Just a quickie....

....to let you know that I have added another dress onto my facebook fan page.

The 'Polly' strap on dress a jersey dress with tartan wool detail and rubber straps. Please feel free to take a look and if you're not already become a fan!

I may later add it to Coriandr and/or Misi but for now if you wish to purchase this dress please contact me directly, either through facebook, twitter, Misi or leave a comment on the blog for me.

I have a lovely Blog. Tobybo said its so...

Things have not quite been making it here lately, I have good intentions to add to the blog but things don't seem to be working out like that right now!

We've all been quite ill here, well mainly me to be honest as it took me twice as long to get over what ever it was we all came down with but all is well again and I can now carry on with out getting shivers or having to lay down for a few hours! Things also got a bit higgledy piggledy with the posts and the last post was meant to be over on the other blog instead of here but oh well!

Its not all be sickness and confusion though, I have done a wee bit of sewing, prompted by the sale of my 'Heart' T-shirt I made another, this time with intestines.

Which sold really quickly - so I was pleased!

I have also set up a fan page on Facebook in an attempt to get my clothing seen by more people. Please do go and have a look, add yourself as a fan if you like my items too! I have 58 fans now with is rather pleasing I have to say!

I'm really not very good at this self promotion thing and while I want people to like my work I don't want to push it in their faces nor bore them to tears with my constant banging on about it. On the other hand I really do want more sales so BUY MY STUFF please! he hee

On another rather lovely note I have had the great honour of being awarded the One Lovely Blog award by Tobybo. Yay go me!

Rather nice huh, I'm still always surprised about the amount of people who read this and actually enjoy my waffling on, so HUGE thank you to Tobybo!.

The rules are this:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Ok so here goes my 15: - They are not all 'crafty' blogs but those that aren't really and truly are worth a read!

http://threedegreesoffreedom.blogspot.com/ - This one is an absolute must read, if you don't bother looking at anything else please at least take a look here.

http://sprinklessparkles.blogspot.com/

http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/

http://sisterjulia.blogspot.com/

http://crystalladyblogs.blogspot.com/

http://lej-jewellery.blogspot.com/

http://violetlebeaux.blogspot.com/

http://shadysidefarm.blogspot.com/

http://scraphappylou.blogspot.com/

http://madebysugarmouse.blogspot.com/

http://lostmittenblog.blogspot.com/

http://photofairytales.blogspot.com/

http://braceletsnbrides.blogspot.com/

http://bohosinthecountry.blogspot.com/

http://gloscarbonwatcher.blogspot.com/

When the Sprinks came to Worthing

This weekend Sprinks and Twisty came down to visit Worthing.
They travelled down from Reading and stayed in a hotel in town. They picked a good weekend to come as it was really lovely weather and the Armed Forces celebrations were being held in Stein gardens right outside their room window.

Once they had settled in we went off to meet them. It took long to get to them than is should have, as rather than go in a straight line along the seafront, Daddy Cool, for a reason unknown, took us on a really long all the way around route!
Anyway we finally go there and took them to the pier. On the way we stopped off for an ice cream for the Ninja and Daddy Cool.


Once we’d walked around the Pier and watched various people catching fish we went into the old amusements arcade, which is filled with 2p machines and a few fruit machines. Sprinks wasn’t too taken by Worthing Oldest residents

We all had a go on the 2p machines. Sprinks showed us her skill by winning a couple of the little prizes. I won a two headed dragon key ring for the Ninja and after much patience he won himself a poker chip.
Baby D woke up and got to have a go putting a few coins in to.


After the pier we decided to head back to our house. Not before the Ninja sat and wowed us with his freestyle harmonica solo

Daddy Cool took the boys home in the car while I stayed with Sprinks and Twisty to collect their “modest” amount of alcohol from their car and walk them back to the house.

Now Daddy Cool and I don’t really drink a lot. We will have the occasional bottle of wine usually every couple of weeks really so we were amazed when Sprinks and Twisty turned up with: 4 cans of Cider, 6 bottles of beer, 3 bottles of rose wine, 1 bottle of red wine and a bottle of vodka! All for one evening! Ha ha

On top of that they also bought two disposable barbeques 2 bags of marshmallows and two bars of chocolate for our planned beach visit later on that evening.

It is quite a walk back from town to our house and it was made worse by the heat and carrying the bags of goodies we were treated to – but well worth it!!

Daddy Cool and the boys arrived home shortly after us, after they had collected a takeaway menu. After deciding what we were eating food was ordered and arrived really quickly.
We sat down to eat, everyone chatting and getting much amusement out of Baby D’s prawn cracker eating.
I was really pleased with the Ninja who is not know for being adventurous with food, as he dug into pretty much every thing and discovered that he actually likes beef chow mien!

