It just keeps getting cosier and cosier

Seeing as, as children and teenagers we spend most of our time in our bedrooms, it came to me as no surprise that what I was lacking in my life was a cosy bedroom to somehow compensate for the one I had 'built' and added on to at my parents'. I never appreciated the addition of two pieces of furniture as much as I enjoyed welcoming these two bedroom pieces. How could I have neglected this area in the house for so long..? I was missing having drawers on top of each other and a dramatic wardrobe. My life is not complete but it sure feels warmer in there. There's a long way to go.. but the room is taking shape and it's a good place to retire to for some hand sewing chores at the end of the day when it gets too cold elsewhere. Here's the display on the chest of drawers; the mantlepiece in the kitchen is now partially relieved and all the items I've collected over the years have now found their true home.









In the chest of drawers I found old newspaper sheets: 'Lehen is-Sewwa' and 'The Torch' (The General Workers Union Weekly) from 1952 and 1958 respectively. I also found a black chess piece and a small plaster sheep from an old crib. You can probably tell they made my day.






Nannas know best! This weekend I was given a lesson in old skool posing for photos whilst munching on king prawns. Something tells me weekends hardly ever get better than this x

a lesson learnt ...

It's a sad day for Babettopolis!

I wanted to treat myself to a new head of sky blue hair - I was under the impression the sky's the limit (excuse the half-hearted pun!) in hairdressing!

I was encouraged to try a test strand instead.. fair enough.
I was also informed that light blue is absolutely out of the question for my hair type.

So I opted for grey .. why not?! I love the colour on everything else..

Unsurprisingly, the bleaching process stopped at canary yellow when it should have made it to dirty platinum.. so the grey dye turned out looking BLACK! I turned full circle .. I have a full head of same old same old BLACK hair with an (as yet) camouflage 'charcoal black' strand that'll turn a dirty army green as the dye washes out.

*I has a sad and I must excuse myself for promising my immediate relatives and friends that I'll have something special for them next time we met.
I must also start looking into non synthetic wig options :/ .. or a life.

All curtained up...

I am not a staunch believer in letting things brew.. I love quick fixes even though my craft teaches me otherwise on a daily basis.

Following are photos of my sewing cave! It took me ages to upholster this tiny nook, from finding the appropriate material to sitting down at my table and cutting every piece to size. And despite my general outlook as expressed in the opening statement, once finished, these curtains and covers and cushions and pelmets sat in their bag for months on end. Only yesterday I decided to get it all done in one fell swoop.. I wanted to start the second week of the year in style!





I now have a comfy place to wind down.. theoretically. By the end of the week the bed will be suffering (once more) under piles upon piles of textile and paper bags full of more textile.





Can't help feeling happy with the place so long as Gustav's happy with it too!



This is the material I want more of.. 1/2 a metre just ain't gonna cut it (excuse the pun) to cover the sofa and armchair :/



And to end. Here's a green hat I just finished for the 'Hey Birdie-pie!' stall.. I was temporarily donated a green hat with dead netting and a limp velvet bow at the back so as to work some magic back into it. I love the colour especially, however it's the shape that inspired this up-do.. an unusual shape that sort of mimicks a jockey's cap and makes it possible for one to wear it in several ways. It must be tried on and played about with.. so keep your eyes peeled for details about Birdie's next event!

*CHEERS!!*

This post is not about resolutions.. instead here's a tableau of favourite things that have seen Babettopolis through the past year..

I hate how time rolls on without bothering to check in on one who has goals they haven't reached by the end of the year..

And so I'll postpone most and discard others!

I'm glad things turned out the way they did for Babettopolis.. I just hope there's enough in it/me to keep both going for years to come..

Roll on 2012 .. I'll cram the life out of you oh-dreaded-year-to-come!

x

*don't forget to place your orders for anything handmade, one-off and made-to-measure early this year to avoid having to listen to my disappointed voice over the phone*

'Tis that season*

I must warn upfront.. we're the kind of people who only recieve/display one or two christmas cards and pass them for decoration. I come from a family with average christmas spirit and tasteful christmas decor but it never really caught on with me; and now that I moved house I still do not feel the need to decorate.

(below: two nice cards from friends .. we do not need more.. having just two a year has become a feature in itself)



however, despite my palpable lack of seasonal spirit, my nanna took pity on our empty house and passed on to me some pretty old paper decorations and for these I made an exception. I just taped them to my bookcases in the hope that they'll make it back down, at least, before my birthday in March.



My friend Alex who knows I'm of the FOWERZ>COCOLATE disposition brought me some fresh flowers some two days ago.. they're holding up and that's a good thing since I think they compensate for the lack of 'all the rest' .. including some LED lights for which I bought no batteries.



I focus on decorating vintage shoes and hats instead.. I find it's way more spiritually and aesthetically rewarding.

(below: a pair of beautifully cut black leather shoes to which I added a pearly bow-affair in taupe felt
and even below that: a grey felt hat which I changed from a porkpie crown with a sad leather band that had seen better days to a cloche shape with a black feather and pearl band. This hat was picked up from a vintage/charity store by the lady-with-a-discerning-eye behind 'Hey Birdie-pie!' and she'll have it displayed at her next stall/event)

Otherwise Entangled ...

I am here to proclaim my love for Sailor Knots.. and to promise more of the same.

This is a knotted affair from a year ago or so..



and this is another knotted commissioned piece I've just finished and can't stop looking at as it hangs up to dry..



I'm taking orders for Christmas gifts or anything else really but I'm warning you in Maltese ... qed nhoss ir-rih tal-bidla xx

Shoe WIN

My fetish with perfectly fitting shoes started early.

I always preferred Cinderella's working pair of black flats over the revealing and demanding glass pair.. so simple and obliging were those painted-on flats.

They completed her figure's perfect lines.. they waited obediently by her bedside.. they made it to my top ten childhood memories just by being flat, sculptural and plain but so damn perfect in fit.

This simple moving image/symbol is pure fetishisation .. my experience with the well fitting, understated-in-line shoe has bore this influence eversince.

I dream of seamless structures and weightless frames now. I choose to believe it has done me a world of good.



I suggest you immediately skip to 3:07 till 3:16 if you hate fan over-dubs as much as I do and would like to check what I've been going on about for yourself.

This ere link!

Below is my sorry excuse for the perfect flat black pair.

The creases in my tights ruin the look, the leather of the shoe does not mould itself around my foot when I descend the stairs, I sometimes leave them behind me when I'm running to catch the bus and they sometimes chafe at the back of the heel as well.

It's one of life's great disappointments.