Giveaway skirt finds a home!

A few weeks back I had a giveaway (my first ever! Can't believe people applied for it!) and I drew Bethany's name from the hat, and doesn't she look AWESOME in the little checked skirt:



Even better, she sent me the photo and blogged it here! CUTE STUFF! You're a total darling Bethany! You look great and I want those boots! I had a great pair of doc marten steel caps when I was little, but I wore them every day for about 5 years and left them behind in England cause they were too heavy for my luggage. CRY! I think I'll have to get another pair now that I've seen you wear them!

Just as an aside, I did an online whip around for some cheap veggie meals to have over the next few days and came up with this list! (Sorry to blog my shopping list, but I wanna update my computer now with new firefox etc, so wanna save the pages!)


Vegetable Crumble

Chickpea Curry

Soba Noodles with Spicy Tofu Peanut Sauce

Delicious Vegetable Paella

Leek and Corn-Stuffed Peppers

Yum! Can't wait to eat them all up!

Husbie and I are cooking up something big for the future soon, so we're minding our pennies and saving up dosh! We're dreaming up traveling schemes and family schemes, so hopefully they'll all come together soon.

Happy Birthday to me!

My darling Husbie gave me such a beautiful and thoughtful present on my birthday (which was Monday 24th August - so you can write it delicately into your birthday book LOL).

There are 500 of them, and can be sewn on the back of the garment, or even halved and sewn on the side of a t shirt. He chose the font from my website!

I LOVE THEM AND I LOVE MY HUSBIE!

He also presented them to me in the gorgeous film canister (isn't it cute), as he works in the film industry, and tells me this is a 35 mm film canister to be exact. Spiffy and just gorgeous!

Thank you darling!

It's my birthday and you get ALL the presents!

Yep, I'm sure it's not a new thing, but I had another gorgeous birthday and have altered a few etsy items so YOU get lovely discounts on my darling handmade unique items.

There's NOTHING over $20 (American dollar darlings) and it's all totally a one of a kind garment and totally and I chopped off 20 bucks of every item. Grand Sale Grand Sale Grand Sale.

Woo!

*phew!*

I'm going to actually start sewing again, (o RLY?), and I totally need to update my etsy with all the latest things I've made, so hence the big Birthday Sale!

Thanks to you lovely gals who said happy bday via facebook! You're a treasure! And btw, you can totes become my friend on facey if you wish, I'll totally love it! Search for Veronica Darling, or click on the left hand column below (somewhere there, you'll see a facebook box).

Night peeps!

Cable Au Go Go

Hey!

Thanks for your knitting comments! I'm over halfway through my darling bathroom mat, and I think it's working ok!

I totally googled the hell outta cable instructions and found these links particularly helpful!

http://home.howstuffworks.com/knitting-instructions6.htm

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=4yr7vLUI5mkC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=c4b+cable+knitting&source=bl&ots=SEtbrOO7R4&sig=YEKslXAfHdVIz2n1DlrgPUB9dZ0&hl=en&ei=PEWKSqb8E4KBkQW7hfAn&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=c4b%20cable%20knitting&f=false

So YAY! I'm going to bed now and draping my mat over my lap like a granny and knitting my cables! It's seriously easier that I thought, and I'm using a chopstick as my cable thingie! Please don't think I'm crazy if you don't know anything about knitting!

My parents arrive tomorrow and as I have an abundance of strawberries (left over from my Ladies Lunch clothes swap) I'm considering making this dish for dessert!

Yum!

How would one cable knit then?

So it's another sick day for me. My cough isn't as bad today, and overall it's just feeling gloomy instead of yukcity like yesterday. I totally don't handle being sick very well, as I don't get sick often, if at all. So I'm trying to let it flow over me and not be thinking too much about it.

Farmville helps that's for sure!

As I'm recovering in bed (with darling Doggie) I mashed up some of Husbie's photos to show you my little sewing room!

What do you think?



From left to right: Shelves (Dad made them for me a few years ago!) that hold my haberdash like buttons, extra threads and other things, and some books as well. Then you see my darling machines, the overlocker on the left (that was a dilemma for about 2 months trying to work out if the overlocker should sit on the right or the left of the straight stitch) and it's a Janome one that I got this time last year (on my birthday - next week!). Then my Brother straight stitch, then my bits and bobs tray (I have cute little vintage cups for bobbins, needles and a tools basket) which is very handy right near the machines. Then cast your eyes to the cutting board, it's not very big, and when I'm cutting majorly big things it gets a bit annoying, but it's ok overall.

