Tuesday 24 July 2012

Person fondue

It's so hot. I feel very languid and as if my brain has turned into slushy ice cream. I can't really be bothered to do anything except investigate just how melty my chocolate biscuits in my Important Stuff drawer have got.

It was a beautiful weekend. The children were so happy out in the garden pottering about and I didn't want it to end. The cat loves the sun and capers about trying to one-leggedly catch flies with his front paw. The tortoise still doesn't do a lot, though we were hoping that the sunshine would perk her up a bit, but she does enjoy a warm bath if you put her on the grass and pour water over her shell.

When I took Son down to London on Friday evening there were lots of Olympics-related people stood around idly in Paddington train station with nothing to do. They were wearing orange and purple shirts and I guess they were there to help any visitors to the games or athletes who had lost their way, but it really didn't seem any busier in London than usual. I felt sorry for them having to wear such ugly shirts - who in the hell thought that colour combination up?

Poor Son got his laptop, his ipod, two X Box games and all of the other contents of his rucksack taken from a cinema in Woodgreen. Both he and his Dad neglected to check that they had picked up his bag as they left the cinema after watching Batman and by the time they had realised and gone back to the cinema, it was of course gone. But after the events in Aurora I think he realised that far worse things happen in the world and in the end.... it's all just stuff. Stuff can be replaced, people you love can't.

So anyway, in the interests of helping Son to buy back some of his stuff, I will be donating the proceeds of anything that I sell in the next little while to him. My latest creation is this - another memory game - the last one sold in less than 3 hours, so I have my fingers crossed....









 

Meanwhile Craftfest preparations continue apace (when I am not drinking pear cider in the garden, that is.)

 




Tuesday 17 July 2012

Little old omnipresent me

So I seem to have got myself involved in an online craft fair. It's a very good idea - in fact it's a great idea - but I am rapidly getting the feeling that technology is leaving me behind. There are so many threads for things on the website and so many ways of promoting yourself and fellow crafters online - many more websites and portals than I ever imagined for selling and showing what you've made. I wrote out a list when I joined up of the ways in which me and my stuff can be found, and it turns out that - my god - I am EVERYWHERE! Have a look under your bed - I'm probably there as well. I am on Etsy, Pinterest, Creative Connections, my own website (http://www.pinsandneedlesworcester.co.uk/ since you asked), Craftjuice, Facebook and this very blog. Which makes it all the more teeny-weeny bit disappointing that I haven't had many sales lately after a bit of a flurry a week or two ago, but hey, never mind. There are many beautiful things on sale from talented crafters and designers from all over the place in the online craft fair and it can be found here - http://creative-connections.ning.com/ - I think. See, I don't really know what I am doing.

In other news, Mr Biscuitnose has bought a wonderful 1950s bike that he is going to restore. It's his new project. Mr B is extremely creative and handy. He has taken it apart and is going to restore what he can, replace what can't be revived and get it all painted/powder coated in lovely vintage colours. It's going to look truly gorgeous and the end result is going to be for me (to ride around on but hopefully not fall off). No one's ever done anything like this for me before and it makes me feel very loved. I'm welling here and it's going to ruin my reputation as the most fearsome receptionist in the West Midlands so I had better stop.

I finished this last night and I'm quite pleased with it as a first attempt at making a multiple bead-string thingy.





Wednesday 11 July 2012

Responsibility

Taking responsibility for things seems to be a recurring theme for me today.

First of all, I read about a designer called Rachael Taylor whose flower design had mysteriously appeared on a range of T-shirts in Marks and Spencer without her knowledge. It seems to have turned out that this was due to one of their suppliers having ripped off the design - M & S have apologised (on Twitter at least) and are going to withdraw the T-shirt from the shops and recycle them all. But how did they allow this to happen in the first place? How can such a major company just shrug and say "whoops"?

I then read very soon afterwards about an almost identical case where a lady called Kate Davies has had her knitwear design used without her permission by Debenhams. As yet there seems to have been no outcome, but hopefully they will do the same as M & S. I found this case even more sad because the designer depends on the income she makes from her knitting patterns since having a stroke.

