Category Archives: Love My Life

Love My Life

The Gamblers Overland Co.

Posted on by kathousekelli70

There's a new stagecoach coming to town when The Gamblers set up for the Heartland Territorial in July this year.

One of the projects Jack and I worked on this time was the building of a stagecoach for The Gamblers.

Jack had worked out a design and with the use of Mad Dog Tannen's shed and tools, we set to creating saw dust. A couple of days of drawing out and cutting and we had a blank slate ready for me to paint.

 

After a few questionable moments, we finally got things together with some changes or new ideas brought in along the way. This stagecoach needed to pack down which we managed to do in the lightest and easiest construction we could think of.

 

After many days, The Gamblers Overland Co. came to life and appears to be sitting in Monument Valley somewhere at dusk (well actually if you look closely, the left hand shelf has the two mittens featured on it 😉 )

 

Finally, it has 3 shooting positions – front of stagecoach table, door table and the rear table. Oh! And Jack cut the spokes for the wheels in two flat sheets and decided that he wanted them to sit out from the coach and to roll?!

She's all varnished up and looking mighty purty! For a full picture however, well, you'll just have to wait 'til July when she gets rolled out on her maiden voyage at 'Another Roll of the Dice'.

 

See you on the Gold Coast in July Gamblers!

Kat xo

 

1890’s for me!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Yes! I'm doing a gown for me! Yay!

Thanks to Annie Hicock for passing on some check flannel fabric and for an inspiration photo that I found on Pinterest I felt a new 1890's gown would be the go for me.

My inspiration – this sweet little, simple looking skirt and bodice. Now the hat I had already made on a trip to Texas last December?! It just needs the finishing touches of brim trim and a dead bird or feathers as such.

 

Meh, still thinking about that decoration seeing as I didn't get to the shop in Mount Tamborrine that has the most divine hand constructed velvet flowers.

Back to the main construction and I started on the skirt using a Buckaroo Bobbins pattern of the Primrose Skirt. That will work but I didn't want the semi check plaid running straight across. Nothing like making work for myself. (She says rolling her eyes)

The fabric had that much movement in it I was almost tempted to give up and construct something else. Always up for a challenge, I persisted after I got to match the front panel how I wanted. (Now with somewhat gritted teeth)

Eventually I got all the panels around the skirt to match as close as possible and I got to thinking about how much fabric the pattern matching was using up and whether I would have enough for the bodice. I also had some black velvet on the shelf and decided the inverted pleat section in the rear of the skirt would look good using this. It will certainly match in with the use of it for the waistband.

 

With the saving I made using the velvet I had enough of the plaid fabric to definitely play with further pattern matching on the bodice.

It's time to use the old noodle and work out how in the world I can create the look I want with the bodice and the hidden closures required to get in and out of it.

I got that semi worked out, fabric's cut and pieced together in order for it to look like a blouse (shirt waist) and short jacket. So far, so good.

 

For now, I'm on track. I need to do some more deciphering of the inspiration photo and research closures to see if anything matches with the idea in my head.

Brain power required.

Kat xo

 

When In Texas….

Posted on by kathousekelli70

It's go bold, go big or go home! Lol!

So here I present the 'I Love Texas' outfit that I made for Pistol Packin' Pami.

You would have seen it boldly worn at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix at Winter Range 2018! (Tuesday over there)

Others desiring this similar theme were a little disappointed when I said I couldn't do a corset for them because 'somebody else' was already getting it.

Pami wanted a Texas flag corset incorporated with blue bonnets and the main part to be like the flag. We put our heads together and came up with the star embroidered on the blue, the red and white on the left as per the flag – perfect – and at the back the two middle sections would be white and feature the Texas state flower, the Bluebonnet. (The 'lupinus texensis' the bluebonnet was adopted as the official state flower by the Texas legislature in 1901)

 

Pami, being a colourful character who I treasure, loves colour and so we went with a red top with a small blue and a white frill in a style she is familiar with.

