Amy Butler Sun Surf Halter

For my first clothing project I thought I should go with something that looked relatively simple, so I choose Amy Butler’s Sun Surf Halter.
I have to say that this was my first go at something so complicated but her pattern made it really easy and I might even go as far as to say it was fun. It was amazing to put things together and have them fit perfectly.
As we’ve run out of sunshine here I think it’ll be perfect for our trip to Egypt in the new year – to sit on the beach or boat, for instance.
Maybe I’m ready for one of the more complicated patterns now…

Set Books

My set books for EA300 Children’s Literature have finally turned up. I can’t wait to get reading and if I didn’t have things to do; work, cooking dinner, washing, blogging, I’d be sitting in a pile of books, cardboard boxes and packing materials reading.

This list include:
Peter Pan DVD (2003)
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
Mortal Engines, P Reeve
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
Tom’s Midnight Garden, Philippa Pearce
Junk, Melvin Burgess
100 Best Poems for Children, Roger McGough (ed)
Voices in the Park, Anthony Browne
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor
The Other Side of Truth, Beverley Naidoo

Some of these are old friends and some are brand new and I can’t wait to get acquainted.

CIW Web Design Specialist

Yesterday I took the second exam toward the Master CIW Web Site Manager qualification. This was the CIW Web Design Specialist exam and consisted of questions covering Site Development Essentials, Web Design Elements, and Basic and Advanced Web Technologies.
I managed to pass with 79%, which considering I’m only doing this in my spare time, and not every day in my job, I’m quite pleased with. It means I can now call myself a CIW Professional and a CIW Web Design Specialist.

To be honest I’m not sure I will end up with the final qualification as that would mean also taking tests on JavaScript, Peal and Server administration, and as I don’t use any of these things at all, it would take a huge amount of work for me to pass all three. But I’m still happy. The CIW Web Design Specialist was the qualification I was really working towards and I’m pleased to have passed.

Results

I can’t believe we’re already half way through August.
But it does mean I’ve finally got my results for A363 Advanced Creative Writing from The Open University; and they’re not as bad as I’d feared. I got 79 for my huge final assignment with comments of ‘good’ and ‘excellent ideas’ (you don’t get very detailed comments because of the amount of marking they have to do). And a mark of 72 over all. This gives me a Grade 2 pass and a Diploma in Literature and Creative Writing! Apparently I can put the letters DipLCW(Open) after my name now. Very exciting.

As always I’ve also been busy with other things. I’ve completed the first of my sewing projects with another close to completion.
‘im outdoors has a second hand office chair, which had a slightly torn seat cover. The tear soon got bigger until I couldn’t bear to look at it any more.
So on the hunt for material for a top for me, I found some perfect material on the remnants table. It only took a morning to make a cover for the chair, and I’ve got enough material to make a cover for the back as well if I ever have time.

New Blue Book

Now I’ve finished my OU course (until next time) I’ve suddenly got time to do things that I didn’t have time for when I was trying to write assignments. Which means I’ve made my first book in something like a year! It’s not great and could be improved but I’ve proved to myself that I haven’t forgotten how to do it, which was my main concern. It’s not bad really, just a small A5 book.
I might make some more over the summer, but I do have some sewing patterns to work on too…

The Sketchbook Project

I’ve just come across something called ‘The Sketchbook Project’. And suddenly I’m really excited.

The idea is you sign up on their website, choosing a theme (In flight, A record year for rainfall, If you lived here…, Lights in the distance, to name a few) and they send you back a bar coded sketchbook. You then fill it up with things that kinda go with your theme and send it back.
Then the exciting bit, it goes on tour in America before finding a home at The Brooklyn Art Library. And because its bar coded you can keep track of who’s had a look.
I would really really love to join in, but as the art work needs to be worked on between now and January it kinda clashes with the next OU course.
Something for next year maybe? Along with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? Something else I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. Oh for more hours in the day.

Counting Sheep

We had the last writers group of the academic year today.
Last months homework was to write a poem about a day out, and although I find poems hard work I thought I would give it a go.

Counting Sheep

Does she know,
As he turns her on her back,
What he’s going to do to her?
Keeping her left fore leg
Bent with his knee,
She lies docile,
Dark eye’s unfocused.

Thick rusty arms hold her,
Twisting her this way and that,
Following the contours of her body,
Each curve traced,
She is reduced.

It’s about our trip to the Alton Show at the beginning of July. I had wanted to write about the whole day but can see that concentrating on a particular part of the day, in this case the man demonstrating sheep shearing, would make a better poem. The group must have liked it, they suggested I send it to Farmers Weekly!

As unofficial administrator for the group I’ve agreed to make us a facebook page. Something else to add to my summer list. Next meeting October.

Stuff thats been happening

Tomorrow my Level 3 and M students will be celebrating Graduation. I’m hoping the day will be sunny but not too warm. And with graduation work finally slows down a little and I have time to breath and do some filing. Its been a busy couple of months.

Today I also signed up for my next Open University course – EA300 – Children’s Literature. I’m excited and nervous in equal measures, as always when I sign on to one of the OU courses. It sounds so interesting and I’m really looking forward to reading the set books, but will I be able to write intelligent assignments about them? I’ll have to wait and see; it doesn’t start until October.

And finally the best bit. ‘im outdoors and I bought our selves a Digital SLR camera at the weekend. We’ve been talking about it for ages and saving a little towards it and we finally did it. It’s a Canon EOS 550D and its lovely. We spent a sunny weekend walking round the garden with it taking photos of flowers, sparrows and hoverflies.