MELISSA VIA OK OK!

Capital Letters means shouting right? I'm totally shouting to you today, because my friend has not only the best shop in Brunswick's Sparta Place, she's got GREAT things in the store too... AND there's a sale on... Melbourians: take a DEEP BREATH:

Melissa shoes (as modelled above - LOL) at OK OK!

I love it, she's called it Occupy Christmas, and there a gazillion great 'special' VIP shopping sales on THIS FRIDAY: 5pm - 8pm! Look up 'OK OK' on Facebook, and like the shit outta that page and please visit her this Friday and buy all your Christmas pressies! If you don't live in Melbourne, I'd suggest buying a plane ticket right now! Emina makes her own clothes, tights (!) and stocks a whole kit and kaboodle of delish designer fash. Oh, and did I mention she has a massive collection of MELISSA SHOES?

I *wish* I wasn't in Sydney this week, otherwise I'd be holding my credit card high and shouting about how all the Melissa's are mine. Maybe you are LUCKY I'm in Sydney!

Lost in the move and enjoying the Simple Life

Hey-o! We've been moving house, and here and there I've been saving things to tell you about the big old move and all the ups and downs of my life as a fulltime radio producer, parttime seamstress (c/o Sew Weekly commitments), former mother of a darling dog, fulltime wifey, parttime gush machine and my new role . . .  producer of Husbie's new job. (But, more details of THAT exciting chapter in our life next time!)

When I get time to write to you, I have toooooo much to write about! And what I really wanted to show you today was my Sew Weekly Pin Up photos, as they show so much of my (badly tanned) pins AND our new backyard. But! they're lost in the move. They're not on my computer, my USB stick, or my phone. They *could* be on Husbie's computer (that has sadly needed the Mac Doctor twice in one week) or my work computer. So instead, I'll piece together some things... simple things... I've been enjoying lately... as I start a new life with my Darling Husbie, and in our new house together. (And by simple things, they are just that. Small joys, so don't worry, it's not another sad post :)!)

Our garden has spots for all plants, including a handmedown succulent 'Merle' (at least that's what I've been calling her!) who's now moved into her fourth home in 2 years. Isn't she brave?

Our garden has LEMONS. Or more accurately, a lemon tree! And of course we celebrated this fact with cocktails.

My friend brought his puppies to visit! They are fox terriers, and too tiny! They also get very tired! How sweet they are, and we loved hugging them!

I'm now caring for tomatoes and basil! Oh, I totally forgot that I'm also a parttime gardener gal now! Cannot WAIT for my edible garden to grow!

Little old Diana found her home in the new Sewing Room! I wish it looked this empty and spotless right now! (I have 3 projects thrown all over the place and it's a lot more cramped. Once Sew Weekly finishes I'll work out what bits go where. But I'm very excited about the large storage space. YAY! I'll get a gorgeous carpet photo for you, vintage floral lovers will have a heart attack, as it's very original and 1960s!

The boys and their amazing skillz. Thank you Paul (holding the light for Husbie), you are a dream friend. And we will also welcome your puppies around anytime.

What to wear when you renovate

"What? Veronica Darling is back again bothering us with another blog post so soon?"

Yes my dear darling, I am, and I've brought you some 'behind the scenes' of our 'renovation'.

LOL: we're not really renovating, just aesthetically doing stuff to the walls and floors, because guess what? We've spent all our HARD EARNED CASH on buying the darn house, so will forever live with that oven (split into two) above and the darling little sink that's perfect for my height. 

But we are honestly DIY-ing the 'changes' to the house. So! Husbie and his darling friends did the hard stuff like:

Discovering that someone had painted over the (not so pretty) wallpaper long ago.
Hiring wallpaper removal tools.
Scraping til fingers bled
Sanding til fingers bled
Filling in all the lovely holes that were found underneath the wallpaper, and by lovely I mean thousands!
AND then painting all the lovely walls!

I was VERY good at making nachos and watering the plants while the above was happening. But I did sand the skirting boards and use the putty/filler stuff REALLY well and often. I also 'prepared' the skirting boards for painting by stickytaping newspaper (and reading it) all around.

