Made by me?

Tomorrow most of the sewing blogs that I follow will be posting their Me Made May clothes - basically for the whole month of May they will wear something they have made, every day.

I'm not doing the challenge - although I own a lot of altered clothes and I could use my jewellry to pad it out - I really don't have enough clothes that I made from scratch.

If I counted my bike shorts that I wear under skirts and dresses and my workout leggings then yes I would - but I don't really think they count.

This realization makes me sad. And then I remember that two years ago the only thing that I still had that I made myself was my wedding dress and a jacket that hasn't fit me for years. There once was I time that every skirt I owned I had made.

I realised recently that I am such a meat and potatoes sewer.  I need leggings - I make them. I need bike pants - I make them.  I need a black skirt - I make it.

Last weekend I did actually make an elasticated black skirt - nothing much to it - but it does have Spiderman pockets on the inside.

So I've decided my May is going to be Meat and Potatoes May.  I'm going to make stuff that I need to wear and finish altering stuff that I need to change.

• Black t-shirts - my other black t-shirts are becoming mis-shapened
• White t-shirts - because I don't have them - except for the spotted one
• Take in all my jeggings - yes working out does make it hard to keep your jeggings from falling down. Even my new ones.
• Make a proper black skirt
• Make a polka dotted black skirt
• Make a gallaxy t-shirt and leggings
• Make a few kimono sleeved tops

Do I think I will make all of this in one month? I doubt it - but I'm going to have a crack at it.

This is the inspiration for my need for white shirts:

New best friend

She arrived today. She's my new cutting board and I shall call her Maddy. She is a whopper of a thing too.

The cats weren't too sure of her at first, although it seems like she's now just like the rest of the furniture.

Cats and rabbits

You are not allowed to own rabbits in Queensland. I once owned a pair of long eared guinea pigs that look just like them - they were lovely pets.

One of my current pets likes to 'help' out when I craft. Yesterday I was threading beads to make a black and white polka dotted necklace when Chihiro wanted some of the action.

Today I wore my new Asos top - the one with bunnies on it!

I like the shirt but it has two issues.

The fabric pulls at the buttons and that's not because it's too tight. I hand sewed the gap that showed my bra but think I will need to sew it all up just to strengthen the fabric.

The other issue is the hem. The hem is so small that it doesn't prevent the overlooked edge from flipping outward and being seen - let alone the loose threads. So I will be reseeding the hem as well.

So glad I didn't pay full price.

Pants - Autograph - they need taking in
Top - Asos
Necklace - I made it

Sorry it all looks so wrinkled - I've been wearing it for almost 12 hours now.

Aussie Curves - Pajamas

 

Snuggling with my cat, Chihiro, in my pjs.

Not much to see here.

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Do you hula?

I had a great mail day today. Among other things, my hula hoop.

I have never been able to hula.

I bought an exercise one - I have been umming and ahhing over them for a year or so, and this hoop come on sale - so I bought it.

It's so heavy.  I think I did 10 minutes of it and I am stuffed.

I did get it to stay for a little while.

This week's exercise plan is to try a hoop every day.

Workout wear

Last weekend, I had a bit of what Carolyn from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic calls a "sewcation". I cut out and sewed myself 5 new pairs of 3/4 leggings.

Well, I did need new pairs.

I also just wanted to 'jump' out of bed in the morning and change into workout gear or come home from work and throw myself into some exercise action without having to scrounge for clothe.

I had also bought myself a heap of new tops from Lane Bryant. Most of them where on sale.

So I now have over a week's work of workout gear. Yay for me!

New Dress Day!

I bought a heap of stuff from all over the place on the holidays, I'll share some very sloppy mirror shots once all my purchases arrive.

I did wear one of the new dresses today. This also meant that I needed to shave my legs for the first time in two weeks, mahaha. Got to love the holidays.

I realized in my first lot of photos that the belt wasn't sitting right and fixed it up in the next lot, but I didn't have many good photos today so you will see in the first photo my belt issue.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this dress. It doesn't have a lot of stretch but it was comfortable.  I also bought it in beet red. I usually buy a size 22 in Asos, but for the black one I thought I would buy a size down to see if it worked.  It did.

My fashion conscious senior English class made note of my dress, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

Dress: Asos Curve Midi Dress with Pleat Skirt. 

I swapped out the brown belt it came with for one of their green ones.

Shoes: Rubi

Necklace: My own

Watch: Target

Yarn sorting

Between last minute preparation for school tomorrow, I got to play with my yarn.

I try not to buy yarn that I don't kind of have a plan for. It's safe to say that most of my yarn is for blankets, but what I love is picking out colours.

