A day in the sun

Just when it feels like all is under control and there is a bit more time for things in life other than work, a great thing happens.  Today a little article on Townmouse was published in a Melbourne newspaper – the Herald Sun.

Instead of a leisurely day I am now busy answering the phone, returning customer e-mails and processing orders.  That’s in between jumping on the treadmill with this on the ipod, and a trip to the vet with a recuperating corgi who needs his stitches out after surgery last week.  Then I’m off to a meeting with another enterprising mum where we will plan an upcoming marketing event we have scheduled for late July.  No doubt I’ll front up covered in dog hair!  At any rate I’m very happy about my moment in the sun, apart from the fact that I HATE having my photo taken.

Buttons and trims

A big bundle of almost finished garments has arrived back in the studio from one of my seamstresses.  The day has been spent sewing buttons and buttonholes on coats and shirts, in readiness to package them up and send them off. 

I have also been trimming denim skirts in Liberty for customer orders.  I enjoy doing this myself due to a love of Liberty that goes back many decades.  It is such beautiful fabric to work with.

Dispatch

In a little corner of the studio is the “shipping department”. It is basically a drawer containing all Australia Post paraphernalia and a set of kitchen scales.

It’s been a busy few weeks in the studio as a result of Townmouse’s first foray into paid advertising. A little ad in this mag has earned its keep and as a result, bundles of parcels have been going out every day. My shipping manager - two year old Henri - likes to post the parcels so we walk them around the corner to the mailbox. I lift him up and he puts them in the box. He’s fascinated by the tilting door and he says goodbye to each parcel as it drops into the mailbox. On busy days this process can take quite a while!

A new journey begins...

Work is good at the moment - it's busy, but I personally am not so frantic.  Thanks to the help of two talented seamstresses who now make all my made-to-measure items (coats, dressing gowns, creche bags and t-shirts) I am now finding myself with a little more time.

So it is with trepidation that I set out on a new journey - down the blogging path.  I have loved reading a growing list of favourite blogs for well over eighteen months now.  I have been awed and inspired by all the beautiful projects being worked on around the world (not to mention the beautiful prose).  MANY a late night has been spent checking my favourite blogs just before heading off to bed, only to find myself hours later following brilliant new links at 2am!!

For now all my babies are asleep (including a jetlagged husband), allowing me some quiet time and an opportunity to post my first journal entry.  Here goes...