The First Sprouts

The sugar peas on the window sill are doing quite good as you may see from the title.

I’ll plant them into earth this week as I’m going to visit my family during the Easter holidays and therefore am not able to water the cotton. Putting them into the tub with wet newspaper wouldn’t work either as we don’t have windows in the bathroom and the boys aren’t here, either.

Some minutes ago Bambi dispatched the order for some DVDs and I went along and ordered my beloved Anne of Green Gables and its first sequel. :)

I’m not too chatty at the moment, as you may have noticed, due to my academic assingment that is growing quite pleasantly, by now I’ve got about a quarter of the demanded continuous text.

Along the way I am pondering about a new LARP character. No, not Steampunk this time but purest fantasy as it will be an elf. The biggest obstacle to a good character development is her name, at the moment, but I think I’ll ask IRis for help there… ;)

Well, I’ve got to increase my word count to 2000 minimum now, so

Good-bye.

It’s raining today

Originally I wanted to go to the garden to free it from the weeds after I successfully reached independence from all the ivy. :)

But now I only went to the library to get some more copies for my paper (somehow two pages lacked in my collection) and returned to my beloved home with a terrible headache. I hope it is no relapse of my illness, but it doesn’t feel like it, anyway.

Yesterday I met with the Captain of the HMS Anastasia for the first time in a really nice, old (over 100 years) café in the upper town for a chat and a tea. And speaking of tea: today I received a letter from IRis, containing a portion of a potion (yes, wordplay) of lemon and verbena which I am drinking right now as I’m pondering over my notes, thank you, dear!

These are the yet-to-sprout sugar peas that are on my window sill since yesterday evening. The beans are in Bambi’s room as there is more sun during the day. I hope everything will go well and I’ll keep my eyes open for more seeds.

A Fan and a Book

Today I was quite busy getting my request for a second student ID (as I managed to lose the one for next semester somehow) ready and delivering the parcel for the hats-and-headdresses swap to the post office. I’m pretty pleased how the gift turned out this time, and I hope that the girl I made it for will find this, too.
I also set the structure for my paper at Celtic Studies as I met with my tutor, my next concern is whether I should write the paper in German or English. All my sources are in English, by the way, so quotes will be in English anyway. Hard decision.

At my way home when the sun shone down on my face and the air was warm enough to finally herald spring I stopped by at the asia shop to get some pickled ginger and a new fan, the latter mostly for the upcoming Steampunk events as well as for the summer. I’m quite sensitive to heat sometimes, and as Bambi has noticed long before (he brought his fans from his journeys to China), fans make really sophisticated accessories. Mine is made out of sandal-wood and smells grand when I’m fanning it.

Also, I couldn’t help but stumbling into the book shop across the street that I see every time when I look out of the window when I saw that they had a book about gardening, resembling 211 Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Bunty Cutler (my favourite how-to book ever) quite much in its writing style, containing some really amusing anecdotes and providing interesting and useful garden knowledge all in one.

I think I should do to bed now, but I won’t. ^^

The Ivy Fairy

The day before yesterday, when I was in the garden with Simon and the Imp, we kidded around with one of the ivy wreaths and this Historian, Simon’s flat mate, took pictures with this result:

It was already pretty dark in the staircase at this time, so the photo has been shot without flash and portraits my skin a little darker – aka. healthier ^^ – than normal, but I like the picture very much.

Sadly, there’s is nothing like a Ivy Fairy in the Flower Fairies. :)

Indeed, this is kind of the first “product” from my garden!

My Secret Garden

Yesterday I got a carrier pigeon from Simon the Kobold with the question if I were familiar with plants.
I told him, yes, I were.
Now I’ve got a garden.

My own! Small, but precious.

It’s right upon the old city walls. The boys let me care for it as they are not very interested in gardening and didn’t even know what to sow there.

At the moment it’s still pretty overgrown with ivy, but there are two shrubs of black currant, a plum tree, peppermint and maybe even some wild strawberries. I can’t wait for the first blossoms to open!

Today, with a little help from Simon and Bertie who came over for a visit, I got rid of a lot of dead wood and even more ivy that choked the other plants. Well, there’s more than enough material for bonfires with bread-on-a-stick and gazing for the milky way now! We even slung the ivy twines to wreaths and hung them up to dry in the shed. Why waste something that you can burn later? The prettiest of these fairy crowns now rests on a window sill in Simon’s staircase (and I wonder how long…).

I also added a new one to the categories, Sally Gardens, which will be the one for all things concerning plants, flowers, gardening and the harvest moon, named after an Irish traditional that is loaded with memories for me.

The Ugly Duckling – Dress

I finally finished one of my bigger projects during the last weeks: The Duck Dress (aka. the ugly duckling because it was so obvious).

It all began with this cute duck fabric, cotton, to be precisely. I happened to own the perfect shade of thread for it and so I started thinking of a sun-frock, something light to wear at the lakes in summer, something to take off easily without zippers or buttons, something like a blue sky, light and full of promises for a great day.

I used a pattern I had altered for my baroque / rococo inspired jacket (which I showed here ages ago, but maybe you remember…?), added a skirt, some ruffles and a sash and started to sew.

This is the result:

It turned out quite well if you ask me, cute, feminine yet maidenly, a little bit vintage, a little bit Rockabilly and even a wee bit Alice (just imagine a white apron worn over it ^^).

