Little Escapes

Hi!
When there is a bit too much "real" in real life, what's a girl to do? Why something frivolous and superficial of course! Time for a new look... I'm thinking sophisticated, classy and a little sexy with a slightly dark aesthetic. A tall order as I'm sure you'll agree when you see below :/
The current challenging issues in my life, particularly my Mum's rapidly declining health and the knowledge that there's nothing that can be done but to make her as comfortable as possible and be there for her, have taken their toll on the way I look and feel. I'm not really taking very good care of myself and although I'm showering and brushing my teeth and all those "necessary" things, that's about as far as it goes. I'm feeling blah and looking blah. Here are a couple of recent snaps to illustrate:

With my nephew Matt a few weeks back.

Last Saturday, yuck!

If I can turn it into a kind of project I can maybe stay on track. I'll journal the process. This is just something I need to do for myself, no other reason.

Another "just for me" thing is the Alternative Universe HSF Challenge. I'm pretty behind with this although I have drawn and cut out the pattern pieces. Hopefully I can meet the deadline.

I said I would give you a bit of background into the books that have inspired my piece for this challenge. To keep things really accurate I'm going to quote directly from www.crydee.com, the Raymond E Feist website. This is just a bit of an overview:

"The Empire Trilogy is a collaborative trilogy of political fantasy novels written by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. It traces the story of Mara of the Acoma's rise to power from a convent novitiate to the most powerful woman in the fictional world of Kelewan. These three books are contemporary to Feist's original Riftwar Saga  and features some crossover characters, mainly from 1982's Magician (Pug, the protagonist of Magician, appears twice in 1990's Servant of the Empire and once in 1992's Mistress of the Empire). Mara struggles to rule her family after her father and brother are killed in a trap by the Minwanabi, one of the most powerful families in the Empire and longtime enemies of the Acoma. Mara quickly learns how to play the Game of the Council with skill and challenges the binding traditions of her world."

Anyway, just a final note on my "Massive Makeover/New Look Challenge" I have made just a few (tentative) relevant purchases:

I know it will take a lot more than a bit of skin care and a lippie, but it's a start. 

and:

Wish me luck!

Till next time,

Robyn x

Me Again!

Hi!
It's been awhile huh? A lot has happened both good and bad since I last wrote. Best intentions and all... I have moved - not far away but living a very different lifestyle now. Pretty much EVERYTHING in my life has changed. I'll talk about some of those things bit by bit over the next posts.
This week I decided to bring back into my life a few of the things that I enjoyed doing "before" that I haven't kept up. Blogging is one of those things, hence the reanimation of this little blog. Another is sewing.
I started the year so full of ideas of what I was going to make, what challenges I was going to join. It all started well... Anyway, I will be taking part in the last few challenges of the HSF 2014 challenge.

I am (re)starting with Challenge #20 - Alternative Universe. I have chosen to make something that relates to a character Mara from a trilogy known as The Empire Series by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts. I read the series some years back. It is a kind of spinoff from the Magician series by Raymond Feist and is set in Kelewan, a place with a green sky. Weapons are made from hardened leather as metal is very scarce. Although we are definitely talking alternative universe, the authors drew on both Japanese and Hawaiian culture when shaping Kelewan. Loose, short, flimsy robes are worn, so I am choosing to make a kimono jacket. It will be based on a tutorial I found on www.elleapparelblog.com. Rather than hemming around the edges I am planning on making a bias binding from my fabric and using that. The fabric is not really "Kelewan-ese", but it does give a kitschy nod to Hawaii and will be useful and fun to wear in the summer. Here is the fabric:

It is rayon and I believe I may have shown this fabric before.

At this point I am planning on handsewing as much as possible, just because I love handsewing, but we'll see how that pans out in reality.

I'll do a few posts during construction I would like to give you some background on the books I am using as inspiration.

On a different note I went for a rehearsal this afternoon at a place I will be singing at on Saturday evening. I missed the turn and found myself heading up to North Brother Mountain. Because the road was narrow, windy and very steep, with a precarious drop on one side I wasn't able to turn back till I got to the top! The view however was worth the inconvenience:

It looks like a painting doesn't it? But it's real. When I left my rehearsal I had to wait for these guys to cross the road before I could drive off:

You can't quite see here, but one was a little bigger than the other and had a little mohawk. Very cute.

Till next time,

Robyn x