Shouldbepenelope

death cab always help

2011-11-23T21:29:00.001Z

When I grow up...

2011-11-12T09:19:00.001Z

socks socks socks

2011-08-25T20:33:00.003+01:00

for anyone who has been wondering what i've been doing with my life for the past 7 months...

look here

and here

oh and here

i need a hobby

2011-07-26T21:12:00.002+01:00

Since i've had a full time job, i never really have time to do fun creative things anymore. I miss it a lot.

I've decided I'm going to get into raffia weaving

and cane work, I'm hoping that with the help of some straw weaving books I can create some cute little accessories in straw, and maybe one day make my own cane basket.

I think it will take a while though...my knitted blanket is taking forever.

I also want to knit this for henry

I never have time for anything anymore

2011-07-20T22:13:00.003+01:00

These things mainly include -

blogging

facebook

twitter

google+

and any other kind of social networking you can think of, i'm pretty rubbish at it really.

At the moment I mainly -

Go to work

Make lists

Knit my blanket (im half way through and i've been knitting it for nearly 6 months)

In other knitted news, i've recently been spending time browsing for the perfect christmas jumper, and i'm finding it pretty difficult to pick just one.

some summer pretend shopping

2011-03-30T19:21:00.001+01:00

some summer pretend shopping by philippatatt featuring a union jack bag

sewing is good for the soul

2011-03-13T22:07:00.002Z

I've had a rubbish weekend, but these embroideries make me happy.

dear birthday...

2011-03-02T20:47:00.001Z

please can I have these from office, i'd wear them every day x

Eggstrodinary

2011-01-30T12:30:00.002Z

Rob found a chicken in his garden, so he kept it and called in Rita

It lays the biggest eggs!!!

Black Swan

2011-01-20T15:34:00.002Z

I really can't wait to see this film, I also love the posters by LaBoca. I think the top one is my favourite, I like the way they've used our old friend negative space. hurrah.

It's official

2011-01-18T10:31:00.001Z

Hi everyone,

I have a crush on James Franco, there i've admitted it.

Ebay win!

2011-01-17T18:06:00.001Z

I'm selling my industrial leather sewing machine for a slightly newer model, therefore the old one has to go,

I put it up on ebay last week and there are 50 people watching it!

take a look - here

Embroidery Day

2011-01-16T19:19:00.004Z

Today I have mainly been making use of the embroidery foot I bought for my domestic sewing machine and drawing pretty things with it

My dad is a sales rep for a linen company, and he is going to show them but designs and hopefully they will buy some off me.

Tonight I'm going to knit, and watch this film -

New year, new resolutions

2011-01-16T00:23:00.002Z

Things i'm going to try my best to achieve and live by this year -

keep my blog more active (this one you are reading right now) I have been neglecting it
take more photographs
find a lovely job
make a special effort to pay off my debts/overdraft and be more careful with my pennies
eat more fruit
spend more time with my family
wear a wider range of my huge amount of clothes so none of it gets left out

I would also like to commit to taking up some kind of exercise, however I am rubbish at exercising and I feel like this is always one of my life aims that never really materialises. Therefore I cannot commit.

China. Part 4. 23.10.10

2010-10-23T09:33:00.001+01:00

Ni Hao,

So I haven't been very good at keeping up with this blog, it's been nearly 4 weeks since my last blog and I haven't even been that busy so i don't have any excuses.

On the 1st October we started a week long holiday from work as all of China has the week off to celebrate national day, which is a bit like independence day in America. A fact about me is that I passed my driving test on independence day 4 years ago. This day was also Jones' birthday, which I am so gutted I missed so i hated China a lot that day, i'm pretty sure I wrote Jones a letter on his birthday which ended with 'fuck you china', pure rage.

Anyway so we had booked train tickets to Beijing for the 1st, and we would be leaving our flat at about 4pm (9am English time) and Jones had uni so instead of talking to him on his birthday (English time), I spoke to him on skype at 9am China time (2am English time when he got in drunk from his uni birthday night out) got it? good. Also I bought his birthday pressies before I left so i got to see him open them too, i think he was more impressed with the jumper my mum bought for him though.

So we left for the train station, got attacked by a man with no arms when we were getting out the taxi and made our way to the waiting room. The waiting room at this train station was so huge, so much bigger than any i've even seen at airports. Also ridiculously busy because everyone travels to see family in the holiday week. The train was actually pretty ok, the seats were much more comfortable then I expected however sitting in the same place for 21 hours gives you some serious neck and back pain. Also my ankles and feet swelled up so i looked like one of those grannies that insists on wearing shoes that are too small and their feet go all squidgy.

When we arrived in Beijing we met up with my cousin and his lovely wife Lizi, she felt really bad for us because we had seats all the way there so insisted on buying us sleeper tickets for the way back, which we very much appreciated! We went back to Adam's house, had quick showers and then headed out for some food at Hou Hai, which is a man made lake with little tourist shops and bars around it. My week in Beijing is a bit of a blur because we did so much and I can't really remember what we did on which day. So the best part of the week was going to the Great Wall, it was the most amazing experience and I recommend that everyone should go at some point in their lives. I can't even really describe what it's like, but I guess when you go you just get this overwhelming feeling of Chinese history and the views are so breathtaking. It's just like nothing I have ever seen before, we also managed to go to a bit of 'wild wall' which is what they call the sections that haven't been renovated for tourism. The whole top of the wall is covered in trees and you have to work your way through without falling of the edge, and at intervals through the wall there are towers which we stood on top of one of them and you can see 360 degrees across the mountains.

Anyway so that was amazing, and you get a like a ski lift up the mountain which you can get back down again but we tobogganed. yes that's right, you can toboggan down the mountain!

So on other days we saw other tourist hot spots such as the forbidden city, the summer palace, hou hai which is a man made lakes with restaurants, bars and shops around it, the drum tower, the bell tower, temple of heaven, 798 (an arts district) and a variety of restaurants (Chinese, Mexican and Italian) I got stared at a lot in Beijing, a few people asked for photographs. At the summer palace we decided to see how many photos we could get in 15 minutes and 9 people wanted their photo taken with me, it's like I'm famous.

So after a busy but amazing week we got back on the train to Guangzhou, the journey was much more bearable this time as we had beds so could sleep easily for most of it. There was one day left of the holiday before we went back to work so we stocked up on food and generally chilled out ready to get back to a normal working life. Since Beijing, I haven't really done a lot other than work, at the weekends we mainly spend one day at some form of memorial where if there are boats for hire, we do just that and hire a boat and boat around for a while on a tiny lake or whatever. The other day we normally shop, but don't really buy much because I am trying to save my money so that we ca stay in Hong Kong for a few days before we go home.

So thats it, i've got 6 weeks left in China, which is a bit strange, over half way but i still feel like it's a long way to go. To combat my home sickness, Regan is taking me and sam out to get drunk tonight, woo!

China. part 3. 27.09.10

2010-09-27T15:29:00.000+01:00

It's been nearly one month since I got here which is crazy, i guess it is going quickly but there are definitely times when I feel like time is going a bit too slowly. Not that I'm not having a great experience here but I have been feeling a little home sick the last week or so.

I mainly miss -

Rob Jones
My lovely friends
Gravy based dinners
Real milk
The dull British weather (i've decided I'm not a fan of extreame weather)
Walking down a street inconspicuously.
Walking down the street/in a shop/around a zoo/generally anywhere without someone spitting.

On Friday, Regan took us to a pirate DVD shop where we bought 10 DVDs for 90 yuan, which just under £9, bargain.

Since then we have been in work, i thought we had Sunday off but alas i was mistaken. Ajoy and Cedric have been out of the office for what seems like forever so we have been busying ourselves researching for JNBY and designing running shoes (which I'm pretty rubbish at, if I ever run its in Topshop pumps) but I'm giving it a go.

In other news, we saw a boy poo on the street today, apparently all the children wear crotchless pants for toilet convenience.

China. part 2. 22.09.10

2010-09-22T13:02:00.000+01:00

So I would like to upload some photos, however as I can only access blogger through a proxy i can't upload anything. So i'll just have to describe what i've been doing.

