Grace of Autumn

Home Sweet Home

Sandra Forrest — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 04:22:50 +0000

Writing a blog; I am not sure if I will remember how to do this correctly but I am about to write my first blog for 2013 and it is Good Friday, March 29th.

Sorry for the delay, but I have an excuse. I have been indulging in panic mode as I went from not being part of the mainstream-full-time-workforce for two whole years; back head first into it, without giving it much thought and it has taken me sometime just to get my head around it.

At times, I even wonder why I choose to work full-time at all, but then, pay day comes around and I soon remember. Its for the $$$$$$$.

So apart from working back in the mainstream world, this is what else I have been up to.

A little bit of creativity.

I made a lovely dress from some vintage blue cotton fabric I have been holding onto and foolishly I made it in a size too big and I am totally in love with it now and it won’t fit me. I know I did it on purpose but still it irks me why?

So I decided to make another one in some pretty autumn tones fabric and it will be in my size and that makes me happy.

I finished another crocheted tartan rug, which is taking pride of place resting over the back of my lounge suite and I because I enjoy making them so much, I am about to embark on another one.

So that’s what I have been up too and now I am so appreciative of out five day break. My work colleagues are teaching me tolerance and I am grateful for it as I am not too tolerant of others at times, that’s why I keep to myself and my home and my bliss.

Happy Easter everybody, may you stay safe, stay to true to yourself and indulge in your own peacefulness and happy bliss.

Home Sweet Home

Summer Rocks

Sandra Forrest — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:42:15 +0000

Summer rocks at our house, everything comes to life.

I believe I am a warm weather girl.

Quite ironic really because I feel alive in autumn but the sun showers me with vitamin D in summer and gives me much needed joy.

Our bush and wild flowers have sprung to life in a field of colour and the bumble bees add to the melodic hum.

It’s bbq and beach volleyball weather.

But best of all we now have four raised garden beds to grow our very own organic vegies.

I love you summer sunshine you revitalise me.

Different, I like different. My dress is different.

Sandra Forrest — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 02:52:37 +0000

On a recent visit to Spotlight I spied some vintage drill on special so I decided to buy myself some and make a dress. I walk in with no pattern and no style in mind and I never know how much material to get and I end up guesssing, it usually ranges between 2 and 3 metres. The first visit I got 2 metres and then I went back a couple of days later and got another metre. The print is a collection of vintage patterns dating around the 1950′s, it was in the dress fabric section but looking at it you could quite easily use it for a home wares fabric of choice.

I like different so I decided to create a dress that was different to anything I had made before, I do this by combining patterns and at times altering them.

It fits like a dream.

The bodice has a high neckline and is made up in panels and is fully lined.

I love a high neckline as it is feminine, modest and flattering.

The skirt is made up in panels also which are assymetrical and figure hugging over the hips and buttocks, with an assymmetric hemline.

I am wearing it on the weekend when we go out for the day so I’ll will get a photo and post later.

I am wearing it with a vintage burgundy belt and shoes and and musk rose cardi.

I like different, it’s different.

It is the first time I had used the skirt component of the pattern and it fits beautifully.

I imagine I will be using this combination again sometime.

Here are another couple of dresses I made recently for a happy client too.

One is to wear to a wedding and one is just to wear for fun.

How lovely are these.

I can’t wait to wear my new dress.

It’s so different.

Saving Grace

Sandra Forrest — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 04:47:02 +0000

I need change.

Just recently crochet; of all things, has been my saving grace.

Some people keep themselves busy doing allsorts of things; that’s their saving grace.

I have been walking the dogs, crocheting and tending the chickens; not all at the same time may I add.

Odd trio but it works.

Dogs, chickens and crochet.

Next week I will add cows to the equation as we are getting eight cows delivered tomorrow – Oop’s six, Freudian slip!

I love cows.

How many cow’s are ever enough?

My dress is as pretty as a flower

Sandra Forrest — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:28:32 +0000

We were invited out to dinner recently and me being me wanted something new and gorgeous to wear.

It didn’t have to be brand new or worth lots of money or designer etc, thats not my style but let me show you what is my style.

A piece of vintage fabric whipped up into a one of a kind fab dress.

