Spectrum Cake!

Via Colourlovers - a most inspirational site.
We have a boy with a birthday this week, but I'm not sure that I can pull this off, I'm too lazy!

This is what's become of me

To put it into perspective, here's what I'm currently using for crochet cotton, it's top stitching thread. When I realised that I was literally crocheting with thread, I took a good hard look at myself and said 'Really? Are you insane Emma?'

And the answer is yes, I have gone a bit mad with this pair of shoes. I ran out of red, and the new ball didn't match in colour or sheen, so I decided to add some pink. Meanwhile the available pink in crochet cotton was insipid, so I roamed through Spotlight and found a similar weight, and a more robust colour. That's my explanation and I'm sticking with it.

Luckily I reduced the number of flowers that I need, they really have been holding me up, as I have to attach them to the upper before I can last them. Below is a practice shot from yesterday, but it turned out that I didn't make the pattern big enough, so I had to bloody well undo all the rivets and make more uppers. Sheesh! These flowers have been a bit manhandled, I hope that they hold up and look fresh at the end.


Listening to: Daft Punk - Voyager
From the animated Daft Punk film 'Interstellar'. A gorgeous piece of work.

The Show

We went to the Royal Melbourne Show on Tuesday, prams loaded with kids and self-catering. Spent 6 hours there, how did that happen? Did our usual favourites, missed a few old haunts, tried a few new things.

First showbags, before the hall gets full of horrid teenagers, then, how fortuitous, we were right by the Arts and Crafts. The kids quite enjoy the cake decorating, 'look a SpongeBob cake!', but us ladies are usually checking out the baked goods, and the textiles bits, of course. I wonder with all the cakes, scones, biscuits that are on display, are they going to get mouldy by the end of the show?

Checked out the crochet, maybe one of these days I'll enter something. Gorgeous lacy work, and amazing lacy hand knitting, those knitters deserve serious praise. Embroidery was a bit needlepointy for me, but there was some good blackwork. I was very impressed to see some tatting, if I ever get some spare time I'd like to learn how, I have a few shuttles of my Grandma's that I could put to good use.



Wandered through the cattle pavilion, geez there are some big bulls, we were marvelling at their impressive size but yet they are so easily handled by seemingly miniature people. Lots of poo to dodge.

Next was the Horse Pavilion, what a complete universe horsey land is. Saw so many girls sporting snug jodphurs and smart boots with knee-high gaiters, and their special riding jackets, shirts, ties, tie pins, oh it was a sartorial feast for the eye. I felt rather intimidated by the horses, so tall, somewhat flighty, we gave those walking through the aisles a wide berth, definitely scared of being struck with a hefty hoofed kick.



The youngsters braved a few parent-approved rides, the animal nursery was visited, but my boy really doesn't like to pat creatures. He thinks it's icky, and loathes the weird evaporating hand cleanser even more. Our compadre Chas is a real chicken wrangler, or chookens as he calls them, he really had the knack of scooping them up to hold, he was even offering them to other kids who were sans chookens. So thoughtful!

Woodchop is compulsory for us, and this year was the best session ever. We found a stand out the back, parked the perambulators, ate our snacks, thermos of tea, strawberry anyone? Got to see all manner of woodchop styles, the last one and most favourite being the tree climb, where they chop little slots to wedge their springboards in, leap up to the next level, repeat, hack at the top on one side, jump to the bottom, repeat again on the other side of the trunk until the entire top has been satisfyingly lopped off.


I admire their various techniques; some guys have a short backswing which means that they can get a lot more strokes in, some are small, lean muscled chaps, others are big, burly, hairy men. It would seem that the Dunlop Volley is the footwear of choice for the axeman, and white pants with a chesty Bonds. I was worried for their eye protection, there were chips of wood flying all over the place - OH&S anyone?

Finally the Giant Food Tent; soft nougat check, strawberry and marshmallow kebab check, jam donuts check. And yes I did see Chris from Masterchef at his Beer Mason's stall, posing graciously for endless photos with members of the public.


After that my sugar rush rendered me a little comatose, so we said farewell to the show for another year, and took the grubby children home on the train, where the small man emptied the contents of his Buzz Lightyear showbag all over the floor, and fired rockets at the cat. I slept well that night!

Signore Valentino Garavani

Took my Mondayitis cheap skate self off to the Nova Cinema to see Valentino, what a treat! I needed some inspiration, but I got a whole lot more, including many laughs - who knew haute couture was so funny?

Loved loved loved seeing him in action, draping fabric to show his seamstresses how it all should go, can someone explain to me when the pattern gets made in draping? Do you drape, then cut, then fit, then adjust, then make the pattern? It makes a lot of sense to me that you would first put the fabric onto the form, instead of starting with paper and then seeing what it would look like on the body.

While watching the seamstresses working in their studio, I looked all over the room and guess what - NOT A SINGLE SEWING MACHINE. Everything done by hand, everything! Valentino's partner Giancarlo Giametti mentioned that once they did buy a sewing machine, when there were over 100 seamstresses there, but nobody ever used it, so they sold it. Fair enough.

Sure there is a lot of pomp in the world of Valentino, but I think he's entitled. He's on his way to 80 years of age, and as someone mentioned in the film, the techniques he is using were learned in the 1950s, from people who had learned them in the 1920s, and that is a huge skill-set that is difficult to find these days.

Sad to see his company bought out by the big business folk, and then for him to retire and be replaced by young whipper snappers, who must be quaking in their boots at the enormity of the legacy they are now representing. Wonderful, however, to see the working relationship between Valentino and Giancarlo, bickering, affectionate, patient, these men have been together almost everyday for 45 years.

'An evening gown which shows a woman's ankles as she walks, is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen'. Gold!

Today I didn't really want to stand at my sanding machine for ages, shaping the wedges for my sci-fi boots, sniffing toxic glue, oh that's right, I need to AVOID sniffing the glue.

But the lad is at kinder, and I have to make use of this time etc etc. Turns out that I have done this procedure so many times that it's not such hard work, but still, the machine is a beast and I really just wanted to sit down, eat toast and crochet these beauties.



Here it is, crochet cotton, it's teeny tiny, probably the equivalent of upholstery thread. I tried a few different weights of thread, but the thicker ones seemed a bit clumsy. I like the lacy quality of this light thread, it's rather delicate and frothy. However it is sending me blind!


I think that I have decided to load the uppers with flowers, I was planning a more sparse look, but I fancy a bit of overkill. This means that I have 8 flowers to go! Just as well I have the box set of The Mighty Boosh to keep me going......


Listening to: Sly and the Family Stone - Sing a Simple Song

My concentrating face

Sam made me a fabulous new table, gargantuan in fact. It's on castors so I can move it around, I can roll out huge hides, work on multiple patterns at once, Leo even plays underneath! I am a little awed by its size, but it really is perfect for having a few projects on the go at one time.


Sync's sketches on pearl kid leather, laid over blue patent. Tall sci-fi boots.




And another video for your entertainment. Stitching the pieces onto the patent. This was so much fun; random, asymmetrical, unplanned, totally opposite to the way in which I normally work.

I love my sewing machine, we have been buddies for over 10 years now. It feels so satisfying to stitch through leather, there's a finality to it, a particular sound as the chisel tip pierces the hide, and if you get it wrong then you have to cut a new piece - those holes aren't going away.

It's a bit confronting to see the face I make when concentrating on my sewing, I can credit my Dad for that hard-working chin!


Listening to : Blackalicious - Aural Pleasure