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It’s warming up and I need a few more t-shirts so out came trusty Simplicity 4076 and some pink stash fabric:

I kept the pink slippers on cos they matched the tee! Here is another wrap tee from the same pattern - this time I got the neckline binding right! I also remembered to lengthen the pattern by about 4 inches too.

I couldn’t be a model - I only seem to have one pose. I always seem to look much shorter in these blog photos than in real life too. I think I may need to fiddle with the tripod a bit more.

I have had this pink fabric with white dots and hearts for a while now and I’m so glad to have finally gotten around to making it up! I used a plain pink for the sleeves, binding and back.

I hate purple. I don’t know why - I just don’t like it. On the weekend, I went along to join a choir - sorry, choral group called A Chorus of Women. I haven’t sung in a choir for about ten years and over the last few months I have been thinking about it more and more. I have only been along twice but I felt so welcomed and they are such a great and friendly bunch of women and it’s nice to be singing again! I’m an Alto, in case you were wondering.

The best thing about this group is that they sing about things like global warming and environmental issues, the war against Iraq, violence against women and more. Members write their own music and make it freely available for anyone. Just listen to a few of the songs to see what I mean - it’s wonderful stuff.

Here’s a direct link to one amazing song called Sing out Wisdom. From the website: “Calling for Politicians with Wisdom - written at the beginning of this election year, this is a somewhat light-hearted expression of our longings for wisdom and compassion in Australian public life”.

We are singing and walking in Sunday’s Walk against Warming and the colour code for all performances is purple - remember, I hate this colour! So today, I went out to Spotlight and bought the best purple tshirting fabric I could find. Not sure if you can make it out, but those are little lovehearts. Turns out I quite like this fabric and once I put it with the lemon binding, I was really warming up to this new top.

I used old fave Simplicity 4076 and this time I made the crossover top - I can’t believe it was only right at the end that I remembered that I should have done a “gaposis dart” on the pattern before cutting the fabric, and that I also should have inserted some swimwear elastic before binding the neckline. Both of these things would have really improved the fit, as the neck does hang a little.  Why don’t the pattern designers include these simple changes into their pattern instructions???
Considering I wouldn’t have chosen purple before this, it turns out I quite like this top. I want to make this view again to refine the fit though, and then maybe one or two more for good luck!

At the beginning of the week I was excited to finally pack up all the stock to send to Melbourne boutique gallery in.cube8r and this is what my cube will look like. Only the actual cube is glass, so you have to use your imagination.

My wonderful best friend Yvie is going to be my “Melbourne consultant” and will keep an eye on stock levels and things (as well as the big job of unpacking the boxes and setting it all up for me) and I want to say a special BIG thankyou to you, Yvie for all your help and encouragement! You’re the best!

We’ve got some vintage wallpaper packs, loads of button rings and hairclips, a bunch of button brooches, some wooden brooches and some crochet/button brooches. There’s also some button chokers and mushroom and strawberry hairclips. Lots of little things to buy for Christmas presents so if you’re in Melbourne, have a look at this and all the other amazing stuff at in.cube8r at 321 Smith St, Fitzroy.

So what else has been happening? I have been cutting some more business cards - is that exciting? Let’s have a look shall we?

At last Tuesday’s Brindabella session, we had the opportunity to listen to a great talk on climate change given by someone from the Australian Conservation Foundation. It was really helpful to have someone to answer all our questions too! As you probably know, the Australian Federal Election is on November 24th so it’s time to make some noise, huh?

Here are a few links that you might find useful if you are interested in this kind of stuff, and you ought to be - we all have to live here:

Australian Conservation Foundation is committed to inspiring people to achieve a healthy environment for all Australians.

Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative which involves participants in a whole-of-school approach, to explore through real-life learning experiences, improvements in a school’s management of resources and facilities including energy, waste, water, biodiversity, landscape design, products and materials. It also addresses associated social and financial issues. The Initiative’s vision is for all Australian schools and their communities to be sustainable.

Climate Movement - Connecting Communities active on Climate Change

Walk against Warming (as in Global Warming) which takes place next Sunday 11th November

Who on Earth Cares - If you care about Climate Change, put yourself on the map. You can also optionally fill out some info and the site will generate a letter to your local politician for you. I sent mine to Annette Ellis last week!

Australian Election Scorecard on climate change and our future environment. The scores are based on an analysis of party policy commitments against ACF’s National Agenda for a Sustainable Australia. (more info on the site)

Here it is as it stands right now: