Via Wagga Wagga

If you're Australian, you know Wagga right? So good, they named it twice? If you're one of my overseas friends, then perhaps you've never heard of Wagga Wagga? Well, today I drove 6 hours south west of Sydney and now I'm here. Tomorrow I'll drive another 6 hours directly south, and then I'll be in Melbourne. Yay Australia is big and fun and we have boundless highways to share.

Doggie Darling and I are travel companions, roadtrip buddies and sick to death of each other's stories by now. But not sick enough for a little cuddle before bedtime. I'm staying at my friends' mum's house and it's been sooooo good. As I'm a country girl myself, as soon as I got to town I drove the main street, spotted Target Country and bought 3 pairs of woolie black tights. Love Target Country.

Wagga Wagga is a bigger town than the one I grew up in, so really spread out and heaps of suburbs. Sadly I missed the op shop hours though. It closed at 4 and I got there at 4.02pm. Give an outta towner a break!

I'm a little overtired so will head to bed now, goodnighty night. And well done on finding my green bag jackets on facey Anon! You legend! I'd saved my high res photos of the boys on my work computer, and then remembered that I'm not at that work desk now. EEP! Will have the phots for you here soon enough!

Moving/Packing/Sorting

It's countdown time!

It's my first day on my moving leave and I slept in til 6.30am. WOW! Yesterday was my last early wake up call, so from now on I'll be a 9 to 5-er. Yay!

There's a bit to do, so I thought I'd let you know that the camera is packed so unfortunately, I'll be friends with Photo Booth for the next few weeks. But now that I have Lightroom, it doesn't look all that bad:

Well, better compared to the other photos I've taken with Photo Booth! I'm really keen to keep in touch, reading your blogs and writing here, because I will be needing a little continuity without my Husbie, and through the move, so I thought at least you and my blog are good online friends. Let's keep each other company... *cries*... it has been a bit emotional! I stood in my courtyard today at 11am and thought, 'This is the last time I'll be here at this time'. EEP.

My plan today is to get rid of stuff, get the house keys cut, take Doggie Darling out in the sunshine (might go right now actually) and then go for some dins with some darling friends. Tomorrow I'm driving to Melbs!

EEP x 100000.

Goodbye Old Sewing Room

Wowsers. What's the saying, people would prefer to break an arm than do public speaking and moving house? Did I make that up? Yes, perhaps. I'd prefer to do the public speaking and do the moving of the house, if that was a true saying. Because a broken arm would totally hurt and then you'd be out of whack for 6 weeks, and moving house is just like a week out of your busy schedule. Plus you get to drink loads with your friends for Going Away Party Funtimes. For those of you just 'joining in' to my blog, I'm moving from Sydney to Melbs next week!

We've had a really productive weekend though! Party times on Friday, and then Hangover times yesterday. Husbie finished painting the attic and we've taken everything out of storage up there... but sadly ... it was also time for me to finish my green bag projects and then pack up my sewing room:

And bon voyage to my machines:

Bye bye darlings! I think one of my first Melbourne projects is to make a proper case for my overlocker... the plastic one is fine, but just so dorky. The straight stitch Brother however, knows how to travel with that gorgeous sleek hardcover case.

Oh well. I've only just realised (with three days to go) that I'm doing all the 'last time' things in Sydney. ARGH. It's such a great city, full of amazing friends and totally baffling for me that we've lived here for almost 5 years, bought a house, got a darling dog AND got married during that time. So many life changes. I feel completely happy that I'm a person who loves both Sydney and Melbs and can live in both cities, as there's always silly talk about the two towns and people over compare them with differing comments. I think I just love adventure, and can make my home wherever my Husbie and I live.

We've been watching Dexter Season 4 as well, and I can't work out if I'm totally totally totally over it, or if it is in fact good. I really like Michael C Hall, and hope the season gets better (we're halfway through now, and could be going along ok now that John Lithgow has more than just a serial killer angle). Anyways! And how about True Blood guys! I love Eric so much! LOLZIE.

