Joyous

So I fell off my bike on Friday.

Quite spectacularly. Grazed my chin, bruised my face, took a whopping great chunk out of my left knee. My helmet was a write off. Thank God I was wearing it! It seems the brakes failed. Which isn't good when you're halfway down a hill but oh well and ouch.

Apart from the bruising I had a fun weekend with Tom buy housey things. Saturday was his birthday and we spent it trawling round the Range, Homebase, Ikea and John Lewis. It doesn't sound fun when written like that. But I really enjoyed it.

We bought cream and red rococo print fabric for dining room blinds, a roman blind to use as a template, giant picture frames for my artwork, paint tester pots and living room curtain fabric. The living room fabric was half price in John Lewis. We confused the shop assistant a bit with our maths. the tester pots are now a patchwork across Tom's wall. That is especially joyous!

Ah.....

Baby blanket finished and done.

Tom's project to proof read.

Half a dress sewn for Amy.

All toyboxes done.

One side of Broiderie cardi knitted.

Half a sock for Amy.

One website made and domain purchased for Fran.

Curtain fabric picked out in John Lewis sale.

Domestic Bliss.

April So Far

This month is beginning and ending with cake.

I spent a great weekend with Jess in High Wycombe at the beginning of the month, mainly baking which was fun. We made some cake pops a la Bakerella.

Here is in pictorial form:


This is Jess' awesome cake tin of joy!


... and her catering sized roll of greasproof paper...


..which she used to expertly line the tin of joy...


..as you can see we were in a kitchen with all mod cons, including...


...the Bakerella blog on Jess' laptop.


These are Jess' very cool scales that let you switch between units of measurement, and reset them to zero to add the next lot of igredients. I call them her drug dealer scales as you can measure really small amounts of mass.


Pint glasses are the best recepticle for beating eggs.



Mmm...buttery sugar!


Lots and lots of cocoa!


Beat that cake mix!

Whilst the cake was in the oven, we made cream cheese icing to bind it all together:

Then we set to work crumbling cake!

After we mixed in the icing, we made the cake balls...

..stuck lolly pop sticks in them...

and kept dipping and dipping...

These one are dipped in white chocolate...

We then made the chocolate yellow to make some little chick cake pops.

Decorating them was my favoutite bit. I think they came out really well...

Now Austin's birthday cake should have cooled so I can ice it...

For Fran

For Fran

Bits of success

Photographs from Facebook by Richard Lewis.

Dress was a success, hopefully someone got a full length one of me where I have my eyes open. I also helped Hannah dress her yellow ball gown so she looked like Belle, and pinned the fake hair I'm removing in the pic above. I love my new red hair and the pincurls that I put in during the ride to Oxfordshire.

Many thanks to Hannah and her family for a fabulous evening. It was excellent.

Bits of success

Photographs from Facebook by Richard Lewis.

Dress was a success, hopefully someone got a full length one of me where I have my eyes open. I also helped Hannah dress her yellow ball gown so she looked like Belle, and pinned the fake hair I'm removing in the pic above. I love my new red hair and the pincurls that I put in during the ride to Oxfordshire.

Many thanks to Hannah and her family for a fabulous evening. It was excellent.

Why things have been a bit slow on the studying front...

I have been making my self a version of the "Shall We Dance" dress from The King and I for my friend's 'Night at the Musicals' themed 21st Birthday party at the end of march. Here it is so far. There will be embellishments, a snood and freshly dyed hair. This follows some other birthday action dressed as SuperTed. Such a studenty life eh?

Why things have been a bit slow on the studying front...

I have been making my self a version of the "Shall We Dance" dress from The King and I for my friend's 'Night at the Musicals' themed 21st Birthday party at the end of march. Here it is so far. There will be embellishments, a snood and freshly dyed hair. This follows some other birthday action dressed as SuperTed. Such a studenty life eh?

