Getting ready for the weekend

The queen and her family are, I'm sure, busy as anything picking out their outfits for the weekend festivities.

The ladies are checking out hat options. Big? Small? Tilted? 

And the bell-ringers are practising like crazy!

Here at our house, we are also getting just as busy. We are having our block party, and since it is on the same day as HM's procession down the Thames, I decreed that we should all wear royally excellent hats. I don't know if anyone else on the street will follow my suggestion/ decree, though.

I got the turquoise straw hat at Ardene, and since they were 2 for $15, I got a green one as well, which I think Elaine will wear. Two big hair-clips/ brooches were attached to a piece of lace I sewed around the brim. The pale blue butterfly beads were part of an artificial flower thing I got at the thrift shop, but it was all on wires and was too heavy and unmanageable to attach easily to the hat. So I removed the beads from the wires and sewed them on the hat to add that subtle, elegant touch. (Two leftover beads will appear as earrings on the big day.) And the green feathers, I think, make it all just perfect!

Now I just have to make three salads, and cross my fingers for the weather. I wouldn't want my chapeau to get rained on!