But lastly, what the HELL is with ISPs these days? Last year we set up the internerds with iinet, and it took 10 days to set up, they have a great service, and it's a great plan for the dosh we pay. BUT! Yesterday I spoke to a really bad operator (and usually iinet is pretty good at communication) for pretty much an hour (she had to call me back twice to just put me on hold) and then she told me the service in our new place will take 10 to TWENTY working days to set up. What is with that? I thought 5 to 10 working days was apt, but 20 working days? That's a whole freaking month!

Sorry to end on a FREAK OUT, go back to think about Eric and his cutie to bootie-ness as a vampire. And Pam! I LOVE Pam! xoxo

I LOVE MY HAIR, I LOVE MY HAIRCUTS

Don't you just love the internetz? Here I am typie-type-type-typing this out to you on the internetz while you then read it at your place on the other side of the freaking world. Love the internet!

Once in a while there is just complete greatness, great little things that reach up out of the screen to me and just makes my entire year. I only watched 'Charlie Bit Me' for the first time this year, but generally my place of work and my finger to the pulse friends find all the good stuff for me (Auto tune the news, anyone? Peter Russell Clarke's career comeback). BUT thank you Oonaballoona, you posted this darling video recently for me:

And then my friend found another little video of the same girl, meeting her little sister:

I've watched the Affirmation one at least 3 times every day, and it's my great LOL with friends. Both little vids encapsulate my entire life, to the max. I love seeing all the positivity and love and gush out loud! It's been a perfect week of really busy work times here in my part of the world, and it's almost moving time. Thursday was just the best day ever, for so many reasons, and I'll ! I hope your week has been just as good, wherever you are!

I LOVE MY HUSBAND, I LOVE MY DOG, I LOVE MY NEW PRIME MINISTER, I LOVE MY FRIENDS, I LOVE MY RADIO, ... I LOVE MY WHOLE HOUSE!

I've got one final thing to do in the sewing room tomorrow, then it's packing time! Talk to you soon, xoxo

MORE QUESTIONS (plus going green)

I love all these questions! I don't know who started it, but I like that you get different questions all the time and that you learn about bloggers you love! Today's 8 Questions come from Zoe, of 'So, Zo...' fame and are accompanied with what I've been doing today: 'A Sunday - photo essay by Veronica Darling....

"Doggie Darling"

1. If you had to choose a famous person to be your new best friend, who would it be and why?

I'd choose Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and then Lucille Ball, around the start of I Love Lucy. I'd hang with Karen O in NYC and generally be cool. We'd probably make clothes together and get our photos taken by Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. On the other hand Lucille and I would make 'funny faces' in the mirror and practice our comedic timing. I'd choose them because they'd be quite different and are thoroughly amazing personalities and inspiring women.

2. What proportion of your wardrobe is handmade?

Considering I've been sewing my own clothes rather vigorously for over 5 years I would say (not including undies, bras and stockings) that 80 per cent of my wardrobe is handmade. I would wear my own clothes 6 days a week, and probably 1 day a week vintage/thrifted stuff. I am sitting here today wearing a purple knit dress I made last year, and tights my friend gave me, and an orange cardigan I got when I was 16 before I went to see my favourite band, Custard. So pretty much 95 percent of my entire wardrobe is handmade OR thrifted, and the other things are clothes I've had for ages, and a couple of store bought tshirts from my mum.

"Green Bag in the Hallway"

3. Where would you live, if money, jobs and responsibilities were taken out of the equation?

I would live in New York with Karen O and Lucille Ball, and my Husbie and Doggie Darling too. I would probably still work in radio, and have no money, but it would be fun and there would be bagels. (My mum used to buy us bagels when we were little, FROM AMERICA children! This is what they eat in America!)


4. Describe the weirdest or most horrendous place you’ve worked.

I've worked at McDonalds, that actually wasn't that horrendous apart from a few bullying/harassment things from a fellow employee. Of course I couldn't just take being called a dumb blonde, or shortarse, or bigtits, so reported him continuously. I can't remember what happened to him actually, but I recall feeling so in control as my workers rights at the time. Yay, that was before I even was a member of the union. LOLZ. The most horrendous place might have been a temp job that I wasn't there long. The lowest of the low tasks I had as a boarding mistress, in Oxford in the UK, was when I had to top up all the toilet paper in the girls dorms' bathrooms. All the toilets were freezing cold, and there was so much yuk High School girl rubbish, that I remember thinking 'This is the worst job you'll ever have, just get on with it and then it'll be over'. And it's true, I've never had to do anything as disgusting since.

