Rosalind Evans

A better butterfly picture

2012-01-09T05:18:00.000-08:00

I'd forgotten Mr EB had taken a couple of shots of the butterfly for me before we went off to the wedding on New Years Eve. The colours in this shot are far better than my poor attempts at capturing peacock feathers, although I always thought my hair was darker brown than this!

Hat a Week 5: Peacock Butterfly

2012-01-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

I actually managed to get some hatting done whilst stuck in Papworth, but as usual it took ages for me to actually take some photos of it... I made this peacock butterfly to go with the green silk dress I wore to Tom and Eden's wedding on New Years Eve (pictures of that to follow as well!). It was a bit of a fiddle to make, as attaching feathers to wire and then onto a delicate beaded body and then onto a comb was rather harder than anticipated. In fact, next time I make this design I will probably make a small buckram body onto which I will mount everything and then attach that to the comb. Hopefully this will make it less delicate without being too bulky!

Close up of the beaded body

Its very difficult to get the sheer beauty and colours of a peacock feather to come out in a photo- I'll try getting Mr EB to use his superior skill when he has a mo! You can also see the sticky tape I had to use to attach the comb to the dolly head temporarily... As it has no hair, comb based designs can be a pain to attach to the dolly, but I would rather use tape than put a wig on it!

28 days later...

2011-12-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

... And I'm finally line free! Hallelujah! I have gone through exhausted, past shattered and arrived at catatonic. I've tried to think of ways to describe it, having a head full of cotton wool making all my thought processes dull is one part. Having limbs like lead whilst trying to walk through treacle kind of gets the physical aspect. It's just all a bnit blurgh. To be really rather annoying, it turns out that the original sample that set off the whole MRSA panic in the first place has been reexamined and reclassed as not MRSA but MSSA, or methicillin sensitive staph aureous... All that barrier nursing and schmozle wasn't necessary! Gah! A least the drugs do seem to have finally worked and my chest has improved and is drier than it has been for a long while, so I'm hopeful that I might actually be able to stay off the ivs for more than just a month - fingers crossed...

I have also had my first proper shower for 28 days! Yes, I know that sounds utterly disgusting and like I have not washed in all that time, but don't panic, I have! The problem with having a port is that the needle is in my left upper chest, and it's covered with a fairly large dressing. You have to try and keep this as clean and dry as possible to minimise infection risk. The port line goes all the way to just by my heart so if bacteria got into it via the access point it could go very quickly right round my blood stream, not something I want to happen. So you have to be really careful to not splash it- not easy, especially when you have long hair which needs washing. This means showering becomes a fairly comedy routine or trying to shower one side of your body whilst sponging round the dressing! The other rather ick thing is that when you take the dressing off after fourteen days there is rather a lot of dead skin and oil from your skin stuck under it, so after 28 days it is just gross, but now I am clean and fresh and can splash about in the shower as much as I like- bliss!

December disaster

2011-12-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

Well so far I could really have done without December, and that's before I've even started thinking about Christmas. I had an awful head cold that rapidly went to my chest. So off to Papworth I went and got two weeks of Tazocin and Colomycin, annoying but necessary. It meant that I had to have a line in at the G and S ball, not really an accessory I'd chose to wear to a white tie event, but at least I got to go. The drugs didn't really fully get me better, so I was expecting to have to do another week. What I was not expecting was that a sputum sample I gave them at day seven of the drugs would come back as MRSA positive and that the doctors wanted to admit me for two weeks of three antibiotics to eradicate it.... Argh! Now MRSA in itself is not that much of danger to people with CF as it does not cause a massive decline to the lungs. However it's not something I really want lurking so I could see why the consultants wanted to be so aggressive in their treatment. What is really annoying is that by having an instance of MRSA I was immediately banned from the CF unit because of the risk of infection to the rest of the unit... So I had to have a side room on a different ward. Fortunately, the room was very nice and ensuite, sadly the air conditioning within was incredibly noisy and I could not turn it off. On the first night I was freezing and ended up with an awful headache. Also, the staff are just not the same as the CF nurses, who I've known for years, are experts in CF care and let you sleep undisturbed. They also don't quibble about heating up food that you've brought in yourself, home cooked or bought. As I was being barrier nursed the housekeepers simply woud not heat up anything for me... Apparently once something has been into a barrier nursed room it is not allowed out again, even if it's going to me nuked in a microwave! However, this was not a protocol observed by all of them, some of them would, some of them lectured me on infection control and would not! I've lost quite a bit of weight as a result which will result in the dietician yelling at me! Being barrier nursed is just frustrating!

To my further annoyance five days into the treatment the docs tell me that actually I might not have MRSA! Apparently as the lab has moved from Papwroth to Addenbrookes some communication issues have sprung up. The lab did not ring up the CF nurse to tell them of this MRSA as they are meant to, it just popped up on the computer when they checked for the results. So Sam the CF specialist nurse rang up and they confirmed it was MRSA. However, because the lab has had a few mix ups in the aftermath of the move my consultants got the consultant microbiologist to re-evaluate my results to make sure the diagnosis was correct. So possibly hurrah I don't have MRSA! Eventually the consultant got back to them saying that the initial pattern of growth for my sputum looked like MRSA but after a while of continued growing it didn't! So they are resending several of my samples to be more thoroughly tested to try and get a definitive result. So they know it's definitely staphaureous, which I have grown occasionally for years, the question is, is it methicillin resistant or not??? Apparently it is an 'unusual organism' and they need more data to decide. In the meantime I am left with all this to-ing and fro-ing as to whether all this treatment was actually needed. This regime is pretty hard core, ciprofloxicillin, fosfomycin and teicoplanin are all very strong. But I'm carrying on with it just in case, but it's only cos the lovely Dr Barker is very understanding, that she let me out after a week of incarceration and dropped the dose of fosfomycin from four doses to three. Doing a dose every six hours results in very little sleep and near hysteria! I also may not have needed to be barrier nursed at all if I don't have it, what a waste of bloody time that would have been. Darn microbiologists! I don't think they realise that the bugs are actually from people and how much stress messing up causes them...

Real life photos of a dress in action!

2011-12-05T11:33:00.000-08:00

Yes I know I have not blogged in a month-total hat a week fail! But to be fair,I have had the head cold from hell for the past month, although it feels more like a year... I'm back on the IVs in an attempt to stop it going to my chest, which to be honest has not worked as it has and I am producing more gunge than a bad horror movie-sigh. Also, as is so typical as soon as I feel really grotty I get loads of requests for work which I have tried to keep up with, but some requests have had to be refused as I simply don't have time when I feel this crap-its so annoying! This cycle of IVs every four to six weeks is just getting me down. I nearly missed the GandS Reunion Ball which would have been awful. I did manage to go for some of it, but that was with a line in (not a particularly attractive look!) and doing no dancing (boo hiss!) and leaving early. Better than nothing, but still so frustrating. I would have loved to dance with my lovely friends, but at least I got to dress up and see them. I will try and get some photos of Mr EB and myself in our finery (white tie no less) but I didn't take my camera with us as it doesn't fit into an evening bag! Hopefully some of my friends will have got some shots of us...

Anyway back to the point of this post, I have received some lovely photos of an unusual gold bridal dress I made earlier in the year and it is so nice to see it on a person not my dress dummy. Helen actually wants me to remake the fabric of her detachable train into another garment (watch this space!) and very kindly gave me these shots when she popped over a while ago to talk about this new project. I have to say I think Helen looks amazing! She just has the style and personality to carry off this fairly unusual and dramatic dress-

I love these pictures! She just looks so happy and I like to think her dress added to her enjoyment of such an important day in her and her husbands life:-)

Hat a Week 4 - Spotted Bonnet

2011-10-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

This weeks hat was a bit of an experiment. I wanted to try combining the two main ways of making hats, blocking and flat pattern making. Blocking is using a wooden shape and steam or heat to mould the hat form on the block, usually felt, straw or sinamay, for example this black felt cloche. Flat pattern cutting is when you work out how to make the shape out of flat pieces, for example this tricorn and most of my first hats were made from flat card patterns cut from buckram and then covered. The two methods are a bit like draping on the stand and flat pattern cutting when making clothes - one is done on a model in 3d the other flat on paper in 2d. Id never tried combining the two before and it is doable but can involve a lot of trial and error. This hat is inspired by a hat made by Jeanne Lanvin in about 1910, the back is created on a block and brim was cut flat then the two were joined together. It is a lovely tight fitting back sweeping into front brim that extends over the forehead. I suppose it is technically a bonnet rather than a hat, but it is a rather charming that I have wanted to try and recreate for ages.

This is hat once the two parts have been joined, the edges wired and the shape mulled in domette. You can't really see the join (which is the idea!) but it runs from ear to ear over the top of the head. I finished the hat with a fabulous scarlet polka dot fabric and decorated it with black bias strips inspired by the decoration on the Lanvin hat. The back of the hat is pleated to take in the excess fabric around the curved back.

Detail of the pleated back.

As some of the under brim is visible when being worn I decided to line the whole in the same polka dot fabric, which adds to its rather cheerful appearance. I am really pleased by how this experiment turned out, and I have definitely learned a lot about using both methods in one hat! The next hat a week maybe a bit late as I actually have the opportunity to make a swanky dress for me for the G and S Society 50th anniversary ball in December, as well as some other ongoing work, so the hats may well have to take a bit of a backseat for a little while at least.

Hat a Week 3- Not really a hat.....

2011-10-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

... But still something you wear on your head so I say it counts! These are some Victorian beaded flowers. I have been trying to make them for ages but have not been able to get wire thin enough to work. The beads themselves are only about 2mm wide with a teeny tiny hole which is fine if you only need to pass the wire through it once but to make the flowers you may need to get two or three passes through it and my usual wire is way too thick for that. I was going to order some very fine gauge wire over the Internet but the sites I use only offer big reels of wire and I didn't really want to buy a big expensive reel before I knew it would work. John Lewis let me down for once and only had the 0.6mm wire I usually use that is too big. I finally found some in the crazy little craft shop in Saffron Walden called Colour Craft. It's one of those amazing shops that are crammed floor to ceiling with a huge array of craft stuff. Wool, beads, tapestry thread, paint, books, pencils, brushes and more fills the shelves. I can't think why I didn't go there before probably cos I don't go into SW as much anymore so just didn't remember! So I finally had my wire and I have sooooo many beads, so off I went. It really is very simple and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to do. Even on IVs and drugged out of my head I managed to make these three in a couple of days. I've popped the two silver ones in hair pins and the third iridescent one may go on a hat.

Little iridescent flower with rounded petals

I know this is a couple of days late, but I'm still struggling with lack of computer and having to swipe Dad or Mr EB's when they don't need them! The one I was using wont connect to the wifi at my parents house cos basically it is a bit rubbish... oh well better late than never!

Hat a Week 2-Black felt cloche

2011-10-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well so far so good, I've managed two hats in as many weeks! Oh ok, I actually made both this one and the ivory pill box in the last fortnight but I only just finished the inside of this one so I'm using it as Hat a Week 2. This one is a black wool felt cloche made using another gorgeous Guy Morse Brown block that was my Christmas present from my parents. I love the shape of it, its so smooth and curvy! It also has a string groove around the bottom of the brim which really does make blocking so much easier. You can see in the first picture how you just use a cord to pull the felt into the groove and use one pin to secure the cord tightly. I also used a cord to pull the felt in tightly around the base of the sideband so that it adheres nice and closely to the shape of the block.

Here the hat is off the block and with the edge wired and finished but not yet decorated, you can also see how messy my workroom gets mid hat making!

Finished! I was pleased by how the geometric hat band turned out. It's made from overlapping circles of red and white felt that are finished with a black satin cord tied in a little bow.

Close up of the trim and bow.

A Hat a Week

2011-10-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

Recently my health has been rather depressing. I'm now on ivs about every six to eight weeks, when once I only needed them every six months. My lung function is about 50% now, which to be honest is crap and means I am tired all the time and I can't do things that I love, like playing the flute or lindy hop. This combined with some other health rubbishness which I won't go into cos its all a bit raw still, has made me a bit depressed. I've been prone to depression since I was a teenager and I can now recognise the signs that mean I'm on a downward spiral. In an effort to prevent myself sitting in a corner and brooding about how unfair life is, why me, blah blah blah I have decided to start a new project. I find that forcing myself to keep busy and think about other things does help stop me getting too depressed and gives me time to try and sort myself out. So my project is A Hat a Week- pretty simple, I am going to make a hat a week, although I include in 'hat' pretty much anything that you wear on your head, so veils, fascinators, flowers, tiaras, anything that attaches to your head! This will of course be work and health dependent sometimes I may not manage it, equally if I don't have much on if I may even make more than one hat-how reckless and daring!

My project has also turned out to be computer dependent too! I have actually had this post and hat ready for about two weeks, but unfortunately my faithful old computer, emphasis on old, turned up its toes and died-again... So I have been unable to blog properly cos the ipad doesn't really do photo uploading easily. Thankfully Mr EB really is a computer genius and managed to get all my files off the old computer and apparently can even get it working again, although this involves time which is something that he does not have a large supply of. So eventually I shall get the old machine back, but in the meantime I am borrowing one of Mr EBs spares!

So the first Hat a Week is another bridal one. This is a mini pillbox made from ivory sinamay and finished with an ivory ribbon and silver wire spirals set with swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls. When I use this block again I am probably going to use it slightly differently in that instead of blocking the whole hat with one piece of sinamay I'm going to block the headband and tip as two separate pieces then sew them together. This should make it easier to turn the sinamay under at the bottom, with one piece there is a whole lots of fibre that has to get turned in!

A Veil for Holly Race now Beckett!

2011-10-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

Lucky me!!!! I finally got asked for a silk tulle veil by my lovely friend Holly! She is such a stylish lady and knew she wanted an ultra soft, drappy veil in silk tulle, so whats a girl to do- buy lots of silk tulle:-) Don't get me wrong non silk tulle is also lovely stuff but it has much more body so when you gather it up it is more pouffy and has more volume- ideal for petticoats and some styles of veils but not if you want a lighter less fluffy look. Silk tulle is just like cobweb, all wispy and light. It also sticks to itself, just like cobweb, and everything else as well. This can get a tad annoying, but its worth putting up with because it moves and drapes beautifully. The lightest breeze makes it dance-oh God I sound so soppy! Holly also chose a lovely ivory lace to edge it, which went beautifully with the lace of her dress. As you can see from the pictures it just looks beautiful (shame the workroom is such a mess...)

