Happy Festivus & Merry Chrimbo!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a happy holiday & merry festivus time, from us Darlings in Shanghai! We're zonked out - Husbie has worked nonstop for 6 weeks - and so we've quickly partied ourselves out... enjoying the luxuries of gorgeous friends in this city & the wonderful Internet this weekend. We shared a French family Christmas Eve dinner, exchanging presents with the children... then woke up to any other Friday! In China, this time of year isn't really significant for locals, apart from all the decorations and markets and ironic Santa clad couriers all around town ... (or maybe I'm the only one who think it's ironic) ... but my Husband's company is UK owned, so all the deadlines finished on Christmas Eve like in the western world. YAY

But, as Husbie finally getting a rest and with no family with us in China... it's a bit lonely. Thank goodness for our lovely friends here in Shanghai, it's made being so far away from Mum & Dad that bit better.

So instead of BBQs & salads (like we would be enjoying in Australia), we've eaten Pizza! Japanese! Mashed Potatoes! Instead of family hugs, we've hung out on Skype for hours on end and played with friends at an indoor park (the pollution has been yuck this week too). And instead of Boxing Day Cricket Matches (my Grandma's favourite, Vale Marie) we watched Making a Murderer (Felix watched endless Octonauts) and crashed out on the couch with our sparkling... water. I did drink bubbly on Christmas, cheers to you Mama!

Christmas in China is different, but still a time to find the warmth in my heart and I feel so thankful for the people I have and have known in my life. I'm so happy the pollution cleared and we saw the full moon. Ahhh the world is big and chaotic, and we're so tiny. I love seeing the moon, for we all do and can check in there, no matter where we are.

Thank you as always for reading my lil blog, and I'll leave you with another photo of this Christmas Baby in the Manchurian Restaurant near my house, who always get into the festivals, however creepy and fun, they do a good job:

Holiday Vibes: Around Railay Beach in Thailand

Last month we went to Thailand, for a lovely wedding, and since we've been back, it's peak business time at my work and Husbie's work this year! BUSY CITY! Such a great juggle (I just wrote struggle but meant juggle) of family & working life... Positina Turner strikes again. 

Here are some photos of the location I thought I'd share with you.

*sigh*

Holiday Vibes: Hanging with Adey

Our holiday began in Singapore, so Husbie Darling could meet a work colleague but it was also a great excuse for us Sewing Besties to hang too!

If you're new to my blog, Sewing BFF Adey blogs at The Sew Convert, and we met via The Sew Weekly blog as original contributors in 2011. Later that year, on my way to a bike riding tour of Cambodia, I stopped in to Singapore and met Adey for the first time... which was amazing & fun! Now I had the Darling Family with me, we had a gorgeous family catch up in the new Gardens By The Bay, with a delicious afternoon tea first and then a big wander around the garden's 2 domes!

Have a look at how gorgeous & amazing this place is! (And how sweet Baby Darling & Adey are too:)

 The waterfall is at least 7 storeys high, and the whole place is a surreal temperature with amazing plantlife and such interesting garden designs! We loved it!

You'll see I'm wearing the green dress I made from the fabric Adey gifted me... which is a designer stretch silk blouse-weight fabric. Thank you Adey! I have all the details of putting the dress together with the Vogue Pattern in case you're curious! I also made Baby Darling's tshirt, but the neckline was sooooooo soooo baggy, it kinda looked funny after he wore it all day!

Here are some more photos of the garden, it was just amazing!

 

Thank you Adey & your family! We loved spending time with you all! xoxo How wonderful that sewing and blogging can lead to international unique catch ups?! I love & appreciate this community so much!

xoxo

Voila: The Anna Frankensteined Romper!

YAY, we're back from holidays in Singapore and Thailand and I've just been reading through all your lovely notes from my 31/31 pieces from my personal sewing marathon in December. LOVED that you loved my little things (the exciting ones and the boring ones alike! Boring is still good, right!?) and thought you'd like to see the Romper I made for the wedding!

I outlined the sewing construction details (By Hand London's Anna top, vintage 1970s pattern for the shorts) in the blog post but here's me in it with my darling friend Jo (and cousin of the bride) who is from the amazingly gorgeous Melbourne band Big Scary! Aren't we vintage pastel fabric queens:

We loved being away and just adored Thailand, such a beautiful spot for a wedding! I'll post some scenic shots soon, there was just really gorgeous landscapes with the water, huge cliff faces and bush land, jungle spaces! Anyways, I loved wearing my romper, it was really comfy and good for crouching down with the children at the wedding or running around taking photos here and there. It was also great for dancing in later!

