Tea towel dress

This dress reminds me of a tea towel, just the print, not the feel.

Surprisingly it is from Sportsgirl, now Sportsgirl has gone the way of TopShop in that it has a section that gets some bad 70's/80's dresses chops them up so they look even worse then sells them for a ridiculous amount of money to the young teenager who has no idea of vintage or has never been to a 'vintage shop/market/fair', or even entered an Op shop.

But you know, I take a peek in there occasionally just to see if by chance they have anything. During their recent sale I managed to pick up this heavily discounted dress.



Who would have thought I would be wearing almost head to toe Sportsgirl at my age? These shoes were also on sale a while ago.

So it proves to not be a snob about where you buy your clothes and find the best bargains you can find. And especially in these tunabake times.



Sans glasses



Dress: Sportsgirl 'vintage' he he he
Belt: Oasis
Shoes: Sportsgirl

Cleaning the house attire

I don't have any plans today just play with Little Miss A and clean the house around her.

I have now finished 2 images for the local gallery competition, which I am sum what happy with, finished the patchwork floor rug for my friend (unfortunately forgot to take a photo of it before I sent it) and applied for a fabulous job I'm waiting to hear back from.


Still pinning my hair back after the fringe massacre

I still have my wrap dress that I am slowly working my way through, Oh! and I am supposed to be working on a small 2011 calendar so I had better sort myself out.



Top: Some cheap shop in my local shopping centre
Cardigan: Savers
Skirt: Peta Pledger
Brooch: Pierre Bex
Scarf: Top Shop a long time ago
Shoes: Rubi Shoes

And the heavens have opened

It has been raining on and off for the past two days and cold! Not as cold as Europe of course but a cool 15 degrees which feels cold after experiencing 34 degrees last week.

Today we took Little Miss A to her music performance, now she is just shy of 2 years old so this is a pretty basic performance but it gave Mr Ed a chance to see what she has been learning this past year.

So we get up on stage with 9 other 'almost' 2 year olds and their mothers and she decides she is tired and doesn't want to play nice (it is right in the middle of her sleep time) so I start to go red and sweat and well I hate being on display in front of a bunch of people. Thankfully she cooperated and my beetroot face cooperated, we bowed and exited stage left.

Dress: Pocket Vintage Clothing Etsy shop

A great little 70's dress I recently received in the post, and thankfully the weather got a little cooler so I could wear it straight away.

Scarf: Kinki Gerlinki

Hat: Dangerfield

Boots: Clarks

There's a storm-a-brewing

I was sitting at my computer Friday afternoon filling in a job application when I could hear a constant rumbling coming from outside. I stepped into our back garden to be greeted with this huge, silver lined storm cloud slowly drifting over our house. This photo really doesn't do this menacing, Armageddon like cloud justice.

So before the 'death cloud' reached our house I thought 'jump photo! Must do it now!' Thankfully it wasn't a death cloud and these aren't the last photos ever taken.





Oh and I got my hair cut and my fringe fixed after a stern talking to from my hairdresser. He is right I shouldn't cut my fringe on a wim and after 3 cups of coffee. And this is why my fringe is soooo short now.



Dress: Beyond Retro (London) Label: Texas shirt waist. I luuurve this dress but need to have my bottom rib removed like Cher, it is very snug and cannot be worn if I plan to eat that day.
Cardigan: temt

Deadline looming

Today I have been working on a couple of paintings to enter into a competition being held at a local gallery. I haven't given myself much time, in fact just 2 days, and out of those 2 days I have to do other things like; cook dinner, washing, get hair cut, grocery shopping, the boring mundane things that take up my time. So in actual fact I probably have about 4 hours.



So with that in mind I'm going to enter 2 images, this is the first that I am still working on..


My studio: The kitchen floor

I thought I would add a beret for this photo just to show how cliche I can be. You know, artist working away, living off of coffee and chocolate...I feel a little sick.

Dress: Black shirt dress previously listed
Apron: Made myself

Coffee in any weather - 32 degrees

I'll drink coffee in any sort of weather and I love having a small shot of coffee in the morning when Little Miss A is having a nap. I accompany it with either some chocolate or homemade muffins, today was blueberry, banana and walnut muffins. This cup is actually Little Miss A's but I've claimed it, it makes me smile.


