at my house

Well, come on in and see what im doing today..

There was nice light coming in through the front doors today

until it became overcast. Our entry is normally our dumping ground but ive been trying to keep it clear lately with good success.

Im waiting for my dishes to dry on the sink while I work on tweeking my studio which ive recently shifted into another room.

Im trying to squeeze in some new-to-me fabrics ive been stocking up on

 into an already bursting cupboard. I dont like my chances. Lucky I have some etsy orders to work on later today and have been able to make some space

Im enjoying my budget roses.

Ive been buying a bunch of flowers when they are priced way down for the weekend

and they seem to last another nearly two weeks which surprised me.

Ive been listening to the dryer do my work for me.

I dont want to answer the phone today.

I want to achieve more than I did yesterday.

I will be walking the dog whether its raining or not.

I will make pasta for dinner.

Check out other peoples days over at Lous place.

artworks

Through these colder months weve been attending life drawing classes together on Monday evenings. It is enjoyable even if it is a bit of a challenge. For me, not him. The challenge I mean. For him its as simple as breathing.

Mr TL has been producing some fantastic works worthy of framing.

This one is my favourite... until tomorrow evening, when he will probably do an even more amazing piece.

My attempt at the same pose, (a very awkward one at that, where the model had his arms in stirrups), I wont be putting it anywhere near a wall as I have given it to a friend. Not really what I would call a gift as I wasnt happy with it and told her so.

Maybe ill have something that I like, to show to you one day soon...

On a craftier note I have been sewing new curtains for Spring. Spotlight had a sale so I grabbed me a whole lot of simple textured fabric at under $5 a metre. I had a re-shuffle of existing curtains and switched rooms around in my tidy-ups lately. Here are some old curtains that were from an op-shop and were too short after I chopped the old shabby tops off. I have sewn a length of velvet to the base to lengthen them. They are nice and drapey now. I think all curtains should hit the floor so as not to look skimpy and perfectly fitted. But thats just me!

my creative space

This has been my creative space for a few weeks. Yes. The couch.

Whats wrong with sitting on the couch in winter crocheting away?

Youll see, I have issues.

Storage (because ive been stocking up on fabric), paint colour choice (such a difficult one for me as it has to be the perfect shade of ....?) and design, (yes id like my new space to have some sort of design happening). Is that too much to ask? 

Im in the process of moving my sewing studio out of the laundry and into what was our guest bedroom. Ive decided to take the plunge and give myself a fully fledged creative space.

The furniture that I spoke of way back here is about to get its first coats of paint.

More on that to come.

 It doesnt look like im getting very far since I blogged about this rug here. Im a slow crocheter. Hell, I dont even know what stitch im doing. (serious)

Im still trying to adjust the colourfulness and come to terms with the fact that this will not be my vision..... as if I ever had one. Im now adding a grey, cream or oatmeal (neutral) in between every row of colour and I am liking it a whole LOT more.

For real inspiration, and people that actually know what they are doing, head over to Kootoyoo.

back in the habit : day 18

Its day 18 (I think) of Back In the Habit. I have missed a few days here and there but over all im certainly feeling some love around my place. So is he...

  

winter bedroom style

winter bedroom style
Originally uploaded by thetexturedleaf

Thought id quickly show you our winter styled bedroom before the end of this month when I change it for Spring.
I blogged about the quilt here!

fascinator and hooded cape

Here is how I went about making Adelins fascinator.

First I took photos of me holding the feathers against her chosen side of where she would be wearing it(quite difficult to hold them all when it came to it) and took some shots for her to see. I adjusted the longer feathers up and down at different angles

 as well as placing the green in front of the black and so on until she was happy.

Above is the shot she liked the most. Then I hand-stitched into the felt backing until my fingers bled. Not kidding, I pricked myself so many times. I dont like using glue because I just feel as if it wouldnt be quite so vintage or 'hand done'. But thats just me being a little too purist in my approach. Of course you can use glue. It wouldnt hurt as much for starters. Unless its superglue, but lets stop there.