"Green Bag Cut Offs"

5. What is your favourite sewing technique or part of a garment to sew (eg, collars, piping, etc.)?

I love zippers, it's completely daggy/square but they're the easiest part. I feel bad, becaue I know it can be agonising stuff putting a zip in, but you just have to do heaps of them and then you'll get them right. I get bored by button holes and sewing buttons because zips are just so quick!

6. Which sewer out there do you envy the most?

I love Gertie (because she sews so much - or so it seems!), Oonaballoona (because she's adventurous with her fabrics), Kat (she's so positive with her blogging and has great sewing skills), New Dress A Day (SO thrifty and such great stories and poses!) and of course Zoe because I feel kinda the same as her! I'm not into envy as such, just loving/crushing/gushing towards people!

7. Do you collect anything?

Apart from material and vintage patterns, I used to collect lots of metcards (from the trams in Melbourne) and my Husbie thinks I collect scarves and shoes.

8. What’s your personal motto? (I stole that one from the Burdastyle featured members questions because it’s my favourite) 

'Be positive', and maybe 'you can do anything, so long as you put your mind to it' (says my mum, and now it's my saying) and Husbie says I say 'turn that frown upside down' a lot, but I can't remember when I've ever said that. I go through phazes, at the moment I say 'Big Smiles' a LOT at work, to help my radio friends. I change around, but generally it's all about being positive, because everything always works out for me, and falls into place, because I'm positive. But I think when I was younger, I decided that by lowering your expectations/anticipations you were always surprised and delighted (because you weren't expecting anything), so I like that too.

And speaking of my radio friends, here's what I'm working on for them! It's a long running joke, and it's almost finished!

 More updates on this soon!

Hope you had a great weekend!

From The Mailbag!

Wow, Saturday again. Our friends were up from Melbs so we all had a smashing Friday night in Surry Hills with foods and drinks and LOLs. Saturday for us is all about finishing projects. I've got some completely silly and random things to finish in the sewing room, that I'll show you some sneak peaks of soon... and Husbie will upstairs in the attic finishing off the painting.

I woke up this morning to an email from Wikio, about my 'ranking' and it made me laugh when I checked my so called 'ranking' in the blogs they collate and process (I have no idea what they do, apart from gather what people are talking about, so I suppose it's like trendings on twitter) I'm pleased to show you this funny ranking:

That's 141 in the World of Needlework Blogs, friends. LOLZ. I also rank in the 700s for Craft Blogs, and overall 24000, or something. But that Needlework Ranking has made my funny old day. I remember seeing some discussion on someone's blog recently about how you classify yourself as a blogger, like if you associate yourself as a fashion blogger, or a crafty blogger, or a vintage 50s pin up girl style blogger. I don't really think about where I sit in the online world that much, I know lots of you like reading my sewing posts the most, and that's the reason I started my blog. To document my evolving sewing adventures (and get better at it too!), but I love all things about life so will tend to talk about it as such. And as for fashion, I don't categorise my style into any genre! I love all styles and all genres, but know that skinny jeans aren't really suited to my calves, so know what works for me.

Also, I got a great email from my mum, who is caravanning around Australia at the moment with dad, with this picture:

With a little note from her, "Have I told you I LOVE this bag.. I think I have but had to remind you because each pack-up and un-pack there it is holding all my computer and camera paraphernalia and then it tucks away beside the bed - perfect!"

And that's my fave pink/red floral fabric again (from the cushion covers I posted the other day) that I use ever so sparingly! I made this bag from really thick linen material probably just as I started this blog, so didn't get around to blogging everything I made then. CUTE. I love that mum's getting heaps of use out of it, sometimes you don't know with presents!

Have a great Saturday darlings, talk soon.

