Cotton Long dress by ESS Laboratory

Voila. The final dress is one of my own, a beautiful black drop-waist dress, which I wore to my brother's wedding. I was the Best Man, and very proud.

I am feeling a little bit proud now or glad, at least, to have finished what I set out to... I can go to sleep in a minute, certain of dreams in which fine things will manifest in suites of thirty-one. Goodnight.

Charmer dress by Romance Was Born

Flying panel dress by S!X

Today is the last day of October, and Frocktober. It is 11.15 at night and my work is almost complete. I would have liked to have uploaded one drawing per day in a civilised fashion but this blog is not called Disorganised for nothing.

At any rate, there are now 31 sketches of 31 dresses on Milly's front wall; 29 originals - the couple pictured above were sent off a couple of days ago (to lead everyone onto the dance floor at last Friday's Official Frock Party and raffle). All reserved sketches will be packaged and sent in the same way - framed loosely in an A5 card, dated, and labelled with the name and designer of the dress. I am collecting tax-deductible donations of any amount in exchange for these sketches. All proceeds go to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, to assist the organisation's research into such things as the development of an early detection test.

Rustling dress by St Clements

Hangers In dress by ffiXXed

Two for Charlie by High Tea with Mrs Woo

Mesh gather dress by Alexi Freeman

I post this little section of drawings with Hayley in mind... It was her birthday on the 27th of October. She is a few months younger than I am, and has already been treated for ovarian cancer. I am pretty pleased to have received a note from her today, thank you Hayley.

Red shoes (interlude)

7pm last night - abandoned by the closed op shop - thwarted ambition?

Question Twist Waist dress by Kuwaii

Leather singlet bag by Lui Hon

Soft Drop by Lui Hon

Numbers twenty-two and twenty-three were special suggestions by generous sponsors, and feature Wednesday and Ra. That's Ra hanging out in the pocket of the bag that can be worn as a dress (truly), and Wednesday below him - she is pretending to be asleep but I know that she knows that we are talking about her.

I never tire of watching my cats and, in fact, I keep thinking that I should make videos of them grooming and proffer them for their therapeutic benefits.

P. S. Speaking of little wretches, I have skipped number twenty-one but only temporarily - it's been 'finished' three times but when I look at it up on the wall among the others, I can't stand it and have to take it down and start again.

Criss Cross Batwing dress by Alexi Freeman

Critter dress by Lonely Hearts

My frocks and I were featured today under 'Bloggers of the Week' at the Frock Weekly, how nice. Thanks to all the Frockettes who are doing a great job at keeping up with everyone involved... There are lots of us, and you can see/read all about other people's endeavours via this growing list of blogs.

Diamond Girl dress by Hua

Fragmental dress by ESS Laboratory

Shirtdress by Mücke

Croissant dress by Limedrop

In case you're wondering, I am sketching these dresses for Frocktober - thirty-one dresses for thirty-one days. I have finished twenty-one ... but didn't beat fading light in order to photograph the other two today. A tax deductible donation of $10 (or thereabouts) to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation is the going rate. Please email me if you'd like one to keep (or give away - they're all going to be packaged in a little A5 card).

Triplicate dress by Kuwaii

Polly dress by Penelope Durston

Mourning dress by Romance Was Born

Square dress by S!X

Silk 'Nouveau' slip by MATERIALBYPRODUCT

I caught up with time yesterday, finishing my 13th dress on the 13th day. Of course I used my last piece of watercolour stock to do it and it will be a couple of days before I can collect some more. Time always wins - this is my daily refrain.

In the meantime, I might try to piece together a few words for each of the dresses - as it stands, I've no idea why the mourning dress is violet, or what it is that the High Tea shirtdress is so keen to say ... but I'll see what I can come up with.

Blue period

Three more ...

