Christmas came early ...

Yes it did. And it did with the surprise visit of gift-laden parents. Now resigned to the idea that they must bring their own wine with them cos we always run out, they still visit often and bring with them bagfuls of stuff which reaches me, via their house, from neighbours, acquaintances and relatives alike (see teh jewellery below). I have a feeling that after today it's going to be a bit tricky for me to complain about anything. Following are four indian gowns with matching pants and scarves which I got as a combined christmas/birthday gift. All I need now is an excuse to wear all of the stuff on top of each other .. the material so special, the cuts so flattering. I am in love and risking overkill!












Dilemma: what to keep in its entirety and what to pull apart and up-do. A little voice in my head tells me there's no way further up for these lovely things.

Anticipation and a dose of satisfaction

What bliss it is to be able to take some hand-sewing tasks to the sofa at 9pm, make tea and make the best of someone else's lp player to listen to an ever-increasing record collection which you had no time (or speakers) for before. It's restful to not have to look at your laptop everytime you wish to listen to something else.. with a record player you usually opt to stay put and listen through the whole thing.

It's also nice to find time for old projects, more precisely, old unfinished projects which have stood the test of time. To be even more precise, pieces of embroidery started some four years ago and abandonned for other pressing projects. This coat was one of the first things I had sewn, in fact it's a relatively shoddy affair. I had drafted out its pattern after attending a pattern class and I remember taking it to the teacher to inspect and getting a 'what were you thinking, dear?' look. Very few got it and even less emphatized with my Nordic priest look. It is now finished, just yesterday I decided to sit down and not let go of it until I did .. whilst listening to a mix of Brahms, My Fair Lady and Joanna Newsom.





What anticipation for the next Patches on the 27th! click on the link to view all the participants' profiles (mine included of course) .. this should be a good one.. and this time round I mustn't forget to put on cosy thermal socks! I'm expecting soup and tea and lots of familiar faces.

Horror.. The End

May I just say how very excited I am about this mural.. can't wait till it is up on its intended wall. Every little tile is now fired and glazed and packed in colour coded boxes, so really, I just want to gaze at it in place cos it's been floating about in my head too long.

And below are three items I've recently finished on the predominant theme for the week. I do not want to let go of this HORROR phase but time dictates as much. I just happen to be a bit less looking forward to christmas, you see.. for no reason in particular.. I'm just not very fond of the iconography of the feast. In any case here's an evoll cat broch incorporating a laminated illustration from an old Peter and Jane book.



Here's a return of the skull... a pelvis skull to be exact; hand made and hand painted with love. Can't really get enough of these skulls. In fact I shall be making more. Many have expressed their inability to understand such a piece and find it hard to imagine wearing them, so I feel obliged to explain the mock (just because we live in this age) talismanic charm and the encapsulation of stories in said items. Please come round to my Babettopolis stall at Patches on the 27th for more rambling along the same theme.. and hopefully some festive cheer (I promise I'm going to try!)



Here's a befringed neckpiece. As I've explained elsewhere, this is a salvaged piece, the other components of which had rusted to a point of imminent collapse. So we replaced the essential parts with cord and added some beading details to dress it up a bit. I need to get my head round creating more since it's really tough for me to switch from full-on sewing to full-on crafting. I'm just going to keep in mind that a half-empty stall looks pathetic!



And here's me, with friends, preparing for a satanic ritual. This will be my last Halloween related post (promise!)


photo by glen galea

The aftermath .. lost and found!

With the halloween party over and the floors scrubbed, I find myself sitting down missing the bin-liner decor and the 'having something to organize' feeling. I especially miss the paper bats. The photo above is testament to how ideal my hair is for halloween, or is it the other way round?! It just acts all scary, throughout the year and no hiding under hats will fix its temperamental nature. Must do something about making halloween an all-year-round look.

A party over, a friend gained.. by Gustav that is. (see below)



Cheeky spiders.



But clearing up yields treasures that help one move on.. here's a 100 or so old travel postcards, most of which written in swirly fountain-pen ink by my Nannu (below.. in the snow) for my Nanna in Malta. I especially like the totally pointless one depicting an empty bus station in Tangiers.






.. and here's a dubious Smirnoff coaster. Think before you drink and think before you send an advertising campaign to print.

I can feel it in the air ... *evil grin

roll on tomorrow! this decoration business is fun.. pity I have to do it alone..

Muhahahaha!

The bats are up, the pumpkin bought (and we made sure we selected the prettiest of the lot from the farmers' market) and the coloured lights rewired and in place (we earthed the copper lamps, even though the feast calls for it, we didn't want burnt flesh on our hands, we hope you understand!)

To Do List:
clear all surfaces of precious mementos and ceramic objects
cover in black bin liners
clear the sewing station :.(
double check on the dry ice
establish lp/laptop/soundsystem station
buy mozzarella balls for the eyes
make some tea and think black thoughts.. then proceed to desecrate the plump pumpkin!

see you in three days brethren

Item the 5th..SPCA*PATCHES

So here it is at last.. the 5th item in the series.. a comfy dogtooth cushion cover in mustard and purple with vintage braid trimming and felt silhouettes of DOGGIES!

Just so that you know.. It comes with handmade cushion stuffing stuffed by yours truly with foam scraps from cushions that had seen better days. Did someone say 'recycle'?

.. oh and there's so much left of the material.. I think I'll be making a cape!






And if you need anymore reminding.. please tune into our facebook pages, blogs and tumblrs for mre info about this initiative.

Sarah Micallef: blog and facebook page

Denise Scicluna: blog and facebook page

Carla Said: tumblr

and myself : blog and facebook page

Woof!