Fab Frau and Friends in St Andrews and Hurstbridge

 When one lives in the bush, darhling, one must frock up on occasion - especially when it comes to the St Andrews Film Society Launch.  What this pic above is not showing is the red carpet and red silky curtains.  I'm the blonde in the middle (with my very pretty peacock feather hairclip that I'll be listing in my store soon) and to the left of the photograph is my lovely friend Ruth Summer-Rain and to the right is the stunning 'Miss Panton Hill' (aka my wonderful friend and entertainer Sue Arnold) doing her red carpet duties in a splendidly stylish fashion.  We're standing outside St Andrews Hall which becomes part of the market.

 'Miss Panton Hill' (the neighbouring township sitting between St Andrews and Hurstbridge) was very busy on the day with complete wardrobe changes - we're a dangerous little trio whether we're frocked up or not and we know how to have a good giggle and a glass of wine - we also go to a divine yoga class each week with our friend and fabulous teacher, Sarah Bedggood and a gorgeous bunch of other women.  We're also formidable when treasure hunting together.

 Here is 'Miss Wattle' the face of the Wattle Festival in Hurstbridge each year - and she's standing with a slightly bedraggled short blonde person and a gorgeous doggy, Hans.  I was her photographer for the day and got heaps of fantastic shots - Sue is calling me her publicist!  Good fun.... and in staggering distance from Fab Frau's cottage - gotta love that. ;)  I'll post some more pics of this day in another blog.

Here is yet another shot of a bedraggled Fab Frau with the always photogenic Ruth Summer-Rain.  It was 30 degrees and the pale little thing that I am was feeling the heat.  We had a market stall at St Andrews Market, as mentioned in my previous blog entry, and we're planning to do it again this Saturday .... and I might even strain myself and take my own camera!  It's a gorgeous place and we had a ball chatting to customers and friends.

Thanks for popping by.  I'll be back with an update soon.  Heaps of fab handbags to show you.

Ciao from, 

Suzy aka Fab Frau ;)

Fab Frau and Summer-Rain at the St Andrews Market

St Andrews Market

Fab Frau and 'Summer-Rain' had our first stall at St Andrews Market on Saturday - and it was fabulous. Boho heaven! We popped our gazebo up - ahem! - survived my blonde directions - and in case you need to know there is not a lock-in mechanism in the middle - you do it at the sides first. We were saved by a friendly regular stall holder who took pity on us.

The pic above is not one of mine but from the St Andrews Market fan page on Facebook - I packed the gazebo and my fab wares - but not my camera. Took my i-phone and I'm yet to master the downloading part - will take my camera next time I promise!

There are so many gorgeous stalls at the market - plenty of hippy style clothing and heaps of great recycled stuff - and some very talented crafty people and the food is divine. Love the Thai food and the massive felafel kept me going for the day. It was hard work setting up - especially the getting out of bed at 5am part *grin* - but it was so worth it because I just love where I live and it was a really beautiful day and it was a pleasure to have a chat with so many fab people.... wasn't bad selling some gorgeous clothes and bags either, I might add.;)

My lovely and talented friend Ruth Summer-Rain shared the stall with me and we took it in turns checking out the market stalls. Ruth came back from a treasure hunt with stunning macaw feathers literally added to her gorgeous hat. She lives on a beautiful property that boasts paddocks of divine lavender in various varieties and we were pretty blissed out with lovely posies of the stuff decorating our stall - and the baskets of some happy customers. She also had very gorgeous handmade stuff including beautifully sewn aprons for kids and some witchy St John's Wort massage creams that she'd whipped up.

If you need a destination St Andrews Market is a great one on a Saturday morning because it's got such a fab atmosphere with heaps of local musicians taking turns to entertain in such a beautiful space. It's a fantastic place to buy fresh produce, plants, gorgeous jewellery, new and recycled clothing, divine chai tea, fab coffee, a massage or two and even pony rides for the kids. The renowned St Andrews pub is across the road and a beautiful cafe and a working historic bakery sit alongside it so you can hang around as long as you want. Around 20 mins from Eltham - it's beautiful scenery too. I now live 10 minutes down the road in the beautiful village of Hurstbridge where you can get a lovely lunch at Heart and Soul Cafe or the Organic Fruit and Vege Shop and Cafe - and a few other cafes too. Can you tell I love it here? Anyway, enough showing off about home for today.

I'll let you know in advance next time when we plan to have a stall at The St Andrews Market - or the Allwood House Market which runs alongside of the Hurstbridge Farmers Market once a month.

I'll be back soon. Suzy ;)

Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza

Fab Frau is back!
And my very first post this year is to share the Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza button on the right. Lucky Melbournians are being offered a taste of American Style treasure hunting
- I'm hoping ala Rachel Ashwell's treasure hunts! *grin*
Very exciting stuff. Can't wait to find a couple of treasures for my new cottage.

On Friday June 3 1 to 6pm and Saturday June 4 8am to 4pm
at the Ashburton Scout Hall,
337 High Street, Ashburton.

For more info click on the button on the right.

See you soon.

Cheers,
Suzy aka Fab Frau ;)

P.S. If you'd like to help out you can click on the button on the right and get your own copy of the box to help advertise this event. ;)

A bird in hand is worth how many in the bush?

Hello again, dear Blog land - I thought I'd better get myself into gear otherwise I'd miss posting in October - tut, tut, tut! I'm sharing some photographs of some of the gorgeous birds that visit our garden - pardon the quality but I was shooting through flyscreens and glass most of the time because I wanted to show you how close they come to our house.

Aren't the colours beautifully overwhelming?
Ahem, just ignore the messy grass - it's since been cut and we'll be polite for five seconds as we are so blessed to have gotten a lot of rain lately - the weeds are thrilled!



It's been a very busy time for my family - husband and I went off on a wonderful winery tour with winemakers - very enlightening! I'll share some pics of our trip soon.

I've started going to yoga classes locally and I'm actually walking with a straight spine - and for a couple of days a week a serene expression!

On the first Sunday of each month the Hurstbridge Farmers' Market is on and I'll be running a stall next door at Allwood Community House and I'm rather excited about that. A very recent decision so my little sewing machine has gotten busy crafting - I'll share some pics after the event - and maybe of some of my offerings before.

After yoga this morning I popped into the Heart and Soul Cafe in Hurstbridge for a wonderful, late breakfast - no it wasn't muesli - they have plenty of good girl and boy things on the menu but I went for the Heart and Soul breakfast - a big breakfast - couldn't finish it all but had fun trying and for some reason wasn't hungry at lunchtime....mmmm.

Thanks for dropping by - Suzy ;~)