It is very windy today and was blowing my dress in all the wrong places

This dress is nice and light and one of my favourite patterns - gingham. It has little ties at the front...



...and back.



Dress: Retro Star (Label: 'Three Heart' with some Chinese writing underneath)

Hot days hybernation

My arm seems to be miraculously appearing or disappearing

So it is another stinking hot day and I'm not venturing outside to do anything let alone jump, which is a shame as I planned to go for a walk and chose another background for my photos.

So today the photo is just from the waist up. This little dress I bought a while ago but never had the nerve to wear it as I don't like wearing figure hugging dresses. But it is so hot, and well, I have been going to the gym so I think I've lost a little from the hips - yay for the gym!!! It is a great dress; 1980's does a bit 1940's? And the print is so cute and once again ... it has pockets!!!



Not that the pockets prevented me from leaving my keys in the car and shutting the door with Little Miss A inside this morning!!! I always put my keys in my pocket but forgot this dress had them. So a quick and panicy phone call to roadside assistance and within 7 minutes a man kindly coat-hangered my door open and tar-daaaa! My awful episode of the week was over. Last weeks awful episode was that I walked into a metal part of a children's playground (not seeing it through my big floppy hat) and whacked the bridge of my nose...bring on next weeks accident.

Dress: Thrifted

Too hot - 2 outfits before 10am

Today it is expected to reach 32 degrees but at 10 o'clock this morning after a walk to the shops it felt like it had already reached that temperature. So on my return to the shops I quickly got changed into another dress and off we went to a cafe to meet a friend.



The cement in the back garden doesn't help to soften the glare of the sun either.

Too hot to jump today, I might have to get up before the sun tomorrow as it is expected to get to 34 degrees!

Dress: An Op Shop a long time ago (such a comfortable 't-shirt' material dress) Label: Target

Pink with bows moving!

I'm having a play with this great little online programme picasion.com pretty cool! But I need to somehow keep the camera pointed in the same direction. There will be more experimentation to come.



Couldn't help but wear my The Smiths badge today, it goes so well with this cardigan. 'hoooorrhoorrrhoooooooooooooorrrr'.

Dress: Quick Brown Fox
Cardigan: H&M
Shoes: KMart
Badge: from a stall in Trafalgar Square in 1992

An empty house

Today is the first day my Little Miss A has gone into full day daycare. I was excited after I dropped her off as she was so happy to see all the toys and other children and said 'Bye, bye mummy' I thought wow that was easy (I was a little teary this morning), what shall I do with my day? I almost became catatonic with the prospect of doing anything I wanted.

But I took it easy and went to a cafe, had a coffee and a Nutella croissant, bought The Gentlewoman magazine and sat for as long as I could on my own. Then home to start work on a job application.

It is cold again today so I dug out from the bottom of my wardrobe a jumper. Now this jumper has some fancy detailing...by default. You see I accidently put this fine, merino wool jumper in the washing machine without a protective bag and it got caught on something and developed some big holes. I was devistated as it cost me quite a bit of money but after a little thought I got out the embroidery thread and Ta! Da! Some hearts and stars.

Now I am going to collect Little Miss A from daycare, I can't wait to see her.

In the same place

Why are all my photos all taken in the same place?

Well I only get the opportunity to take photos when Little Miss A is taking her midday nap and this is our back garden.

I prop my little digital camera on top of our wheelie bins (ewww I know) and set it to timer. I have to get myself a little tripod and maybe next week when Little Miss A is settled into her two full days at daycare I can venture down some of our local lanes and give you more of a taste of what my neighbourhood is like.



This is a new skirt, purchased yesterday from...you guessed it, Savers. It is such a great little, linen skirt and it has pockets! Always a bonus in my book.



Top: Genki
Skirt: Savers
Cardigan: Topshop (years ago)
Scarf: Topshop (years ago)
Skirt: from another thrifted dress
Shoes: Converse

Shades of brown

Nothing special happening today, just taking Little Miss A to daycare for the afternoon and so I'm going to finish a floor blanket I have been sewing for a friend who is due to have a baby in the next few weeks (I started this blanket 3 months ago!!).



