Here's to Smiling

Mum left on Wednesday morning, its just me and Ellie cat again, and I spent the best part of Wednesday in Hospital getting another Hip injection.  Unfortunately the blissful haze of the elephantine dose of sedatives I needed has worn off - I'm very stiff, I'm sore and I'm getting hot flushes (a charming side effect) so this will be an entirely selfish post I'm afraid, designed specifically to make me smile.  I'll post all about what mum and I got up to in the cupboard very soon, when I'm less likely to blub like a toddler for its mummy... 



Why?  Reason 1 - its Ewen McGregor.  Singing.  And Dancing.  (Do I really need any more reasons?)  Reason 2 - Love Rene's fabulous dress.  Reason 3 - I love the song, especially the lyrics.   Reason 4 - I love this film and I get the impression I'm in a very, very small number of people in that...  Its basically a lovely litttle romp based on all the Doris Day / Rock Hudson / Tony Randell films of the early 60's, which I absolutely adore.  Its pharsical, its cheesy, its sweet and saucy, the costumes are awesome, stylistically is bright and retro and fun, and its just full of lots of little scenes that a Doris Day nerd like me will recognise from her pictures.  Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit it, I love Doris Day.  A remarkable woman. 

One for my dressmaking readers and fellow vintage fans - I love these books.  Clearly the 1949 Housewife was WAY more D.I.Y. savvy than the likes of me!  And the sew and save, I've gotta quote my favourite bit, from the Hats section..

 "A hat should give you a feeling of well-being.  You should feel prettier with your hat on than with it off, so when you go to choose one give yourself plenty of time, and make up your mind to enjoy it."
"Very high crowns on tall, thin women look ridiculous."
"Short, plump women should never wear large brims.  They look like mushrooms in them."

Why did people stop wearing hats?  I had to stop, I moved to the windiest place in the UK...  but I love Hats.  (both books are available at a reasonable price at Amazon, and I'd thoroughly recommend them for fascinating reading, brilliant ideas, and a bit of a giggle.)



The resurrection (of plantlife)


My Peace Lily flowered!  It didnt flower at all last year, but then the year before that I had pretty much near killed it!  Not good with plants to be honest.  Love 'em, but never remember to water them and often put them in the "wrong" places. 

This months issue of Sew Hip magazine has a picture of a cushion cover I made!  AND they were so lovely in the wee bit of text they printed, they said "It's hard to believe this was her first go at machine embroidery!"  !!!  Sooooo chuffed  :-) 

I won this lush bundle of Cloud 9 Nature Walk from the lovely Kate at M is for Make .  I won!  I cant believe it, I never win things!  I must have entered about 50 fabric / habedashery giveaways in just the last 6 weeks, and I actually won something!!  Woohoo!  Its lovely fabric, it has a gorgeous feel to it, and the designs are just wonderfully retro.  Kate has a lovely blog by the way, have a nosey. and for the dressmakers out there she also has some lovely sale bargins in her shop at the moment, including a massive 40% off some items.  Well worth a browse.

And finally, I made Miss P's list on her "its all about you" series!  I'm so pleased about that.  Miss P writes a fantastic blog which has a lot going on with dressmaking, pattern drafting, re-styling, sewing basics for beginners like me, thrifting, and a brand spanking new etsy shop to boot. And she's a lovely gal too.

So, I do have rather a lot to be smiling about.  I do hope I've not sounded too much like a smug git, but it was this or sounding like a right miserable bollocks and who on earth wants to read that?!  But for now if you'll excuse me I'm off to hobble up to bed with a glass of ice to drink and a frozen flannel for my scarlet face...  I'll be right as rain in a day or two, which is just as well as I've got so many plans to carry out as soon as I get back in the cupboard!