I have not been feeling too great over the last few days, hence my lack of blogging. Instead I have just been watching DVDs and reading books and suchlike. I am not a good patient though and get very frustrated at not being able to get on with things. So one of the things I did was have a rummage in what I self-importantly call My Mending Pile, which is basically a stack of fabric related things that I have some vague plans for. After moving some of those things into The Charity Shop Bag, I found a couple of easy projects to keep my hands busy.
Above is a summer dress I bought in H&M about 4 years ago and never wore, mainly because it was way too flouncy for every day. It has pretty layers at the bottom but then had two more big ruffley layers with more crochet between them. Frankly, it was Too Much. So I started ripping out the bottom two layers with my trusty seam ripper and then it was just a simple matter of pressing the hem and sewing it up. Now I have pretty summer top to wear with trousers, hurrah. This is becoming a bit of a pattern with me – buying dresses and altering them into long tops. Still, it means no-one else will have the same top and if you leave it in the mending pile for 4 years then the chances are even slimmer!
I also had some worn out or too-small items of clothing in my pile that had nice trimmings to be removed so out came the seam ripper again until I had a nice pile of brown crochet, hot pink lace and some glittery buttons, all for free!
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While mending from my illness (see what I did there?), I also had some time to think about my favourite creative bloggers. Tracey from Giggleface Studios kindly gave me an Arte y Pico award the other week. I’m always a little confused about these award things but an opportunity to promote the people I admire is always to be taken. Do visit these blogs!
1. Peapods – Alice is a good real-life friend of mine and so it’s always nice to see what she’s up to. Not only does she manage to blog almost every day but she is living proof that there’s something good about every day if you look hard enough.
2. Little Robot – Lindsey is one of the most talented people I know and I’m really glad she takes the time to blog about her works in progress. Not least because she shows how much hard work, thinking, mistakes and stress goes into being an artist. It’s the difference between doing something for fun and doing something because you have to make it work, for your own peace of mind.
3. Moose and Bear – Fiona is a very rare thing amongst crafty bloggers; someone who shares information about her sales and the ways she promotes her shop. Most people are happy to play down their successes and failures and keep any information to themselves but Fiona is open and honest about it all. I’ve always got a lot of time for people who try and help the community they’re in. Also, she makes cute stuff!
4. Argyle Whale – Elise makes the funniest, cutest stuff with bunnies ahoy and her blog is awesome, witty and friendly. She’s not afraid to show her silly side and her blog always cheers me up.
5. This Chicken – A new find for me, after Rebecca added me on Flickr, but her illustrations are so cute and detailed that I am hooked on her blog. I always feel inspired to get out my sketchbook after a visit. She just opened her Etsy shop and I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with.
No pressure to carry this forward – I just wanted to thank you guys for being awesome, and making me less bored while I’m mending.
