Flibbertygibbet

I cheated. I win!

Ate the frog, ticked off my list, had some playtime!

Was very inspired by this post on Whip Up by Abigail Percy who made these amazing things and dug out my old silver stuff.

This was supposed to be a butterfly brooch.  But after cutting out the brooch from sheet silver, I mangled the brooch clip (long story, but let's just say I am rubbish at soldering).  Now it has been transformed into a pendant!  Ok, a shape on a chain, but it works.  I love.  And I never would have worn it as a brooch, as I've realised it's too delicate.  May get around to putting it on its own silver chain.  May not.

I polished this silver ring, more costume jewellery than anything else I guess as I can't imagine doing the washing up with this on (wouldn't fit inside the Marigolds).  It could perhaps do with a bit more filing, but I like the slightly rounded edge on one side.

And the last WIP is a pendant, made from the last part of a piece of acid-etched silver, which will match the bracelet in the second picture.

 

Next thing to play with is freezer paper stencils - finally have all the equipment assembled.  It's not that easy to get freezer paper here, y'know...

Eat the frog

There's a ton of fun stuff that I want to do today.

But in keeping with Alphabet August, E is for Eat the Frog.  That means do the things I really would rather avoid first.

1. tidy up the mess that the joiner left, and ring him to unfortunately arrange for him to come back - would rather never see him again
2. do the paperwork for the insurance claim for my lost luggage so DH gets his cash back
3. buy dinner
4. finish one basket of ironing
5. chase the mechanic about the car

Actually, the list is so long (goes on waaaay past that) that I might not get to any of the fun stuff.  Which includes getting out my jewellery stuff again, inspired by this blog, and planning a quilt for our friend's new little girl, using some of the Posy Gets Cozy passamenterie fabrics which arrived a few months ago.  I was going to do it very pink, but now I'm thinking colourful instead.

I can't complain, I did get to go to the gym this morning.  Now it's time to race through some of the items on the list, in return.

Oh yes.  E is for Evil.

I've wondered if perhaps I limit myself sometimes in this blog, I am perhaps more reflective but am I always 'me'? I think I try to be cheery, so in fact I probably just don't post when I'm pissed off - which in turns explains why I've taken on the August alphabet posts, to make me write more even if I don't feel like it. 

I've solved it by giving myself another one.  My evil blog. I wonder whether it would appeal to people who read this one.  Possibly. Possibly not.  Either way, I'm not intending to link them.

Ok, so I'm too much of a Pollyanna for it to be really evil.  But it's all about some of the issues that are getting to me - personal but probably universal.  Just because they're universal doesn't mean that you need to hear me unloading here though - and that's the way that I like it. I can divide my thoughts Jekyll and Hyde like over two diverse sites.  Blogging -  anonymous, public, unburdening, self-expression.  Gotta love it.

Kitchen chic

The June/July Tie One On gallery is all about musicals, so much fun! It has also introduced me to some great new blogs which I'll be checking out regularly.

My favourites amongst lots of wonderful stuff:

Julie's is inspired by South Pacific, and her photo is great, loving the hula arms

Selena's Wicked apron - look at Emerald City!

Catrina's Willy Wonka - so simple and works beautifully

Bridget's La Cage Aux Folles creation is so sweetly cheering

And though all of Lori's aprons were great, the Wizard of Oz one is just too perfect! My absolute favourite! My own effort was also inspired by Oz, but I'm now quite glad I didn't go for all over gingham...

I've linked to the blogs rather than to their specific apron posts - but just scroll down if necessary, and enjoy the read.

A state of undress

I now have three dresses and two skirts in various stages of completion.

The Yellow Peril - aka the Wedding dress. It's getting another flounce, to see if that solves the length issue, and then I can either wear a long slip underneath or make View A - or controversially, maybe even B in lining with the flounce in the actual dress fabric - are you following me? - from the same pattern, to get over the see-throughness issue. Oh, and it needs the belt too. When it's tied back with a similar sash it looks good, in an empire line. I think the actual ties that were in the original pattern wouldn't have been much help at all.