This is so me this dress because I adore pastels and I adore old world elegance and this dress has it all.

Perfect for a dinner party.

I dropped the waist on this dress too as it is more flattering sitting on the tummy than flaring out over the hips.

It smoothes out and eccentuates the feminine curves in all the right places.

What do you think?

I love it!

For those of you wondering how my Plaid Afghan knee rug is going; you know the one that I started two and half weeks ago, the one that has turned out twice the size and is now a bed cover.

Here it is before the weaving starts.

Here it is with some of the weaving but I still have a long long long way to go.

Why did I make it so BIG?

And now I am into making BIG rugs and blankets I have decided to try my hand at my first ever patchwork blanket.

I love colours and mismatching fabrics so I see myself enjoying patchwork, alot.

And now the weather is warming up and because I like being out in the garden and walking my dogs I have decided to make myself a light weight summer skirt, fabric sourced from an op shop find.

Sometimes I even like to walk in the river. This skirt will be perfect.

Loving our garden too at the moment too, the Wisteria is divine.

Awards and Why I Write What I Do

Sandra Forrest — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 05:48:48 +0000

Recently I was nominated for and recieved from a lovely reader; Naomi at

https://createbelievedream.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/blog-awards/

A Liebster Blog Award

The Liebster Blog Award is for showing off bloggers with 200 or less followers and giving your readers an insight to other great blogs.

And a

The Sunshine Blog Award is for bloggers for their amazing style, their engaging writing, or their inspiring attitude… or all three!

How fabulous is that.

Well anyway I am fairly new to this wonderful world of blogging but I am totally wrapped and honoured to recieve these two lovely awards so thank you Naomi.

xXx

But now I have to answer ten questions Naomi has given me and then in turn when I am ready and I can pick someone I am going to pass the awards on.

So here are the questions and here are my answers.

A little bit of an insight into what makes me tick.

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I enjoy writing and photography and I wanted to start sharing my thoughts with other like-minded people. I find blogging is therapeutic and is also an outlet for my writing. Primarily I decided to start blogging about the dresses I create and now I have been slowly introducing our country and bush living lifestyle.

2. Where is your favourite place to be in the whole world?

Home is where the heart is and I love my home here in Tasmania. I enjoy peace and solitude and the comforts of home and I enjoy shutting the door of an evening, stoking up the wood stove, having a hot bath and settling in for the night with my husband and our dogs. No television just conversation. But my favourite place in the world to visit is back to my homeland of New Zealand; sometimes I am torn between my home life here in Tasmania and my birth and childhood home of New Zealand.

3. What’s your favourite quote?

Carpe Diem – Seize the day. This is one that springs to mind as we can never tell what tomorrow may bring. So seize every opportunity with all of your heart.

4. What dish do you always have the ingredients for in your pantry?

Being a veteran non-red meat eater of twenty five years; I always seem to have plentiful vegies therefore I would have to say I always have the ingredients in my pantry to create a vegetarian casserole or bake.

5. What’s your favourite song?

My favourite song is the all-time popular and world famous kiwi folk song Pokarekare ana. I can honestly say, I really truly love it. This is a beautiful version to listen to here http://youtu.be/ITee3lUKYmc

6. What blog(s) inspire you?

As much as I enjoy writing blogs I have to admit I don’t read many at all, the reason being I don’t spend a lot of time on the computer because we live on solar. Occasionally I do stumble upon some blogs and they would be lifestyle blogs or blogs where people are being creative or just being themselves. My all time favourite blog is by my good friend Allana at http://highmaintenancehippy.blogspot.com.au/ so she will be the recipient of the Sunshine Award as her writing and pic’s constantly inspire me. I cannot give her the Liebster Award but I know she has recieved it many time before but now she has more then 200 readers so I will have to wait a while to pass that one on to someone.

7. What actress would play you in the movie of your life?

I don’t know a heck of alot about movies or television or actresses but I do have my favourites and I have to admit I adore Renee Zellweger as Miss Potter and also as Bridget in Bridget Jones Diary, therefore I would be more than happy if she was the starring actress in a movie about my life.

