Nautical Wednesday

Back into the swing.  It's Wednesday sailing and tonight I race our boat "Incahoots" around Sydney Harbour in a fleet of around eighty boats, mostly ruffty tuffty blokes with a sprinkling of gal skippers like myself at the helm.  After all these years of doing the Wednesday night races I still have the Wednesday wardrobe catastrophes.   Yes the crew wear a uniform, navy sailing shorts and a white or navy polo shirt with the 'Incahoots' logo and yes  I have all the team gear, matching vests, jackets etc, of course I do, I was the one who designed the crew gear, logo colours etc.  But I really want to look different, add my own flair, stand out from the fleet when I'm bringing that big girl down wind and ready to shoot the mark. If  any of you girls out there sail you will know exactly what I mean.  Women's sailing gear is dull and boring....

See what I mean...Big Stripes, No shape, No Style, Not Flattering!

I'd love a wardrobe like this

Walk down the dock in this

 Wear this over my gloves

 Have these on my feet

Strut this at the podium 

this ye

The Hungry Caterpillar Party for Rowan's First Birthday Bash!

It all started with a very hungry baby, Rowan, who just about ate everything he could see.  We aptly nicked named him 'The Hungry Caterpillar' and from an early age we knew his first birthday would be a hungry caterpillar party.  Our very own little hungry caterpillar boy, wearing his very own Rowan Romper in Spotty Spots

I hung spotted fabric over a brick wall as a backdrop for the story boards we made of pictures from Rowan's first year, it was so hard to choose which ones to use.  Story boards made a great talking point, we used two large canvases and wasabi tape.  Don't they look impressive!

The homemade party hat's were very easy to make, we started with a plan yellow cone hat and made the caterpillars and the birthday boy butterfly using the pictures from the book as a guide.

An amazing beautiful sunny sky and the the lush green lawn was the perfect picnic spot for little ones to enjoy their day.  Several weeks ago I started sewing the bunting all one hundred and seventy five triangles............but don't they look smashing

I put out a selection of vintage chairs with helium balloons.....cute

Hmmm these cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches were a hit

Fruit stars, chocolate strawberries, icy little jellies were delicious treats on such a warm day........

Now for the drum roll....

Alison Lawson Cakes

Happy little caterpillar cupcakes...not only do they look delicious they were very yummy 

The Star of the Show

When Alison delivered the cake on Friday afternoon I was on the phone calling my friends demanding they drop by to see the spectacle of a cake.  We all stood around having a few glasses of bubbles admiring it beauty

Hmmm hurry up, we live in anticipation to see it inside and taste it

Just scrumptious....

The cookie wands each one so perfect in detail........A fabulous idea for a party favour

A tired little caterpillar opens his presents.......

And sadly all his little friends have gone home

his first birthday party is over

or 

is 

it

Apparently it just got started

A Giveaway for a Birthday Girl

Late last year when I launched the new Rowantree Design website with a giveaway.  The winner, Max a Kiwi blogger of 'Blackbird Has Spoken' was really thrilled to pick the Isabelle Blouse for her too cute, wee Claudine to wear for her birthday party and I was very chuffed indeed.  I did ask Max to please email me some pictures of the day and when they arrived I really tickled pink.  Isn't she adorable with those rosy cheeks...

I must admit,  this fancy feather head piece steals the show....

Perhaps a little birthday foraging......

This week enjoying reading through my blog roll, I was reading Max's Blog and was even more delighted to find another picture of the birthday girl here enjoying this rather spectacular birthday cake Max had made for her big day.....Lovely party Max.

Rowantree Designs 'The Issey Blouse'

Something fresh and simple.......

I loved this fabric the moment I saw it, something about the hint of turquoise bursting out of the floral.  I used this fabric for  the Hazey Jane blouse, a little button front shirt with a peter pan frilled collar.  I had a smidge left over, I just had to make it up and of course this fabric speaks of a frill so here she is "The Little Issey Blouse",  very cool and very fresh, perfect with a pair of white or denim shorts.

Decorating with Vintage Dolls Prams

I must admit I have a bit of an obsession with vintage dolls prams, I have a few in storage in New Zealand, one sitting in my friends garage in Melbourne (Hi guy's I'll be down to pick it up one day soon) and a few too many in storage here in Sydney, however, that doesn't stop me, I'm forever looking on ebay and visiting country antique stores in search of more.  I just love to see them sitting in a nursery filled with toys for decoration or ready for the little mummy or daddy to take for a spin.  I particularly loved the one here, when I blogged about my favourite children's designer store in New York.  I also love this one here at one my favourite children's designer store in Herne Bay, Auckland, and then there was this one I blogged about for the yellow nursery.

