this is where yknot? designs will be ...

the mad XMAS rush

I have so many things going on at the moment, the crazy weeks are just beginning ... Magnolia Square being one of them, you will be able to see me in two states over the next two weeks, the first event is in Adelaide at the gorgeous Norwood Concert Hall.
I have been busy making some great new products that I am sure will be a big hit!!

new post

Wow! Long time no post, can you believe a month has passed by, what have I been doing??

Well ... I have had a few markets, Red Hill and Magnolia Square, a monster virus invaded my computer (very annoying!) and I have been developing some new products.

My busy time is fast approaching and I am going to find myself in two states (SA and VIC) and two markets (Magnolia Square Adelaide and Christmas at the Studio - Merricks Nth) at the same time.

A week later I will also be in two places at once,
Red Hill December Market and Magnolia Square St Kilda.

How do you manage stock for four events?
How do I know what will sell?
Any ideas let me know...

But apart from that tomorrow night I will be at the
Malvern Primary Twlight Christmas Market, showing all my lovely yknot? designs.

Hope to see you there!
Em xx

a wedding

It was a glorious weekend, the weather on the Mornington Peninsula was beautiful. A perfect time for a wedding, my cousin got married. It was the first time my girls had seen a 'bride' and they weren't disappointed.
She looked gorgeous ... dress, flowers, hair, everything ... even the venue was beautiful and they had the perfect Friday afternoon.

... yes a wrist cuff/bracelet ...

After chatting to a friend at Red Hill Market, she informed me that it took her ages to work out what the image was of in my photo.

Obviously I have necklaces on the chair and a belt, but the other item was a mystery ...

Let me explain, it is a fabulous NEW wrist cuff or bracelet, made from some gorgeous fabrics, lots of frills and joined around the wrist with press studs. I have them in both collections and truly believe you will love them.

Come and see my them and other great products at Magnolia Square
October 21, 22 and 23.

school's back ...

This is what my kids have spent a great deal of time doing on the holidays, and yes it was by choice!! Both of them are mad for 'monkey bars' or just 'bars' as the 10 year old says, and because we don't have any they improvised
(as kids do).
The trampoline gets moved under the flying fox line and they hook themselves over the cord and they do 'tricks', it has kept them entertained for hours and I (and any visitor) have spent many minutes/hours watching the latest trick/flip.


We have had a great holiday, visit to the Peninsula Hot Springs, weekend at Phillip Island, many sleepovers, a couple of movies and heaps of other things!!

But we are ready to go back to school ... I really need more time at the sewing machine!!

a beautiful Sunday ...

What to do on a perfect October Day? Gardening/Weeding ...

For my friends and family (and fellow bloggers!) here is a picture of our front garden bed - without weeds!
(It's amazing I know)

Kind father-in-law and equally kind husband weeded this garden bed this morning and what a difference it has made, I plan on mass planting some grasses and then back filling with mulch (of course).
My job was to take all weeds to fire pile and prune trees, which I hope will grow more now that they are not being suffocated by weeds.

old & new images ...

After reading the Mag Sq post about the Polaroid tool that you can use
I decided to give it a go and here are the results.
I used an old photograph of myself, wasn't I cute, missing teeth and all!!

and also a picture from my current range!
I love the results, something different and fun.

our tree

While I have been busy sewing and making stock for upcoming markets,
our tree has been slowly coming to life!
This is the view as you look out our main window, the most gorgeous tree ever, and the beginning of Spring it is at it's best, long tassels appear in a beautiful pink hue, getting longer and longer until they blow off in the breeze and the leaves come out the top.

Such a wonderful sight - this means Spring to me.

sweet pea collection ...

I am drip feeding you images of my new summer collections while I get my website organised.

Another great image, my three-quarter pants/long bloomers in slate grey, front pockets, contrasting side zip (size 6-10) and matching ties around the leg (sewn in) and best of all adjustable elastic!! I am delighted with these pants, they match back with everything in my collection.
Available in size 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10.

Soft pink ruffle tee, layered lace necklace with bow and gorgeous butterfly headband ... more to come!!

love this photo

I just love this photo - red towelling beach dress with hood and side pockets,
blue spot trim around the hood.
Fantastic!!

photo shoot summer 2010

A couple of sunny days and now I am ready for spring/summer, we had a photo shoot after school today, the sun was shining and suddenly it all made sense.
The beautiful styles and fabrics I have been working with the last few months have all come together with my best range ever.