Another Adelaide Dress!

Yep, after the larger Adelaide Dress 8168 dress I made up the other day for Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge, I had to give it another go.

This time I resized it for my fit, because I really wanted to try this crazy fabric! The 8168 was a 36 bust, but I think it's a bit larger after it's made up, so I resized by:

1. Folding down 2 cms across the bodice pieces, horizontally, to shorten the shoulder to bust line (my shoulders are little!)

2. placing the pattern pieces that needed to be on the fold (in this case the bodice front, bodice back and bodice front waistband) a little over the fold. I decided 1 inch (that means I lose 2 inches in width) would be ok, so I moved the bit you needed to place on the fold a bit over so it hangs over the fold of the fabric.

So all up on the bodice, the top piece of the front (above) lost 2 inches of fabric width ways, and 2 cm lengthways... as for the skirt, the pattern called for 2 long rectangles on the fold as well (it's a side zipper garment - love them!) so I measured from my waistline to where I wanted the skirt to sit on my legs (about mid thigh) and added 5 inches just to be sure... then I cut two rectangles on the fold (almost making 2 squares) because the skirt is gathered anyways, no darts or anything.

The fabric is thrifted, and I've had it for about 2 years (STASH BUSTING!) but I have shitloads of it! I could probably make another 2 dresses with the leftovers! It's heavier cotton, and kinda has a barkcloth feel to it, but as for the pattern, WTF!? I absolutely love it, little trees, a little house, little windows and paddocks (that's the green bits in my mind!).

So anyways, here's the only trouble I found, the back piece! After I sewed up the bodice I tried it on (without the side zip of course, as that was the last thing to do in this pattern, apart from the hem) and it seemed to fit (as it is winter here I was wearing a few layers underneath - dur - lesson learnt, try on things as you want them to fit, ie in this case close to the skin!). I went ahead and made the whole thing up, but then tried it on to show Husbie and he was like 'It needs a belt, or something' and I was like... oh, those darts (that are in the pattern) aren't deep enough!

Instead of unstitching the skirt from the bodice (Please look away now if you hate bad seamstress confessions) I folded another dart and attached it to the existing dart... not sure if that makes sense, but I think it's kinda like doing another dart of the top of a dart... making it kinda two darts next to each other. Ummm... I can't think how else to say it (bad at lingo and good at shortcuts) but see the photo above (the two horizontal lines) because after a bit of ironing, it seems ok! It may be a bit bunchy at the back, but at least I know for next time that when resizing for me, I should just do deeper darts to fit my little back.

And a finishing touch on the Veronica Darling shortcut of using bias tape instead of facings (they just flop around anyways and need hand sewing YUK) is my name tag. YAY!

THE STATS
Fabric: heavy linen/cotton/barkcloth, I have no idea, from the Op Shop
Pattern: Brand unknown, # 8168 (from Amanda's Collection) and from Adelaide's local newspaper
Notions: Vintage thread, vintage bias binding tape, vintage green zipper
Time to complete: 1.5 hours
Year: not sure of exact date! Perhaps you know?
First worn: Just to try the fit, on Saturday and will wear it out for dinner this weekend with woolie tights and maybe a cardie
Wear again? Totally, great fit thanks to resizing!
Total Cost:  Maybe $1.50 with the zipper and fabric. I think the entire fabric was $5 and there's still 3 or 4 metres left!

xoxo

Say hi to Franca as you stop by!

A little update to show you my darling cushion covers:

They are all backed with some creamy cotton stuff, and are all vintage fabrics. I made them for one of my Sydney besties, who'll hopefully take some photos of them IN ACTION for me. The pink/red one is my fave and I use it sparingly! It was one of the first really good linen floral fabrics I scored at the op shop and helped flourish my love of sewing ages ago! Oh.... memories about fabric. LOL

Also, my friend Franca, of Oranges and Apples, is celebrating 500 posts to her blog, she's been blogging fast and furiously about fashion and heaps of other cool things in the past year or so. And I probably check in and read about her every day, so I practically feel we're besties. Even my Husbie knows her blog (as he LOVES bright colours) and he never really remembers what's going on online! I have to remind him to use his tumblr (documenting his favourite wines) and his blog (documenting colour) all the time!

