A dress in the making

I set aside this holiday for a project. 

A sewing project. 

My graduation dress, with fabric bought by the boy. 

It is so nearly done and I can't wait to share it in full. I decided that I would try and document the process using my big camera as it really needed a workout. I think it's fun to do a 'photo essay' once in a while. 

It's good to be back with my sewing machine. 

Project Life week 7

Oh this project.
I'm going to be honest, year three is tough going. Or maybe that is because year three of uni has coincided with year three of project life!

I don't like to use the word 'behind' on this project because from experience I know it is all about the ebb and flow. The pages will come when they are ready.

I got down to this page last week and am pleased with it. My best pages happen in about half an hour. All the little bits seem to come together and they work. I think too much thinking kills this project which is why I am keeping it chilled about 'catching up!'

So this is what week seven looked like....

I had lots of phone photos this week which seem to fit well into the 4x3 portrait pockets. I like this pocket layout because I also got to include lots of pattern paper which can stand alone. I like that it builds colour across the page.

I built the left hand page around the stories I wanted to tell. I started on the top row with those contrasting sky photos which were an ideal prompt to put down more general thoughts about the week.

On the row below I added the photos from our trip to the Train Museum and the bottom one focuses a bit on valentines day. I often build my pages like this. Focusing on the photos and then working out how I will tell the story.

The second page is a more traditional format. I like to use my SLR photos to their best advantage so tend to pop them in bigger pockets. I decided to use the two photos of me side by side but switched one to black and white. I like that contrast between them.

There was lots of journalling on this page too. I tried to keep it cohesive by using the same font throughout and used one of my favourite techniques which is writing directly on the photos!

The more I write about PL the more I am reminded of how good this project is. I'm giving myself permission to take time on it this year though. Let's see how that pans out!

What are you working on at the moment?

Me on Monday

It was a big sigh of contentment "ah, I'm home" kind of a weekend. It was a five hour train journey, embroidery and lots of reading kind of weekend. It was a laughing round the table with the family and the boy kind of weekend.

It was of course a celebrating mummy weekend, a sunday roast with Granny weekend, a Rugby watching afternoon and a chilling out kind of weekend.

And me on Monday? That looked like sitting in a pub with the boy by the log burner, enjoying scrummy food and sheltering from the decidedly un-spring-like weather.

It was the best start to a long holiday. And now, the work commences....

I'm joining in with Sian's lovely meme today. Pop on over to her blog to find out more about what she has been up to this weekend. 

One photo & twenty words

Friendship. Nearly three years of it. Blessings and laugher and chatting and Downton-watching combined. Uni life at its best.
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My challenge for you today. Find one photo and choose up to twenty words to tell its story. Jot it down and link back here. The link will stay open for a week so you have plenty of time to join in! 

Due to (undoubtedly foreseen) circumstances, I will be absent from this little place until I reach the pleasant land of home in about a week. If you need to find me till then, I am the small one in the library, with the large pile of books and the slightly manic expression. Tea is always much appreciated. (or a virtual hug if you aren't in my near vicinity)

This uni gig

I got a date for my diary last week.
The 23rd of May.
The day I finish my degree.

It's a weird thought. I remember when I first arrived in Durham those finalists told me how the time would fly by. I didn't believe them. But here I am, on the downhill slope and my word how it has gone quickly! It feels like yesterday I was packing up to head up North or just a minute ago my friends and I were living together in our little house.
Three years has rushed by in great dollops, those red letter moments characterising the years.

Elise Blaha wrote a post the other day about how she doesn't feel any different the older she gets.
It really resonated with me because I feel just like that.
I remember getting to Durham and looking up at the Third years with respect and admiration. There they were, writing dissertations, applying to jobs, a few of them engaged. At the time I just accepted it. I saw them as the grown ups with nearly three years of university life on their shoulders.

