You have called my bluff!

Alrighty, thanks to Ms Stitchbird, I now have 200 followers and I did say I'd celebrate didn't I! Truth-be-told I'm a bit stumped, I don't want to do a bog-standard give-away but on the other hand they're good fun. A sew-along was suggested and I was all keen on that but then I couldn't think what I could do and frankly I can never get my ass in gear to do one, and while I expect my readers are a lot more proactive than me, I'd have lingering doubts anyone was actually sewing. Anna suggested blog candy - now I'm not sure what that entails exactly, but it caught my imagination and I'm mulling over a couple ideas and I'll get back to you all soon I hope!

On Monday a very good friend I hadn't seen in ages came to visit so with the Design*Sponge guide to Auckland in hand we headed out and oh what a fine time we had! The first stop was the Lucy-Mae Sparkle Boutique in Grey Lynn. I used to go by that spot on the bus every day but haven't for ages so it was nice to find something new and exciting in such a familiar spot. It was seriously fabulous - from the steps that were sprinkled with glitter and loose buttons (so glad Hazel wasn't with us, I'd have had to bodily carry her past those or she'd have picked them all up!) to the masses of jars, bags and tins of buttons, the trim, the vintage fabric, the embroidered and crocheted doilies and goodness knows what else we missed! There's also a great selection of funky clothes and accessories made from the vintage goodies. I particularly liked the circle skirts made from old tablecloths! I found Hazel a lovely old wicker sewing basket for her birthday, I'm going to clean it up, replace some of the lining, and fill it with little goodies. It came loaded with bits 'n bobs but as Mat said, lots of them were sharp :) I was going to make a sewing box with Chez Beeper Bebe's tutorial, so I think I'll just adapt the ideas to this pre-existing box as best I can. No photos of it because I haven't had a chance to photograph it while Hazel's not around. I also picked up some lovely embroidered linen napkins and a cool old doily. The doily may or may not be salvageble as it's obviously been sitting in one spot for ages so has a pale circle in the middle where something was on it and the rest has gone sort of brown from age and light exposure. The fabric is in good nick though, so I'll be searching the internet for ideas on how to approach it - if anyone has suggestions I'd be most grateful. I also found a length of a very cute orange floral fabric that I'm going to make a dress for Hazel from. I know there's a term for the fabric, it has lines of puckering running along it - seersucker? Anyways, it's cute.

We also went to Salvage in Mt. Eden, which is along similar lines but is closing down at the end of next month! Sure, I finally get there and it's leaving. Accordingly she doesn't have a lot of stock but it was still wonderful. I almost got there a couple years ago but it was closed when I went past so missed out. I've always been a bit nervous of going in in case I spent too much money, and looking at the photos from the shop pre-moving I think I may have been wise in that regard! I bought the lovely pink flannel in the photo above to make some pjs for Hazel, and a couple of kitschy kid's hankies so she can blow her nose just like daddy.

Of course, being in the locale I had to go into Global Fabrics and found some Donna Karan fabric to make a shirt for Mat. I got him some fabric he liked for his birthday but wanted to test out the pattern (yes it's Kwik Sew!) before I cut into it. This one also meets his approval so he's now pestering me to make two shirts instead of just one :P

I also got a couple of panels of a rather Marimekko style fabric to make a skirt. I took a photo of it today but realised when I put it on my computer that the reds and oranges have totally blown out and you can't see the difference between them so I'll have to try and re-photograph it. The lozenges have orange and red circles in them and there are orange and red stripes at the bottom. But boy you wouldn't know it from this photo!

It's interesting that this has happened because Pioneer Woman did a great post last week about it happening in her photos and there were some very useful tips in the comments on how to avoid it or at least minimise it, I must go and read them again.