Anyways, Franca is celebrating and has made a photo:

Because by just FOLLOWING her blog, or COMMENTING on her blog, you can win a SKIRT made by Veronica Darling (me) and other cool stuff! She's got heaps of prize packs to give away and don't we just LOVE giveaways and free shit on the internet?! Go right away to her blog post to see your future prize pack, and comment on her blog!

I have only a few early mornings left now darlings, tomorrow I'm going to sleep in because I'm still a little sicky and my boss told me to take it easy! Yay for nice bosses. Then after that, I think there's just NINE mornings of 4am wake ups left! Wow.

But that also means the house will be packed up in 2 weeks and I'll start a new job in 3 weeks. *gulp*

See you soon!

Questions!

The darling Rachel at Boo Dogg and Me has posed some questions, and thought I'd share them with you, as I take a break from something wonderful in the old SHORTS department:

It's Butterick 6579, my own pattern, but not sure where or when I got it. I'm going to try the shorts first, to see if they fit right, and then I'll follow up with the trousers! TROUSERS?! It's cold in Melbs, and need as much variety for the leg as possible!


1. What is your favourite pattern of all time?

Way too hard to pick one, it would be a dress, maybe a wiggle one from early 1960s with a scoopy neckline and cap sleeves, maybe a bit like this one I made last year for my friend. So perhaps that one...

2. What is one place that you really want to visit that you haven't been to before?

New York. We were planning to move there about 5 years ago, and found ourselves in Sydney instead. We work really hard, Husbie and I, and ended up buying a house instead of holidays afar, so my aim for the next 5 years is to TRAVEL. Once we're settled in Melbs, I think we'll go to NYC for a brief holiday, and then who knows if we'll go for realsa.

3. How do you relax?

Go for long walks with my dog and Husbie but mostly when I find the time to sew for myself and plan some fash. I find sewing to be completely refreshing, no distractions, my mind clocking over thoughts and pretty much unwinding. 

4. What is your favourite childhood memory?

I can't think of just one to say. Off the top of my head: Climbing trees, making swings near the dam (and then them breaking), watching Ghostbusters, talking with Aunty Dot, reading Roald Dahl, playing dress ups, going to the city. Heaps and heaps. I remember so much about being young, and keep meaning to write it all down just in case I can't remember it one day.

5. If there was one pattern you could own, regardless of availability, cost, or whether you'd actually make it, what would it be?

I wish I knew! My pattern collection is pretty big, but I don't wander the internerdz looking for the dream pattern. As I've made so many different styles of simple things, I'd like to get 'complicated' soon and draft my own patterns, and learn my own body shape (and what suits it!) a bit more. Sorry, this is a bad answer; I can't focus on just one thing!

6. If you could spend the rest of your life doing anything you wanted, what would it be?

Just what I'm doing now! I love working, I love living with Husbie, I love sewing and I like making things that I wanna make. More recently I've worked out that sewing is GREAT as a hobby, but when I get projects and deadlines to sew for other people, I just can't do it. Perhaps that's because I already have a full time job, but it makes me wary of making my hobby my job. BUT, someone said in the paper over the weekend that making your hobby your job makes you work longer and love it more! Who knows!

7. How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?

About an hour a day, while I watch Neighbours, ABC 7pm news, or Masterchef. I multitask when I read blogs, look up recipes, check facebook, and read emails as I watch TV. I can't just focus on the one thing when I'm on the couch, as I feel like I'm wasting time.

Ok! Now I'll ask some questions and nom you! I'll make it a little different today, because I think the people I would nominate are already nominated by others. LOL!

If you haven't EVER left a comment before, and feel like taking a little bit of time to write a blog post, here are your questions! Just leave me a comment and I'll come visit your blog, and check out your answers!

1. What's the best thing about making things (clothes, housestuff, or gardening etc)?
2. What's your favourite tv show/film at the moment?
3. What do you look forward to doing on Saturday mornings?
4. What's a song that you know off by heart?
5. When you're sewing (or crafting) what's the thing you really love doing and the thing you really dread?
6. What's a skill (in sewing or elsewhere) that you'd like to improve?
7. How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?

