Under the knife...

As we "speak". I'm so nervous, I hope Melly is doing OK.
Thank you everyone for your well wishes!
She is always very affectionate, but seemed extra cuddly last night as if she knew something was up.

In other news, here is how my cabinet is looking in the craft room so far. Still need to do the right side shelves and trim it all out, but I am loving it already!


Also, the salon that I work at moved to a new location this past weekend. Yesterday was my first day working there. Saturday I got up before daylight (yawn!) and had to do a wedding party at the bride's house, then drove on to the new salon to help move and set up. It looks amazing. I love the colors. Here's a peek!

My station is to the right of the round mirror back there~

This is our lovely receptionist, Pat~

This is the left side of the salon, (from where you enter), and I'm waaaay over on the right side. That door leads to our breakroom.

Thank you Debbie and Cheri for creating this fabulous atmosphere to work in!

Busy, busy, busy here folks. I will visit you all as soon as I can!

This time it's for real~

Melly will have surgery on Wednesday morning.

The prescription diet just didn't cut it. Though the mass of kidney stones looked better on the last x-ray, I think it's just too large to tackle. Perhaps if we had cought it a long time ago.

Poor kitty!

From what I've read, cats are better right after surgery and everyone was glad they went ahead with it.

I hope all goes well!

Ahoy Maties!

As some of you may know, Saturday (September 19th), was Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Lucky for us, the Pirate Fest was going on in the St. Louis area.

First, the wee lads and lasses were to make a booty bag to keep their treasures in. Loot could be found throughout the day at various merchants.
Here I am tucking Nova's bag into his pocket.

Next up we saw some beautiful parrots and parakeets. This one was looking for a cracker, but Kevin's pocket was empty~

Isn't he pretty? I forget his name, but he is six years old. They can live to be 120, so they are a huge responsibility.

Shake a tail feather!

Avast! It is finally me turn at holding him!
The lighting is weird here and it appears I have no eyebrows... I look like a Muppet~

He liked to play and was a very good listener. He also liked to be scratched under his wings.

I wore me best pirate garb. I don't have a full shot, but I wore the same outfit a few years ago for Halloween, shown here~
Only I couldn't find my coin belt and it was too hot to wear anything on my head...

And instead of boots I wore my funky Demonia coffin heal shoes~ with striped stockings of course!



This couple had exquisite clothing! I had to go in for a closer look. I definitely wanted to sew a new frock after looking at so many fine garments all day.

We were to stop at the Leathersmith to pick up some booty. Here Nova got to stamp a small leather medallian with a scull and crossbones.

I had asked Nova if he wanted to wear his Peter Pan costume, but he turned me down... which was suprising. We looked for a pirate hat there, but no luck within our budget!
You can click HERE to see us dressed as Captian Hook, Peter Pan, and Wendy last year.

We enjoyed the music. These ladies did a fine job! The one sitting played various drums, and in this photo she is playing a sickle. (Some folks call it a kayser blade, but I call it a sling blade...) Err... sorry, wrong blade!

*Ahem*

They are Shillelagh Law.

Follow Me Up to Carlow was a good song.

The song I am playing for this post is The Queen of Argyll, a folk song. (The version playing is by Silly Wizard)
A group called 3 Pints Gone sang it at the fest and I just fell in love with it. They were really good!

Here are the lyrics,

Queen of Argyll
Gentle men it is my duty
To inform you of one beauty
Though I'd ask you of a favor,
Not to seek her for a while
Though I own she is a creature
Of character and feature
No words can paint the picture
of the Queen of all Argyll.

cho: And if you could have seen her there,
Boys if you had just been there
The swan was in her movement,
And the morning in her smile.
All the roses in the garden,
They bow and ask her pardon
For not one could match the beauty
Of the queen of all Argyll.

On that evening that I mention,
I passed with light intention
Through a part of our dear country
Known for beauty and for style
Being a place of noble thinkers,
Of scholars and great drinkers
But above them all for splendour
Shone the Queen of all Argyll

(cho.)

