30 hour fling: Saturday

At just before noon, we left the Maker's Market for our next stop: the Daylesford Farmer's Market!

One of the first stalls we saw had a lovely display of Outback Pride stuff! We introduced ourselves to Sue and Don, who were lovely. They are at the Daylesford Farmer's Market every month, so now you know where you can pick up your native spices, sauces, jams and cordials to make yummy stuff with (if you are in the area)!




We bought Meredith Dairy goat cheese, Dolphin beer, some local organic sourdough bread, farm fresh milk, a few veggies and Ben enjoyed a yabby pie.



Next stop: Breakfast and Beer for lunch. I have to say when I told Ben that there was a cafe called 'Breakfast and Beer' that served brekky all day, among other things, and a wide range of European beers, he was totally on board with our jaunt to Daylesford. Two of his favourite things. If they played video games in one corner and had electronic music playing in another, he would never leave.

 Everything was fantastic, but I have to highlight the field mushroom - the best EVER. Truly.



Then we were off to Mill Markets - Cedar finally fell asleep during that short drive so Ben stayed in the car while the kids and I went exploring, vintage style! We bought Ash these awesome retro rollerskates - something I'd been looking out for as Sienna has some and they both love them - in just the right size (as in, one size too big!). I picked up a large format golden book of Alice in Wonderland - you can never have too many versions of Alice. And finally, this perfect lamp. I had just started looking for a floor lamp about a week earlier, and then found this - vintage, simple, the teal I already have in my lounge room, velvet finish (which I also already have in my lounge), and a great price. It even fit in the car. I was a very happy vintage shopper :)

Last of all, we stopped by Lark one last time to pick up the Sushi Train set that the kids had earned themselves, and were on the road by 4pm. Ash slept on the way home, Cedar and Sienna did not, and we were home by Saturday dinner.

30 hour fling: Daylesford Maker's Market

Saturday began with juice and cereal at the apartment while the kid had baths and I packed up all our stuff... Cedar got grumpy and everyone got dressed, and we were out of there by 9:30! First stop was to see if the op-shop was open, it wasn't, so then we all trotted in to Lark and the kids created chaos in the cardboard house they had there while I took piccies and met new people... all about that in my last post.

Now we had planned on going to the Daylesford Farmer's Market first but while at Lark Allison told me how fantastic the coffee at the Maker's Market was, and with Ben desperately messaging me from the car at this point, in need of caffeine, we rearranged our plans. To the Maker's Market! The coffee was indeed scrumptious. So were the sample cups of orange hot chocolate. Mmmmm.


First we met the delightful Tracey from Maxymoo, who had her ear all but talked off by Sienna and Ash with all their enthusiasm. Within ten minutes, Sienna had decided they were all friends and both kids had scored a screenprinted card each. I bought these screenprinted drawstring bags, perfect for organising goodies in the handbag or whatnot - I also loved the wall hanging versions!

Oh, the Craft Revival. How much did I love that Jack Sparrow Rabbit? A lot. So cool. Ash was looking over my shoulder while proofing these shots and was all "I want it", and I was like "I know, right?" and also "you can't have it." Awesome stuff tho, and Magdalena was all lovely and friendly too :)

Bunty and Sars is a collection of cutely illustrated items with a vintage / recycled twist - very cute, and I bought one of her colouring books :)

Tania of Myrtle & Eunice was so nice! I loved chatting to her :) She also gave the kids lollies (but asked my permission first, yay!). Technically I think the kids asked for them first actually. Anyway, she was gorgeous! I *almost* bought a tea towel but was concerned with making my dwindling cash supply last the full turn of the market. But I did love them. Look! Her shop is here!


Villa and Hunter was another fantastic stall. I could have bought an armful of tshirts and singlets for Ash, with their gorgeous nautical themes, but they only went up to size 4. He IS 4, well, almost 5, but wears size 6 tops. However I could not even think of resisting one of their 'ship in a bottle' cushions. I bought the denim one, after much deliberation, but I love the blue cord version too! It has been hidden away for when Ash has a new quilt cover - he has requested brown, to be suitably pirate ship-like, and I have some chenille on its way to me via ebay.

With inspiration everywhere, the only thing now that we're home again is to turn ideas and creativity into productivity. In the meantime, the final installment of our 30 hour fling is coming up next...

30 hour fling: Lark

I love reading Allison's blog almost as much as I love window-shopping on the Lark website, so I was pretty sure I'd enjoy my visit to the shop itself... and I was right :) It is adorable and gorgeous, full of eye candy and everyone was so nice!

It was lovely to meet Allison as well as the super sweet lady (above) who served me (twice, actually - I popped back in the afternoon to pick up the sushi kit), I didn't catch her name but must be Jordana I think... or Deb.

The displays are really bright and sweet with a pretty, vintage feel. I bought some mini Rice containers in cute shapes and colours. I also got the two issues of 'Spoonful' magazines that have been released so far, I'm quite fascinated with them! I have some sort of vague notion of making a zine or limited edition handmade book of some kind, so I'm calling it research ;)

These felt deer heads are so darn cute! Love it.

I love these vintage style swimsuits by My Sister Pat

Lark is so worth the visit, and Daylesford is not too far for a daytrip from Melbourne - just under 2 hours from here in Upwey, but less than 1 and a half hours from Melbourne in good traffic. It's also just 30km from the Western Hwy if you happen to be road-tripping somewhere in that direction :) Then you could stop for Breakfast & Beer, which we had for lunch, but that's another part of the story...

30 hour fling: Friday

Our mini-mini break to Daylesford was a great success :) All together we were away for just under 30 hours, and crammed it full of holiday goodness, despite not feeling well (on my part).

First stop was the Lark garage sale, where Sienna and I left sleeping boys in the car with daddy to have a browse. I picked up some fabrics, a piece of vintage wallpaper, a cute cherry plastic container, a crochet blanket as a gift for a pregnant friend, some washi tape and some craft packs. Sienna chose a tiny crochet handbag and a Dumpling Dynasty mirror compact. I got Ash a little picture book pocket mirror and a badge that says 'I love toys' - with a heart instead of the word love - in cross stitch letters.

Then I left Sienna at the car with Ben and the still-sleeping Ash and took Cedar for a wander through the MS op shop, picking up a few kids books for practically nothing :) I also saw some yellowy-brown lace up mens boots that would suit me well for walking to school, and in the right size, for just $10. I didn't grab them at the time, but regretted it later. Unfortunately when we checked back on Saturday morning, the op shop wasn't open. Lesson: don't look $10 leather boots in the mouth. Um. Anyway ;)

We stayed in the Mills Apartments for the night, with a great last-minute discount for booking just a week earlier. It was really nice and spacious, mostly modern but with a few rustic touches that I loved - like the front door area. I didn't, however, take any photos there.

Our dinner at Kouzla was wood-fired pizza and was awesome! We also had a dish of broccolini with olive oil and lemon, which was also fantastic. My field mushroom pizza was the best, and it was so good, though Ben's sardine pizza was yum too :) Mmmmm....

After dinner it was back to the apartment to get the kids to bed. Then Ben and I relaxed with a bottle of The Stump Jump and watched a dvd I'd brought with me, a German film called Schultze Gets the Blues, which we really enjoyed :)

Sushi Express

Home from a lovely mini-mini break in Daylesford. Pictures to come, time to get the kids to bed. It will be difficult, though, as they are having an awesome time playing with their new Sushi Wooden Train Set... they were very good all day in their efforts to earn the joint gift :)