After dinner we grabbed some supplies and headed over the road to the beach.
Daddy cool lit a barbeque, we opened the wine – Sprinks and Twisty were mighty impressed with our Halloween skull wine glasses (plastic n safe for outside use!) and chatted while toasting marshmallows.



Here is Sprinks, Twisty, the Ninja Jedi and Daddy Cool

And Baby Dynamite tucking into his marshmallow too
Which he later abandoned and it got stuck to his bottom!
And a rare picture of me!
We sat chatting for quite a while on the beach, the Ninja had a little play further down near the sea for a while then, when Baby D started to get a little emotional we decided it was time to go home and for him to go to bed.

Inside Daddy Cool took Baby D up to bed and the Ninja wowed our guests with crazy bones and Star Wars Lego. I’m sure they weren’t overly interested but were really polite and let him tell them everything anyway!

Once the Ninja went to bed we all sat up drinking a bit and chatting. We were all really tired so it was nice to just be able to sit and relax and watch a bit of TV.

Sprinks and Twisty left at about 11.30 for their long walk back to the hotel. Daddy Cool and I had a little tidy up and went to bed not long after.

The next morning the Ninja got ready to go to his dads and left just after 10. We had to do a few errands before meeting up with Sprinks and Twisty again, just in time for lunch!
We headed for pizza hut this time (shh don’t tell the Ninja – he’ll be gutted he missed out!) which was really nice except for Baby D being a little trying and tired after not sleeping well the night before.

After the food, we took Sprinks and Twisty for a wander around the excitement that is Worthing town and headed back to Stein Gardens so Baby D could look at the army vehicles.

Then it was time for Sprinks to head off for home, so we said our good byes and waved them off.

We all had a fantastic weekend and we are all so pleased that they came down.

Yesterday was Monday (again – these weeks are flying past at the moment!) And we had arranged to meet Nic, D and S at our local newly opened out door paddling pool.
Both of us are really rubbish at arriving at the arranged time, and although we were both about an hour later than we had originally decided we all turned up at the same time!
We spent the entire day there and all the kids really enjoyed them selves. It was quite hard for them really as the place was filled with pre-school age children, which meant that they couldn’t actually play as they would normally, with the amount of splashing as they would have liked due to having to take care not to soak little ones, they all did really well though and hopefully it didn’t hamper their enjoyment to much.
We got home at 3.30ish, Baby D had fallen asleep on the walk back and as we got to our driveway MiL was waiting as she had just returned from walking her dog. The Ninja stayed outside with them to play with the loopy spaniel and came back in 10 minutes later to announce he would be down stairs with MiL as they were going to watch a movie together for the rest of the afternoon.

So I was left sort off boy free, so took the opportunity to do a bit of sewing.

Today we have had a slow start – as normal. Neither of the boys is dressed and it’s already noon!
Today we are walking into town, the Ninja and Daddy cool are spending quality time together this evening and are going to watch the new Transformers movie at the Dome Cinema, so I have to go and pick up their tickets this afternoon.

Baby Dynamite hasn’t been sleeping well because of the heat so he’s a little grumpy, hopefully the walk will get him to sleep!

Right, best get some washing out and get these boys dressed.

Uh oh – think I best get Baby D cleaned up first!
Have a good day x x

Made In Worthing

I am feeling quite excited at the moment as I have been asked to produce a piece for a local festival being held mid September. The Made in Worthing festival is a chance for local artists and makers to show what they can do and to get their work noticed, while also promoting Worthing I guess. It is being put together by the Revolutionary Arts Group who work to help promote Worthing and local artists alike.

At first I was a little overwhelmed and daunted by the prospect of the whole town seeing my work but it really did get my brain whirring, especially as the organiser Dan Thompson had asked for me to make something especially for the festival.

It has been a real confidence boost to be honest as I'm sure that you are all aware that I suffer with a lack of confidence in my ability a lot of the time.

After some consideration I decided that I would design a piece graffiti-ed with my own images and views of Worthing. It will be my piece, made from Worthing, in Worthing.

Being the recycling queen that I am, it will obviously involve a lot of reclaimed fabrics and I have decided to draw, stitch, applique and embroider my images onto my sourced fabric and then construct the lot into a garment. I was thinking of making either a gown type dress or a suit but I will decide on what exactly once I have all the fabrics I need.

I am not aiming for it to be something to be worn particularly, as in, not something that I would then go on and sell, but more as an art piece I guess. Still fully functional but more for looking at than wearing.

I thought I'd have a practice at some free hand machine embroidery. I have seen it a lot but never really had a proper go and as I intend to use it on my project thought it best that I get to grips with it.