Last saturday Regan took us to a huge stationary market, apparently here they have huge buildings that just sells one type of product such as stationary, or leather, or sports supplies. We got some proper graphic pens for about 40p each which is just ridiculous because they would probably be about 10x as much at home. We also went to a french restaurant called 'the orient express' which is literally a train carriage which has been turned into a restaurant. It was a bit more expensive than other restaurants here but it was worth it because I got to eat mash potato for the first time since I got here.

On Sunday we went to the zoo, which was huge and had an array of exciting animals, my highlight was the panda but i also saw hippos, rhinos, and a range of bears. I bought a soft toy panda, his name is peefer.

Most of last week was spent in the studio as there was a lot of hand drawn and computer based work to do, starting with football boots for Australian company X Blades. We researched, developed designs and created a presentation in 2 days which is much quicker than I'm used! I'm also not so sure I'm the best at designing football boots but hey, it was my first time. We also worked on specs and colourways for Killah (same company as Miss Sixty) and developed our ideas for JNBY.

Work has been a bit strange because it is Mid Autumn Festival on Thursday which is a national holiday in China. So that people have time to travel to family for day of the festival the government also requests that companies give one day either side. However you have to work one day each weekend surrounding the festival to make up for the two extra days you have off in the week. So last week we worked Monday - Friday, day off Saturday, work Sunday - Tuesday, off Wednesday - Friday, work Saturday, day off Sunday and then back to normal on Monday. phew.

Our first day off started with a trip to the train station to book tickets for Beijing, there is a week long national holiday from 1st October, and as my cousin lives there we decided to go up there and see the great wall. In the que for the ticket office we met a sweet little man and his wife, he said he was learning English and had written something which he wanted us to check for him to make sure it made sense in English. At first we thought he was a bit creepy but he actually turned out to be really nice, he also helped us buy our train tickets which was a huge help. Although we couldn't get sleepers on the train because they were to expensive so we've ended up with seats which is ok but the the train journey is 20 hours! oh well it will be an adventure.

So then we headed straight to a shopping center as seats on the train were only £25 which is about half what we thought we'd have to pay. I bought some comfy joggers to wear on the train so i won't complain as much.

I think tomorrow Regan is going to take us to a pirate DVD shop as apparently they are all the rage here and you can buy dvds for 20p. woo.

China. Part 1. 10.09.10

2010-09-10T16:44:00.002+01:00

So i've been in China for a week now, it's going so quickly already!

Me and Rob had a big cuddle, and then my mum and dad drove me to heathrow airport last thursday. My flight was at 6.30pm but we got there way too early so we had a big cup of tea, met sam and said a long goodbye to our parents. After 12 hours of half sleep, lots of BA food and 2 films we landed in Hong Kong where we then had to get a mini bus to the Hong Kong/China border, go through customs again and then get a couch to Guangzhou which took 5 hours!

So on Friday at 7pm Guangzhou time we finally arrived at the China Hotel where we were met by Wendy, who doesn't speak much english but is very lovely. She then summoned a driver to pick us up, and to be honest all we wanted to do was go to our apartment and sleep, however Cedric and Ajoy were waiting to take us out for a meal so we had a quick shower, met everyone and went to a traditional chinese restaurant.

Our apartment is really nice, i don't have any photos just yet but it's pretty much a room with a kitchen, sofas and a tv, two bedrooms and a bathroom. We also have a washing machine on a tiny balcony which officially makes it better than my uni house.

On Saturday I slept until 12 because I had no sleep in about 2 days, and then we met Wendy to do some useful shopping. She took us to Ikea which was insane! it was so busy and there were people asleep on all the sofas and chairs. We bought some useful things which meant we could cook for ourselves and then bought some food to cook with.

On Sunday we met Ajoy, Cedric and his wife Bobo for lunch and then they took us around two massive shopping centers as a bit of market research. Guangzhou is a massive city and there are so may people everywhere constantly. Most people stare at me too because I'm the only blonde person in thousands of brown haired Chinese people. We also went to a supermarket called taste where we managed to get some English imported food like Heinz baked beans and red sauce! woo!

Monday was spent getting to know everyone at RADDISSHmE and starting research for JNBY, which is a brand the company is developing a A/W 2011 range for. On Tuesday all the designers (Me, Sam, Nikki and Regan) headed to some huge fabric and leather markets with our product development manager, Lilly. It was sooo hot, actually like walking around an oven, but the markets were all inside and everywhere is air condiioned here so it wasn't too bad. The amount of leathers and materials available here is mind boggling, there is so much more choice that you get in england. So we picked up loads of samples to show Ajoy the next day.

On Wednesday we headed out a 7.30am to visit two factories just outside the city, one for Italian menswear brand Energie (which is mainly trainers) and one for another menswear brand Fued which sell rugged leather boot. It was great to visit the factories and I feel like i'm learning so much already. Especially as I have little experience with menswear and no experience with trainers.

I'm actually enjoying working with trainers alot more than i thought I would, and we spent the last two days making corrections and picking fabrics for the Energie trainers being developed at the first factory we visited on Wednesday. The studio is pretty much a large room with exposed brick walls and a concrete floor, we have huge metal desks and there is a balcony where Ajoy and Cedric work. Ajoy's corgi also comes to work every day and he is the cutest dog I have ever seen, I can definitely see why the queen loves them so much.

So tomorrow, me and sam are going to explore Guangzhou as much as we can without getting lost, starting with the zoo at the end of our road.

China ahoy

2010-08-06T17:00:00.004+01:00

I'm pretty sure most of you already know most of this, but i thought i'd do a little blog update anyway.

Just before easter, my head of department at uni (Mills) told all of footwear that we were to apply for a design internship in china on the double, which had been offered to all final year footwear students in the UK. This may sound like a huge amount of people, but Footwear design is only taught at 3 unis here, Northampton, LCF and De Montfort. Never the less, with so much competition, and the fact that I really only submitted some barely started portfolio sheets and photographs of my prototypes, I didn't really expect to hear any more about it.

However a few of weeks ago, Mills called to say that I had been offered said internship, and so i had to decide that day if I wanted to go. And in the end, I said I did.

The placement is at footwear design studio RADDISSHMe, located in Guangzhou, China. The main project the studio is currently working on is with Chinese brand JNBY, who have just opened a store in New York, but they have also worked for brands such as Prada, DKNY, Miu Miu and Paul&Joe. So i'm very excited!

The area is also known as Canton, so it's where Cantonese food comes from and they speak Cantonese. According to my cousin (who lives in Beijing) - "Most young people in the city probably have good English, you will be 4 hours or so from Hong Kong which feels much like the UK apart from the weather. Guangzhou will be hot and humid and you will probably find that you are taller than most people there, even the guys. Everyone will love your blond hair. The food is scary, they eat everything that moves, insects, offal. If eating scorpions and silk worms (these are common and not considered strange) turns your stomach you can pretend to be vegetarian for a few months. "

The date that i'm going keeps changing, but at the minute i'm destined to fly over on 2nd September, as long as my visa goes through ok! At the moment my emotions keep swinging between excited and enthusiastic to worried and scared but hopefully i'll be less bipolar when i get there.

In other news, i also found out that i'm in the final 10 for the Graduate 100 fashion award, there's going to be a swanky awards ceremony which i really wanted to go to because it includes a big gala dinner but it's happening while i'm in china. boff.

While i'm in China I think i'm mainly going to miss -

- Rob Jones
- my friends and family
- eating (apparently they eat cat!)
- my sewing machine

I'm mainly going to enjoy -

- clothes for small people
- skype
- not eating cat
- designing shoes :)

This is why i wish I had gone to glastonbury this year...

2010-07-29T15:01:00.001+01:00

please follow my second blog, thank you

2010-07-07T20:09:00.002+01:00

I know it's greedy, but i now have a second blog concerning all things business such as my website news, projects, new ranges, collaborations, events etc etc.

I'm keeping this one for all things personal but if you are interested in the philippatatt.co.uk empire please follow - http://philippatatt.blogspot.com/

merci x

It's been a while

2010-06-17T16:46:00.005+01:00

but i've just been so busy!

So i scrambled my life to together and handed my work in on 28th of May. This is what 8 months of work looks like -

Since then I've been up and down the country and have had very little time for blogging.

