Wednesday 1 February 2012

a nasty case of the laura ingalls



So today wasn't 100 buttonholes, more like 48. I haven't managed to sew on any buttons as I was out socialising tonight but hopefully if I get my new glasses I'll be ensconced on the couch tomorrow night stitching, stitching, stitching. 
I got inspired today after the buttonholes to start work on a new dress. It seems to be channelling  Laura Ingalls/Little House on the Prairie (although Little House in the Big Woods is my favourite, I must have been about 5 when it was first read to me and it stays with me still) via American Civil War and a touch of the 1930s with a dash of the ric racs. I like it. I'm thinking it's an Autumn dress. It has a slightly dagginess to it that amuses me, a little bit Amish (if it wasn't floral, decorated and fastened with a zip), a little simple and plain but in a nice way. I know- prim!





The Biblical Jasmine is flowering out the back, only a couple of flowers but the scent is heady in the morning. I'm not a fan of heavily perfumed jasmines, the common purple/pink/white version makes me ill but this one reminds me of India and I love the Azores Jasmine, the two in the backyard are growing like topsy and I'm hoping it will flower at some stage. The Jasminum Sambac makes me think of flower garlands and piles of tuberoses and petals  being threaded up, such intense scents that only seem to work in somewhere like India. In fact I bought this plant at my favourite Indian grocery in Dandenong.
It's time for bed. Time to shut up my waffling and snuggle down in the cool, it's so much nicer this bout of cold than sweltering humidity. Perhaps it was the chill today that made me think of Autumn dresses.

3 comments:

  1. Love the Dandenongs - my nickname came from there "Uncle sassafrass" no less! I associate the smell of Jasmine with Mel"bun", Wherever I may be that heady scent transports me straight to my brothers' yard and yours now too!

    Sassa xXx

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  2. Ric-rac and florals, be still my beating heart.

    Why am I not 20 years old and then I could wear your dresses without looking like the proverbial mutton and lamb?

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  3. oooh - that is the jasmine that all the garlands in Thailand are made from. And I want one!!! Thank you for telling me what it is, shall go hunting for a plant. Or seven.
    Hugs,
    Jasmine (PS I hope they grow in Central Vic tho Wiki said they need warm and humid I could just be very kind to it. Dreaming of that smell!!!!).

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