I had a very enjoyable Upmarket this time around. I am not sure if it was because the crowds were smaller or because I came planning to spend and E to save! Whatever the reason we got partway through the market and stopped spending as we had run out of cash. I bought from old favourites and found a few new favourites as well!

I have cards and wrapping paper from Huckleberry Hill, chocolate coated orange segments from Whistler's Chocolates, gorgeous organic cotton blankie and onesie from inuk designs, organic cotton tea towel with instructional message by Tex & Joe, and fabric pack form Old Grey House.

We also played a small part in supporting the food stalls and sampled chocolate macarons from Rochelle Adonis, chai latte from Chai Baba and a coffee.

Other special favourites include Mel P Designs, Miss Riseborough, Monster Alphabets, Mokoh Designs, Pigeonhole, Tall Rabbit and Future Shelter.

To be honest though there were so many lovely pieces that we were spoiled for choice. It was probably a good thing that we ran out of cash!

We learnt that Stacey from inuk designsand Marianne of Tex & Joe have combined to create Foxes of Fancy. Located in Mosman Park they "showcase uniquely designed earth friendly products including homewares, fashion, skincare and other truly unique products all handmade in Perth, Western Australia". It is now on E's and my list of places to check out!

Thea & Sami - Loads of Fishes!

I thought that these fish were so cute that I had to have them for my dinner table! The tea towel and napkins are linen and printed by Thea & Sami with water-based solvent free inks. Handily the napkins come in packs of four, and so two sets will be enough to set our table.

C is a keen fisherman and I could not resist them! It has been an age since we had a dinner party and these would be perfect for an event where fish is served. We have a few fish shaped platters and so we could quite easily execute a fish themed dinner.

If you do not already read Thea's blog, then I recommend that you do! It is full of colour and she regularly showcases other Australian artists, as well as giving an insight into her studio and the creative process.




It is a race now between my fish linen and my fabrics to see whether Brisbane or Melbourne is in fact closer to Perth!

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Ink & Spindle fabrics

Ink & Spindle are a boutique textile studio in Melbourne. I first ran across their fabrics at the Melbourne Design Market. That particular trip was noted for my purchase of cushions, as I went home with my spare bag full of three cushions and two cushion kits.

Ink & Spindle have many lovely designs however at the moment they are experiencing a supply issue and the available designs are limited. They make use of organic base fabrics and environmentally friendly, solvent free inks. The fabrics are screen printed by hand! I love the natural tones and bold prints, and am trying to figure out how I can convince C that we should use their fabrics to make curtains for our new bedroom.

These three patterns will be heading my way shortly. I am still looking for inspiration for the fabric for my footstool (no sense in rushing into things!), and I am thinking that I will grab the blue version of the Kangaroo Paw print once it is back in stock.

Rooftops on Tamarillo
Kangaroo Paw in Red Orange and Snow
Ginkgo in Black & White on Yak
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Montage in Northbridge

I was excited to learn today that Montage will be back again. This time around they will have a pop up shop in Northbridge. Montage are a collective of designers and artists from Perth. They have some lovely handmade pieces! I am looking forward to seeing what they have on offer.

The details from the On William website are copied as follows:
Montage Collective : Pop Up Shop
Posted by The William Street Collective Inc
From: 1st of July 2011
To: 31st of July 2011
Hours: Mon - Thurs : 10am-6pm
Friday : 10am-8pm
Friday : 10am-6pm
Sun: 11am-5pm
More Info: http://www.montagecollective.blogspot.com

If you go to their blog then you will learn that the address is 224 William Street.

E and I made it to the Fremantle Pop Up and we have a whole month to make sure that we get to the Northbridge Pop Up. We should manage it.

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Wandering up William Street

Yesterday evening I went for a wander up William Street. We had been in Northbridge for the afternoon for a team bonding session and after I felt that I had bonded enough with my work colleagues I set off in search of a shopping adventure. Yeah!

My first stop was New Edition Bookshop. I had not been into the store since it opened, more a reflection of how infrequently I go shopping these days.
(I just looked for the blog post that I wrote about the opening and learnt that it was back in December that they opened. I really must get out more.)

I love to read and I have an ever expanding collection of books. I tend to head to a certain (solvent) generic book store and pick up a book or two from their shelves. Lately though I have struggled to be inspired by the selection and it takes me a while to find something that I would like to read. Last night, whilst standing in front of the shelves of literature and New Edition I felt spoiled for choice! Eventually I settled on The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas but I now know where I will be heading when I have finished the 1243 pages.

