The light at the end of the tunnel

I have been going back and forth about how we're going to light up the barn. I've been thinking about party lights, but to get the desired effect we'd have to get quite many and though we have electricity, it'd be a big job solving the cable issue.

Then there's the crafty mason-jar-in-plank solution.

Pretty, but I'd need to get planks and a lot of rope too. And I'd have to saw all those holes. Quelle nightmare. For real.

However, today I saw the perfect solution. Wheels plus mason jars and any other kind of décor I'd like to add.

I very much doubt that I can find wooden wagon wheels on the farm, but I know that there are metal ones from old machinery with decades of patina. I only need to get some wire for the jars and something to hang the wheels in and we're done. I love simple solutions.

Browncoat invitation

I have been working on the invitations. I had decided on the polaroid kind, but there's still time to toy with ideas. Yesterday I crashed my computer working on this:

I embraced my inner nerd. If there's any sci fi series that would work with our theme, it's Firefly. I also made it in English. Thing is that we're inviting a bunch of people who don't speak Swedish and though I've made the site in Swedish and in English, I'd rather not have two different invitations. Everyone knows enough English to understand what the invitation says after all.

I'm going to think about it for a while. I might change my mind again.

Live music

If I could afford it I'd have these guys coming to play at the party.

They're called The Coffinshakers. If you want to know more, go to their website.

Quickfix when the wallet is empty

I would really like a sleeve. Or two. Well, I have two arms after all. However, money's tight so I'd never be able to pay for something like that before the wedding. Besides, it takes some time to make one too and I don't feel like stressing about it either.

There are solutions though. There are henna tattoos, an ancient way of decorating skin. I won't call it mendi because this technique is found from Morocco to China, and it's called differently depending on where you are.

There are also fake tattoos in the shape of polyester/spandex sleeves. I'm seriously tempted to wear that. If I did get those I'd have to reconsider the sleeve I was going to have on the dress because the tattoo sleeve will end somewhere just below that dress sleeve and that's not very pretty.

The only on-line store I've found in Europe who sells these is found in the UK (of course) and is called Space Monkeys.

Cool shoes

Shoes are evil.

I want these. Iron Fist Oh No Wedges. They're on sale on a UK site in my size.

The final version

I'm going to wink at Star Trek. The yellow dress I found is typical for the late 60's with it's experimental cut. The Star Trek uniforms are equally famous for original cut. Well, not the Star Trek Enterprise then. I don't want people to think "oh, that's a Star Trek dress" so I have decided to not do the two colour thing in the dress. I'm choosing a yellow fabric, but I'll cut the neckline in the asymmetric way Uhura and nurse Chapel's dresses are cut. I think that's the only real detail I need for those who knows their Star Trek to squee. The dress itself has a cut reminding you of a Star Trek uniform tunic from the early The Next Generation era so I really don't have do anything else.

 

I also found the colour scheme for the petticoat. It'll be a strong pink/raspberry red kind of a colour in soft tulle. I think I'm going to nick the idea to tie small strips of aqua tulle to the pink tulle, just like this tutu I spotted on Etsy. Without further ado:

I found the image below as a colour inspiration. I'm also wondering if I should find a polka dot ribbon, a rather wide one, to add to the tulle. I have to be careful though so I don't make it too full, because I'm not making a squaredance dress. I just want some ruffles because it's candy fun.

Sleeves! And a complete design.

I think I have the design now. I only need to decide on the colours. Yellow is wonderful. Do I use it alone or do I add another colour? Navy? Cerise? And that crochet I was thinking about, will I use that idea? I'd rather not think about that now. But having decided on the design is a great step since I can now go ahead and make the pattern and make a dummy.

I'm going to use the sleeve design above. This is a top from Banana Republic which they sold in 2008. Those along with the cut on the vintage 60's dress from this post and some tweaks on width, length, and neckline and adding pockets will be the final design.

Back to the food

I have worked on the menu some and cooked one course. I found a vegetable gumbo with rice that sounded tasty and tried that one. After tweaking the recipe some I must say that it's a winner. Problem though is that okra isn't easy to get hold of here. They're not spectacular in any way and I don't need it to thicken the gumbo so I could leave it out. The thing that gives it the gumbo taste is the roux after all. IMO anyway. We'll see what I end up doing.

We're still having the corn cobs and the corndogs, though I haven't made a trial of those yet. I've caught a cold and cooking isn't a high priority right now. The rocky road is still on. However, I kind of want something more for variation. American food is generally not very vegetarian oriented, it's basically all about meat, meat, meat and some seafood every now and then. However, it's a different story south of the Rio Grande. Burritos? I think so. It's something people eat all over the South too, though it's imported from Mexico.

Tortillas are again easy to make and keep in the freezer. They cost very little when you make them yourself too. Fried potatoes with a chilli sauce, tomato and onion salsa, guacamole, cucumber sticks and kidney bean salsa were the things I was thinking about having to fill the tortilla bread with. In the gumbo we have black beans so I'm trying to vary the bean assortment here. The one thing that has to be made the same day is the fried potatoes, but that something anyone could do. The other things even get better if they're kept cold over night. Well, the cucumber is best cut up the same day too. I think this will have to do actually.

Original gumbo recipe can be found at Meatlessmonday.com

Sunshine!

I think I may have found the dress that will make the foundation of my design.

I'm not going to buy this one though it's a lovely dress. It's too short, and the skirt isn't wide enough IMO. But I love the cut and I can see myself adding pockets to it. A girl has got to have pockets! I'm not going to keep the sleeves and the neckline needs to be lower, but not too low though. Not too long, too short, no décolletage, easy to move around in.

The colour is lovely. That navy is getting more and more difficult to justify. I could have the bottom part of the dress in navy, but the problem is that it might look like I'm wearing an apron. Or possibly too Star Trek-ish. I'm NOT doing geek things here. I'm such a sci fi nerd but star Trek just don't belong in this.

Dress from Beautvintage.com.

Colour!

I've been looking a bit on Etsy.com today, mostly because I'm in need of some inspiration. There are many pretty things to look at over there. For a splash of colour (and things to pull inspiration from), have a look at these! Click on images to go to the shop in question.