But now I'm there, in the same position and I feel, just like me.
Just like the 'me' who arrived in Durham in 2012. Sure, I have learnt a lot and grown up in many ways but I don't feel like an 'adult'.
And I wonder if I ever will feel like an adult?
Today I took a step back and looked at where I am now. I'm writing possibly the longest piece of work I will ever turn in at university. I have a position on a course next year which will train me for a job. I have a long term boyfriend who is coming to join me here in the next year.
That sounds very grown up.
But I don't feel it. It feels like a game. Like we used to play make believe when we were little.

It makes me smile really.
We look up to those who are that step further down the 'life landmarks' than us and think they know it all. Or I do at least.
Now i'm here, i'm not so sure. And I think that's nice in a way. That we (or maybe just me) are muddling through in our own merry way, acting out this 'adult' thing and really just feeling like 'us'.

So tell me, is it just me or do you not feel like an 'adult' yourself? Does that feeling ever change? Discuss!

The food market in the car park

"What shall we do this evening" I asked my friends at Dinner.
One of them turned to me, " I've heard there's this food market in a car park" she said. "Shall we go?"
So we did (if a little sceptically!)

It was actually far safer than it sounds and far more fun than any of us expected.
We turned up at the multi-storey car park to find a queue snaking down the street. With increasing excitement we waited. We could smell all sorts of food and were enjoying bopping along to the live music, yet we have no idea what was inside.

A sign on the entrance informed us that this was a 'no cash' zone so we exchanged our money for little pink and green tokens. This made it so fun because you had to decide at the beginning how much to exchange (you could exchange back any unused tokens at the exit). With 5 little tokens clutched in my hand we entered the car park.

At least we think it was a car park because it looked totally different. There were lights everywhere and big banners and fantastic jazz music. It was packed and everyone was queueing for all sorts of food.

All the prices were written in 'tokens' so it was great fun wandering around working out what the best deal was for the amount we had exchanged.
All sorts of foods were on offer from pizza and crepes to ribs, fish and mexican dishes.
My party loved the crepes and the warm donuts with salted caramel sauce.

It was one of those evenings that felt very surreal. It was a spontaneous decision and it turned out to be such a great night.

We have since heard that the food market will become a monthly thing. I don't think my waistline or purse can take it!

Project life weeks 3 & 4

Sporadic blogging isn't what I would choose but in my final year of uni i'm still working on getting the balance! I miss blogging when I don't do it so am working on finding a pattern that is right for me. 

Project life weeks 3 and 4. Sometimes this project is a chore and sometimes I come into a room and find the boy sitting on my bed with the PL book open on his knee and it is entirely worth it. 

This is how I went about making these pages: 

For week three I had two 'sets' of SLR photos which I wanted to display along with some snapshots of the week. I therefore chose this template because it gave me the option to pop in some 4x6 collages. 

I started with my favourite photos of my PL book, leaving one untouched in a pocket and the other with a small space of journalling underneath. I wanted to include other photos but didn't want to overwhelm the page so made a small four photo collage and a simple sentiment. 

I then turned to my knitting and sewing photos and did a similar thing. A shallow depth of field works really well for adding journalling later and I just directly placed it on top of the photo before putting the picture in the pocket. 

Week four was a slightly different set up because I knew I wanted to include the stories of our trip to London. That meant a lot of text. I tackled this by using some of my favourite photos on their own in with just a small tag and then pairing that with journalling cards with a lot of writing on. 

I also tried to keep the colours fairly neutral, so lots of cream and brown with pops of blue. 

I kept a similar feel for the second page, using large journalling spots alongside smaller photos and a few details. I find keeping the font the same all the way through helps to unify a page. 

I'm always torn with adding lots of text to my pages however I figure that the stories are sometimes more important than the photos. 

For a trip like this I tried to keep my photos and journalling in chronological order so when I come back to look at the page it makes sense as a whole story. 

It's good to have most of January documented now. On to catch up with February!