BOO!!

The quickest post ever, as we are walking out the door to go trick or treating..... I needed to show you all the awesome skirt I made for Little Madame! Of course it is easy AND no sewing is involved ! That just makes it doubly easy!!!

Little Madame often sits with me while I trawl Pintrest... She saw a Wind up Doll costume and decided that is what she wanted to be this Halloween - but not just a Wind up Doll, no not our Little Madame - she wanted to be a Zombie Wind up Doll! I shake my head in despair! How does she think these things up?

Now this post is about a very easy skirt, I have seen them all over  Pintrest. As soon as I say the words frothy and tulle you will know exactly what I am talking about - well, that is if you trawl Pintrest!

What you will need:

4 meters of pink tulle

2 meters of black (obviously you can use any colour you want too)

Thick Ribbon - for the waist ( enough to go around your waist and tie in a bow)

Scissors 

Pink and Black Tulle

THATS IT! Lets get started-

1. Start by cutting strips of tulle.( about 5cm wide) I also folded the fabric over so I didn't have to cut too many strips

Fold it!

2. Fold the strip in half and place it under the ribbon

  

Under the Ribbon

3. Grab the two loose ends and pull through the loop - you have made a knot over the ribbon, make sense? 

Grab

   

Pull Through

   

Pull Tight

  4. Keep going till you have used up all the tulle - you can make it as thick as you want by adding more or less tulle. Push the knots together to get the frothy effect - the more tulle the frothier!

5. I used all my pink then added the black where I wanted them to be - just push the knotted bit to the side to create a gap and add in the other colour. 

Do I have to even say it  - TA DAH !!!!! You are done! So easy and so very quick!!  

We added a pink wig with a black flower, a pair of cute stockings with pink bones and bows  on the back, a white T  and I made a winder out of card and a plastic tub! A bit of make up and my Little Wind up Doll was good to go ........She looked super cute!!!

 

Clever Me!

My Little Doll

....... to  a pre Halloween Trick or Treat at the fishing village's Aquarium Ushaka! They have a Halloween function ever year and we have been going for about 4 years now! There were giants, dancing zombies, scary stilt men and lots of frightening decorations - it was scary and fun to say the least!  Of course the highlight of this for little Madame is always the 'scary dolphin show'
  

Halloween Fun!

Today is actually Halloween, down South in deepest darkest, we are only just getting into Halloween, and tonight we are going trick or treating with friends around the streets! Little Madame is really excited, she has done this before but cannot remember it. I hope it is fun and scarrrryyyy for her! But not to scary, try explain things that go bump in the night to a 7 year old - All that remains for me to say is Happy Halloween Peeps and a great big Boooooo to yoooouu!! xxx 

PS:: Need to just add that it poured  - actually poured is a very poor description .....It bucketed down for while we were trick or treating at Ushaka  however it let up  just in time for the Dolphins show - we were soaked but it was fun..... Let hope for no rain tonight!!!

Hippy Chic.....

 

Little Madame is half way through this school year, as a matter of fact we are in the third school term already! Down South, little peeps start school later than little peeps elsewhere in the world, 7 years old being the average age! The thinking is that they are more emotionally equipped to handle the huge year that is Grade 1  It has been an epic year for us, I say US because I have also had to get use to not having her around, I home schooled Little Madame until 2 years ago...... and even then took her out of school when ever I wanted to! When ever I needed her!  But 'BIG " school is a different ball game! Little Madame LOVES school( Thank the good Lord above!) there have been no difficulties at all.

