I'm Back!

Pretty much since I moved back down to London I've been neglecting my wee blog - I must apologize! However, during my absence I've magically gained a few followers so thank you guys *waves*, I promise I will try to update more.

I've even dropped out from reading the blogs I follow so I've been catching up on the lovely KaelahBee and I'm going to do the Regional Dialect Meme with my boyfriend - I'm Scottish, he's English so it'll be interesting to see how it goes! Basically, we say a list of words and then answer some questions and it's meant to show how pronunciation etc. differs from place to place. This will also be my first video!

Say these words:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

Now answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?

What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?

What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?

What do you call gym shoes?

What do you say to address a group of people?

What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?

What do you call your grandparents?

What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?

What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?

What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

I'm going to do a quick photo recap of the past few months too :) And let you guys see how my work is going for my final year collection!

Ammie

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House Update

A wee house update! (this is a little image heavy!)

I now have an official moving date - the 8th of October, just 5 days away. I feel absolutely no rush to pack which is kind of odd, I think I'm just sooo focused on actually movinggg!

• Bed & Mattress (very essential!)
• Duvet/pillow covers/bed sheets
• Bedside table
• Full length mirror
• Desk
• Something to keep all my make up/hair stuff in
• Curtains (half the windows in the house have no curtains!)
• Cutlery
• 2nd bedside lamp

I've also gotten a few more things that were on my list :) I went to Ikea today to pick up some essentials:

I got two of these for bedside tables - they're only £5 each!

And I picked up this desk for £21, it's 120x60cm so it's a great size and the plaster drawer unit I bought for all my girlie make up and hair things will fit underneath it so it can double as a dresser/desk.

I also got this duvet/pillow cover set on sale for £8.99!

One of my favourite mini-purchases, just 39p each! These little glass candle holder have a tall candlestick holder on one side and a tea light holder on the other. I only bought 2 but I wish I had bought some more!

Lastly, this is me and my boyfriends room, I have pictures of all the other rooms which I will do in another post. I'll also be taking lots of new pictures when we're moving in/moved in! Our room is 19x11ft, it's huge! And the entire left wall is fitted wardrobes :)

Ammie
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My First Grown-Up House Purchase!

Yup, I'm doing a blog update about plates!

Yesterday, I went random house-stuff shopping - I have a super long list of things I need/want:

• Bed & Mattress (very essential!)
• Duvet/pillow covers/bed sheets
• Bedside table
• Full length mirror
• Desk
• Something to keep all my make up/hair stuff in
• Curtains (half the windows in the house have no curtains!)
• Cutlery
• 2nd bedside lamp

The cutlery thing isn't essential, it's just a want because the cutlery we have is super cheap and very bendy...not good.
Anyway, I found this lovely crockery in a shop called Dunelm Mill. Last year, one of my friends bought me all my kitchen stuff which was amazing and such a great help to me, but this year I really feel like starting to build my own little collection of good-quality-will-have-this-for-the-next-10-years kitchen/home goods. I purchased 2 dinner plates and 2 side plates from the Amelia collection in Dunelm Mill, and I'm in love! I have 2 other side plates and dinner plates that my friend got me which have a blue and yellow polka dot border so I'm hoping they'll "match" in a cutesy mix-match way.
They did have tea cups, tea bag holders, teapots, bowls etc. but I resisted :)

You can see the full collection here and click through the links to see all the individual bits. I love the Cath Kidston vibe!

My plates drying on the rack to be packed away for moving next week!

Ammie
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A Recap

Paris snaps!!
So much has happened over the past couple of weeks, here's a quick round up -

