Pictured, a tower of mini pavlovas -rose, orange with black pepper, and coffee flavoured. Slices of orange and plums, and berry coulis to garnish. Toasted almonds in the wee bowl on top.
What do you call a tower of pavs? Apparently, it's a Pav-illion!!!!
I had a couple of outlier gifts arrive - one from a "Secret Glitter Elf" exchange with other people in the burlesque community in NZ, and one from a darling friend who also happens to be a performer.
Look at this lovely gift! The budget is $20, and the did so well.
SO artistic! Thank you Ellen! <3
...or is this fabric motif somewhat...er...yeah.
I know, I am a child. Anyway I bought it, arguably BECAUSE of the.. er...rather than in spite of it. It is a rather nice brocade in metallic copper and black, and Constance I think would enjoy wearing it. and not even noticing the er....yeah.
She's like that, contrary to popular belief!
How goes your run up to Christmas? I'm pretty much under control, much to my own delight and amazement.
Hi team, It's been a TIME. Since I got back from Canada I've had a nasty chest infection, requiring prednisone even. And we've sold the shop so lots of admin to do before the end of the year and handover.
I'd love to blog every day. Going Gently is my cliffhanger read, even when not much is happening, John tells us and it is a good read. But I am not good at habit forming.
There may be a reason for this - I had an assessment last week and am waiting for a report. Wish me luck because this may mean I'm not disorganised and lazy!
Here's my tree. It is set up on the dining room table - which is usually CC's makeup table. But she's done for 2022 so yay!!!
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| Tiny but Mighty! |
Hi team! I've been in Canada nearly a fortnight and the SIBF has come and gone. I have limited secure wireless so here's a few stage shots for now.
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| THIS is the culprit that led to the cut cord. I love how sculptural it is, and of course it is very comfortable. worn with Snag Tights Pride Love is Love tights, oversized prop sunglasses as a headpiece and very cheap earrings I blinged up. |
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| I renovated this costume which is one of my first ever, and made a fab new jacket at the last minute for it, then forgot to put it on. If you can see the creases just above the knee of my tights, that's a bandage. I had had a fun 24 hours, shall we say! More on that later. Love this look, prefer with jacket, not bingo wings!!! |
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| I love this so much, I look like a small forest creature who has been turned into an MC and is bewildered! New costume, revitalised jacket with wings. |
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| My last look on Saturday. rose gold/pink sequin dress and bolero from City chic, but I added rose motifs and rhinestones, turned back the bolero front to make lapels. Tiara borrowed from the Crown Jewels. One of these statements is a lie. |
So, four looks over two nights! A lot of last minute work! Worth it. I have a show on the 16th and 3/4 are going to it, probably 1,2 (with jacket) and 4. :)
Off to have ramen with another friend. I love this place!
Sounds dramatic, but that is precisely what I did. On Thursday evening I decided to make a new costume to take away. what can I say, I find deadlines can be productive.
It involved laying a big chunk of sequin net on the floor of my studio, as the table is too small. Then I started happily cutting around the pattern and as I got near to the desk I felt a slight resistance on the scissors. Hmm, I am hoping I didn't have a fold tucked up under it as that would ruin the project but no,
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| RIP iPhone charger |
it was my friend Polly's phone charger! He is staying with us this week and thank goodness because having an experienced drag queen in the house has really helped make decisions. Like, the new costume needs black stretch velvet, not the gold sequin mesh he brought over for me from Shine.
ANYWAY, like the good girl scout that he is, he had another cable so all was not lost!
As for the costume, it's FREAKING FANTASTIC and photos will ensue because as soon as I pressed it, I packed it!
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| The lid of my case is tightly crammed with big sparkly costumes and makeup. |
I'm part organised and part frazzled wreck. I bought jewelry on Thursday and I cannot find where I put it, so I have no earrings for one costume and no hairpiece for another.
However, for the first time I know exactly where my current passport is. It is in this pile of crap on the kitchen bench.
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| The front of my hair is now red, pink and burgundy. I'm experimenting to see if I can sculpt it into curls sitting on my natural hair. It's an ambitious plan. |
I've never been one to take photos of what I wear, costume notwithstanding, but I love it when others do.
So when I realised that the wharepaku block on my office floor had a big full length mirror, it seemed a waste not to enjoy it.
Wharepaku is Maori for loo. It's a sort of crescent corridor lined with fully kitted stalls. Very new and very nice. But not relevant - only the mirror is relevant!
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| Viscose chiffon dress featuring parrots and foliage from Zebrano, with Snags tights. |
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| Silk and viscose velvet tunic, memade, with leggings and a cotton spandex long sleeved t-shirt. |
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| Zip front hoodie tunic hybrid memade and probably viscose, with green jeans. |
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| Embroidered maxi dress in viscose | . |
Feeling much better now, although my tinnitus seems worse and I'm still a bit other worldly. Well, more than usual ;-)
I am late to a party nobody wants to attend - my husband D and I both have Covid. I feel it is basically inevitable at this stage, given the winter onset spike. We've both been pretty sick but it has eased off fairly quickly. Still sick five days in, but feeling human again. So, skipping over the obvious things, here's what I have found.
In New Zealand, the sick person and their whole household must isolate for either 7 days from the onset of symptoms. SEVEN DAYS without going out, legally mandated. It is heaven. I was a little shocked by this realisation but i don't recall a time when I was sick when I didn't feel guilty for not working! Being guilt free feels a lot healthier. This revelation has given me pause for thought all right.
It is complicated. With D not being able to be at our shop, that leaves us short-handed. Then we have people on holiday and otherwise unwell. We are so incredibly lucky that our shop manager is a superstar and found a ringin, rostered anyone who had any time at all, and has worked 8 days in a row. He is a STAR.
