Run for a reason 2012

Well, at least I managed to get out of bed this year!
The team has managed to raise over $750 for DiabetesWA, so I couldn't really be lazy!



This morning was crisp and bright. Glorious running weather!

The run itself went quite well. Dave had pledged an extra $5 for every minute I managed under 1:30, so that way my aim.
All went surprisingly well, actually, since I hadn't run for over a month. The tunnel was hot and sweaty as usual... I struggled from 9-11km. the race went from being on the freeways to being on the bike path, and with 20,000 people this year (OK, so not all doing the 14km, but a lot more than there have been) it was really crowded with the area decrease, and hard to over take. Not that I was in much of an issue to over take much...

They sorted the finish out as well... as soon as you got to the WACA you went down the shoot. None of the circles around and not knowing where the end is.

And I crossed the finish line in 1:24:07. Which I was pretty happy with. I'm not a fast runner, and thats only a couple of minutes slower than last time, when I was top of my game. Doesn't seem to matter how much I train, I can't seem to get much beyond 11km/h. I think more sprint training is in order.

And todays me-made item is my hair bow :) WE all got a length of fabric with cupcakes on as our "team colours". I was just going to tie it around my head, but my hair kept getting tangled, so since I was bored anyway, I made it into a proper head band. It stayed put all the way through!

The thing that annoys me most, with this and every big public race, are the walkers in the first kilometer. I know mostly its because they don't actually know what theyre doing and how detrimental it can be to those around, but surely thats what the volunteers are there to try and do... make sure people start in the right category. not much you can do about the people who put themselves in the wrong group from the very start (apart from having to pre-qualify?!), but the people wearing walking numbers are especially annoying! If you couldn't tell, its a pet peeve of mine...

My first (completed) button up shirt!

I started a burda pattern for a shirt a while back, and as usual I cut it following the bust measurement. 

It turned out HUGE. I spent lots of time taking it in, but I havn't got it right yet, so its sitting in the UFO pile... Maybe this weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I was in the op shop, and saw this basic shirt pattern from 1975. 

Style 1242

It was only 50c, looked like all the pieces were there. I've never really sewn from printed paper patterns, never mind old ones, so I wasn't sure it would fit, but it was only 50c and I had the perfect thrifted fabric to try it out on.

I didn't notice how big the collar would be!

But I do love the sleeves. I finished them with 3 lines of stitching and a button.

There is also an option for big floaty sleeves, which I'm looking forward to trying!

It was a pretty good fit with no changes, but it needs an extra inch or so across the shoulders so I can actually put my arms out in front of me!

Crochet flowers

I made these a while back but never finished them.

They weren't made from a pattern, just from me sitting in my room at work in the evenings playing around with stitches while watching Big Bang Theory (love that show!).

Theres still a few more that need finishing off too. I'll get around to it eventually!

The Garden re-done...

Remember I was re-doing the garden?

Well, its been done for a while, but now the winters coming and the rain is arriving, its really coming to life! Thoug you should see it a few months later! ;)

The white balance its really bad, but thats Perth sunshine for my camera...

The grevillea and the kangaroo paws are really looking wonderful:

 Don't you think it looks like a fruit salad chew? If you know what they are!

We had a couple of fish in the urn, but decided that wasn't enough for us or them, so now they are inside and much happier.

We find now that its a nicer place to be, we use it more often.

Blue Ruffle Sorbetto

Yes, another sorbetto!

This time, no pleat, length extended and an asymmetrical ruffle.

This is made from the left overs of the blue poplin from the Caterpillar dress. I didn't quite have enough fabric, so this one is a little snug, and its really brought to my attention the dart placement. (and the bad quality of my sewing of them)

Should it be lower? It feels wrong... I'm Aussie 10 ish, wearing a 10dd/12D depending on cut and brand. so I know I should be making some alterations to fit around them ;) But it seems so complicated!

Any ideas?

