Armoire Affront

I want to remind you that I have had most of my clothes for quite some time, and what you are about to see,

 'wasn't just bought yesterday'.

Who would have thought after spending the evening, with the iconic Brisbane Chanel bag and a Chanel sequined jacket included in the guests line-up, (and lovely others!), that my Armoire would have the audacity to do, what it did?

What, with conversation about the Royal Needlework School in London, Princess Catherine's wedding gown, professional embroiderer Jenny-Adin Christie's superb talent, the Brisbane Embroiderers Guild, and a Vogue magazine (resurfacing from 2004) featuring Princess Mary;
what I found today,
 in the downstairs boudoir (or 'spare' room) 

was all a bit too much.
I offered the 2004 Vogue as a loan to one of the guests, but she said she'd be worried her house-keeper might throw it out. Point taken.

Flora's Table Wonderland, with a nod to Warhol.

What, with setting up a flora fascinata of wonderland to match the glassware (more of Andy's and Dom Perignon's screen-printed nonsense on the glass) and serving a delicious course, I didn't see it coming.

It was a wonderful evening. Guests' hands, set against snapdragons, yellow roses and accessory accents:
including the Brisbane Chanel. We know you go on with a lot of frippery, Karl.

But, we do concede you do a lovely corsage and quilted accessory. And of course your frocks and pant suits.
I wonder what Karl would have made of Brisbane, if indeed, he did visit when our boutique opened at Queens Plaza in the city centre? What do you think he'd say?
Let me know.

After this sea of civility, I then woke to see this sauvage, unfolded, crumpled, broken and lifeless,
in the so-called 'spare room'.
The inners of the Armoire had collapsed!

Mr Fascinata had a quick look, 'We'll have to measure it', he said reassuringly.
Apologies regarding the affront of the wire coat hangers, Martha Stewart did tell me to get rid of them years ago.

A Thing to Behold

The down-side of creativity is that I am forever trying (or pretending) to 'tidy the craft room'. Looking at Francis Bacon’s studio always makes me feel a lot better. It has been described as 'as a thing to behold'. After his death in 1992, he bequeathed his studio, located at 7 Reece Mews, to John Edward Edwards. In return, the contents of the chaotic studio were taken apart section, by section and then reassembled in the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.

Francis Bacon's studio.

Our National Treasure artist, the late Margaret Olley (OBE) also thought the way I do, for sure

I love her, and her work so much.

Here's what the Australian newspaper had to say about hers, and the fact that no-one who works at BHP will ever get an offer to get their desks moved to an Art Gallery sometime soon.

IT'S just as well Margaret Olley didn't work for BHP Billiton.   

Apart from the fact her artistic skills wouldn't have been much use in the whole global mining caper, there's the small -- and extremely messy -- matter of her work station.
Since Olley's death last month, much has been made of the cluttered and chaotic Sydney terrace in which she lived and painted.
Posthumous photos of her beloved bower show a delightful dishevelment of rotting pomegranates, mummified flowers, overflowing ashtrays, decanting turps, snarls of pink wrapping ribbon and something that may or may not be a boar wearing an embroidered saddle.
The "sublime jungle" (as one curator put it) of Olley's home radiates personality and is regarded as so significant, there is talk of preserving it as a living museum. Mess, it seems, was the old bohemians muse.

But it would have landed her in Big Trouble if she'd ever had to earn a crust at BHP.
The mining giant -- which has just reported a record-breaking $22.5 billion profit -- has instituted an "Office Environment Standard" that bans workers from outrageous activities such as: sticking Post-It notes on their monitors and keyboards; hanging jackets on the backs of their chairs; consuming food at their desks (rather than in designated toaster and microwave-free club rooms); and consuming food anywhere if it "emits strong odours".
Cleaners have been ordered to inspect desks each night and neutralise anything that isn't a computer monitor, docking station, keyboard, mouse or phone.
Employees are permitted to display a single framed photograph -- though they'd probably be pushing their luck if these depicted a steaming prawn curry or rakishly un-coathangered skivvy.
BHP is defending its ultra-sanitised, uber-depersonalised strategy as a straightforward and effective plan to ensure people can "work happily and co-cooperatively in a clean space".
But the policy has been widely pilloried, with one commentator suggesting that the pongs associated with some of BHP's mining operations are far more offensive than the fragrant aroma of lunchtime vindaloo.
It's also worth noting that -- contrary to popular mythology -- neat offices aren't necessarily efficient ones.