Miss.Mx Burlesque Aotearoa is tonight (Saturday 23 July) and I was meant to host. It's my favourite gig and only happens in even years, and I have made a FABULOUS new costume. I was putting up two out of town friends who have had to relocate.
In both of the scenarios above, the appalling weather that closed Wellington Airport on Thursday has caused further stress and uncertainty. However thanks to some generous plane seat trading, all of the staff, AND all of the contestants, made it home on time. Phew.
But hey, it could be so much worse. I am really not complaining, just noting how something like this can disrupt life more than a typical does of flu.
Today after days of rain, wind and freezing temperatures, we awoke to still, sunny bliss.
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| I'm not in this picture and I don't like it! |
Oh what a lovely Sunday I am having! Absolutely no plans except getting my house in order, quite literally.
After a sleep in, I;
all while Mrs Bradley Mysteries plays on the DVD.
On Friday night I did a show requiring no clothing at all. Avoiding using certain words here. I sang two songs and did a second set of comedy. It was one of those bucket list things I wanted to get ticked off.
People have asked me how it was and my response is, like any other show only, breezier!
No I don't have it. Not yet. Yet friends going to extreme lengths to not catch it, are catching it. I keep getting respiratory symptoms (my respiratory system was ordered from Wish) and RAT testing, but still nothing. Am I the only one partly wishing it would just arrive and be done with it? And if it did, I'd be thinking, be careful what you wish for...
This week it would suck hugely, and next week. My dear friend and wifey4lifey is coming to stay, I have gigs Friday AND Saturday nights. Friday has already lost a performer to covid, Saturday's gig I am a ring in because of it. Satuday 17th June I have Like a Fine Wine in Hamilton. The fourth time this show has been scheduled, due to Covid.
Honestly, playing musical chairs with stage time is a tiny impact compared to the impact on our health systems, and I am not complaining so much as showing how these huge things have large and small impact chains.
Anyway here's a teeny video of me showing off my costume backstage last night, and showing how inept I am with technology! But it's also kind of fun and dark. Anyway my red and black Snag tights were very cool.
So, my life is no longer my own. I am merely a facilitator for bits of cut glass. I covet them, must have them, must stick them onto costumes, must contain them in gorgeous containers.
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Look, this is a sunshine shot and it looks metallic but it isn't. But OMG!!!! This bolero goes with a dress in the same sequin fabric. No spoilers but it is NEXT LEVEL gorgeous.
It's really exciting to be making a whole new costume -not just pimping a RTW garment. I have a photoshoot for a new product that is being named after me, WAAAH!!! It was my idea but the genius that made it happen from my shitty sketches is going to launch it and I am SO EXCITED.
So, new costume for product photoshoot!
It's been a time of repair and sorting. My fabric cupboards had bowed out a little, very likely from being overstuffed. David screwed brackets into the central shelf of each to hold them in and now all is well.
As a result, I've carded the rest of the pieces I had loose, stacked them into containers and my studio is much tidier and my stash easier to read. Also introducing another clothing rack for the piles of denim jackets yet to be decorated for sale. They are in the way and every time I go sew a batch I have to size and sort. My intention now is to hang them in size order. David has assembled the rack, we just need to rearrange some stuff to tuck it into a spot.
I have next week off work, then working part time for two more weeks to support "my" users for go-live before hopefully moving onto a new project elsewhere. So, it's SEWING week!
The fabric above is by Tula Pink's Curiouser and Curiouser collection. I am intrigued by this QoH and I also have 10m of black and white stripe, so I'm thinking of recreating the bodice she is showing here, with a skirt made from this fabric. Should be interesting!
My original idea was to sew for me, but in reality I have far more clothes than I need and costumes are way more fun! I have a whiteboard of projects for the year, getting ready for the big shows coming up.
All of this organising and planning happened because Ian came to stay last week, and he is such a good person to talk through plans with. It is very ME to think better with someone else!
There's been a falling out in the laundry cupboard. Dryer is sulking from a distance, while Washer crouches alone and exposed. This all because our downstairs neighbour, after an absence of several months, came home to a washing machine (top loader) full of water, and a knackered ceiling.
Investigations ensued only to find that our washing machine tap pipe wasn't quite screwed in properly, causing a slight leak. But after several months those drips added up!
We had no idea as there's all of 3cm ease down each side of the appliances, being chonky European boiz, and to get this far, MrC had to take the doors off the cupboard to get the dryer out, to be able to see the tap. Plumber has been and sorted it.
Thank goodness all that is under our laundry cupboard is another laundry cupboard...
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| A window of jackets I made. |
Ok, fess up, who stole January and February? Time keeps on slippin' into the future, as the Steve Miller band once famously sang.
But you're not here for trite comments about the ravages of time! What have I been up to?
Sewing: I had a mending and to-do pile a metre high, so I attacked it - finishing patch jackets (now in the shop window above), sewing up gaping dresses, and moving onto some delayed projects like making pillow cases. And I'm now half way through an organza boa. It is pink, purple, blue, turquoise and burgundy, giving it a paua/abalone vibe.
With omicron charging through our country at great speed, I am working from home, rescheduling flights to postponed gigs, and limiting my social life to one on ones and the Thursday quiz.
Lots of friends have got the O, but nobody is really sick thank goodness, thanks to the very high vaccination and booster rates here. I don't have the luxury of time for being sick right now as with the shop tanking, but not enough to get a subsidy, my income is keeping the whole ship afloat.
Thank goodness for having a job, being able to do it from home, and being safe!
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| This is my life now, working from home in my studio with glimpses of showgirl! |