Here are my current projects sorted into their colour combos. In one of the photos you can see how they are stored - in ziplock bags in a plastic basket. One project per basket. Remaining yarn is stuffed into a big plastic tub.

I buy acrylic as a rule - cotton would be nice but it's pretty expensive and wool doesn't stand a chance. My white cat, Chihiro, LOVES wool. It's safer not having any in the house.

What do you think of my colour choices? I can't pick a favorite.

Feedly and French Food

I'm pretty old school about some stuff because I'm on the cusp of being Generation X and Generation Y.  

Our family got our first computer in 1987, I think - I was pretty young. I've been using the internet since I was in year 8 - when the only thing you could do was MOO! I've had a webpage of some sort since my second year of uni.

I've also started collecting bookmarks or favourites since then too.  I used to keep URLs in an actual address book, until I discovered bookmarking - I think in Netscape Navigator!  So for the last 15 years or so, I have kept adding onto that same list.  It's now a monstrosity.

At one stage I wanted to go to Google Reader for the huge lists of Blogs that I try to read - so I started to do it - then stopped. So I thought that while I was on holiday I would try again - ba baaa! (think game show noise). Apparently Google Reader is closing down. 

I'm now using Feedly. So far I like it, but I've only just started adding my sewing Blogs. Then I'll tackle fashion, and croche,t and lifestyle, and teaching, and,,, oh my god I'm going to doing this for the whole year.

Meanwhile, look at the sweety that I bought from the bakery this morning. Mmm, lemon curd tard.

  

 

I've really been into French cooking lately, I want to buy a French dessert book and hone me some skills. I think it's because I've been reading this book:

10 Things About Me - Rain

I live in one of the hottest places in Queensland.  It's also pretty dry. Yesterday was the first bit of rain we have all year - and possibly the first in over 6 months.

But I was born and grew up in one of the wettest parts of Queensland.  The sight of drizzle over the hills was something that I was used to. Rainy days are my favourite. I still love the smell of rain.

The lack of rain is one of the few things that I dislike about the place I live.   

Every night, I listen to rain sounds to help me fall to sleep.  I've also been wanting to try some rain scented essential oil - but I don't think they will really smell like rain.

I can do that! Black maxi skirt

So I decided that I would try something totally unoriginal and copy an outfit from a fashion photo. So between trying to finish off my Horrorific English unit, I started pinning outfits that I liked.

I thought I would start out easy though, so today I went with this outfit from  from www.curvesandconfidence.com.

How could I not say 'I can do that!'

Maxi skirt - Millers

 In my photos the skirt looks blue - it's not - it's black.

White t-shirt - Virtue

Mine has little polka dots on it but I'm not happy with the fit. 

As soon as I make my own this one's going to visit the island of Saint Vincent.  

 Denim - Dream Diva

I went with a vest because even though today was cooler, it was still too hot to wear a denim jacket. 

It's so old and used, it's missing a button.

Bonus cat (in)action:

 

10 Things About Me - Asian dramas

Do you know what an otaku is? 

It's someone who is so into their hobby that it's obsessive - it's usually about anime and manga.  My brother is an otaku. I'm not so much but I do like to read manga comics and watch anime, but I also really love watching Asian dramas. 

Asian dramas are different from western TV shows.  Here, a TV show is made for a season, with the idea that there will be more seasons.  So the storylines get boring or they amp it up by having someone die in the last episode, only to find out that they weren't dead, and then someone starts sleeping with someone they shouldn't and then a stalker comes along... they just keep stringing the characters along. 

Asian dramas are written for one season - and that's your lot burger.  The whole story is usually pieced together and there are very few threads left over at the end of it. I've found it's rare for a second season to be made. 

There are all sorts of genres - but I love romantic comedy the best - even better if there is a food or fashion theme.  

The stories from different countries have different feels about them - I like South Korean and Japanese ones at the moment, but for a while there I was really into Taiwanese.  South Korean stories are wrapped up in a happy ending, they often go past when the couple finally gets together. Japanese stories usually have sadder endings or like there is no real conclusion and the audience is left to assume it.

Nobody I personally know watches them, and I have no idea how I came about it.  I think what puts people off it is that you have to read the subtitles, and in some cases the subtitles are very Engrish. It just makes the whole experience even better I think.

When C and I went to Sydney we went into a shop jam packed with (probably dodgy) Asian drama DVDs. It was so cool, I was walking around pointing out the shows I had watched to C, but then he pointed out that we were the only non-Asians in the shop. So I guess I'm a little more otaku then I like to admit.

This a screen shot of the last movie I watched - Antique Bakery. Good looking men and cakes - how can it get better then that?