                                             warning:  bad fluoro lighting

Then came the cape. I cut a rough hood shape aiming at little red riding hood's. I nearly messed this up badly when it came to making one side the same as the other, as the front surrounding the face is cut curved. I didnt want too much stitching showing, I wanted a more stylised, fluid look. Anyway, so I pinned it on her and took more pictures trying not to cut too much off while adjusting it in between.

The main part of the cape began by draping it around her shoulders and getting the length sorted out roughly. I cut diamond shapes out of both shoulders for the shoulder seams and zig-zag stitched these together. The diamond shape came about from the excess fabric when pinned. We both loved the high neck peak at the back so decided to keep it and sew the hood around it, keeping the olde-world look of the collar. I simply zig-zag stitched the collar on raw and trimmed any seams afterwards to neaten the edges.

 I added some ostrich feathers, there were only eight left in the store so we bought them all. An odd number would have been better. I would have liked around 15 or 17. I hand-stitched the stems on and left them raw and untrimmed.

Ive probably already posted this shot but it is one of my favourites! Plus its my blog and I can do what I want.

p.s. The superglue incident was when I was getting ready for my daughters wedding and someone was doing my nails and I decided to 'help' by holding the nail tip down so she could move on to the next one. We were in a hurry. Both my hands were stuck together for about half an hour. So to me glue is painful.

back in the habit: day ?

Alright.....

so I have no idea which day it is for PMM's Back In The Habit. Apart from any excuses I should come up with, but wont, the bad news is that I still cant load photos (grrrr) and I even did a photoshoot with the dog because, well, I could. Besides, hes pretty gorgeous.

The good news is that I have been walking him more often since admitting my deficit, (ive only missed five days but one day we went twice) so hes back in love with me and looks at me longingly through the kitchen window in the mornings (even when it takes me all day to get around to it!) This is opposed to sulking every time I drove out the driveway. Theres nothing more heart wrenching than watching your dog crawl under the house for attention.

winter mantlepiece

Way back here I spoke of changing the mantlepiece ornaments. I replaced the green glass with these folk inspired ones later that day but can only just show you now. Its almost time to change them again at the end of this month.

Well. Ive got to go and walk the dog as part of my 'getting back in the habit' challenge.

Seeya!

pottymouthmamas habits

Check out whats going on over at PMM's blog. Shes had the cunning plan of helping all of us get back on track now that its halfway through the year and counting. Join in the habit forming fun for the next three weeks. She explains the rules, like theyre so hard (you get to make your own), so dont waste time here.
Ive promised to walk my faithful dog once a day. I can feel the pressure already. In a good way.

Lets rewind a few weeks. To before I had computer problems. I found suddenly I couldnt load photos and then we got a really bad virus and there was nothing I could do but put everything on hold and take it to be fixed. I didnt realise that if you have more than one antivirus spy-ware they fight one another over time, did you?

Lets get to the craft bit.

This is how I made the dress for my sons wedding.

I took a favourite dress of mine to cut around and made myself a fresh cup of tea.

 

I know I said something about a red dress but when I spotted this fabric at Spotlight I just had to get it.

I already had been having thoughts of peacock feathers for my hair so it was meant to be.

In its early stages before I put darts in and the sleeve cuffs and the hem.

The sleeves have a seam down the centre and a cuff like a kimono-esque style.

I decided to look at my stash and found this leafy wide lace to weight down the bottom of the dress so it would slink.

I tried to machine stitch it on as I was in a hurry

but it warped and buckled and didnt sit well at all.

 I had to hand-stitch it in the end.

 I know I have a jacket on, I was cold, but heres a decent shot of my feather headpiece and you can see the red ribbon trim I used around the dress. Ill need to take a proper shot of me in the dress (ill post it in here) as I dont seem to have one now that ive searched, how odd.

More to come on how I made Adelins fascinator and cape in following posts.