Brighton Photos - Finally Uploaded

Officially back from Brighton and all the photos from my posts are now uploaded, so re-visit this months posts for photos!
And yes Mum, it was the tea shop with Diana stuff :) check out the photo.

Brighton Part Four: My Last Week By The Sea

My time in Brighton is nearly at an end. I'm back working at Sunny Arts for a few more days before I go. A few of the tech people were away for yesterday's show, which meant I had to rig the entire venue on my own, something I am most definitely not trained for. Thankfully I completed everything within my (short) time limit and the show went well. I was complimented on how calm I was, but I've never seen stressing out (in any visible way at least) as a constructive and positive use of my time. So I don't do it very often. We've got a matinee and our final evening show tomorrow, and with yesterdays success fresh in my mind, I'm not concerned about tomorrow's workload - although it will be a long day. 14 hours at least!

Today was my last entire free day so me and Shaun did something fun. We began by visiting The. Most. Amazing. Tea shop in the whole country.We had some delicious Earl Grey and scones with jam and cream. Then one last wander around the lanes before dinner in a Japanese restaurant.


I'll be heading back to Sheffield on Sunday and I'm excited to be going home. It will be fleeting as I'll be in London a week later. Then I'll return to pack up my Sheffield home before moving to London again for more directing work. Very exciting stuff, but I'm all over the place! I've got a number of projects I want to get cracking on while I'm able to, so hopefully I can post on these next week too.

Brighton Part Three: Bake 'n' Beebz

This weekend I stayed with my cousin Alice and of course we did some baking! We made some delicious blondies (see Alice's blog) which are like brownies but pale. The secret ingredient is... chickpeas! Delicious and nutritious, I kid you not. Alice did the math and with no butter and very little sweetner, they work out very healthy for you.


We went to Eastbourne and hit the charity shops, but we didn't buy much. The only things of note were some sewing-themed fabric and a london bus purse (I can't wait to upload all my photos!!). I got mugged by a seagull and Alice kicked it in revenge, then we wandered the pier and sat by the sea. A fairly eventful day.


I'm about ready to return to Sheffield now. I miss my boyfriend (and sewing) so it will be good to see him (sew) in a week's time. Just have a week in Sheffield before I'm away again to London. And there may be more London work on the horizon.... how exciting.

Brighton Part Two: London Calling

Having a very low key day today, hanging out in Shaun's living room while he's going to work. But I've had a very busy couple of days so doing nothing is alright. Yesterday I went for lunch with my cousin Alice, who's at uni in Brighton. Then I had a quick meeting with Will and Cliff at Sunny Arts about next Thursday's show (lots of tech people aren't in on Thursday so I'm preparing to orchestrate a get in near-solo, should be a fun challenge) before dashing off to London for.... a job interview. And I'm pleased to say I got a phonecall this morning offering me the job. I will be working on my first directing job in London next month. This is a big step for me and really exciting.

I also visited London on Sunday to properly see my friend Ellie. We went to Camden (standard) and took in the gorgeous shops, looking for lovely clothes and ideas. I'm hoping to stay with her while I'm directing. The job is only for a week so its not too long for her to put up with me!

Its been handy being in Brighton this month, as I can pop to London fairly easily. Trying my best to visit people around the South while I'm here too, because I don't usually see them when I'm in Sheffield.

I bought some really cute fabric from Ditto yesterday. Its the Royal Pavillion at Brighton on a blue background. Once I return to Sheffield I hope to make a Brighton-themed skirt to commemorate my time down here.

Brighton Part One: Crap From The Street

Greetings from Brighton. Work is going very well. The play, Keep Taking the Tablets, has been well received in previews, now to kill two weeks doing nothing while I wait for the next show!

I love being in Brighton. I've visited twice before, but in January both times so the weather this time is a massive improvement. I enjoy looking around the fascinating shops and sitting on the beach. The nightlife is pretty vibrant too and we've had a few nights out already.
One thing I've noticed about Brighton, is that it has an interesting "culture" (for want of a better word) where people leave their unwanted stuff on the roadside and others can pick it up and take it home. For instance, if you're cleaning out your bedroom and you no longer want those books, or clothes or furniture, you can just leave it outside your house. And someone, somewhere will find your junk a good home. I've never seen anything like it. The house of my friend Shaun (where I'm staying) is full of cute furniture, interesting vases and other knick knacks, all from the street. Its brilliant!

So when we were walking home at 2:30am the other morning we came by one such by-product of a clear out. Shaun, now a seasoned "recycler" began to look through the piles of stuff. We found:

a set of beside drawers
a candle stand (for the garden)
3 board games
a big rug
a small display cabinet (to hang on the wall)
a vase
some hatpins
one of those fancy jars with the metal handle and rubber seal
a pile of material, including a scarf
an ornate table filled with...bobbins!

AND

a Singer sewing machine


And the sewing machine works! It does something funky with the stitching on the underside of a piece of fabric, but it sews and the light works too. It was a pretty profitable raid. My cut includes some of the hatpins, the handbag (a brown mock-snake-skin affair) a couple of the bobbins (of course), the scarf and the fancy jar (I've always wanted one). Obviously I have to consider what can be brought home in my suitcase. But you can bet that once we get the sewing machine running I'll be knocking up a "street skirt" with the material, sewing machine and bobbins we found.


My cut of the loot :) a handbag, a scarf, a jar, some hatpins and some fabric

The Magenta Machine now has a Brighton counterpart - but I still love my pink pal, all alone in Sheffield. And I thought I'd have to give up sewing for the month I was down here!

Photoshoot.

My housemate Harriet is working on a mock up of a magazine for her journalism MA and her chosen subject is... customising clothes! So last weekend was spent taking lots of photos of my room and projects and ME! Mutually beneficial because she now has content for her project, and I have some new photos which have been taken by another person - no photos at arm's length.
So I found out all the things I have made/customised and we chose our favourites and got to work.



The outfits are very crazy, Hatty needed something that screamed "customised" and I would like to state that I wouldn't go out in these outfits as they are, I'm a bit more subtle!



A couple of these photos are of things I'd forgotten about, like my measuring tape rosette, so it was great to revisit these. The rosette was made by dividing a Christmas cracker tape measure into eight equal lengths, folding each in half and stitching through, with a bead on the top for decoration. I also found out a top with my name in cute print fabrics, which I made last year. Harriet liked this and used it in photos.


In my interview I said I loved bows and loved making them, so we rounded up all the home-made bows in my room:



Glorious.


The final shot is a little foreshadow of my next project.

Stay tuned.