It's not just me...

...it seems that loads of Bloggers have been taking a break. But now - in response to worried emails from Bloggy friends and nagging from my family - I am back!!

OH started work on Monday. Yay!!! It's been a HUGE culture shock for him after 2+ months at home but at least he gets continuity of employment for his CV, and he's no longer a government statistic (I can hear strains of UB40s 'One in Ten').

So what have I been up to?

Well I haven't been very productive at all on the craft front, but I have managed to sell two of my rose brooches through incy wincy's website. Cheers Sam! You're a star.

A red one went a few weeks ago now.
Then on Monday an order came through for this coral coloured one.

I'm going to have to whip up a few more of these before too long as stocks are dwindling.

Apart from that I seem to have spent most of the time dressing up!! My friend Maria's birthday party had a Wild West theme. I struggled for weeks to know what to wear. The original plan had been to all go as showgirls - flouncy skirts, corsets and feathers in our hair - but then redundancy struck and pennies were tight so I had to make do with what I had at home.

The result was a hillybilly affair complete with freckles and blacked out teeth. Nice!

OK. I confess. The cowboy boots were from eBay but I'm putting them right back on there as I'll never wear them again. If you're interested in some red and black Wrangler cowboy boots in a size 4 let me know...

The next event was May Day Bank Holiday weekend when we went to Upton on Severn Folk Festival with t'Rabble.

Sunday is parade day and they always go in fancy dress. This year the theme was 'Myth and Magic'. After some pondering I decided I fancied being a mermaid (anything to do with the sea is fine by me). But how the Hell does a mermaid do Morris dancing?!? Well this is the result...

I covered the bra with some fabric (see I've done some sewing)and stitched loads of beads and sequins to it, then the tail was loads of strips of fabrics stitched to the knee of the trousers. It's not as good as I'd hoped but it did the job.

On the Saturday we wore normal (?) rags and hats.

We are dancing again this Sunday at Etwall Well Dressing. Our spots are at 3.30 ad 4.30 if anybody is in the area...

Last weekend our school PTA had organised an 80s disco with optional fancy dress element. So of course I had to dress up didn't I? More deliberation but in the end I decided to go as me back then.

I didn't wear make-up like this all the time - just when going to gigs and stuff - but it was such a laugh doing it again.

And the clothing..? I lived in floor length black skirts back then, or shorter ones with black and white stripey tights. I had fake Dr Martens shoes not the genuine 8-hole boots I now own, but the fishnet tights on the arms are exactly the same!

With me is Julia (BDB) dressed as one of Strawberry Switchblade. Now who remembers them?

And that's it. Well of course there's been belly dancing class but you've seen the rainbow skirt in past posts. I have been wearing it a lot recently as we've been learning a new gypsy dance - first in Tuesday class then on Thursday. It's fab. May have to get it videoed so you can have a small peek.

I can't remember how much else I may have missed but that's going to be it for catch-up. As from now it's onward and upward. I have actually been doing some 'designery' stuff today. I'm going to publish this then take photos ready for my next visit to the World of Blog.

It's so nice to be back.

ttfn

xx