Every dancer needs a tutu!

March 4, 2015

After a Twitter chat where Lucy aka @dearbeautiful shared her tutu tutorial I was inspired to have a go and make my own tutu for the upcoming Red Nose Day Danceathon. I quickly found what I needed online and set about ordering them, they arrived and then they sat there while I found the time to actually make my tutu. In between time I mentioned to my mum about the tutu and she reminded me of the turquoise blue satin tutus she'd made for my whole dance class back in the 1970s and offered to make me one for Sunday - I don't think she meant the same though. Well, I found a picture of a picture of them (so excuse the quality) and that's a lot of tutus to make. Clearly mum had forgotten just how much "fun" she'd had making those thirteen tutus...

Kudos to anyone who can work out which one's me...

So with the Danceathon looming - it's this Sunday, eek! - I thought I'd better get on with it and actually make myself a tutu. Or at least give myself enough time to shop for a replacement if I needed too. So yesterday I sat myself down and re-read the tutorial, unpacked the tulle and vowed to make myself something to wear. It's not as dramatic as that of course as I'll be wearing my gym kit, so the tutu is just an embellishment.

And until that Twitter chat I didn't know that Tulle came on rolls, or was soft. Clearly the scratchy net from the 1970s was etched on my mind. Anyway I started off with a 25 yard reel of Red and Cerise Tulle and some black elastic to use as the waistband.

I'd been contemplating what I could use to keep the elastic taut and then it came to me - I tied a waist-sized length over the door handles of my conservatory. It did make getting into the conservatory slightly tricky, but that was enough to spur me on to complete it in one go. I cut lengths of Tulle about 65cm and then started to knot them onto the elastic. I started with red and added occasional bursts of the pink.

It grew quite quickly and I was pleased with how it was looking. I'd also bought some black and silver Tulle as a standby in case I used more than I expected and ran out as I didn't think a "bald" tutu would be a good look. Part-way through I thought I might be getting close to the wire, so I shuffled the red and cerise strands along to add silver "highlights" every five or six strands, which I think gives it some extra depth.

The finished tutu is still quite red and pink! ...And I suspect my face might be after six hours of dancing too. There was just one thing left to do, and that was try it on. I was surprised at how full it was, and in fact how tutu-like. Clearly it didn't look as cute on me as on Lucy's beautiful girl but it will do me well for the Danceathon. If you want to dance-along turn on the Red Button and see how it's going, the dancing starts at midday. Or perhaps you'll join us and raise money either by #HonkfromHome or #DanceYourYears

And it's for a good cause too. Last week Helen over at MummyToTheMax hosted a post for me where I explained why I joined Team Honk this year. Even my Red Nose wanted to get into the act with the tutu - and who was I to say no?!

And in case the last few shots have blown your capacity for red and pink, here's a more calming black and white shot!

Sponsorship update

I've had great support with sponsorship from friends, family, blog readers and from BetFair for which I'm very grateful - thank you. It's not too late to sponsor me though, and even though I've reached my target - I'm actually way over it - you can still sponsor me. So if you're likely to donate to Comic Relief this year, please do it using my sponsorship page and help boost the Team Honk total.

And in that first photo, I'm right in the middle of the back row!

February in my garden

February 26, 2015

It's been almost a month since I popped my head out into the garden, so with the sun out again yesterday I thought it was about time I had another peek. There wasn't frost like the last time I was out there, but there was sun. I discovered my bulbs are continuing to grow, the mini cyclamen are in full flow, and the snowdrops I planted back in the summer are catching them up. I've almost got a flowering crocus and the daffodils are in bud, as are the camellias but I'm still waiting for bursts of colour.

The hellebore is flowering though and keeping those constantly flowering primulas company at the sunny end of our garden. The mint too has woken up and gone a bit bonkers, let's just say there'll be plenty of mojitos if it carries on.