These companies are big - in fact, HUGE. Do they really think that no one's going to notice? But that seems to be how things go these days - big companies ripping off the little guy in the belief that they are infallible. It's why the farmers are in London today and why Bob Diamond is 'only' getting his 2 million quid for being incompetent and/or a liar. I sincerely hope that they all get their comeuppance. (Did I spell that right? It's difficult to concentrate on spelling when I'm in Hulk mode.)

Finally I was glared at this afternoon several times by a middle-aged student who arrived five minutes before her essay deadline without having printed it off. I did my bit and told her where she needed to go to print it off and who she could see for IT help when she somehow managed to send her document to some printer in an office far far away..... but I had a strong feeling that she wanted me to hold her hand all the while and then hot-foot it down to the registry section to hand her work in for her. All I can say is sigh.... never mind. It's nearly wine o'clock.



Friday 6 July 2012

My potential other life

Looks like the rainy season is here to stay, doesn't it folks? On Wednesday I got soaked to the skin about 4 times. I eventually arrived home and dripped all over the carpet. The cat has been missing since yesterday evening but I'm not too worried this time, I think the trip from one of his other houses to our back door may too much for him in this weather and he doesn't want to ruin his fur-style.

We have a busy weekend lined up. Son is making his dramatic debut (well, to the outside world at least - the actual debut of his dramatics at home was long, long ago) tonight in a production at a local theatre that he's been working on at his drama group and, like a true thespian, he'll be doing it all over again tomorrow night, a two-night run! I have a craft fair tomorrow at the Guildhall in Worcester (as mentioned in my last post, but I'm not above repeating myself in the interest of publicity). The forecast for tomorrow is, more or less, pants, so I don't know how busy it'll be but I'm looking forward to trying out a slightly different kind of event and seeing how it goes.

Hmm. As I sit here typing, someone just walked past and said "You look slightly like Kate Middleton". She stressed the slightly quite a lot though, so I don't think I can quit my day job and take up my new position as Kate Middleton Doppelganger just yet. However, Kate, if ever you get bored of going to those film premieres and posh lunches and you need a stand-in, you know where to find me. Just drop me a line. Okay? Great :-)


                                                                We're practically twins
 


Monday 2 July 2012

Who needs dignity anyway....

Well, that was a great weekend. Mr Biscuitnose (the character formerly known as Boyfriend) (I should add that he is still Boyfriend but he now has an alias) and I ate, drank, slept, ate, drank, drank some more and generally carried on like that. It was fantastic. We only get these frivolous and mildly debauched weekends once every six weeks when neither of our offspring are at home. At the pub on Saturday there was a wedding party with a 1920s theme to the outfits. They looked great, especially the bride who had on a gorgeous backless white dress - a bit like this one:


with a vintage hair decoration to match. Some of the men were wearing spats and looked like they'd just come from the speakeasy. It was so cool!

On Sunday Mr B and I went for a lovely long bike ride. We live right next to the canal in Worcester and it's a perfect spot for a Sunday jaunt on two wheels. We rode and rode, and got beyond the city limits - we nearly reached the exotic locale of Droitwich! However as we reached those badlands, it all started to go wrong... the towpath gave out and turned into two muddy ruts. I struggled to ride in one rut or the other, but my lack of steering ability failed me dramatically and I did a slow-motion fall off my bike into a ditch full of brambles and stinging nettles. I was more or less the wrong way up and starting to get quite concerned that I was slipping downwards but happily a tree stump saved me and I was manfully rescued by the heroic Mr B. Getting my bike away from the clutches of the brambles was a little more difficult. All the while this Casualty-esque scene was being watched by a middle-aged couple who just stood there and gawped, rather than coming up to help or at least find out if I was alright. How rude! But my laughter probably told them that I was fine, and the most injured part of me was by far and away my dignity..... I seem to have a habit of falling off things. This being upright lark isn't as easy as it looks y'know!

So next weekend it's the craft fair at the Guildhall in Worcester. I'm looking forward to it (it's inside for one thing, so even if it weewees with rain - which looks likely - I won't get wet). I've had such mixed results at this point with selling things at fairs that I've no idea how it will go - all I can do is make as many new pieces this week as I can in the time available and hope for the best. At least it will be a nice chance to meet some other crafty people. Apparently there will be biscuits too :-)