Oh, come on! (of course it is a post about Project Runway)

This week's Project Runway challenge was to create an outfit inspired by a 'hot fashion trend' The hot trend turned out to be little dogs. Remember when dogs were just dogs, and the only people who carried around little dogs in bags were crazy old spinsters? I've actually always wanted to carry around a little dog, but I'll wait until the trend of skinny pseudo-celebs carrying them ends, and it just goes back to crazy spinsters with dogs (I aspire to be a crazy spinster)
Uli won, and I think that she deserved it. The style of her dress was really great and the two prints that she chose went together very well.

Angela. Please, the producers have lost their egos and minds if they still think that we are foolish enough to believe it when they say that thay don't keep some designers on the show because of the drama that they cause. If you read my previous blog, you know that I think she should have gone last week because she didn't do a sketch for the project and she was very unprofessional (no matter how wacky Vincent was) This week she made the most hideous outfit with a short taffeta vest-top and a super-short puffy skirt. They had to make up a story about the pretend woman that they were designing for, and Angela said that her gal worked as a camp counselor with 6 to 9 year old kids. What? Wearing something so vulgar (I'm stealing that word from Michael Kors' vocabulary) even Paris Hilton wouldn't wear it. (Did I just say the 'P' word?) But she's staying and Katherine was sent home.
Katherine made a very simple but cute strappy dress with shades of green (you know I love green) over the bust. The judges thought it was too plain and the hems of the chiffon layers were crooked. It was still pretty and much more wearable than Angela's puff-tart teenage prostitute outfit.

Bradley fussed over his outfit and changed it several times. He finally sent out a very boring two piece taffeta looking set that the judges raived over for some unknown reason (I guess boring is now innovative)

Keith had a temper tantrum because Laura told him not to use Michael's machine (again, the misleading previews made this look like Laura & Keith were going to have a confrontation, but it was very minor, and she was joking about it really) Then he pouted because he didn't win the competition. Part of the challenge was to also design an outfit for the dog. He thought that was silly so he didn't make anything for the dog, which is why he lost. He tried to say that he made the collar, but they called him out on that.

Alison and Michael had outfits that looked like they were really fantastic. But as always, they do the runway so fast that you barely get a good look at the outfits. Laura, what is her problem with touching the dog? She didn't like working with the dog very much, but her outfit was nice as was Robert's. Kayne's outfit remined me of something Nick would have done last season, and Jeffery made me think of Santino. Not that they are copying, but they have similar design ideas to the previous guys.
Vincent, what year is it? His outfit made me feel like I was back working in the Mall circa late 1980s again.

Next week is the big scandal that the previews have been hinting about for weeks. But if the deceptive editing that we've seen so far this season is any clue, the 'big scandal' is probably going to be a big let down. There are stories online about Keith faking drawings in his audition portfolio, and now there's a story that Kayne told a friend that he had won the Miss USA challenge during the taping of the show. But I don't know if either rumor is the scandal.

You can try to see Bravo's horrible, tiny photos of the runway designs here -
http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/

Now designers, how about making something for a real dog like my sweet Boris. He probably weighs as much as all of those little dogs put together!

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One of my dresses is mention in the clothesaholic blog , who is also a fan of Project Runway and Malan!

I was knocked out yesterday with some kind of headache. I went to bed at 1:00 in the afternoon and just felt terrible. There was some yacking, but I won't go into that. I didn't start to feel better until almost 9PM. This morning I feel kind of groggy, but my head is cleared. I don't know what caused the headache, which was more of a sinus thing than a migraine thing.

Bye for now, Carol

Little dresses inspired by Vintage

I made this cute little dress as one of my weekend projects. It's about 7 inches, and I made the little wire hanger too, so that I can hang it on the wall. I had so much fun making the dress, that I made several more of them out of some fabrics and trim scraps that I have. They are up for sale on the New Crafty Page , along with some of my handpainted hat boxes. The little dresses that I've made so far are 1950s to early 60s style dresses, mostly full skirts. This weekend, I have plans to try making some Edwardian and 1920s style dresses too.



