questions & answers

Q: How many lollies are in the jar?

A: 310, plus 1 empty wrapper (I swear I know nothing about that).

Q: Who guessed the closest amount?

A: Amy Lee, who guessed that there were 315 lollies in the jar (Amy please check your email!).

Q: How do you put the jar back together once you've pulled it apart to get all the lollies out?

A: I'm still working on it....

Q: What am I going to do with 310 lollies????

A: There is no chance I am eating them, I ate way too many cookies on the weekend and am still coming down from the sugar rush.

2 sleeps to go!

Preparations are almost complete for the Finders Keepers market this weekend. Sewing has been done (well, mostly, there's still a little bit to finish off tomorrow). Cookies have been baked. And the house has been turned into a jumble of (organised?) chaos as all manner of stall props are pulled out from under the bed, behind the laundry door, inside my wardrobe, under the sofa, etc, etc.

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Oh! And the most fun part of the afternoon has been getting ready for a competition we'll be running over the weekend. A few weeks ago I scored an awesome red metal candy dispenser, the kind you put your coin in, turn, and have a lolly come out (except I jammed the coin slot trying to put a 5c piece in, oops!). Anyhow, I've been trying to think of a use for it since I got it, and today the perfect thing popped into my head - a 'Guess the Number of Lollies in the Jar' competition! So, I'll be bringing a full jar of jelly beans to the market with me, all you need to do is sign up to our mailing list (if you haven't already), place your guess, and then wait to see if you're the lucky winner! Alas, the winner won't receive all the candy (as it could be tricky to post) but you will receive a Rabbit & the Duck gift voucher to the value of $30.

PS. I'll try really hard not to eat any jellybeans out of the jar over the weekend, I promise.

my oh my

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How organised is this fabric stash? I am having some serious stash envy right now. I also love the little red and white dolls house sitting on top. I think it's time for a studio overhaul at Rabbit & the Duck HQ!

PS. Visit here to find out more about the person behind this stash : )

Getting Ready for Finders Keepers, Part 2

Yesterday I pulled out my stash of vintage fabrics to put together this limited edition range of Snap to it! wallets. I love how they turned out! My favourite is definitely the spotty teapots, though the fruit basket comes a close second. They are all lined with either vintage or thrifted fabrics - you can view the range over at our Facebook page. And a big thank you to Penny for suggesting this idea in the first place!

I couldn't let the scraps of fabric from the wallets go to waste, so I made a big pile of buttons.... (this is just a small selection, I pressed maybe 100 buttons by hand the other night!)....
Both the wallets and the buttons will be coming along to Finders Keepers this weekend, and will form part of a special vintage inspired section within our stall. I'll be bringing along a few of my favourite things from The Dotty Apron, such as my collection of knitting needles, some vintage fabrics, and of course a big pile of aprons. There are lots of pretty ones to choose from - I was lucky enough this week to unearth a stash of them tucked away almost out of sight in my local op shop. No vintage apron will escape me....

I'm still rummaging around trying to decide what other vintage treats to bring with me, so make sure you pop in over the weekend to see what I've found : )

mail day

What girl doesn't enjoy receiving a parcel in the mail? I love parcels filled with fabric, or other pretty things. I particularly love parcels that are packaged in an extra special way, such as these two that arrived on my doorstep this morning.

This one came all the way from India, and has a very pretty sari inside. But look! The sari is wrapped in a muslin bag, and the outside has been hand stitched closed. I'm surprised the stamps managed to stay fully attached to the front despite it's long journey. This one was too nice to just throw away, so it's now pegged to my inspiration board. Perhaps a new way to send out Rabbit & the Duck orders?

The outside of this package was a very lovely plain brown kraft paper. I love kraft paper, it brings back 'brown paper packages tied up with string' memories. I quickly tore this particular parcel open to get at the fabric inside, and instead was surprised to find these cute babushka dolls peeking out at me. I love little details like that.

It's the simple things that bring joy to my day : )

Getting Ready for Finders Keepers, Part 1

It's a crazy blur of cutting, sewing, ironing and trying to stay organised around here this week as the studio gets filled with lots of new stock ready to take to Finders Keepers on the weekend.

Here's a few new things that will be coming with us to the market:

New Journals!

Brooches!

Today I have pulled out my stash of vintage fabrics to put together a special range just for Finders Keepers... stay tuned!

down on the farm

How quickly time goes by! It's now been 2 weeks since my farm escape and finally I'm able to share some images with you...

Sunrise....

This parrot and their mate followed me on my morning walk - they are tame enough to feed by hand, so they must have thought I had parrot food with me. Every time I walked forward a few metres they would fly to the next tree and look down at me with a 'are you going to feed me' look. Well, that's how I interpreted the look : )

The market garden. There are tomatoes, pumpkins and zucchini's growing there.

Did I mention zucchini? There were so many of them.... we would spend hours picking them and then wake up the next day to discover more had grown overnight!

Renee got to wear the spotty gumboots. I wish my feet were tiny enough to fit into them : )

I love the open space of the bush. And the trees. I'm trying to figure out if I can bring some of this into my apartment. Hm. Market garden on the roof of the shed perhaps? Either that or I need to move to the country : )

Have a lovely Sunday!

x

7 things

I was tagged this week by the lovely Yaga from The Shiny Bubble, who awarded Rabbit & the Duck a Stylish Blogger Award. Thanks Yaga!

The rules are to share 7 things about me that you might not know, so here goes:

1. I have a collection of Peanuts comic books. I have a soft spot for Lucy in particular, and even have a tattoo of her on my back : )

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2. I was born in Queensland and lived there until just after I finished university. I then lived in Adelaide for a few years before making the move to Melbourne.

3. I graduated university with a degree in town planning! I then realised that working in an office wasn't for me. Oops.

4. My vintage apron collection is getting out of hand. At last count I have 30+ aprons in my apartment.

5. I used to work at IKEA. As a result, I have an apartment full of IKEA furniture and sometimes feel like I'm living in an IKEA catalogue.

6. My favourite flower is a sunflower. They always make me smile.

7. I don't own a TV. Besides the fact I can't fit one into my apartment (the TV cabinet is now overflowing with sewing notions), I've actually discovered that I don't miss it. I'm now thinking of getting rid of the microwave and using that space for my expanding vintage Pyrex collection...

Now, I'm meant to tag 7 more people, but instead, I'd really love to find out some interesting things about all of you : ) So please leave a comment and tell us something funny, or weird, or whatever you like, about you : )

Happy weekend x

new dress a day

And then there was internet... cables have been plugged back in and a new modem has been successfully installed by me (on my own - I was a little bit pleased with this new-found ability).

Anyhow, I've been catching up on blog reading, website browsing, and all those other things I haven't been able to do for the past week. One thing I wanted to share was this great project called 'New Dress A Day'. Marisa has vowed that for one year she will not buy any new clothing. Instead, she will rework preloved pieces she has found at thrift stores, flea markets, or that have been donated to her. Each day she adds one new piece to her wardrobe - on a budget of $1 a day! Pretty impressive! Here are some of my favourite before and after shots:

Before...
After...
Before...
After...
All images from New Dress A Day.

As if I need another excuse to head to the local op shop this morning!