competition over

today was the day of Project Funway so at  nine am we made our way to our local Fashion Island for the catwalk show and to find out who were the winners.

 My youngest made this cute little outfit, she did such a good job of design and construction and got a third place in the primary school section.

My beautiful big girl designed and made this beautiful dress, 16th century design puffy sleeves and a gorgeous rose in her hair.  Unfairly, I think, she didn't win anything. 

  and I made a inky fluffy jacket and a pink/red hearts circus frock.  The letters on the front spell LOVE.  I came second, hooray, so I was pleased, I will not be entering next year.

I took a few photos of other designs I liked, but there were so many clever people who had designed amazing outfits.

 My lovely friend made this gorgeous outfit in about two days having not read the instructions and thinking she had lots more time.

(above) This lovely girl was modeling for her mother.  It was such a cool outfit, influence Tim Burton/Rocky Horror and others. 

 this was the winner, it was beautiful and dreamy.

 she won the secondary section, very nice roses, I like.

this was in the secondary school section too, no prize, but I loved her layers and sweets and I thought she should have a prize.  The photo looks like she has horns, I think it is a sky-light.

So all in all it was a good morning.

funway

Tomorow in our town we have a Project Funway, we get a white king size sheet and two weeks to make an out-fit. No other materials are allowed except sewing thread and fixings etc.  So I have been busy dyeing, cutting, stencilling, sewing and so on and finished early evening today.  Here are some pictures of things I have done to my sheet.

 dyed and textured

 stencilled

tie-dyed

enlarging letters to make stencils.

Will Post about finished outfit tommorow with more photos.  Off to bed now.

My girls have also made outfits which are so cool, they have done fine jobs. 

natural history

I went to the library and I got this beautiful book out.  I do love a good book on natural history illustrations.  Birds and plants and animals, these pictures are beautiful.  Front cover below.

 I like the shape this snake has been put into to draw.  I think a lot of the animals were dead, or sometimes made up from descriptions the artists had from other people.  Amazing it must have been to be an artist on one of the early expeditions, drawing creatures that had never been seen before by the folks back home.

 I love flamingoes, and this painting is so lovely, I have found it hard to find decent pictures of them on the net and even in the library, so was pleased to come across this one.  If anyone has some nice pics I would be pleased to get a link.

 Cynotopes.  We have some of this paper in our craft cupboard.. It is great stuff, you find something of an interesting shape, place it on the paper, stick it in the sun for a bit and then put it in water to set and dry it.  Probably wasn't as easy in the old days, and I have never produced anything like this, but it is fun.

paintings from microscopic images.  

horsing around 10 minute sketch no 10

Today I went to some beautiful country mountain area and forget to take my camera, all I had was my cell-phone camera.  I have done my best to turn the photos into artistic shots with a bit of tweaking.  

My daughters friend had organised a horse-riding day at her place and so off we went, and the kids had a fab time.  It was to be said "fresh" out on that field for three and a half hours, but there was hot tea and snacks and  I can't really complain.  And I spent time with a rather sweet horse. 

 And I attempted to draw some horses.  I did my best, but I have never drawn a horse before and they did keep moving.  excuses me?  So I drew a few one or two minute sketches really.

hmm

art of modern rock

 Art of Modern Rock, The poster explosion, Paul Grushkin & Dennis King.  I was looking for some inspiration so I went to the Library.  And  came across this book.  JUst what I wanted really.  The local library usually comes up with something and I usually start looking in the 'recently returns' section both for novels and for nice picture books.  It's quite interesting to see what people are into at the present time.  Always knitting and crochet and beading and other handicrafts.  Maybe because this is the area I am looking in, Hmm. 

