What a week!

Well, it has been a funny old week - this post is going to be a bit of a round up of what has gone down, but also a bit of a catch up on all the things I haven't yet posted - life is busy, busy, busy, I like it that way, but it also doesn't really give me much time to think and reflect. So today, thanks to some great me time I have managed to reflect! I love the weekends when I am left to my own devices, I get to sew, to cook nice things for Ivan (Mr Bicknell) and as per my current preferred watching, get stuck into episode after episode of old series of ER! Bliss!

First of all we have had some news (brilliant news) which has made me feel a little hopeless, I know I'm not entirely hopeless, but there is a lack of a certain something which hasn't allowed me to fully reach my full potential. we are, as you know, working on it, but it is a bit gutting when it isn't as simple as it can be for some. Anyway, our report is with the powers that be - those who from a few bots of paper can determined whether or not you are good parent material - please keep your fingers and toes crossed for us......

Secondly, I was asked to help out on Friday's inset day - had I known what was going to happen I would have probably gracefully declined - stupid me for thinking that this wouldn't be a nightmare. When I went on a training day recently in preparation for Friday I was actually genuinely engaged by both the subject and the speaker, the fact that said speaker didn't transfer especially well to a larger space is unfortunate, but the fact that some of the staff were so openly hostile towards the day as a whole, was well, frankly disappointing. How many times did I hear the words suck, eggs and Granny in the same sodding sentence? Maybe this was largely the case, but being unable to see the benefits of sharing good practice and the opportunity to communicate with staff that most of us don't talk to from one inset day to the next, beyond the prescribed parameters of the day is basically crap. At the risk of putting my neck on the line with some, I will be bold enough to say that the men were by far the worst,  their arrogance was astounding. It simply isn't true that they know everything there is to know about equality and diversity - the boundaries change all the time, our students do, and if we are the evolved human beings that we like to think we are, so do we. I guarantee that every single man in our college is far from up to speed with what is available to us as staff when dealing with the diverse range of students that come through our doors every single day. You are useless as a teacher when you yourself stop learning, and using excuse like, well, we have no money, so we can't get extra resources, says it all doesn't i?  We expect our students to be creative and resourceful individuals, shouldn't that extend to us to? Or is it simply a case of do as I say, not as I do? To have a finger angrily jabbed at me for being in the position I was at that given moment, is not acceptable, and the person concerned is fortunate that between the two of us, I managed to show some restraint. This person is not big, not clever and needs to have a long sit down with his ego. Being a bully and a thug as a means of getting certain results or misconstrued kudos is one thing, but being unable to have some vision to match this is quite another......

Pah! Men, they don't know it all.

Two nice things did happen recently though to counterbalance this, and whilst they are super tiny, and both involved food, I do appreciate the little things in life, ummm, like Thursday movies which Deborah (HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR TOMORROW DEBORAH) and I have started partaking in this term as a bit of a treat. I loved One day, cried in Sarah's key, cringed at how much I enjoyed friends with benefits and fell in love with Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre so far this term!!! So the food things? Well, firstly I was given a lovely box of chocolates by a student for mending her Mum's scarf (I'm nice like that - I even helped make a Grecian gown for one of the caretakers grand daughters last year), and upon shoving some croissants under my arm at Sainsbury's a lovely man bowled over presenting me with a money off voucher because he thought I might appreciate it, which of course I did!!!





Other nice things include seeing all the great things last year's fash and tex students are up to at uni - Issie Hynds never, ever fails to make me smile - she writes so brilliantly and honestly about the life she observes, and whilst she describes the following exercise so well, I would have parted with a considerable amount of cash to see her face when it was initially delivered!!!

Potato Pattern Cutting

My first pattern cutting lesson did not involve a mannequin. It did not involve pattern paper. It did not even involve a tape measure. It did, however, involve a baking potato.

We started by designing ways that we could 'dress' our potatoes, detailing the number of pieces we would use and the pattern it would create.

Although it was a bit of an odd process, it showed the translation of 2D>3D>2D really clearly, and helped clarify the different processes you can go through in order to create a pattern from scratch. Luckily we didn't have to make up the 'garment' properly, but if we did, my potato would be wearing a beautifully tailored jacket as we speak.

Inventive don't you think?!

I have also been to meet with the lovely Jenny Stacy who opened her first shop at the weekend in Petersfield - It is called HandMADE Happiness and is on Dragon street opposite JSW (LOVE that restaurant!). She has taken some of my birds and bags - a first for me, never ever, have I allowed anyone else to sell my work, but I love her ethos and the shop is super cute, she is also a genuine lover of all things made and beautiful and that is exactly the kind of person you want selling your stuff isn't it?! It of course remains to be seen that she actually will, but a little bit of extra exposure is never a bad thing!! You can follow her progress here - but in the meantime, here http://jenny-handmadehappiness.blogspot.com/ are a few pics I have pinched from her blog!



By her own admission, it is a blurry pic - but those really are my birds and bags!

Being in Petersfield also meant that I could have afternoon tea with 3 of my fave girls - Lynda, Jess and Belle - oh God I miss living in Petersfield, it is so much nicer that Alton! Although I wouldn't swap our worldham cottage for anything - let's just hope though that it is accessible enough for a social visitor to make her monthly visits - well if we actually get assigned one anyway!! Petersfield also has a Waitrose which sells nice cakes - huh! When are we going to get a waitrose??????????????



Other sources of pleasure have been making the new first years scrub the painting studio sink and floor and finishing the 3D wasp I started making last year in a desperate bid to get the second years making!

Not great pics I admit - but I do rather like him - I will endeavour to get some studio shots done - he is made with papier mache, old dress patterns, letraset, wire, pins, thread and buttons for his eyes!

Of course you can't do anything in the house without a furry helper sticking it's nose in.....

Today I started some hot water bottle covers, lavender bags and new cushions  - I have tons of crafty events coming up so I need to keep churning out the goods! I drew a new bird for the lavender bags - will show you them when they are done - but here are the beginnings of the cushions - these are going to be hand piped, so  they might take a while, but since the last lot have nearly all sold, I thought I may as well make a few more....

Finally for this evening - yikes almost 1am and 25 1st years first thing tomorrow!! I walk past this grating regularly and always stop to have a peek, cos, whoever owns the flat attached to the space below the grating provides a new surprise every week - a little gathering of model animals, floral tributes, seasonal displays, whatever, it changes all the time and this is the first time I have had the presence of mind to take some pics - err, easier said than done as a) it isn't easy to snap between the gratings, b) the passing cars probably thought I was bonkers crouching down on the pavement and taking what probably looked like a sneaky peek into someones living room window and c) I had a stupidly short dress on so I probably also flashed said passing cars, really not a pretty sight!! Anyway a prehistoric theme this week........

FINALLY!! We also managed to score some tickets to Zoonation's new show, thanks to the tip off I got from the lovely Marianne at my aerobics class - Cheers!! If you don't know who Zoonation is, check this out............



Night XX