My summer fashion challenge!

I desperately need a new wardrobe for my new challenge beginning in September!

However, I don't have a lot of money to throw at a shopping spree, so I have challenged myself to take a hard look at what I do have, and what I can add to. I have decided to challenge myself to spend only £30 on clothes and I really hope to have a brand new wardrobe that is truly unique and wholly mine! 

I have a week set aside in these holidays for sewing and making, so I need to get scouring for some cheap charity finds and some bargain fabric to perhaps make some clothes! I am excited but also scared as I do really need to look smart ish and professional. Wish me luck on my endeavour and I hope to share all my highs and lows of this challenge. I really hope I can pull it off!

My Eeeek- cited post of all things imaginary!

       

I have been super busy putting together a few things for the children in my school. At the end of this term I will be finishing, and as sad as I am to go, I am also excited because I will be embarking on my loooong awaited position to train as a primary school teacher! This school is one that I started at as a volunteer and slowly I managed to secure a temporary position then a full time position as a teaching assistant and lunch time supervisor, whilst I was studying for my degree.  The children are such a delight, each and everyone of them! Sure, there are a few that you pull your hair out over, but on the whole they are real super stars! I wanted to leave a little something for all of them, maybe so they wouldn't forget me, but mostly because I wanted them to have some real creative fun at play times and lunch times. So I put my thinking cap on, talked with some of the other lunch time supervisors and decided on two avenues. The first one was to supply some chalk boards so that some children could quietly engage with some creative drawing, rather than charging around the play ground knocking each other over. The other one was to put together a dressing up box to really kick start their imaginations. Some do play with skipping ropes, pretending they are horses and such like but now they can adorn a cloak and be Little Red Riding Hood, or become a super hero with a cape and mask. 

I have trawled through charity shops, bought netting for the tutu's and raided my own children's  wardrobes for inspiration. I have spent hours pinning, I know, I know it is such a drag, but I had to do it:) to find patterns and thrifty ideas. I also spent hours literally pinning which was a drag! Please feel free to have a look at some of my boards to see where some of my ideas came from...  http://pinterest.com/frostmidnight/

 

In the end we made three double sided A frame boards, which for some reason I didn't think to 

photograph before I delivered them to school. Hopefully tomorrow, I will deliver the range of dressing up 

goodies, ready for play time!

Till the next time, 

A day in Hay...

What a day we had in Hay,yesterday! I can now scratch off one of my lifetime goals. I had the pleasure of meeting one of my favourite authors, Patrick Ness! He was as charming and delightful as I was expecting him to be! His talk was very entertaining and engaging, it was so lovely to see so many young people asking him such thoughtful questions about his work. He also read a snippet of his upcoming book and oh my, he is a master of hooking the reader on the first page! I personally can't wait for September.

I grabbed the opportunity to meet him and have him sign my two first edition books. Here are the photos my daughter took. I can only apologise for the facial expression! What a lovely day we had in Hay! Thank-you, Mr Ness!

Books, books update!

Well, April was spent in the fascinating world of Bryson's 'Home'. He really did have me captivated on the first page with his little anecdotes of strange facts. I love the Victorian era and a lot of this book tells you about the style of living during this time, which I really did find fascinating, some of which overlapped my literature knowledge of this time, too!

May brought me the delicious opportunity to delve into the extraordinary book, 'The Crane Wife', by Patrick Ness. I am nearly, nearly finished and as usual with Ness, I am trying not to rush it but to savour the escapist experience whilst all the while steeling myself for the emotional impact he is going to throw at me! I am very excited as I have persuaded my family to take a trip to Hay again this year, where a certain Mr Ness will also be! I can't wait......

Here is a little peek what is on my bedside table, oh what to read next?

May update!

Well it has been a while, doesn't time fly by, not necessarily when we are just having fun either. We have busy on lots of fronts but mostly getting started on our house renovations! We now have the long awaited for, 'go-ahead' on our planning permission. So we have been putting some plans in place. We have a rather ugly oil tank in our garden which we are keen to get rid of, but of course this year, summer is late and we can't risk running down all the oil without any source of heating. Who would have thought we need heating in nearly June? So, we have installed a wood burner to get us through the summer(?)

We picked up a tatty surround from a local reclamation yard, which I am in the process of stripping, and is very time consuming. Hopefully by the end of the half term week it should be finished! I am not entirely decided what to do with it, but at the moment I have an idea involving wall paper.

I have a few days set aside for sewing, which I will elaborate on at a later date....

Another sewing project

Despite the busy weekend: a house full of excitable young teenage boys pumped up to see Iron man 3 and overdosed on sugar, you get my drift!
I did manage to assemble my prototype from another fellow blogger, a very talented seamstress, Ayumi's tutorial which is here, http://ayumills.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/tutorial-lunch-bag.html
As always I made some mistakes and misread the instructions but my scrap bag didn't turn out too bad. In fact I will be using this one which I call my scrap bag because I made it out do some off cuts from the baby quilt, until I make the real one. I would like to use some oilcloth for the lining in case of spills. I tried to insert some panels with a zip rather than the drawstring bag in the pattern, but this will need some tinkering with! Overall, I am a happy lady!
Thanks to Ayumi's for a fabulous tutorial!

Finished! A baby quilt!

My little baby quilt project has been a real delight to work on! I have practised so many quilting skills and I finally feel a little more confident with my quilting. It is far from perfect but to be honest how boring to have everything even, neat and mistake free! Nah, I really wish I could be mistake free but like I keep telling my children, "Practise makes perfect!" So I will keep on practising, as my binding definitely needs it!

I really enjoyed the free motion quilting and want to do some more intricate patterns but I will have to practise like mad before I would feel happy to share! Overall, I am happy with the finished article, and I hope my friend likes it too! Maybe I will get back to the real world as the washing won't wash itself and the kitchen doesn't cook food all by itself either!

Till the next time and the next project...