So my lads my needs must leave you,
My intention's not to grieve you
Nor indeed would I decieve you,
Oh I'll see you in a while
I must find some way to gain her,
To court her and to tame her
I fear my heart's in danger
From the Queen of all Argyll

From singing of Silly Wizard
RG
oct97

Here are some scurvy pirates enjoying the music,

We missed the belly dancers, but I've seen them several times during the Renaissance Fairs.

Nnotty Bits put on a fun little show. Two guys did lots of fun juggling tricks.
This guy was on stilts with a wooden spoon in his mouth. The other guy passed out bean bags and we were to *toss* them so that stilt man could catch them on the spoon.

Yeah, he got pelted.

Back home, Nova was eager to sift through all his loot~

....so were the cats...


It was a fun family day!

Arrrrg!!

Thank you~

Hello Blogland friends~

It has been a very trying 6 months for me here at The Scarlett Rose Garden. Many things have happened in my life and I have chosen not to broadcast any of it here.

My stress level is very high, and something else happened Monday to top it off.

Last night I came home to find these gorgeous gladiolus from my wonderful husband Kevin~

And a beautiful berry tart~

Click on it... it WAS as good as it looks!
Thank you SO much Kevin. I am so lucky to have you in my life. I appreciate your understanding and being there for me in good times and bad.
I love you!

And thank you, my blogging friends for being "out there". Blogging has helped to keep my mind off of things and I enjoy your company!

I hope things simmer down around here and I can spend more time in blogland.
"This too shall pass."
Hugs to all!

A little corner of my world~

Some of you may remember my 100th post, If Walls Could Talk. If you missed it, please check it out!

This is how the front bedroom looked when we moved in... and I mean exactly how it looked. Plastic and all.

It's a strange room, cut up into two sections.



Here's my brother helping Kevin tear out the lath a few years ago~


And how the corner pretty much looks now... except the room is A LOT more full of junk, piled high with no place to put it! We need new windows and trim yet, but that will have to wait for budget and time.


I wanted to have some built in shelves but wanted them to have some sort of old or architectural elements intead of just plywood. I got the idea to find two old panel doors, 36 inches wide. We could then cut them in half vertically and use them on the ends of the cabinet and for the main structure.

Well, no luck finding old doors, esp. ones that I would want to cut up!
BUT! I did find two sets of used bi-fold closet doors. They had the panels, and they were exactly the right size for what I had in mind! Only $8 per set, woohoo!

I showed Kevin what I wanted and he went to work~
(sorry, this is thru the screen!)

Not much to see yet, but I hope to have everything in this week. Yay! To be organized and have everything up and off of the floor. I cannot wait! Stay tuned!

Knock, knock!

Hiya folks, come on in!
Help me to decide what color (s) to paint my front doors!

I'm pretty much set on a cranberry red, to match my mailbox. Before we painted the house I had planned on just stripping the doors. I know they would be beautiful. But I think they would get lost from the street and red would really pop.

And since the doors are already painted, it's no big deal.

The thing is, I can't decide if I like the swag white or not. And if I don't paint it white, what other option would there be? It would be boring to paint it all red. So, what do you think?

We just painted the exterior last year. It's Jersery Cream from Sherwin Williams. The new porch floor color is Storm Shadow from Walmart, (which is made by SW).

Oh how I wish it stayed shiny and mirror like after it dried!

Here's a before pic!

*EDIT*

I just did some quick rough virtuals.

Here's red with white,

and red with black,

red with Jersey Cream,

and what about red with a metalic gold? Probably NOT, but I'm throwing it out there anyway!

*EDIT #2*

A few of you have asked if the swag can be taken off.

NOPE. It is original and will stay.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Gone With the Wind Ball as much as I did! I so enjoyed everyone's posts and comments.
I will be drawing for the give away next Monday, so there's still time to get your name in the hat! Just leave a message at the party post!