On the 29th I jumped in my little car and went home, mainly spending some well earned time with Jones, until Tuesday 1st June when my lovely mum gave me a cheeky lift back to Northampton. I mainly returned because in first year we went out EVERY Tuesday and since becoming a slave to my FMP I've barely put my dancing shoes on. However not many people were around in the end so it ended up being just four of the girls, I wore tiny sparkly shorts to reflect the lack of people. There so tiny, you can't even see them -

On 3rd June we headed into uni to take down all our work which had been marked, clear our spaces and paint our boards ready for private view. I had to get Parker to paint the top of mine because I'm not tall enough. We also packaged up bags and shoes to go to graduate fashion week, I was quite flattered because 7 of my 8 pieces were selected for the stand, however this did mean that I only had 1 shoe for private view the week after.

On the 5th I headed down to Epsom to shack up at Jones' house ready for GFW. I went over to earls court on the 6th because I was nominated for the Mulberry Accessories Award so had to wait on the stand all day for the judge so I could talk about my work. I was also entered for the Portfolio award, although I did not win either it was nice to be picked.

On Monday 7th June it was Jallam's birthday so we went for some food at the slug and lettuce and went for some drink that night. Before this me and Jones also went charity shop shopping where I bought some floral trousers and a sparkly t shirt. Hurrah.

On the 8th I packed my bag, and while Jones traveled home I went back to earls court in time for the Northampton catwalk show. We were on the little catwalk this time but it was a really good atmosphere (probably helped by copious free wine before) and all the collections looked lovely. I got the couch back with everyone else, and then like troopers we went out in northampton when we got back.

Thursday 10th of June and I spent the day setting up for Private view, most of my work was still in London so it was a bit sparse, but i just pretended it was the minimal look I was going for -

My family came to private view, which was nice although I don't think they really understood why I only had 1 shoe and a bowl of knots to show for £23000 of debt. After having a quick look around the rest of the department we all headed back home in my dad's car. Stopping at my sisters house on the way because apparently she is some kind of adult now and has a mortgage.

So I stayed at home for a long weekend, me and Jones did very enjoyable activities such as watching Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, eating happy meals, watching the football at Young's and playing Nes. Because I can't seem to stay in one place for more than 4 days, I drove back to Northampton on Tuesday, had a last Tuesday out with everyone, and then went to the Northampton Catwalk Show last night.

Phew, in other news i've been featured on a couple of blogs here and here.

Nearly there

2010-05-20T21:37:00.003+01:00

I've not really been posting a lot recently, mainly because my life is consumed by portfolio work. Here's a sneaky peak.

The end is nigh

2010-05-08T20:04:00.003+01:00

This week has mainly been - listening to the smiths, packaging post and not getting around to sending it, eating pretty unhealthy food and being a bit lazy. After bank holiday Monday, I found it pretty hard to get back into uni on Tuesday, and with the laser cutters future hanging in the balance I took the afternoon off and went to town for general uni supplies. However no sooner had I got focused again on Wednesday, I had Thursday away from uni to attend 'Is it for me?' at Northampton holiday inn.

As I have somehow got the idea in my head starting a business will be fun, I am attending some courses to get me going. This one was a little bit strange, most people there were at least 15 years older than me, and it was mainly focused around being in the right state of mind to start a business ('you are all winners, you are an entrepreneur, everybody say it - I am a winner, I am an entrepreneur!') However by the end of the day I was starting to enjoy myself, and I feel a bit better about my life plan.

Friday was spent making yet another bag and then by 6pm I had made the spur of the moment decision to head home for the night and get nice a drunk with Ayres. I drunk a copius amount of wine, danced a little and then bought a rather large baguette. The highlight being getting back to Ayres' house and him producing a donut, yum.

Now i should really do some portfolio work.

This weekend

2010-05-03T18:32:00.003+01:00

has been really lovely, and I can't wait to move home for the summer.

I drove home friday night, and i was very naughty and ate a burger from china city before I left. It was worth it. However by the time I got to Jones' I had a mega mega headache and I felt like my eyes were going to fall out. Therefore we stayed in and watched Up and I ate a muffin. What really cheered me up was this money box that Jones' got me while in Epsom.

It's a cake!

I woke up refreshed on saturday, headed back to my own house to find the biggest and scariest bumble bee I have ever seen. I only spied him as I walked past him on the stairs and therefore got stuck upstairs because I was too scared to walk past him in case he got angry and stung me. So I called Jones and he rescued me, unfortunately the bee had to loose a few legs but we all have to make sacrifices.

We then watched There Will Be Blood, which was so amazing but haunted me for the rest of the day. After having some drinks with Olner at his house on saturday night ('no the big lion is still alive, its the slightly smaller lion that's dead' ha!), I got really creeped out at about 2am and had to climb in to bed with Jones because I was too scared to sleep on my own (we are meant to sleep in separate beds, but i'm an incredible wimp)

Today was spent generally slobbing around as we all went out drinking last night. And this afternoon I went and picked up my leather machine which I won on ebay, I have named him Larry and I can't wait to clean him up because he's a bit rusty and generally neglected. Don't worry Larry, you're safe now.

Now i'm going to have some dinner with my mum and dad but then I have to go back to the realities of Northampton and my ever so boring life consumed by my fmp. boo.

This week

2010-05-02T12:54:00.003+01:00

I competed 6 products, which is nice because that is the minimum so in a way the pressure is off a bit. However I have planned to do 8 over all so still a bit to go but im not to worried.

On Monday I took some time to attach my lazer cut feathers to the clog a made last week, I am pleased with it although it's a bit of a beast which means my boot may be even more beefy but hey ho.

I spent some time working on my portfolio this week because mine was taken to the british fashion council graduate preview day on Wednesday. Before Easter we were also told we had to apply for a 3 month work placement at a design house in south china, and the deadline was Friday although it was a bit of a surprise as we only found out 8pm Thursday night!

Finally I made this beast of a blue blue bag this week, I'm not sure if i like it as much as the others but it was such a hoohar to sew so I'm not going to even attempt to change it now.

I also prototyped my final bag which will be a feathers clutch.

Next week I will be -

finding out if the laser cutter is broken forever
making my final clutch
attending a day course called "Is it for me?" to find out if starting my own business is, in fact, for me
hopefully starting my final boot.

Until then I'm going to eat Sunday dinner and go out tonight with da boyz, hurrah x

Today I have mostly been editing my duck photos.

2010-04-29T17:29:00.002+01:00

gah!

2010-04-24T17:36:00.002+01:00

I've been so super busy lately i've forgotten to blog, here's a quick update -

I'm my second week at home for Easter I took over my parent's dining room and proceeded to draw as many ducks, shoes and canal boats that I could. Hoping that this would boost my portfolio.

On my return to uni this week i'm not really sure what i did for most of the week. Monday was mainly meetings, Tuesday was going to tandy and knotting leather, Wednesday was more knotting, Thursday I tidied my space and cut out a bag ready for when I'm brave enough to make it and Friday was my most productive day, i made a shoe.

It started like this

I covered the heel and made the first upper layer, had a few glue disasters but over all not to hazardous

The tricky bit was nailing on the second upper layer as the nails had to go into pre drilled holes, but luckly it worked first time. The purple section will be covered in purple and brown lazer cut feathers.

My portfolio is not going so well, I have to have 12 pages ready for monday. blah.

This week i also wrote a guest blog for jones. Lovely x

oh how things have changed

2010-04-06T17:45:00.004+01:00

wow its been a while since a blog, i have been a bit busy though.

The last few weeks of uni were a bit manic, one particular week of hardcore bag making and then my review. Which was good apart from Eric commenting that i was trying to dictate how people should dress by lining a black bag with blue lining "you are just telling people that to wear this bag they have to wear a blue and black outfit" but Eric, to be a designer is to dictate how or what people should be wearing, that's the point!

Moan over, I tried to put in some decent hours work at uni but it's difficult to keep motivated after review. So i packed my bags and headed to Epsom to spend some well deserved time with Jones. We went to Kingston on the Thursday to see Hot Club de Paris, which was nice because I had forgotten how much I liked them, and then spent the rest of the weekend generally slobbing around and watching Robin Williams films, which is how i like it.

