Birthday goodies for my 26th!

So I recently turned 26 (Sunday before last to be exact) and as like previous years, I have treated myself to a small shopping spree to celebrate (this year funded by my wonderful husband) I began by purchasing several pieces of leather from a stall at Winterfest. Leather is not something I would usually go for, being a dead animals skin, but as I delve a little further into historical re-enactment, I've realised it is kind of necessary for certain things such as boots and satchels. During the day at Winterfest, I really felt the main things letting down my outfit were my shoes and bag (and lack of petticoat, but that was just due to time constraints)

So I bought 5 reasonable sized pieces from the $2 a piece scrap bin (a few of which I think may have been there by accident, and actually were small full hides)

From left to right: a long matte black piece which I think will be perfect for belts, a really thick piece of off-white that I intend to use as boot soles, a lovely soft to the touch caramel coloured piece, a kinda stiff chocolate brown leather I thought I would use for boots and a super shiny dark brown piece which might not be suitable for historical stuff, but is quite a large piece, so I couldn't resist

After seeing the Marilyn Monroe Exhibition, my wonderful husband encouraged me to spend up some money at Spotlight, so we found our way to the Bendigo store. I found this interesting flesh coloured stretch mesh with gold and bronze sequins that reminded me a bit of the nude/silver beaded/sequined dress from the movie "Some like it Hot". It was on the sale rack for $20p/m and Spotlight was having a 40% off clearance fabrics, which brought it down to $12p/m. I bought 1.5m as well as half a meter of plain flesh coloured stretch mesh for the neckline.

My other bargains include some oriental crepe which was down to $3.60p/m, some blue printed poly voile down to $1.80p/m, 2 of the Gertie print polyesters down to $3.60p/m and an assortment of velvet ribbons for 10c p/m

I also picked up a few patterns from some op-shops we came across in Bendigo, including some Kwik-Sew patterns that will work nicely for nightgowns, a nice princess seam dress pattern in large sizes, a McCalls Retro pattern, an 80's maternity pattern as well as a smart men's blazer pattern.

I also found another pair of red London Rebel Heels, exactly the same as the pair that I already have, but have almost worn to pieces!

When we finally got back from Bendigo, I had to go by my local post office to pick up a couple of parcels. The first of which was from my Nanna and contained a beautiful sweets plate and serving bowl from Peters of Kensington.

The second was a sumptuous hamper from my Dad and his wife. By the time I took this photo, I had already eaten a box of chocolates from it.....

All in all, between the roadtrip to Bendigo, my shopping and presents, I had a pretty enjoyable birthday. Here's to the next year of my life!

Dixie