Welcome to the Gone With the Wind Ball!

Warning: My posts can be very "windy".... this one is especially long but I assure you I could go on forever! Much of my collection has been packed up or on the back burner for years, so I am thrilled to be getting everything out!

Thank you for attending, I'm so glad you are here!

Our dear Margaret Mitchell had no idea she would create such a stir with her incredible talent. We are celebrating 70 years of the film Gone With the Wind (1939), but the book was published in 1936.

If you have not read the book, you simply must. You don't know what you are missing. So much that they could never fit into a movie, and they tried their hardest!

We took a GWTW southern vacation before Nova was born. We visited the Margaret Mitchell House, the GWTW museum in Marietta, and the Road to Tara museum in Jonesburo.

It was SO amazing to stand in the same room that Margaret created the novel in. She sat in the corner by the windows. None of the furniture is orginal though.

While there I also got to see the front door from Tara, and the actual painting of Scarlett from Rhett's bedroom. This brought tears to my eyes. And for a long time, it had hung in an elementary school and has a lot of damage from kids poking holes in it, etc. WAHHHH!!!

In Marietta, one of the actual film gowns was displayed. I tell you, I was in heaven on this trip. It was the honeymoon/shopping spree outfit. Just phenomenal. So tiny, and such detail. The sleeves were amazing.

Margaret herself said that the film had the PERFECT cast. I love these photos of Margaret and Vivien Leigh~ both avid cat lovers. Just like Scarlett, Vivien was from French descent. Viv was so passionate about wanting to play Scarlett and it was an absolute miracle that she was discovered for the role.

I had to include a photo of Clark Gable without his mustache. Be still my heart...

I've been hard at work getting things ready for the Ball. Our home is 100+ years old and we have been working on it for 6 years. This is our stairway. We only recently took down the safety gate for our son. There is still much to do in this area. No trim around the windows but I just had to dress them up for the occasion!

I found the sage velvet drapery panels for $10 each. Here is Katie (Katie Scarlett), overseeing my progress...

I am the queen of cheap and when I saw this trim at a fabric store that was closing, I waited until the price dropped very low! It was originally $11.99/yard and I got it for $22 for 25 yards! It was fun to "pet" the whole bolt, so soft!

I just swagged the panels over the rod. I attached the fringe trim with safety pins. Yes, that's what I said.... it's just pinned on!

I went ahead and pulled the drapes to the side because I couldn't stand how dark the hall looked with them down. But I wanted to have something on the windows to protect my framed art.

These botanical prints are coming down.........

And my Walter Plunket costume sketches are going up!

These are each personally signed by Plunket, who designed the costumes for the film. He put out a 1000 copies~ my set is number 226. It is one of my most prized gwtw memoralbia. You can still find them sold separately, for around $125 or so each.

His work is amazing. He did a version of the velvet party gown in green as well, as it was described in the book.

There was another version to the drapery dress too, but it was deemed to exspensive to make.

There were also other variations of the BBQ gown... but this one won out. I'm so glad!

Now let's see.... whatever shall I wear for the BALL?

I've always dreamed of having a wardrobe like Scarlett....

And slowly, my dream is coming true! Let's go in for a closer look~

The drapery dress? Naw... much too bulky.

The blue mill bustle gown? Uh-uh. Too constricting.
And naturally I can't wear a red robe to a ball either!

(God's Nightgown!!)

White ruffles? Hmmm... too frilly.

Ahhh, the blue portrait gown. Nope, too heavy.

The jewel encrusted velvet?? My heavens NO!
Only a jezebel would wear such a thing!
Scandelous!

Green sprigged frock? YES, just right!


Mammy, be a "doll" and help me put on my dress~


I just took this Timeless Treasures Scarlett Barbie out of her NRFB state yesterday. What fun! Mammy is a World doll, they were sold in Cracker Barrel restaurants for the 50th Anniversary.

