Outfit #59 - Fashions on the Field!

Hey! Here's Outfit #59 of my 100 Outfit Challenge...


It's the Danielle pattern (Free!) on Burda Style, and it was super easy to download and stick together, it just takes a bit of time. I made it for my bro's g/friend as she wanted sometime new to wear to the races! It's Racing Season in NSW, so a girl needs lots of dresses!

I changed the sleeves:


When I pinned the puffy sleeves to the dress, I couldn't imagine them working... so changed them for a little sleeve (it always reminds me of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the last scene where Magenta and Riff Raff are leaving and they're wearing these vests that have that sleeve - so I think it's a space sleeve or a 'future' sleeve - WEIRD!) and I think it looks really cute, and totally something you could wear when it's not race season.




I'd totally do a Burda Style pattern again, albeit the instructions on Danielle was a bit weird (refer to Photo 25 - when there was no Photo 25), I've followed enough patterns so I could work it out. This neckline is divine, and I'm so proud I got it straight, as curvy corners sometimes throw me off!

Running HOT for errands

With a sore back, I ambled home today and tried to do things outside my usual schedule, so as to stop it aching. It's on the left side of my back, so can't be computer related and perhaps (HORROR) it's the sewing machine. EEP!

So I made some toasted muesli, using maple syrup and orange juice as the gushy wet stuff. I left out the sugar, cause maple syrup and cranberries do make it sweet:



And then a lovely parcel from My Mother in Law arrived for Doggie Darling:



I did manage a yoga class, a stop over at Remnants Warehouse (for elastic & some navy cotton fabric), Pet Barn and the grocer, and now am making a few delish things for my Husbie (hopefully he gets home soon). A Penne primavera and Baked chips with parmesan.

I'm watching the first episode of Master Chef Australia (and getting HEAPS hungry) and love the quote "Food is like an inferno in my heart".

A dress for the races, still in progress

It'll be outfit #59, but I had a few guests visiting our Doggie Darling over the weekend, so my brother's girlfriend is not dressed to win fashions on the field just yet. I'll hopefully finish it off tomorrow, I gotta get some thinner black elastic.

As I couldn't get a good photo of the dress, here are my new boots.

New as in new in 1978 or sometime ago (still going strong on my Wardrobe Refashion pledge, perhaps taking it a little TOO seriously. I've only bought new bras in the past 6 months).

There's so many great vintage stores in my area, and now I feel like Stevie Nicks!

Sunday Stash #2

Another Sunday, and the morning was full of reading my book, hanging with Doggie Darling and sewing (there shall be another post today) and as I pause for lunch (edamame!) thought I'd blog this unique Sunday Stash! My gorgeous friend's grandmother passed away recently, and the family are going through her belongings, and they decided to share with me her haberdashery collection:
Some lovely cotton fabric (today's newest stash item) and her house shoes. And a bagful of dress zips, and a massive amount of threads:

My friend's Grandmother certainly kept everything, and created a great collection of sewing things. I feel so touched that my friend thought of me and my (self-claimed) illustrious sewing skills. I can't wait to created darling garments to show my friend. Thank you gorgeous girl!

So, I better head back, but I'm sure you guys know about skype, so here's my Husbie and I skype-ing as he's away for work until Monday night:

I had to take a photo cause he looked so cute!

Outfits 57 and 58 - Shirts!

The 100 Outfit Challenge continues for me, with these lovely shirts!




They're for my friend, and hopefully I shall be seeing her tomorrow, so I can make a quick buck! Quick in the exchange, not so quick in the sewing! Now that I'm a Mummy of Doggie Darling, I've be flat out (not sewing) and so the shirts did take a while. They're pretty easy to do, and total copies of my husbie's shirt.

Just a quick post, I'm in the middle of laying out a Burda Style pattern. It's my first one (however I've been a member for a while - always longing and looking until now), and if you haven't tried it, you print out the pattern/instructions and stick them together. There's so many free patterns there, and I'm making a gift for my brother's girlfriend. I showed her heaps of pictures and she chose Danielle which was a free pattern! Lucky me! (I love thriftyness!)

