New Year, New Projects

Well the year is drawing to a close on what can only be described as a truly bleak and bitterly cold mid-winters day. It only serves more poignantly to look forward to the coming spring and everything the new year has to offer. I'm not usually one for new year regulations, but I did make a consious effort to control my finances and generally be more positive about my situation. Afterall, they say good things come to those who wait, and wait I have done. The final quarter of this year has been so blessedly busy that I finally feel I have achieved something which is buoying me smoothly into 2009.

I thought today I would make a list of projects I intend to complete in the coming months and it will be interesting to see how they materialise.

Fistly, 1850s evening gown and associated undergarments for the final part of the Lady of Shalott film to be shot in March.
I then have my first bridal commission to start, which requires the toile to be ready in March although the completed gown is not needed until August.
My husband and I are determined to attend the Jane Austen Festival in Bath in September for which we both need a Regency walking ensemble.
Then in October we plan to attend Whitby Goth Festival with a good friend. I've promised to make her and myself a Victorian, gothic inspired outfit and something suitable for my husband.

Crikey, I shall be a busy bee! And that's providing I am not over run with comissions through the business!

I now have an online shop for my tiaras!

www.joannasbridal.etsy.co.uk

or you can link to it through www.joannasbridal.co.uk

Winter

Today winter threw it's chilly mantle over us as snow fell softly from the grey sky, settling like icing sugar on the roofs, roads and gardens. It glowed mystically in the cold dawn light as the sun crept slowly over the distant horizon. A family of blackbirds trooped about boisterously on the lawn and the bunnies kept their paws inside their hutch, content to munch their breakfast in the dry whilst watching me wrestle with the new bale of hay.

1900 Blouse

Here is a little mini-project I've been doing for Orchard House Wardrobe. It's a circa 1900 blouse to form part of a range of outfits for a local college. I used the Laughing Moon School Mistress pattern (I think!), but I had to alter the design to make it back opening at the insistence of the student who refuses to wear a front opening blouse and I added an extra pleat to help fit her size better.

It is made from a pretty cotton print and is trimmed with real vintage laces!

Tiara commission

I keep a few tiara samples in my friend's shop and a customer commissioned this piece from me.

I call it the 'Lillian' as the wirework is shaped into a lily

The Delights of the Season

I am one of those people who loves to enjoy the frivolities of any given season and you can probably tell from my previous entries that I love Autumn the most. For some reason, this particular autumn has been full of wonderful things to see and I have had the opportunity to capture them on camera. So as November comes to a close and my thoughts change from Autumn's russet glow to to December's magical festiveness, I thought I'd share my memories of this years beatiful season....



The moon looking eerie through the trees in our back garden.


Bonfire party at our friends farm - look at the size of it compared to the man!


The excellent firework display they always put on and perfectly captured by my clever husband!


We also delighted in hot baked potatoes, barbecued sausages and and a delicious hog roast!


Enjoying an evening indoor with my little fluffs!


Enjoying roaring log fires on holiday.


Beautiful views at Whitby


And the abbey looking haunted and mysterious


Our first wedding anniversary!

Remember

They died in their thousands,
As far as the eye could see,
Unaware of what was happening,
They plundered on instinctively.

In filthy harsh conditions,
They lived for many a day,
In damp and muddy trenches,
No escape to far away.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day,
The war came to a close,
An almighty silence reigned the land,
For two minutes it's supposed.

Upon the ground where the dead had lain,
A little flower did grow,
Unlike any other,
It's colour redder than the rose.

They grew in their thousands,
As far as the eye could see,
Their colour of the shedded blood,
That was no more to be.

It wasn't such a cold start to the day this morning. No frost to nip at the fingers and it was rather unexcitingly damp in the air with the feel of rain to come. Feeling uninspired, I took my husband to work as normal, but on driving back I couldn't help but notice the sky. What's to notice in a grey sky you might ask? But it wasn't just grey. It was a beautiful smoky grey with shades from whispy white to a steely blue and where the cloud was breaking a golden buttery glow was shining through from the rising sun behind, like the most beautiful marble. If only I had a camera, but then my photographic skills would probably not do it justice!

Then sitting down with a cup of tea to ready myself for the busy day ahead, I turned the laptop on to check emails leave messages etc, when the webcam on my desktop revealed yet another beautiful panorama for me! My beloved Lake District has received it's first blanket of snow on the mountain tops! I love that area so much, I have the local webcam feed to my computer so I can watch the changing seasons everyday despite being two hundred miles away. As much as I'm a nostalgic and whimsical girl, there are some blessings that modern technology can bring!

So here is the picture from the cam


I am determined not to regret our descision to have a holiday in Yorkshire, rather than the Lakes, despite the fact we could be there, tomorrow, in the very shadow of those mystical snow capped mountains. To visit the mountains in the snow has been my desire for sometime. But no! Yorkshire has just as many beautiful sights and a snow capped Lake District will be there another year and the longer I wait, the more delicious the sight will be when I finally see it!

I awoke to a beautiful, crisp and frosty morning. It truly does feel like autumn now that the clocks have gone back and this our first frost of the season. The rooftops gleamed milky white in the early rays of sunshine and the firey leaves seemed to glow even more richly through the chill air, declaring to all the world 'Yes! It really is autumn! Forget about warm summer breezes and nodding flowers - it's time to look forward to wrapping up warm against chilly winds with rosy cheeks and noses!'. Is there not something exhilarating about stepping outside on a frosty morning, to feel the cold air biting at your fingers and your breath escaping in white clouds as you crunch through the golden carpet of leaves? Then to go inside again to be greeted by warm air like a a cosy hug?

Perhaps you can tell, I love this season! I wonder if our onions and garlic have started to shoot yet? The cold weather shall surely wake them up!

Party Dress

I'll start by introducing you to my current projects. Firstly is a new party dress for myself for the coming season. I have a number of events over the next 6 months which I need a smart dress for, and I certainly can't afford something new for each one! So, I thought I'd use some of my birthday money to treat myself to a length of pretty fabric and make something.



The events I'm hoping to attend are my grandparents diamond wedding anniversary dinner, my husband's work Christmas dinner dance, Christmas day (I must always dress up for Christmas Day!), then next year there is a wedding due to take place in March and then in May I have a film and exhibition launch party! Phew, that's going to keep me busy!



Anyway, here are some links to the patterns I'm going to use....



http://www.habithat.co.uk/popup_image.php/pID/9569

http://www.habithat.co.uk/popup_image.php/pID/8132





Here a picture of the bodice coming together...

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