Not long now

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Only three more sleeps until the grand opening of the fabulous Shop Handmade!

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I got a sneak peak when I dropped my stock off yesterday and in the words of the inimitable Lola from Charlie and Lola:

"I can't wait! I can't wait!"
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Shop Handmade

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Have you heard about Shop Handmade?

It's an offshoot of the wonderful Handmade Market, and will enable you to get your Handmade fix all year round - not that you will want to miss the wonderful atmosphere of the Handmade Market, of course!

Shop Handmade will be located located on City Walk in Canberra’s CBD, Allara St (on the corner opposite The Canberra Centre) and will open for business from 9am on Friday 16 April.

It's a fantastic concept and I know it is going to be simply amazing, so I am thrilled and extremely excited to let you know that selected Flibbertigibbet items will be stocked instore. I had lots of queries at Handmade as to whether Flibbertigibbet would be at Shop Handmade, so I suspect there are quite a few of you who will also be very happy at this news.

You can read more at the Shop Handmade Blog. I am sure you will agree that Shop Handmade promises to be fabulous!
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I know I've said it before ...

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but I really love Handmade Market.

Wow.

What a day.

Mama Goose and I had the.most.amazing.day at Handmade Market yesterday. It was one of those glorious Autumn days where Summer returns for an encore performance, we got the marquee up without assistance, our fellow stallholders excelled themselves in the talent and creativity departments, the wonderful customers just kept coming and we got the chance to do some shopping ourselves. Perfect! What more could we ask for?

Only the chance to do it all again ...

Yes! We'll be back at the next Handmade Market on Saturday the 5th of June at the same wonderful venue at the Kamberra Winery to do just that.

Hooray!

Here are some photos from our day:

"I'll just duck out to take some photos before it gets busy, OK?"

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Hmm, too late - it's getting crowded in there ...

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You know it is going to be a great market day when there
are so many customers that there isn't enough room for
both stallholders to be in the marquee

Yes it's true, we spent a large part of the day with only one of us inside the marquee, the other was assisting from outside. We even had a friend helping at one point - thank you Heather! It was such a fun day. I managed to snap a couple more photos, but we were just too busy after that.

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You can tell this is at the start of the day because
I still have lots of bracelets - they sold like hot cakes

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I did add some gorgeous paper mache easter egg decorations
to the tree, but didn't get the chance to take another photo. I thought of it when dismantling it at the end of the day, but I'd already packed the camera. Oh, and Mama Goose's last Ladybird Parade pinny you can see in this photo has sold
- a lucky customer beat me to it!

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I'd like to say a big thank you to Julie and the Handmade Team for making the day run so smoothly and successfully - love your work!

10, 9, 8, 7 ...

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Only just over a week now until Handmade Market!

You may already be aware that Handmade Market supports a number of worthy causes, and the one chosen for the upcoming market is the Neurofibromatosis Association of Australia. This cause is especially close to my heart, as my very own Little Poppet has been tentatively diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1)

While you may have never heard of it, NF1 is the most common neurological disorder caused by a single gene, and is estimated that 1 in 3,000 to 4,000 people worldwide have NF1. You can find out more information by clicking on the NFAA logo above.

Thank you Handmade.

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Magnetic attraction

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My covered button magnets were snapped by the very talented Annie La Rue and the resulting photo was featured in Anne's wrap up post about last Sunday's market on the Mathilda's Market blog.

Annie has also emailed me some more fabulous photos she took of my stock on the day, so here are some of them for your viewing pleasure:

Thank you Annie and Anne (and what fabulous names you both have! ;-) )

More exciting news!

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Mama Goose and I have just received some very exciting news! Goosey Gander and Flibbertigibbet have been accepted to be stallholders at the amazing Handmade Market here in Canberra on the 28th of March.

We've attended several Handmade markets as shoppers, and are just so, so excited to be attending as stallholders (although we'll still make time to shop, I'm sure!)

Click on the postcard above to be redirected to the Handmade Market website where you can read about the gorgeous new venue at Kamberra Wine Company and get a glimpse of some of the wonderful handmade products on offer. There is something for everyone at Handmade Market.

Under the big top (and some exciting news!)

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Today Mama Goose and I baptised our new marquee under a short and sweet sprinkling of summer rain. We've had the marquee for quite a few months now, but a low hanging tree branch above our allocated spot has thwarted our attempts to erect it. Fortunately the weather has been kind to us and all the protection we have required thus far was a hat and some sunscreen - during summer anyway, winter is a completely different matter!

Last night we dutifully checked the BOM website for Sunday's forecast:

Mostly fine until scattered showers and possible isolated

thunderstorms develop in the afternoon. Cloudy with

moderate east to southeast winds.

Hmm. We decided to take the marquee along, and due to some renovations going on at Hall, we were able to move a few feet to the side of our usual spot and - voila, up went the big top! Well, with a bit of help from our friendly neighbouring stallholders, who had much more experience with marquees than we did and took pity on us!

It was a very quiet day at Hall. I'm not sure if the threatening (but otherwise quite pleasant) weather kept customers away, but even the number of stallholders seemed fewer than usual. Mama Goose and I whiled away a very pleasant day chatting with customers, eating freshly popped Classic Kettle Corn from the stall next door (keep an eye out for their cheerful red marquee at a market or event near you, their 'slightly sweet, slightly salty' popcorn is absolutely delicious!) and discussing plans for our stall at the fast approaching Mathilda's Market.

With the 'moderate east to southeast winds' in mind, I secured

the tags in place with some ribbon and these gorgeous little

ladybird pegs. I've been hoarding them for, oh, about ten

years now - just waiting for the perfect use for them.

I think I've finally found it!

Here you can see one of Mama Goose's gorgeous new Pinny

designs hanging in the background, and some of the quilted

and denim handbags too. These bags are made exclusively

for Flibbertigibbet by my lovely and very talented

mother-in-law, Mary. I added a few new magnet designs

to the range too, and there are lots more to come!

The pegs were a great success, everything stayed

exactly where I intended.

Flibbertigibbet and Goosey Gander will be taking a break from Hall Markets for a few months. Mama Goose and I are very excited to announce that we have recently been accepted as stallholders at the Old Bus Depot Markets at Kingston, and we will be booking in for our first market there very soon. However we still intend to make further appearances at Hall from time to time. Our list of upcoming markets is on the right hand side of this blog and is updated regularly.