This Month in Gotham Vogue

Eloise decided she wanted to learn how to sew, so fabric was purchased (depicting Gotham's Most Wanted and our hero of course) and a pattern selected, and off we went. This is the result. Pretty good for a first attempt huh? Jinx seems to approve anyway.

The pattern is McCall's 5094. We used a contrast plain black for the midriff band and straps, and made a plain gathered skirt instead of using the flared skirt from the pattern because of the vertical stripes in the fabric. The iron on Arkham Asylum patch came from EvilBay (here).

In other Batman related news, I walked into the living room the other day and look what had happened to my glass penguin ornament.

Not the penguin Gotham deserves, but the one it needs right now.

There was a little girl and she had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead

When she was good she was very very good

But when she was bad she was horrid

I used to tell that nursery rhyme to Naomi all the time when she was little because she was a very curly girl, and I was reminded of it when I saw a dear little red girl embroidery here on Cherise's blog earlier this year, and determined to make my own version. Here she is:-

Her dress is made from a piece of vintage fabric from the wonderful Rag Rescue trimmed with a bit of old lace. I mounted her in an embroidery hoop and tied a bit more of the lace and some ribbon (from a Christmas cracker!) on the top. I've had to hang her in my study because the rest of the family say she is too twee. I like to think she is an ironic post-modern take on tweeness...

In other news it was the village show this weekend. Here a few snaps of the wonderful flowers and vegetables on display. Mostly not grown by me I have to admit, though some of the rhubarb is mine. Any fool can grow rhubarb, the trick is stopping it from taking over half the garden.

And part of the floral art display

And here is my attempt at a floral arrangement incorporating sea shells.

I do have rather a lot of sea shells lying about the place...

Avast Ye Landlubbers

I do like me a bit of a brooding pirate.
Here is Colin O'Donoghue as Hook from Once Upon a Time. I make no apologies for having shared this picture before. It bears a second glance I think.

Anyway, I've been playing with my pastels again. Drawn myself my very own Captain Hook.
Quick swashbuckle round the Spanish Main anyone?

Barefoot in the Park

Well, the back garden actually, the park would have healthier looking grass.

The girls and I were very taken with these barefoot sandals at the craft fair at the Carnival last week. Several pairs were purchased. Does this count as buying shoes I wonder. I did get some new converse this week...
Having worn mine for days I had a sudden brainwave and raided my button tin. The seashell pair on the right are the ones I bought, the ones on the left are my own creation.
It is ridiculously difficult to take a photo of your own feet. They end up looking stubby and foreshortened due to the angle you are shooting from. I asked Eloise to come and take a picture, but as you can see Jinx hijacked the photoshoot

I also thought you'd be amused to see this. Not everything creative in this house always turns out just how we'd planned it. Here we see the "Tropical Fruit Roulade" Naomi was attempting to make, and her finished version:-

Nailed it!  Tasted great mind you.

Summer Postcard Blog Hop

Jo from Serendipitous Stitching is organising a Summer Post Card Blog Hop
Here is the stitched postcard I received from Debbie.  Pop on over to Debbie's blog and say hello, and be sure to visit Jo's blog  too, to find out more about the Blog Hop

"All's Good in the 'Hood":  Hi, Stitcher!  I hope everything is good in your neighborhood!  I made this for my son, instead of the typical 'Home Sweet Home' sampler.  It will look great in his new apartment in the big city!

A Prom Princess, a Pair of Presents and a Poodle Project

How's that for an alliterative post title?
As promised here are some pictures of Naomi in her prom outfit. I think she looked beautiful, but I am biased.

The "pair of presents" ? I took part in the annual VSCyberstitchers exchange, here is the wonderful selection of Christmas in July gifts I received from Nancy (no blog that I'm aware of), a Just Nan pinball tin, the most adorable little needlefelted acorn, and a wonderful stitched needlepouch, in an Elizabethan looking design, containing three turned wooden containers of needles. Thank you Nancy, it's gorgeous.

This is the one I sent out. I can't say to whom yet as it hasn't reached it's destination. The design is by The Little Stitcher and was the Needlecraft Haven monthly challenge piece for May. I used a Kreinik braid for the ruby slippers and it was a little bugger to stitch with, but I'm quite pleased with the effect. I made it up into a pincushion and made a ruby slipper charm for the scissors.

And finally the "poodle project". The pattern is Simplicity 2886 and the cute poodle fabric was from EvilBay Not sure why it looks pink and navy in the photo, it is scarlet and black in real life. It sewed up really nicely, and is a lovely fit in the bodice, though with hindsight I'd have cut the skirt a bit longer than the pattern as it just knee length, which is shorter than I'd normally wear, and maybe altered the construction of the bodice lining to encase the waistband seam. I've got an old silk sari in my stash and I'm thinking of making it up again using that. I might make up the other view too, with the narrow straps, it's nice to make something for myself now and again.

If you can't fight...

...wear a big hat, as my Grandad used to say.
Or in this case wear a teeny tiny hat.

This is the little Harley Quinn fascinator that I made to go with Naomi's prom dress (see previous post). I bought the sinnamay hat and stitched a couple of barrette clips to the underside of the brim, then decorated it with ribbons, feathers, diamantes, and of course a couple of  tiny Jokers (from one of those mini packs of cards you get in Christmas Crackers), because Harley wouldn't go anywhere without Mr J.
I also finished and framed this:-

. Live, Love, Laugh by La-D-Da, stitched using the recommended fabric and threads, except that I missed off the solid border because a) stitching solid borders is really boring and b) they make it really hard to get the thing to look straight in the frame. Definitely had a stroke of luck when I went to get the frame, I got their last scrap of terracotta mountboard, and the last of that particular frame. I think it was "meant to be".