My thoughts on image theft. People seem to think that because an image is on a public website, that it is free for the taking. This is not true, especially for copyrighted images and artwork. You need either written permission or you need to pay a fee for the rights to use an image. To take an image from a website to use on your own website is wrong. Then to lie when confronted about it is even more wrong, especially when it is so obvious. Someone took an image from my site and used it on their own site. This person was foolish to think that I wouldn't see the site myself or that one of my customers wouldn't spot it and tell me about it. The person was also foolish because we could have been friends. I would have gladly made a similar image for her to use if she had asked. We could also have exchanged website links. But instead she chose to take something that wasn't hers, which doesn't use much creativity or integrity.

Carol
(ps, the images on my own site are ones that I either made myself, own, or are royalty-free)

Project Runway & Wildlife update

So, I was very disappointed to see Malan out. Alis-Angela's bad attitude and behavior outweighed any problem with Malan's dress. I think that we were totally set up with Malan as a red herring to try to dispel the idea that some designers are kept because of their personality. In the first 2 episodes, Malan was portayed as a bit strange, put-on, arrogant and egotistical. Just about every sound bite from him was an arrogant quip. But he did compliment Laura on her fur collared coat in the first episode. Now in this episode, we get to see a nicer Malan, telling a sad story about wanting to design when he was a child, working well with the snowboarder girl on the project, saying that he actually liked all of the other designers, even admiting that he should be the one out because he was responsible for the design. Nice Malan.
I thought for sure that Angela was going to be out because of her behavior, or at least Vincent for not letting Angela help. But then the idea occured to me that they would probably keep her around because everyone else was talking negatively about her and she's already had run-ins with 2 designers. Makes for better drama to keep her, and the producers of the show do have a say in who stays and who goes. Show producers are concerned about ratings, not about who has more deserving talent. So it turns out that Angela was in, and guess what, the 'evil' Malan was out.
I am even more convinced of my 'Malan was a red-herring theory' this morning after reading
Tim's blog. Tim said - 'Lest anyone think that any designer is kept on the show because of personality, let Malan’s departure dispel that myth.' Hmmm, sounds like a set up to me. Malan was portayed as an ego, and they got rid of him to make us believe that abrasive designers aren't kept around just for drama. I don't believe it. But what about Vincent and Angela? I guess it turns out that those two just have more of an entertainment factor than they thought Malan would have. Or maybe I'm just thinking about this too much!

Wildlife update - our deer is still making her regular visits. I'm waiting for her to show up with a baby! Our solitary bunny makes her daily morning and evening visits too. I was worried because I hadn't seen her for a few days. We hadn't seen any turkeys for about a month. But now they are back and with babies! This morning there was a group of 4 mommas and 8 small babies plus a 5th momma with 2 slightly larger babies, all out pecking in the yard. The head momma was making a little noise to keep the smaller babies together, and she kept chasing the away the slightly larger babies if they got too close to the small ones. After they left, about a half hour later, another momma showed up with 5 babies! Now, I have to keep my camera ready so that I can get a photo of them.

Bye for now, Carol

Yummy!

Spotted on ebay -
Fabulous 1920s green velvet robe (you know I love the vintage lingerie!)

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First section of the new room

So, you might know that I moved from my original room to the new room that was built over the garage. I'm still working on a few things in the room, but here are a few pictures. If you walk into the room and turn to the left, this is what you will see. It's really a display area with my wardrobe and my big bulky chaise lounge. Please click on the photos for larger views and more details on some of the items.