But if my darling husband tells me I look like a crazy colourblind auntie that's been let out for the day, then we need a fallback plan.

Which is the black and white spotty dress which needs to be ripped back and resewn. That'll teach me for rushing in the first place (nearly typed 'ruching' which is a bit of a Freudian slip actually, given the kinky bit I managed to introduce in the back by the zip - hence the need to rip and resew).

Can't see me getting back to 'the Disaster Dress' for a while either, funnily enough. Might also have a touch of 'Let Out Auntie' about it.

And I ruled another skirt out because it's green, and I'm too superstitious to wear green to a wedding. Despite the fact that the bridesmaids at my grandmother's, my mother's and indeed my own wedding wore green. And the gold woo-hoo skirt - well let's just say that maybe the sequins weren't such a good idea.

Do you think I could pretend my spotty bathrobe is a kimono?

For some reason I got a bit paranoid about wearing something that I've made myself. But I do have a number of good reasons for wanting to:

If I don't wear some of the things I've made, then what's the point in making them?
Mind you that would mean finishing them.

But if I don't practice making things I'm never going to make things that are good enough to wear.

'Good enough' and 'shop-bought designer standard perfection' are not the same thing. The first are also made by the moderate sweat of my own brow, rather than third world forced labour. Oh god, get me.

I think I'm more concerned that there are going to be a ton of fashion people who are the width of rulers at this wedding. But as I'm not going to lose a stone by Saturday, I just better get on with making my kaftan.

So the question is, do I flounce the yellow peril, or fix the black spotty... or cut out the pink Doris Day, heh heh heh...

whoops think I just posted all those links wrong - eek...

Vanilla days

It's almost quiet here. If you don't count the car alarm, the washing machine and the Duran Duran belting out of the radio. I've found the most fabulous kitsch radio station - mostly 80s and 90s music. Right now it's Flashdance! Ah, flashbacks... It's like a slightly less cool version of Guilty Pleasures, current stars of my iPod Hit Parade.

My bro has just left, it was lovely to see him although I had to work most of the time that he was here. Plus he brought us the world's best cheese - well, certainly Ireland's finest.

I have the house to myself for about an hour before I have to finish tidying, and packing for our holiday. We're going camping. I must have been deranged when I agreed to it, mind you where we're going in Spain will be marginally cooler than here tomorrow, but only because we're expecting 37 degrees in London. Of course there's news reports on how the roads are going to melt and the unions are asking employers to let staff wear their own clothes tomorrow 'so that they'll be cooler, and then the air-conditioning can be turned down which will help the environment' - oh puhlease. In Espana, it's going to be in the low 30s all week, and we're going to a music festival. I'm tremendously excited about seeing Scissor Sisters but the rest of the line up is a bit disappointing. (Can't I stay here and keep listening to Ace of Base? Wow, I'd completely forgottten them - probably just as well) But I've decided that the now low risk of musical overstimulation is actually dandy, as it will mean that rather than running about like loons from stage to stage, we'll take it at a slower pace, with our friends and are going to take a side-trip to Valencia. We'll be able to chill out and relax. Well, if they can convince any local restaurant to let me stay in their walk-in freezer, that is. Otherwise I'll be slathered in Factor 5000 and periodically dipped in the sea/pool as I try avoid migrating from my normally pale blue skin to any shade of lobster. But hey, it's sea, sun, sand and... singing? And then two nights in a posh spa hotel, hurray!

So it's vanilla ice cream, simple and lovely. Keep cool, no stress, no overplanning and a devil-may-care sensibility. And try to avoid melting. And eat ice cream! That's the general aim for the rest of the summer too, now that the majority of the social madness of hens and stags, weddings, christenings, is winding down. Lazy days ahead...