If in doubt, go with the original plan

So. I went for what I'd originally planned...

The Kookaburra sorbetto, dark jeans and a biscuit cardi.

The weather was crazy today- sunny then rainy then sunny then rainy.

I got pretty wet on the first half of the way to uni, but dried off on the second.

I love the old buildings at the heart of the uni!

I got enrolled OK, filled out the paperwork, went to my department, found my office had no desk and no computer, and the woman who could give me a key to the building had gone out... so mixed successes! 

The rest of the week I'll just "work from home". Its all reading and Italian at this stage anyway!

First day back at school...

... and I cannot decide what to wear!

Nothing feels right, me made or not! Eeek!

Volevo un gatto nero

I love this song. Youtube-ing kids songs in Italian counts as a lesson, right?!

Its about a kid who wants a black cat, and offers lots of things (an alligator, a giraffe, an elephant) in return for the black cat, but always gets the white cat... the chorus basically goes:

Volevo un gatto nero, nero, nero,

mi hai dato un gatto bianco

ed io non ci sto più.

Volevo un gatto nero, nero, nero,

siccome sei un bugiardo

con te non gioco più.

which means:

I wanted a black cat, black, black ,

But you gave me a white cat

so I'm not staying [there]

I wanted a black cat, black, black,

Because you're a liar,

I will not play with you.

In the end, the kid keeps the white cat and breaks the deal... So maybe not the best lesson to teach small children.!

I think that definitely counts as a lesson for me though!

The sorbetto... jumper?!

So this is what I made to take with me to Italy.

I wanted something warm but wearable in a range of situations. 

Believe it or not, its a sorbetto made out of an ikea throw!

So... what did I do?

I took out the centre fold on the sorbetto.

Added an extra couple of inches.

I drafted some long sleeves from a jumper I already had. They were meant to come down long and have holes for my thumb, but I misjudged the length and width, so I hemmed them at the wrist instead.

I cut out a rectangle as long as the total length of  the neckline, and twice as wide as I wanted the cowl to be. I sewed it on so that the seam for the cowl was against my neck, and the seam joining the cowl together would be hidden beneath the fold.

I took advantage of the finish of the throw to give a more interesting finish around the bottom and the cowl.

I would definitely consider making something similar again, but I wouldn't suggest using the throw ;) 

It served a purpose but was already piling really badly, especially on the sleeves, so I would probably choose a better quality fleece.

PS: Today I'm wearing the herman sorbetto with 3/4 jeans, and yesterday was a pjs day (I landed at 1am, got home at 2, then didn't fall asleep til 6 (midnight Italy time), attempted to wake up a couple of times but fell asleep again each time, only actually waking up at two... I wore the space invader pjs I made for the boy a while back!

Back from Italy... moderately successful MMM

Well, its hard to keep up the me-made-ness when you've mostly made quite formal and fitted clothes then have to go hiking for a week! I went to tghe Piedmont region of Italy for 6 days. 2 days there, 5 real field days, 2 days back. Awesome, huh! The food was amazing- I ate soo much because everything was so yummy, and because I was with mostly Italians it was easier to find out what was good and/or a local speciality. I need to work on my Italian for when I'm there on my own!

But all in all it was a good introduction to my phd!

I took a few me made things with me; I didn't manage to get photos of everything, and the photos I did get are hurried, generally with wet hair :) I did sleep in my dino pyjamas every night, if that counts?!

See that jumper? Would you believe me if I said it was from ikea? ;)

The weather was variable!

Sunny...

Rainy...

Snowy...

But there were views that definitely made up for it!

All topped off with Gelato by the lake on the way back to the airport!

It was a long way to go for 6 days, but we had a great time. 

I'm nearly over the jet lag I think, though it took a few days.

