I've been tagged!

I've been tagged! By the lovely glue and glitter...

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

And here are some answers...

What is your current obsession? As always, vintage fabric. I can't resist. Even though I have never found any at my current local charity shop, I still have to look every time I go past, just in case... And in response to the BNP wins at the Euro elections, hassling our media to not give a platform to racists.

What is your weirdest obsession? Animal vegetables! Currently planning a competition with these at our local festival. And for years, I have been compiling photos of locks in public loos! It's a long story, but has an idea behind it.


Coffee or tea? Cups of tea. Earl grey (no milk) in a Berylware cup in a cafe with a Formica table. And in cafes that bring out a tea cup, sugar, milk, hot water, tea strainer, a tea pot and tea spoon, until the table is covered, all for one cup of tea. Any excuse for a cup and saucer.

What’s for dinner? Something warm as it's cold outside now. We have lots of potatoes from the organic box and lots of cabbage too. So may be bubble and squeak. Any suggestions for potato-cabbage combos are most welcome. Washing up first though!

What have you just made? I've just made some appointments with some lovely women to do some local oral history interviews. I can't wait to hear about the haberdashery shop that used to be in our now much depleted shopping parade.

What are you listening to right now? 'My wife's nightie' by Lord Kitchener. I'm a fan of the linked up randomness of lastfm and have Lord Kitchener tagged for this afternoons playlist. The words can be dreadful! But make me laugh. And I like the tunes. My fave is 'London is the place for me'.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Hockings vanilla ice cream from the van on Instow beach.

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you? Glue&Glitter's work is great. I have bought some of her bird in a cage buttons. A very talented and creative illustrator and designer.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? I'd go back in time and have a lovely long chat with my brother.

Which language do you want to learn? Japanese. Written and spoken.

What’s your favorite quote (for now)? "There is more than one way to burn a book" Ray Bradbury (I was thinking about Gov Schwarzenegger's plans to replace books with the internet in state schools).

What is your favorite colour? Blue. Sunny sky blue.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? My collection of 1950s dresses foraged from going to jumble sales every weekend for the whole of the 1980s! A long term project is to make some postcard prints about these.

What is your dream job? I have my dream job, a mix of research, interviewing and making things.

What is your worst habit? Internet!!!

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on? If I was given £100 out of the blue, I would spend it on lovely things made by the Folksy sellers for up coming birthday presents.

Do you admire any one’s style? Not really. I like my friends' dress sense but admire them more for how they think, which affects their 'style' I guess. I still think printed cotton dresses and DMs (for winter) or deck shoes (summer) look fab. I love seeing how people have taken 80's style and mixed it up for themselves, but really like the fashion sense of Tweed CC and if I had some spare pennies I would buy an outfit from Old Town.

Describe your personal style? Make do and mend! I like to dress up in a nice frock and matching neck scarf.

What are you going to do after this? I have some interviews to listen to. And make some vegetable badges for everyone taking part in our animal vegetable competition. And then finish off some more seaside purses. And later tonight, go on slug patrol! Hmm, but maybe a cup of tea first.

What are your favourite films? Miracle in Milan by Vittorio De Sica (1951). B&W matinees on a rainy afternoon and film noir movies late at night.

What is your favorite fruit? Apricots freshly picked still warm from the sun.

What inspires you? People who act on their beliefs. Today I was cheered up by the successful efforts to stop Nick Griffin from holding a press conference, even if some of them were a bit naughty. And handmade wonders scattered across the pages of blogs, Folksy and Etsy. So many creative, thoughtful people. And so generous too. I have been overwhelmed by responses to my request for prizes for our fundraising animal vegetable competition. Although I work in fabric, I love prints, especially etchings and can look at them for hours. The last art I saw was Martin Grover's mentioned on Wee birdy the other week and I fell for his work at once. I love it, especially "Al Green outside CarpetRight singing 'Strong as death,sweet as love'", I found it very poingnant. I enjoy seeing what these people are doing too.

Your favorite book? Tricky... I don't have a book I keep re-reading and have enjoyed many so it is hard to pick one. I like big books about printmakers and othe artists, old penguin paperbacks and illustrated children's books from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I use my vintage knitting and crochet directory a lot. My favorite book is one I can fit in my pocket and take out to read whenever I want. I'm enjoying Patrick Gale at the moment.

Do you collect something? If only it was just 'something' and not many, many things. Fabric is piled high in my work room, tea cups in the kitchen, board games in the spare room, prints on the walls, books by my bed, toys on the shelves, records on the turntable, ideas on my mind, ephemera in my pockets...

What is your favorite smell? A sunny day by the sea.

What are you most proud of? Our wedding last year.


How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up? Ha! No snooze with cats sitting on my head purring for their breakfast.

Cats or dogs? Three cats.That chase dogs away. Oh my word, I have just looked over to one of the cats keeping me company and I'm sure he is nodding his head to Nora Dean!

What’s your biggest fashion mistake? Oh gosh, where to start. What shall I confess to you! Hmm. How about the black boiler suits three of us wore to a concert. I'm not even going to tell you who we saw! It was a long time ago. A very long time.

Complete the following: Love is… more than yesterday less than tomorrow.

What would you like to make next? Apart from a cup of tea, I want to make some collages from the fabric scraps too small for seaside purses. And I have lots to make for Handmade Winchester and the Makey Do.

And I've tagged a selection of people who follow my blog or have left comments... Vintagegirl, theothermousie, angeltreats, seethewoods, bobobun , Linden, Beadypool, and nickynackynoo. Please don't feel obliged as I know you are all busy. I enjoyed doing this but have lots of catching up now!