 I love the dogs

 Sweet retro sideboard

 This melts my heart

 Divine

 Way cool

Very vintage

So what is your obsession?   I know I am not the only one who is a bit of a collector and hoarder.

Children's Bedrooms Simple and Stylish

For him......

The mixture of textures gives this boy's room the beachy but stylish outcome.  Look at the two different panelled walls  the wide pine floorboards. The furniture, French provincial works, the detail in the grey corners or the wardrobe brings both pieces together nicely.  And then there is the drums and the travel bag.

and her........

Firstly I love the wall art, this piece sets the tone of the room.  The room once again has texture and I love how the three pieces of furniture sit so beautifully together.  Once again a touch of the pink toned paint along the bed rail and on the bedhead bring harmony to this very charming girl's bedroom.  I imagine the bed covering is a vintage linen brocade, nice, so is the knitted cushion on the bed and the green glass vase.

Pittwater New Year's Eve

The New Year for the sailor and I is always a little sailing adventure, this year with Rowan's Birthday just around the corner we decided we would head to Broken Bay.  Only a 35 minute drive north of Sydney's famous Sydney Harbour Bridge,  and with a good breeze, it's a picturesque four hour sail up the coast and with a good breeze and you will find  yourself are right in the middle of some pretty amazing waterways and cruising grounds.  If you love plonking around in the water, a spot of fishing or kayaking you 'll love it up here.  So please be patient with all my images in this blog I just love sailing and I love Broken Bay.

So here we are with our large carbon sail up the wind coming over the boat from the side, (reaching).  The weather was a little overcast, we are sailing up towards Barenjoey Heads.

earching for

The first headland you can see is Barenjoey Heads which is at the end of the exclusive Palm Beach, the beach where 'Home and Away' was filmed, we will pop around in between the Barenjoey and the next headland and head straight down the waterway.....

So here we are in Smith's Creek.  Expertly anchored and tucked up for a day or two.  What next?  We will be popping open a a few chilled New Zealand Savy's and jumping into the water.

And then there's dinner...I love cooking on the boat, planning it, preparing it and serving it, except this time I left behind the tablecloths and place mats.  We had provisioned the boat with all sorts of gourmet meats, vegetables, cheeses and of course bought delicious fresh seafood from the Sydney Fish Market  on the way.  This was our first night so we enjoyed a seafood feast.

Snapper and mussels.  I like buying the mussels in the pack pre washed and cleaned, much easier on the boat....I love this little bar b que it is so functional, heats up very quickly, cooks the food fast to lock in all those beautiful flavours.

And then some more wine, we ended up doing a dance and playing music rather loudly

so when I woke up in the morning I had a peek out through the window to see how many boats we had embarrassed ourselves in front of......The water is so calm and glassy.

After an early morning swim, I made these delicious buttermilk pancakes with bananas, blueberries, yoghurt and maple syrup.  I have been making these pancakes for the sailor for years and mostly once a week, and each time he always asks me as I mouth the words are these made from scratch honey..funny these kiwi guys.  See no table cloth...

Today it's New Year's Eve and the sailor has a surprise, he has made reservations for lunch at the very famous Cottage Point Inn, perched on the waters edge of Cowan Creek  it's a hot sport for wedding proposals.

You can either make your entrance by seaplane......

or by boat, our preferred option.

Raspberry caprioska, and a pea and white asparagus soup...hmmm, well that's a delicious start to one of the most memorable restaurant meals of 2012.

And what about these two little man fashionistas, collared shirts and cargos, I could not resist taking this shot.  How adorable is the little man with his arms so nonchalantly crossed whilst watching the seaplane take off.  It's moments like this.....

Sadly I can't show you any pics of the afternoon.  Serious eating and drinking was enjoyed and the camera was sadly forgotten under the table.  

The family arrives at Akuna Bay for a day out on the boat

Poppa is keen to get Rowan on the crew.........Rowan is wearing the very cute Rowantree Design, boat shirt doesn't he look ready for some nautical action

Sadly the last few days flew by and here we are heading home just off the coast of Palm Beach....

with a large school of dolphins frolicking along beside us for most of the way home, I could not feel any more refreshed for the year ahead.

I can't wait to get stuck in this year.  Rowan's birthday party is this weekend, I have a project ahead that's really putting a smile on my face.  I am already putting samples together for the autumn collection, the fabrics you will love, and my knitwear collection for the cooler months is expanding and is just beautiful so here we go 2012