Margaret Olley's studio is going to be carefully relocated to its own purpose built space,

 in the Tweed River Art Gallery, New South Wales, some time next year. This Gallery is near where she grew up.

I do want to point out that I keep my work desk pretty minimal. No room for frippery there!

I am hoping my studio might be 'worth the move' down the track?

This poses a good excuse for not tidying it, doesn't it?

 Planning ideas.

 An old tassel and a shop-bought pink corsage.

 Feathery.

  Hoarding  collected over the years, and a balsa Eiffel Tower that myself and Mr Fascinata built.
I also have the Taj Mahal in heavy duty marble-look cardboard pieces, but that build has proven to be quite difficult. That craft activity almost caused a marital rift, ironic really!

  Stuff, waiting for a new life.

 The Poupees, getting impatient, waiting to be finished off!

Flora's studio, in all its glory; note the deluxe steam iron is Mr Fascinata's for his business shirts' dealings, and I have to be very careful with any Flora actions it undertakes. Point taken.

 Don't panic, I haven't spent all the Flora profits on Champagne. Those boxes have gathered over a few years!

 Some semblance of organisation from Mr Fascinata, who came home one day with the drawered unit!

The 35 year old Bernina. Pride of place.

Kimberley's Kaminari

My niece K, is very creative. She gets up to all sorts of things.

Here's her legs covered in  Pucci style stockings, and a patent, purple Shoe City Red Pepper boot. 

And in a striped opaque, with a lace up boot.

Here she is doing an beautiful imitation henna-look hand art.

Her latest achievement is this! Check out this gorgeous plush Night Fury species! It took her yonks to make,

 because most of it is painstakingly, perfectly hand-stitched.

I'm sure she got sick of me asking, 'Have you finished the dragon yet?'

Kaminari roughly translates to thunder and lightening in Japanese.

She also practices this craft she calls stencilling or 'silhouetting'. K will convert a drawing into negative and positive spaces and shapes, all-the-while making sure one of the colours is connected to itself. Complicated, indeed.

Aunty Flora's rose.

Does your family have a creative legacy?

Paris Flora and Guillet

The weather's turning cooler, I'm feeling sentimental, and I'll never forget going to Paris in Winter 2010. The skies were a bright blue and sunny and covered in white jet streams, yet it was still quite cold. Someone said that it 'never really gets really cold in Paris'. Relatively speaking, I now understand what they mean.

We stayed in an apartment on Rue Houdon, near Rue Lepic, a major food and market area.
It was a fantastic trip. Perfect in every way.

We had a kitchen and I cooked up a storm, most nights. As it was cold, and it made sense to 'stay in', eat, and get out and about each day, coming home about 4pm, with a bag of fresh food. 

It was on this trip that I also pressed my frozen face against the glass at Maison Guillet, house of fleurs, the be all and end all of the fabric corsage! I couldn't believe what we had stumbled upon,
while 'window shopping' at the stores along the Arts Viaduct.
Unfortunately Guillet was closed and we where unable to enter, and alas on return in 2011, Guillet had 'moved outside the peripherique'. So close, yet so far.

Guillet's window looked like this,

La Maison Guillet, créateur de fleurs d’Art à Paris depuis 1896

Luckily, I had the frippery of the Paris Apartment to look forward to, to keep my mind off Guillet's.

Before sunrise. An early morning view towards the Egliste Dome (Napoleon's tomb).

Five floors up, about 100 stairs. Daily constitutional.

An olive tree, snow on the roof across the way and the Judith Leiber.

Ubiquitous floral arrangement and Paris Apartment shot, with Andy Warhol's Dom Perignon nonsense marketing.

The flowers were a gift from our 'greeter'. What's not to love?

Sunrise.