This is a lot of Tulle!

Detail of the Lace edging

This is a picture taken at the wedding by Albert Palmer- we had such good luck with the weather! I love the movement in the veil, and you can see just how long it is as well. Gorgeous!

I love this photo!

Please vote for me!

2011-08-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

The competition that I have entered my crazy green fibonacci hat in has now opened the voting for one of the prizes. If you have a mo please goto the website below and take a look and vote for me!

http://www.talenthouse.com/creativeinvites/show/submission/detail/ZT93BM

Thank you!

Fibonacci Fascination!

2011-08-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

I'm entering a millinery competition being run by Vogue and Stephen Jones and this has been the perfect excuse to go a bit bonkers with my ongoing fascination with using Fibonacci numbers and the golden section in hat making. The result is a rather outrageous green and cream hat made from 16 intersecting fibonacci spirals (8 clockwise and 8 anti-clockwise). I created a single spiral on paper from the first seven terms of the Fibonacci series - 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,13. There is a lot of info on Fibonacci here, I find it very interesting but to be honest some of the complex maths goes totally over my head, but the intro and illustrations of creating a spiral are very clear if you fancy a bit more Fibonacci knowledge!

Having decided how big I wanted the hat to be, I copied the spiral even times from the first to create the clockwise pattern, I then made a reflection of this to create the anti clockwise pattern. This created a very pretty flower like lattice that I made from tulle covered wire in two shades of leaf green. I then attached this to a circular, cream silk covered buckram crown that perches on the side of the head. I had quite a job weaving the wires in and out or each other and got poked quite a bit in the process... However, I got there in the end and I am really pleased with the end result. When voting for the competition opens I will start pluggnig my entry like mad!

The hat laid out on the paper design secured with clothes pegs!

The finished hat on my dolly head.

I hereby assert my right to be identified as the designer and creator of Fibonacci hats, fascinators and other headwear. Also, I am the originator of the use of Fibonacci and the golden section when creating hats. These hats are works of artistic craftmanship and are therefore protected by copyright. I will persecute anyone copying my designs or using my ideas to the fullness of the law (and I mean persecute!)

A gorgeous dress for a gorgeous friend :-)

2011-08-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about making wedding dresses is that occasionally I get to make one for a close friend. This time, I got to make a dress for one of my absolute best friends Anne Carter, now Jones! As Anne and her new husband Phil met whilst ballroom dancing, it was clear that dancing would always be an important part of the wedding. As Anne could not possibly jive (her favorite dance) or quickstep in her full length plus train bridal dress, she wanted a second shorter dance dress for the first dance and the evening reception. She very kindly asked me to make it. I was so happy she asked me and was just so pleased to see how beautiful and elegant she looked dancing in it with her new husband. Actually, the whole wedding was totally wonderful, it was so great to see two such lovely people getting married and so happy together. I loved my dress and hairdo (as bridesmaid), the breakfast was just delicious, the photos on the beach were so much fun and playing croquet with friends I'd not seen in ages was fantastic, if not strictly adhering to the rules! I could carry on with this list for several pages, but I think it's pretty clear I had an amazing day!

These photos are sadly not of Anne in the dress, but I'm hoping to put some of her official photos up once she has got back from her honeymoon and actually got them! It is a lovely knee length, prom style dress, with a fitted bodice covered in ruched chiffon and a flared two layer skirt of chiffon over satin. There was also a burgundy satin flower at the waist with the lace, but I had not finished that in time for these pictures....

The contrast burgandy lacing matched the colour scheme of the wedding-and looks really cool!

This is such a pretty lace motif, that I found on the web after trawling loads of shops!

Hats and Hormones

2011-07-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

My bridal hat collection is coming along well. In fact I have far too many ideas of things I want to try and designs I want to make, than time or energy to fit them all in at the moment. I'm currently taking part in a medial study at Papworth, which is very interesting but rather time (and blood!) consuming. They are investigating if a pwcf's appetite can be increased by supplementing our production of ghrelin -the hormone that controls appetite. Annoyingly pwcf do not produce as much ghrelin as they should, so although we need to eat loads to maintain our weight we hardly ever feel hungry. Forcing yourself to maintain a high calorie diet when you just don't feel like eating is not a lot of fun, so anything that will make me actually feel hungry for a change is good in my book! I already tried to do the five week programme in April, but i got ill half way through so had to stop to have iv drugs. This time I had a total nightmare with my port. It stopped working half way through a blood test and then had to be re accessed twice more to finally manage to get it working again and hep locked properly-sigh. Am now very sore from having three needles shoved in the one place and did not get to start the second part of the trial.

Oh well... back to the hats. This one is a rather fun button hat covered in pleated silk crepe to resemble a shell. It is finished with a huge silk and tulle flower. I love the flower it's just so big and bold whilst still being quite elegant.

These photos are sadly not very good as, (A) the photos are by me and I am not that good at it! (B) when photographing something that is basically the same colour all over it is really difficult to get the detail to be clear and (C) the light really was not good enough for photos, but I wanted to get some pictures of it up before I go on a little holiday so won't be able to post... When we're back I will get Mr EB to take some much better ones!

Why Hats?

2011-07-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

I was at Papworth for my annual review recently and I saw the new social worker. He is a very nice chap and we got chatting about what I do outside of CF! I was sitting making some more ribbon roses for anther hat I have in mind, so it was a pretty obvious topic but I've often been asked how I got into hat making and it got me thinking. It certainly was not planned in detail from a young age. I've always loved making things ever since I was a small child. At primary school I was always volunteering to make things for plays or projects- often to the teachers dread! I don't think as a youngster my actual skills anywhere near matched the crazy ideas that were in my head but I was incredibly keen... I loved the way you could change things like fabric and paper into totally new objects and shapes, how they became something new.

I've also always loved sewing and making things from fabric and sequins and anything shiny- definite magpie complex that is still with me. My mum often made me clothes and her mum made practically all her clothes for years. In fact, I wore some of the evening gowns that Nanna made for my Mum at May Balls when I was at Cambridge, luckily for me we were the same size when each of us was aged twenty. I also get my hoarding gene from both these ladies, my Nan especially would keep tiny off cuts of fabric for donkeys years just in case she ever needed them! When she had to move into a residential home Mum and I found bags and bags of offcuts from clothes she made for my mum when Mum was a young woman.

Yes, that's me on the right!

My love of sewing and glitz made costumes an obvious choice during my uni days. I had tried being on stage and actually was in the chorus as a fairy for a production of Iolanthe at Cambridge Arts Theatre- which was fantastic fun, but incredibly knackering. I did not have the lungs to manage that much singing, but I loved the theatre and still wanted to be involved. I volunteered to do the costumes for a production of the Mikado at the Minack theatre in Cornwall and have never looked back. I did quite a few hats during the various productions I was involved with, including a two foot tall twisted top hat for the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.

A suitably Mad Hatter!

However, I didn't really know what I was doing, I just made it up as I went along from various crafty techniques I had learnt at school, and from Mum and Nan. The Mad Hatter hat for example, was made using willow wands, wire, sticky tape and hope! When I went to RADA I got to do some proper buckram and wire hat making for my ladies project, a reproduction of a masque costume worn by Lady Henrietta Howard. It was brilliant learning to finally make hats properly and not just bodge it as I had been doing and I still loved transforming flat fabric into a three dimensional shape.

Me, in my Ladieswear Project.

I carried on with costumes including the odd hat, but as my health deteriorated, I had to stop making Costumes and working shows, I simply do not have the strength or stamina anymore. Bridal and evening wear was the direction I choose to move towards, as I have always made my own evening gowns, but the hats came along when I got fed up of the hats I could afford to buy for various weddings.The ones I could afford were just not dramatic or glitzy enough! So I started by making historical shapes in miniature using the wire and buckram method, I had learnt at RADA and it was just like being back at school again. I am just so happy when I am working with gorgeous fabrics and feathers and sparkly things and making a total mess with glues and stiffeners. I'm indulging my inner child!

The first hat I made to wear to a wedding.

As I got more daring and experimental with the wire and buckram creations I bought more and more books about hats, and downloaded everything I could find to feed my hatting addiction It soon became clear that I needed to give blocking a go. I'd always been a bit put off from this technique of hat making, because hat blocks are expensive things and I did not want to shell out £100 or more to find I was not going to get any use out of the block. Thankfully, I found the marvellous block makers Guy Morse Brown, who do an introductory block, pins and book set for a very reasonable price so I decided to try it out. On receiving the block my inner hatter was ecstatic to find that not only was blocking something that I could learn (with a bit of practice and swearing) but that hat blocks really are gorgeous tactile objects in themselves. So when my friends asked what I wanted for my 30th birthday I asked for another hat block and bless them, they bought me five mini fascinators blocks that are just fabulous. Now I must admit to being rather obsessed with hats, I can't help it! Not only is making them incredible fun and interesting, but the finished product is so beautiful (I hope!) and gives such pleasure to the people I make for -I just wish I had discovered this wonderful art earlier and that my Nanna could have seen some of the things I've made, I like to think she would have been proud of me.

Port Love!

2011-06-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

It may have been a bit traumatic getting my port into me, but my God it is a marvellous thing! I've been having ivs for a week now in an attempt to regain some lung function and get me a good summertime, and it is soooo much easier than faffing with a long line. There was no digging about in my arms trying to find a vein that works and would take a line and I don't have to spend two weeks with one of my elbows basically immobile, as that was the only place that lines would work. It took two minutes to pop in a needle and hook me up!! Brilliant!!! It hurts a little when the needle is inserted but nowhere near as much as having a long line inserted. Also it stops hurting practically immediately- bonus! I am also taking ciprofloxicillin which I could not take through a long line as it makes my smaller veins stop working, so hopefully this will really help with the bugs as they have not been hit by this antibiotic for ages. It is also wonderful being able to bend my arm whilst taking the drugs. I can even play the piano whilst hooked up! Sadly the drugs have not dramatically improved my playing...! All in all I am a total port convert, so if anyone out there is thinking of having one I say- do it!

An Unusual Gold Bride

2011-06-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Now that Helen has got married I can finally blog about her very unusual bridal gown. I have been working on Helen's dress since before Christmas and it has been such fun to work on something so different from the traditional ivory dresses that I am usually commissioned to make. For a start, its a gorgeous rich gold. We found the fabric during a shopping trip to Borovick Fabrics on Berwick street in Soho. It is also transformable! The basic dress is a 1950's prom style gown with a full circle skirt and a sweetheart neckline. It is supported by an amazing pouffy petticoat (this was part of the reason for my experiments-in-petticoats earlier in the year).

The petticoat is six layers of net at the bottom tier, the top three of which are ivory and the under three are scarlet to match Helen's shoes and handbag. Helen also wanted a large sash with a big bow at the back. This has to be the biggest bow I have ever made, it's huge and so girly-I love it!

This all seemed fairly standard in design terms, until she mentioned that she wanted a detachable train to wear as she walked up the aisle... Now this is a rather unusual addition to a 1950's design but she also said she loved the costumes in the BBC's Garrow's Law which is set in the 18th century, particularly the polonaise style of skirts worn by Lady Sarah Hill (the female love interest!). She didn't actually say polonaise there was much waving of hands and mutual cries of aren't they gorgeous dresses from us both- its great when you really understand what the bride really likes! Now, I totally loved Garrow's Law, especially the costumes and the 18th century is one of my favorite periods of fashion history, but it doesn't really go with the 1950's prom dress... or does it? Well, we think we came up with a pretty good compromise between periods with this detachable train that could be worn as a flat church length train or pulled up into a pollonaise like over skirt.

Here you can see the train laid flat at full length. The sash is still in place and conceals the waistband of the overskirt.

With the train bustled up in a polonaise it just brushes the floor and means that Helen could dance in it as well. The way the fabric bunches up and folds is just lush! I love making dresses that can change throughout the day, and am really looking forward to seeing Helen's wedding photos when this rather fantastic dress will look even better than on my stand.

Sparkly Sparkly Bridal Hat!

2011-06-03T06:54:00.000-07:00

Anyone who spends any time with me, knows I am a total magpie when it comes to anything remotely sparkly! I don't know why, maybe I am part cat as I love my 'shiny things'! So, as I am currently developing a line of bridal headdresses (in my rather limited spare time-sigh!) it seemed appropriate that the first design drips sparkly beads and pearls. It is a very simple, hand blocked teardrop-shaped hat covered with silk satin then covered with beads. The beading is heaviest on the point over the eye, then gradually fades out towards the back of the hat. I have used this technique on bridal dresses. I am planning on making a detachable birdcage veil to go with this, once that is done I shall add some more photographs.

Uber Sparkly!

CF Week

2011-05-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

From the 8th to the 14th of May is Cystic Fibrosis Week run by the CF Trust. As part of the week they have set a target of getting 10,000 more friends/followers on Facebook and Twitter in the hope of raising awareness about CF and reaching new people. They also want people with CF to post/blog/tweet about their life with CF, so this is my blog post. Here are some basic facts about CF (people who have read my blog before will probably know them already but it doesn't hurt to read them again!)-

Cystic Fibrosis is one of the UK's most common, life-threatening inherited diseases.
Cystic Fibrosis causes the internal organs to become clogged with this sticky mucus attracting infection and making it difficult to breathe and digest food.
People with Cystic Fibrosis have to undergo a tough daily treatment regime including taking dozens of pills, inhaled and intravenous drugs and physiotherapy.
During Cystic Fibrosis Week, five babies will be born with CF and sadly, two lives will be claimed by Cystic Fibrosis.
Only half of those living with Cystic Fibrosis are likely to live past their late 30s.
There is no cure for Cystic Fibrosis.
Money raised during Cystic Fibrosis Week will help the Cystic Fibrosis Trust continue to fund medical research to fight the symptoms of, and treat the cause of Cystic Fibrosis. It will help the Cystic Fibrosis Trust improve the care of people with CF, and will help provide direct support for people with Cystic Fibrosis and their families.

On a more personal level, I thought I would post a copy of my repeat prescription, which runs to four pages these days. From this rather long list can see just how many drugs I actually take or use every day, and this is on a good day...

