A Hint of Sweet, and a Bit of Nasty!

I have spent the last week or so working on the dress I am entering in the Operation Dream Dress contest. Lots of lace. Lots of hand sewing. But it is finally starting to look like my vision!

Here is the finished sleeve. I really wasn't even sure I was going to have it there, but everyone who saw my initial sketch idea, commented on how much they like it. Now that I have the lace finished, the rest of the dress should go fairly quickly.
As the theme to the contest is 'Artfully Romantic', I felt I needed to have some kind of creative/artsy application to the dress. It will be presented in some silk flowers I plan to put at the shoulder, the lace godet at the skrt, and on the sash. What makes them special, is that they will be made from some silk that I have needle felted. I have a friend who does felting with actual felt, but I had read about fleting on silk. So we started playing with her felting tools and my silk. Here is what we came up with -

Such an unusual texture! I plan to fashion flowers from this felted silk and organza, then embellish with some beading.
So much for the sweet. Now for the nasty.

Last fall, my husband had gone to China for the first time. As would be expected, he bought several things to bring home. Some beautiful scarves, pearls for myself and our girls, he bought himelf an airplane model of a chinese fighter, and, well, something I really can't figure out. You have to understand that he is not a drinker - maybe a glass or 2 of wine once in a while. Thats it. And yet, he brought back an entire case (12 bottles!) of Chinese wine! And not just any wine. It is called vinegar wine. It looks like a dark beer. Smells like sour molasses, and tastes like, well, shit. Excuse my french. I could harly get a swallow down. I hate to hurt his feelings, but I really don't know how he can drink this nasty stuff. But he will have to, because I am not touching it! And there are now 12 bottles sitting in the pantry closet!