Adelaide Dress 8168: TICK!

Here's the Adelaide Dress 8168 I started the other day, and did finish the other day, but Husbie took my photos away and accidentally reformated the card so I only got around to taking these photos yesterday:

It's much bigger than I thought it would be, it's a 36 bust, but this rings up heaps bigger across the front. And it's not really tailored around the middle either, and the skirt is kinda more flared than straight.

Also, the shape of the bodice isn't really exactly right:

It's a lot more boxy and 80s like instead of singlet-like, as the pattern's drawing shows. I think Kristy at Lower Your Pressure Foot is the one who says, Never Trust a Pattern without a Photograph, and for this darling Adelaide Dress 8168, that's true. I can't see how I'd get those thinner straps from all that material on the shoulder.

The pattern is from Amanda in Adelaide, so this is another completed Amanda's Vintage Pattern Challenge dress. I think this challenge will take me through the year actually, because I have heaps more great patterns (of Amanda's) to try out and even with the move to Melbourne ahead, I can't bring myself to send them back unmade. Sorry Amanda! They'll go into the packing box safe and sound with my other darling vintage patterns.

THE STATS
Fabric: Some light cotton stuff, from the Op Shop
Pattern: Brand unknown, # 8168 (from Amanda's Collection) and from Adelaide's local newspaper
Notions: Vintage purple zip, vintage thread
Time to complete: 2 hours
Year: not sure of exact date! Perhaps you know?
First worn: Too big for me, I've already started a resized version (I'll show you soon!)
Wear again? Hopefully one of my friends will like it!
Total Cost:  Maybe $2 with the zipper and fabric.

Crush Post: Zoe who lives in Spain

I haven't done a crush post or a gushy gush over anyone for a while, so high time for one! Now, some of you darlings may have flicked over to this year's "Mover and Shaker" Zoe, at 'So, Zo...' sometime in your bloggie lives, and realised along with me that this seamstress is a total darling! Zoe makes her own clothes (TICK), has great fash sense (TICK!) and is loving recycled fabrics and destashing her life in a positive way (TICK TICK TICK) to make a better world for us all to live. YAY (LOL) but seriously, Zoe can create a wicked challenge that inspires many!

At the moment, you may be interested (as I am, and have already declared my involvement!) in the latest challenge, with good 'heads up' time so you can prepare: Self Stitched September which will be an entire month devoted (by you) to wearing things that you've made. But the rules are also entirely up to you!

For me:

'I, Veronica Darling, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavour to wear only handmade items of clothing every day for the duration of September 2010'

And by handmade, I mean everything BUT tights/stockings, bras, undies and some accessories (like winter woolie cardigans or scarves). BUT also, the accessories (like winter woolie cardigans and scarves) that I DO wear, will be vintage. The trick for me I guess is that whilst I haven't bought any new clothing since 2006 or so, but I will make the effort to wear handmade and vintage pieces to increase this challenge for me! (I have a couple of 'new' tshirts that my mum gave me for example)

YAY for Zoe and her brilliant challenges!

Here are some of my fave So Zo moments:

The famous 'chook' dress

An awesome Sew U Stretch dress, and I'd totally forgotten that Zoe blogged about me in that post. YAY love online mutual admiration!

But totes, check out how far Zoe's sewing has come with this gorgeous shirt! Ladies, I could never make something this grand, I totes admire you Zo!

If you flick over to Zoe's archives, you'll see she's sewn up a storm and challenged herself in heaps of great ways. As I have gushed about before, I love challenges to kickstart one's creativity, and often things like including a time limit, or a restriction in some way, really fuels that creative process. Oh boy I could gush forever about this, so PLEASE remember that I am a really down to earth person sometimes and not some flightly gushmachine! (Gushmachine - yes, Flighty Gushmachine - no! LOLZ)

So, yes old friends, Veronica Darling has fallen for another blogger but also another challenge. LOVE CHALLENGE (I want to go to that, in the words of Liz Lemon)

As for Self-Stitched-September (SSS), there's a little jpeg thingie over at Zoe's page here and remember that you can also get involved via flickr if you're super keen on that area of the web too.