THEN my fabric! YAY! These shelves are IKEA, and we've used them for different things over the years, for books and records and then in the kitchen here in the new house, until we got a lovely vintage sideboard for the kitch, so they've becvome my fabric shelves. I've set up the second computer in the middle too (so I can google for tips and blog at will) and I've also got garments to refash stored on one of the shelves and some of my patterns in the suitcase down on the floor.

Next up is the ironing board (I can hear my mother gasp as she sees it set up PERMANENTLY!) and the cover that I made for it, with some storage and more patterns behind, then lovely Diana and the click clack fold out couch/bed!

Gosh it's so lovely and neat. I honestly can't bear to sew anything again cause it's so clean (Yeah, right!) but I have to keep it slightly clean because the Pez (parents, darlings) will be here at the end of the week to help celebrate my bday!

Ok, so whilst my Doggie Darling sleeps and sleeps (she's turning into a cat - I thought Staffies were supposed to be boundless energy type dogs) I'm going to google cable knitting, because I'm about to start my bathroom mat, but forgot that I didn't know how to knit cables. DUR!

So far I've found Knitting Cables for Dummies, via the For Dummies website! I'll let you know how I go, hopefully it won't take all day to do!

xoxo

Tax time! Thinking thrifty!

We've just got together all our tax shizzle and about to go to the accountant. Yay!

I'm really my Daddy's girl when it comes to tax time, as I go all gooshy over the tax return. Last time I had to call Dad right after my Accountant Meeting cause I knew he'd be really proud of me. I don't earn THAT much money, but I have fingers in pies and have the nickname 'Thrifty' around town. So I often get a good return for our little family.

So, I've discovered also that I'm quite sick! I coughed all last night with horrid dreams and have totally lost my voice. Today's been really weird cause I'm such a mover and shaker that I can't sit still. I slept for a bit, then we did our tax, but I started a little project yesterday that I wanted to share with you...

and I don't get that nickname 'Thrifty' for nothing I tell ya!

My parents are visiting this week, and I know they'll point out that we don't have a bath mat, or in our case, a shower mat. We did have one from the Swedish Company but it didn't last long... so after the clothes swap on Saturday (a huge success btw) I went through and grabbed out the extra black, red and white tshirts (and a couple I'd put in the refashion basket) and started googling and cutting:


I found this tutorial on rag knitting, and hopefully I'll soon have a bath mat like this one!


The pattern is from the cocoknits website, and you should totally have a look cause it looks ACE, I'm totally into making some booties for grown ups! Maybe they'll be easier than my baby booties?

See you later! *cough cough*

No more sewing, as the room is spotless!

Well, the cleaning up frenzy finished and it's a huge success in the sewing room:


Myself and Doggie Darling just hanging out in the cool space that is now ordered and lovely and chaos free.

And thanks Emy! Look how lovely the dress looks!!!


That's me walking to a Doris Day song, yay! What a great weekend, hey Sydney peeps? So sunny and just darling fun! (Although I'm hungover AGAIN - too much fun at the clothes swap and a mad rooftop party in Surry Hills)

We're watching the first episode of Dollhouse (Joss Whedon - HEART JOSS!) now, is it any good? It's quite mysterious at the moment, so can't work it out!

What I'm noticing as I'm cleaning up

Dot Points as I'm CLEANING! Can't jot too much down as will interrupt the cleaning and tidying process, it's really important I spend time NOT blogging, right guys? Right!???

Things I need to finish:
Bowtie for the Ginge
Teddy dog for Luca

Things I need to repair:
Buttons on Husbie's brown stripped shirt
Glue red bow ring together
Sew Husbie's black suit trousers together
Readjust Husbie's grey pinstriped waistcoat
The zipper in my pink floral 60s dress
Put a new lining in for my grey jacket and sew up the back

Things I need to start:
Rosie's badge - from Brockhurst lady material
Pillowcases for Woody with her own purple vintage material
Orange Pillowcases for our blue click clack couch

There might be a few more notes, but don't want to get too much of a list going!

