Plum Corduroy and Cream Lace...

May I introduce to you my latest creation? A corduroy skirt in plum purple (which is "in" fashion this year, and I LOVE it!), decorated with cream lace at the hem.

I must say, that I'm quite proud of it! Though, I can't take all the credit as Gabrielle, my sister, came up with the idea of adding lace. It really takes the skirt from plain and sensible to pretty and fun! :-)

The pattern I used is Butterick  3134, view C with changes. I only used the skirt pattern piece and I placed it on the fold, so there is only two seams instead of four. =) I didn't use the waistband pattern piece.

~Ashley

Pictures: Taken by my dear sister, Gabrielle.

Guam wedding photos

Hi all! Sorry for the lack of posts! I don't have an excuse for not updating this blog other than I just wasn't in the mood for it due to some circumstances in real life. Though a little late, here are a couple more of our wedding photos from Guam. These were taken by a local professional photographer in Guam. CLICK to enlarge the photos.

Another Emma Video

Thanks to Elise, I've found another Emma Video with clips from the first episode! Hurray! =)



~Ashley

Everything Emma (2009)

May I proudly present to you everything Emma. My findings for the new Emma movie from other blogs and just searching the internet.

First off, the The Official Emma Website has been released.  

BBC has released a Behind the Scenes video of Emma. = )



As to the airing date of Emma on television. If you live where you receive BBC1, it airs on Sunday (October 4th) at 9:00PM.  If you live in the U.S.A and I think Canada, you have to wait for Masterpiece Classic Theater to air on PBS (January - May).

I am dieing to see the new Emma, but I'm also uncertain about the new Mr. Knightley. You see, Mr. Knightley is my favorite Jane Austen hero and Jeremy Northam did an excellent job in the 1996 version of Emma. See trailer below.




What are your thoughts? Are you looking forward to this new version of Emma? Which version of Emma do you like, so far?


~Ashley

Day 5 - Kensington Palace, Tea at the Orangery, Museum of London, Fortnum & Mason's...

Tuesday, September 15th - "Rain, Rain, Rain"...Can you guess the weather for today? Yep, it rained and it poured. I rest assure you that the rain didn't damper our fun for today. In the morning we toured Kensington Palace, the home of young Queen Victoria. *sighs*  Of course, you are all simply dieing for pictures! :-) Thanks to the change in the policy of taking pictures inside the palace I do have some (before this change you were unable to take any pictures).

Sunken garden and Kensington Palace

The Orangery

Sewing supplies from the Dressmakers Room

AH!!! Look at all of the embroidery thread! The colors! The selections! :-)

Some pretty lace...

Princess Di's dress

More of Princess Di's dresses

Plus some more...

And still one more.

Ah! My favorite section...The Last Debutantes section (1950s)!

 

I really like the color and draping details of this dress!

This one came out blurry.

 

 

 

See the green shoes? A girl dyed them to match her dress for the debutant party in the 50s.

Vintage Vogue Pattern Books. I would love to have the chance to look through these!

Vintage Vogue glove pattern and gloves.

Part of the palace

Queen Victoria's Bedroom

Court Dress

Ladies Court Dress

Staircase in Kensington Palace

Tea Table Settings at the Orangery

Part of the Tea Room

Our First Course - Smoked salmon with cabbage and mandarin oranges

Our guest speaker, Cathy Hay of Your Wardrobe Unlock'd and Cassie trying on Cathy's show-and-tell outfit.

After tea we all headed over to the Museum of London, were we saw some breathtaking things! I can't share with you any of the pictures because of copyright reasons. I will tell you what we saw, a lovely pair of light blue stays and light blue shoes. A 1780s Gown, 1820s coat (I forgot the real name), and a drool worthy, jaw-dropping Edwardian gown with seas of foamy lace. :-) Can you tell I like the Edwardian Gown? ;-)

After the museum Katrina, my mom, and I went to Fortnum & Mason. My mom and I wanted to see the place as it was founded in 1707 and Katrina wanted to buy some Turkish Delight for her brother. During this past current week, I have been wishing I bought some too, as we have become huge Narnia fans! Reading and listening to the Focus on the Family Radio Drama of all of the books in one week. :-)

I will close with my snack for the evening: Organic Whole Milk & Belgian Chocolate Cake w/chocolate frosting and white chocolate rolls on top. Yummy!

~Ashley

Day 3 - Sunday in London

Sunday, September 13th - A group of us went to Metropolitan Tabernacle (home to the famous 19th-century preacher, Charles Spurgeon) in the morning for church. After church my mom and I went to the Imperal War Museum, which was great! I took a lot of pictures of the children clothing from WWII. I'll share some of my favorites. 

 

 

 

 

After we were done with the Imperial War Museum we walked to the Westminster area. It was delightful to see The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben or Bell Tower, Westminster Abby, Oliver Cromwell Statue, etc...

 

After we were done walking around Westminster we hopped on the tube for our hotel. Once we arrived at our hotel, we rested for a few minutes before heading out once again. We decided that we would walked to Kensington High Street to peek into Laura Ashley and Monsoon.

I saw several cute coats/jackets in Monsoon, many which I would love to recreate.

I would LOVE to copy this coat. It has tuck pleats, rick-rack, and other lovely accents.

In Laura Ashley I saw many delightful things. Dress and skirts (which were below my knee), tops and blouses, and many coats! I saw so many coats that I loved on the trip, that they could fill a closet! Oh my!

After we were done window shopping, we headed over to Kensington Gardens. We walked by several things of intrest.

Kensington Palace & Queen Victoria Statue

Peter Pan Statue

Some Mallard Ducks

 Albert Memorial

 

 Entrance to the Park

Royal Albert Hall

 Kensington Gardens

Red Phone Booth

A side street in Kensington

Another View of the Same street

Still another view...

Oh, the street name is, Queen's Gate Terrace. :-)

After all that walking we were done for the day. Our feet hurt by the end of the day and the pain lasted all the way till we got home on Thursday. :-(

I have only two more days to post about. My that trip went by fast!

Till next time!

~Ashley