I have been really inspired by Gillian Bates who is an amazing textiles artist. You can find her work on her website or in her Misi shop. Her work really is great so do take a look.

Anyway, last night I gave it a go myself. I live right opposite the beach, literally it is only over the road, so it made sense that I start my Made in Worthing project with some Worthing beach inspiration.

Here is my first go - its a fishing boat on the beach. Inspired by a photograph by Chester Tugwell taken of the boats that are just down the road from my house!

My second attempt, I added some applique too. Its a seagull - if you couldn't tell!

I am quite pleased with how they turned out, at first I thought they looked a bit messy, but after some reassuring comments from some very creative people who I have a lot of respect for, I feel better about them and am accepting that the scrawly sketchiness of them is just my style!
And its not really all that bad!.

Thanks for reading x x

I've been tagged....

I've been tagged! No not electronically or anything extremely witty like that! Its a chance for those of you dying to know more about me (cause you all are, aren't you??), to find out the answers to all those random questions you have!

The rules are:
1. respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own (don't feel obliged as it's quite long already!)

2. Tag eight other people.

so here goes…………

Introduce yourself and tell us a little about who you are and what you do: I'm Tasha aka Madam Salami, I'm 26 and live on the South Coast in the UK.

I am a mum to two boys who I very proudly home educate and I hand make one off and unique pieces of clothing and accessories from reclaimed and recycled fabric in my spare time.

What is your current obsession?
ooh I dunno, I get side tracked so easily that I don't tend to stick to any one thing for too long, though summer dresses are top on my list at the moment - if or when I get a chance!!

What is your greatest achievement?
Being the person I am despite all the bad stuff.

I'm happy and it took a while to get there but I really think that the true measure of a person is how they deal with the bad things that happens. And lets face it bad stuff happens to everyone, but if you let it rule your life or use it as an excuse for being anything but the best that you can be you've let it beat you.

Coffee or Tea? Erm.. neither. I don't drink hot drinks - except maybe a hot chocolate now and again. I've only ever drunk tea while I was pregnant and I won't be doing that again!

What’s for dinner?
We had pizza - home made of course!

What are you listening to right now?

Good Charlotte. Particularly 'I just wanna live' 'Keep your hands of my girl' and 'Riot Girl'

I love music and listen to Blondie, The Cure, Elvis Costello, Florence and the Machines, Billy Bragg, Muse...... and so much more.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Chocolate all the way, though I also love a lemon sorbet too!

What do you think of the person who tagged you?
Sprinks? I love her. Seriously, she's brilliant. We met through Misi and just get on really well. Her jewellery is great, she's very talented and she clearly works hard on her business. Go look. This is one of my favourtie pieces she has made (see pic) 'Leaf pebble Necklace'

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Ooh that's a toughie, erm probably Wales. Its my favourite place. Or the Booth Museum in Brighton, I adore that place.

Which language do you want to learn?
Mandarin or Russian. There's no real reason for either just the languages I'd love to speak. I'm ashamed to say I couldn't even master french at school! I'd love to learn sign language too -one day I'll learn at least one of them! Any one fancy teaching me??

What’s your favorite quote (for now)?

I have a few to be honest. My some of my favourites are;

" Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I'm not perfect and I don't live to be, but before you start pointing fingers make sure your hands are clean" - Nesta Robert ( Bob) Marley

"Never think that you're not good enough yourself. A (wo)man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning." - Anthony Trollope

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”- Master Yoda

I also love Blackadder so any thing from that is always good

"We're not at home to Mr Cockup"

"I have a cunning plan!" ha ha you have to love Baldrick!

What is your favorite colour?
Purest Green! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzG-AvlKBAA

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
I don't really have one. I live in jeans so I guess without them I'd be pretty screwed!

What is your dream job?It's going to sound naff, but exactly what I'm doing now! Or if I was clever and had the time to study I'd like to be an coleopterist.

What is your worst habit?
I'm really messy. I mean really messy, obviously its creative mess, I'm artistic don't you know?! (!)


Describe your personal style?
Geez I don't know, I'm not sure I really do have any style! I am really drawn to punk and grunge looks but a bit boho too. I'm sure my 'style' would depend on who you asked really.

What are you going to do after this?

Watch a movie with the boys and Daddy Cool, eating chocolate and home made popcorn.

What is your favorite fruit?

I love fresh cherries, in fact anything cherry really. Especially fond of a cherry daiquiri! So if you ever see me out now you know what to buy me!! (don't worry, I don't get out much!)
Also love fresh apricots.


What inspires you?
People do. I love watching them, seeing what they are wearing. Also art, in any form really. Random things grab my attention and get me head whirring.


Your favorite book?
I don't get a lot of time to read for myself. Kids books though, we get through a lot of them! As a parent I would recommend the Mr Gum series by Andy Stanton. They are fantastically funny.