Getting crafty

I had mentioned in a previous blog post that I had received a really cool bulldog garden stake as a special gift when our old gal Ms. Fatty died (it's been 3 years now. I miss her still. She would love living out here in the woods) Sierra is a vintage fan and has been a friend of my website for many years. She has a business that handcrafts these steel garden stakes, and she was the one who sent me the very thoughtful bulldog gift. I kept it in the house for over a year, so that I could see it all the time. Then, during my brief time as a homeowner, the bulldog was up on the roof of my garage. When we moved down here, the bulldog was put in a special spot - on the railing at our front door. Then, my Dad decided that he wanted a big bulldog to put on the roof at the shore house. So I contacted Sierra and asked if she could custom make me a really big bulldog. Well she did, and he is beautiful and now stands proudly on the roof of the cottage at the shore.
Please stop by Sierra's site - Haute Steel - http://www.hautesteel.com/ - to check out the great selection of handcrafted steel garden stakes. A large variety of dog shapes and many other shapes too (including a very cool mermaid) They have nice detail and the rust treatment patina that is on the metal is great, and looks even better after being in the weather for awhile. If you make a purchase, mention Carol @ Dandelion Vintage sent you.



Hey bunny! My surge of creativity continues! Over this past weekend I did some more sewing. I made some little cuties including a hummingbird and a bunny, because hummingbirds and bunnies are my thing right now. You know that I love the hummingbirds, and we have a bunny who comes and eats in our yard everynight. We use to see rabbits at our old house all the time. But you don't see them as often here in the woods because they are more cautious and in more danger from preditors here. Did I ever tell you the story about how we saw a snake kill a bunny in the yard here last year? It was horrible, so I love our little regular visiting bunny very much. I just had to make a little stuffy bunny because I'm silly & sentimental. I used this pretty pale green plaid fabric that I received in a fabric swap through Use What You Have . I embroidered his face and gave him a little fabric puff tail. The hummingbird was made from fabric that came from the bottom of a 1940s dress that I shortened for myself. He has gold tulle wings and a piece of shore bamboo for a beak.

I almost forgot this kitchen cutie that I also made. Click on the image for some details about the fabrics.

I'm still working on the monthly Vintage Clothing themed altered book round robin. This was our 5th month, and the theme for the book that I had this month was 'Another Time, Another Place' I stayed in the US for the place, but for the time I chose 1940s during WWII. My idea was 'War Brides Working Girls & the WACS' along with a little clothing and nylon rationing.

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Wardrobe Refashion sewing projects - Vintage to new

Here are some photos of my recent sewing projects. I'm sticking with my Wardrobe Refashion pledge to not buy any new clothing for 4 months and to only make my own clothing. So far, so good and I haven't even bought any new fabrics either, I'm just using what I already have. Click on the images for some more details on each of the items. The dress was made from semi-newish fabric from my stash and the other items were all made from vintage - a dress cut down to a skirt, a man's pajama top and women's pajama bottoms both became tops and so did a vintage tablecloth.




Here is the pattern for the dress - http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel3730331&site=blueprint

Back from the 4th

Hi!
I'm back from a mini 4th of July vacation in Strathmere. Now I have some bad vacation habits to break, staying in bed until after 8AM, taking a little baby nap in the afternoon, watching too much tv, eating ice cream for lunch. Now I have to get back on a regular work schedule for next week's update, and it's Wednesday night already, the week is almost over!
Look at my pretty-pretty hydrangeas! I have 3 planted in my garden, and they are about 2 years old. Two of them really got alot of flowers on them this year. The other only got one small clump. I prefer them when they are kind of bluish-green, but the purple is very pretty. (click images for larger views)

Here are two photos of the last section of the kitchen that I painted a few weeks ago in Strathmere. This is just the area over the stove and sink, where I display alot of my green dishes and kitchen stuff. The kitchen still looks kind of rough, but the paint makes it look fresh and clean.

I can't set still, even on vacation I have to do something to keep busy. I did some sewing for my Wardrobe Refashion Pledge (photos to follow in a day or so) plus I worked on a cross sticth project that I had started about 6 or more years ago. I am determined to get it finished this Summer!
OK, so I just stopped in for a quick hello and to let you know what I am up to. I have some vintage hats and purses set for me to work on tomorrow for next week's update.

Take a look at some photos from the best 4th of July Parade in Jersey - www.strathmere.net/parade.html

Bye for now, Carol