Pills-
Creon 25000
These are enzymes to digest the fat in my food. As my pancreas is screwed I don't get them naturally. I take 6 pills with an average meal and 2 with snacks, so it totals about 24 a day.
Azithromycin 250mg
One pill a day, antibiotic and gunk reducer!
Citalopram 20mg
Antidepressant-pretty self explanatory, but without it I am an emotional wreck.
Itraconazole 100mg
Two pills twice a day. Antibiotic fungicide to combat Aspergillis (nasty fungus) growing in my lungs
Flucloxacillin 500mg
One pill twice a day. Antibiotic to damp down the bugs in my lungs.
Carbocisteine 375mg
Two pills twice a day. Not sure of the technical name for this but it thins the gunk in my lungs making it easier to cough up.
Omeprazole 40mg
one pill twice a day. Strong antacid for digestive problems caused partly by CF and partly by all the other drugs...

Inhalors and Nebulisors
Qvar 100micrograms
Two-four puffs twice a day depending how chest is. Steroid to combat inflammation of my lungs
Tiotropium 18micrograms
One puff a day. Bronchiodialator acts on the small airways of my lungs to keep them open.
Serevent 25 Micrograms
Two puffs twice a day. Brochiodialator (like ventolin but stronger)
Ventolin 100micrograms
As needed when I get wheezy.
Colistimethate Sodium 2 million units
Nebulisor solution twice a day. Inhaled antibiotic has to diluted by me with 2ml of sterile saline per vial. Used for a month in turn with-
Tobramycin Nebuliser Solution 300mg
Nebulised twice a day for a month-tastes awful but works.
Mucoclear Solution 6% hypertonic saline
Nebulised salt solution to thin lung mucus, once a day. This is just soooooo salty-but it does work so I do it...
Salbutamol Nebulisor solution 2.5mg
Nebulised ventolin used once a day to open up lung airways to allow the hypertonnic saline to penetrate lungs as much as possible.

Diabetes treatments
Novarapid Penfill cartridges
I take insulin with food, the amount I take is dependant on the carbohydrate content of what I am eating. This means I have to this out before I inject myself... this is annoying!
Aviva Test Strips
Strips for my blood sugar monitor
Multiclix lancets
Needle for the stabbing device so I can use said monitor.
Microfine needles 4mm
Needles for injecting insulin-they really are tiny so it doesn't hurt-unless you do it wrong and hit muscle...

So that's my everyday medical regime. If I want to go away for a weekend all this stuff and paraphernalia has to come with me... including the nebulisor and all its components-it all takes up a lot of suitcase space! Not to mention the fact that if I am ill then I will have to take intravenous drugs and that adds a whole new dimension to the regime, as most of the antibiotics come in powder form so have to be reconstituted by me. The number of needles, bottles of saline, water and syringes that fill my house during IVs is huge! And that is not including the antibiotics themselves and the hepsal flush (dilute heparin solution) that you have to do after each dose to keep the line open. I really am a walking pharmacy!

This regime is my life-every damn day, and I know that the regime will not get better, that my lungs will not get significantly better and that I will always have to take these drugs. The individual doses or pills may change from time to time but this is the way I have to live if I want to go on living for a reasonable length of time. Please think about supporting CF Week -you can join on Facebook here. Or there is more info about it here.
(I think that this info is all correct and that I've got the reasons I take the various drugs right-if you know that I've spelt a drug name wrong or got the explanation of what it is wrong, don't make a smart arse comment please. I take them and that's what matters.)

Bad Blogger!

2011-05-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

I have not been updating my blog as often as I should have been... It was a New Years Resolution that I would update it at least a couple of times every month and also blog more of my hats, and yet I've managed no posts for the six weeks-oh dear. I never have been very good with New Years Resolutions!

I've had this half hat finished for several weeks now, but have only just got round to photographing it. first there was all the schmozole of Papworth and the port and the two weeks of IVs, then I went on holiday (hurray- I really needed it!) and then I spent the rest of the time catching up on work and getting a bride finished. So finally I have got some nice pics of it in the lovely sunshine-

It was inspired by several hats that are pictured in a catalogue of vintage patterns that I got from Amazon a couple of years ago. I blocked the buckram base over a standard dome crown block, then having mulled it, I covered it with pink satin and a layer of black veiling. The edge is black satin bias binding. The decoration is rather more 1920s than 1950s, but I like it! Its a black ostrich feather pom pom that I made from an old feather I used in a show years ago, and to hide the base of the feathers I covered it with more black satin and lots of jet swarovski crystals.

Close up of feather pom pom

Freedom!

2011-03-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

At last I've been released from Papworth! The port went in successfully and after a week in hospital to do some amminophiline and extra fluids to try and clear my chest out as much as possible, they agreed I could finish the second week at home. I am totally knackered as I am on fosfomycin and tazocin, and unfortunately fosfomycin is four times a day or every six hours, and tazocin is three or every eight hours... Now even stretching the numbers a bit so i can do both drugs on some doses, I end up doing a minimum four doses a day which takes up loads of time! It also means I get a maximum amount of six hours sleep in one go. I usually get a minimum of nine, so I do feel rather like I've been sat on by an elephant! However on the olus side I am feeling so much better compared to the usual drugs i take. So hooray for the port as I could not take the fosfomycin in a long line as it buggers my small veins up. I am still fairly bruised and sore, but hopefully this will all have been worth it and I will actually feel better for a decent length of time. Fingers crossed!

Port Update

2011-03-12T05:20:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday can only be described as a disaster. For some reason the consultant could not get the stupid guide wire into my jugular vein far enough to use as a guide for the port line. Even after several attempts the wire would only go in about 10cm before it would not go any further. This is no where near far enough which means I've been left with a neck that looks like I've been savaged and still no access.... I am seriously sore and seriously pissed off. I was not looking forward to this procedure at all and now it's all gone wrong and I am left in discomfort but with nothing to show for it. Being poked and prodded like that is seriously uncomfortable even with local anaesthetic and knowing that I'll probably have to try again next week is just not appealing, in fact I am more than a little scared that I'll have to try again. The surgeon had never had this happen to him before and neither had my CF consultant or the specialist nurse, so clearly I am just weird and my body is trying to piss me off again.

I had a contrast CT after the disastrous attempt at insertion, and on Monday will hopefully find out the reason why the guide wire would not thread and whether they can try a different vessel or do something different that will work. In the mean time, I am still hanging on waiting to get access so I can have some decent drugs and actually feel better, cos I am still feeling pretty rubbish lungwise and need some IVs. My Cf consultant did suggest trying to get a line in me, but quite frankly anyone who wanted to try anything with a needle anywhere near me yesterday was going to get beaten up! Not at all impressed by the whole thing really and don't know if I can bear to try again...

Decisions

2011-02-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

I've finally been forced to decide whether or not I need a port (permanent iv access) and in the end the decision was rather obvious. I've not been having a good time with my lungs since about September. I've needed IV drugs about every six to eight weeks, and getting access to my veins has not been easy. Last line took three attempts to get it in...not my idea of fun! So having finally agreed with the docs that actually I do need one I've bitten the bullet and said yes. Hopefully this Friday will be port day, assuming they can find me a bed. The proceedure will be followed by a couple of weeks of antibiotics, and also a new anti gunk drug (whose name is unpronounceable) that is designed to open up my airways and get all the muck out- let's hope it works! This drug is only used as an inpatient treatment as you have to have it as an infusion which runs continuously 24 hours a day. So sadly I will have to be incarcerated in Papworth for a few days at least.... How boring! However, the advantages of getting a port will hopefully out weigh the boredom and the discomfort of the operation- no more being a human pin cushion, no more not being able to use one arm for the length of an iv course and being able to use more drugs that my little veins could not handle. Hopefully this will all result in an improvement to my lungs and a much less grumpy Ros during IV time!

Edit
Port op postponed until friday the eleventh...sigh.

Facebook

2011-02-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

I've finally got around to getting myself some publicity and have got a Facebook page for my wedding dress and hat designs. If you'd like to take a look it's here. Now all I need to do is get a Twitter account (and not get addicted to it!) and world domination here I come!

Experiments in Petticoats

2011-02-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

No, I've not turned into some deranged mad scientist, conducting bonkers experiments to bring women's undergarments to ungodly life! (Although that might be something to try later...) I've actually been trying out various ways of making petticoats and various materials to create different skirt shapes. I'm currently working on a 1950's style dress and wanted to see the various ways in which its circle skirt could be supported. This first picture is one of my basic circle skirts without any support. However you can make it much more obviously voluminous and change its silhouette by adding various types of petticoats.

The first petticoat I tried is a fairly classic ballet style net petticoat. A long strip of net is gathered along the top edge onto a waistband and wrapped around the waist, in this case creating two layers. This is the kind of long multi-layered tulle skirt that is often seen in ballet productions. I used fairly stiff dress net and gathered it very heavily around the waist with my ruffler foot, which produces a bell or dome like shape that then falls fairly straight to the hem.

The second type I tried was a very pretty three tiered design made in shot red and black organza. This is a very 1950's style, with the bottom tier being about twice the length gathered onto the middle tier, and the middle tier being twice as big as the top tier, and the top layer being twice the waist measurement. I used a ruffler foot on this petticoat as well, as it is a lot less work than hand gathering. This technique produces a very light but full petticoat that produces a more triangular shape, with less fullness at the waist and increasing out to the hem.

The last petticoat is a bit of a can-can extravaganza! Made from light-weight taffeta and gathered by hand this, like the organza petticoat, works with each tier being twice the length of the tier above. I edged it with some black lace that I have had lying around for years to get that totally crackers can-can effect! Whilst using a lot of fabric this petticoat is not very full, producing a more gentle triangular shape. The material is probably a bit light for a petticoat and even gathered up does not "stick out" in the same way as the organza or net. It is however ,a lot more comfortable to wear against the skin as both the organza and net can be a bit scratchy and in a slightly heavier taffeta would produce more volume.

My last bit of experimentation was with ways of finishing the edge of the fabric. net doesn't need an edge finish as it does not fray but both taffeta and organza fray like mad so have to have the edge treated. Hand hemming takes forever and machine hemming or overlocking takes a vast amount of thread. So I finally got out my soldering and tried a technique I've been wanting to try for ages but have just not got around to-using a soldering iron to seal the edge of man made fibres with heat. I have to say it works brilliantly! Not only is the edge sealed from fraying but you can cut the strips of fabric for the petticoat tiers out with the soldering iron thus saving time and money on thread-bonus! One downside is that heating up the fibres tends to give off some rather foul smoke, so you have to wear a respirator... Not only does make you look a total prat, but it also makes you sound like Darth Vadar on helium!

It does however produce a nice smooth finished edge that does not fray. You can just about see this on the picture, but unfortunately I do not have enough hands to take a photo hold the solder iron, ruler and fabric all at once, so you'll just have to take my word for the fact that it does work! Who knows maybe I'll give up my sewing machines altogether and just solder everything together now....

Hey Diddle Diddle!

2011-02-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

One of my Mum's close friends has recently become a Nanna, and as a gift for her new grandaughter she wanted a cot blanket with the nursey rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle embroidered on it. I'd made one for a friend of mines first baby boy, so out with the Xquisit, and here is the result-

The Complete Blanket

The Cat and the Fiddle

The Cow jumped over the Moon

The Little Dog Laughed

And the Dish ran away with the Spoon!

New year, new look, same old health.

2011-01-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed my blog has changed a lot recently. This is due to the redesign of my website by Mr EB and making my blog match the new design. I am so pleased with the new site, it's much sleeker and more elegant. Evan better it now has my hats on it, although I am still in the process of photographing some of them and doing their write up. If you would like to have a look at the new website it is here. There are still a few sections to add blurb too and I want to take some more photos of some of the hats, but it is such an improvement.

Sadly, the new year also started with a brief but very annoying stay at Papworth. I've had a nasty cold that descended and stuck on my lungs for a few weeks, but I had managed to get through Christmas and the new year with oral ciprofloxicillin to damp down my ongoing infections. Sadly, when I finished this course it was pretty obvious that I had not recovered particularly as I was so productive it felt like my lungs were full of glue. So I finally admitted that I needed the big strong iv drugs. Typically for me I managed to time this perfectly with the bank holiday so there were no regular clinics and they had to admit me to start me off on the ivs. Even more annoyingly the cf unit was full so I was on a general chest ward. I did have my own room thank god, but being outside the cf unit is so annoying. Te staff really don't seem to realise that vie been dealing with ivs for probably longer than they have and i don't need to be taught how to administer them, or assessed yet again! I actually realise whilst chatting to one of the non cf chest docs that I've been doing ivs on and off since I was 16, so rather depressingly that is practically half my life and certainly longer than the very nice but very young nurse who was looking after me. I could probably administer the ceftaz and colomycin in my sleep I've had them so many times. Also when they finally discharge you they give you loads of bits of paper saying what they've done to you over the admission for you and for your GP, I never get those at the unit they just send them automatically to the GP and they assume I can remember what happened!

It is also so annoying that as soon as you are admitted into hospital the nurses immediately take all your regular medication off you and shove it in a locked cupboard that you can't open. Clearly as soon as you are admitted you become far too dumb to carry on taking the meds that you've been on for years and have to be given them by a trained professional... they do this in the cf unit as well, but at least they have the decency to apologise for being forced to treat you like an idiot! Next time I get admitted please let me be on the CF unit!!!

Variations on a Theme

2010-11-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

Well only one variation so far technically! A friend of my Mum was kind enough to admire my hats recently and asked if I could make one of them in a different colour scheme to match her outfit as mother of the groom for her son's forthcoming wedding. So, always happy to have an actual proper excuse to make a hat, off I went. As her favourite was my black and pink button hat, we decided on a colour scheme to match her outfit and here is the result,

Here is the new hat with the original version.

So if there any hats in previous posts that you would like in an alternative colour scheme then just let me know!

Hatting in Felt

2010-11-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

At last Ive had a bit of time to actually start using all the fab blocks that my lovely friends got me for my 30th from Guy Morse Brown. I've also bitten the bullet and branched away from my tried and tested buckram and silk or sinamay construction and used felt! I decided to start with one of the simplest of my new blocks, a rather fetching slanted mini fez style and use a plain black wool cone-

So having read everything about blocking felt in all my hat books and costume books and searching the internet for hours I fired up my super powered iron and started steaming. I was definitely too timid to start with and was not using nearly enough steam as when I put the felt cone over the block and tried to pull it into shape nothing happened... Wool is a bit water resistant when ironing wool coats etc you have to spray it with water then whack it with a ruler or something to get the water to penetrate before you can iron any creases out. So with this in mind and having upped the steam generator to full power and really filled the inside with steam and then covered the felt with a wet cloth and used the iron to press the felt I started getting the shape of the block into the felt. It is quite remarkable the way the fibres shift in the felt to allow you to mould the fabric into a 3D shape. After much pulling and swearing when I accidentally steamed my fingers the little felt blockbegan to take shape

Just a few pins...