The fabric wasn't as see-through as I first thought when sewing it, and the only downside (not that anyone noticed) was that later on in the night after excessive dancing/jumping around (who knew I can still remember all the words to De La Soul?) the facing would flip out the front... so next time I'll stitch or glue/fuse that down... but all in all a successful Frankensteined outfit!

Here's me with my bestie Amy, and I gave her my Red Christmas Anna Dress for her birthday, and it fitted PERFECT! The FBA I did on the bodice was just right for Amy, as it was a little loose for me. Love being on holidays with my bestie! What a stunner!

And I did my hair myself (who knew I've turned into a hairstylist?) by twisting and pinning bits of hair around a topknot... but I bought a little fan from one of the local shops to use as a fascinating fascinator! It stayed in all night as well, even with the dancing!

And my friend snapped a little family photo as well:

Baby Darling wore a little vest & shorts suit I bought at the Salvos Op Shop on King Street in Newtown when I last visited Sydney. He couldn't leave his motorbike out of the wedding party! Plus it matches his sandals, accessorise people!

xoxo thank you again for all your love & gush with my sewing last month! Loved doing a little mini marathon on the machine... for this year (as always) I'm not really setting sewing or personal goals. Being away with my family has made a beautiful start to the year, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to love all the things I do personally and with my friends and family. Now that we're back in the house, we've always got little odd jobs to do, but I'm feeling very low-stress & carefree and plan to keep that vibe going in all aspects of 2014!

Wishing you a wonderful year ahead though, and hope you are loving the year as much as I am. Sew Forth and conquer queen sewing bees!

xoxo

A Study of San Diego Gardens

A little sidestep today, as I'm gathering up lots of garden thoughts and ideas for our lovely little house in Melbourne's West. Oh we love it, and since we've been back from our USA Vay-Cay we've had lots of dreams about how we can make our 1920s/30s abode into a California Dream!

I loved the neatness, simplicity and lusciousness of the gardens in California! We had a great walking time in San Diego (mostly in La Jolla) so I snapped a few gardens I loved... but I wish I took more photos, these are great (and will be pinned to my own pinterest for inspiration gathering!) but I feel I've missed the true style of So-Cal (do I sound like a local yet?)! We have a front garden here at home that would look great with a little Californian style and planting... but I'm fully aware that most of these Californian gardens have regular gardening services... so I guess I'm going to have to think about a low maintenance approach for ours... but we'll see where we go with it. I'm no green thumb, but I can dream. Californian style, perhaps!

So today, let me indulge for a brief NO SEW inspiration! Apologies for all the photos! Garden lovers rejoice!

P.S if any of these houses pictured are yours, I love your front garden! xoxo

What a Blow Out!

Back when I was in the States, I discovered Dry Bar after talking to my LA living friend... we were out for brunch and I grumbled about my hair and how tricky it'd be to find a hairdressing appointment on a Saturday in LA... and she was like "If you just need a Blow Out, go to Dry Bar!" and it was as easy as calling them up, they found the nearest Dry Bar to me in Santa Monica and a few hours later I was casually sipping champagne as my hair was washed and blow dried out.

They just do blow outs! No cutting or colouring! Just blow outs!

Now if you're American, this might be old news, but for me... I was AMAZED and totally in love with this concept! Maybe I'm just living under rocks, but I'd never heard of hair salons just for blow outs! It's almost like they were invented just for me! Since I've been pin curling and colouring and once a week (sometimes once a fortnight) washing my hair for a while now, I also try not to use the heat of a hairdryer, or flat iron, or hot rollers. Less washing and more natural oils in a coloured & curly head of hair like mine keeps it unhealthy in the best way. More hair stories if you love hearing about it! Hairdressers tell me is the best & healthiest blonde tint they've seen... because my hair takes the colour so well. Or the non colour, as it's taking away the colour and then toning it that creates the blonde colour. So a blow dry every now and again makes my hair just wonderful, not at all dry or brittle or frizzy!

Sometimes in the past year, being pregnant and out of breath or having no time to wash or dry or pin curl with Baby Darling in my arms... I've popped down to my local Vietnamese Hair Salon and they've helped me out... so I was just in love with the concept of Dry Bar! I've since learnt there are several in the city, so there might be an adventure in the CBD some time to check it out!

BUT, I LOVED Sandy in Dry Bar in Tribeca, New York! We went in early on Memorial Day and here I am with my holiday hair! YAY for blow outs!

(Also, in my Australian vernacular, I'd probably say "Blow Dry" instead of "Blow Out", if you're wondering!)

Happy Weekend to you!