I'm at a loss

I'm at Tom's this evening, taking an Easter break from work and I am at a complete loss. I have watched so much scifi that I think it's dripping out my ears. I've worked out what's missing. I forgot my knitting. I didn't realise how much I rely on it to keep me and my hands occupied. I have plaited and replaited my hair. I have read some books for uni. I have sketched various parts of my body. But nothing can keep me as occupied and content as making something three dimensional with my hands. Whether it be sewing, knitting, crochet, sculpture and so on. So note to self... Alex cannot exist happily without craft materials. Must make an emergency knit a sock kit to carry at all times!

I'm at a loss

I'm at Tom's this evening, taking an Easter break from work and I am at a complete loss. I have watched so much scifi that I think it's dripping out my ears. I've worked out what's missing. I forgot my knitting. I didn't realise how much I rely on it to keep me and my hands occupied. I have plaited and replaited my hair. I have read some books for uni. I have sketched various parts of my body. But nothing can keep me as occupied and content as making something three dimensional with my hands. Whether it be sewing, knitting, crochet, sculpture and so on. So note to self... Alex cannot exist happily without craft materials. Must make an emergency knit a sock kit to carry at all times!

Starting early

I've started making my Christmas cards early this year. I love crafting. It is a lovely way to spend half an hour or so each day.

These are my Autumn Socks from Tom. He doesn't like autumn much and says "It sucks". I love it. I think "It Rocks." Somehow we got Autumn Socks out of this, as a way of cheering up autumn. So 21st of November, we swapped socks. It was awesome. I bought him some grey ones with bright pink spots.

In other news I'm extra hyper today due to the shots of espresso I was doing with Sarah at lunch time. (Hi Sarah!) We dicussed lots of knitty things as she's picked up the needles again. She's made an awesome garter stich scarf, and is teaching herself to knit on dpns by making a hat. I love talking about knitting so much. I met Karuna in Portswood today to advise wool buying and needle selection as she fancied knitting again too. More knitters returning to the fold. I must find a pattern for my next bit of Christmas knitting. Not so much to do this year but a pastel drawing of Aunties and Cousins to do.

Sarah's hoody is half a hood away from being finished, Tom has one and half gloves and then its various tube shaped things to knit. Oh and a pair of tiny things. Then sewing of 5 things. But I need to buy some darning needles as I have to sew things up and darn my new pointe shoes when they come. Ahh ballet. I'm going to see the ballet tomorrow too!

Starting early

I've started making my Christmas cards early this year. I love crafting. It is a lovely way to spend half an hour or so each day.

These are my Autumn Socks from Tom. He doesn't like autumn much and says "It sucks". I love it. I think "It Rocks." Somehow we got Autumn Socks out of this, as a way of cheering up autumn. So 21st of November, we swapped socks. It was awesome. I bought him some grey ones with bright pink spots.

In other news I'm extra hyper today due to the shots of espresso I was doing with Sarah at lunch time. (Hi Sarah!) We dicussed lots of knitty things as she's picked up the needles again. She's made an awesome garter stich scarf, and is teaching herself to knit on dpns by making a hat. I love talking about knitting so much. I met Karuna in Portswood today to advise wool buying and needle selection as she fancied knitting again too. More knitters returning to the fold. I must find a pattern for my next bit of Christmas knitting. Not so much to do this year but a pastel drawing of Aunties and Cousins to do.

Sarah's hoody is half a hood away from being finished, Tom has one and half gloves and then its various tube shaped things to knit. Oh and a pair of tiny things. Then sewing of 5 things. But I need to buy some darning needles as I have to sew things up and darn my new pointe shoes when they come. Ahh ballet. I'm going to see the ballet tomorrow too!

Dressmaking with only two days to go!

I have been busy making this dress for my birthday.

In these fabrics.

Using my trusty machine...

...my glamorous assistant...


...and Voodoo Bear.



2 days to the party and one large circle skirt to hem! Oh My!

Dressmaking with only two days to go!

I have been busy making this dress for my birthday.

In these fabrics.

Using my trusty machine...

...my glamorous assistant...


...and Voodoo Bear.



2 days to the party and one large circle skirt to hem! Oh My!