The dress!

This dress. Oh man. Where do I even start? This dress took me an awfully long time to make. I knew what I wanted the dress to look like from September. I bought the fabric back in October. I think I even flipped through pattern magazines in October. I drew pattern pieces for myself in November, and cut out the fabric. Then I did nothing. And nothing. Until December.Until halfway through December, in fact. This dress scared me. I was scared of screwing up. I had never drawn my own pattern pieces before. I have always been one to tweak someone else's work in order to make the item in front of me match the image in my head. I always think tried and tested, reliable patterns by companies are the best way to get what I want - find something similar, then make it work for what I want. But we didn't have anything similar. I could have bought a pattern specially, but it wouldn't have been perfect; I would have had to adjust it to fit me anyway; and it would have cost more. So I followed our own tried and tested method of sewing, fondly called sewing by the seat of my pants. And this is how it turned out:

Worth the frustration? Worth the fear? Absolutely. This dress is tailored, delicate and light, comfortable and beautiful. Each detail was painstakingly chosen, designed. Even when it was a pain in the butt to make the detail work. Take the hem, for example. The fabric came with a gorgeous scalloped edge to it. Of course I want that for the hem. But I want some volume in the skirt. I bounced ideas off my mum, we tried one or two things, they didn't work. Eventually it was wangled with some slightly bizarre angles and measures and the promise of tucks in the skirt. Then the tucks looked stupid. They left booby shapes in the skirt. I was determined to have a roomy skirt, but it had to fit the waist. So it was gathered all the way round. Problem solved.



 Of course, the gathers then didn't want to sit nicely. The skirt didn't want to behave at the waist. So I topstitched the seam in the direction that lay most nicely. Another problem solved. Now I know why I normally let other people design patterns. I also used the scalloped edging of the lace to bind the armholes.






And how does the dress look on?












How's that for a pretty fit! It's just what I wanted, and I couldn't be happier with how it looks! I feel so sophisticated.


























There's plenty of room for movement, breathing and even eating a huge meal if I want to! But it doesn't bag on me. It still hugs at the waist. The grey overlay on top of the pink keeps it form being too cold a colour, without being so overly girly that it's cloying. I'm not generally one to wear baby pink, but with the grey lace over the top it suits me up and down. I even have a pair of shoes which go really well with it!

Definitely worth it.

Next week I will attempt to explain the epic saga that is my newly diagnosed heart condition. It's an interesting story but I have no pictures for it really. Maybe I'll do some drawings for it!

PS. Comment from a poorly five year old charge this evening: I don't want the cheese on my pasta to melt.

...

This did not dignify a response. For anyone who doesn't know, a nanny cannot bend the laws of nature. Not even when her charge is poorly.

Love love xx

Beans, bugs and Brian

Life is busy. Work is amazing but tiring. The bean has worked out crawling forwards, and now likes nothing more than to try to reach anything  dangerous or disgusting, such as the bin, pram wheels, heavy bikes and scooters or cupboard doors. His crawl is a bit like a komodo dragon in style, and as slow as a sloth - especially compared to other crawlers! But he is stubborn and determined, and woe betide you if you remove him from whatever dangerous activity he is interested in. I spend my days being shouted at by a 10 month old who cannot understand why he isn't allowed to keep opening the cupboard door just enough to poke his fingers in, then shut it with the other hand. He is very smiley though, and despite bumping his head regularly with his new-found freedom he is happy and fun to be around with his constant chatter and the way his legs lift off the ground when he's excited. The bug is back to school and so comes home exhausted and emotional every night. He is full of brilliant questions, any of which I can't easily answer - what is technology? What''s the difference between a tractor and a digger? Where does the sun go when it sets? Why can't I see the sun but still see light on the clouds? How do helicopters fly? Does everything poo? Why? Some questions are hard not because I don't know the answer but because I don't know how to explain it so that he can understand. Sometimes he surprises me with his understanding - take the sun question. I told him that the earth was a big ball that turned and the sun didn't move, so when we turned away from it it couldn't shine on our part of the earth. I was still trying to reach a point with this, and worrying that I might be confusing him further with which bits move and which don't; but he said, "so when it sets here, could it be rising in America? Would people there be having their breakfast?" Incredible! He has an amazing ability to notice detail. Here's a combine harvester he made out of lego without any assistance:

He also drew some very detailed pictures of Frozen characters, including the Duke of Weselton, complete with moustache, spectacles and (can you believe) epaulettes!

On an entirely different point, this is Brian:

Brian is a unicorn. He is very pretty, and obviously male. He has a shiny gold horn and smiles a lot. You also may not have noticed but he has the barest, almost invisible little squint. It doesn't affect his vision very much but sometimes he can feel quite self-conscious about it. As long as people look him directly in the eyes and don't stare at his mild squint he's fine, though. He does hate it when people stare.

Brian is a good friend, and very fluffly but kinda lazy. He's like a supersized cat in some ways because he sleeps most of the time, he doesn't demand too much attention and he doesn't ask me to pick up his poop. Which is good since my job involves some of that anyway from the bean.