What I Wore: 11 degrees

One day we were in New York, it was 11 degrees. (AKA 51 degrees F). It was the most vivid weather forecast I'd seen (well, Melbourne can be a bit diverse too) as the following week was mid 30s!

But that Saturday in Manhattan (we were lunching at Beauty & Essex in the Lower East Side) I dressed for the cold as best as I could (with & without Baby Darling) and my NYC pose above is in ode to Nick Wooster, the snazziest chappy I've seen around. We walked past Katz Deli and smugly turned our collars up as the tourists waited in a very long line around the corner, and met our friends (Brooklyn locals who are official 'foodies') pretending we knew how cold it could get in NYC.

I *am* wearing a black mini skirt, but my Melbourne Black creates an illusion for you! And these are my first official fashion sneakers, on sale approx $60 in San Diego and they are a re-release of a limited style and also came with gold laces. I love gold right now! (I know *nothing* about sneakers, kicks or joggers, and especially don't know what to wear them with, but they are COMFY!)

Since I've been back in Melbourne living up my Mamalyf, I've been wearing my sneakers nonstop! They're the best! Who'd have thought? Another fashion backflip!

WOO

Aren't I living on the edge!?

xoxo

What I Wore: Trousers (AKA Leggings)

There's a lotta ill will toward leggings. I'm sure you've heard 'Where's Your Skirt?' around a few years ago, when lots a fashion peeps started wearing leggings and close fitting (on occasion, sheer) tights and maybe stockings without dresses or tops long enough or skirts to cover their bums. And as a NON-trouser wearer, I wouldn't dream of wearing leggings, or tights without skirts and dresses. I needed coverage (and amplified roundness please - I have a flat bum usually) because I didn't want to show my front bum or my back bum!

BUT then I had a baby.

And leggings are by far the easiest, non-thinking and fun part of my wardrobe right now. I call myself Sporty Posh Spice (because it's sometimes a bit of a mix!), but I could just be plain old Mummy Spice. I don't know if I'll wear them further than our breastfeeding days, but for now I'm not going to hide my snazzy 'trousers'. These are my favourites: artpants above (in the Upper East Side of Manhattan), graphic artpants below (in our Hotel in San Fran) and my new Humbug legs (bought from H&M in LA and worn here in Park Slope, Brooklyn).

I have a pattern (cut from an op shopped pair of leggings) and have just made one plain purple pair (haven't blogged them yet) ... that were ok, but I need to work on the elastic band waistline. So if I get more groovy stretch fabric, I'll certainly try to make another pair.

For most of my stylish existence (perhaps only 10 years now, I wasn't too pleased with my fash before I could sew) these leggings are the biggest backflip fashion I've ever made/done... have you loathed leggings or loved them sick?

Have you done a fashion backflip? Sworn you'd never try something, and then backflipped into it with glee (like me!?) ??

xoxo

What I Wore: Short Shorts in the USA

YAY, now that we're back from holidays, I thought I'd document (for me, mostly, but you can squizz!) what I wore comfortably overseas because WA-HEY it's totally different to the things I'd wear day to day here at home before Baby Darling was born. AND for the first time a lot of it is NOT handmade (but unavoidable really; no time, no sewing mojo - AKA SEWJO), so this is an era of change for me style-wise and I guess.. I'M OK with it. What can I do? Conjur up an extra 2 days a week for sewing? NOT spend time with my big bundle of joy? Nup, when I need clothes, I buy them. More often than not at the Goodwill, but sometimes at the Factory Outlet in LA.

So, short shorts. These denim beauties are actually about 8 years old, I bought them for some reason ... and they're probably from Target and could be from the kids section. They were VERY good to wear walking around sightseeing because you can sit around in any old fashion and sometimes when you are wrestling a baby and wearing a mini dress... you get the idea!

And I probably don't need to add that I wear 2 pieces now (instead of the staple dress, all in one wear!) because I'm still nursing. (I say "nursing" now instead of breastfeeding because that's what they say in the States - LOL) EASY ACCESS. I've noticed that Baby Darling is starting to need milk less during the day, maybe he's distracted or just growing (he's 9 months tomorrow) so in terms of day wear fashion, I could probably start wearing dresses again. Maybe by the end of the year, I'll be frolicking around in my frocks again? Who knows!

Anyways, short shorts are a total WIN for travelling in the USA!

Today's photos are (from top to bottom): on the streets of the darling Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York! I bought the baggy tshirt from a vintage shop in Santa Monica. And sitting on a lovely set of seaside apartments in San Diego (I think it was Mission Beach maybe? Pacific Beach?) after a big walk along the waterfront. I adored the manicured gardens in California, just gorgeous!

x

Happy Weekend!