The euphorbias are "flowering" too - I love their greenness and sheer determination to conquer my entire garden. Luckily for them, I like to have plants repeated through the garden so have been known to give them a hand and dig some up and move them further along. MOH on the other hand is less of a fan and affectionately refers to them as the Dalek Plants.

The hosta above has recovered from its frosting and its pink flowers peep out throughout the garden. These are another plant MOH and I disagree on, I think the problem is he never sees them flower...

The laurel tree at the far end of the garden is also starting to flower, and I'm sure the local bird population will have already spotted that and are no doubt keeping watch. While I was out in the garden taking these snaps a cheery blackbird provided the soundtrack, and I'm pretty sure there's a blackbird family in residence in the laurel tree too.

I liked how the light was catching the very spiky leaves of our yucca plant. It's a very forgiving plant to grow, it started much smaller and in a pot after being rescued by my dad from some waste ground behind my previous house. Since we've been here it's outgrown its pot twice and I've moved it a couple of times since I gave up on pots and planted it straight into the ground. It'll poke you in the eye or anywhere else though if you'll let it, but it's worth all that for when it flowers. Maybe we'll be lucky this year - it last flowered in 2013 and was magnificent.

My what-seems-like-everlasting wallflower is still going too - it's one plant that clambers where it wants to and seems happy to have found a new friend in my supposed-to-be-temporary log pile. And talking of log piles, I'll treat you to a shot of it...

It's something I really should sort out, along with the pile of tree pollarding detritus that's further down the garden and nowhere near as pretty. With a few sunny days I'll have it gone I'm sure, but I do wonder what I might find living in them both. The pear tree caught my eye too, I think its markings had been accentuated by the recent rain, but I thought it was pretty striking.

I've decided that I've got quite a few naughty bulbs, and if not naughty then definitely rebellious. I stopped counting just how many were growing on the wrong side of the border and in where there should be grass. At the moment that's their saving grace, but come grass cutting time I don't fancy their chances, so it'll be a race for me to dig them up and pop them back behind the mossy bricks before MOH and the lawnmower mow them down.

The sedum seed heads looked pretty good too, and at the base there's plenty of new growth too. This year I'll be ready with stakes for the sedums to stop them flopping around too much.

And finally, look my bulb lasagnes are growing! The pansies on the top have been less than spectacular so far, and pots still have their bubblewrap jackets on. But look, I will have tulips! How exciting is that?

So even after this short trip around my garden, my to do list is already growing and I can just start to feel that gardening bug coming back. So now I'm hoping for a few sunny days and a bit less rain so I can start to sort a few things out. And failing that I think it might be time to sort out my seed tin and start planning what to grow...

Tree following, it's been a while...

February 19, 2015

Although I've not shared the updates here I've still popped along each month to see how "my" tree - the Paulownia Tomentosa - has been doing. In truth, it hasn't been doing much at all since my last update in November, so there's been very little to share. It seems once it lost its leaves it shut down for winter. However earlier this week on one of those blue-skyed days I decided to have a walk to see how it was getting on.

As I approached I knew this visit would be more promising when I spotted the Camelias already in bloom, there were loads of them. Ours is traditionally late and this year is no different, so I've a while to wait before I experience these beauties closer to home.

The rhododendrons were also getting read to turn the walkway into a blaze of colour. Despite the sun the walkway was mostly in shade from the nearby buildings but just where my tree is there's a burst of sunlight. The tree which hasn't changed in the last month and was, I like to think relishing the sun as much as me. I think seeing its branches against the oh-so-blue sky has to be one of the most uplifting pictures so far this year.

The trees nearby had masses of crocuses growing underneath them, but not mine. It's just plain, well at this time of year anyway and later in the year nothing much will grow beneath its canopy anyway.

As I was photographing the crocuses I got chatting to a member of the College staff and I asked about the white painted wooden horse I'd spotted from the road, and if it was a memorial to WW1. It is and as well as the horse, there's a limber and a soldier too which I couldn't work out from the road. You can just see them in the shot below, the horse is on the right of the picture, sorry but this is the best my iPhone could do from a distance.