Tuesday 22 July 2008

Connections

I was reading Lauren's post today, and it reminded me of the following video (for reasons that will become clear if you read Lauren's post and watch the clip):



I *heart* Bill Bailey :o) I saw him live once and I laughed so much during his show that I was in actual physical pain by the end of the evening (but it was *so* worth it). I particularly liked this bit:



Anyway, that's probably enough Bill for one post.

In other news, I have developed a minor new obsession - for bumblebees. Its all about the bumbling here at the moment. So much so that I seem to have neglected my blogging duties again - too busy staring out of the window hoping that a bumble might bumble past, or even stray into my new bumblebee garden. Technically speaking, said garden is just a large pot of lavender and a small variegated thyme in a windowbox, but such is the limitation of a second-floor flat. I have had a couple of visitors, but they've bumbled off again too quickly for me to take their photos to share with you. But I'll be trying to snap the next ones that come along.

Must go. I keep thinking I hear buzzing when I stray too far from the window. Bumble bumble bumble......

Monday 14 July 2008

A packaging gimmick that might just catch on...


(With many thanks to my Dad for providing the above bar - which is now, sadly, long since consumed and gone...)

Click on the picture for a bigger version and read the small print. It'll make you smile :o)

Monday 7 July 2008

SunWalk report

Sorry I didn't get this post put up last night - I caught the sun on the walk (despite covering myself in suncream before going out - obviously wasn't a high enough factor!) and spent yesterday afternoon/evening feeling a bit worn out and headachey. But I'm not complaining, because I'm just glad that there was enough sun for me to end up with shoulders like this....


.... given that the day started off like this:


Amazingly, by the time the walk itself started, the blue skies had broken through:


Over the following four hours, while we were walking, the weather continued to be highly changeable, but our spirits remained high through it all. We smiled through the sun.....


..... and through the rain....


..... and I smiled a lot at my walking buddy, particularly when she was gesturing with her banana:


It was hard not to smile on such a brilliant day, surrounded by wonderful, cheerful people doing something so fantastic.

Amazingly, walking along wearing your bra feels oddly normal when you're part of a long crocodile of other folk doing just the same. I was still a little nervous, but it felt quite liberating, too :o)

I want to leave you with the quotation that was on the back of my medal, which made me think of all you lovely bloggers when I read it:


"Happiness is like jam. You can't spread even a little without getting some on yourself."
- Anonymous

Keep spreading that jam, bloggers :o)


Saturday 5 July 2008

You guys are the best

Wow! I've been touched and overwhelmed by all the fabulous support that blogland has provided for my SunWalk tomorrow - many, many "thank you!"s to you all :o)

If you took part in working mom knits' giveaway, do go and see if you are one of her winners. Congratuations to those who have won, and big thanks to WMK for being so kind as to host the giveaway - you're a star, WMK!

Your bra decorating suggestions were all brilliant - it's a shame that I couldn't incorporate them all in my final design. In the end, I think Michaela's and mrspao's suggestions came closest to what I was already working towards.

So, without further ado, I present to you my "over shoulder boulder holder" work of art:


English Country Bra-den


I'm sorry to be so brief, but I need to go and sleep now as it's an early start in the morning. I will try to post an update tomorrow to show you how things went.

Once again, thank you all so much - and I'll be thinking of your supportive comments on my way around the course tomorrow!

VCxx

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Bra update

Thanks ever so much for all your excellent suggestions on the bra decorating front. Thank you slightly less for the knitted-beard-as-disguise idea. While I appreciate that you were intending to protect my modesty, I can't help thinking that donning instant whiskers (patent pending) may just have the effect of drawing MORE attention to myself. And even worse, I suspect things might get a bit warm and uncomfortable inside the beard after 13 miles.

Anyway, cracking swiftly on... and before I get onto the bra update I'd planned, I must share with you the very exciting news that has just dropped into my inbox: Working Mom Knits is holding a giveaway - in association with my bra-walk! Hurrah!! Do pop over and have a peek... it's over here. Thanks for thinking of me, WMK!

But now, I'm sure you're all desperate to know how the bra's coming along, yes? Well, the answer would be slooooowly, so I don't yet have any finished-article pics. What I do have is a series of snaps documenting phase one of the work-in-progress, which I shall be subtitling:

"VC's rather unsuccessful foray into fabric-dying"

Before we kick off, I'll give you a hint about the moral of the story: it involves remembering to read all the instructions before you begin. And then following them.

My 'before' shot shows that things started off very well. I consulted the guidelines and got out everything I would need:


I'd splashed out on a new pair of marigolds, I'd bulked up my fabric weight by adding a pillowcase and some knickers to my bra, I'd laughed heartily at the man in baby-blue shorts pictured on the box of dye - I was ready.

Next up, I have a 'during' shot:


Here you can see my old yellow pillowcase starting to go green as the blue dye begins to take. You probably can't see the bra. That is because I had hidden it under the pillowcase so that I couldn't see it and get stressed out about how IT WASN'T CHANGING COLOUR!!

At this point, I was repeating a mantra along the lines of: "OK... so... don't panic... just keep 'agitating the fabric and forcing the dye through it', like it says in the instructions... it'll be fine... *panicky breathing*... why is it STILL NOT BLUE??"

And, well, it turns out that I should have read the fabric type on the bra label before I bought the dye, and taken into consideration that the polyester/nylon/elastene blend might not take the colour all that well. I did know that some fibres wouldn't really dye properly, but I seem to have adopted an attitude of blind optimism about the whole thing, and assumed that this bra would 'blue up' just fine, whatever dye I used.

In the end, it did work a little bit, albeit to varying degrees in different areas. So, here's my 'after' shot: one ever-so-slightly-blue-except-where-it's-still-white bra...


Soon after this shot was taken, I started sewing some bits on - but the fruits of my labours will have to wait until next time, I think. You'll like it, though. Really. The actual sewing may not be very good, but I feel that I had a very strong design vision. I drew sketches and everything. Oh yes - I've learned from my mistakes. No more winging it for this chicken: only proper planning and meticulous research from now on... or something like that, anyway ;o)