Winter showers bring yellow flowers

Or something like that.

I found this mysterious yellow flower on the road on my way home from work today. It looks like a maraca and smells like mango, frangipani and icecream.

This tui paused for long enough for me to take a photo before flying furiously away.

They were selling daffodils at the dairy for Daffodil Day so I got this cheery bunch. They get the cat seal of approval!

This weekend I've been making...

a dress


a mess

The dress is another one like this, Vogue 1923. Don't look too closely at the inside, there's some pretty dodgy sewing going on in there. I added some big pockets on the front this time, they're from a '70s pattern for a dress that's kind of like an old supermarket smock. This fabric's a little bit stretchy, I think next time I'd choose a fabric without a stretch to it. The next one's going to be green. And maybe patterned. Cleaning up the mess is probably my next project!

Some things I'd like to make

I wish I was better at colouring things in photoshop.

Shades of grey

Technical difficulties mean that today's post has had to be replaced with a picture of a cute cat. Better luck next time!

Make do & mend

A few months ago I read Dorothy Butler's memoirs, and there was a bit where she talked about having to write an essay at school about the "importance of thrift." I thought that sounded like a great thing to write an essay on...perhaps I was born in the wrong generation! So I was really happy to get this poster, by Clare Owen, in the new issue of Frankie magazine; words to live by I reckon!
And it matches one of my sewing machines. Yes I did say one of my sewing machines!

Monday

I had to go into the city today to do some errands and I decided to pretend I was a tourist in my own town. Here are some of the things I saw...

I spy

I won't bore you for too long talking about the weather, but I don't think it has stopped raining for about 3 weeks. Just saying. So yesterday on my way home from work on a rainy Friday I decided to see what colourful things I could spy with my camera. Turns out there was plenty of colour on a grey day...




I also spied these pigeons up on a ledge...

And here they are up close.
Hope there's some colour in your weekend!

Pretty

Look at these awesome School Journal covers! They're from 1969.

These ones are by Michael Cox.
And these ones are by Trevor Plaisted. I love the colours.

New dress

Look at this dress. Hideous, isn't it?

I made it in the weekend, but decided to lose the blue and yellow splotched fabric.

Much better. It's a little bit of a sack, but a ribbon around the waist takes care of that.

Maybe not that tight!

Having tested it out on my 50 cent op shop fabric I think I'll make another version in something a bit more flash. It was really easy to make, only 2 pieces, and I didn't bother lining it, just put a bit of bias binding around the neckline to finish it. I am pleased to report that the sewing rage was minimal.

Do you want to see the other shimmery yellow outfits you could make from this pattern? Here you go:


I might give those shiny copper-coloured trousers a miss!

Drawn

Names in a hat: check.


No peeking!


Reaching in...

And we have a winner!

Congratulations Jem! If you email me your address to: millicentcrow at gmail dot com I will get that prize pack in the post for you.

Thanks everyone for your comments, I had a great time reading about all your quirks. I share a surprising number of them! And thanks Jayme for such a comprehensive list, that's cool that you're a fellow synesthete!

Keep it clean

Here are some photos of my accidental (yes I'm sure it's accidental) collection of white & blue china. Which is really just an excuse for me to say "Look at that clean benchtop underneath them!" That benchtop, my friends, was cleaned with my homemade spray & wipe that I made last night. Would you like the recipe?

You will need:
Water
Sunlight diswashing liquid
Tea tree oil
Baking soda

Fill a litre bottle nearly to the top with water. Add a teaspoon of baking soda, a few squirts of the Sunlight diswashing liquid and 10 drops of tea tree oil. Give it a shake.

It smells so nice that I have done extra cleaning. And that never happens.
Ok, enough blogging about cleaning products; I'm going to do some painting on my newly clean art table!