 

Her flamenco styled skirt in red features a blue frill with white embroidered stars, the white frill has a smaller version of the blue bonnets and a plain red frill – see where I went with that? Keeping it in similar order to the flag itself.

 

With, of course, a quick little headpiece to boot!

 

The final product and one very happy cowgirl! You look amazing my friend, can't wait to see more photos of you in this outfit on range.

 

Somebody please post more pic's on Facebook so I can see it in all her glory!

Kat xo

 

Days Have Flown

Posted on by kathousekelli70

It doesn't take long for days to pass and from last I wrote we have been to Newcastle to the girl grandbabies and caught up with them and all girly things.

A dip at the beach, a catch up with Jack's daughter as well, lunch with them all, a BBQ on Sunday and in between its dolls, puzzles, scooters and playing.

 

We dropped off Jackrabbit Johnny's sombrero and vaquero coat and had a great catch up with him and Ruth on the Sunday night.

Yes his jacket does fit him and he was over the moon. I look forward to seeing it with his whole outfit together.

 

Monday it's on to Sydney to catch a quick flight to Adelaide to see the boy grandbabies. Cars, planes, swimming, beach, bubbles in the backyard. You can fit a lot in in a couple of nights and a full day but still wasn't long enough. They have grown so much but I did get to see Archer go to Kindy this morning and Jack went with Charlie to day care before our flight back to Sydney.

 

Had a good morning with Dad and Mum checking out their new house, breakfast and coffee with Aunty Lynn as well before heading back to Grafton to house/dog sit for a few days.

Side note: this now includes a tyre change before we can go anywhere North.

It's humid here in Taree and warming up fast for the day, once the tyre is fixed we can get on the road to Grafton.

Make each day count, hope yours is a good one.

Kat xo

 

Weddings, Parties, Anything!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

With the recent wedding of Ace McKenzie to Scarlet Assasin, I can now reveal her gorgeous gown, Ace's vest and Dallas Roarke's corset gown that I created for the wedding party.

Measurements were obtained 12months ago, sourcing of fabric and lace from various parts of the globe took place and then it was time for getting it together.

I tried a new corset construction, or boned corset bodice I prefer to term it, much more suitable for a wedding gown. Mock up corsets were sent over for fittings, with progress moving on from there.

Scarlet was to have a recreation of a gown she had seen with a couple slight alterations from the original picture. Suffice to say I was happy with how everything turned out but was still waiting for it to arrive safely in Australia to her and know that everything fitted perfectly.

A couple conversations with Aspen Filly confirmed what I was to do with the skirt and a tip on the horsehair use with the satin frill to get just the right amount of bounce and wave was greatly appreciated. New technique learnt! 😉

Satin taffeta underskirt and overskirt with satin and crystal organza frills on one yoke to create less bulk beneath the bodice.

 

Corset bodice of satin taffeta and full pearl bead, sequinned lace, piped edge finish, rigilene and steel boning.

 

The finished product in full – spectacular!

 

Ace's requirements were for a vest. Simple enough, just needed the Ace cards embroidered on the front and in a red shot black taffeta. Some playing around with embroidery designs and figuring out placement, I nailed it first go with the hoop change in the middle. Happy day's!

 

Dallas wanted the Ace cards down the front of the corset on the same red taffeta coordinated with gorgeous lace skirt overlay. I did however, have to do her front section twice over to get the cards lined up. Slightly frustrating but I got there.

The red and black is always a sensational pairing.

 

Then came the 'how are we going to get this back there?' To which came a number of expensive options finally arriving at a more reasonable one. I found and used Luggage Free, sending my luggage ahead with the said wedding items inside. What a fantastic service and was there in plenty of time to steam and let set as needed.

I've been waiting until the 10th February for this reveal and so glad their wedding turned out to be a sensational day with family and friends and that I was there in spirit and thread! 🙂

Ace sent through some photos taken by The Boneyard Wrangler so now can share the beauty of the final production.