Now I must give credit where it is due...... The school we chose for her to attend is a well known school in the fishing village, an all girls school ( LSO insisted) very disciplined and although I hesitate to use the word...... Strict!  But it was exactly what we were looking for in a school! HOWEVER it is a nurturing and VERY family orientated school, with plenty of parent occasions! I am getting to the point....... Not only is it an epic year for Little Madame, it is also an epic year for the school - this year Fatima Dominican Convent School turns 60!  In the coming weeks there are all sorts of fun festivities lined up for the girls, both past and present!  A choir evening, a parade through the streets of our neighbourhood, a huge founders day, netball matches against past pupils and my favourite and the whole topic of today's post - A dress up Sixty's Day

Now for those of you that know me..... you will know that my eyes lit up with sheer joy and delight! There is nothing I LOVE more than a dress up day! SO little Madame and I had a chat about it and it was so very evident that our ideas were rather a long way from each other...... She was insisting it was neon and legwarmers and I was sure it was caftans and bell bottoms! So we turned to the trusty world wide web! The only thing I could think of to google was Woodstock, however all that "love and substance" might not be appropriate to show a 7 year old! Then it stuck me  - A movie I saw many years ago yet loved and still do HAIR! Little Madame sat enthralled as we watched  very grainy yet beautiful renditions of Good Morning Star Shine, Let The Sunshine In, I Got Life and the Iconic Aquarius!   

When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius, Aquarius

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the minds true liberation

Aquarius, Aquarius

When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius, Aquarius, Aquarius
Aquarius, Aquarius

Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sunshine in.....

What an amazing time in our history - and somehow really significant to the time we are in right now! Maybe we should all take up the MAKE LOVE NOT WAR motto again! Right, I am getting off my little soap box right now!

So an outfit was decided on (I had to veto the bikini top and bell bottoms - not sure it would have gone down well with the Nuns and Father Des) and I got to work...... I really wasn't sure I would be able to find fabric that reflected the sixty's but I did, I was really surprised!

I also was on the look out for a Peace sign, not knowing where was I going to find one but as I left the very first shop I had walked into , there it was a Peace sign (a very blingy peace sign, not sure Janis Joplin would have approved but I loved it!)
 

I was having a really great shopping day, a few bangles and a bag of feathers and I was ready to make a hippy out of Little Madame

I think it is important to have a go-to-pattern. A pattern that you can adapt  to make anything you want. I have found a MacCall's pattern that works for anything! This pattern has, a dress, pants and a peasant top! (M6613) So I used the peasant top and cut out wide bell sleeves, it was done in no time at all!

To this we added a pair of denim shorts with the US flag on them (a recent flea market purchase, a crochet bolero ( an crochet top of mine, which is long on Little Madame) Said peace sign, bangles, a flower wreath for her hair and boots!

Little Madame makes a very good hippy - all that flowing hair, and twirling(yes she still twirls everywhere) and looks really CUTE! I even taught her the Peace Sign, the hand one,  you know the one I mean, the one that when turned around means a whole different thing? Well I have had to correct her a few time and eventually had to explain to her it was rude to turn your hand around! Thankfully she was horrified so I don't have to worry about her saying "Peace Out Father Des" and using the wrong sign..... maybe that was not such a clever thing for me to do....... Oh Well, one can only hope! Peace out Beautiful Peeps...... xxx 

PS:: I had to add the collage, as I have just returned from dropping Little Madame off at school! Today I  wished I was back at school - in particular this school! ..... The Head Mistress and teachers were outside dressed up and wishing everyone Peace and Love, the Matric and Std ( girls were on all the street corners leading up to the school, dancing playing Tambourine's and singing, welcoming everyone at drop off, even the moms doing drop off got in on the action, what an amazing and special time for all the little girls! Happy Birthday Fatima!  

 

Frothy Skirts and Old Time Flirts....



Love stories are my best, call me a romantic or all those squishy names but I love nothing better than a good old love story.....I think all this romantic dreaming began with reading  too many Mills and Boons books as a teenager.. and has progressed from there, Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, The Notebook, August Rush, About Time are all movies that I watch over and over..... My favourite and ultimate love story must however be..... Romeo and Juliet! Yes!  I have waded my way through the book and I have see every version of this tragic yet beautiful love story... The Latest version with  Hailee Steinfeld, Douglas Booth is wonderful!

