I didn't tell a soul, and they all promised to keep it a secret. - --LUCY RICARDO, I Love Lucy

MY LATEST SEWING PROJECT WAS INSPIRED BY ONE OF LUCILLE BALL'S

OUTFITS IN "I LOVE LUCY".

 

I USED VINTAGE VOGUE PATTERN V9000.

It was actually pretty easy but it WAS time consuming.
The skirt part is 6 panels which then make a circle skirt and the blouse part was lots of bits.
It took bucket loads of coffee to firstly cut out the pattern pieces and then another galloon of Earl Grey to then pin & cut out the fabric & then litres of Camomile Tea to then MARK the pattern pieces. So many darts !

BY THE LIVIN' HARRY!

I really like the pointed collar & the funky turned up pointy sleeve cuffs. (which were surprisingly simple to do).
It is navy and white polka dots with white collar & cuffs.
I am a big fan of simple classic styles that have interesting design details.

I haven't made the matching belt yet because I haven't got the weird device needed to punch the belt hole whatchamacallits.

All in all I'm pretty stoked with how it turned out and I think (now all the pieces are cut out) I will make more of this pattern.

I am a fan of a cotton shirt dress. In Queensland it is a very wearable classic vintage piece

xoxoxoxoxo

 

 

 xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

 

 

I Sure Love Thunder Storms and Neon Signs - Wayne Hancock

Thanks everybody so much for all your wonderful comments and well wishes after my last blog post. You are restored my faith in humanity again. :) xoxoxoxox

 

I am now feeling GREAT. My meds have been sorted and for the first time in ages

I have energy and am filled with enthusiasm & excitement for the future.

*********************

 

As I said in my last post, in the middle of my brain meltdown was Greazefest    

http://www.greazefest.com/

I have been going to Greazefest since it first began (shows my age) and I tell you with no exaggeration that it is the highlight of my year. If you don't know what GF is I'll sum it up:

Greazefest (for me) is a weekend of rocking out to kick-arse frantic brilliant rockabilly music, losing my voice from screaming at bands for MORE and squealing hysterically at everybody in ear shot "OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG!!! I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!! " , non-stop gabbering and laughing with friends and confused strangers alike, gawking in awe at jaw dropping cool cars and getting tarted up to the nines in my 'specially for Greazefest' threads.

For me personally, GF is all about the music.  I'm not really into the whole car, pin up & markets thing. Don't get me wrong, all of that is flash but I'd rather plant myself on a bar stool behind the mixing desk and watch crazy hot bands continuously for 3 days straight.

The line up of bands this year can only be described as a rockabilly music lovers wet dream.

Looking back it is hard to pick my favourites but I will say that the stand outs for me were "A Man Called Stu" (HIGHLIGHT: rocking out hard core with my super energetic faux-daughter Prudie on the dance floor to a Zombie Ghost Train song), the energy of "The Hi-Boys", "The Flattrakkers" who almost caused a bloody riot with the crowd who wanted an encore as the drummer was going OFF flicking his long hair around & twirling his drum sticks like he was playing for Metallica not a rockabilly band! GOLD!! and of course the main event.....

WAYNE HANCOCK.

 

Wayne & I ... JOY!

 

I have been waiting for this bloke to tour again since I saw him last in a little dance hall at Petrie 12  years ago. I have all his CDs and TBF & I are HUGE fans.
We jostled through the crowd and tried (unsuccessfully) to get right up the front.  It didn't matter because as soon as Wayne started singing I went into some sort of western swing trance and was transported to some other dimension.  A dimension of absolute bliss and toe tapping happiness.
At one point I looked around me and I swear the  3 big burly cowboy hat wearing fellas (not naming any names) were clutching each other with tears in their eyes yelling,  "He's just so amazing".


ZACH Guitar LEGEND

And don't get me started on the guitarist Zachary. Rusty Pinto was standing next to me audibly sighing in appreciation at this fella's crazy guitar playing. Everybody was commenting on how talented he was. 
When Wayne sang "Thunder Storms and Neon Signs" and the whole crowd joined in I got tingles through my whole body. The complete positive vibration of the crowd was the BEST medicine I could have ever received.
If I could bottle that shit I would be a gazzillionare!!!
TBF & I also had the privilege of meeting Mr Hancock and his band members Zach & Huck and I can honestly say that they are just the most lovely down to Earth friendly blokes.



TBF with Wayne

Non-music highlights include:

- winning a free burrito from Pacos Tacos who make the most delicious scrummy Mexican food. Drooooool

- Sammy & Dave at the Air Stream Events Group who supplied me with galloons of delectable coffee and sell the now famous Bacon & Egg Sausage. No you don't understand. ... It's bacon AND egg IN a sausage.