 

Congratulations once again Ace and Scarlet!

Kat xo

 

Where Are We?

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Not in Kansas anymore Toto, or further south in Oklahoma! We are back in the land of Oz though – Australia that is!

After a few flights and some fun in Los Angeles we arrived back in Australia to Brisbane last Sunday.

We headed to Burpengary to stay with wonderful friends Pearl Starr and Chuckwagon for a couple of nights! Sensational, plenty of talking, more than a few drinks for the boys, plenty of laughs and catching up.

I enjoyed my mornings with Pearl immensely, getting up early and going for a half hour walk, followed by a lazy swim in the pool, breaky on the patio all before 9am. Feel good moments with my besty – priceless! Didn't want to leave after a couple really nice days with her.

 

We left them on Tuesday mid morning and went a little further North to the Warbirds Museum in Caboolture. John our guide was funny and very knowledgeable with his pet love, and of course had been his mechanic life, the F111's.

 

We saw some of the guys working on restoring a Mustang and a Gypsy Moth with a Dak standing outside waiting it's turn. When the Dakota is done it will be taken over to Normandy and a flight recreation of the battle of Normandy will take place. Check out the nose cone art!

 

They do joy flights here in the old planes and I think Jack should just bite the bullet and go for one. He's been talking about it for long enough so maybe July for his birthday is going to be a good time to do it.

 

A small Museum with big hearts/big kids running it.

Heading down to the Gold Coast, we spent a couple nights with Dug Deeper and Trixie. Catching up with them is always fun while discussing shoots, holiday destinations, laughing, chatting and more! You guys still work too hard and need to come play more. We very much appreciate you looking after things and having us over.

With doctor visits, trips to the unit, and some shopping done we are off to Lawrence along the mighty Clarence River for a quick catch up with Paddlewheel and Emerald and of course the pup-ettes – the dogs, Bundy and Coke!

 

It's always a joy to sit and talk with them and make sure they are doing okay. Our discussions often include outfits, sewing, shooting and where we will all meet up next or places we've been, there's never a shortage of conversation.

We will see them again next week as we come back to look after the pups while they are away.

Back in the car we get and its down to Newcastle to see the grand girlies, Jack's son and daughter-in-law and on Sunday we will also see Jack's daughter. It's been a while and will be great to catch up with them all.

That's it on the travel and family front at the moment. It's a busy week ahead and we'll be shooting the following Saturday! Woohoo!

Have a wonderful wedding tomorrow Ace McKenzie and Scarlett Assassin!

Kat xo

 

Where The Big Kids Play

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Haa haa haa, Jack and I are headed for Universal Studios today for fun in the sun.

Looking forward to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter of course! Having been a fan of HP since reading to the kids when they were younger (we would get the new book and all read together so no one had to wait on the other one to finish reading it first!), it is definitely a must see.

After a bus trip in reasonable LA traffic we made it to the park and were able to get through easily and quickly.

We headed for Harry Potter World first, visiting the 9 3/4 platform for Hogwarts and on to the ride. Wow! Even Jack thoroughly enjoyed the ride and he hasn’t even seen the movies or knows the books!

From there it was through the park and to the lower lot, hitting the Jurassic Park ride with its 84ft drop off the waterfall and then the Transformers 3D ride. Sensational!

We saw the special effects show, the animal actors and the Waterworld show was spectacular! Heaps of special effects and stunts.

We lucked it at every turn, getting straight onto rides or very short waits. The place was packed enough and it’s not even peak season.

Phew! What an awesome day!

Smile! You’re on camera!

Kat xo

Australia Day

Posted on by kathousekelli70

26th January indicates Australia Day, a day off, a long weekend full of beaches, barbies, drinks, games, fireworks and concerts.

During community events and reenactments, citizenship and awards ceremonies take place along with Australian of the Year.

