oh what a tangled web we weave...

Originally uploaded by *biggie
Hello hello. My computer is dead. Well, more in a coma really. My cable has finally given up the ghost after about a year of painstakingly miniscule adjustments, securing it with sellotape and matchstick splints and not being able to move my laptop for fear the cable wouldn't like it. No cable = no electricity = no computer. Waa! This is not good for me old blog, guv'nor, as it also means I can't access or upload any of my photos and what have you. Sigh... Anyone know how to get a replacement charger cable for a mac? I googled it before but had no real luck. I wish our local mac shop was still open to help me :(

Anyway, as I can't get into my computer, I am reduced to relying even more heavily than usual on other people's pictures on old faithful a.k.a. flickr. As I can't really share any of the crafting I've been doing this weekend (not that it was that exciting - embroidering a Frank and making Big Daddy lavender bags that I refuse to give up on even though no one seems to love them like I do) I thought I would share the other thing I've done, which was watching Mastercrafts. I got Graham to tape it for me while I was at work on Fiday night and sat down to watch it yesterday afternoon. It was the episode about weaving (hence this picture) and it was amazing. I've got a wee toy weaving loom that I love playing about on, but the proper looms were crazy technical. One poor girl couldn't even set the loom up by the end of the six weeks and, to be honest, I'm not surprised. The fabric the three people made was absolutely beautiful and it looked like the most satisfying thing in the world to do. Given the time it took, I think you'd have to give up all other crafts (and life in general!) to pursue weaving, so maybe it wouldn't be ideal for a jack of all trades like me... but I wanna be a weaver! The programme will still be available on iplayer and I really would recommend watching it. I haven't played with my weaving loom (I don't even feel I can call it that after seeing what a real loom looks like) for years, but I will definitely be dusting it off soon.

My ever so witty title for this blog post makes me chuckle whenever I hear reference to it. A couple of years ago, we were in Islay with my whole family for a wedding. My eldest niece, Kim, was only just talking really, but she would always sing as she was falling asleep. One night as she was dropping off, she sang (to a jaunty little tune) "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!" I thought maybe she was possessed by the spirit of Sir Walter Scott (well, it was a bit strange, you know!) but actually it turned out to be the moral song at the end of an episode of My Little Pony!

ooh la la la mer

Ah... The sun is out, the sky is blue.

Yes, the temperature is still Baltic, but let's get excited anyway.

Here's Francoise Hardy's cover version of

Somewhere Beyond The Sea.

The pictures are super cheesy -

just what we need to help us forget that it's still a bit nippy :)

back from the big smoke

This blogger went to London and all she photographed was this lousy tea and coffee tray! Yes, I've been away in the big smoke this week, at an induction type thing for my job. It turned out to be brilliant. The London office is much bigger and swankier and more exciting than its Glasgow baby sister and we got to visit all the different departments, some of which were absolutely amazing. The highlight was definitely the stenographer. It's such a bizarre skill to have and seeing someone press seemingly random buttons that allowed them to type as fast as they could think was just mind boggling.

We also saw lots of celebrities and I managed to go all paparazzi and take a sneaky pic of Jeremy Clarkson nipping out for one of many fags. Someone asked him for a light, which seemed to send him straight to the depths of despair... I guess if you make a living out of moaning, it starts to rub off on your mood in general. It's a bit of a chicken/egg scenario, I suppose... We also saw Christopher Eccleston (the instant we got off the tube, leading me to exclaim, "Oh my God! We're in London!") and Mark Kermode, whose quiff was immaculate, but who was carrying a surprisingly unstylish red rucksack. I didn't take photos of them. We also thought we might have seen the late great Paul Truman from EastEnders, but I think it was actually a lookalike. Talking of EastEnders, I found out that a colleague (I use the word very loosely as our paths never have and probably never will cross) of mine is a) in EastEnders at the moment and b) Bill Treacher's (a.k.a. Arthur Fowler's) son! I completely and utterly failed to maintain a professional degree of decorum and aloofness when I found this out. My small-town background was painfully clear to all the big smoke inhabitants, I fear, but this may be the closest I get to a real-life Albert Square connection, so I stand by my belief that gasping loudly and standing open mouthed and goggle eyed for a full five minutes was the appropriate reaction.

This was only the second time I'd ever been to London. We didn't exactly have much time for sight seeing (so it was quite fortunate that the office was slap bang in the middle of Celebsville!) but we did go for a wee mini pub crawl (very mini) along Portobello Road, which was fun to see, even at night. We also nosied at some fancy houses in Notting Hill. I was in full tourist mode, exclaiming loudly at everything - "No way! That car is plugged in and charging up on electricity!" and "No way! That looks like a giant's house!" and "No way! There's a chimney on the ground with actual smoke coming out of it!" I was just so impressed by everything really. I might have been more discreet if I hadn't had to get up at 5am to get to London. I wasn't designed to get up at that sort of an hour and I think my brain pretty much broke down.