 This is a book about posters advertising rock bands.  White Stripes, Foo Fighters, P J Harvey, Ramones and even Siouxsie & the Banshies (My that takes me back)

Larry E Klump

 I like the old fashion nature of this poster

Tom Bagley

LIke the card reference and cowboys, mexican, makes me think of tequilla and chilli sauce.

yeehaw indusries, Hand-cranked letterpress

I like the fonts in this one and the faded colours 

Drowning Creek Studio
roses

Tara McPherson

 I really like this ladies work, the style is very different, a less male point of view maybe 

Heads of state

And I really like this because it has a childrens book style illustration in it but used in a more sinister fashion 

Andrew Vastagh

as with this one

And there are so many amazing posters in this book that it made me wish I was a little younger and in a cool rock band so I could have a poster of my own.  And I found it quite useful for ideas, although this level of design is completely over and above me.  

more cherry blossom

 Last night in town we had the Mask Parade ( all the primary school kids make masks on a certain theme and parade the streets) very cool, I forgot my camera so had to use my cell-phone, which is not great.  this is child no.2 in her fishy mask.  it was a pacific theme.

And then this morning I went for a run in the hills and came accross a lovely white blossom tree  (possibly apple), again with the cell-phone.  I love this time of year with flowers and blossom and wonderful flowery smells, it makes coming out of winter worth while.

cherry blossom 10 minute sketch

 This little blossom tree sits in a rather untidy corner ( there a few of these) of my garden.  For quite a lot of the year it is quite a nice shape but in the way a little bit.  And then for about two weeks in spring it does this lovely flowery blossomy thing and it is just so pretty.

as a un-related footnote my printer is driving me crazy.  I have tried to print something out five times, it says it is off line, with some cord wiggling it will then print out half the picture or a message saying "ERROR, OFFENDING COMMAND"  I wasn't being offensive to start off with, but did feel like utering some offensive commands by the end of it all.  

pretty dresses

Below are some pretty dresses that I would like, and have collected incase I ever get around to making them for myself.  Busy with making my Project Funway outfit at the moment, trying to get it finished before the school holidays.  In my usual way I have decided to do something time consuming and  fiddly, I just can't help myself, I probably won't wear it either because it's made out of a sheet.  Those sheets are bullet proof and I'm glad we bought more pins as they are bending a lot trying to get them through the material.

I like the lace top on this one I found on Rag Pony.  She has been checking out the shows

 I have bought myself a few x-tra large mens shirts to re-purpose into some of these type of dresses.  I am unfortunately a little older than this model and will need to cover up a bit more leg than her, well I ought to anyway.  This one is by goldie london.  They are around a lot this summer.

I liked the patterns on this pretty checked frock

 mellow mayoness is gorgeous and girly and I loved this dress and its  sunset trees.  

project funway

Pins at the ready, it's time for project funway again.  Our local Fashion Island shopping mall is having a competition to make an outfit out of a king size sheet.  Myself and my two daughters are all entering this year, so it will be elbows at dawn ( or maybe a bit later) in a fight for the scissors, dye-pots and sewing machine.

 I spent too many hours in the garage making stands for the dummies.  I managed to saw and drill holes in my left hand and eventually had to rope in my husband to help.   At least one of those dummies looks a little uncomfortable on its new perch.  It was a rather intimate and surgical procedure to get those poles in the right place I can tell you.

 one of said sheets before the iron had got to it.

 Child number 2, first to make it to the machine.

 choosing dyes is always tricky but the dying process is good fun, although it doesn't do the wooden spoons much good.

 This is a pattern I designed for last years entry.  I can't find a photo of the dress I made but it was a tea dress with frills and a little blue jacket.  You may be able to find it on this link of last years entries to the competition.  seventeen down, second column, there are about three photos, the next entrant after me is my daughter.  Very cool design.

this is where I got the inspiration for the above design, its an old spanish embroidery.  Lovely!

Have been enjoying the design process, checking out the internet for inspiration.  I have firm ideas about what I will make and patterns are drawn and ready, but my surface design and colour ideas keep on changing.  I am a bit blank on that still.  Will post on this later and  post photos of the finished products and hopefully get some photos of the fashion show.  Terrifying stuff to walk down a runway infront of people.  My legs nearly gave way through nerves last year.