Yes, he has a side of the bed. He has the left side. It's closer to the radiator, which stops him getting cold during the day. His favourite foods are candy floss and ice cream - at least, they would be if he were allowed any. Ice cream would make him gassy though, and I don't need him farting sparkles in my bed. His favourite books are all teen fiction - I think he relates to the angsty awkward teenagers.



And yes, for anyone wondering, Brian is somewhat distantly related to the unicorn from Despicable Me. I don't know how distantly - I'm not even sure Brian does. They tend to all look alike in his family, but he doesn't even know the name of that particular cousin, and I don't push it. Some families don't live in each other's pockets.

Next time I post I will have photos of the dress I made over Christmas. It's very pretty and I have some photos of it already, but none with me wearing it, and I don't think it can be fully appreciated without a body filling it.

Love love xx

It's been a long while

New Year's Resolution: Blog once a week at least.

It's been forever. Life's been busy, then not busy, but I'm a procrastinator, and the longer I leave something the harder I then find it to make myself do it. Does anyone else find it so? I'm the same with making phone calls, writing to people, even reading fb messages - I dread opening them, because I know the other person can see that and so I then have to reply! Life has had ups and downs since I last posted. Since April I have:

Finished my full-time studies at Nanny College
Dated, and broken up, with someone
Got my first official Nanny job (!) and started just before Christmas
Moved twice
Grieved for my beautiful cat who finally died from old age
Discovered I've had a heart condition all my life without knowing about it AND agreed to be operated on
Made 1 dress
Made 1 adorable nanny purse
Knitted 1 1/2 socks and 1 fingerless mitten
Finished 1 quilt
Cooked lots of food
Discovered at least 3 new recipes, including some Swedish ones
Made my first set of bunting for a wedding
Agree to make a supersized set of bunting for someone else's wedding (think 4 triangles to a metre)
Survived Christmas
Read lots and lots of books
Downloaded 2 stupid waste of time apps to my phone which I play constantly

Um... I think that's about it. There will be more detail and photos on many of these. Safe to say it's been pretty crazy, lots going on in the last 8 months. How was your 2014?

Love love xx

Jam, picnics and cake, frogs to kiss, and a busy life...!

Ready for a catchup?! Here's what I've been up to of late...

 I made jam - plum jam, to be specific. I love plum jam, especially in PB & J's!












 The weather has been, at times, glorious! This was an amazing picnic we had as a house, with cake and biscuits and sunshine...!










 I made this cake for my housemate's birthday. It's a classic victoria sponge, with whipped cream and jam in the middle... mmmmn! Nothing quite beats a cake like that for the sunny weather!








 And I spent a weekend in Sherwood Forest, chilling out. I saw lots of these little guys, and rescued a few from the middle of roads so that they wouldn't get trodden on.




Other than that, I've spent a lot of time doing work for Nanny College. We have had many deadlines, and lots of preparations to make ready for job hunting in a couple of months. I handed in my last piece of work on Monday, and have been catching up on sleep ever since! I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I have some time off. But only almost! I'm headed back to my parents' in two days for a week or so, so I have to pack, and clean my bedroom here in Bath. I also have to clean the kitchen, as it's my job on the rota this week. I also want to do a little sewing - not much, but I want to make a block tonight! We'll see though. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for coffee - how I've missed my Niminy Cricket! I can't wait to see her tomorrow morning. And in the afternoon I'm visiting another friend. so I don't have much time left before I'm headed back to Manchester to do the cleaning needed... Who wanted a quiet life, anyway?!

I also received my bridesmaid dress for my best friend's wedding, so at some point I will post photos of it - once it's properly fitted to me, anyway!

Speak again soon.

Love love xx

A lot's happened round here...

But the main thing, which I'm going to show you right now, is that I finished making a baby mobile! No, it's not for me, or anyone I know, no babies happening anywhere near me at the moment. It's for nanny college, for Creative Skills. That's right, we will even make a mobile for your child! I kept mine under wraps for a long time, because I didn't want anyone to see it before it was complete. But now it is complete, and first thing tomorrow morning it will be handed in. So now is the time! Without further ado:

 What do you think?! I'm pretty chuffed with it, even if I do say so myself! So much effort went into it, and I've been itching to post photos of it for so long, but I hadn't finished evaluating it, and everyone else was still making their own mobiles, and... well, anyway, it's done and there and I'm very pleased!










Do you like the webbing?











And... it turns into a dream-catcher:









That way, a child can enjoy it even when they're older!
































I'm especially fond of the butterfly in the middle for some reason...









Lots of other things have happened round here. But I expect I shall tell you about them another time! For now, my aim is to go and find some sleep! But I shall try to post at least twice a week through Lent - and hopefully beyond!

Love love xx

The Hair, Tattoo followed by Lots of Experiments, Last Meals and a Belt to Hold them in, and I'm a Hero and want you to be too!

So all of this happened...

My housemates never used to believe me when I said that brushing out my curls would give me an afro...

