This Girl...

Hello all,

Yes I am still around somewhere… As a general update my embroideries are being put in the back seat so I wont have so much to show you over the next couple of weeks.  There are several reasons for this:
1)I am due to go on holiday shortly
¬I am supposed to be sewing various garments for this holiday
¬I am supposed to be on a bikini fuelled fitness drive for the holiday
2) the weather is really nice and I just want to be outside (british breezes do not suffer embroidery threads gladly)

3) Running season is well and truly upon us.
(see point about the bikini)

4) I have recently purchased a (read 2) bike(s).  These are taking up a lot of my time cycling and cleaning them.

I hope to maintain some vestiges of service over the next couple of weeks, but return in force after my holiday.

Thank you for your understanding!

I took the new (non rusty) bike out for a spin this weekend.  Not on the most inspiring of routes mind; from the impregnable Cribbs Causeway to Temple Meads.  The area round Cribbs was not particularly bike friendly and the path marking was pretty poor.  As we got past Bradley stoke etc things markedly improved and eventually we ended on the very speedy Bath to Bristol railway path, which was literally a joy to ride on.  
Of course 5 minutes from home my bike decided to malfunction and throw its chain off in a dramatic fashion (up the smallest hill ever), but thats probably what you get when you build your bike in Halfords carpark!  

:)

I had an amazing and busy this weekend.  In fact I am only just recovering!  I am now the proud owner of super comfortable IKEA chair; perfect for creating from and not one, but two bikes!  So if Im not blogging I am probably out attempting to cycle. 

The bikes came about under unusual circumstances.  I purchased a “vintage” raleigh off ebay.  It was listed as having three gears, brakes etc.  What the lister regrettably forgot to mention is that absolutely no part of the bike works.  The wheels are knackered (perhaps understandably) the gears are ornamental and the brakes… what brakes! Not to mention the fact the entire body is coated in a thick layer of rust; which the photographs funnily enough did not highlight! 

So Friday night the Fox and I stood there surveying this little scrap heap and were wishing our money back.  

So we started to research how much it would cost to fix various problems with the bike and it worked out at just under £50 from halfords or around £30 from Ebay.  They both worked out create a very expensive rust bucket.

So Fox started petitioning for plan B and I some how ended up in Halfords buying a brand new bike.  So now I have one beautiful bright red bike and one delightful rust bucket.  

Rust bucket has just volunteered himself as my next project and Ive already created a beautifully shiny pedal shank(?) thanks to some elbow grease and  WD40.  The plan is to clean off all the rust and dirt and then see where we can go from there.  I am resigned that the gears will never work again, but maybe just maybe I can get the brakes working.
Watch this space! 

Bruce is almost clothed.  

This delightful little hoop.  Perfect for all those Adams, Alexandras and Aardvarks in your life.
You can enjoy it in situe here 
As ever I love commissions so if you would like your initial stitched up… drop me a line!

Just wanted to say thank you to all of you who liked my Springsteen post a few days back.  Not only did it make my day, but its inspired me to “keep on trucking”.  Should have some more progress to share shortly :)