More pins and an
almost recognisable shape.

The felt removed from the block and the edge folded under, wired and sewn.

As the block is quite a 1940's shape I decided to decorate it with a felt flower, a popular decoration of the time. Hats were not rationed during WWII and they were often the only garment a woman could easily acquire as no coupons were needed or had to be saved. However, as the war continued materials became more scarce and new hats became harder to come by, so scraps of felt were an ideal way to revive an old hat. Miniature versions of mens hat styles were very fashionable and were worn perched on the head, tilted at a rakish angle.

Blue and White

2010-11-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well things have rather got in the way of sewing and hatting. There is some evidence that I have picked up a new micro bacteria, so in an attempt to see I've been sending off samples left, right and centre (two of which got tested for the wrong things then chucked-grr) having a CT and a bronchoscopy. I also had another two weeks of IVs to tide me over as I got yet another cold. All this has resulted in my spending far too much time at Papworth which I could have spent doing far more fun stuff! We've also acquired two new cats, Patch and his mum Socks (I'll post about them when I manage to get pictures of them that are not a blur!) so I've not had time to take pictures of the latest hat. So better late than never, here they finally are-

This is a very girly pillbox hat made from pale blue sinamay, that fastens at the back of the neck with a ribbon bow. It's decorated with a lace rosette with a large swarovski stone in the middle and finished with white hackle feathers and more swarovski crystals on wires-you can never have too many shiny things!

Nightmare at George Street!!!

2010-09-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

So when you move into a new house you do expect there to be some things that you don't like and that you will have to change. However, at George street we have something a bit more special than that.... A wall mural that actually scares me witless is possibly a little unusual! I give you the wall of Mr EB's study-

I mean argh, help, yikes!!!!! What the heck is that? One of my birthday party guests suggested it was probably someones A-level art project and was probably titlled "genocide" or something equally creepy. It's basically a repeat of someones face done in loads of different styles. If you look closer at it, it really doesn't get any better...

There is even one in there that has no eyes.... shudder. So we shall soon be removing this, er thing, from the wall and painting it a nice plain colour. We certainly can't just paper over it, because we'll know that it's still there looking at us.....

A new friend at George Street

2010-09-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Whilst pottering around our new garden at George Street I had a close encounter with my new friend, our local Robin who spends a lot of his time in our apple tree. In fact any other Robins who pass by get seen off in no uncertain terms, so our garden is clealy his patch. Mr Eb and I spent about an hour or so weeding around the bottom of this accompanied the whole time by a very brave and curious Robin who sat above us keeping up a constant stream of whistles and whirrs. I hope that he does not mind us being here and is just curious and looking for some food as he seemed very excited and nearly ended up sitting on my leg at one point! I only took a few snaps as he took definite exception to the chirrup my camera makes when it focuses and dive bombed me to try and scare off an obvious competitor! I've started putting food out and hopefully we'll soon have more birds and keep on seeing this little chap.

September so far...

2010-09-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

..has been sooooooooooo busy! First off it was my 30th birthday! Bit of a weird sensation as as I get older I am more conscious of the whole life expectancy issues of having CF, but never mind nothing I can really do about it so I shall just try and ignore it! My birthday was great, Mr EB, my parents and I pottered off to Wimpole Home Farm to have a quiet walk about and a really great lunch at the fab restaurant there. We then spent the rest of the day flopping about as we were all knackered from the other big event of September, namely Mr EB and I moving into our lovely new house! I love our new house, and will post photos just as soon as I can remember which box my camera got packed in... I actually had my 30th birthday party the day after we moved in, which was the day after my actual birthday. It was not meant to be as hectic as this but the move date got shoved back and back again several times so that our original early August date became mid September. Ah well, after much scrubbing and cleaning (the last owners seem to have stopped cleaning once the offer was accepted...) we got the basics sorted out. We'll still be living from boxes for a while but it is fantastic to have so much space! Can't wait to get everything totally unpacked and sort out all the annoying little DIY jobs that need doing...

Richard and Josie's Wedding

2010-08-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday my brother Richard married his lovely girlfriend Josie at Birmingham Registry Office. It was a very small ceremony of just immediate family and was such a lovely day. Sophie was fantastic throughout and gurgled along with the vows! They very kindly asked me to be a witness and I managed not to make any blots or mistakes on the certificate-thank god... After the ceremony we walked the short way (via all the fountains) to Bank restaurant for a fantastic lunch. Even more food followed later at the Regency Club at the Hyatt Hotel and the wedding cake really was amazingly delicious and gold! It was made by Josie's step mum, Elizabeth and I am definitely taking a leaf (no pun intended) out of her book with the edible gold leaf topping. It was also a double celebration as Saturday was my Mum and Dad's Ruby wedding anniversary. I'm sure Josie and Rich will manage as many happy years together, and I'm hoping to manage a few with Mr EB!

One of the funniest parts of the day was Sophie chewing Mum's gold locket- I don't think she was trying to test the gold's authenticity, but even with only one tooth she has still left a rather good tooth mark on the back... I think I will try and get the locket engraved with the date and Sophie's name for posterity! (As usual all these photos were taken by Mr EB as he is just better at it than I am!)

Crashing and burning....

2010-08-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well I can't say I am surprised, but I am back on the IV's.... Going by my annual review results and my CRP levels (the level on infection markers present in your blood) for the last few months it is pretty clear that I have been harbouring some nasty lurking infection for quite a long time and never quite completely squashed it with past antibiotics. Last Wednesday was my annual review results and whilst some things were good-liver and bones are in particularly good shape, my lungs are definitely on the decline and Dr Barker suggested we recheck my CRP levels and then consider IV's this week so that I would not miss Rich and Josie's wedding. My levels were indeed up to 33, which is not that high (below 15 is ok) but it has been at that level for ages and it is not a good idea to let it linger. Sadly, my lung function today was down to the lowest it's been ever, which is not that surprising as I am feeling really rather rubbish at the mo. Today my tests showed that I have less than 50% of what I should have (both the FVC and FEV1 tests). That's sort of like saying I've only got one working lung! This is really not good!!!

The Doc's seem to think that I should recover back to my usual 65%, but I am not happy at all about this drop-to put it mildly... So now I have the dubious pleasure of trying to do two IV drugs, Tazocin which I've had before and Imipenum which is a new one for me, but has to be taken four times a day!!! This means every six hours...when am I going to sleep! Combined with the fact that tazocin is three times a day, so every eight hours...well you try making those two fit together without ending up permanently being attached to a drip stand! I'm going to have to cheat a bit and try and stretch the numbers to make it bearable and so that I get more than four hours sleep in one go-wish me luck!

Another button hat!

2010-08-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well it has been such a busy weekend, I am shattered... My brother Rich married his lovely lady Josie and we spent the weekend celebrating their marriage in style, with lots of food, up in Birmingham. I'll post photos of this later when I have actually managed to organise and edit them. I'm so pleased for both Rich and Josie and had a fantastic day. Sophie was such a good girl throughout and even gurgled at appropriate moments during the ceremony!

Anyway, the hat for this post was actually finished before the weekend but I did not have time (or the money) to organise an outfit to go with it so I wore my lovely silver rose hat and matching ensemble again. I have not decided yet if I am going to keep this hat or sell it, but I am really pleased with the curly wire and bead decoration. I've not used it since the first hat I made last year, but I think I may use it lots more as it is such a fun decoration that moves and sparkles most pleasingly! I also really like the colour combination or pink and black, a bit different from my favorite black and white.

Hat Block Buying

2010-07-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

My latest addiction is adding to my collection of hat blocks. I originally only had two that I bought from Guy Morse-Brown, a fabulous block maker where I would happily spend every penny I have. Their website is http://www.hatblocks.co.uk/ if you want to take a look. However, I now have four hat blocks... I have discovered that I can combine my love of Ebay and feed my addiction to hat making... Not good for my wallet-especially as I am in the process of buying a house with Mr EB so am already feeling very poor! At least on Ebay I can stick to my do not spend more that £40 a time rule. I've always had this rule with Ebay, as I don't want to spend loads of money on something then find out that it's a fake or have it not turn up etc etc. I've only ever been totally shafted on Ebay once when trying to buy a pair of spotty tights that never arrived-I never got my money back but hey, at least it was only £5. So I never spend more than £40 on Ebay because that is the most I am prepared to loose on one item.

So far I've got two off Ebay and I've just been trying out the first one to arrive. It is a fairly basic but very useful shape; I've seen them called button blocks for the obvious reason that it looks a bit like a big button-

So it was out with the black sinamay and feathers I've had hanging around for ages and off we go! Blocking sinamay is so much pleasanter than buckram, because the sizing is no way near as sticky and the fabric is no where near as tough and is much kinder on your hands. The finished shape did take a bit of levering off the block but once off it's a lovely rounded shape and I am rather pleased with the finished decorated article-

Close up of the decoration

I hate veiling!

2010-07-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

The problem with veiling is that it is very springy.... Just when you think that you've got it all beautifully pinned just where you want it it springs away and usually wraps itself around every tool that is within reach and ties itself in a big knot! So after much swearing and cussing I finally got the veiling secured on this hat as a nice little birdcage veil that does not look like a total balloon!

The ribbon roses before being attahced to the hat base.

National Transplant Week!

2010-07-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of National Transplant week, and as this is a very important issue to me I thought that I would follow the example of several of my friends and do a blog post about it. One day I may well need a double lung transplant due to my CF so I am always keen to raise awareness of the shortness of donor organs. To start with here are a few facts about organ donation:

You are more likely to need a transplant than become a donor.
You can donate kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, pancreas and small bowel - saving up to 9 lives
Corneal tissue can give someone eyesight
You can choose not to donate particular organs/tissues
94% people agree with donations, 96% would accept an organ - but only 28% are on the register
8000 people in the UK are waiting for transplants but less than 3000 are carried out each year

I've always found the figures about transplant rather depressing. I know that so many people when asked say "yes I would donate my organs" -so why are they not on the list???? I really get annoyed when people make daft excuses, like they've not got round to it yet...Well why not???? It is so easy to register and takes just a few seconds to register online. Here is a link if you have not already registered-

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/

You could also consider donating blood, without which many operations, including transplants, would not be able to take place. I have several friends who have received transplants and when you see just how much difference a new organ can make to someones life then you would not hesitate to join the register. Even tho some of my organs can't be used for transplant (for obvious reasons!) I'm still on the donor register as someone who needs them is welcome to the whichever of them can be used, when I've finished with them or course...

If you are wondering whether or not you should join the donor register then just ask yourself one question- Would you accept a transplant? If the answer is yes, then you should join the register. It is not exactly ethical to accept someone else's gift if you are not prepared to be generous in return.

Roses are...

2010-06-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

Silver in this instance! As I have finished the latest wedding dress for my lovely friend Carley who gets married tomorrow I thought I would get back to my adventures in hatting. A couple of months ago I bought my first hat block from Guy Morse Brown, but sadly I've not yet have time to try blocking anything on it. So now I've got time what else could I do but make a new hat to go with my outfit for Carley's wedding! The block is a basic dome crown which is recommended as a first block as you can make lots of small disc shapes with it as well as pill boxe and a small cloche shapes. I started by covering it in clingfilm to protect it from the sizing in the buckram I was using. Sizing is a sort of glue come stiffener which holds the buckram in the shape that it is blocked into.

Having dampened the buckram I placed it over the block and started pulling it down and pinning it to eliminate as many creases as possible. Once the buckram is wet the sizing gets incredibly sticky and when I next do some blocking I am definitely wearing rubber gloves as it took forever to clean the stuff of my hands afterwards! I managed to smooth the creases out over the top of the block, the sides were still a bit creased but as I was only planning on using the top I did not worry too much!

Once the buckram had dried completely (with the help of a hair dryer) I removed it from the block. This was quite a struggle as it was pretty solid once dry and once the pins were removed I had to insert a thin spiral bone between the block and the buckram and lever it off! Having decided beforehand that I wanted a small circular perching hat I cut out a circle or abour 10cm diameter from the top of the blocked buckram. Like my other hats I then wired the edge and mulled the buckram with interfacing to soften the form. I then covered it with silver silk dupion to match my jacket and dress.

So having finished the form all that was left was to decorate it. This is always the most fun part and I thought that the selection of grey and silver ribbons I'd got to match the outfit would make nice roses for a fairly vintagey kind of look. I'd finally found a way of making roses that actually look rather like roses rather than squashed cabbages! In fact, I think they have a rather Rennie Mackintosh Rose look to them and am rather pleased with my first attempts at blocking.

Bloody lungs!!!

2010-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

Literally, sadly... I really do not get my stupid lungs. I finished the IVs about three weeks ago and was feeling much better-hurray! Then last weekend I go and have a bleed. It was not a big one and I can at least understand why it happened-vaguely... I had been working quite hard and maybe I'd gone a little nuts in the cleaning of Mr EB's house and had probably overdone in general and so my lungs reacted. So, I took my usual action, iced water (helps clot the heamorrhage) tranixamic acid (a coagulant) and onto the Ciprofloxavioin pills just in case the bleed is a sign of underlying infection. Now in this instance, I don't think I had got an infection; I wasn't showing any of the symptoms (increased sputum, temperature, achy joints etc.), so I really thought the antibiotics were just precautionary. However, this evening pop, lung goes again! This time I really don't get it, I've had a bit of a cough but frankly what's new! I've not been feeling ill and I've been being remarkably sensible and not overdoing it, so clearly my lungs are just trying to ruin my weekend and stop me having a life. Grrrr!!!! Thankfully the bleeding has subsided now, so on Monday I shall be ringing up Papworth and demanding explanations...

Back on the Big Drugs

2010-05-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it was inevitable that at some point I was going to end up back on the strong IV drugs, but I had been hoping to last longer than three and a half months. Once again it's back to the good old rather too tried and tested Colomycin and Ceftazadime three times a day for at least two weeks. I make no apology for mis-spelling any of the drug names in this post as to be honest they all seem to be deliberately complicated! Being back on IV's is very annoying and dull, but it has to be done as the oral Ciprofloxacilin was just not working and I've been in a lot of pain from my damn lungs not to mention coughing up gunk that resmbles toxic waste-nice!