Running errands to the max!

Thank you for your darling comments about our move! And totes getting ready for the killer cold in Melbs but am determined *not* to be a whinging darling. I can't speak for Doggie Darling, she'll be cold with her short little hair, so I hope I get some machine time soon to sew up a skivvy for her!

Today I worked really hard, and great fun things happened. I love it when everything falls into place! Then I ran some errands with Husbie, and things kept falling into place! Doggie Darling got the a-ok at the Vets (just a vaccination and a health tick) and we sorted out some real estate stuffs (which would have cost us a dorky-ish amount of money in travel costs just to sign the lease) and then we turned the corner to go home and spotted a fantastic BRAND new restaurant called 'Pho Sure'! A Vietnamese noodle place with a punny name! And we thought Thai resaurants had that covered (in my 'hood we have Thai-riffic and Thai-tanic, just to name a few!)!

We had to stop for a veggie pho! And it was delish!

Tshirt: A metallic Flight of the Conchords tsheesh - present from a friend

Scarf: Husbie's - present from a friend

Dress/Skirt: Dress from Frocktober 2010

Tights: Op Shop but now with ladder

Red Boots: Second hand shop in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy

Just another busy day at work, but Husbie had the wide angle lens on the camera and we grabbed some sunlight before we went out for the errands!

TV update: Masterchef has just become WAY too stressful, so we've switched over the Iview to watch episode 2 of Misfits, a STRANGE but cool ABC tv show! So far so good guys!

xoxo

MELBOURNE!

Yep, it's been busy around the Veronica Darling household for a reason! I'm pleased to finally announce that we are moving to Melbourne!

Husbie and I are from Melbs (in that we both met there, he's from Auckland and I'm from Gippsland, in regional Victoria) so it's a homecoming of sorts and there are work related things for both of us. For me, I've got a promotion! Yayzies!

I won't bore you with all the details, but I work for the government, and it's kinda a public job that I prefer to just do, instead of talk about here (This *is* a crafty blog, after all). No, I'm not a spy (Husbie was just reading over my shoulder here, and asked me that - LOL), it's just radio broadcasting (still mysterious I know) but the best thing about my new job: I WILL NOT HAVE TO WAKE UP AT 4.15AM

You got that? NOT wake up early. Wow! I've been working fulltime for over 8 years, and probably 6 of those years have been on 'earlies' or 'brekkie hours' so now I'm an official grown up and can graduate to 9 to 5 and we'll see if I go crazy with boredom or thrive with happiness because I'm not sleepybeepy anymore!

I'm super excited to work with a whole bunch of great people in Melbourne, but a little sad to leave my colleagues here in Syds. My goal is to keep the LOLs in the Office happening in any which way I can!

As for Husbie, he will go down there a little bit later than me (He's just working out his job situation now, cross over dates etc), so we'll be apart for just a couple of weeks, and I'll drive down with Doggie Darling. After living in Sydney for almost 5 years, I have adapted to this city's winter time! The first 2 winters for me were like, what winter? Why would I even put on a winter coat, it's far too humid! And now I'm all like, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr turning the heater on here in April! I hope I don't freeze to death in Melbsie!

And, in true Sydney fashion, the West is Best as we'll move into the Inner West of Melbourne, I thought it was Seddon, but it might be Yarraville! And the new house has ducted heating. Phew! We'll rent out our darling little house to friends and thought I'd show you the backyard because how BIG is that banana tree!? Here's a post where it was like a metre tall (we planted it 2 years ago) and now it's like almost 2 metres over the fence AND HAS BANANAS on it!

Dress by Veronica Darling

Cardigan from Sally's (in Smith Street, Collingwood)

Cowboy boots from Episode (in Sydney Road, Brunswick)

I wore this to work today, just an average day, getting up for the early shift is easier when you lay out your clothes the night before (sleepy brain picks daggy colour combos and tights with holes in them).