I finally almost finished* a dress for Sew Retro, but will probably redo some of the seams so that the zip (basted in but not sewn) fits better. Oh, and I'll obviously hem it. And sew in the straps - I'm so not finished this dress, mutter mutter... but I really like it. And it's really flattering, and it made me smile instinctively when I put it on. Can you really ask more than that? It's not perfect but eh, so what. It's got character. It's got potential. Just being motivated to press on is enough, really. Really.

Have fun in the sun (if it's your hemisphere's summertime). See you soon...

*me post something that actually ~is~ finished? Oh now, I think the heat is getting to you...

"Anniyah amamaterial girrrrrl"

Since I went freelance and don't have a constant, recognisable income (well there's some cash coming in, but as I'm mostly wearing my Project Manager's Hat during our house redecoration, I don't have a lot of time for freelancing, plus there's lots of banging and clattering going on - which is odd, because how noisy should painting really be? Minimally so, I'd like to think - and I like it to be pretty quiet when I work, nothing but the sounds of me scratching correction marks on to the page, and Classic FM on my fantabulous girlie radio, which was my leaving present from my last job. Hell, getting out was enough of a gift, and then I got this too! Then after I finish working it gets tuned to XFM - it's my aural equivalent of leaving the office.)

[Flib shuffles back on track]
Since I went freelance I've been trying to limit my spending severely - no credit card usage at all, and Wardrobe Refashion 06 has helped with this - and luckily all the nice people there and on Sew Retro have helped me with my sewing misadventures - I keep the WR06 support board in business, let me tell you.

But today, after spending a lovely afternoon in the park with a friend and her two most gorgeous little girlies, I dashed into town, armed with various gift vouchers that have been burning a hole in my wallet. Actually, one of them was a wedding present, and though it had already furnished Flib Towers with two very lovely pressies (a frying pan and an ice bucket!), it had £15 left on it which just needed to be spent, plus a £20 vouchers for Selfridges. Niiiiiiiiice shop. It's great because it stocks a huge range of stuff, and the housewares are normal prices, basically.

For my £20 in Selfridges (oh, did I mention that it's Sale Season?), I scored:

- A cutting mat so I can try some patchwork with some of my stash fabrics, fat quarters that won't make anything else really, but I didn't actually know what fat quarters were when I bought them from eBay, many moons ago
- a metal edged cutting ruler (for the patchwork)
- a set of Denyse Schmidt stationey, 50% off! Stationery and patchwork in one - swooooon....
- a funky spotty box with o-o-f dots*
Okay, I confess. I overspent there by £1.70.

With the remainder of the wedding voucher, I came out with
- these cute pegs (to be used in gift-wrapping, and organising the office)
- 70% off candles, to fit the mini candle holders my mum put in my Christmas stocking a few years ago, never thought I'd find replacements
- and miscellaneous cards

As I was walking past Earthworks I realised they had gorgeous Sarah Bernhardt paeonies outside. I like this florist anyway, because they have a resident cat there, called Bonnie (who, incidentally, is poorly at the moment, as it turns out that she is allergic to protein - how rubbish is that for a cat? Please send good kat karma to Bonnie) and paeonies were the main component of my wedding bouquet. And at £4.55, they were a steal, let me tell you. No, of course I paid, I did...

Then on to John Lewis for a 22in zip, in the hope that buying the notions will lend me the mental strength to rip the disaster dress and resew it, thus necessitating the zip in the first place - the zip of encouragment. I was legging it through the place as it was almost closing time, but not so fast that I didn't see the 'Reduced' tag on some dusky rose taffeta! So that is the aspirational fabric now - I aspire to get the disaster dress sorted out, because when it works, I'll be remaking it in the taffeta for the August wedding. Hah, now I've said it on here, and it's bound to come back to haunt me!

Further to yesterday's post, I got up at 6.30am and tidied up, having mopped the floors etc yesterday. Yes, I do know that the guys will be back traipsing dust and muck through here again on Monday, but it had to be tidied for the weekend. Can't wait to get the hall stand back out there, the carpet fitted (I won't make the obvious joke about excitement at getting laid) and hang some of our gorgeous pictures, which have been languishing for almost two and a half years! Ah, nesting...