One slightly worrying thing is the rather large number of drugs that I can't take intra-veinously as I am allergic to them. I can't take Astreonam or Fossfomycin cos they make me projectile vomit, Meropenum affects my white blood count, Tobramycin IV affects my hearing and balance, etc etc etc.... I'm really down to these two I am on now plus Tazocin, if I want to do the drugs at home. If I were to try Imipenum then I would probably have to be admitted as it can make you very sick and they like to monitor you whilst you are on it. Now I am not the kind of person who likes being admitted for 2 weeks, to be honest I don't like have to spend the best part of a day at Papwroth just for a checkup... so I am not keen on this option. Another option is to get a port fitted (ie permanent access) which would mean I might tolerate some of the drugs better, particularly the Cipro as the main problem I have with that is that it inflames my veins and then they stop working. Although I am not keen on having a permanent reminder of my CF and I don't really have IV's enough to justify it yet. However, by having a port the drug would be injected into a much bigger vessel so get diluted much more quickly and hopefully not irritate my veins. In fact, this did work quite well when I had PICC line (peripherally inserted central cannula-I think!) which like a port goes in a much bigger vessel but is only temporary like a line. Thing is the only time I had one of those it sodding hurt to have it inserted so this is not a pleasing idea either! In any case, I am just hoping that some clever doctor comes up with a new wonder drug that has no side effects and makes me feel loads better really quickly... fingers crossed I suppose!

Gargoyle Hunting in Oxford

2010-04-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

Mr EB and I just spent a wonderful weekend in Oxford pottering around the city and colleges and hunting for gargoyles. We stayed at a totally fabulous small hotel called The Old Parsonage dating from 1660 and I can't recommend it enough! Not only was the whole hotel beautifully furnished but their attention to detail was just lovely. From the gorgeous toiletries and lovely rooms to the amazing breakfasts I could not fault it. Clearly, as an English person the tea and coffee making facilities are naturally the most important criteria for judging hotels and even here the Old Parsonage triumphs! The selection of hot beverages was excellent and you just had to call the reception and fresh milk arrived in the twinkling of an eye-so no horrible UHT milk to ruin your tea! The walled garden where you can take afternoon tea is also lovely and the building itself retains all its period charm, I'm starting to sound like a glossy mag now so I will stop wittering on and let this picture show the lovely flowers and elegant mini hedges-

Anyway back to the gargoyles! I've always had rather a soft spot for gargoyles and grotesques and any sort of architectural witticisms, and Oxford is a goldmine of them. Technically gargoyles incorporated a waterspout to drain water off the building to prevent damage to the stone, and a grotesque is purely decorative and clearly there was a vogue for both during the period they built many of the colleges, as the place is covered with them! They come in all shapes, sizes and forms from fish to human and bizarre amalgams of creatures, often pulling faces...

One of my absolute favorite finds was this restored grotesque of Tweedledum and Tweedledee that is on the Bodleian library next to this very fetching wild boar.

This rather more modern and daft grotesque was found above the entrance to Brasenose Chapel and I sincerely hope that it is someones idea of a joke and not a serious addition to the grotesques and gargoyles of the college!

I rather like this pigeon who clearly thinks that he is a gargoyle on Brasenose College!

And finally a rather more modern interpretation of gargoyleness by Anthony Gormley on top of Blackwell's Art and Print shop-

A Dress for Liz

2010-04-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've worked with Miss Elizabeth Fleming on several CHOG (Cambridge Handel Opera Group, for those not in the know!) over the past decade or so. I've even dressed her in a couple, once as a Grecian maiden and once as an 18th Century man... So the chance to actually make her a concert dress made a welcome change! As Liz has never been one for big sparkly over the top clothes it was always going to be a simple and elegant design-so no feathers/beads/clashing colours/sequins/large bows etc etc! So curbing my natural shiny thing enthusiasm, I came up with a simple empire line design in this gorgeous shot blue/green taffeta. The fabric is from John Lewis and is just gorgeous, from different angles and in different lights it can look any colour from dark green, through purple to dark blue with occasional hints of grey. Sadly my photos of the dress on the stand in my messy workroom doesn't really do it justice... but I do think that the result is rather lovely even if the photos are rather dull-

Liz wore it for the first of a series of concerts she is performing in with fellow singer Christina Sampson at Emmanuel Reform Church in Cambridge on April 16th, which I went to. It was a truly lovely concert including some of my favorite aria's and duets from Le Nozze di Figaro, some Benjamin Britten songs and a couple of new Rossini arias that I'd never heard before and will be attempting to locate on itunes! In fact you can still get to one of these concerts if you happen to be in Bristol on Saturday the 1st of May, and I thoroughly recommend that you do. They will be performing at Henleaze Reform Church at 7.30pm. There is even a Facebook event-
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103901172984956

Sewing by candlelight...

2010-04-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

For some unknown reason we spent the whole of Sunday with no electricity. I know it was off from about 4 am as I woke up to one of my coughing fits to find myself in the pitch dark with no light coming in from the streetlights. The power finally came back at about 4.30am this morning when its return set the burglar alarm off.... so after two nights of rubbish sleep I am feeling a bit rough around the edges. Luckily I do have a lot of beading to do on the current dress I am working on, which has to be done by hand so the lack of sewing machine was not too disruptive to my work plan. But MY GOD it is difficult sewing by candlelight! Even with about five candles, a plate of tea lights and a torch rigged up with gaffa tape, I still could barely distinguish the beads and stitches and I had to give up after my eyes started watering all over the place.

It is a bit worrying how reliant we all are on the old electricity. Luckily whoever designed my nebuliser has obviously put a lot of thought into it and it comes with battery sockets to power it, a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger for them. Unfortunately, my tobramycin neb has to be kept refrigerated, so our very kind next door neighbor (who still had power) kept it cold for me, so the entire months supply of very expensive medication did not have to be chucked out.

One nice thing about no power is using candles. This is probably because I am a repressed pyromaniac at heart and can't help but play with them! I used to actually make candles (not very successfully!) and love playing with the wax and seeing how you can make it dribble in ever more fantastic shapes. If you can get the wax to run slowly down the sides of the candle you can get some rather lovely dribbly effects. By the time I'd finished with them I think these two would definitely be worthy of any vampires castle and any Igor would not be ashamed of using them for dramatic effect!

I rather like the two tone effect caused by melting red wax onto a white candle, but I think that the plain white one is definitely my favorite with a ridiculous amount of contrived dribbly wax!

Green thumbs...

2010-04-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've always been very lucky to live in houses with large gardens, lovlingly cared for by my parents that I could play in to my hearts content and occasionally try a bit of green fingered helping of said parents. Usually my helpful efforts amounted to pulling up the wrong plants or cutting things back so hard they promptly died; definitely more green thumbs than fingers! I have got better since then and do try and help to keep our garden under control by doing exaclty what my parents tell me to do... However, I don't really have the physical strength these days to do much, but I do like to potter about and make helpful suggestions as well as drinking tea on the lawn!

Mr EB's house in Cambridge has a very tiny garden, much more the kind of size a gardening weakling like me could try and be helpful with. The garden is a classic shape found behind most Victorian terraced houses- a courtyard with a sort of corridor down the side of the kitchen extension. It faces east and is quite shady as a result and quite frankly it was a bit dull, even in this sunny picture that Mr EB took last year there is not much too it apart from paving, ivy and the ugly garage-

You can see the strawberry plants that Mr EB had great success with last year (at the back in the big pot and trough), but Mr EB knows even less about plants and gardening than I do, so having read some useful books of my Dad's we decided to improve things a bit. Over the last few weekends we've done quite a lot, Mr EB has spent lots of time digging and planting whilst I directed and provided encouragement! First thing to do was plant out all the strawberry runners that had spread themsleves all over the available soil and then get some nice new plants to put in the empty pots. I also managed to get a bargain strawberry pot for all the runners (one of those with all the little openings) which came with a free mini herb pot (at the front similar idea). So with a bit of work it now looks like this-

To try and cope with the shade we've gone for things like hostas (above), grasses, violas and some climbers that can cope with partial shade but that will cover the ugly grey fences. We've also got Mr EB an espaliered apple tree to add to the productive side of the graden. We've nicknamed it 'Stu' as its a Discovery apple (sometimes the name is shortened to Disco, hence Disco Stu...you can guess who came up with the name!)

It was an incredibly tight squeeze getting Stu in the back of my car, even with both the back seats down we had to remove the bamboo support to get him in, and then drive back with him poking over our shoulders! It was also a tight squeeze getting the tree into the hole we dug for him between the fence and the pavings stones, but we got him in eventually and hopefully with a bit of TLC he'll put out some flowers and maybe even some fruit later in the year. As things progress I will try and update our success or failure... (All the pictures in this post were taken by Mr EB, hence the artistic angles of some and the better quality of all the images!)

A Wet Weekend in Wales!

2010-04-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

This year is going to be a pretty busy one celebration wise. Not only has my Dad had his 70th birthday but my parents are celebrating their 40th anniversary in August, it'll be Sophie's first birthday and also my 30th (but we don't talk about that!) To celebrate Dad's birthday we toddled off to Wales to celebrate with the welsh half of the family. We went on Good Friday and the traffic was abysmal, and as it was the easter bank holiday the weather was also pretty foul. Porthcawl, where Dad's brother and sister live was incredibly windy and grey, although Dad claims it was actually not that windy by Porthcawl standards, I beg to differ... I managed to get a few pictures of the coast and the rather nice waves smashing on the rocks before I totally froze-

The other reason for going to Wales was to meet another new Evans baby, my cousin Rhodri and his wife Annette's new son, Harri. He is only a couple of months old and is tiny and gorgeous. Almost all the Welsh family got together for a birthday lunch in Cardiff as this is where Rhod and Nettie live so little Harri would not have to go too far, although having said that they are all off to Australia for Nettie's sister's wedding so he'll be a very well travelled baby soon! This is him with his lovely Mum, (shame about my rubbish photo and odd white balance!)-

Here are the two proud Grandads with respective grandchildren, Sophie has got so much bigger since I last saw her, she is a proper little person now. You can see the Evans family resemblance between my Dad and my Uncle John, what makes me laugh is that when he chats with him for a while my Dad even starts to sound welsh again! And just to finish another picture of lovely Sophie with her Dad.

Mad Mini Tricorne

2010-03-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

In my continuing experimentations in hat making I have produced this slightly crazy offering! I can't really think why I decided to make a purple silk mini tricorne hat other than it seemed like a good idea at the time.... I can't even claim that its the steroids I'm on (which do make me crazy) as I did practically all of the work on it before I started this course of pills. Despite its lunatic design, I am rather proud of this hat as it is definitely the most complicated shape I have made so far. It has far too many folds and changes of direction in the brim which causes all sorts of problems when making the buckram form in the first place, and with covering it without drenching everything in glue or using visible stiches- which would be bad! The top fabric of this hat is an offcut of shot silk dupion (blue warp and red weft) that I have had for at least five years, so it was about time I made something out of it!

In the picture below you can actually see the tricorne mid making. At this stage the crown is separate from the brim which has been mulled; this is when a soft covering of interfacing (in this case vilene interfacing but sometimes flannel or domette is used to cover the buckram form. The brim is about to be mulled with the lover layer not yet glued on. The buckram shape has to be formed into the finished design before it is mulled or when you try and bend and shape the flat buckram into the shape of the tricorne brim the mull layer will stretch or buckle and end up looking dreadfull. Luckily having read the marvellous book From the Neck Up by Denise Dreher I did not make this mistake and waste loads of time!

The last picture is a close up of the curled ostrich plume I used to decorate the hat. I used a similar method to the one I used on the coque feathers on the black and cream hat, only with ostrich plumes the quill is rather thicker so I had to curl individual small sections by pressing the quill with the clamp of the curling iron rather than wrapping the feather around iron's barrel. I also curled the fluffy barbs with the curling iron so they all turned under rather than flapped about rather messily.

Ariodante Pro Shots

2010-03-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

So it may be a year or so since it was staged, but I have finally managed to get hold of some of the professional photos taken at the dress rehearsal of Ariodante. I've only got pictures of the first two thirds of the opera, hopefully I'll get the rest very soon. They are a million times better than my little attempts and show how lovely an opera it was; these are a few of my favorites.

Bah Humbug!

2010-01-30T11:28:00.000-08:00

I'm back on the IV's again..... How very, very dull! I've had this really annoying cold since before Christmas, which despite Ciprofloxicilin pills, would not go away and had started my lungs bleeding again, not very much just somewhere in there is weeping gently and it was not showing signs of stopping. So I've given in and decided to be sensible before the bleeding gets worse and more serious, and took the Doc's advice, and have started on the big strong drugs. Sadly the stupid end of the IV line which I think is called a BioConnector (it's the bit you shove the syringe into) broke this morning.... Instead of resealing when you remove the syringe it left a small hole and this resulted in the line leaking! Not a lot but enough to be not very helpful and a risk of infection. So we tried to get a replacement from local GP's but we had to goto Papworth in the end- 45 mins there and back to change a small piece of plastic that took 5mins to replace and that if I'd had one I could have done....grrr! I've never had this happen to me before and I've been doing IV's ever few months since I was 16, so that is quite a lot or experience!

One good thing that has come of this IV course is that I've finally managed to see WALL.E :-) I've wanted to see this for ages, and the lovely Simon came to cheer me up and brought DVD's including my new favorite film! (Lots of brownie points for Mr EB) I know it is incredibly cutezy, but its also so funny and I love the fact that he is obsessed with Hello Dolly as that is another of my favorite films! Every cloud has a silver lining....

Black and Cream Fantasy

2010-01-25T12:58:00.000-08:00

So having managed to curl my feathers, they obviously needed a hat to go on. Carrying on my Fibonacci obsession I used the golden ratio to work out the hat's dimensions by starting at the hat ribbon width and working up from there to get the second ribbon's width, the height of the band and the diameter of the hat! So here it is-

Curling feathers

2010-01-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

So I've had quite a bit of free time on my hands due to my daft lungs playing up again... I've had a couple of bleeds since the New Year which is incredibly annoying! There does not seem to be any reasonwhy my lungs just decide to start bleeding, I've had a slight cold but not anything drastic and have actually managed to out some weight on and maintain this so my BMI is around the 20 mark for the first time in years. Anyway rant over, back to the feathers!