 

However in 1968, Franco Zeffirelli made the BEST version...starring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this beautiful film... it is time less, it is riveting and it is above all else how LOVE should be! 

 

Now before I lose you all in a flurry of tears (if you are a romantic like me...) or a flurry of yawns..... I was recently asked to make 6 flower girl skirts for a friends beautiful little girls, who were to be flowers girl at a family wedding, ever the romantic... I of course said yes. We duly went to buy fabric and I was told the bride would be joining us! Great, I would meet her and ask her about her romantic story, then be swept away in the romance of it all!  

  

Cutting and Making

 

Imagine my utter delight and surprise when a lovely older lady walked into the fabric shop and I was introduced to the bride! Maria is a beautiful and eloquent lady, she is 70 years old and is marrying my friends father- in-law,  they are getting married after being together for 10 years.... When I asked her why after all this time, she simply replied I LOVE HIM! Be still my beating heart! Who says romance is dead!

Circles..... And More Circles!

And so onto the making of the skirts, the wedding wasn't going to be a big and fussy affair, but a beautiful family filled day! Maria was including all her future husbands  grand daughters - 6 little angels ranging from 1 - 7, once again be still my beating heart....Can imagine 6 little angels all in frothy little white skirts!!!

So here is how I did it! I simply cut out circles.... loads and loads of circles...
Each skirt needs -
1 lining circle
1 tulle circle
1  top circle (the heart tulle)- - do you remember how to cut out circles??  - if not look HERE
1 waist band from Lycra ( measure the child's waist and take off 3cm to make it tight)
2 m of thick satin ribbon per child

1. Cut out and sew the 3 circles together
2. Sew the end together so you have a circle then double the Lycra and zigzag it closed
3. Place the Waist band on the outside of the skirt and pin it to the circles - Stretch the lycra as you go
4. Sew the waist band to the skirt - I over locked them together
5. Thread the ribbon through the waist band. I never made any fancy opening for the threading through, I just made a small slit in the back of the band.( Lycra doesn't fray so it works perfectly!)  I then sewed the ends of the ribbon - to stop the ribbon ends fraying.
6. Roll hem the bottom with gut to give it a bit of kick ( I used 100 meters of gut)

DONE!

Frothy, Frilly, Twirly Bouncy Skirts

The skirts are beautiful and they are frothy(which I think I have mentioned about 40 times) and twirly and bouncy and frilly and  so sweet! I have asked my friend to please send me a picture of all of these little girls in their frothy skirts! I wish I could be there to see them and their antics as they walk up the aisle..... Can you imagine .... 

Waiting For Pick Up

 

Now please bear with me as I tell you another love sorry - it is a story of love that started in the trenches of  El Alamein in Egypt and lasted 55 years.....

 

My Grandfather Harry fought in World War 2, he meet a man named Jack Shultz who was fighting along side him, Jack saw my Aunt Edith's(Harry's sister) picture and asked if he could write to her.... They corresponded for 3 years while the war raged on, Jack and Harry were transferred to Italy and then France and still the letters flew back and forth! The Allies won and the war was over... Jack arrived back in Johannesburg, it was a Tuesday, he met Edith on the Wednesday, he asked her to marry him on the Thursday, they were married in court on the Friday.... They lived happily together for 55 years, spending a mere 6 days apart in all that time!  Uncle Jackie passed away having loved and cherished my beautiful Aunty Eddie for all that time...She was heart broken and passed away a few years later always maintain that he was the best thing that ever happen to her! She called him the LOVE of her life.....

 

You couldn't make up a love story like that  - now could you? xxx 

 

Jack and Edith Schultz

  

Dazzling Dancing Dresses

 

MaNy, many years ago I did Ballroom and Latin American Dancing.... MaNy, many years ago! I loved dancing and it was a passion that took me to place I never dreamt I would go. I saw my dancing hero's performing  live when we competed in the World Ballroom Dancing Championships  in Tokyo, Japan and  wept as the 'god' of ballroom dancing, Bill Irwin announced "Let battle begin..."  a bit dramatic I know, but he said it every year as the annual Blackpool Championships began - it was what every competitor waited to hear!