Better go cause I'm on puppy watch!

There's still craft but nothing hardcore

Ok, I did promise my blog would stick to being crafty. I'm not one to talk about my personal life, I prefer to keep it all about the Crafty Adventures BUT SHE'S JUST SO CUTE! Doggie Darling is doing pretty well, and it's now time for embarro pics of her!



HA HA! She blinked while I took the photo and she's STILL cute.

So you can imagine my time is pretty much full of dog and caring for little bunny-ness (she jumps really big like a rabbit). BUT, here's what I've been doing (watching West Wing Series 5) for another urban art project - or Guerrilla Knitting!



I'm plodding along slowly while watching the telly. My other pole warmer is still going well, considering it's rained a LOT recently. But there's a hole up the top now, so it'll unravel eventually.

Just checked grrl+dog's blog (who, by the way, inspired my Inner West knitting adventure - she's the Queen of Guerrilla Knitting in IW Sydney) and she's got LOTS going on, but there's mention of a knit community thing for Sydney peeps. LOVE it, I think I've got a crafty crush on grrl+dog actually. She's not only hot, but really good at street art. One of my lovely readers mistook my street art pole for one of hers, and I blushed.

On the topic of readers and knitting, Thea & Sami stopped by to follow my blog (thanks!) and I read through her recent posts, to find this:



OMFG, how much fun! There's a pattern as well, and designed by Megan Reardon and I'm totally going to make it for my friend over at The Playground Mischief!

There's nothing cuter than a PUPPY in a dog bed!

STOP - ATTENTION!

This is seriously the most gushy, loved up post I'll ever write (until the baby post - but that's not for a while) so be prepared for our Puppy Love! It's the new puppy!



She's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier (of the English variety peeps) and is 8 weeks old. Her name online is Doggie Darling, and therefore has a nom de plume like her Mummy and Daddy.

BUT are you hanging to see the dog bed as well? HERE IT IS with Doggie Darling!




She's dug around, pushed the cushion around, slept under the cushion, slept without the cushion. She's asleep right now. She hasn't even been in our house for 24 hours yet, and Husbie and I cannot do anything else but take photos of her and dote.

Now I'll be making dog toys for her!

Oh dear, there's nothing cuter than a dog bed!

What can I say, I think I've made the best thing EVER!



You know, I've put all this energy into making dresses for my 100 Outfits Challenge, when I should have been making DOG BEDS this whole time. How freaking cute is it?

Sorry about the wonky photoshop, but I wanted to show you all sides in one photo (Also how weird is the colour red to photograph? Sometimes it's fine sometimes it goes WEIRD). There's a zip on the underside, so as to wash the red cover if it's dirty and too slobbery, and also a removable cushion when she gets bigger. The insides (rough and yukky) are from thick cord like material cushions covers (c/o a clothing swap last year) and stiffened with interfacing (the kind you'd strengthen handbags with, I've got some leftover to make a new bag tomorrow) and softened with an old pillow.

I'm especially proud of the red material (the grid one is from the Tempe Tip - a curtain maybe?) and the pillow is a ribbed knit that I've had for AGES (I think even Mum's stash) so it'll totally smell like our house for our new puppy - WHO ARRIVES TOMORROW.

(Am I excited or what?)

WWW - Watcha Wearing Wednesday #5

Yay for Wednesday in a four day week! It feels like Tuesday, but thankfully it's Thursday tomorrow. Speaking of the working week, I can't remember what I was reading (maybe it was a magazine at the hairdressers today) and it was that recent author whose whole book is about being 30 and how horrid everything is, especially in the workforce and how depressed everyone is at 30 and how she wanted to escape the pinstripe suit set around town. Blah blah blah, so predictable and negative! Golly, no one I know is super depressed about turning any age, and the only thing I felt (and a handful of friends) about turning 30 was a little nostalgia about old friends, and so we hooked up here and there. As for escaping the pinstripe suit set... WTF? I have never thought a job defines the clothes. Some aspects of my career has changed over the years (I used to wear more trousers when I was walking in paddocks and now I wear more dresses since I work in an office) but I find a whole book about 'thrisis' (the crisis of turning 30 according to this author) totally annoying!

