Update! What I've been doing lately!

The other day I realised I had worked 21 days straight without a day off. So it's not surprising I haven't had much chance to blog recently. In between all this mad working, working and working, I have also managed to make time for some fun stuff too. Here's a pick of the best bits of my life recently.  (Sadly none of them involve sleeping which is the one thing I could do with more than anything right now!)

Laura's Crafty Bay Shower

My friend Laura is 'due' next week and last weekend she held a crafty baby shower around hers. She was donated over 30 plain white babygrows a few months ago and decided she couldn't bare to have such ordinary clothes. So she dyed half of them and then invited lots of friends around to help decorate each one with fabric pens, applique, drawings, paintings, doodles etc. She ended up with a room full of original art work and will have the trendiest baby ever thanks to her fashionable new wardrobe. Mine was a 'Bollywood Star' theme where I foiled on sparkly letters which involved an hour of ironing. You can't quite see it in the picture of me above, but I also enhanced it with colourful stars. 

Fancy pants

As I never managed to complete the pants I started to make in the fancy pants class for my hen do, I returned to finish off and made these fab 'big pants' which double up as  great hotpants. The Japanese fabric has white bears flying in hot air balloons on it.

Chinese New Year

I ran two chinese themed workshops at the Geffrye Musuem, including making these traditional lanterns with chinese writing on - first time I've ever tried writing chinese characters although due to lantern restrictions the text is not vertical as it should be.

Asiana Bridal Show

Back in January I attended the biggest Asian bridal catwalk in the country to report back on the trends for 2011.

Backstage gossip

I went backstage to find out more about how the show is put together and  spotted supermodel Mehreen getting her jewellery fixed in place as well as got a better look at the clothes:

Coraline boots

The only item I bought in this year's sales are these amazing yellow boots. I wish I could wear them everyday but as they are my newest footwear I'm mainly saving them for special occasions.

Southbank Press trip

This week I went along to a Southbank Press trip where we were treated to a flight on the London Eye and best of all one of my lifetime fantasties was fulfilled -  a trip on a DuckBus! This is a road vehicle that miraculously turns into a boat and travels across the River Thames - amazing!

Valentine's day

I sneakily got Matt a present that I actually wanted for myself, some Marmite chocolate! Luckily he wasn't keen on it so I got to enjoy most of the bar! I also baked 35 chocolate brownies for the office with iced heart motifs but my camera was out of battery so I couldn't snap them before they got gobbled up.

 

New pet

Finally on Friday night I got a pet. She is a 6 week old African Pygmy Hedgehog. I will be putting up proper pictures soon, she's mainly sleeping and all I've snapped so far is this picture of her peering out from her travel box (she came home on the train) to catch a glimpse of her new home. 


Next week is going to be mental with magazine deadlines but I look forward to blogging more as soon as I can! 

My crafty hen do!

Think pink!

Any excuse to dress up in pink top-to-toe! My hen do was filled with spangle, sparkle and sewing!
I signed my unsuspecting hens up to a 'secret activity' held in Greenwich Market and all they were told was that they too had to turn up wearing pink. (Signs courtesy of my friend Charlotte!...green one indicates I passed my hen do...hooray!)

The secret it revealed!

 The surprise was a 'Fancy Pants' workshop where each hen designed and sewed her own luxury undies!

Pink lady: Miss Libby Rose

It was held at sewing princess Miss Libby's Rose's perfect pink palace and she was on hand to show us all how to make the naughty knickers.

Hmm....delicious!

Libby's scrumptious craft house in Greenwich Market is filled with tasty trimmings, fluffy things, sequins, buttons, ribbons, charms, handmade clothes and gorgeous cotton print fabrics...all at our disposal for our pant making.

So much fabric...so little time...

 Despite all the spangly, sheer and saucy fabrics, this spotty number was the biggest hit.

Cutting edge

First up we used patterns to make our pants, to our desired fit from a bigger 'hot pant' style to something a little more 'little'...

Sew good

 Then it was on to the machines to stitch them up!

Charlotte

Ms Charlotte can be seen here against a gorgeous fabric mural made by Libby...hmmm how I want one of those!

Loppy Lou

 Loopy Lou Lou is a dab hand with ceramics and jewellery but took to the machine like a duck to water!

Rukia

Bless her! Ruky has never sewn in her life, and I must admit I was worried for her, but she clicked with the machine immediately and sped right ahead!

Helping hands

 I spent more time gossiping with the girls than working on my own pants but am pleased to report I put my own craftyness to use by lending a hand replacing bobbins and the like!

Show us your pants!

And here are the girlies showing off their fabulous creations! There was spots/stripes/strawberry print, bond girl pants and very slinky tie up numbers.

Sewing pants was hungry work but luckily we had a vast quantity of vegan cupcakes (which I forgot to photograph) from Ms Cupcake, also found in Greenwich Market.

Boys!

 Of course one can't make pants all day so come night...we did what every bride-to-be deserves; spending an evening with some hunks...sadly those pictures are censored : )