Pure cotton ruffle dress by Strange & Strange

Harvest smock by Penelope Durston

Jersey bubble dress by Ed & Bek

661060

This is a rather late intro to my participation in Frocktober…

Crystal pocket dress by Arnsdorf

Frocktober is a “festive fundraising initiative” in support of the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation. Anyone may take up a frock-related challenge during the month of October, seeking financial sponsorship for her/his efforts, which is passed on to the OCRF to aid the organisation’s ongoing work (more info available via the links).

It seems like a really good/simple idea, and I made a quick decision to take part - my idea was to do some sketches with the aim of exchanging them for donations.

Let's Be Frank shirt dress by High Tea with Mrs Woo

For every day of the month of October, there will be a drawing of a different dress. The first seven are finally done, as you see here … As I go, I’ll continue to photograph the sketches and post them at this blog. I’m also going to pin them up on the front wall of our shop, Milly Sleeping.

Zig-saw dress by Hua

If you happen to see one that you would like to keep, I would love to do a swap with you (on behalf of the OCRF)… My suggestion is a donation of $10 but it is up to you to nominate the amount you are able to give.

You may reserve the sketch of your choice by leaving a comment attached to the relevant post, or by emailing me (leah@millysleeping.com or leahandned@gmail.com), or by visiting Milly Sleeping. The drawings are numbered here for identification purposes but the number doesn't actually appear on the drawing. A red 'R.' that appears next to any of the numbers will mean that the sketch is currently reserved.

Sunday dress by Lonely Hearts

You may either entrust your donation to me, or you can donate online (via the Frocktober page), or I can send you details so that you can do an online transfer or send a cheque/money order. If you are donating independently, pleasepleaseplease quote my registration number – 661060.

Donations of more than $2 are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt directly from the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation. Please understand that I will need to view all receipts before passing on the sketches and can make no exception to this condition. If possible, I would like to keep the drawings as a group until the end of Frocktober.

Stay Awake dress by Kuwaii

“It's not an auction” … and I say this, A/ because it is a very funny line from Reality Bites and, B/ because I will not be accepting ‘higher bids’ for any of the sketches – once one has been reserved, I will consider it reserved until at least October 31 (… you are very welcome to email me and leave your details in case the first sponsor doesn’t follow through).

Joey shirt dress by Limedrop

I won’t be able to produce one per day but I will be producing one for every day (31 total). Each of the sketches is a date-stamped original - grey-lead and watercolour, on A5 watercolour card.

Huntsman dress by Romance Was Born

If I’ve left anything out or you have a question, please feel free to send me a note or leave a gentle comment below. Too many words today - but in my next post I'll tell you the names and designers of dresses one through seven.

workworkworkworkwork

I have always wanted to go to Boston, because my mum enjoyed being there in the Winter, and thus Boston is perennially lovely and snow-covered in my mind. This want has suddenly become urgent as there is a Charles LeDray exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston.

* * *

"In the world of small miracles, I discovered that one of my former students, Charles LeDray, has become famous!"

* * *

"Charles LeDray is primarily self-taught, although he attended art school in Seattle and worked as a museum guard at the Seattle Art Museum, both briefly."

* * *

"In the age of mechanical art production, the intensity of such a personal working method might be thought to imply madness, or, at the very least, cultural naivete."

There was an early morning parade at Flinders Street Station yesterday, by which I mean a different kind of parade to the daily comings and goings - a fashion parade that was late starting as all fashion parades are. I was kept entertained by the rain, the traffic lights and ordinary synchronicities.

Once you start taking photos like these, it is very easy to just keep clicking and clicking and clicking - the conditions change very quickly and the camera seems to see more than you do. It's very hard to know afterwards if you've captured anything interesting, or if it was just the process that was interesting. Blogger has suggested that these are mildly interesting but not terribly, by allowing me to only upload so many. The last one is my favourite.

I had twenty minutes to myself in town this Saturday and, having charged up the City Library's central staircase, I was saved in some way by this mad proud pink creature atop the giant, dogged bumble-bee.