8. What quality do you value most in relationships?

Any relationship must have transparency and trust. I like friendships with no hidden agendas. By nature I am a bit of a hermit and I am very selective with friends who I welcome into my heart. I like friendships which are deep and meaningful as I don’t do small talk well, I suppose preferring stimulating and/or interesting conversation.

9. What personal characteristic are you most proud of in yourself?

I am kind and gentle and I would like people to see me for who I am and that is simple and humble.

10. Describe your ideal day off.

On a warm summers day I would like a walk on the beach barefoot with my husband and both of us eating our favourite ice-cream; mine could be orange with chocolate chip or passionfruit and his would be rum and raisin or pistachio nut. I would be happily walking in the ocean whilst the water caresses over my feet and washes up my legs whilst he would be walking along the beach on the sand. Both of us slowly meandering and enjoy the day; in no particular hurry.

And there you have it; a little bit about me and why I write what I do

Because I love it

Spring in the garden at our little river shack

Sandra Forrest — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 04:05:00 +0000

Welcome Spring.

This is our blossoming Cherry tree, it is truly the most precious tree to have in the yard, as every morning I wake up and look out the window it is the first thing I see.

Now that winter is behind us I decided to tackle the weeds in my garden, though some of these cooler windy days and nights, we may doubt that spring is actually here. Weeds; which I read recently are only unloved plants in the garden.

After digging out the necessary gardening tools from the back shed, I then went about my task merrily. Gone are the weeds and gone are the river rocks bordering my garden.

Hello rich soil.

And to you my dear garden, you will be fuss free this summer. Oh I do love my garden but over the autumn and winter months here and living out bush, my humble garden gets trashed not only by the harsh weather and strong winds but also by my dear sweet friends; the wildlife.

We have no fences and 18 acres of a magical wildlife wonderland, playground.

One good thing about plentiful water and good soil, is my garden when tended, does grow beautifully. Though sadly when unattended and as beautiful as it is, it does its own thing and grows wild. I can live with a wild and crazy garden over autumn and winter but come summer, I want it to look simplistic. That means minimal work and few weeds. There are better things to be doing with our time in summer and gardening as enjoyable as it is, can take up a lot of time more time than you want it too.

Strong winds and a country clothes line make a beautiful friendship. This is only half of my original clothes line as I lost half of it when we put in our solar system. I can’t bare to lose this now as it is the best clothes in the world for getting washing dry in a hurry.

Our wild and free native vine is taking over the patio even though it is still in a pot and waiting to be tranplanted elsewhere. It seems a shame to move it now.

And the trusty ol’ Massey, whilst I tackle the weeds in the front gardens, hubby jumps on the tractor and takes on the mighty task of slashing all the over grown grass and button grass down in the back paddock and on the river flats. I know who has the harder job and it’s not me.

Just about time to call it a day…

Grace of Autumn Vintage Lace Country Style Wedding Dress

Sandra Forrest — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:29:41 +0000

Many people have asked me if I made my wedding dress?

The fabulous photo’s of me in my wedding dress are by Donna Dohi from http://www.weddingphotos.net.nz/

There is two answers to that question and they are both, yes and no.

I found a new dress in a Bridal Boutique which had been around forever and was now closing down. They were having a 50% off sale and they just so happened to have two 1980′s vintage lace wedding dresses hanging out the back.

Why?, because nobody wears lacey vintage wedding dresses anymore do they; so I was told by the sales lady, as apparently they all want strapless.

Strapless not me, no way was I going strapless.

Luckily one of these gorgeous vintage numbers were in my size and one in the next size up.

I almost gasped out loudly when I saw it from sheer delight becasue the colour was perfect, it was ivory and it was lacey and so sweet and feminine and divine. Well in my eyes it was dam near perfect because I had vision, I knew I could make it fit my theme absolutley beautifully.

My theme was Vintage Country style; no fuss no bother just pure simplicity and elegance.

And of course all vintage country women were ladies, weren’t they? Well through my dreamy rose coloured eyes they were and they were my inspiration for my wedding day.

It turned out to be a bit of a palava and nightmare as it consumed many countless joyous hours and weeks which turned into months of unpicking and hand sewing and restitching and unpicking again and again, as it was too small in the back and it kept riding up.

My hips weren’t too big the dress, the dress was too dam small.