It's such a beautiful and sunny day here so the morning is going really well at my house. Luckily the time is crawling too, so I'm enjoying our clean up of the house and about to start a cob loaf dip, the spinach is thawing at the moment and I'll run round the block to get a cob soon.

xoxo

Another reason why sewing has stalled...

MESS!





And thought I'd spare you all the gory wideshot details, and only show you this:



I have absolutely no room to sew, cut or to do anything! That's what happens I guess when you get gungho over something. But my goal here this afternoon, is to make this all lovely and clear AND I HAVE MY NEW APRON ON TO LOOK THE PART OF GOOD HOUSEWIFEY!

So hopefully there will be big TICKS after this list is done:

- Divide up the projects: repairs, garments to sew, garments to finish, garments to give away at the clothes swap, garments to sell on etsy or the markets in Sept.

- Put all the haberdash away in its place (ie buttons, ribbons, patterns etc)

- Refold all the materials too

- Wash all recent op shopped material and The Fabric Store Knits (load of washing on now - yippee!)

- Um... have glass of wine now pls?

Why haven't I been sewing after my sew-a-thon ended?

I've come to blog a few times this week, but have found myself:

a) Addicted to facebook's Farmville & Restaurant City
b) Reading other people's blogs and laughing
c) Playing more computer games on bubblebox

or

d) ALL OF THE ABOVE...

Perhaps you'd like to share your distractions this week, because I have stacks more than just these ones! But the best thing EVER is a parcel from Emy, of Crafternoon Delight, that arrived and it's just so sweet! Thank you darling girl! I'll have to take some photos of my new clothes for you all to see!

And here's what I sent off to Emy this week (nice buttons hey?):


And here's some fun things I found at the Op Shop, a great bargain of 50c each!


And I won a little giveaway from this awesome lady, who writes superbly and loves vintage stuff and making stuff from old stuff just like me! Woo!

Tomorrow I'm hosting a clothes swap 'Ladies Lunch' at my house, and doing a wardrobe shake up so we can all swap clothes and drink champagne and generally just be good looking together. We do it occasionally with the girls from work, because there's enough different body shapes for everyone to get something and what's leftover I'll take down to the oppie. YAY!

New (old) Tiki Curtains

Sugar! The internet stuffed up again! Yikes! I've got it all fixed, it was a modem problem followed by a wireless problem, but it's all ok, thanks to darling call centre peeps. I spoke to two lovely boys, and they must just get such annoying callers so I tried to lend them a bit of Veronica Darling gush and we got on great!

So, here are the tiki curtains I got from the op shop the other week, here is the sewing room:


And our room:



Gorgeous and thick enough to block out the sun!

OMFG, and I just made this delish Pasta with Goats Cheese & Mushrooms; I googled mushrooms, pasta and goats cheese cause that's what we had left over in the fridge, and YUM x a million. Totally try it, I've never made a cheesy sauce before and cause of time omitted the baking in the oven bit, and it was delish!

Featured on Wardrobe Refashion!

Jessica from Wardrobe Refashion asked me to be the Featured Refashionista on the site a couple of weeks back, and I was in full swing doing Outfits galore. So I finally got round to writing some stuff up about refashioning and she's posted it in the news section of the site!

Yippee! I love refashioning! And I love the site! Anyone can join too, you don't have to be a total sewing queen or anything, and everyone is really encouraging when you post!

When I was finding some photos for Jessica, I found this one:


It's from a couple of pillow cases, and gosh it's lovely! I gave it to my friend for her bday, and it's totally inspired a lot of other skirts! Yay!

Hope your Saturday is just as nice as mine! I haven't really done much, but we had a little sleep in, went to doggie school and had some brunch in the sun in Marrickville at THE BEST cafe, the staff are all so friendly and the food is great.

I hung up some new (but old vintage tiki style) curtains that I'd got at the Oppie a couple of weeks back, in our bedrooms and they look gorgeous, might take a piccie of their tiki style once I work out what's up with the camera (might have to get husbie onto that one!) and am going to MAKE SOMETHING NOW! Omfg it's been like a total week off! Not too sure what I'd like to make, so going to look through the stash now!

Shopping for bits and pieces and enjoying the afternoon!

So around my neighbourhood I'd seen posters up about a 30% Off Sale... at the Fabric Store, and as I've never been before, I thought I'd check it out!


Photo from Fabric Store's website!