Because of my health stupidness I've only been able to manage a light workload, which whilst very dull has at least allowed me to have a bit of an experiment and do some more mad hatting! One of the things that I have been meaning to try for ages is curling feathers to make decorations for hats and fascinators. You see these all over the place at John Lewis, Debenhams and so on, but you can usually only buy feathers in their slightly curved original condition. So having collecter quite a few spikey goose biots (pictured) over the years I thought I'd have a go and curling them.

Several of my hat books and lots of websites suggest that feathers can be easily curled just like hair, using a curling iron (mine is just a good old Babylis thing I've had for years pictured above) . I have to say I was rather sceptical about this, and was fairly convinced I would only end up with singed fingers and setting the feathers on fire! As you can see from the picture and my plastered finger I did indeed singe myself whilst wrapping the feather around the hot barrel, but the curling actually works!

Here are a few of the feathers I have managed to curl-

They are going to be used on a rather elegant black and cream silk mini-pill-box that I am in the process of making, photos of which will get blogged once its done!

Introducing.....

2009-12-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

....My gorgeous new niece Sophie Rosalind Evans!!! She was born on 9th November and is quite frankly perfect! The first photo was taken by her Dad, my bro Richard, hence its much better than the other three that are my attempts...

More Fibonacci Fascinators!

2009-10-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so really they are mini hats, but Fibonacci Fascinators sound better! These two hats are again made using the Golden Ratio in deciding on their size and relative measurements.

Hat Insanity!

2009-10-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

So with my rubbish lungs I can't always do the kind of work I want to do. Believe it or not sewing can actually be quite physical and tiring! If you are doing a whole show, then cutting out an entire cast of togas for example can be really awful, manipulating 50 odd metres of fabric is a big task....well it is for me! As a way of increasing my productivity (and because it's fun) I have been trying out making hats-much smaller scale, much less fabric, much less tiring-marvellous. My first few attempts at paper mock ups were somewhat laughable, my mini top hat turned out more Ab Lincoln Stovepipe than the cute mini Victorian Riding hat I had in mind... So I clearly needed some way of determining the various lengths and measurements I was using that was not simply pulling them out of my head-which did not work. Now my maths is a bit rubbish, but one of the things I can remember is the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio. Now both of these have been explained far more clearly than I possibly can, so a quick summary culled from Wikipedia -

Two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger one equals the ratio of the larger one to the smaller. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the following sequence of numbers: 0, 1, 1,2,3,5,8,13,21 etc. By definition, the first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, and each remaining number is the sum of the previous two.

If you want more detail then look it up! So I knew that both these prinicples have been applied to art and even occasionally to music, with varying success- so why not hats?! Basically all I did was to either use the fibonacci sequence itself or create a sequence of numbers using the constant of 1.618 and then use these numbers on the hats. So, for example in this green hat the realtionship between the height of the crown, the diameter of the crown at the top and bottom, the width of the brim and the diameter of the brim are all related by the golden ratio and I think it looks pretty good! The black leather topper was created in the same way. Certainly better than the first ones I made with no relationship between the different hats parts.

Important please read!!!!

2009-09-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

As I write this a wonderful girl called Jess Wales desperately needs your help. Like me she has CF but she is in the end stages of the disease and needs a double lung transplant to survive. Her friend Emily Thackary, herself the recipient of a double lung transplant and chair of Live Life then Give Life a charity to raise awareness of organ donation, has started an online campaign to increase awareness of organ donation in the hope that this will help Jess-see the story on Sky News here-

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Jess-Wales-Fights-For-Life-Organ-Donation-Supporters-Launch-SaveJess-Twitter-Campaign/Article/200909415386045?lpos=UK_News_First_Home_Page_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15386045_Jess_Wales_Fights_For_Life%3A_Organ_Donation_Supporters_Launch_%23SaveJess_Twitter_Campaign

If you are not on the organ donor register then please sign up and help save someones life. It is very easy and can be done online here-http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/how_to_become_a_donor.jsp

Hannah's Wedding Dress

2009-08-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

This is a lovely bias cut dress that I made for Hannah Watson now Joels wedding day on August 2nd. I totally love this dress and even tho it looks simple is was quite a complex dress to make as the bias cut nature of the design makes all sort of little problems, like a hem that had to be remarked several times as it kept dropping... It is a bit influenced by the green dress Kiera Knightly wears in Atonement but with Hannah's own individual spin!

A decent picture at last!

2009-06-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

So I've finally got my act together and can post this lovely picture of Polly and Will wearing my creations (Polly's Dress and Shrug and Will's Waistcoat). I love Polly's Blue shrug one of my favorite things I've made. This photo was taken upstairs at the Reform Club on Pall Mall , hence the very posh surroundings :-)

Ariodante

2009-06-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

So here are a couple of my wobbly photos of CHOG's production of Ariodante. Blogger is being a pain and only letting me upload a couple but there are some more on my Piacassa web albums thing-which is here-http://picasaweb.google.com/musoros/Ariodante#
I particularly like this one of the king in his fantastic Dracula-esque wig!

2008-11-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

So ok I have not blogged in ages (as several people have pointed out!) but to be fair my life for the past few months had resolved itself into a fairly boring mixture of work and clinical exhaustion, that was not really worth writing that much about. The doctors still have worked out exactly why I am so tired all the time, but I'm now on Insulin and having Iron infusions in an attempt to improve this. However, I've been having both for over a month now and have not noticed any marked improvement-marvellous...

Some of the only bright spots in the past six months or so, were the three lovely wedding dresses that I have made over this summer (sometimes working at the sewing machine whist staying in the CF Unit you can't say that's not dedication!). The first was for the lovely Rachel James a friend of my lovely mate Fran, for whom I made this rather sophisticated gown and veil. I particularly liked the long train and the swarovski crystals on the veil! But then again I love anything sparkly...

I nearly missed the lovely Kate and Colin's wedding due to another stupid bleed which landed me in hospital and on IV's. But thanks to my lovely parents ferrying me about, I managed to make the ceremony and dinner in between doses and sleeping! Kate's dress used some of the best and most complex embroidery that I've ever done, although it was rather stressful!

Finally came Polly and Will's wedding, for which I made Polly's dress and Will's waistcoat. Unfortunately I missed the actual ceremony as whilst I was on the train down to London someone threw themselves in front of the trainin front of mine causing the line to be closed and several hours of delay. I did eventually get into London for the wedding breakfast and reception. This was at the Reform Club in Pall Mall which was sooooo posh! I've not really got any good photos from this yet as I forgot my camera but am hoping to nab a few of the official ones. Polly's dress was gorgeous and the blue shrug was such a great idea.

Embolization

2008-04-04T05:31:00.000-07:00

So having had all those bleeds the Doctors recommended that I have them sorted out permanently by getting them embolized. Now I have to say I was not that keen on this, as it sounded a truly horrible experience. Basically what they do is insert a set of wires into an artery in the groin, work these around your body to the abnormal bronchial arteries that have been bleeding and plug them up with small coils, sort or angioplasty for your lungs. To be honest I was totally scared about this thinking that the coils might float off and enter my blood stream, or that I would get DVT or something ghastly, because having foreign bodies in your lungs does not sound like fun! Luckily my lovely Doctors calmed my down and the lovely Dr Appleton that did the procedure explained how safe this procedure is and that recovery was very quick, so I finally bit the bullet and agreed (that and the idea that my lungs might bleed again and not stop clinched the whole thing!)

On Wednesday I went back to Papworth and on Thursday morning I was off to the radiotherapy suite and away we went. I was quite impressed by the number of radiographers and nurses I had, 6 including Dr Appleton, made me feel much better. Getting the wires into my artery was luckily not as painful as I thought it would be, although it was a very odd feeling. The worse part was the dye they use to highlight the abnormal arteries that have been bleeding as its the same stuff they use in a CT and it makes you feel just weird and hot. Dr Appleton talked me through the whole thing and afterwards showed me some of the pictures they had taken and in a strange way they were really beautiful, the shapes of your bronchial arteries are like a trees branches in winter- how poetic! You can't really feel the wires and coils in your chest as pain, but you are aware that there is something going on which is not a pleasant sensation but is not as bad as I thought it would be! To block off about four abnormal arteries took about forty minutes, although it felt a lot longer! The most boring bit was having to stay flat for 4 hours afterwards to reduce the risk any clots happening at the wound site in the artery, but once that was done I was back up and home by Thursday evening. All in all not a fun experience that I would recommend as a holiday entertainment, but really not too awful either.

Well that was weird...

2008-02-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

So yes I have been overdoing it recently and the result has been a couple of nasty bleeds from my lungs-not much fun at all. So to make sure that they have stopped bleeding and that there is not some underlying reason for these bleeds that is not due to my CF, Dr Howarth sent me for a lung CT scan. Now I've had CT's before of my sinuses, but never one that involved using a dye. I turn up not realising that I would have to have dye injected into me so had not told the CT people about my crappy veins... The day before it had a taken a couple of attempts to get a long line into my arm vein and so one elbow has the line in it and the other is a swollen, inflammed lump of soreness from where we failed to get the line in and hit tissue instead- and no one was going anywhere near that with any more needles! Luckily the wonderful CT doctor got a venflon (tiny little mini iv line) into one of the veins on my wrist so more trauma and bruises were averted.

Now, to have a lung CT you have to lie on your back with your hands above your head in the CT machine (which is rather like an enourmous ring donut) with your line connected up to a remote infusion pump that will fill you full of dye when the CT machine is ready-a really odd way to spend 20 minutes! Whilst this is going on the CT doctor is next door to avoid getting irradiated chatting to you through the speaker. The weirdest part tho has got to be when they actually inject you with the full shot of the dye. Apparently the dye is iodine based as this stands out as bright white on the X rays and its side effects are really odd. First you can feel it travel down your arm into your body, which is weird enough, then you suddenly have a massive hot flush and feel convinced that you've just been lowered into a large bath of warm water-I am not joking! I could have sworn that I had just been dropped hot water except I clearly had not! Then to finish things off you get this very strong metallic taste of tin. Now I have not idea what tin does taste like but that's just what my brain identified this taste as.... All in all a really odd way to spend a morning.

Just disgusted!

2008-02-01T04:31:00.000-08:00

I may not be a huge David Beckham fan but now I really think the guy is a selfish, childish idiot! He was scheduled to host a Charity Gala Dinner in aid of the Cf Trust at the Dorchester and pulled out at the last minute (literally there were only two hours before the dinner started!) with no proper explanation. He was probably in a strop beacuse he was not selected for the England team. According to his agent he was ordered back to LA by his football team for fitness tests- could he not delay for one night? Its not like he can't afford the plane ticket. Also if he knew it was a possibility that he would have fitness tests at this time why did he agree to the event in the first place- its all rather too coincidental. What makes it even sadder is that Theirry Henry who organised this event asked him to be his substitue as he knew he would not be able to host the event, and he was saying how great it was that Beckham had agreed to be his sub and what a fantastic guy he is- all rather hollow now.

Apparently a freind of Beckham is quoted as saying "David is beyond gutted. All he wanted was to play and get a 100th England cap.” Well quite frankly big deal! It is not like he is never going to play football again, or that he might not get reselected and it certainly is not the end of the world as football is just a game (whatever anyone says!). Just because he does not get what he wants at this point in time he goes off in a huff back to LA leaving the CF Trust and Thierry Henry's event in the lurch. Its bad enough that he left a charity it a difficult position but letting down your freinds like that is unnacceptable. He should be ashamed!

Here's the newspapers reactions-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3285965.ece
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article750258.ece
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=511569&in_page_id=1773

And yes, before anyone points out that the main reason I am annoyed is cos its The CF Trust and that he does loads of charity work, I would like to say that I would be righteously indignant which ever charity it was. When someone as fortunate as Beckham-and lets face it he has pretty much everything anyone could want and a stupid amount of money for just playing a game, lets people down like that it just shows how selfish he is and sets a really bad example to all his fans. He should realise just how lucky he is and be grateful that he is in a position to help charities and not be one of the people who need the help.

Where have I been???

2007-12-05T13:03:00.001-08:00

I've not posted in years, this is mostly because my life has been taken over by facebook.... sad but true! It has to be one of the most addictive things ever and in some ways it is marvelous, for example I have found some really old friends from school who I'd lots contact with-hurray! Unfortunately it is just a device to waste time and procrastinate with, which I am pretty damn good at to begin with, so this just makes it worse! I have now rationed myself to one session a day in the evening..... or at least I am trying to!

The last couple of months have also been rather crap as well and did not really feel like posting much. To start with my Uncle had to have heart surgery, then my wonder full Nanna passed away, I was ill and had to have IV's (not to mention having a coughing fit of such volcanic proportions that I ripped all the muscles off my ribs on the left side), and then my mum was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Talk about misfortune not going in threes, but rather by the shed load! Mum has since had the cancer removed and once she's had radiotherapy she should have the all clear, but honestly we really deserve a holiday at my house. And that's before we even think about Christmas......

Spring has Sprung!

2007-04-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

I do love this time of year and heres a few reasons why-

Ok so this last one is not that pretty, but I don't care it's such an amazing fungus!

So annoying!!!

2007-03-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

This has got to be the most annoying thing that has happened to me in ages. I was on my way to London this morning to do some shopping for the opera I am currently working on, when this guy gets on at Harlow talking on his mobile. Now ok, that's not that bad. What was so utterly infuriating was that he was using the speaker phone to talk to the other guy, and had his ipod on really loudly at the same time! So not only did I get him talking really loudly, I got the rest of the conversation on the speaker phone and a thumping bass line from the ipod....What was this guy thinking???? That the whole carriage want to know all about his social life, and his girlfriend-way too much info thanks! If he had not been so big and scary looking I might have asked him to turn at least one of them off, but I did not have the nerve... I know that's silly and I'm stereotyping him by the fact that he was big, and had a hoodie and shades, but better safe than hospitalized.

Fainting Goats!

2007-02-07T05:03:00.000-08:00

So I found this through facebook and it nearly killed me! Don't ask me why goats that faint are quite so funny they just are; heres the link- enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuqtnpY4zuY

Darwin Awards

2007-01-25T03:34:00.000-08:00

My lovely friend Helen sent me these, and I had to post them as I nearly expired with laughter!