 

Sadly life moves on, I had my !5 minutes.... and one simply cannot dance forever.... I lost contact with the dancing world when I had my Little Madame, and a few years have passed by since I had seen or heard anything from the dancing world...... Yes.... Yes .... I am getting to the point!

 

A few weeks ago I bumped into a very old friend(Sorry Les, I don't mean old, old, just long time old... digging a deep grave here!) We chatted and she asked me if I was still making dancing costumes - "No Time" , I said, I was really busy - I said .... cooking, baking, crocheting, wifeing, and mothering! But my friend Les is persistent, very persistent, she needed dresses and so for the last few weeks I have been up to my eyeballs in leotards, sequins, fringing, rhinestones, frills and lots and lots of organza!!! And Boy-Oh-Boy am I enjoying myself!   

 

So here are the three B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L Dazzling Dance Dresses I have made for my dear friend AND might I add.... World Line Dance Champion!!! 

  

The first dress was supposed to just be a 'trail-run' dress but it turned out so well that she wore it at the very next competition. It is a Waltz dress, It took 15 meters of organza and literally thousands of rhinestones! She brought me little lace flowers and I stoned them... now stoning is a very time consuming thing, its not quick and you have to build up a kind of rhythm, you need a pointed object, a bottle of gloopy glue and patience. You dip the end of said pointy object in to the glue, a minute amount is needed and then you touch the tip to a  stone pick it up and place it onto the spot where you want it( that spot has been dotted with glue already) It is a frustrating job, if you don't get it just right you drop the stones, or it gets stuck and you end up with gloopy glue all over the place!  

 

 

A Fairy Dance Dress

Lacey Flowers

Shoulder Flowers

The Back

The Front and A Neck Piece

This dress is beautiful, almost magical( Actually all it needs is a pair of Fairy wings) and if you vaguely can hear the beautiful 1...2...3 beat... of waltz music in your head you will be able to picture the dress floating and twirling  beautifully, it also sparkles as the skirt fabric has a beautiful shimmer to it, it is as though a fairy landed on it and  sprinkled magical fairy dust all over it!

The Making

 Dress number two , is sexy and when it is on it looks like she is half naked!  A flesh coloured leotard was the base and then I literally draped the acid green  fabric around until it sort of fell perfectly into place, pinned it, and then sewed it onto the leotard!(Hope no one looks inside this costume... eeekkk)

The Front

 
The skirt is a circle and a half as this gives it really nice movement! Once again, lots and lots and LOTS of stones just scattered all over the bodice and heavily over the bust area and -WOW!!! it looks fabulloouuss!

The Back

 

 Dress number three just happens to be my Favourite! It is a sassy, cheeky dress and is being used for a jive number! The very apt music to which this dance is being performed is 'Proud Mary' -It is the perfect music! She decided to go with fringing which moves really well, and although this might look  like it was easy it is really very difficult to work with, it simply has a life all of its own.... 

 

 

Different Idea's

Beautiful Colours

 

 The colour are amazing and these picture do it no justice what so ever...... A very bright pink and orange and an acid yellow, now if you look at the picture above, you will see that this dress didn't just happen, I pinned, repined and started to pin all over again! The mix of colours although gorgeous, just wouldn't fit, until ...  yes, you guessed it, a midnight epiphany!.... I sewed them on top of one another so when she is standing still it looks like a plain pink fringe dress BUT when she moves .... a riot of pink, orange and yellow!

 

Fringing and Bling Bling

 I used  big stoned motives on the bodice to give the dress more texture! Then lines of stones for bling and shimmer! It weighs a ton, fringing is very heavy..... BUT It is such fun and looks really sexy on Les! (My two dress makers dummy's Dolores and Mavis - do it no justice what so ever!) 




