Another week bites the dust...

Remember when you were five years old and a half an hour seemed like an eternity? I have this very vivid memory of being a kid, eagerly anticipating when my favourite show, She-Ra, would be on.  I remember asking my mom how long I would have to wait to see the Princess of Power in all of her sword-wielding glory.  "Half an Hour." Half an hour felt like it could have been forever.  I remember thinking, "what the heck can I do for half an hour to make the time go by?" Half an hour was an eternity .. Now, a week flies by in a blink.  It's scary, really. 

Thank you for your thoughts and comments on my last post.  I'm still feeling a little "blah" but had a better week.  I got a lot done, especially yesterday. I think I will have about 6 orders to pack up and send out this afternoon.   I finally am caught up and keeping up with orders and wrapping my head around the fact that it's good to have a never ending "to do" list.

I did a few things I enjoyed this week.  I went to the park with my cousin and her little boy. I watched him run that funny, teetering way kids run, and watched him swing, and slide, and climb, and giggle.  My cousin and I took turns on the swing ourselves, which was way more fun than I remembered.  I planted some flowers in my planters by the front door, and sunk my hands right in the dirt which was cool and felt good on my sore hands.  I am not really a very good gardener, but I really enjoy gardening.  It reminds me of my grandma, my parents, summer days as a kid. I listened to two audiobooks - one great and one so-so (and I will take book recommendations please! I'm into thrillers / mysteries / historical non-fiction / some horror).  So, overall, it was a nice week.  I feel like I'm getting back in the groove.

This weekend is Victoria Day Weekend, which is the unofficial start of summer (oh, and a day to honour Queen Victoria with fireworks).  Dan has three days off and I am looking forward to spending more time in the garden (weather permitting).

On Thursday I photographed some new items on the new backdrops I made.  I think I have stencil-fever because I want to stencil an entire wall now.  Anyway,  I also pulled out a couple of my antique magazines from my collection to use as backdrops  I totally forgot that I had picked up a copy of Delineator Magazine from 1906 a few months ago.  I never really considered myself a 'collector' but I suppose I actually do 'collect' fashion magazines, pre-1930.  There is an antique store downtown that I visit on a monthly basis, and snatch up any magazines they may have.

The Delineator is a magazine I've always wanted to own, so I was really excited when I found this.  The only thing that upsets me about this purchase is they stuck the price sticker right on the front cover.  Doh! That was disappointing, but it was inexpensive and I love it anyway.  I just love the illustrations in these magazines.  I love imagining what it would have been like to wear these clothes.  This magazine is from 1906, when you think about it, that's not really that long ago and look at how much fashion (and the world) has changed.

Sunday Morning

Ho hum... that 'down' feeling that I had talked about a month or so ago still hasn't seemed to have left.  We had a week or so of some nice, warm weather, but it's cold again... cold enough that there is a risk of snow/rain over night... Perfect timing too, since I bought a bunch of plants yesterday. I was feeling better when it was nice enough to get outside, but I'm back to feeling "blah... nothing matters... what's the point..." again.

I had a disappointingly unproductive week.  I felt like everything this week was a massive effort.  Just dragging myself out of bed was horrendously hard.  I normally am a morning person, so sleeping in is unusual for me.  I don't know what it is.  Nothing is wrong, everything is going well, business is steady, Dan's work is going well, we are all healthy, I have no perceivable reason to feel anything but content... but I just feel blank. Not happy, not sad, just nothing at all. If you get to really know me, you will find I am a bizarre mix of extremes - I love things, and I despise things, I do things to the max, so feeling "meh" just feels absolutely bizarre.  I desperately want to feel excited about something.  As a result, I have been unusually quiet on my blog.  I feel guilty about talking about feeling down, when there is nothing particularly wrong.  I feel like a crazy person, unjust in my feelings, like I should just zip-it because other people have it much harder than I do. I know it's going to be hard for me to click the "Publish" button on this post, but I will do it anyway.

I have been working on summer pieces, and stenciled some new backgrounds to take photos on.  That was kind of fun.  I like doing crafty things like that... My new summer items are mostly cotton, with some linen, crochet lace details, and some flapper-esque sequins, lots of peach & pale yellow.  I have a few more stripey items to finish up.  I can't help it, I just love stripes.  I realized the other day, while preparing some new pieces, that I had 3 stripe variations that I was working on.  Stripes are just the perfect print.  I also am working on a bunch of cropped camisoles.  I like the idea of cropped cami's for summer... I got some gold metal sliders, which I like very much.  I feel like they give the straps a jewelry feel.  The only other thing I want to incorporate into this collection is some fine silver chain.  I'm not entirely sure how I will do this yet, I have a vision in my mind's eye which hasn't come quite clear yet, but it will reveal itself to me...