- Seeing my super sexalicious friend Kat win a trophy for her beautiful Cadillac.
(shameless plug: Kat makes the most BEAUTIFUL hair flowers at: Kat's Cadillac Vintage

- Meeting up with my FB friends from over the ditch InZed. The wonderful Crowfoots.

Mr Crowfoot.

I decided right at the beginning that this GF would be the GF of a million selfies.
My goal was to get as many selfies (are they still called selfies if other people are in the shot???) as I could.... no matter HOW ANNOYING it became.
I didn't get a million but I got about one hundred.
If you click on the link below you can see them all and if you turn on your speakers you will hear the main event Wayne Hancock.

THANK YOU TO LORI LEE AND ALL THE GREAZEFEST TEAM FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK IN BRINGING US THIS WEEKENDER.

THANKS LORI LEE... YOU ROCK !!!!

THE WEEKEND CLEANED OUT  MY MENTAL COBWEBS EVEN BETTER THAN A BEX AND A GOOD LIE DOWN

 

I love a good toilet selfie.

 

 

oxoxoxoxxoxo

You're only Given a Little Spark of Madness. You musn't lose it. - Robin Williams R.I.P

I haven't blogged in a bit and have considered chucking it in.

About a month ago my brain decided "Right Vicki. Enough is Enough. I've had enough of all this guff. I'm off" and I had what is commonly known as "a fucking nervous breakdown".

Now, I've previously had what is medically known as "fucked up episodes" but this was a whole new kettle of rotting fish.  I felt that I literally could not cope with even the simplest things.  Life was just all too much. The news. All the things I HAD to do. Money. Lack of Money. My weight. Pressure to not fail.  My Family.  My Health. Bad Drivers. Rude People. Deaths and Sickness of Good People.  The fact we can't have Children. The Pressure to be a Good Person. Why is the World so Horrible. And on and on.

Luckily for me I still had a small fragment of consciousness and very quickly took myself off to the Doctor. I can tell you that it does NOT help when you are having a full blown panic attack/mental breakdown to have the stinkiest man in the universe sit next to you in the waiting room while you are trying to focus on taking big deep breaths.

I was told to have the next week and a half off work (no questions asked), she doubled my meds dosage & booked me in to see a psychologist.
For the next week I slept and created a Vicki Den of Tranquillity room aka Vicki's Sewing Room.

I hit Greazefest in the middle of all of this & now THAT seriously the BEST medication ever. I was very anxious before going because I was still feeling very nervy & fat & like a big round poo. I needn't have worried though.
Great music including Wayne Hancock Funny as all shit fantastic friends and bopping around like.... well.... a looney. (and taking 50 million selfies )

Unfortunately for me doubling my dosage did the opposite of HELP me and instead turned my brain to pea soup mush. My brain looked over all the side effects available with this dosage and thought to itself "Screw you Vickster let's experience ALL  of those fuckers at once! mwahhhhaahhahahaha". 
Not good. At all.
Imagine your brain feels like it is growing & stretching inside your cranium and you seriously feel like you are going to have a stroke, vomit and die.  And then add in a nice dose of the flu.....

then you start praying for death as the grief of 10 million souls enters your mind and fills it with terrible terrible sadness.

Off to the Doctor again.  "Ummmmm Doc. I think I might have to go back onto my initial dosage".

She agrees wholeheartedly. "But here take one of these as well. They take the EDGE off. It's only a very small dosage". I'm beginning to feel a bit like Judy Garland.
So, last night I take my normal meds AND this new funky tablet that will help calm me the fuck down.
Ummmm no. No it doesn't calm me down.
This morning around 2am I wake up and my body feels... totally like weird man. 
Like all of my skin is numb and tingling.
Then about once every 30 seconds it is like somebody has a super sonic TENS machine hooked up to my entire body & they crank it for about 10 seconds so it's like I'm being tasered.
I feel totally zoobed out like a mad scientist has given me anesthetic to freeze my body. My lungs feel really tight & I can't breath in deeply. I manage to have a drink of water & I finally drift into a coma.

I don't mean to make you all bummed out or anything. 

Today is WAYYYYYYYY the best I've felt in weeks. I have some energy again and I can feel the fog lifting from my squishy brain.
I went for a lovely walk along the waterfront this morning.

I have to learn to take care of myself better. To stop comparing myself to others.  Learn to say NO.
Stop being so frigging hard on myself. I can't be everything to everybody and I certainly can't please everyone.

I have another 9 visits with the shrink-dink and I think this will do me good and is probably long overdue.  It's a journey.  A sordid bumpy wonky journey but....