I’m eagerly waiting for warmer days now to take pictures of it when worn. Maybe it will be when Jules comes over for a visit at the end of the month…

Intermezzo: Lolita Checklist

When I was browsing my favourite blogs I stumbled upon Victoria Suzanne’s Lolita Checklist on Lolita Charm and found her challenge to write my own list quite interesting. First of all, I love lists, I always write them: For assignments, to-do-lists, for things I need and things I want, things that inspire me and birthday presents. Second, I thought about my own definition for Lolita or rather how I define myself as a Lolita. And after reading different of these checklists I thought I was able to take the challenge and here it is:

My Lolita Checklist

Loves her Teddy bear like Christopher Robin loves Pooh.

Could spend days in antique or thrift stores.

Adores children’s books.

Is an anglophile.

Has daydreams about wild rose gardens in old castle’s ruins.

Sings musical songs aloud on the platform at the railway station.

Dreams of dancing all night long in a great ballroom.

With prince charming.

Doesn’t need much make-up, only a little rouge and mascara, sometimes.

Sets her mind at rest during long walks in the countryside or along the river.

Dresses in elegant colours like grey, black and rosé rather than in neon.

Loves green.

Rather designs and sews her dresses than buying something that everybody has.

Calls a poupée account her own and tries to update daily. ^^

Tends to use SPF 50 in summer to keep her white skin unburned but gets burned nonetheless.

Loves moths (look and name!) but wouldn’t want to have them in her room for any worldly treasure.

Collects old books, fabrics, lace and stamps.

Dreams of having a successful band with stunning stage personalities and outfits.

Would love to own a manor house for Steampunk or Victoriana LARP or an adequate small hotel downtown.

Loves to lie on mellow moss in a forest watching the clouds go by and then get up with dry leaves entangled in her hair.

Would rather be Rose Red than Snow White.

Could take a bath in good tea (figuratively), in a clawfoot tub, of course.

Could spend days browsing Manufaktum.

Does crafts like embroidery, crochet, spinning and sewing.

Is practically never found without her sketchbook.

Is vain enough to check her look in nearly every shop-window – just like Mary Poppins.

Sees fairies, goblins and leprechauns everywhere.

Lives in a fairytale.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Today will be full of work, but that’s okay. I’m not only sewing my first apron today but also making some steampunky combs and going through the copies for my assignment. Oh, and there’s a drawer (Irish tarraiceán) in the castle’s kitchen that has to be finally repaired (who says that a princess can’t be practical?).

Bambi and the Satyr are both abroad today and so it is a little bit quiet around here. Maybe I’ll bake some muffins later, to fill the emptiness… ;)

Surprisingly, baking has always been something to earth me. When I’m flying off the handle, baking helps. I thought about a new category for the blog, Teaparty, to write more about the castle kitchen and its production.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit,

Bonnie (today in green)

Preparing for… Saint Patrick’s Day

Well, Saint Patrick’s Day isn’t too big in Germany as… you know… he’s Irish after all. But as I’m at Celtic Studies and as we really want to fulfill the cliché, we celebrate it, kind of, anyway.

Kitschy and stereotype. Who cares? The photo's still great.

Declaredly, I think that pouring paint into a river and dyeing beer is not that… hell no! I’d rather go for these:

1. Wear green. Kind of a must. And if it is only a t-shirt or earrings, but really, you should take a green marker with you to help those who don’t wear something green – make-up can count, too. *g*
2. Bake something green. Besides, you can eat green which would be healthy, too. Mookychick recommended shamrock-shaped biscuits with green frosting, but food colouring can be added to almost everything except chocolate cake (white chocolate doesn’t count).
3. Another thing for lunch could be coloured pasta in orange and green, together with normal one, to represent the Irish flag. Well, yes, I know that it is not orange but heraldic gold, but it looks like orange, go live with it, Leprechaun.
4. Go to your local Irish pub. Most larger cities have one, Marburg not excluded (not as I could be found there tomorrow, it’s way too small and crowded and there’s a band playing, too. I’d really like to hear my own thoughts, thank you very much). It was obvious, right?
5. Surprise, surprise!: Listen to Irish folk songs all day long. Yep, also newer compositions. Yep, also stuff from other countries than Ireland. You know, as long as there’s a fiddle in it… (goth, please don’t take me to serious!)
6. Watch weird to silly videos on Youtube related to Ireland. My favourites are this one from Family Guy, Final Fantasy XI (I admit that I like Riverdance, kind of) and most of all this one (4:57, last sketch) from Smack the Pony.
7. Look Irish. Well, there’s something in for nearly everyone if you go through this article from 1995.

Dramatic Effects

After I paid a visit to the doctor for a final blood count this morning I signed up for a craft swap. Again. Now it’s not only Headdresses & Hats but also, mad as a hatter, Alice in Wonderland (due to the hype of Mr. Burton’s… special… version). I’m really looking forward to the profile of the latter. I already got the one for the first swap and am full of ideas. :)

Something I forgot to show you when I was talking about hares yesterday is this wonderful post by Rima from The Hermitage. I really admire her painting skills.

Yesterday evening I felt the urge to draw the design for something I call “Brit Lolita”. In fact, it’s more of a Classic Lolita-Mori Girl crossover with robust fabrics, leather patches at the elbows and motives like roses, white and red dragons (together with harps and thistles to represent all parts of the UK ;) ), cups of tea or city silhouettes.

I still need a scanner... photos are just not the same.

Also, I checked an important point that I had on my to-do list for weeks and cleared some points for a workshop I want to attend in autumn. Now I’ve got to find my university papers again as they were not at their usual place… Oh cruel disarray!
*faints for dramatic effect*
However.