FRocktober Days 19 to 21 - Rummage and BBQs



Oh no! She's gone native!

Day 19 - Can you tell things are starting to go a bit silly? It's 'casual Friday' at work and what better excuse to climb about in the foliage?

Today it was the knotty dress again and a huge pomp, very Elvis inspired.  I also wore huge cat's eyeliner to complete the 50's inspired ensemble.  I also brought out my terribly precious limited edition Transparenze Anthea stockings.  These are no longer availiable and on the day they ladder I will cry.



See? Devine.



They have the most beautiful detailing at the top and bottom of the 'seam' and a ruffled welt.  These are stockings that make me happy.  So I flounced around all day in embellished ruffle heaven despite the fact that I popped a suspender every twenty minutes.





Loungeroom post rummage.

Day 20 -

Today was the day for a Rummage!  If you've never had a rummage I highly recommend them.  What you do is this; someone volunteers their longeroom, everyone brings over all the clothes they don't want/wear or fit anymore, you tip them in a big pile and everyone rifles through it picking out what they like and playing dress ups.  When you're all done everything left over goes to a charity of your choice.



Em and Frank.

First order of business this morning was to vote!  So I primped and preened then walked Little Miss Em down to the local school to vote.  I ran into one of MOH's work colleagues who volunteered to mind the little girl while I exercised my democratic responsibility.

After that we detour past the shops for milk and tea (the staples of life) then it was home to clean the house before my guest arrived.  Em helped by disembowelling frank and spreading little balls of fluff throughout the loungeroom.



Quick! Call the SES!
She'll be crushed!

 Once everyone arrived and the rummage commenced my cleaned loungeroom looked like this:

Yes that is a person beneath the pile of clothes; she took the injunction to 'dive right in' somewhat literally.  Much fun was had by all, a quick and very inexpensive wardrobe refresh! I even snagged a 40's style wrap dress to include in my frocktober efforts!



Slightly dishevelled post rummage...



Then the day was over, I spent a significant ammount of time folding what remained (there's my OCD rearing it's head) and putting it in pilgrim bags for it's trip to charity.  But the story of this rummage does not end here!  A few girls missed out so we'll be doing it again, I'll hold on to what remains and we'll rummage again with some new editions.



Ah couch... how I love thee...



 I conked on the couch breifly post rummage, after pulling dresses on and off my victory rolls were somewhat the worse for wear. So they came out to be rplaced by a braid while I finished cleaning up.

Today's ensemble was my Bettie Page captain dress from the darling shoppy. It's comfy for walking and cleaning in.

Cooking up a storm.

 Day 21 - Today was a busy day!  It started early with laundry and a final clean from yesterday's rummage.  Then we took Little Miss Em to visit MOH's mother who was feeling unwell.  Nothing like puppy lickings to cheer someone up.

Todays' ensemble was my polks dot frock and collectif cardigan (from the shoppy) no stockings today is was far to warm.  I wore a rockabilly syle pompadour with a high ponytail for a look that's a bit younger than the 40's I'm rocking so frequently this month.

After that is was off to a friend's post voting BBQ, not to celebrate or commiserate just yet the legislative assembly is still hung; looks like we'll have another coalition.



Rockabilly hair and make-up



I ate very quickly at the BBQ because then it was off to Holder shops for KOTY rehearsals.  I took some of the more burlesque-y pieces to rehearsals for the girls to look at and came home with significantly less.

Then it was time to race of to shops and home as my parents were coming over to dinner before they head off to South America for a month.  Tough life for some.

Days 5 to 9 - Part 1: Lazy days and rain...



Shocking behaviour! I am
deeply apologetic.

Well, I think today's blog entry should start with an apology!  I haven't posted for five whole days, it's been a busy few days recently.  This will be a very picture heavy entry and for that I apologise in advance!



Nice day for a swim?

Day 5 - Was a beautiful day, the sun was out the lake was sparkling and Canberra was doing it's utmost to convince us that it really truly is spring.  So I thought I would wear a new acquisition of mine covered in spots!  You may recognise this frock from Day 1.  This time I paired it with my burgundy collectif cardigan (a wonderful pick me up cardigan with it little star bursts and cocktail shakers, it hard to have a bad day in it, I got it from the Darling shoppy!)  

Isn't it lovely?


No great accesories to note today except one, my beloved - delightful man that he is - gifted me with a four-leaf clover as we were stepping into our chariot this morning. I was so tickled by his gesture that I wore it as a buttoniere all day!

 Lunchtime and it was time to try the bacon turnover I baked at ridiculous o'clock the night before...



You don't look as tasy as
you should....



So after delicately unwrapping them I prepared to have my first taste...  The verdict, not bad, certainly a winnder over sandwiches but then again I hate bread so for me anything is a winner over sandwiches.  The gluten-free lard pastry; not such a hit... it was hard and chewy - it squeaked when chewed! - next time I'll try and find GF puff pasty and I thinkthey'd be much nicer but if you were making doo they'd have been a welcome change.

Potato salad in pastry..

The filling is reminiscent of potato salad sans mayonnaisse, the potato takes on the bacon flavour quite nicely though.

Day 6 - Saturday was a lazy day, which doesn't mena much in our household, a trip to the dog park for our beloved pooch (in the rain as it turned out) and lots of house work.



