Wedding Graduate

Today Meg over at A Practical Wedding posted something I wrote about our wedding - it's not a post on DIY wedding craft, but something I wrote for her on how we celebrated our wedding just after my dad died of pancreatic cancer this year. It was really hard to write this, and I wrote it for no other reason than that it may help others who are in the same situation. I found it really hard to face a wedding celebration in the light of what had just happened, in fact I wasn't sure I would be able to celebrate at all. Rather than a blushing radiant bride, I felt like a quivering depressed mess. And I'm sure there are others who are going through the same. And sometimes it helps just to know others have been riding the same wave, I think!

I am a big fan of Meg's and have been reading her blog ever since we got engaged, and it helped keeping me sane during a year of intense pressure. It's really a blog that advocates that being a "bride" doesn't mean being perfect. Hoooorray for Meg!

If you are interested in the post you can read it here.

My Creative Space

My Creative Space : Tortured fabric, shredded pieces of baby pants, dramatically scrunched up bits of pattern pieces next to the bin, one adult dress with "boob sacks" (quote Mr Melbournevintage), dust, piles of old jumpers and the smell of mothball... and I'm staying far away from it until this flu goes away. Which I hope will be soon as my toes are itching to get back into the swing of things.

These are some shots I took of my niece wearing one of my "ideas". Do you like the mix of old Tshirt and doily? I sure do! It didn't fit properly, but I like to think it's a start. The photography session was interesting. As in, making a one year old stand still is a matter of Einsteinian difficulty. Distraction with a piece of ceramic fruit worked for approximately 3 seconds. Until she flung the thing around the room and her aunty threw herself protectively over her camera.
Now, back to the drawing board stat.

More spaces and places here!

Food Memories

On the weekend I made artichokes the way we used to have them at home - with a French vinaigrette, and you eat the whole thing. You use your fingers to pick off one hot artichoke leaf after the next and tear the flesh out with your teeth until you get to the delicious heart (mind the hairs). Then you discard the leaves into a bowl. It reminds me of my dad so it's a nice tradition to have at my own family home.

I remember very clearly when I was a child and all four of us would eat artichokes and there was always a HUGE bowl full of discarded leaves, and I was petrified of the hair on the heart and one of my parents had to cut them away for me.

Usually the way artichokes are served in France is with a egg yolk vinaigrette or Hollandaise sauce - it's pretty heavy and I didn't fancy making it so I cheated. Here's how I make the cheats vinaigrette:

About three tablespoons of olive oil
About five tablespoons of Dijonnaise
Juice of half a lemon or more if you like it zingy
A splash of red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper


All you need to do is mix all these ingredients.
This will make enough for two people but if you want to feed more - double it!

it's very tasty, but if you are French, I apologise. It's certainly not Michelin star worthy.
Have you ever done a food memory post? I'd love the link!

Waving to you still sick from my bed!

This is my wise face which I am allowed to pull because something wise occurred to me today...

You know how the saying goes "one door closes, another one opens"? Well I have come to realise that it should be called "stop banging on the same shut door, and try open doors instead".
I think I've been knocking on too many very firmly shut doors *pats bruised knuckles".
Clearly I have too much time to ruminate and too little time to sew. It's not a time issue, I am still sick ... and locked up at home.

Also:
eating: fresh artichokes
looking forward to: Finding out how Dorothy went at the Mulgrave market
want to make: cute cheese slices!
reading: Lily Brett's "Too Many Men". Very addictive.
wishing: my cough would go away

If you have a magic cough solution to make it go away, let me know... and I hope you are well!

on glue and old shoes

I felt like sticking some flowers on my boring flats. I am banned from buying anything new so I will need to update and make it work! Like Tim Gunn from Project Runway would say (I am a really good Heidi impersinator by the way - "Hallo!")