Looks So Good

 

The Back

 

The Front

So this is what has  taken up all of my time over the last few weeks..... And what is more I have loved every single minute and am so thankful to my dear friend, she has brought dancing back into my life after a long time, so my lesson here is it is never too late to do or go back to doing what you really love! I am looking forward to many more Dazzling dancing Dresses.......But in the mean time ...... Back to that crocheted blanket that has been so very neglected ......... xxx

PS:: Just heard that Les won the South African Championships this past weekend - those dresses must have helped! Well Done my friend!!!!! 

Hippity Hoppity Easter Boppity!

 

It seems like only a few days ago when I was waxing lyrically about my love of all-things-EASTER, simply because of all the scrummy yummy chocolate that Easter involves! It was with this thought in mind that I realised that I have been blogging for over a year! It seems like  yesterday that I posted EASTER PARADE  WOW! How time flies..... and what fun I have had rambling on about my crafty/cooking/home life here on the Estate! So It only follows that before I start to ramble once again I need to say, thank you my beautiful peeps, that you all keep coming back to read my blog!

 

So Easter is once again upon us and to be perfectly honest with you this year I was not so very enthusiastic about it..... As I mentioned I have been poorly and even managed to have a little stint in hospital. Now honestly you all know me by now and Oh-The-HORROR of me not being excited about Easter, and all the yummy brown stuff,tell you what sort of mood I am in ....  But as the days  marched on toward Easter, the joy that is my Little Madame, was getting more and more excited and when she asked what we were doing for her friends this year I knew it was time to get my voluptuous rear end in gear and start to plan....

 

So what to do?? I remembered that a few weeks back I had pinned a few gorgeous ideas onto a Easter board on Pintest, so I popped on and checked it out and was immediately  a little more enthusiastic.... Sweet little RAG BUNNY's for all the little girls(I must admit that I am a bit relieved that there are no boys in her class this year - unisex gift were difficult!) I also saw a gorgeous ideas for bunny tails, but more on that later.......

 

So I printed out a template for the bunny and set to work, there was absolutely  no rocket science involved is these little creatures and hardly any work as you simply have to cut them out, sew them up , stuff them(I enlisted the help of Little Madame and my Mother here) and they were done in no time at all! Honestly, it was an afternoon's work!

 

 

Cut,Sew,Stuff,Ribbons and Tails

 

A Bag Full Of Stuffed Bunny's

The next day over a coffee and some biscuits, I tied little bows around their necks and gloppy glued on some pompoms as tails and they were done and they are soooooo sweet! I want to keep them all - I told you I have parting-with -things issues!

 

 Easter Bunny's and Easter Cookies - Perfect!

Sweet Little Bunny's

 

Little Madame's Favourite Bunny's

 

Can I Keep Them?

And soooo ....  Onto those tails I mentioned! Pintest has some VERY clever ideas, this was one that I just could not resist - and so very easy... and no work at all.... 2 marshmallows in a packet(not in your mouth - as I was doing) and a simple sticker(well, simple if you have an extremely clever friend like my Kerry) that says BUNNY TAILS! How simple and how very clever! 30 bunny tail packets in 30 minutes - OK so now I was starting to feel Eastery!



Every Easter, I buy Little Madame these gorgeous little fluffy chickens! I love love love them, I love the beautiful colours and their soft fluffy little bodies! She loves them too and carries them around in a basket until they are bedraggled and nothing more than a bit of raggedy fluff! They really are so sweet though - don't you think?

Fluffy Chick and Yummy Eggs

The New Easter Basket

Sweet Little Chicks in Sweet Little Hands



My Easter Bunny - See The Tail!

This is how I found Little Madame watching TV a few nights ago, I could not resist whipping out my camera and snapping a picture! She has been pretending to be a bunny for weeks now, and I am once again reminded of the joy of being a child and remembering to see things through her beautiful joyful eyes, and as I do , I realise that you will always be joyful if you can just find the child in you xxx

 

 

PS:: Think I might even try my hand at Hot Cross Buns this year

PSS:: See her bunny tail?