The lovely peeps who work there are just darling, and so helpful with tips etc. I bought some knits that were on special, and got a remnant for cheap as well, and they were so cute! They admired my outfit, which was made from a bedsheet, so I was pretty embarrassed, but they loved it! I'll totally go back! I might have a think and go back to buy specific fabric rather than get some random cheap things!

And then as I'd gone through my stash of white buttons and realised I'd only had odd numbers (for Emy's smockdress) and not enough for her dress, I tottered down the road to the Button Store, where my friend works!


Photo from the Button Store website!

And yay! I got a couple of weird buckles and the white buttons no worries! It was good to see my darling friend as she's been checking out my blog! Yay! Hi honey! I've actually never bought anything from the Button Store before, because my stash has always been pretty spot on, but do drop in if you're in the neighbourhood! Throughout my limited shopping trips I forget to shop local!

It's a great afternoon, the sunshine has been so yellow and bright because of some random rainclouds, and now I'm heading out the door to the pub as a lovely girlfriend/bestie is visiting from Melbourne. I'm going to catch up with her for tea, and then see her gorgeous bub tomorrow xoxo

Yay!

Yay! Giveaway time!

So you left a comment on my giveaway post, and named your favourite outfit from this selection:


And then I dutifully did a random selection, out of a hat style giveaway (thanks to Husbie for the photos!)


And the winner is:

Bethany who nom-ed the check skirt down the bottom, right Bethany? Plaid? You liked the shape? It's YOURS (I'll email you!)!!!

And also a VERY special mention to Ceeceeblogger, who's bit of paper jumped out during my shake up and landed in a nearby glass of water! Most talented! I might make you something special too Ceecee!

Thank you to all of you lovely darlings for posting and naming your fave garment. I'm still astonished that you read my blog, and so happy for all your compliments during my challenge. I still have 3 garments to make to bust over that 100 Outfit line, so hopefully will whip some up this weekend.

Gush to you all, Veronica

WWW - Watcha Wearing Wednesday #12

Hey there guys!!

Almost Giveaway Day! I'm drawing your prize on Thursday so fingers crossed it's you!

Today, being Wednesday is once again WWW - Watcha Wearing Wednesday, and quite simply it's a YAY DAY, because Franca over at Oranges And Apples sent me a darling little present! (Please don't laugh at my funny face, I'd only just woken up from my little nanna nap in the afternoon!)


The darling little brooch! She's also listed some on etsy I see too, which reminded me to favourite her store. Cuteness! If you haven't been to her blog before, Franca posts at least once a day, and her outfits and creations are so bright and colourful. So good for me to look at, during our winter, but would be perfect for springtime/summer!

We just got back from the Johnny Depp film, it was good and the fashions were ACE, so it's quite late for me.

I'm still on a little holiday from the sewing room, but promise, more things soon!

I'm getting really good at cuddling with babies, but not so good at knitting for them

I'm taking my time with choosing my next outfit, I'm just finishing off the last lovely smockdress, then going to draw the giveaway on Thursday.

So totally chilling, making foodz and drinking wine, but here's something I've been doing while I'm hanging on the couch:


Can you tell what they are? I am NOT an experienced knitter at all, and have only just started working out the lingo of knitting (Oh, so there are abbreviations used, not a different language like pig latin! RIIIIGHT) so I'm pretty happy I followed the pattern for these little things.

The greeny one is a bootie, started up the top ankle bit (I imagine) and then knitted down, making a heel and then making a toe. Now, the pattern told me to break the thread. BREAK it! I freaked out. What if I had stuffed it? I decided to take the risk and soldier on. But I just can't work out how it sews together. It LOOKS WEIRD!

The second one, is also a bootie, but a red orangey bootie, and same again, I tried a different pattern (this one omitted the heel and the breaking of the thread) but it still looks SILLY and I can't work out how to sew it up. WEIRD.

Also check out Weirdo Doggie Darling who has a couple of new toys! Totally recommend them for Staffies and chewy dogs:


I think they're called 'Busy Buddies' and from the Premier brand (from the States I think), I got them from Ozpets.com.au or whatever.

Friend day at the biggest shopping centre in the world*

Thank you for all your comments lovely peeps! I think I'll draw the winner out of a hat on Thursday, cause then it'll feel like the weekend when you win! Thursday feels like the weekend to me most weeks, so giving a garment away will also be fun!

I'm so gushed out because of the nice things you've said, and even if you don't leave comments, it's so nice of you to stop by and have a look. Yay!

