Weekends

Earl Moran

Long weekends =

• Sleeping in
• Relaxing in the hammock
• Painting my nails pink
• Playing with the cat
• Drinking Gin & Tonic, yum!
• Soaking up the sun
• Taking long bubble baths
• Enjoying life
  
  Here in my neck on the woods it was a long weekend, and I most certainly took full advantage of it, wouldn't you?! Hope you all had a lovely weekend, what fabulous things did you get up to?

Valentines Day

Gil Elvgren

It has arrived again, the calender has clicked over to February, already! And Valentines day has once again graced us with its presence. Today is a day to be celebrated in what ever manner you see fit; here at Lady in Residence, we'll be having a romantic picnic dinner down by the river, on what is shaping up to be a beautiful day here in my "neck of the woods", bright blue skies, a good temperature and a soft gentle breeze...bliss. Our morning was filled with cute little heart shaped paper cut-outs and cards filled with professions of love and devotion... awwww...

I hope that your day is filled with all kinds of fabulous-ness. Happy Valentines Day

Baron Von Lind

Mail- thats not a bill!

Gil Elvgren

I love receiving things in the mail, well anything other than bills anyway. So, how delighted do you think I was to receive this very cute little package from the very lovely Elise over at "Ode to Mrs Beeton"!? Very, very, very delighted- to be exact.  I adore mail, even more so, when the mail arrives cutely packaged with a hand written note- delightfully fabulous.

My little package, with a hand written note- cute!

Elise and "Ode to Mrs Beeton" are celebrating reaching 50 readers, an achievement well worth celebrating. To thank those who read her blog, Elise kindly posted this little thank you package, a "token of her appreciation"... A beautiful cross stitched butterfly; I adore handmade items. It is proudly sitting in my vintage glass dish, on my side board (see below)

Receiving this little package really brightened up my day; a special thank you to Elise, who is also a reader of my crazy ramblings here at Lady In Residence; why not pop over to "Ode to Mrs Beeton" and have a look.

Exciting Laneways

Hello! *waving with a big cheesy grin* What a busy couple of days I have had, a whirl wind of adventure, excitement and fabulous-ness. Hands up who loves vintage clothing *hand shooting up*, I do, and I have been shopping! I took myself on what can only be described as a little adventure, into Melbourne's spectacular lane ways, which I mentioned the other day, and discovered, Melbourne's Retro Star Vintage Clothing Store *proudly announcing with squeals of delight*.

This store is nothing short of amazing. Located on Melbourne's Flinders Lane; Retro Star was established in 2002 and is home to the most spectacular array of vintage clobber I have ever seen. If you can't find it here, it simply doesn't exist.

So what was it that I purchased? Well, that my friends is a story for another day...... but, I promise it will be fabulous.

Summer Wardrobe

At Last, and as promised.

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we are in full Summer swing. We have had some lovely warm days, which have seen plenty of wear for my summer skirts. Whilst I did this task a month or so ago I thought it still pertinent, and so, a discussion about wardrobe cycling and caring for your wardrobe shall ensue.


Wardrobe cycling, is a very handy tip for fashionisters and/or those seriously short of cupboard space. For anyone who is unfamiliar with this concept here is a brief run down. The idea is to move all your Winter items out and move all your lovely Summer items into your wardrobe (or Vice-Versa, depending on where you live). This is great idea, as we all know that you only wear 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time, so... this gives you the opportunity to see all those things that have been hiding away waiting for nicer weather.


Tips:
1- Storing away clothing is best done in storage containers with snap on lids, or, those air tight deflatable bags;  this way you finery will not be eaten by any unwanted bugs, and it keeps discolouration at bay
2- If there is something in your wardrobe that you didn't wear last Winter/Summer, consider passing it on to a local charity- no use cluttering up ones precious space. If you do decide to have a wardrobe purge, its best to keep a list of what you may need to fill the gap, or what you're missing
3- Ensure that all items are clean; be it freshly laundered or dry cleaned before packing away. Do not store anything in dry cleaning bags, they are terrible for your clothes
4- Do not hang woollen or knitted garments as they can become misshapen, it is best to store these items flat
5- To store shoes, its best to use cotton shoe bags

Swapping Winter Skirts for Summer ones

Summer skirts

Also, did you know that you shouldn't hang items of clothing that are beaded?! The weight of the beading can cause the fabric to tear and disintegrate. It is best to store beaded items carefully, folded in draws or on shelves. 


Before packing away your items, make sure that any necessary repairs have been made, such as sewing on buttons, fixing hems etc. I discovered this great video from the 1940s about keeping well dressed; cute, funny and informative, all at once. 

                                                                       source: Glamourdayz

Hopefully these tips will help keep your wardrobe fabulous. 

Friday - a day to be celebrated, in style

Source: unknown. Grace Kelly with Taittinger Champagne

Its Champagne Friday!

Yes, the working week is over, the weekend is all that lies ahead; 2 days of bliss, 2 days of time off from your boss, 2 whole days of whatever you want. So why not toast the coming weekend, and indulge yourself with Champagne Friday. 
To inspire you I thought I'd share this gorgeous poster I have of Grace Kelly and Taittinger Champagne- Fabulous!

Belated Christmas Cheer

Bill Medcalf

As previously mentioned, I have been learning to sew. And by sew I mean with a machine, and a foot peddle and patterns and all other sewing paraphernalia. It has been a most interesting journey, one which has seen me spend the most amazing amounts of time unpicking mistakes........... It is important to note that when one embarks on sewing a garment, it is necessary to make sure you sew the right pieces of your pattern together, otherwise you end up with the most unusual looking pieces...... not speaking from experience at all :)


I have so much to tell you all about my sewing antics, but for now, I thought I would let you in on my stitching abilities. Yes, I believe that sewing and stitching are two entirely different things, and are not at all similar skills..... well that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.


When I embarked on this journey into blog world, I aimed to re-discover all those old fashion feminine pursuits that once dominated society... now before I offend anyone I am not suggesting that we revert to times where women felt oppressed etc, I merely wanted to learn some of those skills which are considered a "dying art" in today's society. So, tasked with this challenge I decided to get a little creative at Christmas, and after my rant last September about the gift of time, I took it upon my self to look on Christmas a little differently, and put a homemade spin on all my gifts.


It was not an easy task, I spent hours in the kitchen feverishly making strawberry and apricot Jam, and also tried my hand at Marmalade, and what a success it was! (Stay tuned for all the details on my jam making odyssey). I also took to making my own wrapping paper, stamping  little symbols over butchers paper, very cute indeed. But it was my stitching that stole the show; I embarked on the creation on a "Santa Sack" for a new little Niece, who was to celebrate her very first Christmas. It was not an extravagant sack, mealy a pillow case transformed into something magical, to be left out for Santa to fill on Christmas eve.


Please forgive me for the quality of these images, also, I had not yet ironed the sack, so it looks a little crinkled.

Pillow case sack

I hand stitched the name in a pretty mauve thread

An applique Santa

I know I'm late with sharing this, but, better late than never, right? I hope you all had a Magical Christmas