I was considering stopping doing this blog.   I didn't know if it was yet ANOTHER pressure that I put on myself. You HAVE to write Vicki. You HAVE to be entertaining.

But I think I WILL keep it.
It's cathartic for me.
I figure if people want to read it they can if they don't want to read it then what-evs.

I will try to stay upbeat.... and soon I will be back to the loud silly crude sheila you know & love.

Thank you to the people who wrote really nice positive comments on my FB page.

xoxoxoxooxox
Mz Vicki

HIFALLUTIN FUNDRAISER FOR BEYOND BLUE

I AM THE WORST BLOGGER LIKE TOTALLY EVERRRRRRRRRR

I've been slack as with this blog. This is mainly because I've been feeling really apathetic and well, boring as petrified shit.  This is now going to change. I am going to blog at least once a week.
Lucky you (insert sarcasm font)

SO I realised this morning that I haven't even blogged about the social event of the decade that I hosted way back on May 24th "The Hifallutin Dinner Dance supporting beyond blue".

How slack is THAT?! Didn't even blog about my own event.
Sheesh.

I'll summarise the night:



The night raised $5000
for beyondblue!!!

West Texas Crude played & were freaking awesome (as usual)
Swing-a-billy Ray D J'd & was fantastic and had everybody boogeying their little buns off all night!
Atomic Martini Vintage put on the fashion parade which was flipping GORGEOUS.  Have I told you how much I love Mz Lisa who runs it?
Camille Caroline the young ambassador from beyondblue spoke and was so sweet and super inspirational. For a chick who suffers from crippling social anxiety she sure does an amazing job at public speaking.
The Sugarfaces photobooth was totally hilarious and so much fun. Once again a HUGE hit.
The raffle prizes were incredible and numerous. In all there were 35 packs of stellar awesomeness.
The dance floor was packed all night!

The stunning and oh-so handsome models for the Atomic Martini Vintage fashion parade

Everybody who came told me that they had an absolute BALL and people are already onto me to do it again next year!! YIKES !

It was just so cool to look out over the crowd and see everybody laughing, smiling and dancing and having a wonderful joyous time. Besides the fundraising element this is the real reason I like to put on events. In a world that can sometimes be well, shithouse, it's nice to have a night out where you can let your hair down & dance around while frocked up and laugh like a banshee.

I also just LURVE how my vintage obsessed friends use the night as an excuse to get really frocked UP in some of the most divine vintage formal wear you will see.

Swoon.

The Bramble Bay Bowls club is such a crackin' venue and the management & staff are just so great to deal with. They just can't do enough for you.

I simply could NOT put this event on without lots of help.
I give huge shout outs to my super brilliant father in-law Mick for running the raffles. 
Thank you to all the companies and people who donated good to the raffle packs.
SugarFaces Photobooth for the wicked fun booth & props.
The beautiful Joey for being my door wench.
My husband for putting up with my stress tanties. 
Say CheeseCakePhotography and Angeline Sees Photography for being the event photographers.
Thank you to my Mum and Mother in law for helping set up the room

and of course there wouldn't even BE a night if nobody came so thank you to everybody who came & supported the night.

Camille the beyondblue youth ambassador speaker

Joey my beautiful door wench

The love of my life my husband Mick aka The Big Fella

My brilliant father in-law Mick aka Super Salesman

I'm in two minds about whether I will do it again. It's a lot of stress (self imposed) and I also feel kind of funny about asking people to donate every year.

To help me decide, I am after some feedback about the night.

 

I would like suggestions on what I could do to improve the night.

Should I have it again?

Is it too expensive?

Is the venue ok?

Food ok?

More fundraising ideas that we could do on the night?

Ticketing system?

etc etc.

 

PLEASE email me on hifallutin72@yahoo.com

 

Again, I'm sorry I've been a sluggish blogger. I hope you'll forgive me.

 

Stay tuned for more frequent awe inspiring blog posts about random shite.

 

 

To see more photos from the night just go to the event Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/hifallutinbeyondblue

I'm a Rockabilly Rebel From Head to Toe

1996 - The Dog House Blues Bar at Broadbeach

I'm sitting on the top floor with my friend who has convinced me to come and watch Hatz Fitz play. I'm in my usual black clothing with massive Nicole Kidmanish hair.
As my eyes scan the crowd down below I see a group of guys walk in. They are all wearing jeans, leather jackets that have had pitures painted on the back, smoking cigarettes and all have hair like Elvis.
I can't take my eyes off them. Most people in the club smirk at them & laugh but I think they look amazing.  One of the lads looks up at me & smiles.

I turn to my friend and say "See that guy there. I'm going to marry him. I'm serious. He's The One".
Of course my friend thought I was off my chops pissed and told me that I was an idiot.