I had better get into my corset first~ custom made by Christine Hall.




This dress is actually a work in progress. The skirt is replica fabric from Pegee of Williamsburg and cost around $600 for the bolt, all of which is needed for the gown. I bought the dress pre-made from my friend Dee of Scarlett Online. She had had the dress made for herself many years ago and the seamtress butchered the fabric and made a very ill fitting garment for Dee. She wanted to have another gown made by a new seamstress, so I took on the task of fixing the frock for myself. I will have to make new ruffles for the neckline, the original gown from the film had over 1,000 buttonholes for the velvet to weave through! ACK!

Dee then found *the* GWTW seamstress extraordinaire and is very happy. If you want a screen accurate, museum quality garment, please visit GWTW4Ever, she does phenomenal work and is a long time gwtw collector.

So, for this picture I am actually wearing the Pegee fabric skirt with the top from this "naughty Scarlett" costume, LOL!

Most of my gowns need some sort of revamping. I need to find about 50 yards of lace to add to the ruffle gown. I have fabric stashed for the paisly robe and calico war dress. I need to finish the velvet party gown and the blue mill. All of these will be blogged about over the next several months! Christine Hall is making the green Christmas dress for me, which we put on hold for now. I have been learning how to sew and I'm anxious to tackle those BBQ buttonholes!



Scarlett wore 35+ costumes in the film. When the Franklin Mint came out with the 16" vinyl Scarlett doll years ago, I had to have her and all of her clothes. Some of the outfits I had made by Alana, as the mint didn't offer them at that time. Such as the wedding gown and the shanty dress; both of which the mint put out later.

Then in recent years, Tonner has come out with a GWTW line as well. Of course I had to buy one of their Scarletts! She can wear most of the mint's clothes and they have put out a fine wardrobe too.

The Franklin Mint Scarlett doll case was fashioned after the hat box that Rhett brings from Paris.


Here is Melly, (Melanie), laying on the bed while I took all of the ensembles out of their boxes and put them in the doll cases. (I have Rhett and Rose from Titanic too.) I don't even think Melly was full grown here. She has been doing fine, BTW. Still on the special cat food diet.

OY! This was before we redid the bedroom. I hated that Cookie Monster blue carpet!

Here's a collage of some of my dolls and the intricate little dresses~
click to enlarge, then click the back button

This is a 21" Madame Alexander Cissy doll, dressed in the red staircase robe made by Alana. She needs a new wig. I have the wig from the plaid mill dress, but not the dress.

I think I had better stop there, whew!

Here's a few links before I sign off. I run two yahoo groups if you are interested in learning more about the costumes or dolls, Gone With the Wind Garments and Scarlett O'Hara Vinyl Portrait. If you'd like to see more of my collection or better photos, click here. The tags at the end of this post will direct you to other gwtw posts here at The Scarlett Rose Garden.

Remember, I'm having a GWTW give away! So please leave a comment so your name can go in the drawing.

All of the GWTW Blogland Ball participants are below and in my sidebar, be sure to waltz on over and see them all! We are so glad you came!

(If your blog is not listed or you want it removed, please let me know!)
A Southern Rose
All the Queen's Chocolate
Angelic Accents
Beansie Babbles
Christine's Home and Travel Adventures
Colleen's Quilting Journey to Oz
Edie Marie's Attic
Fantasy and Fancy
Florence and Mary
Hooked On Houses
Loveleigh Treasures
Monkeyshine Business
My Enchanted Home
My Suzy Homemaker
Rose Vignettes
Rue's Peanut Butter and Jelly Life
Sassy Mini Dolls
Sherri's Jubilee
Simplistic Life in a Small Town
Soul Talk 777
Southern Sass
Tea With Miss Janice
The Pawsh Poodle
The Sunny Side of the Sun Porch
The Way We Are
Todas somos reinas
Unshelved Words
Yellow Rose Arbor

HAPPY 70TH ANNIVERYSARY GONE WITH THE WIND!