A Feast For The Senses.... (Or So They Say)

As part of my floristry course, I have to create a dress for Floriade made out flowers. Yes, a whole dress made out of flowers/plant material, on display for the whole of Canberra to see. And they don't only get to see it for a day - they get to look upon its "beauty" for a whole week. :) But wait that's not all, not only do they get to look upon it for a week, they also get to watch me make it. I've been warned that the public will call out to you, ask you questions, give you suggestions etc, so it's good to take an ipod. :)

In case, you haven't worked it out from the previous paragraph, I'm well and truly scared (scared seems like a BIG understatement!!) about the whole thing. I would like not to be involved at all, but that is not an option. If I don't take part in this, I'll fail my whole floristry course. So, I have to give it a go!!

I'm not the most imaginative person. I can do a bowl of flowers, I can do a box of flowers, but a dress of flowers is a whole different thing!! I've been brainstorming with the others just to get some ideas. I'm allowed advice - I just have to put the thing together myself. The theme is "A Feast For The Senses". So if you have any brilliant ideas, send them in! I'd LOVE to hear them.

This dress below (one of the ones made last year) is called "We're all mad here" - my sentiments exactly!!

This one came third place last year - "Fire Breathing Dragon" was its title.

This one is my favourite ("The Lady & The Unicorn) from last year - it didn't even get a prize!! :(

And this one came first in 2009 - "The Lemon Detox Diet"

Would this scare you or fill you with inspiration? If the latter, let's swap names in September. :)

All images came from the Floriade Facebook Page.

Book Of My Day #1

A dear friend has a lovely habit of posting daybooks on her blog. I always enjoy reading them, so I thought I'd steal the idea and start posting some myself.

Outside my window it's windy and warmish. A nice change from yesterday when the sun never came out..


I have been listening to the audio book "North & South" by Elizabeth Gaskell. John Thorton is one of my favourite male characters in all the classics I've read so far. He has great depth of character, I think.


I have been wearing whatever clothes I first see in my cupboard. Not much thought goes in there generally.

I am thankful for being back home with my family after a night away. The time away was enjoyable but home with all of its chaotic ways is pretty good. :)

I am pondering my lack of thankfulness and gratitude and endeavouring to change with God's help.


 I am reading "1000 Gifts" - that explains the aforesaid pondering. I'm loving the openness and the honesty, and being challenged on nearly every page. Has anyone read this brilliant book?

 I am creating a quilt for a close friend. I have until the 16th of April to finish, and that time is approaching faster than I would like to think. I'm the queen of grand plans that sometimes don't work out! (More about that in another post.)

 I am hoping and praying for Zach & his family and the grief they're going through!

 I am looking forward to spending time with friends on Saturday.

 One of my favourite things is learning new ways to put flowers together. The staff at Poetry In Flowers (where I'm doing work experience) are just lovely and helpful, so I recommend buying flowers there. :)

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere

One of the very great advantages to participating in this floristry course is that fact that I am able to create things with flowers two days out of every seven!

Last week Mum asked me to make an arrangement for a friend of hers. I used three different colours of roses, some baby's breath, and leather fern. I was pretty happy with the result. I think the combination of pink and orange roses really brought out the arrangement.

This is what I made in floristry class last week. The type of arrangement is called a sheaf. It is generally used for funerals and for presentations. It was quite an easy arrangement to put together. I was reasonably happy with how it turned out too though it is a bit difficult to take photos of inside cellophane.

Next week for floristry class, I have to take a trip to the Sydney markets and some suppliers. That should be a good learning experience, and I LOVE those flower markets. The highlight of the trip though will be visiting some very dear friends!

And if it wasn't enough just to be arranging flowers, I've also been sewing flowers. Appliqueing flowers onto 13 squares for a quilt I'm making. No photos yet - I'll share them some other time.

A "Tobby" Horse For A "Wittle" Girl

Annaliese loved watching me make my recent big order of hobby horses, and one day while I was working on them, she said "Could you please make me a 'pink dark' (dark pink) tobby horse?" I told her I would once I had finished these ones I had to make.

So one day, we took a trip to the fabric store, and Annaliese picked out a pink fabric for her hobby horse (with some guidance as to price from me). I quite liked the fabric she chose, and I have some left over which I'm thinking of making a hippo with.

On Thursday I finished it, and Emma Grace Buttsworth 2 was born. She galloped around the house on it, and then today Bethany took her outside and took some photos of her with the horse. She's pretty cute, isn't she?

Wishlist Wednesday

The Wishlist Wednesday idea is inspired by Carley of Vanilla Pixie.

Girly Girl Letter Writing Set

Singer Sewing Machine Necklace

Mango & Lime Lipbalm

All items were found on madeit.