Xquisit!

No, this is not just my usual bad spelling, this is the name of my incredible new sewing machine. Well, actually it's not that new, I've had it since September but I've only just about got the hang of all the things it can do, cos one advantage of having IV drugs for 2 weeks is that you can do a hell of a lot of reading so I finally bothered to read the instruction manual properly..... well it is 220 pages of computer-speak that means I needed to spend most of my time looking things up in the glossary. It is a rather large brute, here it is with the embroidery unit attached.

Despite its sheer size and weight it is surprisingly easy to use (once you've read the manual!) as its got a touch screen, that you can see lit up in the picture, and its just a matter of pressing the relevant buttons. It can do practially anything, like threading itself, refilling the bobbin when it runs out, even if you are in the middle of a design it will restart itself in exactly the right place, and you can upload pictures into the included Xpressive programe (are we seeing a spelling pattern here??) and digitze it, then bung it on a smart media card, bung that into the machine and away it goes! About the only thing it can't do is make the tea whilst its at it. As if all those things were not enough it can do all the normal things that sewing machines can do to and about 10 times faster!!!!-sorry I'll stop waxing rhapsodic now. However, I am now going embroidery crazy and my latest effort is this rather fun spider flower that only took 24 minutes to sew (and thats not at full speed as when its going flat out its quite scary!)




















I've also done these rather nice butterflies as well-



















To see some more examples goto http://www.rosalindevans.com/ or drop me a line if you've got some ideas for me to go nuts on!

MA Graduation

Well, I can now call myself Rosalind Evans MA(Cantab)... how lucky am I!? I went to a university so generous that a couple of years after you graduate with a normal degree they give you another one for nothing! Is it any wonder why people hate Oxbridge students??? Despite the whole thing being a bit of a fraud it was a lovely day and I saw lots of people that I have not seen in ages and was quite scared by the number of people who have got married!

Here I am looking a little silly in my gown and hood, with my lovely friend Anna Martin

Hurray for J.K Rowling!

OK, this is not going to be an 'isn't Harry potter just great!' rant, but an at last someone actually saying the right thing about our overly weight obbsessed society rant..... If you have not read her recent comments then go to her site, www.jkrowling.com and under extra stuff read 'For girls only, probably....' Its all about how the media glorifys the images of emaciated models and 'talking toothpicks' (love that line!) that fill all those god awful magazines that so many girls read. I also love her commments about those celebrities whose only function is to 'support the trade in overpriced handbags and rat sized dogs' and whose greatest achievement is getting photographed in as many different outfits a day as possible. I think its fantastic that someone who has the ear of so many young girls is saying something positive and helpful, rather than offering them tips on make-up and how to make boys like you.

I'm not going to go on about this as I think she actually puts it really well, I'm just going to say have a read of it and take heart from the fact that some people do value brains and personality above weight.... (Oh and before anyone points out that I am actually rather skinny and it's all very easy for me, it's only cos I have got a genetic disorder that prevents me digesting fat, which believe you me is not a useful diet mechanism but a total pain in the neck).

Singin' in the Rain

As some of my mates will know I finished making the costumes for Singin' in the Rain at the Cambridge Arts Theatre a few weeks ago. I've been gradually getting photos together from lots of people in the cast and crew and I've posted a whole load that can be seen on my photo site at

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/musoros/my_photos

and they'll eventually get onto my proper website too. But here a couple of really great ones of Robyn Addison who played Lina. She's wearing a totally over the top 1920's gown for the grand finale.