But what I was EXTREMELY good at:

(apart from being generally cheery with all the hard work) was ripping the carpets up and removing the underlay (seen above with those lovely massive stains).

Now Christina (I think?) had warned me about Underlay (as I've been noticing a lot of 'renovating' going on in blogworld) and I feel it makes the stuck gloopy bits come up easier if you yell 'UNDERLAY UNDERLAY' out again and again! You really do feel like Speedy Gonzales!

xoxo

Outfit for Renovating:
Shoes: Forges (now closed down) in Footscray
Apron: Gift from my lovely friend Amy, it's handmade!
Dress: Veronica Darling's famous tshirt dress, made in Sydney
Hair: Pincurls (of course!)
Gloves: Gardening gloves from the hardware store.
Gas mask: from my father's shed.

Bless.

Sew Weekly: Orange You Glad to Meet Me?

Oh HAI!

Here's my Sew Weekly Orange Themed creations from a few weeks back. The skirt is a 70s-esque Vogue Very Easy pattern, and the top is a child's long sleeve tshirt from the op shop that I lopped off the tight ribbed neckline and sleeve edges.

The pockets are just way too darling, and so useful!

We took the photographs down at this old shell of a building near the West Footscray Train Station that is well and truly taken over by street artists. This falling female image is actually the fourth I've seen around the West and in the city... I think you've seen it a few times too Nichola? I seem to recall your instagram photos! (Are you on instagram? I'm @veronicadarling - of course - if you wanna follow me!)

The fabric for the skirt is a curtain and reminds me of caravanning holidays. In fact this outfit is very holiday-esque, hey? Complete with the tan line:

Yay for my Cambodian bike shorts!

This week we've been unpacking boxes, working out our budgets to prepare for the mortgage and planning out the next few months. We can be pretty thrifty at times but also super indulgent and I honestly wish sometimes I had all the money in the world just to eat out every night at all the amazing restaurants in Melbourne. Either that or the chefs should stop opening more exciting eateries and bars! TOO DELISH and eating out is so not the thriftiest option.

Hope you're having a good week!

Posies for Saturday

How's your Saturday? I am baffled by our outside weather, so choosing to stay indoors and do a bunch of housestuff! OMG, it's just raining down and now kinda cold! Yesterday was 33 degrees, and steamy hot. If you don't live in Melbourne, I'm not sure there is another city that is so up and down with its weather patterns.

People have been talking about a really cold and wet summer here, which would be great for keeping bushfires at bay... but really makes me think I need to book a holiday to Cambodia again asap. Today I was talking to a guy about Laos and Vietnam, so I might have to look into that for next year.

These flower photos are from Singapore, the top one, where flowers (fake and real) were out the front of shops and then the other two: the lotus flower and the red bunch were from Phnom Penh in Cambodia. I've never really seen lotus flowers before, but in Cambodz they were everywhere!

I'm catching up on a lot of sewing since it's raining so much, so back to the machines! Oh, I can't remember the bloggers name, but there's a cool blog name out there (let me know if you know here) which I can guess is a Florence + the Machine LOL - so her blog is 'Veronica + The (Sewing) Machine'... GREAT NAME. Back to my Machine!

xoxo

Sew Weekly: I got to meet Adey for Halloween!

Yay! We've moved in to the new house! AND THE SEWING ROOM! I'm very excited! More news soon!

So, before everything happened with Doggie Darling, and Moving House/Buying House, I went on a holiday to Cambodia. BUT, I had planned to stop over in Singapore, because my friend has just moved there for work and I'd never really been there. I planned 1 extra day in Singapore... because...

Now, if you know the Sewing World online and are an avid Sew Weekly follower, you'll know that's where ADEY AKA The Sew Convert lives!