I am wearing this adorable brooch by Cat Rabbit I happened across their brooches in a shop on Sydney Road, Brunswick but can't remember the name of the shop. Since looking them up on the internet I've discovered they do very, very cute plush toys which they sell on Etsy.

It's great to happen across such interesting designers and crafts people from Australia, and not just Australia, but Tasmania (a place I would love to visit).

Dress: Sportsgirl 'vintage' (present from parents)

Cardigan: Temt

Brooch: Cat Rabbit (Looks very much like Toad from Wind in the Willows) made from Tasmanian wood

Shoes: Rubi Shoes

Too many bows?

I don't think you can have too many bows, although these days I'm trying cut back, as a 30something it tends to look a little crazy, like a scene from 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' (such an amazing film).

But today I fancied lots of bows so I cut off the two ties on my top and made a hair clip and tied my scarf in a bow - I think four bows would constitute crazy, so I'm safe with only three.

Top: H&M (a long time ago)

Trousers: Leonard St.

Scarf: Sportsgirl

Shoes: Converse

Hair clip: Me

Red is the colour

Red is one of my favourite colours
Red is the colour of my skin when I happen to be in the sun for 5 minutes

Spots on my top
Spots are the pattern on my skin, freckles that have been like a tattoo my whole life

Top: Your father should know Etsy shop

Cardigan: Savers

Brooch: Gift (Pierre Bex)

Ring: H&M

From hip to waist

This is the entrance to our 1950's bungalow, don't you just love the coloured glass in the door and surrounds. I used to hate it but on a summer morning when the sun shines it gives off a lovely light. (I'll have to show you our matching lavender bathroom suite at another time)

Top: Pop Boutique (my old place of employment in the early 90's)

Skirt: Genki

I used to wear my skirts around my hips but these days I prefer to wear them around my waist. So with great trepidation I attempted to take-in my favourite Genki skirt. It didn't turn out too bad!

Watering our cement garden

Top: Savers

Skirt: Genki

Genki used to be one of my favourite shops in Melbourne but last year they closed shop, and I along with a lot of other fans were very sad to see it go. But there was some good news recently that they have relaunched their online shop and are selling these lovely Susette skirts and their stripey tops (I own 5, Oh my!).

Take a look, along with these great classics they also have some cute pre-loved items and 'I love tees'.

Ooo Pink Panther is on telly so I should finish up, have a great evening xx

Compiling a Christmas shopping wish list: Number 1

Some Victoria Mason Jewellery



Victoria Mason is a jewellery designer based in Melbourne and I just love the objects she chooses to miniaturise.

My favourites would be the Nice biscuit and a tea cup - they sum up a relaxing morning when Little Miss A has her nap.



And this cute little apple ring.

Mr Ed, keep an eye out for more subtle ideas!

Bad hair day

I am trying not to wash my hair everyday, I have become a little obsessive about it but it really isn't good for my hair as I blow-dry it and straighten it and really it takes too long. But on the odd days I don't wash my hair I feel pretty yucky; it doesn't do what I want it to do and goes a little boofy.

But when I put this dress on I feel a little better. I bought it from Cassie's Attic Ebay shop and did a few alterations, nothing major, just changed the buttons from tan to blue and on the pockets added some lovely buttons I got as a gift.

Now the day doesn't look so bad, and hey! The sun is shining and Little Miss A goes to playgroup this afternoon so I'm going to be sewing that dress I mentioned.

Dress: Cassie's Attic (label: Altogether)

Buttons: Liberty

Shoes: Kmart

Brighton Rock 2010

Image source: Wikipedia

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene is one of my all time favourite books and the 1947 film adaption staring Richard Attenborough is a fabulous film.

My DVD of Brighton Rock takes pride of place along with my kitchen sink dramas from the 1960's - I seem to love watching depressing depictions of everyday life on screen.

Today I discovered from reading Lola is Beauty's blog that they have filmed a remake!!! I am very excited and can't wait for it to be released in Australia.


Image source: Live for Films

One major difference is that it is set in the 1960's instead of the 1930's so I'm imagining plenty of scooter action which makes me think of Quadrophenia (another favourite).

I don't mind that they have tampered with a classic novel as long as the end product maintains the menacing essence of the story.