Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge:Aztec

Yesterdays Wardrobe Challenge was Aztec, which meant it was the perfect chance to wear my Aztec Dress. I got this fabric from Fabric-a-Brac and the dress is made with one of the patterns from Sew La Tea Do. I do really like this frock, but I don't wear it too often - I have decided I actually like it better without a belt (I think I'm coming to learn I don't have to wear a belt with EVERYTHING).

Here's a close up of the Aztec like fabric (well it reminds me of Aztec type patterns)

Well that's it for me today folks - I'm now on my Easter Holidays and will be having a four day weekend - hurrah!

OUTFITS DEETS:

Dress - Made by Me

Boots - Avon

Necklace - Op Shopped

The Big Day Dowse

On Sunday Rich and I decided to leave Wellington for the day and head out to Lower Hutt for "The Big Day Dowse" which is an annual festival organised by the Dowse Art Gallery.

 When we arrived some artists were putting some tape art up on the side of the gallery - I always love a good bit of tape art.

The festival was pretty fun - we got the check out some bands, a market and circus performers. I especially loved this girl band, I forget their name but they were a lot of fun. I loved their matching fluro sunglasses too.

Whist we were out in Lower Hutt we figured we may check out some of the exhibits at the gallery. I loved this globe. There was a mixing deck near it an your could change what was happening on the surface of the earth by using the mixing deck. It's a really fun interactive exhibit - the kids at the gallery loved playing with it!

I also really liked the "Play" exhibit which was, amongst other things, a display of contemporary design for children. I want to have the frog chair at my house!

I'm not actually sure what exhibition this was part of, but I have to saw I loved this T-Rex with the glowing eyes!

After checking out The Big Day Dowse and spending some time at the art gallery we decided to head down to the Hutt River for a walk. Seeing the river made me realise just how bad our drought is - it looked like a stream compared with the last time I saw it.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend - we have Easter coming up this weekend which means FOUR WHOLE GLORIOUS days off work! My week is already half over - yah! 

Wellington Sewing Bloggers March Meet Up

Last Sunday I attended my second Wellington Sewing Bloggers Meet Up (well part of the meet up as I couldn't make it to Yum Cha which happened first up) but I joined the girls later on at Made on Marion for a swap and other fun times. We now even have a fancy badge - designed by Melissa - check it out!

Even more local sewing bloggers turned up to this event than they did to the previous one, so I got to meet even more rad new people. Here's a photo of everyone that came along (the photo is borrowed from Nikki):

Left to right along the back row we have - Wendy,  Nikki, Sandra, Melissa, Me, Nicola (and Ash), Juliet,
Leimomi, Holly and sitting in the front Kat (and Drake) and Joy.

This meet up included a swap with a whole bunch of fabric and patterns - I have to admit I did pretty well from this swap. Here's a few of the goodies I got, first up the fabric.

Some of these fabrics are a little wrinkled due to the fact I gave them a wash but I didn't bother to iron them (I'll do that when I actually get around to using them). I actually have quite a lot of each fabric - so all this fabric will become dresses in the not too distant future.

Next up is ALL of the patterns I received - Joy turned up with a whole banana box of patterns, so there were plenty up for grabs!

 I think this dress may be a little bit 80's - but I feel like with the right fabric it could be kind of cool. I guess time will tell if I actually get around to using it.

 I like this pattern as a simple knee length dress - I'm really not crazy about the floaty sheer jacket or the longer length version.

 I picked up this one so I had a pattern for a simple knee length skirt pattern - you won't see me making those trousers though!

 I think this could make quite a pretty long sleeve winter frock with the right fabric - all I need to do is find the right fabric.

 This simple shirt dress is a little bit like the one above - I think it could make a nice frock.

 I'm very much into wrap tops and dresses right now - so I was pretty stoked to pick up this wee pattern (ignore the blurry image).

 Another simple pattern to make a knee length skirt - no too exciting but I'm sure it will come in useful.

In addition to all these, some bloggers in the group gave me goodies that were quite specific to what I needed - thanks girls!

Sandra gave me not one but TWO Maudella patterns as I had said I wanted more of these patterns - what a star.

Over on our facebook page there were some discussions about the fact that Holly was getting rid of some cross stitch supplies and I needed some for my new project. Holly checked out her supplies and bought me some of the colours I needed for my project - rockstar!

Finally I asked the girls on line if any of them could give me a lead for a good wrap around dress pattern as I wanted to make some wrap dresses for the winter months. Melissa bought along one of her patterns for me to borrow - hurrah!