What is your favorite smell?
I have a really terrible sense of smell! But nothing beats melted chocolate though or freshly baked bread.


What are you most proud of?
The boys definitely. They come in right at the top, but I am also proud of myself because I made them!


How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up?
Oh I don't, I have to make Daddy Cool turn it off! I usually get up once I'm awake. I don't like lay-ins really plus there is always so much that I need to do!



What's your 'claim to fame'?
ooh erm, My dads cousin is Nick McCabe from the Verve?? That any good? ha ha


Complete the following:

Love is… the best.

What would you like to make next?

A sale!! But failing that something for myself. I've never made any clothing for myself .. ever.

Have have chosen my 8 because I think that you should take a look at their blogs:

Jaz at Octoberfarm

Jennifer Rose at Fuzzydragons

Sarah at Photofairytales

Sam at Puddytatpurr

Jen at Bridesandbracelets

Raffles Bizarre at Raffles Bizzare

Kymberly at SugarMouse

Violet at Violet - Tales of an Ingenue

So there you go. And if I didn't answer that question you're dying to know the answer to, just ask it. If I don't like it I'll tell you to piss off! x x x

Lucky in June and some very talented people

Aside from the two dresses I made in as many days, the sewing is going slowly again, however June has already been a great month for me. Firstly I won two competitions by two very talented women...
One was a fantastic tooth fairy cushion from the lovely Louise at SewScrumpious which I won from her blog . I chose a camper van design and have decided to give it to the Ninja Jedi along with his birthday gifts. Louise even personalised it and added the name of his tooth fairy to the little note too.My next win was on the website PhotoFairyTales which is run by super talented Sarah. Every month she posts a tip sent in by her website visitors and offers a £5 voucher to use on her site in return. Well I was lucky enough to get my tip chosen this month so was given the chance to have a picture created for me.

Again I decided to put it towards a gift for Ninja Jedi and asked Sarah to create a Star Wars themed photo. She was more than willing to so do so I craftily took several pictures of the Ninja doing 'Jedi' poses and emailed them to Sarah.

I have to say that it was so lovely to have Sarah working on this, she was friendly and professional and she did a fantastic job, she wasn't happy until I was happy with the final picture - which didn't take long as it was perfect! Truly I can not tell you how utterly pleased I am with what she did and I would recommend her in a shot to anyone. Here is what she came up with: (sorry about the appalling picture -its a photo of the photo..)I just know that the Ninja is going to love it and whats more Sarah is so pleased with it and the Ninjas pose that she asked if she could use it on her site! So when you go to order your picture it may well be there!

My next talented person is Karine of ThePinkFairyCake I found a pattern online for a crocheted Ewok and thought that the Ninja would love one - again for his birthday but as I am not able to crochet I turned for help on the Misi forum, where Karine answered my plea and agreed to make up the Ewok for me. It took her less than a day and here is what she came up with:He really is fabulous and the Ninja will just love him!

Also this month I have been blessed with a gift from Jen. I sent her daughter one of my recycled fairy skirts as a gift after Jen featured them in her blog and mentioned that her 4 year old had said she wanted one. In return Jen very kindly made me a necklace. It is so gorgeous and really me, she did a fantastic job and I can honestly say I have worn it every day since it arrived.

While we are talking about talented people and June being lucky - why not try and get your hands on this gorgeous bracelet handmade by TheCrystalLady.

Anne-Marie is holding another fabulous giveaway on her blog this month so why not have a go at winning, all you have to do is leave her a comment and follow her blog.

Finally, even though I haven't sewn much so far I have been doing some craft.

I was given half of a blue faced leicester fleece from my local Freecycle a little while ago and I got round to washing some not too long ago.

Here it is dirty with some bits of sheep poo in it...And here it is after several hot soapy soaks, hot clean soaks and a lot of tips, advice and encouragement from Zoe. The bit on the left is clean and lovely the bit on the right has been dyed using onion skins.

Next I'm going to try out stinging nettle dying!

OK so I shall stop now - think I have said more than enough for one evening! And not just here but on the other blog too!

No one last thing I must mention- please take a look at this website TheGreenFamilia run by a friend of our Channa at OhSewNice, who has said that on Thursday 18th June (yup Ninja's Birthday) at 5pm she will add a little bit about my items to a gifts post on the site! Great huh! So yes do go see!

Thank you x x

Any one for seconds?

First up - massive thank you to those who have commented on the cherry skirt - your kind words and compliments mean more than you know!

Do you remember this fabric from the 'When you want synthetic...' post? Well it has now been turned into this drop waist dress:

I can see it being worn with lots of beads, a low slung belt, cowboy boots and a gorgeous tan! x x