I have two collections this season - my biggest yet!

The 'Sweet Pea' Collection of clothing is partly represented in the first two photos; slate grey, pinks & pale yellow come together with a fantastic range of co-ordinating accessories which I will be uploading to my website this coming week.

More images and information to come.

My second collection 'Summertime' is bold with denim, red & navy - always a classic colour combination. Fantastic denim shorts, not too short and not too long - very 50's inspired with a cute red zip, striped singlet tops and a red beach dress that will slide on easily after the beach/pool/day out.

You will love this range!!

Spring is here!

Can you believe that Spring is here, and what a rainy day it was!
Did you know the last 6 Wednesdays have been wet?
Why do I know this?
Well, my daughter was supposed to be doing tennis and it has been
washed out every week.

Anyway back to more important things ... new range is coming together, I made some fabulous cuff's today - a bracelet with fabric, I love them!

New photo on website, check it out here

more summer looks ...

Although it's hard to image it ever becoming warm, when it has been so cold and wet, with September starting next week, the beginning of Spring is almost here, a perfect time to show you some of my new 'sweet pea' collection.

These images are just the beginning ... more beautiful designs to come,
my best collection yet!!

See a sneak peak at few of my Summer designs at
Red Hill Market this coming Saturday.

... new necklaces ...

Mum will kill me for putting up this picture ... but here goes ...

... here are two images of my new necklaces for my summer 'sweet pea' collection, and a picture of mum putting them together.

A labour of love, each shape has to be traced, cut out, sewn, stuffed, sewn again, trimmed and then pinned and sewn onto the necklace, Mum is pinning the shapes I have made and threading on the multi-coloured beads (which have to be drilled - thanks Husband), later I will stitch them all together.

A lot of effort - but don't they look gorgeous!
I have these and much more to come, all fabulous fresh summer colours!
&
also a new logo and look is on the way!

close-ups

vines tangled and weathered,
pruning done,
collected and placed in a pile.



striped tops at the recent Piccadilly Market



a new idea, more to come!

favourite recipe ...

This yummy recipe was given to me by my friend Cecile in France, and I have made it many times, it is a definite crowd pleaser, beautifully set custard with the crunchy burnt sugar on the top.

It has become a tradition in my family to give a recipe book for a kitchen tea, as my cousin is getting married soon this is my contribution to the recipe book.

I also thought it makes a great blog post! A photo of me and the kids in Paris, a place that I adore and where I spent six months of my life as an exchange student! We are looking at a map working out the fastest route to the 'Arc de Triomphe.'

a yknot favourite

I have been making belts for about two years, they were one of the first products that I developed, I love how they make a simple outfit of jeans and a t-shirt look great.

Piecing together the fabric is my favourite part, there are so many combinations available, the photos above are from my pink and green range, I will have these and more at Piccadilly Market this Sunday.

Belts are available in two sizes, 2-6 years (approx) and 6+ years, depending on the size of the tummy.

birthday cupackes ...

... even though there is talk that macaroons are the new cupcake, I thought I would show you a picture of the cupcakes I made for my daughters birthday ... not professional but cute all the same and a fantastic recipe to boot ... you can find it here

school holidays ...

We are lucky enough to have a holiday house (well Mum & Dad's) at Ventnor on Phillip Island, a gorgeous place that we escape to every school holidays for a few days.

Winter is my favourite time. Fire on, lots of magazines, a few books, yummy food and walks along the empty beach.

We are very spoilt!

a new stockist

I am pleased to say that you can now find yknot? products at Robert Gordon Australia, a gorgeous selection of necklaces, belts and brooches.
I am very excited to be associated with such an established household name.

... a beanbag ...

In a promise to my daughter that I would 'renovate' her bedroom, this is my starting point, a beanbag and floor cushion.

It has taken me two (that's right 2) whole days to put together a bean bag for my daughter, it is very generous, I drafted the pattern from one at home and somehow made it twice as big. Couldn't get my inner bean bag in and had to unpick the side and sew it back up again. I have visions of her jumping on it and splitting the seams.

Also made a round floor cushion, which is ok, not really happy with how the base turned out, and the cushion is pretty lumpy. But I have a very happy 10 year old customer who is delighted that I am finally getting around to doing her room.