1. Firstly, I went to Paris, it was beautiful! I really want to go back and really take it in, the trip was a little overshadowed by my hike to get there (night train from Glasgow to be at London Euston for 7am) so I was really tired and my friend I was with wasn't enjoying it.
2. I want to learn French! It's a lovely language, I tried to grasp a few phrases which was fun :)
3. I'm a little annoyed that my pictures didn't come out better, I'm still trying to get good with my camera and it's even harder when you're not with a photography enthusiast who understands your wanting to muck about with settings.
4. In sad news, my best friend isn't coming down to live with us anymore, I'm super gutted :(
5. In bittersweet news - I NOW HAVE A HOUSE IN LONDON! It's perfect, we are literally neighbours with 4 of my guy friends, don't ask me how we managed that in London...it was pure luck (or fate!)!
6. Moving in next week :)
7. I'm getting gerbils!! It started off as cat, then a rabbit, then back to a cat, and for a while guinea pigs, but we're not sure how the landlord would feel and they cost more/require more time/attention, the list goes on! I had gerbils as a kid and they were great, they're sociable, easy to care for and generally don't bite :) (unlike hamsters!).
8. I'm now obsessed with gerbils and building an amazing home for them.
9. I'm getting on with my 2nd summer project concept. Although I'm low on time and haven't done my dissertation.
10. It's getting really cold and autumnal!
11. I've got an Alice In Wonderland related commission piece to do in the next couple of weeks :)
12. I'm also obsessed with furniture shopping.

I think that's everything! I'm sure I've missed out a lot but you get the jist of it - so busy. I will try to update more often, I've been using my Tumblr a lot recently because it feels quicker and more instant when I'm in a hurry.

Ammie
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I Have A Love/Hate Relationship With Busy-ness!

I'm not going to be around much the next couple of weeks, hopefully next weekend we'll have a house sorted and I'll be too busy with packing & moving stuff!!

This is my slightly insane schedule for the next week:

• Monday: Sleeper train at 23.40 to London
• Tuesday: Get to London at 6.40, be at St Pancras for 7am, Eurstar leaves for Paris at 8
• Wednesday: Premier Vision
• Thursday & Friday: Paris
• Friday: Eurostar at 20.15, get to London at 21.30 (due to time difference), meet Jono at 21.40, check in to hotel about 22.30.
• Saturday: House hunting in London (will find the perfect house) 19.55 train from London to Sheffield
• Spend a couple of days at Jono's :)
• Monday 20th: Train from Sheffield to Manchster, 5 hour bus from Manchester to Glasgow.
• Tuesday 21st: Sleep.
• Wednesday 22nd: Fergie's birthday!

After all that it should be packing up my room again to move to London. I hope. :)

I'm taking my Nikon D5000 with me to Paris so I'll hopefully have lots of amazing pictures when I come back.
I'm also thinking of starting a 365 project on my Flickr, starting from the day we move into our house in London :) I want to document the awesomeness!

Ammie
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Post 100: Fashionary

My 100th post! How cool :)

I've just come across a pretty cool book called Fashionary. You can check out the website here. It's basically a sketchbook designed for fashion designers, it has templates printed on each page (faintly so you can choose to use the page as a blank page too). At first I thought this was a bit of a cheat, I've always drawn my own templates. Even in college when they wanted us to trace around a picture of a model and reduce her to a more "fashion silhouette", I preferred to freehand draw my models.

However, I looked a bit further into this book (because it was an excuse to put off doing any real work! hehe) and found it's so much more that 'just a sketchbook'. The front of the book is full of very interesting information! From body measurements to pattern pieces to typography. The bits which interest me the most are the fabric dictionary, the spec sheets and the seams & stitches. Although I've got loads of fashion books, I don't think I have one that keeps all these pieces of information together so it's definitely handy for that!

It looks really cool and sophisticated as well :) It's almost too pretty to want to draw on! I'm definitely considering it as a Christmas present option!

As an added bonus, you can download the templates from the website free of charge. This includes a full figure working drawing template (always useful!) and a menswear template!

Ammie
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Post 99! A Look At My Humble Studio

I was working away in my studio today and decided to take a time-out to take some pictures :) The awesome White Rabbit painting above is by my friend Ben, he's a wee bit cool, it's also a clock!

One part of my fabric stash. It's completely unorganised which I hate but there's so much of it! My ribbon is somewhat organised - satin, non-satin, randoms. Haha.

Some of my pattern cutting books. I got the bottom 3 for my 21st in June, I was just way too practical with my birthday haha They're great books though, I actually kind of enjoy pattern cutting sometimes!
The book on top is my samples book - I actually love how it doesn't even close properly anymore!

Pretty lace samples from www.dalstonmillfabrics.co.uk

So in love with my latex samples!!

The dress in the background is a mish-mash work in progress, it's actually 3 seperate things haha. I'm so messy when I get working on something, there's just stuff everywhere. It's all part of the creative process :)

Ammie
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