Wednesday, 9 September 2009

6

Website Pop Quiz

Fourteen hours of straight editing, uploading, tweaking, deleting and coding of my website has driven me demented. So let's have a quiz to recap.

1)Which is harder to edit?
a. A Mr Site website
b. A Phd thesis on quantum physics, in Russian

2) True or False: Making changes within the editing function will go live when you make them.

3) Which takes longer?
a. Paint drying.
b. Manually clicking each item to move it's position up or down.

4) No matter how many times you retype your hyperlink, clicking on 'Hoodies' will take you where?
a. Hoodies.
b. A porn site.

5) A picture you are trying to upload keeps distorting. What do you do?
a. Cry.
b. Give your computer the finger.
c. Decide not to sell that item anymore. Too many bad memories.
d. All of the above

6) You have no choice but to update every single price and offer Free Shipping. Why?
a. Sometimes Mr Site does not add any postage anyway and you lose out.
b. Sometimes Mr Site levies a triple postage amount and you have to refund.
c. Both a and c.

Despite the sarcasm and griping, my website is back in business, and I think it's the best it's ever looked. There are still a couple of things I want to change / add, including a fabric gallery for custom orders, but I can't face it today. So please stop by and buy lots of things check out the new format and contents! Oh, and let me know if you find any crazy links.

Tuesday, 8 September 2009

2

Getting back on the horse

When I was young, I used to run road races with my Dad. The races themselves were fine, I enjoyed them, but I hated training. My Dad used to say, 'It takes three weeks to get in shape, but only one week to get out of shape.' It was true and I didn't like it at all, I'm a destination kinda girl.

So here I find myself in the same situation, not running, but sewing. And pattern making. And grading. I took almost a whole month off when I was on holiday, and it's taking me awhile to get back to where I left off. I'm incredibly frustrated. Before my customers go running into the hills, let me qualify this by saying that my actual sewing is going fine. My new machine is sewing more beautifully than I remembered machines could. Please forgive me, old sewing machine, I didn't appreciate how badly I'd been treating you.

But before I went on holiday, I could look at something and think 'I know how to make you'. And then I could make a mental list of what order I had to do everything in. And I could pull out a pattern, and remember how to make it bigger or smaller by moving lines and changing ratios. I was so immersed in The Business that it was easy (ish). But it seems that everything I've made since I've been back is tricky. I struggled with the bag, I struggled with the wallet. And then last night I made Steven a cozy for his Creative Zen. I took pictures as I was going along for a tutorial, but if I was to post it now I would have to call it 'How to make an Ipod cozy when you have too much time on your hands'. End result? Just as I wanted. The journey? Too long.


This actually would have taken me about 15 minutes if I had got the order in which to sew things right.


So I think I'm all set, I've been pushing myself hard too make things (like accessories) that I have no experience of. And for what? That's not My Business. Sure, I needed a bag and a wallet. An Ipod cosy is just about the only thing I could make my husband that he'd accept. But it's not what I know, not what I've been working so hard to get good at over the last year. My shops are re-opening tomorrow.

Monday, 7 September 2009

9

Wishful thinking, toddler style


Here's a very short conversation I had with Jamie today. It probably could have been longer, but I found it too traumatising.

Jamie: When I'm bigger, I'm going to have a big bum!
Me: Maybe. It'll be bigger than now anyway.
Jamie: Big like yours?
Me: I actually have almost no bum. Just ask Daddy.
Jamie: When I'm bigger, I'm going to have lots of wee mans!
Me: I doubt it. You only ever have one, even when you're big.
Jamie: When I'm bigger, I'm going to have a big wee man! Just one!
Me: Well, you can live and dream.
Jamie: When I'm sleeping, I'm going to get big nipples!
Me: That would be weird. I'm going to make a coffee.

The End.

Sunday, 6 September 2009

14

Gazing, smiling, but no kissing. Promise.


Three years ago today, we were in Italy getting hitched.


The ceremony was held in a medieval ex-monestary in Bagno a Ripoli, a hillside town just outside Florence.


This is the monastery from the outside. See that street sign? Authentic medieval.


Oh, how we laughed when Steven couldn't get the ring over my heat-swollen knuckle! It was 38deg C (100 deg F).


After Steven promised to 'love, honour and obey', I made him put it in writing.


We had rice thrown at us.


We made toasts.


Jamie was really happy his parents weren't going to be living in sin anymore.


And promptly set about sabotaging pictures (you might need to click on the photo to see what I mean)


We did get a couple of nice shots though, and we were glad he was there.


As it turns out, Maia was there too. Right behind my hand.


After the ceremony we went to Piazzale Michaelangelo for some pictures overlooking the city. You can see the Duomo, Santa Croce and the Ponte Vecchio just behind us. I love Florence *sigh*.