It also had a rip in the lace in the most obvious place on the skirt which I never saw when trying it on because I was too deliriously happy to notice any flaws in dress at that stage.

And lastly when I soaked it in nappysan the dress was white…………….Not Ivory.

I didn’t want to get married in a snow white wedding dress now did I. But I did because I loved it.

The lace was so soft and floaty and devine and it was vintage. Real vintage.

I had to painstakingly remove and replace and undo every inch on the dress bit by bit and sew it back to together with other vintage fabrics to stay with the theme and this is the end result.

So that is the short version of my lacey vintage country wedding dress.

I am not sure if I will ever be able to part with it because it is a dress made from my heart and soul.

But one day I may put it on again and dance around the house and pick flowers from the garden and act like a lady and sip tea on the gazebo…

X X X

We eloped and took my inlaws on honeymoon with us

Sandra Forrest — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 06:59:35 +0000

Did I imagine myself eloping? No

If I was to get married would I keep it a secret from all the special people in my life? No

Could I ever imagine myself wearing a white wedding dress? No

Would I, if I eloped take my inlaws on honeymoon with myself and my new husband? No never

Would I laugh and giggle all the way through my wedding vows? No

And would I let my garter fall to my ankle whilst standing in the doorway of the church next to the minister? No, of course not I’m a lady remember and ladies don’t do that sort of thing.

But I did.

I answered yes to all of those scenarios and it was a blast.

Saturday September 1st 2012 was truly a happy amazing and incredibly special day which I will cherish forever and ever. I felt like I was a big fat bubble about to burst, I was so happy and excited and I wanted to tell the world we were getting married but I didn’t and it made it all the more special keeping it close to my heart until after the fact we were married. Then I wanted everyone to know that him and I were Mr & Mrs.

I wore a white layered lace wedding dress which I brought from a shop that was closing down as the dress was unused and in it’s original 1980′s condition. When I purchased it, it was a Suzanne Kitson design but me being me had to undo the whole dress and completely restyle it. The only original part of the dress I kept was the layered lace overskirt, the rest has been restyled to fit the country vintage theme I wanted for our wedding day.

These are just a few of the pic’s we snapped on our wedding day but as soon as I get the disc in the mail from New Zealand I will share more with you as I had a fabulous photographer Donna Dohi who has taken some amazing shots.

One last thing if any of you are contemplating elopement, I say do it. Eloping and planning a wedding in secret for nine months was exciting and all the more special just between my husband and I. But yes of course we needed two witnesses so we had to share our secret with them.

Enjoy our special day.

X X X

Ready for the Vibrant Colours of Spring

Sandra Forrest — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 14:29:21 +0000

Can you believe it?

Spring is only a week away and I am heading to the snow covered mountains and highlands on the South Island of New Zealand for a week then onto the North Island for another week to visit family and friends and to celebrate my fiftith birthday.

For some crazy reason I am so looking forward to turning fifty.

Is it because I am turning fifty or is it because of you

S P R I N G.

It feels like a real sense of adventure, turning fifty whilst enjoying travel and enjoying spring.

Here I am pondering turning fifty. Should I be this happy?

I have kept myself busy making dresses for custom orders before I go and I have even managed to design a new style skirt which I will be making more of on my return.

It is a four panel “No-fuss” slip on skirt which can be worn with any of the four panels worn back to front and visa-versa.

It is comfy and cute and each one will be a different combination of fabrics and colour choices and embellished with lace.

Here are a few of the things I wanted to show you which I have been creating ready for spring.

I love the new cap sleeves which I can easily add to my dresses.

This is a jar of my favourite colours, the vibrant colours of spring.

And this is the very first of my “No-fuss” four panel skirt.

It is a combination of mismatch fabrics and colours and embellished with some of my favourite laces.

The fabrics and lace are a combination of old and new.

Waistband is a stretch jersey knit. No buttons, no zip, “No-fuss”.

And lastly I cannot resist sharing with you what I found in a thrift shop recently which I have added to my favourite antique necklace; some hand woven wire and crystal bead work.

I can remove it again easily without damaging the original necklace but for now it gives it a new look.

There is something about this necklace which I adore.

When I return from holiday I will share more, I hope I have lots to tell you.

xXx