I headed back to Northampton on Monday morning, overly concerned that Mills would be angry with for having days off, only to find that no one was in uni or in fact had been for days.

Last Thursday I had my photo shoot, which I had been both excited about and dreading ever since I decided to use live ducks. Mine was the last shoot, on the last day but the photos look amazing. I felt pretty guilty that the ducks pooed everywhere (as i didn't have to clean it up) but they seemed into the modeling thing by the end of it.

My mum picked me up on Friday morning, and when I opened I was greeted with "oh Philippa, you do look tired" But in my defense this was because I hadn't slept properly in days and I was ill (and still am) with a very frustrating sore throat.

So now I'm home which is lovely, and these things have happened in this order -

1. I didn't get a stand at Lustre
2. I went out and got drunk and went to reflex
3. I have made lots of my new jewelery ideas
4. I made rice crispy cakes (regular chocolate and dairy free)
5. Jones through me a surprise birthday party at his house, which was super lovely, and he made me cake and I had a box of wine and it was all my favorite people together.
6. I went to Jones' aunties and had a 3 course Sunday dinner

After finding out I didn't have a stand at lustre I have been feeling pretty sorry for myself, however I decided it's time for a fresh start. To coordinate with this I am now turning Shouldbepenelope into a slightly more sophisticated business just under my name - Philippa Tatt. Even though I didn't get the stand I am still going to make some smaller bags and purses and try and find somewhere else as a starting point. I'm not sure if i'm going to commit to it yet, as I might work for a while after I graduate. But even so I have a new website, a new blog (for the business) and a new logo.

www.philippatatt.co.uk
http://philippatatt.blogspot.com

four out of six ain't bad

2010-03-18T18:26:00.001Z

My favourite things 16.3.10

2010-03-16T22:37:00.002Z

tailored shorts
ducks
antique pockets watches
sleep
jones
coco pops and other varieties of delicious cereals
tuna sandwiches
incoming bursary money
feeling nice about my work
impending easter :)

Lustre

2010-03-16T22:32:00.002Z

I have applied to Lustre this year, fingers crossed I get a place, toes crossed I get a free stand.

My products should mainly look like this, If I can lazer cut enough feathers in time!

ducks win!

2010-03-09T20:14:00.004Z

After a huge slump with my work since Friday, things are starting to pick up. Despite that one of the visiting lectures yesterday slated my purple shoe, some words of encouragement from my fellow footwears such as

"whatever man, when was the last time she made a shoe, lee practically wet himself over it"

mmm

have lifted my spirits. Furthermore my idea to have a live duck in my photo shoot, originally dismissed by Mills and Cousin, has been approved by the photographer. Lets hope it doesn't poo on my shoe, or the phographer.

I am hiring my ducks from this man...

gah!

2010-03-07T12:53:00.001Z

recent times in bullet points

2010-03-07T00:45:00.003Z

my laptop charger broke + £50 = new charger and back to a technological world.
I also treated myself to a new ipod, I lost mine about a year ago.
I won another bursary at uni, which I am incredibly grateful for and also slightly embarrassed about.
Most of my time revolves around my collection which I don't really like anymore and almost ruined on Friday
I currently eat a cream egg everyday
I also consumed a lot of cake this week.
Georges will soon be gone forever
I still need a hair cut
My favourite crisps at the moment are cheesy wiggles
I am very much looking forward to easter, I am however avoiding my birthday
I went to a 'bring a dish' party, but we arrived late and everyone was full, so i ended up bringing most of my cake home (which is why i've eaten so much)
I dyed my hands blue, and i'm pretty sure it's permanent.

by robert jones, journalist extrodinaire x

2010-03-02T22:04:00.002Z

1 down, 6 to go

2010-02-24T19:08:00.003Z

nearly finished

just starting

still in progress

Tell me now where was my fault, in loving you with my whole heart.

2010-02-16T20:18:00.007Z

Well I haven't blogged properly in a while, here is an update to the last few weeks. I have mainly been knitting socks,

...listening to mumford and sons and working on my fmp. I went to Jones' at the weekend after not seeing him for 2 weeks, which I know sounds like a tiny amount of time but I always find it pretty tough. We mainly had a lazy weekend, I ate pizza and ice cream even though jones's can't eat it which was quite cruel really, and we went out for a meal on saturday night which was nice although the walk there was very rainy.

He looked like this, and I looked like this.

Back to uni on sunday and straight back to hardcore work on monday morning, after a severe telling off about everyone's dedication on Friday it was time for some serious shoe making.
I put together this bag design, although it's still needs a lot of work. it looks a bit vampy. and I've also got a nicer bag frame now.

My design -

My first prototype -

My second prototype, much better -

I'm still not sure whether to keep the flappy bits at the top or not, as it makes the top a bit awkward to get into with the hinges of the frame halfway through the bag.

I also got my first heel made this week by the magician that is Paul in 3D.

My design -

My uncovered heel -

I'm really impressed, I think my second heel should be finished tomorrow. I went to park campus today to split some leather to cover my heels in, most of which got chewed up by the machine. I also went on a road trip with Curtis which was nice although it is snowing and I nearly fell into a curb.

This the the final shoe design I have settled on, unless Cousins says no tomorrow -

My feather sample -

My design in colour -

I am currently experimenting with different colourways which I will hopefully make my final decisions with on friday. If you haven't been able to tell from this blog, i literally live, eat and sleep my fmp at the moment, so i'm really hoping the snow doesn't stop me traveling home this weekend for a tiny nuneaton shaped break.

It's a camera, thats a book

2010-02-10T21:39:00.003Z

I really want one of these cameras that look like small books, they use 110 film and i recon would make super good looking photos, however i have millions of cameras so I could probably do without.

I found it as www.fredaldous.co.uk, which also have loads of great crafty bits, haberdashery, and fun kits such as lace making and music boxes. i love it a little bit.

I have currently fallen out of love with my fmp a bit this week. I feel like all I do is sit in the leather room making the same upper pattern and buying zips that are still not quite right for my market level. If only I had taken a degree in zips first and then I would know exactly what zips to use where and when.

+ review went well on tuesday
+ bin bag party
+ seeing jones this weekend
+ my lasts are here!

- zips
- running out of money
- missing jones

In the last week I have mainly been...

2010-01-25T21:53:00.003Z

...writing my dissertation.

And making this shoe.

It's just a rough prototype at the moment, I want the heel to be more rounded and the platform doesn't fit the last as it hasn't been custom made. For my final version I want the toe to be in bedded into the platform and everything will be much nicer.

here is the start of another shoe, it's a tricky one.

I can't wait to hand in my dissertation and get stuck in to my fmp. I was going to make 6 shoes but I am now attempting 4 shoes and two bags.

I spent this weekend having a break and mainly sitting with jones, watching films and eating 3 times my body weight in food. hurrah.

2010-01-18T18:03:00.002Z

I really enjoy this illustration work by Kristina Collantes, it's pretty happy and the feet are fun.

Today i have mainly been working on a prototype, also trying to design bags and failing.

I am hoping to lazer cut some leather tomorrow which will really help my design work if it looks good.

I generally spent my weekend with jones, eating way too much and watching lots of films. I particularly enjoyed Human Traffic which I have not been allowed to watch recently, because jones said so.

I'm hoping to spend tonight getting my dissertation close to finished, hopefully guy west will call me soon and we can chat about shoes and heels and transvestites. the end.

Some design work.

2010-01-17T21:27:00.002Z

where did that come from?

2010-01-14T15:12:00.002Z

I'm making progress now, 8500 words exactly - just 500 more to go and then a quick intro and conclusion, I CAN'T WAIT TO FINISH!

I am kind of enjoying it a bit more though, which is nice, now it's nearly over.

in other news -

I spent £90 on leather goods and eyelets today :(

I'm going to Epsom tomorrow :)

8058 words

2010-01-13T15:41:00.003Z

I feel like the end is nigh, although I am worried once I edit and re jig my structure that I'll end up with about 2000 words and have to do it all again.

I am taking a bit of a break tonight to go and see sherlock homes, but until then I'm determined to get another thousand words.

