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".

Cinderella Shall Go to The Ball...

I finished Naomi's prom dress today, with, I might add, almost three weeks to spare.
This is Simplicity 3878 only cut down to tutu length ~ the original pattern is for a full length ball gown ~ made in black satin with an overlay of red and black shot crystal organza, which, incidentally, was a #*&$ to sew with.
It needs a bit more "bling" adding to the bodice, but I'm waiting for some hot-fix Swarovski's I ordered to arrive. I also still need to make the matching fascinator. Yes, the girl who had me buy her a tiara over a year ago because "I'll wear it for prom" has decided she wants a red and black top hat fascinator instead.
No worries.
Guess what she'll be wearing on her head if she ever decides to get married...
Next sewing project is going to be something for me.

Make it Sew (again), Gifts and Gardening

You might remember me stitching a little Jean-Luc Picard Christmas ornament earlier this year (see this post). I mentioned at the time that I wished I knew the Klingon for Merry Christmas. Well isn't the internet a wonderful place? Thank you to everyone who helped me out on that. I now know that the appropriate phrase is QISmas Dativjaj, although Klingons don't really quite grasp the concept of "Merry".

Or Maybe they do.

"Romulan Ale Should be Illegal"

"I now know", reminds me that someone at the education department seriously suggested the use in schools of the phrase "We all now know" to demonstrate successful learning objectives. Strangely the acronym never caught on...

So anyway, back to Trekkie goodness, and off to Black Tulip on Deviant Art I went to get the matching Lt Worf pattern. Sadly I only had 32 count blue linen left and he came out smaller than Jean-Luc, so I had to stitch my beloved Captain a second time to get a matching pair because I'm a very slightly OCD kind of a geek that way.
J-L #1 is going to a brand new home with a friend of Eloise's in case you were wondering. Two Captain Picards on a Christmas tree would be excessive...

Look at the little biddy Klingon, isn't he just adorable from the tips of his toes to the top of his little forehead ridges? And look at the amazing fabric I found to back them with!
Purists amongst you may note that the fabric actually depicts the Enterprise A, but to those people I say Pffftt!
Poor Worf looks a little put out at having been topped off with a pretty gold bow, but Jean-Luc, being a modern 24th century man, is comfortable enough in his own masculinity to carry it off. Probably the male pattern baldness.

I got some wonderful post this week too. Dani kindly sent me the chart for the Heartstruck Quaker ornaments, together with a lovely stitched initial fob, and I won the Milady's Needle chart in a giveaway on Sally's blog. Thank you both so much.

Meanwhile in the garden, summer seems to have arrived. Here is Loki posing for a picture. He is such a diva!
Jinx, as usual hid, from the camera, but as she looks just like Loki only smaller just back up from your monitor a bit and you'll get the idea...

...and here is my weigelia flowering its head off. There's a little story behind this shrub, a few years ago I bought one for my friend for her birthday and when I was wrapping it up a small branch broke off. Ever the optimist I bunged it in a jar of water and it rooted. Yay! She still thinks I did it on purpose...

She's back!

Yes, I have been a bad bad blogger. We have just been so busy - we have photographed 10 weddings in 30 days - that I haven't had time to blog. If you have suffered from one of my terse three word blog comments in the last few weeks I can only apologise for my lack of chattiness, and point out that you are a whole lot luckier than some, who got no comments at all.
Anyway things have calmed down a bit again so I thought I'd make time to do a little post.
Here are a few pictures I took just over a month ago of Padstow making itself all pretty ready for Mayday.

In Padstow May 1st  is "Obby Oss" day, where half of the village support the Red Oss, and half the Blue Oss, which parade through the streets. This pub is the "home" of the Blue Oss

Of course with being so busy I've also not had time to do anything much crafty or needle-related to show, but I did knock together this summer door wreath.

Very quick and easy,  just a bought twig ring with shells (picked up from the beach) and starfish (purchased) glued on at intervals, then I wired in some bunches of blue and white pearl beads to pick out the colours in the shells, and tied on a blue spotty bow and Ta da!
(and yes, the door still needs painting)