2006 Darwin Awards

Yes, it's again that magical time of the year when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us. Here is the glorious Winner:

1. When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California , would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.

And now, the Honorable Mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. hen asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer,the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer: $15. (If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?)

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan , at 5 a.m. , flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

******A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER*****
10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle Street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

Its official.....

2007-01-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

.....I am diabetic-bugger. I have it on the authority of Dr Adler the specialist Diabetic Consultant who also covers the CF Clinic. I am not type 1 or type 2 but instead I am a PWCFRD or person-with-Cystic-Fibrosis-related-diabetes. At last I have achieved my ambition of becoming an acronym! This does all suck rather spectacularly, but I am not on insulin yet, which is good. Also good is that fact that I now get all my drugs free- don't ask me why diabetics get free medication and PWCF don't, I have no idea and will probably start off on another rant! So I shall be monitoring my sugar levels and trying to adjust my diet from quick release high sugar foods, to slow release high sugar foods. Its all rather complicated as I need lots of calories to keep my weight up for the CF, so I can't switch to low fat foods which is one option for people with non cf related diabetes. But I now also need to stop having sugar levels that seesaw between very low and very high, which may result in nasty things like feeling really horrible and then hypo or hyper glycemeia. I am not yet sure what this means exactly for what I eat, but no one is making me give up chocolate!

2007 so far....

2007-01-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Well, another festive period and New Year has passed, and I am happy to say I did not spend all of my time reminiscing about this time last year, or sulking about being single, just a little bit:-)As usual I ate too much and was totally exhausted by the two under-fives of the family tearing around on massive sugar highs.

We all went up to Aberdeen last weekend for the wedding of my honorary Aunt Judith, which was lovely. She has been friends with my mum since they were both fie years old (altogether now- ahhhhh!) and got married for the first time at the age of 62, thereby showing all the rest of us that it really is never too late-hurrah. The service was very high church and I did feel rather like a fish out of water, not knowing all the correct responses or any of the hymns, which were rather obscure. The meal afterwards tho was truly amazing! Both Judith and her new husband Crawford appreciate the finer things of life and the meal was just gorgeous. If you are ever i Aberdeen go to the Marcliffe hotel for dinner as they even made me like the haggis-it was that good ;-)

My overwhelming impression of Aberdeen itself was grey: grey buildings, grey weather, grey sea. Although I've got to say that all the people I met, both at the wedding and working at the hotel and places we went were all really nice, and considering the weather remarkably cheery and chirpy. The only problem was the bloody train journey home. The train from Aberdeen to Peterborough got stuck twice at either signal failure or safety checks and we were an hour late into Peterborough, which meant we missed our connection. The train we got on instead was the only Stansted Express of the whole day which did not stop at Audley End (why??? why?? Not even the guard knew) and so we had to hop off at Cambridge, leg it down the platform and jump on another train that did finally get us home, 2 and a half hours late.... I just love public transport!

So, so far 2007 has been pretty good, although it will probably go completely down hill on Wednesday when I have the dubious pleasure of going to the combined Cystic Fibrosis and Diabetes clinic, so that the Diabetic consultant can take a look at me and decide that I'm now diabetic too. I have been expecting it, as it happens to about 7o% of PWCF (people with CF) of my age and is increasingly likely as you get older. It just sucks, as I'll probably have to start injecting insulin and I am now going to be officially cystic, asthmatic and diabetic. Maybe I should also try and become geriatric, lunatic and romantic, and anything else I can think of ending in 'ic'. Suggestions on a postcard...

Please Sponsor Me!

2006-12-27T12:09:00.000-08:00

I am organising and taking part in the Cambridge Lindy Hopathon. It's a sponsored eight hour dance marathon, from 4pm til midnight on Saturday 17th March 2007. I won't be dancing for the whole time, otherwise my lungs will object... but I am going to do the first and last hours. So if you would like to sponsor me, and you know you do, then you can either fill in the form I'll be carrying around with me or go to www.justgiving.com/lindyhopathon and pledge lots of money! For more information about the Hopathon go to to blog I have set up for the event (theres a link on my list)

Happy Christmas!

Thought for the day....

2006-12-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Poem, by Wendy Cope

At Christmas little children sing and merry bells jingle,
The cold winter air makes our hands and faces tingle
And happy families go to church and cheerily they mingle
And the business is unbelievably dreadful, if you're bloody single.

I wanted to change the last line to 'if you are still in love with your ex' but it doesn't really scan!

Ros's Soap Box

2006-12-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

I apologise in advance as this is me jumping up and down on my soapbox again and ranting very loudly.....

Well yet again I am stunned by new proposals for the NHS, but surely this time they have reached the absolute limit of total human goofiness. The plans are for Doctors and local health centres to survey their patients and then those with a 'sedentary lifestyle' will be given free dance leassons or other activities! There will be no extra money allocated for these classes, they will be funded by the already over stretched NHS trust budgets. I really think that whoever's idea this is must be totally mad, and for once I agree with Ann Widicombe who calls this scheme 'ludicrous'. The idea that people are being given free dance lessons whilst people suffering from Cancer or Alzheimers are being denied life saving drugs because of the cost is quite frankly disgusting. This implies that obesity and unhealthy lifestyles have the same importance in the NHS as genuine illness and injury. Everyone is free to choose what they eat and how they live and I do not see why the genuinely ill should have to loose out on drugs and services to pay for dance lessons for people who are not ill, but who have an unhealhty lifestyle that they are unwilling to change.

If people need to take excercise they are free to do so, and should be encouraged to. They could simply go for a brisk walk everyday which is free and would not cost anyone anything, or they could be refered to a dietician and physio to recomend changes to their diet and lifestyle that would be better for their health. But the idea that the NHS is responsible for keeping people fit and paying for them to have the privlege, is ludicrous. I will not be recieving free dance lessons of seeing a personal trainer, I pay for my own dance lessons and my drug prescriptions myself thank you! I could easily argue that as I have CF I need these activities to help my lung capactiy. Not wishing to sound mean, but if I don't qualify for these freebies why should these other people, who as far as I can see are just lazy and do not eat properly or excercise enough be getting handouts at the NHS's expense???

The NHS is there to care for the sick and injured not to baby sit the country's lifestyle. It is already overstretched to the point of collapse, and they are closing wards, whole hospitals and nurses and doctors and essential staff are being laid off. Surely the NHS have better things to spend their limited money on than dance lessons for lazy people??? It is about time the government stopped trying to nanny us all, and stopped trying to run the NHS like it was a business to make money, and let it get back to its main function, that of caring for its patients. I am now going to go and write a leter to my MP, please do the same as the NHS will completely collapse and many ill people will suffer if this sort of idiotic idea is allowed to continue.

Please sign a petition!

2006-12-02T02:44:00.000-08:00

Well once again the government wants to tax us even more and restrict our civil liberties at the same time. This time they want to tax Road mileage and 'Drivers could pay up to £1.34 a mile in "pay-as-you go" road charges under new government plans'(BBC News). Not only that but every car would have a satelite tracker that would record all your journeys, Big Brother is now watching your car!

Whilst I have no objection to Congestion Charging or even tolls on motorways this new idea will once again have no effect on the richer end of the population or major city dwellers, who can afford this charge or can just take public transport, but will be a total disaster for people in small towns and rural areas and those of a lower income. Where I live public transport is simply not an option if you want to go anywhere but London (and even then there is only one train an hour and it costs nearly £20). If you need to go and food shop the bus is not an option, as they are so infrequent and unreliable, and totally unsuitable for disabled people. If you do not have a car in rural areas you would be completely cut off, and taxing every mile you travel will make it impossible to own a car considering just how expensive petrol already is. By all menas encourage people to use cars less, especially where public transport is an option, but not in a way that penalises rural areas and has little affect in cities (again).

To try and stop this happening please sign the petition here-
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax

We should try and reduce congestion and carbon emissions, but in a sensible and fair way. How about increasing tax on gas guzzlers? Motor way tolls work in Europe why can't we manage it? How about reducing food miles? And what about Air travel? It makes no sense that I can travel to Europe for less than £10 and can't get to London for that!!!!

Congratulations to Kate!

2006-11-26T14:06:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to send huge congratulations to Kate Harvey who has raised well over £1000 for The CF Trust by completing The Great North and The Great South Run! A totally amazing achievement in itself and also raising a fabulous amount of money that will be used to help find a cure for this horrible disease. As someone with CF I just want to say a huge THANK YOU!!!!! You are fantastic!

The Jive Aces at Duxford

2006-11-18T06:01:00.000-08:00

The fabulous Jive Aces appeared at the new Airspace superhanger at Duxford Imperial War Museum last night and they were brilliant! They are the best swing band out there, and they always give a fab performance. Despite the ticketing fiasco and the awful weather there were lots of lindy hoppers there and we hopped the night away (although there was a pause in the middle to have a few local bands play who were surprisingly good). The hanger is a fantastic place and it was a shame there was not more lighting on the planes and a bigger dance floor. I managed a couple of dances and a few strolls so I was pretty pleased with myself. I took lots of pictures but its not easy getting pictures of people in motion so here are a few of the better ones and some of the Jive Aces!

Paul and Fae zooming past, with Dan, Kathrine and Lotte in the background.

Somewhat randomly they had an origami exhibiton going and we all made some swans. The professionals had made some amazing paper culptures, but my total favorite was Yoda! How cool is that!?

Newquay,Land's End, John O'Groats and all the way back!

2006-11-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

One of my friend's from the CF forums is organising a charity VW rally from Newquay to Land's End then to John O'Groats then back again next summer. It's all in aid of charity, one of which is the CF Trust and he's looking for people to take part and for sponsorship. He's set up a website

http://www.dubkings.co.uk/

so please take a look, tell your friends, maybe donate, maybe even take part! It looks like real fun, I may even try and find myself an old (ie cheap!) old VW and take some of my mates for one hell of a roadtrip!

Things that are just so annoying!!!

2006-11-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

This is Ros on her soap box jumping up and down and complaining about the things that really are incredibly annoying.

- Companies that cold call you, usually just when you are having dinner. I do not want a new kitchen/windows/phone contract/chance to win a cruise etc. if I did I would go out and find one for myself. its especially annoying when the call centre is in a foreign country so the line is terrible and the person that speaking has such an accent that you can't understand a word. And they never take no for answer, just go on and on and on, I've started telling them I am under 18 and therefore not eligible!

-Drivers that use their fog lights when its not foggy. This is just plain dumb and very annoying for other drivers who get dazzled.

-People who aimlessly wander around busy places such as between tube lines or in the centre of Cambridge. I'm not talking about slow walking (although that's fairly annoying) but those people that just wander around with no idea where they are going usually walking into everyone else and causing people who know where they are going to have to jump out of the way to avoid being pushed.

-Cars with Baby on Board signs. Is there really a point to these signs other than to say this car contains a baby and why would we want to know that? Its not as though people will try even harder not to hit them cos of this sign... I was under the impression that driving safely was all about not hitting other people whether there is a baby/OAP/student/other type of person on board or not!

-People that park in disabled parking spaces when they are not disabled-obvious really.

-Over use of a particular word or phrase, e.g. random, although I am guilty of this but I am trying to cut down.....

Anyone else got any pet hates?

Penguins!

2006-11-06T02:37:00.000-08:00

I was looking for a nice picture of a penguin that I could try an digitize, but instead I found this fantastic animation- The Penguins from Madagascar in a Christmas Caper. To watch it go here-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pvTL557VFw&mode=related&search=

My favorite penguin is Ricco the totally loony one with the dynamite, anyone who can produce dynamite at the drop of a hat is good in my book!

More Xquisitness

2006-10-30T05:34:00.000-08:00

In between other projects I have been making lots of Christmas cards on my super amazing sewing machine. These are mostly for my Mum and Aunts but if anyone wants some then just drop me a line and I can do some for a very reasonable price!

Bizarre Drugs!

2006-10-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

I like to think that I have become something of a connoisseur of pills and capsules in their various forms, and I have over the last 26 years taken a quite phenomenal number (I think I've averaged about 40 pills a day since I was three.... that's a lot of pills). But never in my experience have I come across such a hilarious drug as the new one I was prescribed on Wednesday at Papworth. I mean look at it! Have you ever seen such a revolting colour scheme, they practically glow in the dark! Most of my pills are either brown, dark blue or non descript beige- these look radioactive....

I've been feeling pretty rotten recently, and one of the lovely bugs that I have been growing in my lungs is a fungus called Aspergilis. Everyone inhales this all the time as its in the atmosphere, but in people with CF it can sometimes cause problems. So as I'm taking medication for all the other bugs they figured why not try and get rid of this one too, and that might make me feel better. I am now taking this monstrous looking pill twice a day, its technical name is Itraconazole, but just to add insult to injury its commercial name is Sporanox! I'll be lucky if I manage to take any cos I can barely swallow them for all the laughing!

Leggings, leggings everywhere!

2006-10-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Today I went to London to look for some fabric for Neil's suit, and everywhere I looked women were wearing leggings. Not just teens but women like me, old enough to remember leggings from the eighties i.e. should know better! Some accesorised these revolting things with dresses, some with big jumpers, most with ankle boots. What I want to know is-Why? Have we learnt nothing? Is it just 'cos Sienna Miller was seen wearing them? (and what is with those boots?)

They really are a strange garment when you think about it; not quite tights, stockings, or socks. They have a vague affinity with trousers but only just as the cropped ones just leave large patches of bare shin. Its just so unflattering! Their whole point is to draw attention to legs, so anyone with chunky ankles, knobbly knees or wobbly thighs look out! Even if you have lovely legs there is something undeniably silly about wearing leggings, especially with ankle boots so you get that little ring of exposed leg. Isn't that cold?? And don't even get me started on the lovely pair of leotard print ankle warmers with leggings and ankle boots that I had to endure on the tube..... Unless you are a professional dancer there is no excuse! We clearly learnt nothing from the eighties when this horrible garment was last prevelent. Please girls resist the temptation!

Live life, then give life.

2006-10-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day- this must be important. And actually it is, the two girls Emma and Emily, who set up the Live Life then give Life campaign are both regulars on the CF Trust message boards, and tonight they put this link up
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=130f05db50d4d4dbeb8f49&skin_id=0&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
Please, please, please, take a look and think about joining the Organ Donation register, I'm on it although they probably want some of my organs! Emily is on the transplant list already as are many other people with CF, one day I'll be on there too for a double lung transplant. Its a scary thought, but it is truly amazing what they can do these days, and by joining the register you could give someone the chance at life. For more info go to the campaign site
http://www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk/

Thoughts for the day....

