Pages

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Spring blossoms

Some of our fruit trees have embraced the warmer weather and are dressing up with lovely flowers.

Nectarine

Plum

Apricot

Even the rhubarb (though neither a fruit nor a tree!) is getting in on the action by sending up a flower spike.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

A beautiful clothing book

With the great Australian dollar exchange rate a few weeks ago my husband and I decided to splurge and buy some books online.  I bought some fashion and clothing books and feel that I have to share one particular book with you. 

'High Style: Masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art'.  I love this book, it is beautifully set out and has wonderful photos.  It is exclusively women's wear, but has some shoes and hats in addition to clothing. 
The front cover - a stunning red dress.

Fabulous knitwear from over 100 years ago.

I love the lines on this dress.

Isn't this fabulous!  Imagine walking around town in this ensemble - so chic!

I've saved my favourite for last.  I love the dress below so much that if I wasn't already married, I would choose this as inspiration for my wedding dress.   
It is so bright and playful and just utterly gorgeous!

If you are interested in clothing or fashion I would absolutely recommend that you buy this book or maybe visit the Brooklyn Museum and see what they have on display (if you are near there!).  According to their website they had a display of American High Style last year.  Some of the dresses from that exhibit are shown in this book.

Just a note on copyright - as these pictures are photos I have taken from the actual book I will remove the pictures if the copyright holder of the original photos requests this.  Please don't reuse these pictures.  Thanks. 

Sunday, August 14, 2011

A mix of seasons

A couple of months ago I put a huge pile of autumn leaves into the chook house - the chooks had a wonderful time scratching through them and eventually the leaves broke down into nothing.  This week I raked up some more leaves (yes, they are still falling - our pin oak holds onto them for months after they turn brown) and put them into the chook house.  In the time it took for me to go into the house to get my camera and walk back to the chook house the three chooks had already spread the tall pile into an even layer across the floor of their run!

Harriet (the Rhode Island Red) and our two Australorps, Cottontail and, in the background showing us her feathery bum, Philadelphia.  Oh, and in excellent news - the younger two are now definitely laying eggs!

Our first jonquils of the season - Soleil d'Or.

One of my favourite spring bulbs - beautiful Tete a Tete's.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Spring shirt is finished!

Some of you might remember a little while ago I designed a shirt for spring. Well I finally finished it!  I love it and it looks just how I pictured it (except I haven't put buttons on yet, and now I don't think it needs any).

The design - a shirt with a front placket, bishop sleeves with cuff band and a mandarin/stand collar.

Finished!

A loose fitting, casual shirt.  I think that I will make a couple more of these, now that I have sorted out the pattern details it will be much quicker to sew.

A close up of the placket and cuff - I'm really pleased at how my sewing skills are improving.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

A lemony Saturday

Watching Gabriel Gate's segments throughout the Tour de France I was inspired to search through various recipes on the SBS website.  Several recipes caught my eye - including one for lemon curd.  And since we had some home grown lemons and home laid eggs we decided to spend part of our Saturday morning filling the house with the scent of fresh lemons.

It is thick, creamy and oh so zesty lemon!  If you have some spare lemons, you can find the recipe here.