And so today's pinstripes are brought to you by ME, for WWW - Watcha Wearing Wednesday, and it's my interpretation of what you CAN wear at the office.

I know not all workplaces are the same, but I'm happy with my job and that I can wear whatevs I like! My dress was $8 from a fabulous second hand store nearby my house, and the shoes are oldies from Target and I think they may have been $25. Wow, expensive! It's funny thinking of my old purchasing days - I bet I thought $25 was cheap before I stopped buying new things!

It was really sunny today, so it was hard getting a photo in my backyard. But I still love Meg's photos as the layout makes any bad pics cute!

After work I went to the hairdressers (just an update on the platinum) and then finished my friend's shirts (bar the buttons). I'll finish them off properly tomorrow as I wanted to get cracking on a puppy bed for our little Doggie. She arrives on Friday and I'm almost finished. It's a bit weird, and I broke 1 needle cause the material is so thick (any clues on sewing corduroy type material to wadding?) but I bet it'll look FABULOUS once it's done. I even drew a diagram sketch so I wouldn't get confused!

I want it to look like this kinda:

Photo from here:

Veronica Darling at a fashion parade - a real life one!

Veronica Darling, originally uploaded by nikkishell.

Phew, all my work is done (maybe)!

Phew! I'm back!

I have a busy job. And have been away for close to 2 weeks because of the hectic-ness. Phew. I love sewing because it's the complete opposite of what I do for a living... it's reflective, calm, meditative and logical. Yep, I enjoy logical because my job is slightly absurd at times. Sorry I didn't post, I could hardly even check personal emails! Eep!

But, the best news on earth... This will be our puppy as of Friday this week:



She's a staffy and gorgeous!

So I've been shopping for our new addition!!! A few months back I checked out Annie's Sweatshop on etsy (quite randomly I think!) and she makes eco-friendly dog things, from re-purposed fabrics and I'm in love. I bought another collar from my parent's pooch too. Yay!



Photo care of Annie's blog!

So I promise we won't get too carried away with pictures of Doggie... although I may be making a few doggie coats and jackets for the rain!!! I'm adamant to keep my blog about crafty adventures, so please point out if I get too lovey dovey about Doggie!

WWW - Watcha Wearing Wednesday #4

Another Wednesday! Today I worked, then worked some more, met Husbie for a late lunch (still full now on Thai Red Curry - my fave dish from the nearest thai restaurant - only $6 for a lunch special) and then talked about life and future things. We even wrote a pros and cons list about stuff that's a little on the lowkey (and may not eventuate anywhere even). I got a new diary the other week (I haven't had one for about 4 years. I used to fill at least one a year, and need a kickstart in writing again - blogging does help - but writing with black pens on nice notebooks makes the cake - takes the cake?) and we wrote our lists out. Husbie thinks about EVERYthing in the world all at once, and worries, so we write things out and it's always ok. (I've mentioned my positivity before right?)

We came home and I slept for 2 hours! A total nanna nap. Anyways, I did some more work when I woke up and haven't been in the sewing room ALL DAY! I'm dying to finish those shirts for my friend, and totally thought I'd have them for her by today. TOO BUSY!

Nevertheless, WWW today:



As we have indoor outdoor living at my lovely abode, we often get a bit of NATURE inside. I swept up the leaves and before tossing them asked Husbie to take a piccie of me Bill Henson style. I love it!

Oh! It's a dress I made last year (Did I post it?) from a vintage style... a few bits were missing so I had to TAILOR some pattern pieces to fit and whilst I really like the collar, the colour is a little light for me and beigy-pastelly stuff doesn't really go with my hair these days... Oh wells! Love the piccie Husbie!