Frock Up Friday

 

Since my first “Frock Up Friday” the week before last I have actually been wearing dresses & skirts much more than usual… & liking it. When I say “much more” though, it’s not even been as much as I would like – I am rather lacking in the dresses & skirts department. I have been perusing eBay for bargains (nothing yet) & even started sewing a tunic yesterday that was coming along swimmingly until *insert suspenseful piano riff here*, it was time to break out the bias binding.

I can’t tell you how much I hate, hate, HATE bias binding, or hate my complete & utter inability to deal with it. I ended up with perfectly stitched binding – maybe my best ever effort… on the WRONG SIDE. I don’t know how. These things happen when I am anywhere near the stuff. I think instead of unpicking the whole horrible affair I might just start again.

Wish me luck, & I think I will definitely frock up again next Friday, if you’d like to join me?

**I deleted this about 5 minutes after I posted it because I was feeling frump-alicious… it stayed in people’s readers though & just reinstating the bloody thing is easier than explaining over & over where the post went… I  did delete the picture though…!

Instant gratification.

I think you know that my favourite kind of craft is something quick & dirty, preferably refashioning or recycling, so you can imagine my delight when I saw this fringed t-shirt scarf in issue 3 of Mollie Makes.

I went through my wardrobe a couple of days ago & although I now have bugger-all to wear, I have a lot of things to donate & a few things destined for the rag-bag… or now, the fringed scarf.

The best ideas really are the simplest. Go. Make.

**UPDATE; I just made this one by cutting horizontally instead of vertically & leaving about 3cm at the side of the shirt to hold it together – I like this one MUCH better since the purple didn’t curl like it was supposed to & will need to have smaller strips cut.

Let’s play a game.

Yesterday I was having a rummage in my bookshelf for a book to swap with Kate when I found a book I forgot I had & had fun flicking through it. The book was The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel & it has lots of things in it that sound fun to do, but one activity in particular struck me as particularly blog-friendly so I suggest we play.

“Synchronised Travel”.

Here is what to do, camera in hand (take a photo at each step):

1. First stage is your starting point (Take a photo).

2.Walk in any direction for 50 or 100 paces, then turn 180 degrees (photo).

3. Continue walking in that direction until you see something blue (photo).

4. Make a left turn & walk 50 to 70 paces (photo).

5. Walk in any direction until you see something that either is or looks like the number 7 or 11 (photo).

6. Take the first left & continue walking until you find somewhere to sit (photo).

7. Choose any direction & walk for 25 or 50 paces (photo).

8. Continue walking until you see an unusual colour, shape or texture (photo). Turn 180 degrees.

9. Keep walking in any direction until you see an archway or an unusual architectural feature (photo).

10. Head for home but continue looking for something that catches your eye. When you find something, take your photo with it.

Photos should be as creative as you can make them. You can join in wherever in the world you happen to be. I think ideally you’re supposed to do it at the same time but let’s give ourselves a week so as many people as possible can play & I’ll put a linky up next Saturday so that we can share our “journeys”, we might even put together a collage of each step? That would be cool.

You in?

My Creative Space…

…has moved BACK up to the loft. A little Punk getting into things out the back made it a necessity; I wasn’t getting anything done out there anyway.

It’s taken weeks to get everything moved up that ladder again, in snatches of time & muscle.

My space even has a resident cat – he was an outside cat but an altercation with The Sausages has seen him move indoors to sleep on crochet rugs & oversee proceedings.

I think I want to live up here now. It’s tidy, and quiet, & full of things I love.

More spaces here.

Oops. I did it again.

And by “it”, I don’t mean started singing along to a Britney Spears song. By “it” I mean cut my own hair.

I. Will. NEVER. Learn.

It was *almost* okay this time. A snip & a chop & the split-ends were gone, hair was lighter, all was well with the world.

But I couldn’t leave well enough alone. Snip, snip, chop, chop, HACK, HACK.

I officially can’t stop cutting my own hair until it’s too late. Until I look in the mirror & swear. My heart beats faster I start to sweat. THAT’S when I put the frikking scissors down.

Tweetoons.

I went through Pip’s list of people she follows on Twitter to beef up my feed some & one person I just added at random was @LiarMcLies. These two tweets of hers yesterday made me smile so I thought I’d make a cartoon to share… (…it was so fun I think this may be something I do now. So watch out, tweeps.)

Small things.

Think about your day. Don’t just think about the big things you want to do or have done, think about each little moment that when combined with hundreds of other little moments, makes your day complete.

The little rituals you go through every day. Usually unconsciously. Sometimes consciously.

The things you enjoy in a way that is hard to explain.

The things you enjoy just because they happen & the way that you feel when they happen; content.

Like doing the dishes while your baby boy sits in his highchair beside you, madly mashing plastic cups & utensils together & making an incredible racket – so excited by the sound & the songs about ducks & teddy bears you sing to him that his smile, his sweet innocent energy, is infectious.