It's been snowing all day so I hope the cinema is open, i've been living in my wellies since I got back to Northampton but they are quite short and tough and hurt my calves so I'm a bit bored of the snow. Mainly because of this footwear issue.

a list for the next few weeks -

finish dissertation, bind and hand in
decide my key piece and make a prototype plus maybe one more for luck
buy lots of leather lacing to knot together
master the lazer cutting machine
decide my last shape - order lasts
decide my colour pallet and range - order materials
knit some socks
glue some shoes back together that need urgent repair
dye hair
buy an all in one fleece pj suit from primark for cold cold nights

All of these things are equally important.

some good, some bad

2010-01-12T21:40:00.002Z

+ 7448 words

- 2502 words to go

+ knitted socks

- not having enough time to knit jones some socks before winter is over

- eating all my christmas chocolate

+ drinking loads of tea

- never wanting to go out anymore

- missing home and the people I often see there

- 50% of my collection done before easter

+ 50% of my collection done before easter

+ bed and hot water bottle

Winner!

2010-01-11T22:39:00.002Z

7021 words!

sigh

2010-01-11T18:20:00.003Z

3680 words to go, I really want to get to 7000 words tonight, fingers crossed!

I got a book out the library today called men in skirts, and the first picture I saw when I opened it was a man in a kilt flashing his bum, so that was pretty exciting.

Thanks to my lovely friends he keep leaving me nice comments, i really appreciate it, especially considering I am currently writing the dullest blogs about my dissertation word count.

New beginnings

2010-01-11T09:48:00.003Z

Today is my first day of the spring term, my last spring term of uni, ever.

Last night i gave up on my dissertation after reaching the triumphant word count of 6067 words, yes! and to celebrate the fact that Peel and Parker had returned to Ab Ave we went to The White Elephant for a little drink. We met some of the Kingsthorp Grove girls, but only managed to have one drink before the bar closed and a very rowdy land lady was chucking us out ("Can you make a move now please!")

So it was mega snowing outside and we all thought that maybe uni would be closed today (it's not), so we headed back to Ab Ave and had a few more drinks, including the wine my dad had so kindly donated to me. Curtis was falling asleep so the girls headed home about 1ish and I headed up to bed soon after.

We've got briefing at 11, although I'm not sure what the plan is for the rest of today. Hopefully not tutorials as I haven't looked at my FMP for about 6 weeks. I've bought Georges back to uni with me so that I can collect materials for my collection in the next few weeks. I'm really looking forward to handing in my dissertation and just being able to concentrate on my FMP. As usual i've made life pretty difficult for myself as I've chosen to create my own fabrics which is pretty long winded and I think will turn out to be expensive too. It's strange that I've only got two terms left but at the same time I think I'm looking forward to finishing uni, I've really enjoyed my time here but I'm not sure if i've maybe out grown it a bit? I really loved first year, and second year was a but stressful but still OK, maybe it's because I was a couple of years behind anyway when I started so I think I'm just ready to have a bit of a break from education. Also every time I come home I just want to concentrate on Shouldbepenelope.

Maybe i'll feel better once I get back into the swing of it this week.

In other news -

Miss Moss has agreed to design an illustration/logo for Shouldbepenelope, she did some lovely work for Boat To Row so I'm really excited about what she will come up with.
We've got a writing week in 2 weeks, so I'm hoping to get my dissertation done in plenty of time to go home for a bit
I miss Jones quite a lot

I am so slow at writing...

2010-01-10T20:14:00.001Z

5850 words so that's 4150 words to go, 115o words off my target for today.

FAIL!

to compensate I just ate a giant chocolate coin (and some little ones too)

still going

2010-01-10T14:08:00.001Z

Garry is coming round for some tea in a minute,

4300 words to go!

A new day

2010-01-10T11:02:00.002Z

and I'm determined to get a chunk of my dissertation done, although surely if that were really true I'd be doing it now instead of writing this blog.

4897 words to go, but I want to get to try and get to 8000 words for tuesday so thats 2697 words today. Considering I wrote about 900 yesterday, I'm not feeling optimistic.

In other news, I've been on my own at Ab Ave since Friday afternoon and I think I'm going a bit insane. I've become a bit obsessed with the radiator in the bathroom, as I'm not strong enough to turn it up and I keep trying to concoct ways to fix it. Maybe that's why I only wrote 900 words yesterday. My flatmates are getting back today so hopefully with a bit of social interaction i'll return to sanity soon.

I've written more

2010-01-09T17:50:00.000Z

but for some reason my word count has gone down, 5226 words to go...

gaaaaaaaaaaaah!

2010-01-09T15:39:00.002Z

4906 words to go!

Another year, another term

2010-01-08T14:40:00.002Z

I had a lovely cuddly night with Jones, packed my bags (and boxes and crates and shopping bags - why do I insist on carting so much stuff around with me?) and headed back to the hamptons today, the northamptons that is.
I was a bit dubious about the journey, but it was ice free apart from the stretch of pavement between Georges and my uni house.

Ab ave was chilly as ever so I fired up the boiler and put on my wellies to stop me falling over while unloading my ridiculous amount of belonging into the house. I've made my bed and unpacked some clothes, but have mainly given up on unpacking to read 'Dressed to Kill' by Eddie Izzard. Which is dissertation research but I think i'm secretly going to enjoy reading it.

No one else is in the house yet, so i'm hoping this is going to force me into to writing the 5000 words I'm meant to for Monday.

2010-01-06T13:47:00.002Z

Last night a braved the drive to Jones house, which took me over half an hour which is long considering it normally takes at least half that, and we built a snowman.

He's falling over a bit now though, we also drove to town this morning and jones veered his car into the pavement with a big bang, I was scared.

I find it really strange that no one can cope with snow in this country, in other parts of the world they have constant snow through winter and everyone still manages to go to school and work, and make the same journeys and lead the same lives they normally would. Snow is headline news here and we are all told to only leave the house is extremely necessary. It does make it a novelty though, especially when your a child and you wake up to snow, so you listen to the radio to see if school is closed which it always is because no school boilers can cope with cold weather. I also like how peaceful it is when it snows because no one leaves their houses so there is no one around outside.

However I've got to drive back to Northampton on Friday, so i hope the now has calmed down by then, I don't fancy getting stuck somewhere half way.

2009

2010-01-04T19:15:00.004Z

Thinking about it, 2009 was an eventful year.

Good things that happened last year,

I went to Tokyo for a week
A russian doll necklace from Shouldbepenelope was featured in American Elle Magazine
I set up and independant website for Shouldbepenelope and bought my own domain www.shouldbepenelope.com
I won a bursary from Corwainers, some lovely money
My shoe and bag were shown at APLF in China
I created props and accessories for Clothes Show London, stayed at Ayres house for a week and worked backstage
I won another bursary, this time from Churches shoes
Jones :)
I lived in Hackney for a month, worked a Billy Bag who said I can go back after I graduate (this was also a bad time as a drunk man with a burger slapped my bum at Islington and Highbury station.
Summer
Working one day a week at Hetty Rose where I sat in her shed and made shoes
Starting the final year of my degree
Going to Florence for a few days
Helping with Clothes Show Live
Selling lots more on Shouldbepenelope then I thought I would
Friends
Renewed friendships

There has been some heart ache and sadness in 2009 but I don't think any of us can hope to live without some tragedy, even though I'm sure we all do. I hope that for everyone, especially my closest friends and those I care about the most, that 2010 will be a great year and be filled with more smiles (as demonstrated by Jones in this photo) than sadness.

Things I have to look forward to in 2010 -

Finishing my collection
Handing in my dissertation
GFW
Graduating
The mysterious birthday present that Jones already has planned
Shouldbepenelope growing
Hopefully getting a job and paying off my overdraft

the end.

One big christmas blog.

2009-12-30T14:49:00.008Z

I've been neglecting my blog recently, so here's an update on Christmas and new year.

The minute I got home after popping back to Northampton for an assessment, I realised I had forgotten a very important addition to Christmas - Pablo the inflatable snowman from poundland. I loved him dearly for the few weeks we knew each other before Christmas, and in the rush of everything I left him in my cold cold uni house. I'm pretty scared that I'm going to return to find him a crumpled, deflated mess, like the scene in 'the snowman' when David Bowie as a child realises his new snowman friend has melted, there will be tears.