2006-10-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

1) Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

2) Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

3) Some people are like a Slinky... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

4) Health freaks are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

5) All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

6) Why does a slight tax increase cost you 50 quid and a substantial tax cut saves you 50p?

7) In the 60s, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the World is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

8) We know exactly where any untaxed car is located among the millions of cars in Britain. But we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the DVLA in charge of immigration.

(Before anyone comments that I am being evil and mean, these are not serious-its a joke!)

My Parents Wedding

2006-09-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

My Dad has recently been putting all our family photos into albums that will make them last longer, and he uncovered a whole load of pictures from their wedding on August 7th 1970. Now my Mum was not a huge fan of big white weddings when she was young so she had a registry office service and small reception and I think she actually hid a lot of these photos as I had not seen them til now! I already knew she'd got married in a mini dress cos I have seen the actual dress, but I did not realize just how short it was-yikes! My mum was so cool! So I thought I'd post a couple of photos....

Mum and her two sisters, all in Micro minis!
My parents and their parents.

Has the World gone completely mad???

2006-09-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

Its official the world has gone totally insane. I found this advert in the back of the Telegraph Magazine (go here www.detoxandslim.co.uk to see it) and I am gob smacked. Foot Detox Pads??? Oh my God! Are there really people out there that stupid that will buy this rubbish?! My favorite bit of the ad is the fact that these things are 'based on the ancient reflexology priciples that indicate a 'natural trap door' on the sole of the foor'- what does this mean??? Do we all have small doors on the soles of our feet? What a fantastic image. Even better you get rid of all those nasty things like caffeine, nicotine and pollution through them which turns the pad black- isn't that nice! Apparently they work through 'osmotic pressure' just like a tree (oh I can't help it I have to laugh). Its not even an April fools joke that's really really late.... and there are people on there saying how wonderful these things are and how well they work. Whatever next.....

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-09-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was my birthday and I have now reached the grand old age of 26, so I am now closer to 30 than to 20-eek! It is a bit of a weird feeling as when I was diagnosed with CF the life expectancy of a person with CF was only 24, so I have now outlived that.... These days people with CF have a life expectancy of 31, so in relative terms I am practically geriatric! Ah well, as someone said to me yesterday 'you are as only as old as you feel' I didn't think they'd appreciate it if I'd answered that if that was true then I was about 85!

On a more cheery note, a bunch of us went down to London yesterday for a merry jaunt and had lunch with Ben for his birthday and then later went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria for Dr James's birthday. (Its so good, I had a fantastic trip on my actual birthday and I did not organise a thing!) The show was absolutely amazing! I don't want to give the plot away but its a sort of prequel to The Wizard of Oz; about how the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good went to school together and how they ended up being good or wicked. It's not your usual cheesy, glitzy West End show with a chorus line of shiny girls all going two, three, kick, turn, turn, turn, kick, turn! It's got a fantastic plot and is rather more dark and complex than the film. The sets and costumes were incredible, I was totally drooling over the green Emerald City dresses, and the two leading ladies were superb, as was the whole cast in general, special mention of Adam Garcia as Fiyero- fantastic singing and dancing and soooo gorgeous too. I definitely give it five stars and two thumbs up-go see it!

Dr and Mrs Watson

2006-08-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

So before I checked in for a stay at Hotel Papworth, I was busily making a wedding dress for my lovely friend Fran and three bridesmaids outfits and a dress for me too! She married the lovely Dr James Watson in Cornwall on the 5th of August and I am finally putting some pictures up of what was an absolutely lovely day, and you can see just how gorgeous Fran looked if I say so myself!

I really like the group photo of a whole load of people who were involved in the production of The Mikado at the Minack theatre back in Summer 2000, we are all doing silly theatre type poses- seemed like a good idea at the time! Its so great that so many of us are still really good friends.

This photo is also really cool (huge thanks to Anne Carter who took it) as you can see the extra tartan frill on the skirt that I added for the dancing, even more fun it was the same tartan as James's kilt! I really loved the design of this dress as it could change depending on the situation, so the train was pulled up for dinner and tartan ribbon was added to the lacing for the evening etc. I am a great believer in transformable dresses, so much more interesting!

More pictures will be added as I grab them off people so watch this space....

Freedom!!!

2006-08-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hurray I am free from IV's and doctors and nurses and physios and Papworth Hospital in general! I can sit in front of the telly and not have people checking my blood pressure, blood sugar levels, temperature and oxygen saturations every two minutes and no more nasty drugs and procedures for me! (or at least for the next year -fingers crossed) I can now bend my left arm again as they have removed the line from my left elbow and it is bliss! I'm utterly shattered and a little spaced out still from the sedation I had for the bronchoscopy, but its so nice to be home again.

The bronchoscopy actually was not too awful, they bunged a second line in my right hand and then filled me up with mind bending drugs. I do not remember too much other than giggling like a maniac whilst the ceiling spun, before lying down, and a very odd feeling in my throat as they sprayed anesthetic down it. Don't remember getting back to the ward but when I woke up I had THE sorest throat and an oxygen tube up my nose- no idea how that got there but pure oxygen is really good stuff! So once I'd mostly recovered from the sedation and had a few more IV's the doctors finally decided I could go home. I think I shall probably sleep for the next week or so as being woken up at 6 am every morning for lots of IV's is very, very tiring. Hopefully I'll be out and about next week, and dancing away on wednesday.

Thanks so much for all the lovely cards, chocolates, messages and visits, I feel most loved :-)

More fun and games in Papworth Everard.....

2006-08-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

So I have been here ten days and all I can say is that I am bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored! I never realised just how many different things I do that I can't do in here and it sucks. It is just sooooooooooooooooo dull being stuck in hospital, especially the 48 hours I had to be barrier nursed, which is basically like being in a really clean prison. I've also had my fun three days being attached to a blood sugar monitor (which went a bit nuts for the last eight hours and kept telling me my blood sugar reading was unacceptable- see I can even cause tiny little computers to randomly crash!) and I had a lung CT which at least was painless. At some point between now and friday I'm going to be having a bronchoscopy whether I like it or not, unsurprisingly I am not looking forward to that experience at all... it still sounds totally unplesant.

At least when I went to the Ear, Nose and Throat consultant at Addenbrooks my nasal CT showed that the polyps I have in my sinuses have responded to treatment so I am not going to need keyhole surgery on them-Thank God for that! Can't wait to escape on Friday!

Fun and Games in Papworth Everard

2006-08-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

So as of tomorrow I am going to be incarcerated without the option of parole at Papworth for two weeks. I am going to be having lots of lovely strong drugs, a chest CT, a three day sugar monitoring test thing and a bronchoscopy (I think thats how its spelt) although hopefully the last one won't happen as it sounds truly nasty. Having an endoscope inserted right to the bottom of my lung is not my idea of fun, especially as you are only sedated and not unconcious-urgh. The whole point of this ordeal is to try and get my lung function back up from the rather crap 60% its currently hovering around and to find out if I my pancreas has packed up to the extent that I am now diabetic as well- oh life is so much fun! But if all this stuff does work and the insulin I may have to take helps me feel more human then that is all good and will be wonderfull indeed! If they've got internet on the ward then I may post a couple of times to show how much fun I am having, although it may be more of a rant of just how bored I am giong to be..... See you on the other side.....

Seagull Party!

2006-07-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well last weekend was Fran's Hen Day, but we decided to rename it her Seagull Party as this is a far more appropriate bird for a Cornish lass! The day started with a leisurely boat trip down the Cam, with lots of Champagne, picnic food and chocolate brownies. This was surprisingly educational, as the nice captain showed us, baby moor hens and kingfisher holes, although unfortunately no kingfishers!

We then decamped to Darwin island where we played many party games. My personal favorite (apart from giant Jenga) was the 'cereal box game' . I had not played this before but its hilarious. Its very simple all you need is said cereal box, or cardboard box of similar shape. All you have to do is pick the box up in your teeth, but whilst doing this only your feet are allowed to touch the floor. Once everyone has managed the fist height, the box is cut down a bit and everyone tries again. If you fall over you are out and you keep going until evetually you get down to just a slip of cardboard! Many different techniques were developed for folding the body up to get heads down to cereal box height, these ranged from 'the lunge' (rather like an exaggerated fencing lunge, with both hands supporting the persons weight on the front foot), 'the yoga' (bending all joints and spine whilst feet stayed together), 'the splits' (fairly obvious- both feet as far out as possible to get as low as possible) and my personal favorite 'the cross' (you cross your feet over, then sort of sit down onto them and stick your head between your knees!) .

The evening concluded with a huge BBQ, cooked by the lovely Clackson girls. Some very brave ladies then went to join the tale end of James' stag do at the ADC, I however wimped out and went to crash out!

All my photos of the day can be found on my yahoo photo site which is here- http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/musoros
in the seagull party album. They are all in black and white as I managed to get the camera into black and white mode and can't seem to get it out again.....

Weight Watching

2006-07-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well this post is probably going to be a little bit controversial. Seeing as I spend a lot of my time with Doctors and medical people in general I am always interested in facts and figures pertaining to how they spend the money allocated to them by the government, especially considering the total mess the NHS is currently in. I was astounded to read in The Telegraph yesterday that obesity-related conditions are costing the NHS a massive £1 billion a year, which as the proportion of obese people in the population increases is only going to get worse. Sadly a large proportion of children are overweight- nearly half of teenage girls and a third of boys are overweight or obese. Its unfortunate but a child with one obese parent has a 40% likelihood of being obese which doubles if both are obese.

Now this is where I am going to start putting peoples noses out of joint, it is common knowledge that being overweight is unhealthy, its the second most dangerous thing you can be healthwise, other than being a smoker, and yet thousands of people are still eating unhealthily, taking noexercisee and as a result developing diabetes, heart disease and any number of other diseases. I find this completely selfish and irresponsible. Some hospitals have recently started refusing to treat smokers, or put them on the transplant list if they refuse to stop smoking (seems obvious to me!), and whilst I am not saying that people should not be given necessary treatment they should be actively encouraged to change their lifestyle and become less of a burden on an already over taxed health service. The majority of people need not be over weight if they would change their lifestyle and eating habits.

I also strongly object to the vast amount of money spent on developing so called slimming drugs- what is wrong with healthy eating and exercise??? Yes its tough but it does work. Whilst I am fully aware that there are a small number of people with a genetic pre-disposition to obesity as shown by the discovery of the obesity gene GAD2, and that external factors such as depression, stress and so on can cause over eating, we are in serious danger of turning being over weight into an illness, somethingg that people cannot help. I find it hard to take that for want of a better description 'real illnesses' that people cannot help having are loosing out, both in terms of funding and of beds that are being taken up by weight related diseases. To an extent these obesity-related diseases are self inflicted as people do have a choice as to what they eat and how they live, just as smokers can choose to smoke, why should the rest of us fund their selfish habits? Just think about the number of cancer or children's wards, not to mention research into illnesses like Parkinson's, Alzheimers, Asthma, Multiple Sclerosis and yes my own personal cause Cystic Fibrosis..... its staggering the differencee that money could make to so many peoples lives that have been blighted through no fault of their own.

This is not in anyway an attack on anyone and I do not want to insult anyone or suggest that loosing weight is easy- believe me its just as hard to put weight on and keep it on when you have CF. I am also not suggesting what the paper called a 'fat tax'. I am simply stating my opinion that people should take better care of themselves and especially their children and in the process save the NHS a lots of money and themselves a lot of ill health.

P.S
Before anyone asks I am a size 10, this is mainly due to my CF as I do not absorb fat properly but believe me if I had the choice between being (a) thin and having CF, or (b) having to exercise and eat healthily and not having Cf I would take (b) every time- so please no comments along the line of you don't know what its like/ its easy for you, you are this etc etc. cos trust me I know what its like struggling with food and its never easy having CF.

Mole Hall

2006-06-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

Continuing in my role as tourist I went to Mole Hall wildlife park this weekend, as its just round the corner from where I live. I've not been in over a year and its still lovely. It has a few exotic animals, like flamingoes, lamas, chimps, and the butterfly house. Mostly its otters, farm animals, deer and lots of birds. One of the best things is that the animals are all completely used to being around humans so you can get really close and get some nice photos...

I'm such a tourist......

2006-06-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

I may have lived in or around Cambridge for the past 20 years but I am still sometimes amazed by just how lovely it really is... Here's some proof-
Sadly, I did not capture the 'tourist falling in the Cam' moment, but you can imagine it!

Paris in the Spring.....

2006-05-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am just back from Paris and I had a totally fabulous time! I never appreciate just how amazing the city is 'til I go back and rediscover it. The food's amazing, the city is so beautiful and there is just so much to see and do that I've got to go back! We were staying in Montmatre near Tom's cousin the very lovely Jo, who lives just around the corner from the 'Deux Moulins' cafe from Amelie. I did not take a photo of it as its been changed about so much you would not really recognize it! Much more beautiful is the Sacre Coeur which was also just around the corner.
We had to go to the Louvre, but as the Da Vinci Code film is out today we avoided any area of the museum that could be associated with it like the plague! It was pretty busy but we missed the worst of it. One of the best things was having coffee on the Richlieu terrace overlooking the main court and the Jardin des Tuileries.

Even better than that was the Pyramid chocolate cake that I had, truly this was the coolest cake I have ever had! And someone had even taken the trouble to ice little lines on it to make it just like the glass one in the courtyard-such attention to detail!

Having walked miles around the Louvre we also went to a couple of the amazing churches; obviously first stop was Notre Dame. It was as always, rather busy but still amazingly huge and beautiful. But I actually prefered the smaller and incredibly lovely Sainte-Chapelle. Even tho the chapel is tiny in comparison to Notre Dame the stained glass in the upper chapel is incredible and so bright, I'd never been there before and I was just blown away by it. I have tried to take a photo of the windows but not being the best photographer in the world it is not great but gives you an idea of what it looks like .
So I won't go on too much more, but the final picture I've got here is of this really amazing building we walked past that is covered in plants, it was completely unexpected but somehow it really works!

So now I am back I'll be trying to catch up with everyone....

Xquisit!

2006-04-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

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.