Show Tomorrow Night

With various going on recently I wasn't sure if this was still going to happen, but if anyone is in DC area and looking for something to do tomorrow night, why not stop by The Town Dance Boutique for a fashion show!

I'll be showing some new dresses, corsets and crinolines and it should be a lot of fun!

You can see the event page here...

	ProjecTRONIC Fashion Show Thursday 9:00pm-2:00am Town Dance Boutique 2009 8th Street, NW Washington, DC $6 cover 2-for-1 before 10:00pm

Long Purple Hair

This I pretty much a non post really, but I had my hair re-purpled again recently, and remembered I never had chance to take any photos last time I went this color!

I went blonde a few years back after about 7 years or rainbow colored hair. I can only seem to stick with a hair color  for about 2 years tops before getting kind of bored, when i get the hair dye wanderlust it's time for a change. The current hair color I've settled on is lilac! The soft color is much easier to co-ordinate than my old bright violet hair, plus as it fades out it turns to the most perfect champagne blonde ready for the next color experiment (thinking dusty rose next time around).

This has been the first time I've had hair light enough to play with pastel colors. It might not be the most vintage hair color on the block, but it's proving to be a lot of fun for Spring!


(when I was a little girl I loved The Sword in The Stone movie, and more than any of the Disney princesses, I loved madame mim! I loved her long purple hair. This color kind of reminds me of that XD.)

Knotted Lavender

I love lavender! I love the grayish green leaves, and the tall purple flowers that wave about in the Summer breeze. I love the way it smells (and the way it tastes!) and as an avid crafter with long project commitment issues I love making tiny lavender bags!


After running into some knotted  tassels on the V&A website a little bit back, I decided to pick up and work on a new knotting project. I wasn't feeling quite up to a large set of cushions or chair covers etc just yet, but could just about handle a cute embroidered lavender bag.

For centuries ladies have kept pretty little lavender sachets in their dresser drawers to keep everything smelling fresh and delightful, so I figured what better quaintrelle project for a spot of knotting?

The design is a simple little bunch of lavender worked in 5 different types of knotted thread couched down onto an ivory aida fabric. The back is silk to add a touch of extra luxury and the first little fringe of tassels I had made were the exact right length to sew to the edges!


The knotting has been a nice way to keep my hands busy the past few weeks, and I was amazed how much I still have in my little work bag. I have another 3 balls of knotting and a yard long piece of rayon fly fringe from this latest knotting binge.(not sure what to do with all those pieces yet though)

With lavender season just around the corner I'm hoping our two lavender bushes will grow back as well as they did last year. For all you fellow gardeners and crafters out there I hope this might inspire you to make a few of these pretty little pouches of your own! I'd love to see what everyone else comes up with for lavender bag projects!

[For more knotting info I have a tutorial and brief explanation over on the main site here. I've been meaning to update the knotting tutorial for a while now and should hopefully have a more comprehensive piece up soon]

We landed back in the states over the weekend and today is the first day of trying to get back into the general routine again after the trip. 2 weeks ago my dad passed away suddenly, no warning. I had been in England just a few weeks before laughing with my dad, and drinking coffee in the airport with him.

I've always been close to my dad and feel kind of lost now he's gone. I'm just glad I was able to see him just a few weeks ago and that it hadn't been months or years since the last visit. I'm also glad he and my mum had been here not long ago to see how things were working out for us this side of the pond. I just wish I had had time to call him that Friday afternoon as planned.

As sad as I feel now I do feel lucky that I was able to grow up with such an amazing father. He really is and has always been my hero and role model, and as sorry as I might be feeling for myself and family right now, I feel worse for the people who never got to know him.

I miss you dad.

Decadence or Everyday?

Lately I've been wondering how much extra time/work does living fancy really take? So far the answer seems to be not much more!

Very often on my busiest days it's hard to find a moment to just relax and enjoy something fancy. Once I get into my work the most I can usually muster is a 10min lunch break and then my head is back down in whatever project is on the books that day till the rush to the post office with orders before it closes. Today I decided to enjoy my breakfast quaintrelle style, and see how it impacted my day.

This morning the usual bowl of cereal and mug of tea (from a tea bag) and quick half watched segment of morning TV was replaced with a pastry picked up last night, pot of good quality loose leaf tea and a book (work related but I love my work!).

The tea took the same amount of time to brew, it cooled quicker in the cup so I was drinking that before I would have hit the usual mug, the pastry could (and tomorrow will) be replaced with some granola and yogurt for the same amount of time.

Over all my quaintrelle breakfast took the same amount of time, only rather than trying to race past it to get cracking on what was next, I actually really enjoyed every second of it!

Even now as I contemplate doing the same thing tomorrow a little part of my brain is saying "decadence! You can't do all this every day!" Even though I just proved to myself it took no extra time or work. It's funny how we (or at least I) are hard coded into thinking anything fancy is time consuming or more work than the regular grind. The truth is it doesn't have to be, and usually isn't, plus this morning I'm feeling pretty good about the day ahead! It's amazing what a little bit of nice china and a teapot can do.