Once home, Topshop said I would not have any hours for a week so I mainly spent my time sleeping, going to the pub and being a general lazy slob with Jones. The Sunday before Christmas became the official day for Christmas decorating, so I first visited the Jones household where G.J and R.J went to the loft, shouted a bit and came back with copious amounts of Christmas decor.

R.J was generally a bit useless and decided that singing Christmas songs with the piano was his most useful effort, and left me and G.J to put together the tree upside down, realising our error at the last minute.

When Jones house was full of Christmas, I went home to help put up decorations in my own house. For some reason, we always concentrate the majority of our Christmas efforts in the lounge and the rest of the house doesn't really get a look in. Which means that our front room looked a bit like Christmas was sick all over it, but I enjoyed the festive cheer.

The lead up to Christmas was mainly filled with Topshop, sleeping and the pub. One day miss Buswell came over and we made some glorious Christmas biscuits (for a friend who in the end didn't turn up to receive her beautifully decorated present so I ended up handing them out to everyone else on Christmas eve eve). I'm pretty sure I went to the crew at some point, there was definitely a bowling incident but I don't remember if that was before or after Christmas and I think me and Jones went to see 'Where the wild things are' in this week too, which was lovely.

On Christmas eve eve, 'Sleighed' played some Christmas tunes at the Tav, and I was relatively well behaved until I started to drink wine. The pub was mega busy and everyone was there so it was a lovely night, we headed to the Felix for one (however me and Ayres shared one bottle of wine) and then to reflex, I think this photo says it all really.

It was extremely icy when we left the flex, and I had completely not grip shoes on, which is my excuse for falling over three times. Despite the fact that two strapping men escorted me home, there was definitely a point where I fell on my bum, and Jones picked me up and then I fell straight back over again. After the Jones and Divine held on to me for dear life.

On Christmas eve, although it is traditional for us all to go out and get drunk, as my bum was still hurting from slipping over so much and I had consumed a copious amount of wine the night before I decided to drive. We went to Ayres for a bit first, and then to the Tav (although it was rammed!) and to the Felix and then I decided to head home as my sister had ruled that everyone had to get up at 8 on Christmas day. I was pretty happy to have a excuse to wear my extremely sparkly dress though.

So Christmas day came, i got up at half 8. My mum went a bit crazy and made 3 stockings each for me and my sister, two of which were literally mens walking socks. We all showered, and then started the skillfull task of opening presents while keeping the dog occupied enough to not start eating everything and being sick like he was last year. I go some lovely things, including useful object I had requested such as a granny trolly, and external hard drive and and awl.
We had crimbo dinner and ate way to much, and them I slept it off for a bit. Jones came round in the evening and we exchanged gifts, which I was very excited about because although I had some ideas, I didn't know what I was getting so that always fun. My favourite prezzie is a battery powered portable sewing machine called REX and wool and a pattern to make socks (currently in progress)

I think Jones liked his presents, although his mum bought his a DSi so i couldn't really compete with that. We played trivial pursuit with my parents and I ate to much cheese, watched Micheal macintire and went to bed.

I had to work on boxing day, but double pay made it more bearable and then I went to Jones auntie's in the evening. We had some tea and then someone cracked out a tiny (but very scary) helicopter so I spent most of the night hiding. Afterward, me and Jones headed to Olners for drink and fun, which involve games which I somehow became much better at than I was last year.

I spent the next few days mainly working and catching up with everyone in the evening. We went out for a meal to see Ayres, Buswell and Hancox off to London before new year which was nice, even though we had to wait for what felt like my whole life to be seated.

New years eve was a cold affair, I felt like my feet were going to fall off before we got to Young's house and immediately started to fear the short but chilly walk home. However we were greeted by a very warm house with lots of food so I instantly felt better. One night of guitar hero, singstar, beer bongs, jools holland, 12 o'clock, controversy, hiding chocolates from Norat, moustaches and ambulances soon passed and Jones and I headed home about 3ish.

New years day was spent on the sofa feeling sleepy and watching films at Jones', I then went home and had the biggest roast dinner, which was amazing.

It has now dawned on me that I have copious amounts of work to do before next week, especially dissertation wise. However I am finding it difficult to motivate myself, with Jones, super mario bros and knitting a constant distraction.

What do you think about christmas?

2009-12-21T00:32:00.003Z

I stole this from Jones,

yes I know it's on his blog too but i'm posting it anyway.

It makes me happy.

Shouldbepenelope now makes purses!

2009-12-07T17:01:00.001Z

Sequin Purse - £20

Suede feathers purse - £25

Carrot top

2009-12-03T14:54:00.001Z

I really love this girl's hair colour, mmm pretty tempting.

It's only 4 weeks until christmas...

2009-12-01T23:58:00.002Z

This is my shoe.

2009-12-01T23:56:00.003Z

The End

I'm excited about this...

2009-11-29T23:12:00.003Z

I know I have posted this video before.

2009-11-29T15:46:00.002Z

Noah and the Whale from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

But I think this song is pretty appropriate for this week, knowing that someone you love is going through a great sadness in their lives is difficult but I hope I have been able to help in some way, even if it's just a little bit x

Partly cloudy

2009-11-24T21:31:00.001Z

Me and jones went to see UP last weekend, I had already seen it but was more that happy to go again.

Mainly for this short film shown just before it -

I can't remember who has sampled this song...

2009-11-19T20:43:00.001Z

but it's awful.

Imogen heap you are silly, the original song is so lovely, why did you give it to a mean rapper man.

I believe this is real life

2009-11-19T19:47:00.000Z

2009-11-18T21:01:00.002Z

+ bed

- no sleep last night

+ having a good old dance

- being a ridiculously jealous person with seemingly no self control

- being rubbish (see above)

+ christmas browsing on saturday

+ not long until i'm home for chiristmas

- christmas not being soon enough

+ poppets

+ weekends

- deadlines

Thinking

2009-11-17T19:29:00.002Z

I have just read this article by my good friend Hancox, via the link I found on Buswell's blog.

What a clever cookie,

I definitely agree with much of what Hancox is saying, although I own a MacBook which is great for CAD I am often boggled by many elements of illustrator and photoshop. Although encouraged to use computer aided design at my university, especially as a footwear student due to the demand from industry for our illustrations and specs to be slick, lifelike and incredibly accurate, the tutor time spent on how to use such programs is limited. We have been pretty much told to experiment with the programs ourselves and hope that what comes out at the end is good enough.

As for printing, I have literally no idea. In my second year we were asked to produce a professionally printed look book, and when it came to page layout, colouring, pixels and even file format I didn't really know where to start. It was because of this that there were faults in my look book which I feel could of easily been avoided through more in depth CAD workshops starting in the first year of a design degree.

Last years third years all had their final portfolios professionally printed, and I'm pretty scared about setting this up myself. Pantone what?

GAH!

2009-11-12T23:53:00.003Z

I am currently in a complete SLUMP with my work, which isn't exactly convenient as I have two weeks until review, I also have one week until my next dissertation draft is supposed to be handed in. Apparently I should be aiming for 6000 words but i'm not convinced.

Also every time i sit down to design my head feels like it's melting, which isn't convenient either because my ideas, sketchbook, research and samples are all pretty ok, but my designs are living in about 5 weeks ago. GAH!

a boo

Spring/summer 10 I like

2009-11-11T21:05:00.003Z

all of these things.

Bonfire Weekend

2009-11-08T23:11:00.003Z

I had a lovely weekend just gone, however it didn't start off too lovely last week as I had to go home early to see my dentist about a very painful wisdom tooth. Oh why must I be so wise.

So my dad came to rescue me on Wednesday night, so that I could steal his dentist appointment on Thursday morning. I got home to be greeted by a mushy dinner as I had not been able to eat anything solid due to said tooth, and planned to settle down to do some design work, although I ended up just having a big shower and going to bed.

On Thursday I went to the dentist as planned, and thought i was going to have a heart attack before I went in as I was pretty nervous that I was going to have all my teeth removed. Luckily I just had one infected tooth, so made it home with all my teeth and a fat load of antibiotics. Jones traveled home Thursday night, so he picked me up and we headed to the pub to catch up with everyone, and Miller was very drunk, which was nice.

