Ruby's Button Tin

Short but very sweet

I watched a piece of film and thought 'huh?  was that it?' but then I thought some more about it and the image stayed with me.  The sound of the water and the lighting, the colours, the shadows.  Less is sometimes more ... why not wander over to Flickr and search for 'a little polaroid love' from 'persisting stars' photostream.  It's beautiful.  It's worth the time. 

le sewing cafe - ooh la la !

An article in today's paper bought to my attention a Paris cafe called - not too elegantly - the Sweat Shop.  It's France's one and only sewing cafe.  Yes, you read correctly - a sewing cafe.  You can buy your milky coffee, a slice of calorie laden cake and have a go on the sewing machine.  The founders opened the shop in the city of haute couture as they realized plenty of women might hanker after gorgeously made clothing, but many had lost basic skills like sewing a hem.

People are signing up for classes in how to take up a pair of trousers or replace a zip.  Doesn't it sound so much better than yet another souless internet cafe? 

Second image of the day: how wonderful is this dress?  The emerald green is stunning, and it reminds me of a cross between feathers and reptile skin.  The price, I hear you ask? 

The article states the price of this little Louis Vuitton number is available 'on request'.  Let's face it though, if you've gotta ask - you can't afford it!

Elegance

Elegance is hard to define, but you know it when you see it.  This lady, as painted by Sir Herbert James Gunn (1893-1964) is pure elegance.  The painting is called 'Pauline Waiting' and you can only imagine who she's waiting for - a husband or lover? and why she's having to wait - is he late?  not coming? 

 
I'm troubled by the fur as I'm sure it would've been real, but I love the hat tilted at an angle and the little veil.  If you look around at the women wandering the nation's shopping centres, pasty in one hand, plastic bag in the other, trainers on their feet and - horrors! - probably bra straps showing or plump midrift, I know which I prefer.

Nancy Cunard, style icon

Maybe this photograph sparked off my fondness for chunky bangles. How amazing does she look!

Apart from this striking image, I'm going to post a short video I came across on Etsy, it's a fantastic piece of stop animation with strong fairytales elements to it and some very lively props! 

Take a look at a book ...

Book covers have a difficult job to do.  Unless we're particularly intrigued by a title or we're familiar with the author they have to tempt us to pick up a book up and maybe even splurge the best part of a tenner on it. 

 I love this cover from 'The Observations' by Jane Harris.  It's a great read, and the cover conveys the elements of suspense and intrigue that run throughout it with the figure half concealing the notebook she's either discovering or hiding.  The dress is beautifully done with the brown fabric almost merging into the background, and the contrast between the white sleeves and the earthy colour of the gown.

How about this for a ridiculously romantic cover?  The tiny well shod foot, the gorgeous dress with the impression of the fabric's weight in the folds and the glossy sheen of it.  The empire line puts the emphasis on the bust, and the puff sleeves draw more attention to the upper part of the body. 

One more romantic outfit ...

I'm not sure whether this is a skirt or dress with a mauve top over it, but it's beautiful.  I love the embroidered flowers, especially in this setting of a flower garden.  I think I bought the book just for this image, but luckily it turned out to be a fun story too.  There seems something very English about the mixture of elegant dress with a more everyday top, implying a streak of our native eccentricity that is so very endearing. 

 

  

 

Moving the goalposts ...

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.  Yes, those were the sounds you could hear of cogs whirling and gears clunking ... it's something I've been pondering for a while and was given a kickstart by some training at work.  It was Miro training, that's where you answer a questionnaire and are given a personality type by an analysis of your answers.  I came out as an Analyst/Organiser, with the Energiser side of me being considerably smaller and the Driver side lying dormant.  Uhm ... you're losing interest, aren't you?   Okay, here's a nice picture of tulips ...

Now, back to the wordy stuff - what the training bought home to me was that I don't set myself goals, I don't push myself in the direction I want to go - maybe I'm not 100% sure of the direction I want to go.  So, I've been thinking ... and reading 'Everything I've ever done that worked' by Lesley Garner, an immensely readable self help kinda book about life lessons.  I've got a book on Positive Thinking too, and another on 'Your Inner Coach'.  One of the things I started start putting into practice about a week ago was setting small goals for myself.  Weekly ones, small things I could change, to give me a sense of movement, to have things ticked off a list.  One was to post something - anything! - to this blog each day (rather than once in a blue moon!).  I did it too. 

And it got me thinking about the nature of this blog.  What's it for, why do it.  Anyway, I'll spare you more of the ponderings and mullings over ... the end result was that I'm going to re-do the blog, centre it not on the crafty things I do or the gardening or the reading or films etc, but on what I'm passionate about - fabric, textiles, costume, the material side of life.  I'm getting ideas together and hoping I can come up with something distinctive and interesting.  Well, that's my intention.  Let's see how it goes. 

Crazy Quilt

How's this for eye candy?  A crazy quilt by Victoriene Parsons Mitchell (1829-1916).  So beautiful. 

Knitting natter

I love knitting, but I'm not much good at it.  My ambition is higher than my talent level, but I persevere!  Today being a Bank Holiday I was off work so messed around with wool, trying to improvise on the needles as I recall Kaffe Fassett suggesting in one of his TV appearances.  I was trying out a seemingly simple squares pattern, but it's only by attempting to make something like this that you appreciate how not-so-simple it is. 

(Photo by Debbie Patterson, from 'Glorious Interiors' by Kaffe Fassett, ) 

The combination of colours he achieves is so rich and vivid, I just couldn't match it or even get close.  After trying out some squares, I moved on to an idea I had about knitting a little bird shape.  Hmmm, not got that right yet either ... Oh well, there's always tomorrow. 
 

Design idea for needlepoint

I have an idea that one of these days I'll translate this lovely bit of packaging into a needlepoint design.  I think it'd work really well - a chocolate brown backing with multicoloured reindeer prancing across it. 

Oh, and the soap that this box contained has the most delicious scent which was an added bonus!