Apron

I've been participating in an apron swap on Swap-Bot and thought I'd share my apron adventure here! ;oD I have a love/hate relationship with sewing machines but am determined to do more sewing this year so this seemed a good project to begin with. ;o) The swap was for a full length (as opposed to half) reversible apron. My friend, Becky, was also in the swap and found an apron that was a freebie and is made from that sort of stiffened plastic stuff so we used that as our pattern. ;o) In true refashioning style, the fabric I used was a duvet cover in it's previous life! It was a couple of pounds in a charity shop and I originally bought it with the intention of making some pyjamas but it seemed just perfect for my apron. I couldn't get a decent picture of the whole apron as there's no one here to model it but you can see the fabric at least:

Green Groceries

A few thoughts about my 2008 plan to but more ethically than previously. Ethical shopping, it's a bit of a minefield to say the least, is it not? I know I'm not anywhere near as green as I would like to be (yet!) but I'm an awful lot greener than in days gone by. So, as a little starter I want to share my "I'm not going to buy" list with you! Not just food but on this list so far I have:

kitchen towel (this drives DH nuts but it's a non essential paper product in my eyes. I haven't bought paper towel for ages now. What did we do before we had paper towel, eh?? Use a cloth, people!)

paper serviettes (ditto the above! I have some serviettes that I'm using up but they at least get recycled or used on the open fire afterwards. Fabric napkins are SO much nicer than a bit of 3 ply tissue!)

plastic/paper cups & plates and disposable cutlery (totally unnecessary!)

exotic fruit/veg flown in from countries thousands of miles away (I love baby sweetcorn but when they're air freighted in from Thailand??? I think not! Eat in season! While we're getting our allotment in gear I'm having a weekly delivery of organic veg. It's certainly made me be more inventive with my cooking and we've tried all sorts of things that I'd have passed by in the supermarket at any other time! Eating seasonally, and locally if possible, is cheaper and much more fun that plastic shrink packed bland veg that's been in storage for months on end)

ready meals (yes, yes, I know alot of people swear by them but I don't and won't anymore! Cooking from scratch is a pleasure, a challenge, an adventure! It doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming either. Why does convenience rate so much higher than taste for so many folk? And the packaging.....let's not even go there! Well, not in this post anyway!)

bread (I mean loaves here. I have a breadmaker and I love it! Ok, it's electric so you could argue the ethics of that angle but at least I know what goes in my bread now and who can deny that the smell of fresh baked bread is a joy??)

Ok, so not such a long list yet but it will grow, watch this space!

Surprise!

It's soooooooooo long since I posted anything here but I've decided to rejuventae this blog a bit so expect a few posts over the next few days! Thought I'd start off with a pic of my new barnet:



Bit of a dark pic but you sort of get the gist! I had it chopped a few days after I got my leg plastered and it perked me up no end! :o)

What Number are You?

You Are 4: The Individualist

You are sensitive and intuitive, with others and yourself. You are creative and dreamy... plus dramatic and unpredictable. You're emotionally honest, real, and easily hurt. Totally expressive, others always know exactly how you feel. At Your Best: You are inspired, artistic, and introspective. You know what you're thinking, and you can communicate it well. At Your Worst: You are melancholy, alienated, and withdrawn. Your Fixation: Envy Your Primary Fear: To have no identity Your Primary Desire: To find yourself Other Number 4's: Alanis Morisette, Johnny Depp, J.D. Salinger, Jim Morrison, and Anne Rice.

What Number Are You?

Name Game

Ok, so it's pretty boring but it's late and it amused me for five minutes! Thinking of adopting my cartoon name! LOL

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet,current car) Dixie Passat

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Toffee Bourbon

3. YOUR FLY GIRL NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) MSav

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Green Zebra

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Noname Epping

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Savma
2.
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Copper Cider

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) William Christoper

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume, favorite candy) Delicious Tablet

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Dorothy Jeffrey

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Ray Reykjavik

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring Poppy

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Banana Pantsie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Crumpet Willow

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Assemblage Frost Tour

Holiday

I thought I would pop up and post a few holiday pics from last week! ;o)



Me, E and Belle having a rest on the cliff top. ;o)



M and E taking in the view. Belle hasn't quite got the hang of looking at views!!



Penrhyn Castle.



The view from the patio of our cottage.



One of the fishing boats in Amlwch harbour. I wanted to paint this and might yet have a go from the photo.



Me being artsy with my camera on the beach! I had several layers on! LOL



The Menai Bridge.



A bit more view taking on the cliffs. Just before this we saw porpoises and got very excited about it. ;o)

Ok, that'll do for now, I wouldn't want to bore you with all 160 pics in one go! LOL

You Are 98% Creative

You are an incredibly creative person. For you, there are no bounds or limits to your creativity. Your next creation could be something very great... Or at least very cool!

How Creative Are You?

Well, there's a thing! :oD

France

Inspired by seeing Claire's pics of her trip to Venice on her blog, I thought I'd post some photos from my recent jolly to France.


This me and my two friends, Jo and Claire, in our 60s costumes for the show we performed whilst in St Jean de Braye. This is the only show pic I have but I'm waiting on a friend emailing me lots more so watch this space!


This is a view along the side of the chateau at Amboise.


This is me flinging my fears into the Loire! Long story! LOL







These three are all at Chateau du Clos Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years. The chateau was in a lovely setting and the grounds were wonderful. There were lots of full size working models of da Vinci's inventions in the grounds and listening posts to hear all about them.

I'll spare you the photos I took in the local cemetery for now! LOL I'm working on a cemetery themed art project so I dragged my poor friends round in the pouring rain taking photos!

First Refashion

Ok, so this is my first refashioning attempt, well, first finished refashioning attempt that is! This started life as a plain black T shirt with a blob of something (possibly acrylic paint) slap bang in the middle that wouldn't wash out. It's also a bit short for me so I figured if it went pear shaped it wouldn't be any great loss! So, using a bleach technqiue that I found here: http://cre.ations.net/creation/t-shirt-designs-created-with-stencils-and-bleach I put my T shirt on the driveway, laid a rather groovy sheet of brass waste that Mr S brought home from work over the top and squirted with bleach/water mixture. Hey presto! I then did a bit on the end of each sleeve too just for good measure! There's blobs from drips but for a first attempt I'm really pleased with it. ;o) I can see myself using this technqiue alot!