Phew! A mammoth post for you, but let's talk soon. I'll have to close down the sewing room sometime over the next few weeks (sadly) and just fill you in with my boring changes and more crocheting perhaps. My aim is to use the first week in July to move and unpack, so fingers crossed the sewing machines arrive safely and can resume life in Melbsie!

xo

Hanging in the kitchen with my gal

Oh boy, half an hour ago I was almost freaking out! My darling doggie found some awesomely yum organic milk chocolate in my handbag (what was *that* doing there!) while my back was turned and in true staffy style, she'd wolfed down about 80g of the stuff.

Luckily today I had a letter from the Vets on the kitchen table and called them almost in a bind (Husbie has the car, it's raining and the vets are about 20 minutes drive away) but the darling lady said she would be worried if Doggie Darling had eaten more than 300 grams. SO FREAKING LUCKY!

Anyways, I took these photos to show you how my uber big scarf hangs around my neck and my new fun book (straight from the States c/o my darling friend Emma!) about sewing How Tos from the 1970s!

It's really flat chat at the moment! I've got big plans for The Big Picture, and could probably explain all soon, so thanks for bearing with me here on my crafty blog as I've been vague and boring! LOLZ! Things will be changing soon.

A bookish type of telly star

Oh HAI!

Just taking some time out from my busy work schedule to bring you a "I was on the telly" update. LOL! If you're Australian, and love books, you may know my friend Marieke who is on the First Tuesday Book Club TV show on ABC TV. I LOVE books too, and love my friend, and I was invited to be in a re-enactment for her tv show, so of course cleared my schedule. Here are some screen shots:

LOL!

Can you guess what is going on here? Which book am I 're-enacting' perhaps? It's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and I was appointed Lydia Bennett - the NAUGHTY one! Personally I've always loved the book, and was so in love with the nickname 'Kitty' I remember asking my friend (when we were 16) if I could forever call her Kitty (her name is Katharine) so I could always say the name. She's still called Kitty now (by many others).

For Australian (keen) viewers, you can stream the tv show in ABC iView (which is awesome for those Doctor Who episodes you missed because you were out for dinner or walking the dog) but the funny thing is that I became really busy with work this week, so totally forgot to do the old facebook update, plus even tell my MUM that I would be on the telly show.. so she texted me first thing this morning saying 'What a shock!' 'We're still laughing!'... as it's her fave show. Funny.

That's for affording me the self indulge sesh/debrief, but as a few of you darlings pointed it out, I thought it best to explain. For the amount of screen time I had (hardly any) I'm actually astonished that you spotted me! LOLZIE x 1000.

Take care now, and tomorrow I'll totes have the colourful Adelaide dress finished photos for you!

Colour Combo!

I'm not really one to mix materials or patterns or fabrics, and have started to feel a little conservative in my fabric choice for a garment. I usually make the whole thing from the same piece of fabric, even if the pattern points out a different colour for the collar or cuffs. I once chose a white collar for a dress and after washing the black dress, couldn't live with myself after that.

But! I found another pattern, from Amanda's Vintage Pattern collection, that I'd like to make, how freaking cute is it:

I'm going to call this one the Adelaide Dress 8168, because of the newspapers it came from, and Amanda is from Adelaide too. At first when I took it out of the little plastic bag, I was worried all the pattern pieces weren't there, because it was just so little and light:

Luckily all the pattern pieces were there! I've measured it out and it's perhaps a size or two too big for me, but as you can see from my little notes, I've tried to adjust to my petite bod. If this works out too big, I'll remake it as it's a HOT DRESS! Here's the fabric I chose, all thrifted again:

The coloured stripes feel really summery but sturdy, and the purple stuff is a little heavier and stiff, and perfect for the the middle band (that's just around the from waist). The pattern has facings also, and because of my lack of stripes I've got for them instead of my own full lining designs (very proud of the black/white floral dress last week). So fingers crossed this mix matching colour combo works ok, I'm a little bit weirded out by sewing too different fabrics, but I'm guessing that if they feel the same thickness (and they do) then it's not going to be too crazy.

Oh well! Talk to you soon!