And we totes hung out in Singapore! Adey is absolutely gorgeous (of course!) and we planned to celebrate the Sew Weekly's Halloween theme together so here's what we came up with. It's totally Adey's inspiration, and I explained it all a bit here why we are dolled up in tablecloth fabrics! It was Adey's first meet up with a Sewing Friend from Online, and now that I've met Nikkishell & Kazz and some of you lovely followers, I'm getting HEAPS less shy! I'm excited and thinking about it now, I'd actually love to go back to Singapore right now!

Oh boy it's hot in Singapore though! I'm not sure how many degrees, but it was kinda hard to stand out in any direct sunlight for the photos, so we ran around Vivo City (a large shopping/entertainment hub for Singaporians) and then had a DARLING lunch, that I'll show you photos of soon too!

Thank you darling Adey for taking such fun photos and suggesting the inspiration for our dresses! I'll write again with more about what we did after the photo shoot! xoxo

So fun! xoxo

Moving Day

It's time for us to leave the old house and start our new life in our brand new house, wise and hopeful after a few weeks of heartbreak after Doggie Darling passed away. Thank you again, for all your lovely thoughts and well wishes. We do think that she really did live life at the fullest and funnest, for Staffies are  so gungho and such pocket rockets, and this little wee one was just full of beans and made everyone fall in love with her. I'm so glad you all got to know her through this blog as well.

She will be missed and loved.

So, today has been amazing and we've fallen in love with the new house. The above photo is from our old house, a little nook that I really loved, and wanted to photograph before it was all packed away. And the new house... it's just perfect. I'll give you a big old update soon, because we had a quick 2 weeks of DIY renovations (walls/ceilings/floors in 3 rooms and the hallway) and after today, we'll have 90 per cent of the house moved in. Well here's hoping.

Unpacking could take months though! I'm SO pleased the Sew Room was a priority (thanks to Sew Weekly! And my Pin Up post will be up later today), so it's halfway unpacked and that's where I'm typey typing to you now! Husbie and I love our computers and internerds and music so much, we made sure the wifi was the first thing installed!

Happy Friday loves! xoxo

Sew Weekly: PJz

Before I went to Cambodia, I made some pyjamas! I was travelling with gorgeous girlfriends, and usually I wear vintage (and elegant!) nighties which would be way to sexxxy and hot (in actual temperature) for Asian countries. So it was quite serendipitous that the Sew Weekly theme was sleepwear or lounging garments! And what's so interesting, I reckon, is the discussion about sewing outer clothes... just so people can 'see' what you sew. Is it better making things that you can show off to people, or do you try everything and it doesn't matter if people see it or not.

For me, I've tried undergarments before, with mixed results. I still wear a pair of undies I made 2 years ago. They are falling apart, however. I think these are the first pjz I've sewn.... but I could be forgetful.

This shortie nightie and bloomers are covered in more detail on my Sew Weekly post, and I did get a lot of wear outta them in Cambodz.

xoxo

Back to normal soon

Some bouquets and flowers from my life for you. Thank you for reading, and listening, and caring so much. I'm overwhelmed (Husbie too) by your kindness and such lovely thoughts and it's a weird thing writing a blog, and putting yourself 'out there' but there's so much more to writing than just that. The ups and downs of life ... real life ... and for me this week, writing my post (however simple it was, but I realise now it was great to write it down) has made me feel a bit better, and talking to people now instead of 'telling them what happened' is heaps better too.

Thank you, xoxo

(P.S. I've made an orange skirt recently for Sew Weekly, and some other things there, and will post them here soon. Just gotta move house first.)

A very sad thing happened

It was just last month, I saw a bloggie friend's sad post about her dog. She is a super vibrant and gorgeous girl, and I was so sad to read her dog had recently passed away.

And now, I'm writing to let you know that my Doggie Darling has gone too.

My heart is very heavy, and I know a lot of you guys loved seeing her gorgeous big smile when she appeared in my photos. Staffie Dogs always have fun, that's for sure.

Doggie Darling (we think) had a very quick moving brain lesion, or tumour, and lived only 2 and a half years with us, but made Husbie and I so happy and we loved her so much. We'll continue loving her, even though she's gone.

With much sadness,
xoxo