Anyway, I'm back now and most of you didn't even know I had gone, so I shall stop harping on. I'll be back over the weekend to bore you with some crafty to-do lists. I have a couple of exciting markets coming up next month and have lots I need to make for them. Yippee!

pigeonfinger - like goldfinger, only more pigeony

pidgeonfinger

Originally uploaded by Luna_Be

I'm trying to tidy my craft/cat room (not quite the ideal combination, let me tell you!) this weekend. The room gets very messy, very quickly and it is a big job to get it in order. I think some new storage solutions would help. I pretty much have to pull out all my fabric whenever I want to find something specific and it's like something from the Krypton Factor to try and get it all back in the drawers. My motivation for the great craft room clear up of spring 2010 is that I'm going to be doing a market soonish (hopefully a couple of markets, actually) and need to replenish lots of stuff, so I'd like a bit of clear space to work in.

As you might have guessed, I'm procrastinating a bit, so thought I'd stop by to share this little embroidery I found on flickr yesterday. Isn't it great? I want a tiny pigeon to sit on my finger! Luna Be, who made this, has lots of things worth looking at in her flickr.

I love the thought of having a tiny pet you could carry around in your pocket, preferably one who could talk. I'm guessing I'm far from alone in that wish. After all, somebody came up with the idea of Polly Pocket already and I presume they did some killer market research...?

That's enough. I'm off to tidy now. I just have to keep telling myself that a little bit of tidying today will make a lot more productive time and space for creating greatness in the future. The springy weather is definitely helping get me in the tidying mood though. I even have some windows open! In our flat, this is quite an achievement as we have enormous and heavy sash windows, all of which are broken (in the sash mechanism, I mean, not the actual glass) and therefore almost impossible to open for weak girly types like me. I think my neighbours probably witnessed me getting a hernia opening the living room window this morning. It was worth it though. Fresh air! Ah, lovely! If a little chilly...

I just procrastinated a whole other paragraph, didn't I? Toodle pip.

It's official

The Scotsman 09.01.10

Originally uploaded by We Are Made In The Shade

At long last (two months, nearly, after the event) I finally got to see my wee feature in The Scotsman, or a scan of it at least. I am officially a "genius." Well, it's official if you look closely and don't blink! Of course, I already knew that myself, but it's nice to have it acknowledged in print for the rest of the world who might not have realised yet. Whoop whoop!

in memoriam

What better way to commemorate your favourite recently deceased soap star than through the medium of stitch? Didn't I tell you I'd been busy embroidering behind the scenes? Every stitch in Bradley (from his ginger hair to his v-neck jumper to his squint smile) is consecrated by a single teardrop... It was great therapy after the trauma of the live episode!

I couldn't stand to have Bradley separated from his beloved Stacey on cotton as well as on screen, so I stitched her up too. Be strong, Stace! We love you!

I'm going to be adding these (along with the other characters who have been out of stock for a while) to my etsy (large only) and shopify (large and small sizes) shops tonight. I've decided to stitch on demand, rather than try to keep on top of having a few of each on the go at any one time. This does mean you'll have to wait a bit longer to get any embroideries you order (I'm thinking 14 days) but it also means that your favourite characters will never be unavailable. Hooray!

2010, year of the milestone birthday

We had a fun day on Sunday, hanging out on the red carpet (all five grubby feet of it or so) at the Glasgow Film Festival. Hot on the heels of the Square's 25th anniversary, Gregory's Girl was turning 30! To celebrate, there was a special screening with cast and crew (and their most distant relatives, neighbours, taxi drivers and dogs) at the GFT. It was fun to see it on the big screen and to hear people's reactions to the really good bits. As soon as Chic Murray tickled the first ivory (as illustrated by myself, above!) you could sense a little ripple of anticipation all the way up to the delivery of the classic line.

Here's that red carpet moment before the film started. Left to right, there's Andy, Gordon (the reporter for the school paper), Carol (who gets changed in the phonebox), Davina Belling (one of the film's producers), Dorothy, Gregory, Susan, Gregory's dad and Billy the window cleaner, who delivers that much discussed line, "If I don't see you through the week, I'll see you through a window."

This very special guest also turned up at the question and answer bit!

After Gregory's Girl, we went for some food and then back to the cinema to see Exit Through The Gift Shop, a film about the most bizarre man who followed around and befriended lots of famous street artists (like Banksy) and then set himself up as a street artist, trying to sell his work for six figure sums after pasting up about three copies of a single image that he hadn't even drawn himself... and succeeding! I don't think it's officially out yet, but it is really entertaining, so I would keep your eyes peeled.

Anyway, I have to go to work now (boo!) but I'm planning to come back tonight and share some new embroideries I've been working on, so don't be a stranger :)