Letter to myself.

I recently saw an article in a magazine in which Terry Irwin wrote her sixteen year old self a letter, offering sage advice and council about the years to come. The concept appealed, although Terri Irwin sadly, did not. At the risk of appearing self indulgent and sentimental. I thought I might have a go myself. Writing with the hind-sight of forty four years.

Dear Jacqui,

wherever life takes you and whatever you do, while you may wish you could change a few things, you'll look back on it all and be very happy with the way it's turned out.

Every cloud has a silver lining. It is not often obvious to start with, but you must look for it, and it will reveal itself eventually.

You are about to embark on a career that was chosen by default. It will be an intermittent career, but you will make such good use of the knowledge you gain from it.

There will always be the echo of your mother's advice in the matter. Appearing at their loudest in those moments when you are most thankful that you know what to do, and are not encumbered by a fear of the unknown. " A training for life".

However, you WILL look back and wish someone had suggested becoming a theatre costume designer or a photo journalist!!!

Remember that the beautiful people don't necessarily stay beautiful.

You will have happy children. You have chosen well. He has all the best qualities that you identify in your father and none of the worst ones, that make you weary and distrustful and fearful. It was a gamble well worth taking.

You will find joy in the small domestic craftings that you learned as a right of passage for the women of your family. They will become transformed into your art. Your expression of creativity. You will understand it to be part of your personal concept of "soul".

You will experience loss and grief, as everyone must at some time, but you will have had a lifetime of practice and preparation for it. It will add to the sum of your experiences and to the person you are, and the memories and symbols will become woven into your daily life.

You will always worry. The worrying makes you safe.

There will be many days like today, when the sun is shining and the cicadas are loud in the birch trees outside the window. A perfect day.

I have fallen in love ... with a house.

The Magpie house is for sale blog chics, for i have fallen in love.

It happened on my birthday. I saw it across a crowded room (na, I saw it in the local paper actually), and i did swoon, because it was the very house that magpie chic dreams are made of.

And the bloke that lives with me could find no holes to pick in the perfectness of it's construction (half the battle), and the only caveat he put on was that he make haste with the construction of a large and in charge garage in the paddock at the bottom of the garden, cos the double garage is not big enough. And i was fully expecting that and do not care about garages in my meadow as long as they are far enough down the hill so as not to obstruct the view!

And the Granny loves it equally which is just as well cos she'll be moving in when we sell all the family jewels including her house. But the not big enough garage will convert to the perfect granny annexe.

We are all in love.

So i am very busy painting the window sills and weeding the garden, so forgive me if i do not blog about doily bags for a while. I've packed up the sewing machine till we move in.

If you would like to have a squizzy at it it's HX1011393 harcourts .co.nz

i bet you fall in love too. But i think there is only one of them.

You know that thing about pinching yourself to believe it's real. Well, i am black and blue (metaphorically you understand!!)

Perfect... for the dress ups box!

Well blog chics, it was kind of successful, kind of not, in a very mutton dressed up as lamb sort of way LOL!

I do admit it looks pretty, but i just can't get over the fact that it's really made out of the bottom of a nightie!!!!!
BUT; it would be perfect for a little girl's dress up box.
So if anyone has said little girl who might like it, please let me know in the comments, and I'll happily send it on. If I get more than one offer to re-home it I'll just draw names out of a hat, in a very official manner.
Too much work to get chucked in the re-cycle part of my sewing cupboard.
And it was a fun experiment. I stayed up till 1 am making it, cos I knew I had to mow lawns and pull weeds today before (A) it rains again and (B) I have to go off and vaccinate a few more babies.

I think what i need to do is find a pattern that is exactly what I want, because the jigsaw thing wasn't entirely successful. The bodice doesn't quite fit properly, and the sheerness of the fabric while pretty, meant that I couldn't hide my seems completely.

Kind of off the scale on the mutton dressed as lamb o meter!!!

Would probably look quite good on a 14 yr old ha ha!!!

But it's very pretty and made me happy.

What more can you ask really out of a $3 table cloth and the bottom of a pink nightie!

Oh and I'm 44 tomorrow. Had to do the maths to work out how old because I just forget now days.

Don't worry about it too much because Doris and Audrey were fab in their 40s I'm absolutely sure!!! That's Day and Hepburn, in case you were wondering blog chics.

Once Were Tableclothes.

I've started putting together my tea party dress. Well the bodice anyhow.

"She who is proficient at separating eggs" asked me if I only ever sewed with table clothes and curtains these days.

Yes, and doilies and lace and ribbon...

Well just at the moment anyhow.

I'm experimenting with a couple of patterns, hoping that an amalgamation of the two will achieve the desired effect.

It looks pretty, but i don't know if it will fit yet.

Here is the bodice.


And the two patterns I'm using. Bit of a jigsaw puzzle I've got going.

I just love the fabric and the rose embroidered into this tea throw that I bought for about 3 dollars at one of the local op shops. I've lined it with some pink polycotton.

Be back again in a few days with a progress update.

I can make that!

One of the best things about getting out and about and looking at things is the new booster of creative inspiration that I get every time. It's not so much from buying something, although that's nice if you can do it, but often the budget doesn't allow. It's the buzz that I get from connecting with something beautiful, and the ideas that it sparks in my own head. It's a kind of scaffolding for building new stuff from old ideas.

I found these beautiful tea party dresses at Port O Call. They so inspired me. I was lucky enough to be able to buy one, but I would have bought all three of them if I could have.

This is the one I bought in the end, because it fitted the best. But it was an agony of decision making, and I changed my mind twice!

And I went home completely inspired to make my own version of the tea party dress in as many permutations as makes me happy.

I have had such fun in the last week or so rabbiting around in the op shops, and looking at stuff with new eyes. I'm looking for things I can use as embellishments for tea gowns.

I'm piecing together vintage nightie patterns and making something that is just right for the job, and I'm just about to start experimenting with what I've got to hand.

I 'll be back with something in my next post. Still not exactly sure what, but it will just evolve.

Might just evolve into the recycle bag in my cupboard too. But that's just part of the deal. It's not ALL about the process, but the process is important. It's all a bit of an experiment at the moment. Just have to see what happens.