The worst thing about the way that I am feeling right now is that I feel like it's really reflecting itself in my work - not in the quality or creativity really, but in my perception of it.  I look at things that I finish and instead of giggling gleefully, I stare blankly and add it to the pile.  I've shown a few pieces to my husband, and they have elicited an unusually excited response, a wide-eyed "ooooo." But that hasn't stopped my pile of unfinished, unphotographed pile of lingerie from growing. I feel like I woke up one day with all of my confidence and zeal just drained out of me.  What happened?  When will it come back?

Refreshing...

I am no longer allowed to complain about the weather... at least until it starts getting too hot.  We had unseasonably warm weather last weekend, which was great because we went out of town for a wedding, which happened to be outdoors.  It was absolutely beautiful, one of the nicest weddings I've ever been to, so full of love and personal touches.  The groom was an old friend of Dan's who I hadn't met yet, and I'd only had the pleasure of emailing back and forth with the Bride.  The ceremony & vows were so sweet it actually brought a tear to my eye! It was wonderful.  Totally made me want to have another wedding.

The location was pretty far, about a 3 hour drive for us, so Saturday was a pretty long day, considering Dan worked in the morning.  We left the wedding around midnight, crashed at our Motel.  I couldn't sleep, which isn't unusual.

We woke up really early on Sunday, packed our bags, and headed into town for breakfast.  I thought Orillia was small.  Goderich, which is on the edge of Lake Huron, is very, very small, and pretty remote! It's a beautiful town though.  Staring off over Lake Huron feels like you're looking over the ocean, it is so vast.

We took a very long, very winding way home, up around the lake.  I think it took us about 5 hours in total to get home... Along the way I saw a sign for "Eugenia Falls." I remembered a few years back, my parents, brother and I decided to head out for a family road trip and went to "Eugenia Falls."  We quickly took the turn up an old, desolate county road and followed the signs.  It was just as awesome as I remember.  The area is fairly hilly, though not nearly as rocky as the area just north of us, so the landscape is really unexpected. The other side of this canyon is a sheer drop off, just one flat rock wall.  In the picture below, you can see a tree leaning dangerously over the ledge...

The coolest part of Eugenia Falls is this abandoned shell of what I think is an old mill (?).  I have to admit, there was a sign, but I didn't read it.  A few years ago, Dan's mom gave Dan a framed print of a photo she had taken of some graffiti.  It turns out that she had taken the photo here, because we recognized the exact piece. The building is very cool, but has started to crumble a bit since I was there last.

As we got closer to Collingwood, the views from the hills were amazing.  We were surprised to see snow still on the ski hills, considering it was 28 degrees Celsius! We pulled over at an Entry Point to the Bruce Trail, and took a bit of a walk. The view was amazing! I love driving across Ontario because the landscape changes so drastically.  It is such an amazing large province.

Our weekend away was exactly what we needed.  Everything was just perfect.  I think it gave me a little perspective over my life, and the importance of work/life balance, which I'm still trying to get a grasp over. 

This week will be busy. I am pretty caught up on my orders, just two stragglers to catch up with this week, but I am also preparing for a photoshoot at the end of the month.  I am meeting with someone from a local fundraising group this morning, hoping I can get involved in a local Bra Decorating event, which I am looking forward to.  I am also looking forward to hopefully another weekend of great weather, because Dan and I are planning our first camping trip of the season!  I think this might be the year that we try backcountry camping.  

Around the Web

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm taking a week off from Giveaways because there are actually two great Give Aways ending this week!

Give Away on Farmhouse Garden!

Abby from Farmhouse Garden is giving away a pattern of the winners choice.  Check out the cute jersey lounge bra she made! I love the rosette!  I have been following her blog for a long time and love seeing her creations!  Click HERE to access the Give Away.

I love seeing your creations!

Marie also has a Give Away open this week! When I first started my blog, I think she was the first person I followed.  I am so happy to be helping host give aways on both of these blogs! So, there are lots of ways to get your hands on one of my new patterns this week for FREE!  You can check out Marie's Give Away HERE.

Give Away on A Stitching Odyssey

There's been lots of exciting activity on the web lately.  Anna is finishing up her French Knicker's Sew Along.  Today she posted about adding lace to the leg openings, and will soon be adding an embroidered monogram to the side.  I love that idea!

I've also been following Tilly's blog posts about the Great British Sewing Bee.  Have you bee watching and following along? I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but I plan to find it online and am excited to see Tilly on TV!

Into the trees...

So, this has been a wonderful weekend. The weather was warm, it was sunny, it was glorious. 

Flowers, finally flowers!

