As a hopeless romantic, I have a difficult time letting go of Valentine’s Day.
This is the inside of my white antique hutch. I tack pink floral fabric behind the shelves, and then I scout around the house for any thing pink or red…or with hearts an flowers. I told you I was a hopeless romantic!
This is a table runner I made when I learned how to do crazy quilts. It looks even better when my husband remembers to bring me flowers to set on it.
Here is a photo of our aprons from this Thanksgiving. Of course, not all my daughters are here, but enough to cause a ruckus. Also here are a couple of daughter-in-laws and one granddaughter.
This is my “this old thing…?” dress. Printed deep lavender floral on a lighter lavender background. I made it for a Jane Austen challenge I took a couple of years ago. Earlier this year I wore it to host a Jane Austen tea party we had after reading Sense and Sensibility.
This is my favorite (except for my gothic nightgown which is clearly visible in an earlier post as part of a true gothic adventure) dress of all.What a paradise!! Who knew I’d find so many authors in one place? Authors whose books I’ve loved. Who knew? But more about that later. Just want to share our first day. This is the post my daughter put up. Isn’t it lovely? I have no qualms about stealing it for my own blog!
This morning, after staying up late to put the final touches on my dress, I picked up my Mom at the airport and off we were on our road trip to Portland.
We were able to check in to out room at the Hilton early. We went to registration tables, saw some cute T-shirts, picked up our packets and headed up to out lovely room, where we dumped out our “Jane Austen- The Abbey” tote bags to admire the contents.
Mom and I decorate our nametags And take a quick snapshot before unpacking or dresses.
After this we went down to our dance workshop. We practiced four English country dances in an hour and a half. Sometimes it was exasperating, but when the dance came together it was exhilarating! I danced across from my mom, but after the first dance they encouraged us to change partners. A nice looking and friendly woman agreed to be my partner. I saw my mom introduce herself to her new partner, and thought I should do the same, but then upon seeing her nametag I got VERY excited and almost lost it. I was dancing with Laurie Viera Rigler, the author of ‘Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict’ and ‘Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict’! Oh! (I may need a moment)…..Do you know how AWESOME that was???
OK, composure regained.
After dancing and a great dinner, we went to look at ‘Milsom Street’, the emporium full of booths, books, and other items for sale. Here is a sampling of the ‘shops’
There were also some lovely historic dresses on display that I photographed for your enjoyment. But first, here are links to a few more of the vendors:
Jean Judy- Jane Austen Charm Jewelry
Charlene Ahern- Henry Was a Railroad Man Card Company
After a brief rest in our room we attended Angela Barlow’s “Jane Austen, An Actor’s View”, with observations, readings, and delightful observations about the characters Jane Austen created. That leads us to where we are now, enjoying the view from my window, exhausted.
And now for more DRESSES………….
See you tomorrow,
-Lynnae
Something so exciting began this summer. My daughter is playing the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz in our community theater. When the director said he wanted her to model her character after Elphaba in Wicked, she asked me to design and create her costume. It’s been such a rewarding challenge that I decided to do my next 2 pieces about it.
I painted this and yes, she really is that green! I loved using these different scrapbook papers to create this piece. The lower portion of the page has my journaling about the project. You should have seen us at JoAnne’s Fabrics and Crafts! We just walked down every isle tossing bolts of fabric into the cart. Anything we thought we might like.
We ended up with 13 or 14 bolts in the cart; we wheeled all that over while we looked at patterns. Since I made up the design, of course there weren’t any exactly like the dress, but we put 2 or 3 together and changed a bit here and there until it came out the way I wanted. We used 7 different fabrics, 3 trims and 2 ribbons. Luckily we both had 50% off coupons, so we saved a few bucks.
It is just gorgeous! I’m hoping to post some photos, too. I loved sewing this. I set up a table in front of the TV and just watched HGTV while I sewed.
In the top left corner is Elphaba's costume from the email the director sent. Next to that is my own design that I reduced in size and printed on scrapbook paper. Then I chalked in the colors.
As you can see, I didn’t do the ruching from the email, and the skirt is more form-fitting with inserts that make it flare at the bottom. I wanted the lights to catch her costume while she kicks and flies across the stage (on pulleys), so I used sequin confetti overlaid with black lace in the inserts and for the bodice.
Both these pieces have streaks of green and purple paint with writing or stamps on top. I also made a spider web like design by dabbing a flexible comb in a silver stamp pad. That has to catch the light just right, and is most easily seen at the top left corner of the page above.