This is one of about a dozen paintings by Victorian artist Matthew Clarke that comprise his self-funded solo show, Matthew Does Art. It ends this Friday, and I think it's worth a look. The compositions and colours are really, really, really great and I love all the funny faces - I suppose I should be content to just admire Clarke's pictures but I really want to keep one.

Any of the pieces would have a pretty demanding presence in one's home - it would be like inviting a very noisy friend (and their pet elephant) to stay indefinitely.

These brooches were made to accompany lemon and white iced cupcakes, and all sorts of other divine little things. They were commissioned by MM (see her nice blog) for a magazine shoot.

Photographing work is often surprising/fraught. Sometimes I am disappointed by qualities that are lost or diminished; other times the image really aids the piece. The latter is the case here. I shot these in early Winter when the sun seemed always low in the sky.

Evian Lee (formerly of Von, with Lui Hon) made two sets of exquisite collars for the shop, for LMFF in 2009 - one set from plaster of Paris, the other from tyvek (with tiny tyvek-covered buttons) ... We also displayed some of the calico toiles because they were too beautiful not to.

I like to think of these as keepsake holders. They are small leather pouches strung on a silver chain to be worn about the neck.

They have a pocket at the front for practical things such as coins and keys and bobby pins, and a discreet pocket at the back for tiny precious things like a charm or a crystal or a photo-booth memento, a cat's whisker, a pressed clover and so on.

They are made from remnant leather (colours and characteristics do vary) and are about the size of the palm of your hand. Choose one from Milly Sleeping (limited stock available) or have one made to order via leahandned@gmail.com - $59 for a short chain or $65 for a longer one.

My good friend M. is reading The Artist's Way. She's got me doing morning pages and talking about our ideal (or perhaps fantasy) creative lives. She suggests that one day I will pack up suddenly and go to Paris, to write a long thesis on the colour red. It was a lovely throwaway line... but it's caused me some mental turmoil.

Why Paris and red?

Why not New York and yellow, or Alexandria and blue?

This is the leather lunch bag.

Wendy came up with the idea when we worked together for a design festival project a couple of years ago. I made it up as close to the design of an ordinary paper bag as I could, using imperfect remnant leather. Several heinous leather jackets have since been made into quite nice bags.

Originally, I didn't worry a great deal about whether or not the lunch bag could be used (or used regularly) because it's really just a nice object - there is an affinity between the original item and the simple replica that is pleasing - but I've always vaguely promised that I would come up with a more practical version, something a little bit more robust, with a detachable strap and a different closing mechanism. I've never been able to visualise this reworked bag in a form that convinces me... until this morning, when I think I caught a glimpse of it, in the shower.

Earlier in the week, there was a documentary on SBS about a fin whale that had become beached on an Irish coast, and not made it back to sea. It's premature death on land presented a rare opportunity; the world's foremost whale anatomy expert was flown to the site to dissect the creature, which she did zealously - working very quickly - feeling her way inside the giant body with great acuity to locate specific organs and bones.

Don't click here unless you want to see a picture of the whale's intestines, which Joy Reidenberg lugged out of the whale and onto the beach.

Do click here if you care for a factual reminder about the wonderful fin whale. Their reality is shocking to me. Prehistoric beast, yes. Television spectacle, yes. But sixty thousand or so real fin whales - calling, clicking and whistling to one another through the ocean deep on this same planet? Shudder.

I can't remember where exactly I photographed these funny mosaics. On the walls of a charming toilet block, in a Victorian coastal town. Mosaics have been stigmatised, I think, (quite possibly because of this kind of application) but I quite like them - big, clumsy ones and also fine, dainty ones made from broken teacups and that kind of thing.

Stingrays and sea horses are among my favourite ocean dwellers. I think this sea horse, though, was the weak link on the walls. They don't swim like that, do they? Perhaps it's a pipe fish.