It officially marks the landing of the First Fleet in 1788. I don't recall thisduring history lessons at school but apparently they saw it necessary to go and form a penal colony in the then, New Holland, after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in North America. So Australia got all the convicts (yes, I descend from one)! Haa haa haa.

Anyway I'm not giving a full history lesson today. Whatever you decide to do for Australia Day, I hope it's a good one and let me know who gets Australian of the Year.

 

Cheers big ears! Onya mate! Break out the esky, thongs and the terry towelling hat! Throw another shrimp on the barbie and have a lamb cutlet!

Kat xo

For our American friends –

Glossary:

  • Cheers big ears – an Aussie salutation when having a beer
  • Onya mate – slang for 'good on you mate', mate – friend
  • Esky – NZ, chilly bin, US, cooler
  • Thongs – you wear on your feet, flip flops
  • Barbie – not a doll, short for barbecue

 

 

 

 

Here’s Yer Sign!!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Well, this is a sign to behold. One of the secret squirrel projects prior to Christmas was a special request from Texas Jack Daniels.

The idea was for a pack down prop to be put up outside their RV when on ranges across the nation. Many cowboy's distinguish their spots by flags, lights, signs etc and this one is sure going to let you know that you have arrived at Texas Jack Daniels (TJD) and Shotglass' camp.

The requirements: a gambler, a saloon girl, the Texas flag, a bottle of Jack Daniels, a shot glass, their aliases and should measure around 3ft tall by 4ft wide when assembled. Okay! Let this brain get thinking a little and see what I can come up with.

After a short time of contemplation and use of a couple of actual photos of TJD and Shotglass, I sent through my thoughts for approval. Next I drew it out on timber and we were under way!

Stage 1: drawing the design on the timber, took me a long time to draw the saloon girl face, (anything else but face's is my usual thought)

 

Stage 2: cutting, sanding (yes, did it myself, she wouldn't have had feathers on her boa otherwise)

 

As TJD was keen to see it to completion with photos to give Shotglass for Christmas, I cracked on.

Stage 3: black – everything I do for props starts with a black base coat. Saloon walls, gambler hat, saloon girl feathers, background between her arms and carpet

 

Stage 4: saloon walls first

 

Stage 5: working on the saloon doors, layer by layer

 

Stage 6: adding a bit of Texas flair, keeping the louvre door look happening, more shading and hinges

 

Stage 7: aliases (hmm taking a look at the aliases now, I see a flaw that I may have to rectify. The aliases are flat and by saying that I mean if you look where some of the letters flow from flat timber to louvre – should be shadow)

 

Now fixed!

Total layers: timber walls 6 layers , saloon doors 7 layers, aliases 3 layers.

As each day drew to an end I would send TJD a number of photographs of the progress.

Always starting from the background first it was onto the gambler. Depending on where it was at and if waiting on paint to dry, then I would switch over to the saloon girl or add more detail if I thought a section needed more.

Stage 9: onto the carpet for both

 

Stage 10: the table in the background was next. My original thought was to have the gambler holding the bottle and still hadn't quite worked out the shot glasses. The photo had a table in it and so became the perfect idea to include it for the bottle and shot glass.

Stage 11: boots and pants

 

Stage 12: saloon skirt, boa, gloves, hair feathers – we both decided red would be a great colour to make this pop, besides, it is one of Shotglass favourite colour's also.

 

Stage 13: whiskey bottle and shot glass, saloon girls legs

 

Stage 14: more shading to gambler boots and saloon skirt

 

Stage 15: black base to saloon girl boots, apron front of skirt and gambler vest

 

Stage 16: continue shading saloon girl skirt, boa and apron front. Stripes, buttons and chain to gambler vest with additional shading.

 

Moving right along into another day and I'm starting to get to finer details on some areas.

Stage 17: let's add some gimp trim and fringing to the apron front and black in the fan.