May 2nd - Fish Day

Today we sadly lost one of our fish. She'd been looking under the weather for a while, and today she looked much worse. We'd been searching the net for symptoms; at first we thought it was ammonia poisoning, which is why we had bought the new tank so we had much better ability to control their water quality. Today it looked like she had an infection.
We went out to the store to buy some medicine but by the time we got back she was hardly breathing and floating on her side, so the boy put her out of her misery. Its for the best, but I couldn't do it myself, and cried a little. We burried her in the garden next to her pond. I feel we let her down, but the new set up is huge- much bigger and better filtered than their little outdoor pond, so I think we'll be much better off in future. We can see them better, and detect issues earlier, plus we now have a huge host of water tests and treatments to keep on top of any future "under the weather-ness"

RIP Topaz.

But, we did get some new playmates for Amber, the one left behind. We're still cycling up tank, and will hopefully end up with maybe 6 goldfish in our 85l tank, maybe with some darios once I find some big enough not to be eaten! but today we got two more gold fish, a small yellow comet called Citrine (Trinny for short) and a slightly bigger orange and silver one called Molybdenum (Molly). So far they've all been names after minerals they resemble, but Molly looks like a fish I had as a child in our outdoor pond, and molybdenum is silver, and she's a bit silver... Its a stretch, but it kind of works!
They're loving the tank. Amber is much more active than she was outside, and the three of them seem to get a long really well.

So, todays outfit was fish themed. Whales and jean shorts:

I'm off to Italy tonight for a week or so (crazy life of a phd student) so I'll be offline. I've got some tshirts that I embellished or re-made from mens shirts, plus a skirt I made and a fleecy jumper made using the sorbetto pattern, plus some home made hair clips ;)

Oh, and home made PJs. 

Only time will tell how I go!

See you on the other side.

DIY Wedding Shoes!

So, I just saw a feature on modified wedding shoes on Grosgrain and thought I would add mine to the mix.

I started out trying to hack some ex-bridesmaid shoes that I would be unlikely to wear again. I attempted to cover them in the fabric we were using for lots of the details. They looked OK, but were home made, and not in a good way.

I never got them much past this stage. I did trim it down, but it just wasn't working.

I gave up on them and bought some glittery oat-meal coloured with maribou and diamante and pearls.

But I really did want some orange ones to go under the dress.

A few days before the wedding I was out shopping in Manchester, and saw a nearly perfect pair of orange strapy heels in Monsoon, heavily reduced. The heels were a bit high, and they were a bit plain, but they were the perfect shade of orange, and had lots of potential.

The boys buttonholes were hand made, using melted-edge flowers and different coloured buttons. The bridesmaids had some on slide for their hair. So I added some to the orange shoes to make them that bit more special. 

I simply attached two onto the t-bar of each shoe, a larger, more voluminous one lower down, and a smaller one at the top. Quick, easy, kept well with the theme and I loved them. 

And all for less than $15!

My bridesmaids lovingly does my shoe up for me. 

They were used to it by this stage because the broken elbow meant I couldn't easily do things like tie shoelaces or open doors, so they'd spent a lot of the previous 2 weeks tying shoe laces and opening door for me! You don't realise how much stuff requires two dexterous arms!

 Lookily most of the DIY was already done pre-break!

1st of Me Made May!

Its May! 

So here is my first outfit. Fittingly, one of the first things I ever made. 

A cowl neck tunic with huuuge sleeves. Theyre really badly sewn on to the cuffs, but generally you can't see that because they generally fall inside the sleeve drape. I love the floaty-ness! They were a bit too big at the shoulder originally, so I added the pleat and button just off the shoulder to get the shape I wanted.

All self drafted using a tunic I had, the burda cowl neck tutorial and my imagination.

I wore silver flipflops when I was out, but rarely wear shoes around the house.

Today we bought a fish tank for our pond fish. We were struggling to keep them happy in our tiny little pond, and were missing out on actually seeing them. So we took the plunge and bought a big 3 foot long tank, which will house our two goldies for now, and some more in the future :)