I am going to leave the homewares to the girls from Mookah, and continue to concentrate on my gorgeous range of accessories and clothing!!

.

always time for a coffee

After dropping my parents off at the airport last weekend at a very early hour, I treated myself to a coffee at Brunetti's. I must admitt the place has changed significantly since I was at Melbourne Uni and I used to ride my bike past the window and gaze longingly at the amazing cakes, however it does still remind me of breaks between lectures, morning tea in the woodwork studio and my husband.

In fact I sent this photo to him ...

... back from Sydney ...

Here are a couple of images from our Sydney trip ... not as many as I would like as I left my fancy new camera at home ... sob!

Thanks to Festival Girl for the second image you can have a look at her blog here

... new photo shoot

My darling children kindly agreed to model my new clothing and accessories that I am taking to Magnolia Square in Sydney, here are some of the photos.

I will have more images in a look book at the event or online in the Gallery section of yknot? designs.

Halls Gap ...

In between the chaos of preparing for Magnolia Square in Sydney, we had a weekend away at Halls Gap in the beautiful Grampions with a group of friends.
The most perfect weather, a clear, still, cold (freezing) morning, gave way to glorious sunny day for our climb to the Pinnacle and then MacKenzie Falls. The team of kids (9!!) lead the way and almost ran up the rocks right to the top, with the grown-ups huffing and puffing behind. The view from the top was fantastic and well worth the climb ...

... butterflies ...

... another new product on the way, butterfly scarves ...

... a morning view ...

... the view out our the bathroom window this morning, I am very lucky to live on a gorgeous part of the Mornington Peninsula, the sun was rising across the vines highlighting the spider webs, it just looked beautiful.

new scarves ...

Long time no post, I have been working on new products to take to Sydney for Magnolia Square and also trying to get my online store up and running (any day now!).
This is the first image of one of my new products, a scarf, made from t-shirt material that is super stretchy and soft, perfect for kids.
More new products to come ...

amazing Adelaide

yknot? designs had a wonderful time in Adelaide for Magnolia Square, we were warmly received by all. The shoppers who came to the three day event at the Norwood Concert Hall would have seen a fantastic range of quality and unique wares from designers, artists, makers and craft people from all over Australia.

I am delighted to report that all of my new range was enthusiastically embraced and I sold out of many products on the first day!! My butterfly puffy necklace in green & pink (as pictured above) and blue & red were the best sellers.

Look out for them in my on-line store to be launched next week.

thanks!

A quick blog post...

With Magnolia Square next week in Adelaide, the last minute panic/rush has started, only five days until we leave and so much to do!
Today I had an extra hand ... thanks to my lovely Mum who operates this great B&B on the Mornington Peninsula, spent the day with me packaging up necklaces, sewing tiny red buttons on birds & generally helping me with bits and pieces.

a couple more pictures

I have just received some new pictures from my photographer Michaela at Gallery One they show more of my products and of course the kids!

two little birds

I really should be making birds, instead I have spent most of this week, trying to find suppliers of striped t-shirt material ...

... a heart ...

the dissection was fun, the kids had a ball, putting on the lab coats, gloves, using the dissection kit, here is the poor lamb's heart before it had been chopped and parts identified!!

headbands

yknot? designs had a great time at Magnolia Square in St Kilda, it was a hive of activity, with customers pouring in to have a look at the beautiful wares.
One customer couldn't make it but still wanted to get some headbands. I scanned these a couple of minutes ago for her and thought that they looked so colourful that I should share the picture.
Life is back to normal, I am off to B's school tomorrow to assist the grade 4's in the disection of a heart!!!

Magnolia Square, St Kilda Town Hall

This is it, my stand at Magnolia Square, pop in and say hello...

autumn/winter range

... I am launching my fantasitc autumn/winter range this week at Magnolia Square, denim & red with a hint of sunny yellow and pink & silver with a highlight of emerald green.
yknot? designs range of children's clothing & accessories is quirky & unique, the range consists of dresses, tops, leggings, jeans, scarves, headbands, necklaces, bags & brooches.

... photo shoot at home ...

I am busy getting ready for Magnolia Square at St Kilda town hall this week, to see how my designs are working out, I managed to convince the kids to model my clothes for a fashion shoot, this is the results, I think they are gorgeous!!