Let me introduce myself.  My name is Millie and I’m a shopaholic.

I am a savvy and mildly out-of-control shopper.  How can I help myself?  There is so much cool stuff out there to buy when you have little people in your life, let alone the ones you give birth to!  So I suppose you could say I have a degree in Retail Therapy, with a major in Children’s Products.

I was born in a Brisbane winter, which, to the rest of the world, is summer, so when my own little bean came into the world in (gasp!) summer proper; I needed some serious summer clothes.  I started making these pilchers/nappy covers.  I became obsessed…giving them to friends to see if the fit was right…the style, the cut etc etc…

However, in the way that you believe pretty much only the lame things about yourself, I passed all of this “obsession” off as some kind of ‘new mother whimsy’ and kept it on the “way low down” – nobody else could like them as much as I do!!!  Surely!  They’ll all think I’m crackers!

 

My husband is a very persistent man.  Bless him. He very politely and very tenderly put his boot into my behind and got me rekindling the idea of making these pilchers and selling them.  Needless to say, I’ve converted a whole lot of people and now have an ever-growing ‘posse’ of loyal admirers.

…And the name?  Well…that’s kind of a long(er) story…
My mother passed away in January 2008 and my whole family called her “Nonna”.  (We are not Italian by the way – this is just how she wanted to be known to her grandchildren…)  She had an incredibly tough life – from child abuse to nervous breakdowns, you name it basically…and I’d always said to her “You should start your own charity for disadvantaged children – like YOU were!!!” and she would just smile her beguiling smile at me.  I said “You could even call it ‘Nonna’s Ark’!!!” (she was very religious but took this play on words as a good gag – testament to her wicked sense of humour).  She didn’t ever do it…She ended up helping people in other ways…But here I am and this is almost my miniature tribute to her – she loved children and religion and was a ridiculously talented seamstress – she could make ANYTHING.

 

So anyway, here we are…ready to launch.  Are you with me?