Thanks for all the sewing/crafting love ladies - looking forward to our April meet up xoxox

Oh My Glob you guys!!

It was Ria's birthday WAY back in January and I decided to make her another Adventure Time cross stitch because we are both big fans. For Christmas I made her a Finn and Jake cross stitch and this time I decided to go with Lumpy Space Princess, because she's amazing and ridiculous. If you've never watched Adventure Time here's a few LSP moments:

Unfortunately the LSP cross stitch too longer to make than I thought it would, I thought I could do it in a few weeks but as it turns out that was a little bit ambitious. I also decided to use metallic thread for the text and it turns out metallic thread is a total bitch to use, which means the project spread out even LONGER! 

Here's a look at the final result - I think it looks pretty rad:

Hope you've all been having a super weekend xoxox

Aeon Clothing Swap

On Friday night I had a girls night out with Kat and Hiliare at Thistle Hall at the Aeon clothes swap party. Aeon is clothing store on Cuba Street that sells both vintage and new things, its a cool little store so I was looking forward to the swap.

The rules of the swap were pretty basic! I took my unwanted clothes along to the Aeon store about an hour before the swap, got a whole bunch of tokens (puzzle pieces), had dinner with Rich and headed off to meet the girls at Thistle Hall.

Here's a few of the piles of clothes and accessories - I was really hoping to pick up some new shoes, but all the shoes were SO TINY! Oh well, I did manage to pick up plenty of other good stuff.

The clothes swap even had a fashion show which included some rad vintage and handmade items.

So what did I get at the swap? All kinds of rad things - skirts, tops, belts, necklaces, some fabric and a bag. When I went to work today, most of my outfit was stuff that I picked up at the swap and given that it only cost $10 to head along to the swap its a pretty cheap outfit.

I only have an awkward indoor photo today as its still raining (not that I'm complaining - we seriously need rain).

Top, belt, skirt & scarf - Aeon Clothes Swap
Tights - Equipt
Shoes - Number 1 Shoes

Wellington Bloggers Meet Up - Jaime Shift Dress

Earlier today we had another Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network Meet Up and this time I decided I would make an effort to make something new to wear to the swap. 

For Christmas this year, one of my brother's bought me the Burda Style Sewing Vintage Modern book and I decided it was time I finally made something from this book. I chose one of the easiest projects from the book, the Jaime Shift Dress and got to work.

The Jaime Shift Dress is from the 1960's section of the book and is described as "The basic shift dress is a quintessential wardrobe staple, a blank clothing canvas for your imagination" - In addition to this, it only has four pattern pieces, I like that a lot!

I think I made this dress a size too big, when I first tried it on it was pretty big on me so I took it in at the sides quite a bit. I think I will trace the pattern again in a smaller size. Also the dress is a little on the short side for me, if I make it again I will make it a few centimeters longer.

The fabric is a soft stretch that I bought from Arthur Toye Fabric and it was pretty reasonably priced at $10 per metre and I really didn't need too much fabric to make this frock.

Time for the artsy "What's on the bottom of my shoe" photo (oh there is nothing there actually).

I really do like this dress (apart from the length) and I do think I will make it again. 

I had a pretty fun time at the meet up, I got to hang out with some new people as well as those who I met last time. We also had a swap and I managed to pick up all kinds of cool stuff, which I will share with you all later. 

I hope you all had a great weekend and YAH! It is finally raining here, fingers crossed the drought has broken in the North Island. 

Walking By Myself Part One: Te Ahumairangi Hill

Here's the story, before Rich and I traveled overseas we used to do lots of day walks and hikes. But since we've returned home we haven't done this as much, I think one of the main reasons is Rich is studying for his Masters degree and working full time so he doesn't have a lot of spare time.

So I have decided that I want to get back into walking more - it won't be the same without Rich of course. But it will still be fun and of course good for me to get outdoors and out of the central city occasionally.

I decided to start off simple with a walk to the summit of Te Ahumairangi Hill, you can start this walk in Thorndon, the entry point is very near the botanical gardens.

Before you even start you have to walk up this rather steep street - Wellington has ALL THE HILLS!

Here's a wee map - Te Ahumairangi Hill is the starting point for a lot of other walks, so I might try and do one of these next weekend.

Then it was time to walk, walk, walk and take in some of the views along the way.

 I made it to the lookout and celebrated with an apple and a cheesy self portrait!

A few more photos from the lookout at the summit.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend so far xoxox