Something fascinating

I discovered something fascinating this week. A check mark or a 'tick' as we British would call it has two completely different meanings in two different continents. When correcting school books this week the classroom assistant sitting next to me commented "how come all the ones you grade have so many wrong?" I looked at the page I had just graded and saw a page full of check marks/ticks. I replied "wrong? they have a 100% correct"

It was then that I discovered that the same symbol meant something very different in Britain to what it means in America. Frankly I think it's barmy that a tick can indicate that something is incorrect!

Needless to say a few students must have been horrified looking at their graded work after they had seen my check marks all over the page, especially seeing as i've been grading for a few weeks now!

So which wise guy came up with the invention of spinning?

Spinning. Have you tried it?
It's one heck of a good workout but seriously who came up with the idea that grown adults would meet in a room cycle on STATIONARY bicycles and pretend to race each other?
Besides it being a good leg work out I also find it particularly good for the abs- this is due to the fact that me and my friend find plenty of things to laugh about whilst in spin class. Not only are the instructors pep talks of encouragement something to giggle at but the sheer diversity of craziness among the participants is enough to send you into a fit of laughter. For example at our class we have one serious head swinger, every time a leg goes down to pedal her head swings out to the side at great speed, I am surprised that she does not give herself a whiplash injury. We also have the lady who ignores every instruction given and just pedals her little heart out at an insane pace the entire session. And don't get me started on the skinny man who wears Lycra!

A weekend of great food, sewing, family and friends

Where to begin?... beautiful weather, that's always a good thing. Good weather also brings with it a delicious season of barbecuing cuisine- well for those of us who are fortunate and do not end up with a pile of charcoal ed (burnt to a crisp) meaty offerings. Quite the contrary for me, thankfully, with a husband who is blessed with excellent grilling techniques! perfect organic beef slow roasted on the BBQ with a mu skeet, delicious.

Sewing has been a slow process, I fear that is partly due to my perfectionist traits. I have almost finished one vest/bolero I just need to insert some ruffles around the armhole- I say 'just' but this will most likely be very time consuming!


You know how everything always takes longer than you expected!? but I am seriously hoping that I can finally get the first few items into the Frenchy and Sophie store this week. Anyway I'm hoping for an early night tonight, another day full of first graders tomorrow. Enough blogging for today, more to come tomorrow :)

Learning what your worth...

For all you design related entrepreneur's out there you should check out this article http://www.dailyworth.com/blog/414-learning-what-im-worth it's very inspiring and address's the issue of how much to sell your work for.... I think that far too many artists/crafts people/designers are greatly selling themselves short! not only is this damaging for themselves but for the whole 'crafting' community. People can not expect quality one of a kind unique products to compete with the price of mass produced, poor quality products imported from china!


OK I will jump off my soap box now!
So on the Frenchy and Sophie front, I have had a productive day consisting of- pre washing fabrics and then ironing them, a little more pattern cutting and here's the exciting part... I have cut 2 items out of cloth and have began surging them :) so we should have some finished product soon!

Am I becoming slightly american?

I have come to an alarming realisation that perhaps to my dismay I am loosing a little British-ness! two dramatic events today have led me to this conclusion.....
Firstly I had a caffeine emergency today whilst at my in laws and had to resort to instant coffee (as they don't drink coffee and have no coffee pot!), I opened the little instant coffee pouch and too my dismay pulled out a TEABAG containing instant coffee! as I brewed my coffee in a teabag a sense of betrayal overcame me and I felt that the queen would be disappointed to learn that instant coffee now comes in a teabag.... ludicrous



Secondly I pronounced the word tomato the way that an American would say it tom-mate-o, as soon as the word left my mouth I let out a little scream, of course no one else noticed but I was alarmed. So for the rest of the week I plan to make a very conscious effort to be extra British!

What a day

Where do I begin... spent a few hours browsing the Internet this morning trying to find a job! checked my email about 20 times in case someone got back to me about a job, went to the gym- my beater of a car died on me twice whilst driving back from the gym, then immersed myself into a frustrating afternoon of pattern drafting and sewing ...........phewww... and it's not even 5 o'clock yet.



Speaking of pattern drafting, is there anything more time consuming? as I sat there on the floor with paper and fabric sprawled everywhere and my mind working over time I questioned what insane part of my brain decided that designing clothes again was a smart idea?????????

A day of aspirations

Have you seen the documentary on Walmart, 'The high price of low cost?' I found it so disturbing and disheartening. If you haven't seen it you really need to! it's because people are so oblivious to what is going on around them that our society is in such a mess. Anyway what I have taken from the documentary is a stronger desire to buy local and support local business. Also I feel extremely inspired to start making clothes again and really try to break into the fashion industry. It is my dream to run my own clothing design business with high ethical standards.People need to question why what they are buying is cheap and realise that they have a responsibility to research what and where they are buying from.

O.K so now I am off my soap box... I have had a great day in the sunshine and at my sewing machine, the exciting news is that I now have 4 items ready for the frenchy and sophie store, so it should be open some time mid week!! above is a picture of one of my creations.