 

Stage 18: detail to boots, eyelets, hooks, laces and detail the fan

 

Stage 19: flick back to the gambler and it's time to do the cane and hands, black in the corset and bust of the saloon girl

 

Stage 20: skin layers take time

 

Stage 21: black in the gambler coat and start shading

 

Another new day dawns and I'm still thinking about how to give the corset more detail rather than just a colour.

Stage 22: add red shading to corset, black in hair

 

Stage 23: she needs jewellery – draw, black in, shade more to corset, shading to gambler coat arms, cravat and tie pin, add colour to necklace, draw in lace pattern to corset.

Stage 24: shade jewellery, paint lace and shade corset. Tie pin, collar and cuffs, hatband

 

Stage 25: do both their hair, shadowing to gambler hat, and face skin tone

 

Stage 26: moustache and eyes to gambler, fringe, earrings, facial features to saloon girl (starting to sweat now, really want to get this face right)

 

Stage 27: more shading to facial features to both, hat shadow to face of gambler, touch ups where required.

Stage 28: stand back and admire my own handy work. Loved working on this piece!

 

Stage 29: lacquer! Now the colours really pop!!

 

Stage 30: assembled

 

Stage 31: brackets and posts – thanks to Jack for working out a better solution of my half baked idea.

 

Total layers: Gambler – carpet 5, table 5, bottle and glasses 6, boots 4, coat 5, cane 4, vest 6, pants 3, hair 5, hat 5, tie 7, face 10.

Total layers: Saloon Girl – carpet 5, boa 5, gloves 3, skirt 7, corset 8, fan 4, boots 5, hair 6, face and skin 10.

A total of 39.5 hours later over a period of days, this is what we finally have!

The photos don't do it justice and I think they will be more than ecstatic when they finally have it in real life, come Land Run, when it will make its initial appearance on range.

That was a fun piece!

Cheers! Kat xo

 

Vaquero

Posted on by kathousekelli70

I've been procrastinating a little on this one but finally worked out what I was going to do and got it done.

The order was for a vaquero jacket but 'I don't want it shiny! I want it to look worn in' was the request. Okay……so I had to start thinking dyeing and distressing, shouldn't be a problem.

Eventually I found the right colour fabric we were after in a sturdy medium.

I sourced a braid that goes really well with it and different to other soutache braids I had been working with previously. This worked extremely well with the curves I needed. It's a little coarser than the usual soutache but worked well for this project.

I wanted to include some sort of studs or riveting this time but thinking of the 'non shiny' scenario, it was back to the Internet to look at techniques for distressing nickel.

One hundred, shiny nickel rivets spent a good 2 hours soaking in some vinegar, then tipped that off, didn't seem to do anything.

 

Next step, hydrogen peroxide and salt! Holy cow, don't want to leave it in that too long unless you want stuff completely rusted! I think I did that for a bout 15mins maximum getting the desired result.

 

In the meantime, it was time to put the pieces together. Chalk pouncing (well baby powder in this case) and drawing up the designs with chalk. I could now get on with pinning and stitching the braid in place.

 

Next came the lining and something didn't look right. Well actually it wasn't looking right before that and I had kept going back to the pattern trying to work out where I'd gone wrong. Finally the light bulb goes off! Thankfully nothing major and nothing that a quick unpick/seam ripper, a pair of scissors, a different pattern piece couldn't fix! AND it didn't involve redoing the braid. Phew!

 

Everything is now together and it's onto the riveting. Yee haw looking fantastic! Hand sewing to the hem done. Frogs made, stitched on and my special silver buttons that I gave up to this project.

 

I love it but it's still too 'shiny' so taking a scrap piece I start playing with bleach to trying get some areas to take on a sun damaged effect. Different strengths appear to not have made a scrap of difference to the overall colour. So this morning I mixed a sprayable mix of white and cream acrylic paint to simulate some sweat marks.

 

I'm going to have to play more with this procedure. Stay tuned!

Kat xo