Friday, we had a good lie in, some yummy breakfast as my tooth was feeling much less like a painful throb and headed to some canal, somewhere, i'm not sure where but we just like going to canals. I partucularly liked this fake bird on one of the boats and we met a very friendly dog. However it started to rain, and it was quite chilly, so we headed back to Jones' for some tea and watched Muppet's Christmas Carol, amazing.

On Friday night everyone met at the pub again, this time with the addition of Ayres and Stafford which was rather nice. I got horrifically drunk in three and a half (Olner downed the rest) glasses of wine, which I'm going to blame on the copious amount of pain killers and antibiotics i've been guzzling all week. Although reflex was the plan, due to my drunk state and a general mellow mood from everyone that evening, we headed home, where Jones had to put me to bed including removing my makeup. How shameful.

On Saturday I tried incredibly hard to work on my designs, however with no success as I kept getting distracted and couldn't draw as fast as my brain was thinking. So at about 3 I headed over to Jones' we had a nap, and then his family came round for bonfire night fun. Jones' mum cooked the most amazing food and G.Jones produced a fireworks display for kings.

Finally on Sunday it was time to go back to uni, Jones and I got on the same train and then parted ways at Northampton. I walked home and made myself the most immense Sunday dinner which mainly consisted of parsnips. Lovely.

Dissertation Survey

2009-11-05T14:54:00.006Z

I am currently writing a 10,000 word dissertation exploring why women wear high heeled shoes and why men don't in society today. To help me along with my research i've created a survey, which would be really useful if a lot of people answer some questions for me!

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=hrk31ylicl771kf665206

I'm also currently seeking a foot doctor to interview, how exciting

yes!

2009-11-04T22:29:00.000Z

These shoes.

This website is lovely

2009-10-31T21:57:00.002Z

All Things Original

2009-10-31T13:54:00.005Z

Here is how my workspace looked yesterday, we had a careers and portfolio seminar in the morning and then pathway specific tutorials in the afternoon. This was nice because
a) I am a footwear student
and b) I haven't spoken to my footwear tutor about any of my work yet.

So as I am last on the register, I was in the last tutorial group which wasn't really a group because two people were ill so it was more like a tutorial couple. Before my tutorial I made time to draw a cheeky goose and cram together some more sketchbook pages. It wasn't until I spoke to Mr Cousins that I realised I was a bit stuck. All week i've been happily drawing ducks and cutting feathers into suede and completely ignoring the fact that I have no ideas for upper patterns and only one heel design.

So Cousins put all my metal canal boat bits into a pile to help me along.

After realising that I am much more behind in my work than I though, I decided not to dwell and drink my worries away at a Halloween house party. We all spent about ten hours getting ready but it was worth it, also I don't see the point in dressing up unless your going to put the effort in. wearing a black dress and dark eyeshadow does not qualify as a Halloween costume, the end.

I spoke to Jones on skype before I went out so that we could compare costumes, dressed as a women I must admit I was scared, especially because he makes a very pretty (although hairy) girl. Wishing we were going to the same party, but kind of glad that I didn't have to worry about whether my boyfriend looked prettier than me, we hung up our virtual phones.

We got to the party about 10ish and I immediately made a start on my box of wine with the help of a tiny Halloween cup. Parker and I worked the room, chatted, danced and then everyone crowed around a pool table to play the biggest game of ring of fire. Unfortunately there were so many people that everyone kept getting distracted, the first waterfall was quite successful, however the action game with about 40 people was a complete fail. So we gave up and headed back upstairs for some dancing. Unfortunately I got terrible hiccups and ended up taking myself home to bed feeling like my lungs were going to fall out. I was also a bit of an idiot to Mr Jones in my drunken state which I feel incredible bad about, and was a bit silly really as he is always so lovely to me. and I lost my tail :( despite these catastrophes it was an all round good night, and I really hope I'm a cat in my next life.

Meow

2009-10-29T19:37:00.005Z

Today was again filled with ducks, I received some lovely duck feathers in the post this morning and generally spent the day adding to my sketchbook.

- I still haven't started designing yet

+ halloween party tomorrow

+ being a cat, meow

- not seeing mr jones this weekend

+ seeing mr jones + other lovely boys at home next weekend

+ finally dying my hair

- Italy journal still to complete

+ making really awsome chilli

Today I have mostly been...

2009-10-28T21:10:00.002Z

Drawing ducks. I created a pattern from my drawings of feathers and cut it into leather samples with a scalpel. I could get this design lazer cut which will give a much cleaner finish, I'm thinking about incorporating it into boot designs.

Clothes Show Live 2009

2009-10-28T10:47:00.003Z

I'm happy to say that I have been asked to make the props and accessories for Clothes Show Live again, this time i'm cutting, sticking and generally applying glitter to everything with one of my favourite tall people, Lindsay Parker.

I'm really flattered that they asked for our help again, apparently this years show is just generally christmas themed. So lots of baubles. Hurrah.

The show is 4th - 9th December at Birmingham NEC

Some sketchbook

2009-10-22T22:56:00.004+01:00

I want...

2009-10-18T14:10:00.000+01:00

my hair like this :)

Florence - the longest blog ever

2009-10-18T11:24:00.012+01:00

So last week, me and miss Parker made our way to Italy. As footwear students, we are dearly loved by guilds of men with lots of money, and luckily Cordwainers offered us some pennies so that we could go to Lineapelle in Bologna.

Our tutor Mr Kerr, assured us that we were better off staying in Florence and training it over to Bologna for the show so we hopped in a taxi at 6.30 Monday morning, and then a train, a tube, another train, ate krispy kreme donuts, got on a plane, slept, got off the plane, got on another train and arrived in Florence what seemed like a life time later. We found our hotel (pretty swanky really) and went to our room for a nap, although I did spend some time being amazed by the mirror/tv and see-through slippers.

As some of our fellow footwearers were on the same flight as us we arranged to meet up for some dinner, we found a nice restaurant, had some pasta and all turned in for a early night as we had to go to the exhibition the next day. However, me and Parker did buy a cheeky bottle of wine/Italian lambrini to drink when we got back to our hotel room while watching little Britain.

On Tuesday we headed to the train station to get what we thought would be a quick and cheap train to Bologna, however when we got there we found out the tickets were 20 euros each way, which Kerr had so sneakily forgotten to tell us. The train also took what seemed like a year, and then we grabbed a coach to Lineapelle. We spent the day wondering around copious amounts of leather, heels, buckles and some synthetics for Parker, getting business cards and trying to take everything in.

After some hours at the exhibition we jumped on another overly priced train, got back to the hotel, had another nap, and then met Gunnion, Clifford and Hopkinson for some dinner. We found an amazing restaurant which looked really tiny but was actually huge with really quirky decor and leopard print chairs. Some more footwear kids had flown in that day so we went to find them in an Irish bar, got completely lost, found our way again, had some drinks and then headed off to bed ready to explore Florence in the morning.

On Wednesday, as we thought our heads might explode if we spent two days in a row at Lineapelle, we headed to the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in the center of Florence. They have a really amazing collection of footwear and it's easy to see how Ferragamo's footwear has had such a massive influence on design for the past century. There were shoes he designed in the 1930's which could be easily seen in modern collections, and he created so many innovations in heel design that everyone excepts as standard today. His technical drawings were pretty amazing as well.

We managed to get some sneaky photos of designer shop windows and had a general wonder around the city. The architecture was so beautiful, especially the Duomo, and so big! So as usual we headed back to the hotel for a nap before meeting up with everyone, had some lovely dinner and then went for some drinks at bar which was having a student night.

Copious amounts of tequila later we stumbled back to the hotel, leaving King, Morris and Cooke trying to break into McDonalds. The next morning, me and parker woke up feeling like our faces were going to fall off, and with an extreame lack of cash to get to the exhibition we dicided to stay in Florence for another day. This time we headed away from the river, and went to see Michelangelo's David. It was pretty amazing, and my mum informs me that she went to see him too many moons ago.

We then headed to the costume gallery, which was at the top of what seemed like a million stairs in a huge house. They had some lovely things, especially some sequined dresses and jackets from the 1920's. But it was quite small, so after a quick look round we grabbed some ice cream and had a little wonder around the rest of Florence before heading back to pack.

