Nine Times....

...out of ten, there is no plan.  Often, things go well...sometimes they don't.  Today, I thought, shall work on the last of the fascinator bases I've been talking about... and couldn't find the damn thing.  While I was hunting it in the studio (where it wasn't...), I came across a butterfly that said, you could combine me with the small silk flower you made just to see if it was too small...and the purple covered comb you made ages ago....

I can do that, thinks I.  Overthinks, in fact; see the wire that the butterfly is on, has been attached to a needle, to allow me to thread it through the flower, because the wire wouldn't go through on its own...   Well, it wouldn't go through on a needle either...but it did go straight through the heart of the flower.  So far so good.

And then, gentle reader, it all went to hell in a handcart.  Trying to attach the combination was beyond fiddly.  And then this happened :

Note to self : Things that are made of feathers are not suitable for this sort of thing, altogether too delicate. Dammit. If you have to, then attach it at the end....more chance of it staying in one piece.  Though in truth, if it breaks that easily, don't put it on a comb...it'll be safer on a hat.  And really, I should have used glue; stitching the flower on to a sinamay covered comb is almost impossible.  Trying to stitch on the top level only, without getting the thread caught in the tines of the comb would try the patience of a saint.  Growl.  So, what am I left with?

Pretty enough...but not worth the effort, I suspect.  Sorry the photos are awful today, lousy light and not my usual camera...sigh.  At least I finally found the missing fascinator base, and can proceed accordingly.

Taking A Break...

from sorting a box of feathers.  Although I'm sitting at the table, my arms get very tired, very quickly, and there's quite a lot of stretching involved in this exercise.  I didn't appreciate how many feathers I've accumulated...when I go for something, I really go for it, as it were.  Here's where I've got to...the remains of the box...

...and the sorted feathers...

Could really have done with another drawer...think I'll combine the red and the purple.  No, these aren't the only feathers in the collection; there's another large box and a couple of unopened bags (cough).  I have nothing to say in my defense...other than they take up a lot less room than fabric does... snigger...

As a child, I was profoundly allergic to feathers; no feather pillows, and the budgie my mother bought me for a birthday (who knows what she was thinking... maybe she got it for free...that was a recurring theme with her 'presents'...) had to go and live with my great aunt, as it made me really ill.  Just as well I grew out of it, really, or I'd have no cats, as well as no hat making.  I'm surprised by the number of orange feathers in this little lot...not sure that I have much orange sinamay...but hey.  I'm sure I'll think of something to do with them.  I usually do.

I guess I need to go through that other box, see what's in there.  And making a few hats might be in order too...with stitch, of course.