* The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that I missed the spotty box out of the picture above. That neatly encapsulates the Selfridges sale slogan that's on all their advertising:

You want it
You buy it
You forget it

Onwards, with enthusiasm!

I've sort of screwed up the dress I'm working on. But received lots of good advice from the good people at Sew Retro and Wardrobe Refashion. I think the solution is to undo all the work to date (the too-big bodice) and start over - oh well, at least I cut the it too big rather than too small.

I was a bit scared of trying to fit together a pattern size 14 top and 18 bottom - so stuck my head in the sand and cut out everything in a size 18. I must have been mad.

Thankfully our little house is starting to look brighter. Although it's wierd - I guess it's just because it looks so different, plus I've been on my own for a few days and DH isn't back for another three days. Maybe just a little lonely. Anyway, what's wierd is that it doesn't feel quite so friendly at the moment. Too bright and shiny, I guess. And empty, echoey, as the hallstand is in the sitting room and the carpet has long ago been ripped out. But probably I probably just need to give everything a good clean, to get rid of all the dust for a while - even though it will return when all the doors get changed, should I ever manage to source Victorian style 4 panel doors in appropriate sizes and quantities....breathe in, breathe out, Flib...

I guess I just want things sorted out. We've got guests coming for a week on the 1st - at the moment I've nowhere to put them and no bed for them to sleep in. Ok, they can have ours, of course. But where do I put their two children? Hammocks in the garden, at this rate. God, why do I do everything at the last minute.

Here's some before and after pics.

The original cornice blocks were completely overpainted, to the point that we didn't realise there was actually a pattern lurking, hidden under many layers of emulsion. One of the blocks was knocked off, soaked in water to loosen the paint, and recast. The the restorer made 25 replicas.

Below is what the hall looked like before (why oh why would you get rid of forest green woodwork and red stencils at 1 inch intervals throughout the house... hmmm, why indeed) and as a WIP now.

Ironically I think we've gone for the same colour below the dado rail as was previously on the top of the wall.

I should of course point out that when I say WIP, I don't mean that I'm actually doing it - I'm having too much fun making a hash of repainting this.

I think I'm just wanting to nest. Wanting a tidy, cosy house. And perhaps a housekeeper, maid and a laundry service. Right, I'm off to try to channel Nigella.

Secondly - or the second day

Ok, so life got in the way slightly but today I finished my apron for the June Tie One On, the theme is musicals. I had planned to do a Dorothy gingham apron, with a 'There's No Place Like Home' panel cross-stitched on the front, but put the wrong fabric in my cart when ordering online. So ended up with these big squares instead. So it became the 'My Pretty' Apron - as in "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too'...

Hello Hilary!

What a fun day! And there was me thinking that an Inland Revenue course on being self-employed and filling in tax returns wouldn't be a laugh a minute - actually it wasn't bad. Very funny tutors and if I actually manage to earn more than the tax free allowance this year, I'll know who to ring to help me to fill the form in.

Then picked up a stack of goodies from a local freecycler - mostly plus-size clothes in really nice fabrics which can be adapted for WR06 - pics later... and then off to West London to collect Hilary!

I've named her after the road I kept trying to find to get back to the tube. Plus my husband thinks that it's Hilar-ious that I trekked across town to get her. She need some TLC so I'm going to attempt to recover her, I think. She didn't come with a stand but I have a cunning plan, as Christmas comes but once a year. More later!

My first skirt...

Ok, so as usual it's not quite finished, but that's because the pattern says to let it hang for "several days" to let the bias hang out (and have fun, presumably). This is my first WR effort. Burda pattern 8677, and great crepe de chine which was 99p a metre!! from my stash.

Next time I will...

* check that the top levels of the two sides of the zip match as there's no waistband to hide the slight inaccuracy - no need, or indeed room, for a hook and eye here.

* write what alterations I'm making to the sizing to all the patterns pieces before I cut out, so that I remember to do the same to all the pieces. There was definitely something wierd going on but it's worked out ok.

Hurrah!