New Edition list a Top 10 Books on their website. I was disturbed to realise that the only book on the list that I have read is not The Very Hungry Caterpiller as you might expect, but rather Lolita.

I could have stayed all evening in New Edition however I thought that I should check out the rest of the On William group.

Right at the end of my trek was William Topp. I was inspired by all of the pretty homewares and was reminded by their Otto & Spike selection of beanies and scarves and warm things that I in fact owned an Otto & Spike beanie that had not been worn yet this winter.

In amongst their collection of pretty items, including many Australian designed and made pieces, I was intrigued to find a couple of glass Sunbeam Mix Master bowls similar to the one that I have! I now know where to go if I (or C) ever break my small mixing bowl.

I added to my crafty book collection and purchase Vintage Fabric Accessories by Kaoru Ishikawa. It is a lovely collection of patterns for girly accessories like clasp purses, card wallets and bags. The book has gorgeous photos of different versions of the items in many fabrics as well as some great photos to illustrate step by step the process of following the patterns. Hopefully they will be simple and detailed enough for a novice like me to follow!

The other stores that I popped into were tu and Wild Lily Empire. The items that struck my eye in tu were gorgeous little onesies made in Australia by Urchin. The beautiful Australian made personal care products of Tonic Australia stood out for me in Wild Lily Empire.

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Going to market again

The year is rolling on and it is time for the next Upmarket!

Made on the Left is just after that, in a new venue in the Perth CBD.

June 26
Perth Upmarket
10am to 4pm at Winthrop Hall, The University of Western Australia

July 10
Made on the Left
11am to 5pm at one40william, Perth

Out on a Limb

E and I headed out today to check out a new lunch venue and shops! We made our way to Maylands and Sherbert Cafe and Bake Shop.

Before we had lunch, we visited a shop called Out on a Limb. A couple of handmade designers whose blogs that I follow, Red Revival and Eucalypt Homewares, have recently supplied goods to the store.

The store states that their "ethos is to sell predominantly australian and new zealand made eco friendly sustainable products and to support local artisan talents to create an interesting mix of gifts and homewares". Awesome!

E and I found many beautiful items to admire while we were there. I came away with a stack of Blueberry Paper cards. There were so many lovely designs to choose from and so I grabbed a handful!

The collection was eclectic, with an assortment of homewares, clothing and accessories. For more details best go to their facebook page, as they seem to update this with information on what is in stock.

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April Market

After the fun of the Angelo Street Fiesta in South Perth comes the Angove Street Fiesta in North Perth. I am hoping to find some more handmade goodies and yummy scrummy things to eat.

April 10
Angove Street Festival
10am to 4pm at Angove Street, North Perth

E and I are planning to head there and I think that she has a list of garage sales for us to attend as well! Should be fun.

Getting ready for winter...

It has been very warm here in Perth, with temperatures above 30C here for the last four months it feels like! Tomorrow is meant to be 21C and raining and so in honour of the coming winter I randomly ordered some tights. I am now looking forward to them showing up, and the weather being cool enough to wear tights.

I was inspired by this post. I had seen Tightology previously and checked out their website but I am fairly sure that the collection I looked at last year was mostly footless tights. In winter I like to have my feet covered and so the previous collection did not tempt me. I try to buy tights that are made in Australia and Tightology tick a few boxes. Their legwear is made in Australia using organic materials. The packaging is 100% recycled. Environmental inks. Awesome!

Here are the two styles that I ordered. Strangely I steered away from the green and yellow and have ended up with the muted colours of red and grey. Now, if they had blue tights with a pattern that I liked...



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Montage

A few weeks ago now E and I travelled to Fremantle to check out the Montage pop up shop. Sadly this pop up is closed now (I am a little slow with my postings) however they promise to come again soon and I look forward to it!

Montage are a collection of local designers and artists. In their pop up were many pretty things. I sadly had to make purchases of a practical nature and ended up with a birthday card and ironing board! The card was for someone else but the ironing board was for C and I. I picked up a lovely black and white print from Modern Homewares, similar to the picture above. Unfortunately our ironing board is just a little bit too big - it is a lunky thing - and so on my list of "exciting things to buy" is a new one.

If you are in Perth and like your local designers then please check out the Montage blog and keep an ear open for their next pop up. We have seen many of the collective at various handmade markets but it was great to see their products in a shop, rather than a 6 hour mad market. There should be more of it here in Perth!

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