Anyways, I'll leave the comments open til Thursday, so if you wanna leave your fave garment in a note to me, you'll still be in the running. And if you're stuck with what Number each garment is, the garments listed in the mosaic are all from July, so here are the Outfits all listed here, but don't worry I'll try and work out which garment is your fave. Plus remember that if you like a garment that's not readily available (ie starred in yellow), I'll happily make you your fave! It might just be a different size or colour or whatever, but still unique!

So today was a big day at work, I lost something, then found it, and then escorted my friend to a very big shop that EVERYone knows around the world, but especially Australians right!? IKEA! I haven't been for ages, but I also didn't need anything, but my darling friend needed some lovely things for her newly moved into art deco apartment. And we found HEAPS of great stuff for her, plus $80 of stuff for me! I got 2 bits of fabric, gonna try it out, it was a cheap one and then a pricey one. And some glasses and a small saucepan for making custard. Yep, that's what IKEA is all about, it makes you think your old op shop glasses don't hold enough water, and makes you think you can make custard. Or want to make custard. Hee Hee!

And as for you curious-o's, I've still got THREE Outfits to make to finish off my (to quote Annie Hall) lar-dee-dar 100 Outfit Challenge, so I'll be posting asap (once I work out what to make, I guess they should be significant in some way? They'll probably be stash busters again), so I'll still be around. I'm addicted to blogging now, right? And I think I've found my voice finally! (Those who know me best, are mightily aware of how self conscious I am in blogland usually, as I studied author/reader voice in several uni classes back in the day)

Yippee.





* Not accurate, but feels like it!

First Ever Giveaway! (And look at my mosaic of garments!)

*** Please note that this giveaway has happened already, thanks for your lovely comments! - Veronica Darling 13/08/09***

Yay!

If you've only just joined me here on my crafty adventures blog, you are finding me at the end of a month long sew-a-long, where I made an Outfit a Day for the month of July! I rather roughly called it the "Ultimate Outfit Send Off, 24/7 July Challenge with Veronica Darling" or something along those lines, because you see I'm aiming for 100 Outfits all up, and needed a bit of a kick because I'm so close to 100!

Well here are all the Outfits from July! (In no particular order!) You can click on the image if you wanna see it larger though!


Yay again!

So for my first ever giveaway, I thought why don't you leave a comment with your fave Outfit, and I'll pick you out of a hat to be the winner of that Outfit! Sound easy enough? The only catch is that some outfits (pictured above) have been given away (baby presents!) or sold or worn by grubby old me. So if you fancy a garment that's been either of these things, perhaps list why you liked that garment and I shall make you a new one.

OR browse by what's available, by looking at the YELLOW stars (click for the larger image) below:



Remember too, I'm more than happy to take commissions, but I'm really not a professional sewer (getting faster!) and whilst your garment will be totally one of a kind, it's made with slow & particular care & adoration for the craft. Hee hee!

You can contact me at veronicadarling AT gmail DOT com any time lovely peeps!

So I'm just about on 100, perhaps after my little weekend break from sewing (I've been cooking and clearing up my sewing room) I'll reach 100 this next coming week?

24/7 - Day Thirty One - AKA Outfit #97

Yay, so here's my last Outfit (for the Ultimate Outfit Send Off, 24/7 Challenge) for July, it's Emy's Smock Dress (well if you fancy it Emy!):


It's a nice light denim fabric (store bought) but I can't make up my mind about the buttons, should I go red or blue? Large ones, or small ones?


The back is just the sweetest:


Once I decide on the buttons, I'll hem it up and send it to you, Emy! Perhaps we can do a swap for you sailor outfit (You should totally go and see Emy's latest op shop finds! They're awesome!).

So YAY, an Outfit a Day was pretty hard, but I did it! Last night we drank wine and watched United States of Tara and Husbie made macaroni and cheese to celebrate! Funny! I'm going to show you all the outfits tomorrow, and get you to pick the best and then you can win it (if I haven't sold it already) as a special 'reader' prize! Giveaway! I've never done one before, I hope I don't stuff it up!

Anyways, in other news, my little shelves were updated today, thanks to Husbie too!


I put all the fattest threads on there, and then still have my little wee one (found at an opshop) for the little thin threads:


I'll have to get that one a bit better organised though!

Happy weekend!