Competition Entry No.6 - Tanya Fletcher

Should've Gone to Winnie&Clem !

Should Have Gone to Winnie&Clem

OK so I am going to digress from the story of Winnie&Clem for a little bit and have some FUN!

So who would like to WIN a $100 gift voucher to spend at Winnie&Clem?

All you need to do is email (winnieandclem@y7mail.com) me a photo that the following tagline would best describe:

"Should have gone to Winnie&Clem"

All photos will need to be received by COB Friday 2nd of March. Photos will then be posted on the blog. The photo that receives the most votes by 8pm Sunday 11th March will be the winner!

Have some fun and be creative...I love a good giggle!!

You don't know what you don't know!

Last Friday I made a very tough decision to close Winnie&Clem temporarily. For at least the past three months we have struggled with our little man (almost 3 years) not staying in his bed at bedtime and then up and down during the night. It has, to say the least, been exhausting, stressful and emotional. Last week things peaked with Mr 3 at his worst and Miss 5 starting school. By Thursday night there were a LOT of tears, and not just the kids. I was feeling completely overwhelmed and just could not see a way clear. We had tried several approaches - reward systems, punishments, confiscated toys, naughty corners, timeouts...etc etc....but nothing was working. I had even considered that my child may have a behavioural disorder and that our only option was to jump on the Dr referral merry go round.


So why am I telling you this, what does this have to do with the Winnie&Clem story? Well honestly I think my approach to dealing with the past week of no sleep, behavioural issues and a child starting school possibly sums up my approach to many things, including Winnie&Clem.


I do not proclaim to know everything or be an expert in anything, in fact I am the complete opposite. I seek out information and answers as much as I can. I need my brain to be fed with ideas, solutions, options and possibilities. So after hubby and I got to sleep at 1am on sunday morning and I endured 5 hours of nightmares and screaming out I decided the past week had taken too much of a toll and it was time to find some help. 


I turned to my trusty old friend - Google! The information available for toddler sleep issues was overwhelming, but a I read and read and read. With about 6 pages open on my browser I flicked between websites and blogs until there was one page I kept coming back to. Not because it was the most recommended, not because it was the most eye catching or glamourous, not because it offered the most miracles, but because my gut told me it was right for my child. I have started to use the method described on the website and in just 2 days my little man has learnt to stay in his bed. Last night he slept for a straight nine hours.

Whenever there is something I am unsure of how to do or how to handle I seek out answers, different opinions and I follow the one that sits most comfortably with my. 


With the introduction of my new bag range I have researched and read so much about bag making, I have learnt techniques, I have trialled so many patterns (all made by myself) until I have produced a pattern, a technique and a bag that I was comfortable with. 


In everything I do I follow the motto :

"You don't know what you don't know"

so my advice is take the time to learn..........the rewards are well worth it.

Past Lives

Everyone has a story about past lives, don't you? Well it's hard to say where somethings begin and other things end. But for me I made a very definitive change in my life when I left Sydney to move to the country and live on a farm with my hubby to be. I must say this was an incredibly daunting change in my life. I had studied and worked my way up in my career and was feeling at a peak when these changes came along. I did continue my career but with a work from home arrangement.  I also traveled back and forth to Sydney at least once a week, 3hours each way. On these days I would be up at 3.30am, out the door by 4.30am and in the office by 8am. At the time, pre-kids, these seemed like ridiculous hours, but in hindsight possibly just prepared me for the years to come! I had many friends suggest to me that I should start a handmade business so I did not have to travel. I knew realistically there would be a big difference in income from a corporate role to a small handmade business just starting out. We were in the middle of the worst drought in our lifetime, some say possibly the worst drought in history. With so much uncertainty I needed to work my corporate job. I dreamt of my handmade business, of making bags, I even made a few and showed people at this stage.


But anyone who has lived through drought will know the uncertainty is blinding. I really don't know how my husband would get up everyday and go out fighting to keep stock alive, hand feeding them day in and day out, only to find at the end on sale day their value was minuscule. To constantly watch the weather forecast and be heart broken when the forecasted rain passed you by. In this photo hubby and I watched as storms brewed, the wind blew and not a drop fell...it is truly heart breaking and I don't think I can relate it to any other feeling I have ever felt or experienced in my life. I still get a glimpse of those feelings if we do not get the rain that is forecast, even when we don't need it.

So needless to say at this point in my life my dream of Winnie&Clem felt just that, a dream, and not ever to be a reality.

Rough Seas and Icebergs

Upside Down - Inside Out! 

Have you ever felt that you are turning yourself inside out or upside down trying to achieve something that is new to you. Perhaps when you first became a parent, perhaps when you started a new job, perhaps when you returned to work after having kids, or perhaps just making a new meal. Well for me embarking on the journey of a handmade business, working from home, with kids, in a rural area has presented many many challenges!

I am not qualified in design, dressmaking, the arts, marketing or any other related field to my new found venture. In fact I hold a Biomedical Science degree, specialising in nutritional science and my entire working life has been in the pharmaceutical industry.  I feel like a duck out of water, or one riding very rough seas. But as the quote above would indicate it is through these difficult waters that we learn our best skills. I can see this to be the case in how far I have come and what I have learnt in just the past two years of running Winnie&Clem . But what you see on the surface of a handmade business is very much like an iceberg in these waters, there is always more to a story and somethings are just not a story to tell but a journey to travel, to live and learn.

I invite you to share this journey with me!