Esme's finished dress

When I saw this lovely Japanese fabric on sale online many months ago I thought 'I have to make Esme something with that' because the last time we saw her she was so excited about making tea for everyone in her new red kitchen and this red fabric was covered in teapots and the words 'tea party'. It was meant to be.

She's growing so fast I was worried that by the time I finished the dress it would be too small but for once I seem to have got the size bang on.

Party on.

Stuff I see: very specific pub promotion

Spotted outside Paisley pub:

Is this the most specific pub promotion in Britain?

1. It appears to only be available on Sundays
2. It offers 15p off 'all pints' rather than 'all drinks'
3. It only applies to SPL (Scottish Premier League) matches rather than all matches
4. It only applies to 'selected' SPL matches rather than all SPL matches

This is the sort of thing I see and find amusing.

Esme's dress-in production

It's been an intense week; nipping across to Edinburgh to see fantastic comedy/art whilst battling a cold. The cold took less than a week to go but I am left feeling rather sore and tired, which shouldn't be too surprising in view of how busy August has ended up being.

So, not much writing of blog this week but here are some pretty pics of a dress I made back in April. The dress was designed by Jenny of The Lifecraft (their shop is on a hiatus at the moment but hopefully they will reopen in new premises soon) and Jenny gave me some one-to-one tuition in making it which is why it turned out so well!



Modelled pics coming soon.

Rebellion

Not going to put a lot of text up here as I think the pics should speak for themselves - last weekend we went to Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. First time at Rebellion for both of us and first time in Blackpool for me. Here's what it looked like:










That last pic is of the Saturday night where thanks to the power of the wheelchair I managed to stay up till the early hours to see the anarcho-punk legends Subhumans. You see here me, my pal Tracy and singer Dick from the band who kindly posed for numerous pics despite putting in a seriously energetic performance. As you can probably tell from his shirt.

What a weekend!

Bloomin' Specs-tacular!

I so nearly didn't go.

I had tickets booked for two Edinburgh shows yesterday Josie Long and John Hegley. But the night before I was shivery and more achey than usual (it's hard sometimes with EDS/HMS to work out whether you have a cold or are just having a bad spell). Then I woke up in the morning sure from the sneezing and sore eyes and nose that I definitely was not feeling 'normal'. Non-refundable tickets. Endless rain outside. What to do?

I debated this with myself for most of the morning and then took some advice from Facebook friends. The consensus was: Go! Dose up on Lemsips and Laphroig (being ill is no excuse for inferior whisky) and go!

So I went. And as I struggled to wash and get dressed and leave the warm house and head out in the wet for the train I thought 'this had better be bloomin' spectacular'. But I already had a sneaking suspicion that it might be because Josie's show was my favourite thing at last year's Edinburgh Fest and I have loved listening to and reading John Hegley for almost twenty years (although never seen him perform live before).

It wasn't easy. Edinburgh is one of the most difficult cities to negotiate with sore legs that I've ever come across. Every road and street seems almost mocking in its uneveness, cobbles, slipperiness, steepness and (of course, at this time of year) crowdedness.

I made it. Not only did I make it, I met John Hegley and he was delightful and he agreed to sign my book and have his picture taken and even suggested that we swap glasses.


So, this is me wearing John Hegley's specs and him wearing my specs. Admittedly our specs are rather similar and I couldn't help thinking this would make a better picture if I wore Deirdre Barlow type 90's frames but I don't and it would be a bit weird to do so just in the hope of swapping glasses with John Hegley.

After a refuel of Laphroig and the fine company of pal Paul in the ace Captain's Bar, I went to see Josie Long and she was once again inspiring, thoughtful and very, very funny. Plus I had a much better view than last year and I was the only member of the audience to put my hand up when she asked who was a fellow fan of political nerd-fest 'This Week'. Fun.

Today will be very subdued and sore but it was worth it because I had a bloomin' specs-tacular day.

PS. Buy any of John Hegley's books if you don't already have them (and even if you do, buy some more to give to friends!) but I especially recommend his latest volume 'Confetti' because (although it's an oft-used cliche) I really don't think there are many books that would make me laugh and cry on the train and this did.

This week: Creativity found by mocking death

One of our Spanish chums, Manik the tattoo artist, recently directed my attention to these phenomenal stitchings from Nicola De Jager, titled Calavera (“skull” in Spanish). Go 'ave a look.

Reflecting on the riots | CLES

Reflecting on the riots | CLES
My friend John, writing with much more clarity than I can.

Estonian Rhubarb Cake

It was the end of the rhubarb season a week or two ago. I made this cake:

I found it on this blog.

Obviously our rhubarb season ends much later here and to be honest I'm not sure why I can't keep eating it because it still looks pretty luscious but there's some legend about the devil having spat in it by now....or is that blackberries? I'm tired, figure it out yerself!

As is usual with my puddings reception was mixed. Jim and I thought it delicious, Kenny thought it tasted 'like toad in the hole without the sausages'. Hurumph.

Lovage going to seed

Looks pretty and dramatic against an unusually blue sky:

Dialect of the week: RP

RP RIP

Sonny's quilt and bootees

Calling in on Anna and family gave me a chance to meet baby Sonny and hand him his quilt and his new bootees.



Here's the quilt label from the reverse for all you stitch freaks out there (you know who you are):

There's lots of nerdy quilty details on Quiltgroup here.

I had also made him some bootees. This is an ace Jaegar pattern that I have used a few times before:

I didn't put pom-poms on the icord this time though, partly because I detest making pom-poms and partly because the last baby who received a pair of these proceeded to gradually eat the pom-poms. Nerdy details are here.

These bootees were hand-knitted with hand-spun, undyed, cashmere-silk-angora that I bought at a charity stall at Derby folk festival last year. And if that isn't the most right-on sentence you read this week I'll eat my pom-poms.

Video re. Ehlers Danlos Syndrome