Our photographer was awesome. He made us walk up and down a lot of stairs.


And pose in front of sunflowers. And do lots and lots of kissing, but I'll spare you the gory details.


And then to dinner at a gorgeous rural terraza. This was one of the last documented meals Jamie ever ate.


And this was the view from the terrace. *sigh again*


So do I have any regrets? Well, other than not being able to be in black and white because I'm prettier that way? Nope, I adore him. He puts up with a lot from me. I have it on good authority that I'm grumpy a lot of the time. And maybe less than patient. And kinda bossy. And certainly messy. And quite a bit of a dork. In comparison (and excluding his total freakin' obsession with football and clothes), he's a bit of a saint.

So thank you, Steven, for giving me my gorgeous children. And letting me blog about inappropriate crushes. And for letting me photoshop you into the devil.

Saturday, 5 September 2009

8

We're diversifying


I've been working hard on my kimono pattern. Maia has been working hard on diversifying her awkward hand poses. This is what we've had so far:

The passive-aggressive 'Why me?' hands

The Surfer hands

The 'Boobies cold' hands

The Rapper 'Dope, Dope, Yo' hands

The Camp hands

The Messiah hands

Clearly, the reason I'm telling you this is because I'm trying to distract you from noticing that the fabric is upside down.

Friday, 4 September 2009

27

Accidents do happen, to the best of us


If you're a mum, you've probably heard those immortal words 'It was an accident!' more times than you've had hot dinners (or at least hot dinners not cooked by yourself). Toys mysteriously in the toilet? It was an accident! A saliva ring on the back of a sibling's shirt that looks uncannily like an attempted bite mark? It was an accident! A massive seed from the garden shoved so far up your nose that it was undetectable for days? An accident! But sometimes, my friends, it really is 'an accident'.

Take yesterday for example. My sewing machine and my overlocker have been fecked (this is the technical term) for such a long time. Obviously they've still been usuable, but they're clunky and irksome. I've been giving my machines The Finger, lots. But every time I tell myself, 'GET THEM SERVICED!', something comes up. However, as you might have noticed, all my shops remain closed. And so they shall remain, until I can get lovely, well-functioning and pleasant machines.

When I phoned up today and asked how long it would take, I was told three weeks was standard. After dying, being given CPR by Jamie, and recovering, I explained to the owner that I was special and couldn't be expected to cope without my therapy machines for that length of time. Because losing my machines would feel a bit like this:


'I see...', he said, after I faxed him the diagram of me missing an arm, 'Well in that case, we'll have them back for you next Tuesday or Wednesday.' That's still a long time, but I have patterns and website work to do. 'Okay, then, I'll bring them up,' I said.

The minute poor Steven came in from work, I informed him he'd have to drive through the depths of Hell Edinburgh at rush hour. To punish us for rejecting the congestion charge, the government has dug a massive trench in the middle of every single road, put a fence and elaborate one-way system around it, added some temporary traffic lights for good measure and then moved on. We packed The Most Irritable Children in the World *TM into their carseats and up we went. Driving by the shop, Steven slowed enough for me to jump out and ninja roll out of the path of an errant bus (whilst holding machines of course). 'Go find some parking, I'll just be a minute,' I shouted. I could still hear Jamie screaming 'I come with you!!' halfway down the road.

'Hello, I spoke to you on the phone. Here's my machines.' said I. 'Great, thank you. You can put them over there,' said he. Struggling to carrying the lumbering machines to add to the heap of more than seventy machines waiting to be serviced, that's when it happened... I accidentally stumbled and *cough* bought two new machines *cough*. Okay, maybe I didn't stumble. But I did accidentally buy a new sewing machine and a new overlocker. Oops-a-daisy. While Steven sat in the car with The Most Irritable Children in the World *TM for a very long time. Whoops. It was an accident.

Thursday, 3 September 2009

3

Trees and kimonos


I can't tell you how happy I was to track down more of this tree fabric. First time around I only bought two yards, and after making the matinee coat I was too heartsick to use what I had left. I couldn't find any more for almost a year, and then some popped up on Etsy and I snapped up all of it. Because I'm greedy like that.


One of my customers loves it too, and she wondered about making it into a kimono style dress. My other kimono pattern is for knit fabric, so I set about drafting a new pattern last night.


Obviously it can't slip over the head like the knit version, so it has a slit down the back. This one has a single button, but I would have put in a zipper if I wasn't totally sick of them after my bag and wallet making escapades.


So here I go again answering questions before you ask them... No, the pictures were not taken in the dead of night, my camera was struggling to cope with how freakin dreary it is here today. Yes, I need to open the sleeves up more. No, I totally wouldn't bribe her with a biscuit for four shots in the rain. Yes, Maia's new modelling stance is to raise her arms heavenwards like a weirdo. And, yes, she should be a hair model.