I made these when I was sick on the couch, using some fabric remnants and a bit of old doily and two buttons I had in my stash. I sewed the flowers on using a thick leather needle and then applied craft glue - liberally. Every since I did a workshop with Kirsty I have learned to appreciate a good dollop of PVC.
Good times we had spraying the stuff onto our projects and trying not to faint while blowdrying! Needless to say I now have 4 cans of spray glue in the flat!

I used clear nail varnish to finish the edges of the fabric to stop them from fraying. This is a really simple and cheaty method but I like it! You can use any kind of clear nail varnish and apply to the edges only as it stiffens the fabric. 

We were in a jewellery shop yesterday looking for gifts for my wedding helpers and the shop owner asked me "who made this" pointing at my neck and I immediately said "I did! I did!" thinking she meant my top but alas she meant my Love necklace. Ho hum. Five minutes of fame fail!

and now for something completely unrelated

yesterday i was so jetlagged and only had an hour sleep. i spent some time on the internet and decided i needed this dress. i deluded myself thinking my life may depend on buying it even though we are broke as all heck.

it only dawned on me later after staring at it for about an hour that it is for little girls. not grown up females.

go figure. 

I still want it though. It would go really well with my grandma shoes. 

also loving: knitstorm tea cup cozies discovered via Etsy Storque today!

listening to: The Tallest Man on Earth

craving: apple strudel

bought: cheap ugly walking shoes off Ebay in America - 50 dollars! They cost 170 dollars in Australia. Not that I believe they will work - but fad trends and me, like a moth to the flame...

drinking: anti-cough medicine and lemon-ginger tea

Pictures from South Tyrolia

I thought you may enjoy these pictures from our little stint on the other side of the planet. We went to South Tyrolia for a few days, the area in Northern Italy that borders on Austria and Germany and is mainly know for its mountains and food. The typical food is bread, speck and cheese. My idea of heaven, really! When you go hiking, you have a rest in one of the Alms or alpine farms on your way, and get a huge chunk of cheese, speck and a drink. Delicious! The only downside was that the hotel had "foal steak" on the menue. I cry when I see dead birds on the road so imagine the drama that went down when I read that. Not that baby cow is any better... but foal? It just made me so so sad. We also went to Bolzano where I bought bread and we went to look at the Oetzi, the oldest mummy in the world. Fascinating!
I also managed to capture "Alpengluehen", which means alpine glowing, when the tips of the mountains are literally red like fire during sunset. A beautiful sight. Now we are bankrupt and will never be able to travel again. But it was fun while it lasted - what a way to begin the marriage and say goodbye to the general badness that was 2010. We declared that this is 2010.2 so - welcome everyone to the new year!

the wedding that rocked

handmade buntings looking cute

we made these very simple flower decorations and Ikea menues 

gocco'ed CD sleeves as placeholders and Ikea frame menues

me sporting my DIY makeup - thank god my best friend was there to
remind me where everything has to go.

our first dance - to Rainbow Connection sung by Kermit himself.

hello flip flops! spot the 9,5 toes!

We had the most amazing night - most amazing night I've ever had. There was no stress and no fuss, no limousines and no tiered cakes, instead there were happy tears and friends and dancing in flip flops till 6 in the morning. The decorations I made were really worth the effort, the little restaurant we partied in looked so lovely and just like we imagined it. My mum gave an amazing speech honouring my dad, and so did my husband, who made everyone cry and had all the unmarried men place bids on his speech notes! Our friends surprised us with a photo show and I had to tap dance. It felt like there were bucket loads of love floating about the room. I couldn't have been happier. Everyone helped us - with the music, the setting up, and even taking these amazing photographs since we couldn't afford a photographer. It was such a special night. I'm so pleased we got to have this amazing celebration with our friends.

And now I need to apologize for writing this gooey stuff and alert you to the fact that I have really missed my overlocker in my two week absence. Also that my niece successfully modelled some of my designs and that I will need to reconsider some of them - and others a lot. I have missed all of your blogs. And I'm gutted I missed Finders Keepers! Are you well??? When is the spring coming??? I'm cold! xx 

PS: What is wrong with blogger today? ARGH

24 hours to go