In the words of Spandau Ballet, to cut a long story short I did marry him & we were together for 10 years.

Michael introduced me to a new world. A subculture called "Rockabilly".

That night, like the floozy I was, I went back to his house and that, pretty much, was that.
His house was like stepping back in time. Every single thing was pre-1960. I thought it was the most fantastic thing I had ever seen.

Before that night I was into any music that was hard, fast & angry. A lot of punk, metal and rock.
My very first introduction to rockabilly music was Big Sandy. I remember listening to the CD and this incredible feeling coming over me. It's very strange but I was like a light being switched on.
I couldn't believe that this music wasn't being played everywhere! From then on I was like a sponge when it came to music.

Luckily for me Michael was a DJ & had a MASSIVE music collection. I started with UK psychobilly like Guana Batz & the Meteors and then went to classic rockabilly like Charlie Feathers and Gene Vincent.

I went to my first Wintersun in 1996 and in those days there were 2 groups. The Rockabillies and The Rock and Rollers.  The Rockabillies were all about wearing vintage, drinking, swearing, music, dancing and being loud.
The Rock n Rollers wore fluro poodle skirts and danced to 'not too fast or loud' music.

Back in those days we had no internet. *gasp* No digital cameras. No REPRO clothing. No Facebook.

We had to find old 1950s women's magazines at swap meets and garage sales and practice doing our hair to look like the gals in them.  It was exciting to find a fabulous vintage frock at the Toowoomba Swap meet for $20.
The more I discovered about this era the more I fell in love and discovered that this was who I was.
I was very lucky to have a few vintage style 'mentors' in Michael when it came to music, my neighbour Jacqui (aka Kitty Von Purr) and our house mate John who taught me everything I needed to know about wearing and buying vintage.

First and foremost this group of people who called themselves "Rockabillies" cared about the music NUMBER ONE.

Events were based around the music and dancing (and grog). 
Most of the guys wore jeans, leather jackets, creepers OR gab jackets & awesome rayon shirts.  Most of the girls wore vintage or sewed their own clothes.  But the 'scene' didn't revolve around the clothing.    This subculture was a group of people who LOVED rockabilly music but then also LOVED the whole DESIGN aspect of the era of the 1950s. The furniture, the cars, the clothing, the textures and fabrics and the colours. 

*******************************************************
Sadly, I think that the "rockabilly" subculture has been somewhat lost in Australia.
For some of us, it has now been replaced with more of a "1950s vintage appreciation culture". 

With the advent of the fabulous internet I am still finding new & exciting aspects of this era that I feel a real connection with. I spend hours swooning over architectural designs, prom gowns and lamps.

In the last 20 years or so the whole 'scene' has changed dramatically. 
To me it is like a big crock-pot of cross culture.
It's like somebody has gotten a big pot and chucked a whole heap of everything in.
Punk, Pop, Vintage, Goth, Rock and Roll all mixed together.

I have NO problem with people dressing however the hell they want to dress. As long as a person isn't an arsehole I couldn't give a rats what you've got on.

BUT

I get really aggravated with the overuse of the word "rockabilly" used to describe fucking everything.
 I just do not fucking get it. 

A polka-dot tight skirt that comes to mid thigh is NOT a 'rockabilly' skirt! It is a skirt.

A bandana worn over your hair is NOT a "rockabilly" bandana. It is a bandana.

Your "Betty Bangs" are not rockabilly. It is a vintage inspired fringe.

Rockabilly meets Boho Chic high-waisted Cut-offs shorts

Lately the new revival thing seems to be all about everything PIN-UP.

Now before yawl get out your 'rockabilly' heels to stab me AGAIN I will say "good for you".

If putting on a nice florally or polka-dot frock and doing your hair in 'victory' rolls and having your pic taken makes you feel awesome then that is absolutely brilliant. 

What gets my goat is that with ALL of the immense internet I can't believe just how WRONG some people get it.



OK let me explain myself: If you call your pic a PIN-UP photo then what ever BUT if your shoot is a "Vintage" or "1950s" shoot then for the love of Betty Grable can you do some research.
Do your hair & makeup true to the era you are supposed to be representing. I guess I must be a grumpy old woman who is a stickler for accuracy. 

WTF???!

Some of you will be screaming "Hang on Mz Vicki you've done a PIN UP shoot". Yep I have.
I have nothing against Pin Up stuff at all.

 

 

I am definitely NO purist and definitely NOT an

 

expert on ANYTHING.

 

This is just my opinion.

Fake Cupcake Hot Pink Rockabilly String of Lights

I wouldn't buy a Buddah statue and put it in my front garden

and then proclaim to the world that I am a Buddist.