abbydid

Today was the 20th Hats Off Luncheon, the Cincinnati Parks Foundation’s largest fundraiser of the year. The theme this year was Avant Garde(n), which allowed me to flex all of my flower making muscles. Making flowers is one of my very favorite parts of millinery, and I’m quite pleased with the results (although, I did mix in some premade flowers, too. I can’t take ALL the credit).

Please peruse my parade of headwear I’ve created over the past few weeks for the event, including the one the car is wearing!!!
🌺👒🌸🎩🌺👒🌸🎩🌺👒🌸🎩🌺

I had the most delightful time making fairy terrariums with my fellow fae enthusiasts last Saturday at the Madisonville Branch Library! This was their 2nd year putting on this customer appreciation day fairy festival and it was so freaking fun. As always, the breadth of the creativity and variety in what folks created blew me away. Just look!
🧚 🫙 🧚‍♀️ 🫙 🧚‍♂️ 🫙🧚 🫙 🧚‍♀️ 🫙 🧚‍♂️ 🫙🧚

Just making a big, old, glorious mess
🗑️🫟🧺🤪🗑️🫟🧺🤪🗑️🫟🧺🤪🗑️🫟🧺🤪🗑️

Somehow it’s Tuesday already, and Millinery MeetUp feels a million miles away. Here is a mere smattering of the delightful friends I made last week. The first 3 photos are all award winners in the fruit themed hat contest. And they just happened to be some of my MMU besties!

Turned out I was sitting right next to the popular vote AND best construction winner almost the whole freaking week. If you watched my video of the entries, you may have caught my veiled threat to take this particular milliner out. No wonder she thought that was so hilarious. I should have known from that twinkle in her eye that it was her!!

Today I’m back to working alone, blocking and flower making, and it’s just not the same without all the chatter and laughter. Sigh. MMU can’t return soon enough!
👒🎩🍒👒🎩🍒👒🎩🍒👒🎩🍒👒

Well, did you guess which Millinery MeetUp contest entry was mine??? It was the jello, of course! And would you believe it, that silly thing won something!

I’ve been kind of ridiculous all week. Like, maybe more than usual. And honestly, maybe in part because I was intimidated by so much extraordinary talent surrounding me. Winning this award gives me some much needed affirmation, you have no idea what this means to me. I’m all full of emotions that I’m not quite sure what to do with just yet.

More in a bit. Just thought I’d tell you I’m a freaking winner, and that there’s always room for Jell-O
🧪🥄🍒🧪🥄🍒🧪🥄🍒🧪🥄🍒🧪🥄

The past two days have been all about flower making for me. Yesterday we played with thermoplastic, silk, and silk paints in Maor Zabar. Today was silk abaca and silk paints with Jenny Roberts. Both days were a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to experiment more with these materials and techniques!

My brain is full, my heart is full. I’m ready to go home but I also can’t imagine leaving my millinery family up in our beautiful mountain home away from home.

One more update coming tomorrow…the results of the hat contest!
🌸🌼🌺🌸🌺🌼🌸🌺🌼🌸🌺🌼🌸

This week has been chock full of inspiration at every turn. What a beautiful experience, in every damn way possible.
🪷🦗🪶🪷🦗🪶🪷🦗🪶🪷🦗🪶🪷

Days 2&3 at Millinery MeetUp; a 2 day masterclass in sinamay wide brims with the divine Miss Edwina Ibbotson! Wow, did I learn a lot, and I regained a lot of discipline that evidently had fallen by the wayside.

But the results!!! I am quite pleased with myself, I must say. And my water lily from Maor’s 1/2 day class is just perfect on that glorious brim, isn’t it?
⚪️🟣🔵⚪️🟣🔵⚪️🟣🔵⚪️🟣🔵⚪️

Millinery Meet-Up Day 1: our 1/2 day class with Maor Zabar, where we made water lilies out of sinasilk, a combination of sinamay straw and silk. Divine!
🪷🌸🪷🌸🪷🌸🪷🌸🪷🌸🪷🌸🪷🌸🪷

It's almost time! The Apropos tent will make its 2026 debut on Saturday at ! Check out the workshops available at https://www.aproposart.com/workshops