My head's not that big, there's just lots of hair!

They do now!!













My housemate got a tattoo, and I went with her for moral support...




We did some fun 'science' experiments in Practical Skills, like this:






Which is called Dancing Raisins - you drop raisins in lemonade, and they rise and sink alternately due to bubbles of carbon dioxide getting caught in their wrinkles, then popping when they reach the surface...









And this one, which mimics the impact a meteorite would have upon hitting earth - you sift flour over a tray so that it is half an inch thick all over, then you sift a very thin covering of cocoa powder over that. Then you drop tasty little chocolate balls (whose name rhymes with walteser) from a height and see how the top soil is thrown everywhere and a crater is left...






... And we did this experiment, which was meant to show how different temperatures of water work but wasn't so successful - you submerge a bottle full of hot blue water in a bowl full of cold yellow water and in theory the blue water will stay near the surface so only the top water will be blue or green. In reality it didn't come out of the bottle at all, so we just tipped the bottle and enjoyed watching the colours blend!

And we tried out beer goggles to teach us to be careful when we drink:








As you can see, they made standing straight a challenge, and I had to hold onto things to stay upright! As for caring for children...

Note: no babies were harmed. Or real.

My face says it all. I almost stepped on another baby on a 'safe spot' on the floor trying to reach this one. And that's why you shouldn't drink whilst working with children!








We had a controlled conditions, timed essay which stressed everyone out. So the morning of the essay, we made pancakes, and generally behaved as though it was our last meal on Death Row!











I got awarded my brown belt - which you get in exchange for completing a whole lot of work! So I was very pleased to be given it. Ignore the wonky bow, and note that by this photo it is not at all obvious which nanny college I go to!







And then I came home to Manchester for Christmas, and yesterday I went and gave blood. I know, I sound all braggy! But I really believe that if you can, you should give blood often. One day it might be you, or your friend, or your baby, who is in that hospital and desperately needs blood. And a stranger will have donated their blood to save you or your friend or your baby. I find the whole experience sort of fun - the actual donating doesn't hurt at all. Sticking the needle in hurts a little, but not even as much as stabbing yourself with a pin. After that, all discomfort is done with. It takes about 10 minutes, and you won't even feel the blood coming out. I find that the needle doesn't hurt at all when it's being removed, and they plaster you up to make sure it stops bleeding quickly! The donor carers are lovely, and laugh with you, and exclaim over the little fellow painted on your thumbnail:







They were shocked that I'd done him myself (note: cotton wool bud and head of a pin are all you need tools-wise!), and jokingly made requests for me to do their nails too!





 and there's barely a mark to show after donating - look:






 This is my arm the day after. That little red dot just below my elbow? That's where they took it from. If you didn't know I'd given blood, you wouldn't notice it. It aches a little when I stretch my arm out as straight as possible, and they say not to do any heavy lifting, but otherwise I have no side effects at all.

It's so important to me to give blood as often as possible. It really is saving people's lives. It's a free way to find out your blood group - I'm B-. And you get free crisps, biscuits and and a brew afterwards. Just think how easy it is to save people! Being a hero and lying down at the same time? the best kind of heroism! And what better time to do this than in the season of giving? They do those corny adverts about giving the gift of life, but it's true - you really are giving someone the best gift.


I spent today catching up with a friend, then visiting my grandparents, who spoilt me rotten as they always do! Tomorrow, hopefully I will be seeing another friend, and Friday I'm seeing another! So it's all go-go-go here! What do you do over your Christmas holidays? Have you ever given blood? What science experiments do you remember doing when you were younger?

Love love xx

Snowy toes, Sewing for Children, Natural beauty, and Birthdays

Why yes, those are my toes - and yes, I painted those snowmen myself! No, I don't really have the time to be wasting on things like this - but I did it anyway. And it's lovely to see blogger allowing me to load a picture for once! It's been so frustrating recently, not being able to.

So here are a few photos of what I've been up to recently:

Sewing a 'taggy' for Nanny College - it's a lilypad!










 And the back...












 ... And a close-up! So we weren't technically meant to quilt it, but I wanted to sandwich the layers together, and after I'd done it the teacher looked at it and told me it was a good use of the pattern of the fabric! Win for disobedience!





Then a scary creature attacked me:

 Isn't it beautiful?! I know you can't tell from the photo, but this butterfly was huuge!! Here, let me show you another picture of it...

Isn't it amazing?! It flew into my room, so as the good human that I am, I caught it to release it, and as the blogger that I am, I photographed it lots before I released it! The colours were just incredible on this peacock butterfly...







And this little one turned 1!!! I can't believe it - a whole year of this little boy! So I went back to Manchester and went to his birthday party, which was brilliant. I got to see him walking around, which was the first time I'd seen it. I gave a book of his year of photos as a gift - more for Manndibles than Bilbo really, but what mum has time to do a photo album?!

I finish Nanny College in 2 weeks for Christmas - very exciting! I'm looking forward to going home, but first I have to complete 2 modules and part of a third. So it's off to work I go!

Love love xx