Sorry for the out of focus...it really was too
bright for photos

Today was my first skirt and shirt combo.  You can't see the detail but it's a peter pan collar and a shirt pretending to be broderie anglais! I'll take a detail shot next time I wear it.  The skirt if a boring black skirt I converted to a pencil skirt (sewing machines are handy things!).

After the trip to the dog park and much housework I attempted another recipe from 'We'll Eat Again' This time I attempted 'Potato Pancakes" at my beloved's request.



Getting prepped
NB: HAND WASHED Potatos



Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:

400g unpeeled mashed potatos

250g sausage mince

         parsley and mint

dried herbs

Lard for frying (I used butter it was what I had)

The making part:

Mix ingredients together throughly and fry in LOTS of fat until brown and crispy, this is an excellent dish for any whose favourite food group is Burnt Crunchy Bits*. 

As tempting as it was to eact the pancakes by themselves the voice of my mother in my head was insisting on vegetables so we had... dun da dun dun DAAAAAAAAA

CABBAGE! with leek and apple (not a rasher of bacon in sight though my love was vaguely trepidatious about  apple and cabbage).



Eat your GREENS!



So I fried up the potato and sauted the greens in a little vegetable water. My hob was an inspiring palette of greeny-brown and just plain brown.



You could paint with those colours.



 So after attempting to make some delicious pancakes and using some choice words when they continued to disintegrate (even after the ration busting addition of an egg).  I finished with a delicious looking meal of apple-cabbge and what I havwe dubbed Savoury Eton Mess (it sounds better than 'stupid failed mess of potato')



Surprisingly tasty, most becasue of the giant knob of
butter it's fried in I'd wager



Finally I'll finish with a photo of my little girl, struggling and in need of a haircut. 

Can you tell she loves
a cuddle?

*I must attribute this to the wonderful Terry Pratchett, it is one of my favourite turns of phrase from him, he whoever stole it from Ms Gytha Ogg of Lancre. 

Fan Construction Part II

So as requested more detail on the feather fans I'm constructing, mostly just 'cause.

I needed bolts, washers and nuts, so a trip to the green shed was in order!

Huzzah for Bunnings!

So after a succesful trip to Bunnings (and quizzical looks form passersby as I sat on the floor inserting bolts into a stave I'd taken with me to see if they would fit) I came home and set myself up on my craft table (also known as a dining table... occaisionally).



Bits and bobs!

Firstly I bolted the prepared staves together, bolt, washer, stave, washer, stave, washer, etc.  Then I discovered this: 

Oh no!  The bolt!  She is too long!

Now the nut is a 'nylock' [insert dodgy power rangers reference here]  which means it will only screw down so far as it has a little bit of nylon in the thread to lock it off.
Still it didn't stop me taking photos;


Zoom out view (that's a six seater table BTW)

This is how far they'll eventually open, each fan will open 180 degrees, I haven't yet measured their width but they're fairly expansive.


Fabric for my costume, good match to my feathers!

I found this amazing sequin fabric in Cleggs on Elizabeth Street while I was in Melbourne last weekend.  It's a perfect match for the colour of the feathers!  And really sparkly to boot!

Then I started on the other fan, with the funnest part of all!  Peeling paper off the perspex staves...


Preparing staves for the other fan.

Next step, make fan 2! I sat at the table watching 'A Town called Eureka' and wired another 24 ostrich plumes to another 12 staves. Pliers, bits of wire and feather went everywhere, I tidied up before any evidence of the mess could be photographed! this however didn't stop little Miss Em getting fetaher on her nose.

After completing the next 12 staves I couldn't help myself, even with the too long bolts I had to bolt them together and flounce around the house with them!  Very glamourously in my polar fleece jacket and dirty dog slobber jeans...


So not finished but I couldn't wait...

 Voila! Left and right handed ostrich feather fans, still not finished but once I have bolts and beading nylon they will be!


A pair of fans (still not finished) but left and right handed!



I knew I would do it... eventually... Part 1

So I've been telling myself that I'll make my own ostrich feather fans, to this end I have had a pound of ostrich feathers and 50 plastic staves in my backroom for... a long time.  The box is very unwieldy and it takes up alot of space.

I'd been telling myself I needed to borrow someone else's fan before I go at this project bull at a gate as I didn't want to damage the feathers, after all I only have a pound of them.  I've been telling myself this for months and yesterday I thought 'what the hell there is a 'how to...' for just about everything on YouTube let's give it a go' and I found the video below from Frou Frou Feathers.

I thought, well, that doesn't seem so hard so I went home, dragged out my feathers and my toolbox and set to work.

My initial plan was to overlay peacock feathers on the ostrich feathers, this didn't go so well.  Peacock eyes are tail feathers, so they're straight.  My ostrich feathers are wing plumes so they're curved.  I'm sure you see the problem that emerged, the peacock eyes stuck out all all kind of odd angles, not good.  So I scrapped that plan and I'm now planning on overlaying the eyes on the base of the fan later with araldite.  Hopefully that is slightly more successful.

So now we move on to the spectacular mess of blue feathers my loungeroom/kitchen has become.  I did vacuum up the majority of the feathers, I also spent a fair chunk of time chasing my dog (who seemed to think as always that this project was entirely for her benefit) around the loungeroom as she stole feathers, staves, wire, scissors and anything else she clamp her teeth around!  However, finally I have 12 completed staves, one whole fan... in bits...

12 feathered fan staves, now to bind them together

Next step off to Bunnings for bolts and washers!