Yesterday morning, I got my hair done.  Getting my hair done is something I now do.  I thought I hated getting my hair done, but for the first time in my life I have a stylist who just does what she wants with the little direction I give her, and also for the first time in my life, I can actually afford to get my hair done.  It is really nice.  My hair is very long, all the way to my waist, and very, very full so my hair appointment basically took all morning... But it was nice and relaxing.

Afterwards, Dan and I had lunch downtown then went to a seminar on Art & Copyright Law.  This may not sound like the most exciting way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but it was so informative, and we got to pick the brains of a couple lawyers.  I left feeling more empowered, as someone who creates.  Artists/authors/designers/creators need to stick up for their work! In a world where copying flourishes, creativity gets snuffed out... I don't want to live in that world.  While I don't feel like I left the seminar as an expert in copyright law, I do feel much more assured in my rights as a creator.  I think that with the advent of the internet, general knowledge of your intellectual property rights as an artist is so incredibly important. I think the seminar actually deserves it's own post....

Oliver, a true Outdoorsman

At the end of the day we picked up Oliver at the house and strolled along the boardwalk and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the lake.  I really love living here, we have so many beautiful places to see.

The Sun & The Trees

Today, Dan and I went on a 90 minute hike.  We ventured off the trails and followed a small stream.  We hopped along rocks, and balanced over fallen trees.  We came to one river-crossing that consisted of just one fallen pine.  I crossed carefully, then urged Oliver over.  He worked up some courage and balanced his way along! I was so proud, and he looked so proud of himself  it brought a tear to my eye.  Ugh... I just love this dog so much.

Everything is drenched after a late spring thaw.

This afternoon, we went to my nephew's (actually my cousins son, but my cousin is like a sister, and her boys call me "Auntie Sarah") 5th Birthday Party.  We didn't stay too long, but watched the kids ride bikes, dressed up like Ninja Turtles, and be generally adorable.  We ended our evening at my parents house, with roast beef dinner.  In between all of that, I fit in a little sewing here and there.  A day just wouldn't be complete without the whir of the sewing machine...

A river runs through it...

I hope everyone else has had a nice weekend as well.  I also wanted to mention that I am taking a one week hiatus from the 5 weeks of Give Aways, but there are some other things happening this week that I will let you know about on Monday.

Tuesday...

Monday went by really fast... I walked down to the Post Office first thing yesterday morning, and brought Oliver along with me.  Normally, it takes me about 10 minutes to get down there.  Yesterday, it took 20.  Oliver sniffed everything.  And then of course, we had to stop and sit on a bench for a while because he was tired... so it ended up being quite the adventure.

When I came back, I got to work sewing that dress for the wedding.  I scored some aubergine coloured jersey for $1.80 on the weekend, and it turned out awesome! I can't wait to show you some pictures.  In fact, I want to make a second dress, I like it so much.

I finished it up around lunch time, ate some soup, then sat in my studio for an hour staring at my sewing machine.  After an hour had passed I realized I hadn't given myself a day off in about 3 weeks, so I closed my lap top, shut off my machines, turned off the lights, and headed out for a walk.  I did a little shopping, them came home and napped until Dan came home.  It was nice to have an improptu day off.  I am still not feeling very well, so it was really very needed.

Today I will work on cutting out orders, which always takes me much longer than it should because I get distracted in the process.  However, I am getting more and more caught up, and more and more efficient... but still easily distractable!  

I am really looking forward to the wedding that is coming up.  I have even booked a hair appointment that morning and am getting my highlights touched up this weekend.  It is really fun to get dressed up... I don't get the opportunity very often.

In closing, I wanted to share this photo that I love, of Emily from Emilystudios.com, modeling a new blue floral & lace set that I have just listed on etsy.

CLOSED 5 Weeks of Give Aways! Week 2: The Grace Panties

Congratulations to Anna Maria, you are the winner of the first week of giveaways! Thank you to all of you who entered! My inbox was bombarded with messages the moment the giveaway was posted, it was just great!

The second give away is for my low-rise hipster style panties.  These are great because you can use a combination of woven and stretch fabrics, which means you can use cute printed cotton for the front and back portion, with jersey, stretch mesh, stretch lace, or other stretch fabrics on the sides.

The rules are the same as before.  You can enter the give away, or purchase the pattern on Etsy or Craftsy.

The giveaway starts right now, and will close on Sunday, April 28 at  9am.

Here's how to enter:

1.  Leave 1 comment with your email address, and let me know what fabric you would use to sew your Bambi Bra in.
2. For a BONUS entry, 'like' Ohhh Lulu on Facebook and leave a 2nd comment letting me know you have done so.
3. For a BONUS BONUS entry, pin your favourite item from my shop to Pinterest , and leave me a 3rd comment letting me know you've done so.
4. For a triple BONUS entry, tweet about the giveaway, and leave me a 4th comment letting me know you have done so.  Use the hashtag #ohhhlulu

Good luck! :)