Paris apartment decor: weird lights, mismatched chairs and unusual artworks.

Enough coats.

Insanely small kitchen, but who needs space, when the produce's this good?

Hanging frippery, a feathered and beaded frock I made from combining an existing top from TEMT

 and a piece of black fabric 

with a Chanel ribbon as faux label!

Dinner is served!

Dessert.

Mr Fascinata running his business dealings, just before I went out armed with a map and a stern warning, about 'Paris streets being at confusing angles to intersections'.

The result of the shopping outing when alone. The 50 euro (!) Jo Malone Roses scent candle. Heavenly.

Assembled frippery, plastic French bulldog bought in a French toy store, YSLs bought in Melbourne, Miss Louise (transported to Paris but their dream was never realised...too cold and dangerously icy!),

Thomas Sabo French silver French bulldog and the infamous JL minaudiere that had a big outing

 at the Paris Opera for New Years Eve.

Chanel bag contents: brown eyeliner

 from the ultimate shopping experience that is: Galeries Layfayette.

Be still my giddy heart! Lanvin released a range for department store H&M!

A bejewelled and ruffled cocktail frock. Divine.

Keys to a sticky and tricky lock.

Even the cheap postcards are gorgeous in Paris.

Archival Quality

The funniest thing happened yesterday afternoon, I got a call from the Embroiderers' Guild,

explaining I had won first prize in the Mothers Day Fair Raffle! I can't wait to pick up the prize!
 It's a gorgeous little embroidered bag.

The Embroiderers' Guild has brought out all sorts of creative inclinations in me, to the surface.

I had already decided I am going to get down there on Brunswick Street on Saturdays, when the building's open between 1 - 4pm and get a project going. I am thinking of something like this; a similar effort to the one Christian Louboutin did with the Maison Lesage! What a great way to up-cycle your old pumps!

Although, I had a flashback today, and a rather disturbing one, involving me at Miller and Coates (circa 1992), a gorgeous, and rather up-market haberdashery over at Clayfield, Brisbane.

 I was learning how to do bullion roses or in  my case, grub roses!

Image: courtesy of the Maison Lesage

I had a piece of delicate thread that would just not go through the super-fine needle the instructor had issued me.

I licked the thread to somehow make it go through this ridiculously fine needle I was given and was chastised.

 I was told, this indeed, would render the thread non-archival, and a useless heirloom,

as the acid would perish the fibres. Point taken.

I remember too, comparing my hands to the others' in the group and wondering at how rough and ragged mine looked due to a) not really looking after them, and b) working with so many nail ravaging materials.

Oh dear, I hope the Guild are not too strict. They certainly seem like a kind bunch and I am eager to get started.

I then received the loveliest email from the Honourable Secretary of the Guild, and I can't tell you how excited I am....

Dear Flora,

Hullo. I met you on Sunday at The Embroiderers' Guild Mother's Day Craft Fair.

I have just read your Blog about your visit to the Fair on Sunday. It was wonderful and we really appreciated your story about your visit to the Guild.

We would love to invite you to visit the Guild when we are stitching on one of our general stitching days.

This coming weekend we are having a Tutor who is a Graduate of the Royal School of Needlework. She will be giving a number of our Members tuition in White work for three days. On the Saturday 5th. at 3.30pm we will behaving light refreshments and then at 4pm Jenny Adin-Christie will be giving a lecture to our members and Guest on the subject "Preserving the Past and Creating the future, the work of a professional Embroiderer." 

If you are free on Saturday we would like to invite you to  join us and see how we work and come to the Lecture. Jenny Adin-Christie worked on Princess Catherine's Wedding Gown.

We have our normal Saturday Stitching for Members from 1pm to 4pm. as well that afternoon. We will finish our usual afternoon activities at 3.30pm.

Did you say Jenny Adin- Christie and Catherine Middleton's Wedding gown!!

Needless to say, you know where I'll be Saturday!

Maybe I'll start something like this?

Or, this overly-ambitious silk ribbon embroidery, courtesy of the House of Lesage.

Lovely, at least I'll have somewhere to turn if I need help!