On Friday we got up at 5am (thats 4am GMT!), paid the cute old man at reception for the hotel room and went to the station. One train, a plane, another train, a tube, another train and a taxi ride later, we were finally back to Abington Avenue. Where I was greeted by a hilarious letter from Mr Jones that made me happy to be home as I had missed him a lot in the last few days. Me and Parker treated ourselves to some yummy takeaway and I was in bed by 9.30.

One night in London town

2009-10-07T19:11:00.007+01:00

On Monday I hopped on a coach to London with uni to go to 'The Fashion Revolution', an exhibition showcasing work from showstudio.com I like showshow studio, I get their newsletter so I had seen a lot of it before. However sometimes I do think they are a bit too zany for the sake of being zany.
I went on to show studio today and watched this video of Alexander McQueen's S/S 10 collection. The digitally printed dresses are amazing however I think the shoes are a bit ridiculous. I like some of them like the ones with twisted and carved heels, however i'm not a fan of the fetish shoes, the heels are so high and instead of putting a platform underneath the toes, they just point almost vertically to the floor and the models can't walk anywhere close to normal. They must be so uncomfortable too. I love heels but is it really worth deforming your feet for? Anyway so after the exhibition at Somerset House I popped down to Epsom as I wanted to go to the London Canal Museum, but they don't open on a Monday.

Jones cooked me some lovely dinner, we had some drinks with his housemates and friends and then headed out to boogie lounge, for well, a boogie
which was nice.

So on Tuesday Jones went to be educated at UCA, and I skipped off to the canal museum, got a bit lost at kings cross and thought I was going to be too late to go in. Luckily I got there just in time, and although the museum was aimed towards children and families, it was nice to get close enough to a boat to take pictures without feeling like I was imposing on someone else's life. Also they had some really lovely black and white photographs of canals in the good old days, which is always nice.

2009-10-04T16:52:00.002+01:00

+ writing 800 words of my dissertation

- still having 1200 words left to write for next week

- wisdom teeth

- ouch

- not being invited

+ x factor

+ seeing jones tomorrow

+ somerset house

+/- the canal museum (i'm not sure)

- not being motivated to do work yet

- no glasto next year

- no pennies

+ italy next week :)

+ pom bears

+ peep show

- no pennies

- no pennies

- no pennies

all the negative things make me feel like this -

Yesterday I went to birmingham...

2009-10-03T12:06:00.002+01:00

It was a bit spur of the moment, but i realised I am putting no where near enough effort into my degree at the moment. This theme continued as I spent my first hour there shopping for a winter coat.

Mission accomplished, i headed to the canals off broad street, but as there was a serious lack of boats that were very decorative I mainly took pictures of locks an geese.
I also made friends with the most beautiful duck I have ever seen, it was the most amazing colours I wanted to take him home.

Love

2009-09-30T22:18:00.002+01:00

FMP

2009-09-30T19:40:00.003+01:00

I think i'm going to start my FMP with a mix of canal boats (sparked when me and jones went to the marina) and the holga photos I took at Witherley fields

I went to Coventry canal where it goes through Atherstone before i came back to uni and took some more photos but i think I might head back with my holga and action sampler in tow on friday. Trouble is I get embarrassed taking photos of people's boats because it is actually their house! I think i'm just going to have to be brave and ask people if they mind, I hope they'll be flattered as I imagine they take pride in how pretty their boat houses are. I'm also hoping to see someone going through a lock.

Back to uni for third year

2009-09-28T19:47:00.002+01:00

+ being back at uni

+ roy walker being in northampton

+ hopefully playing catchphrase with roy walker tonight

+ miss jones coming to visit tomorrow

+ living in mr jones' house for a lot of the last two weeks

- stupid arguments about stupid things that I know are stupid but still insist on arguing about

- enrolling at park tomorrow

+ wispa golds

+ my new casio watch

- having long hair that needs cutting

+ being a third year

- still not being sure what to do for my fmp

+ having two weeks to figure it out

- missing mr jones

- missing friends from home

+++++ vegetables

I want...

2009-09-27T23:06:00.001+01:00

Some drawings

2009-09-22T19:12:00.002+01:00

I really want one of these...

2009-09-17T20:08:00.001+01:00

It's a hand held sewing machine! genius.

New at Shouldbepenelope

2009-09-17T11:25:00.002+01:00

<3

2009-09-17T11:22:00.001+01:00

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate"

Lists

2009-09-14T20:38:00.002+01:00

Olner always does these + and - lists on his blog, I've decided to join the cool kids.

+ new charms and chain

+ shouldbepenelope orders

- cheques that I can't cash

- jones not being home

- having to ask my mum for £2 so that I could go to the quiz

- the quiz making me want to poke myself in the eye

- love squares

+ meeting youngs blonde (and possibly evil) twin

+ free trip to Italy :)

- having to pay first and getting the money back later

- work on wednesday

+ hetty rose on thursday

+ visiting billy bag on friday

+ lots of free leather

+ spending the weekend with jones

+ the possibility of a picnic

- wanting a digital gold casio watch and having no money

- dissertation

- not knowing what i want to do for my final collection

+ going back to uni to create said collection

+ sudoku

+ deal or no deal

+ making blankets out of old jumpers

+ my mum's quiche

14 +'s and 10 -'s, good work

Summer time is for snapping

2009-09-14T14:16:00.004+01:00

I got two of my holga films developed a few weeks ago, to be honest i was a bit disappointed but i did get some nice pictures from when me and Jones went wondering around Witherley fields.

Here are some of my favorites.

Shouldbepenelope

2009-09-09T08:58:00.003+01:00

I think you know what I want...

2009-09-03T18:30:00.003+01:00

Last night me and Jones went to see 500 days of summer and I loved it!

I have to admit it wasn't exactly how thought it would be, although in the advert they definitely make a point of it not being a typical love story, I did expect it to be a bit more RomCom.
The first half an hour is definitely very loved up, I particularly enjoy the scene in Ikea where Joseph Gorden Levitt and Zoe Deschanel pretend to be married and Ikea is their house. Zoe's character isn't as lovable as I expected but JGL is so cute, really witty and has some great comedy punch lines. I also like they way architecture is incorporated into the plot, and there are some dream-like scenes which reminded me of Science Of Sleep.

I think my favourite part of the film is where each character comments on love, JGL's friend describes his girlfriend compared to his idea of a perfect girl but then says he wouldn't want her to change "because she's real".

I liked that it didn't go out of it's way to be overly romantic, or provide the fairytale ending that everyone expects from a romantic comedy. It definitely reflected real relationships and how two people can have very different perspectives on the same situation, which maybe doesn't provide the fuzzy feeling of everything working out ok, but made the film much more believable. It also has a really lovely soundtrack of mainly British bands (plus some Regina Spektor) and ZD wears the most beautiful outfits.

Lovely.

Holga

2009-09-01T19:22:00.006+01:00

I sent off some holga films to be developed last week and got a phone call today saying they were being processed. I'm so excited to see what is on them, i'm pretty sure they include snaps from -

eel pie island and richmond
many different boat to row events
Gilchrist's birthday (including table tennis action shots)
exploring fields with Jones
Moss and Norat's house warming

I got a bit nostalgic and have been looking through the last (and first) film a got developed. This is how I have these two photos arranged on my wall at uni, it's from my birthday party at Ayres' house in April and I think is reflects the musical mood of the night. It also reminds me of how talented the musical boys are.

500 days of summer

2009-08-25T19:06:00.001+01:00

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is my new crush

Unemployment

2009-08-24T19:24:00.005+01:00

I popped in to Topshop today to ask if they had any hours for me until I go back to uni in 5 weeks time, and they said a big fat no.

To give my life a bit more purpose, I have mainly been listening to the shins and drawing from the photos I took at Eel Pie Island.

Shouldbepenelope

death cab always help

When I grow up...

socks socks socks

i need a hobby

I never have time for anything anymore

some summer pretend shopping

sewing is good for the soul

dear birthday...

Eggstrodinary

Black Swan

It's official

Ebay win!

Embroidery Day

New year, new resolutions

China. Part 4. 23.10.10

China. part 3. 27.09.10

China. part 2. 22.09.10

China. Part 1. 10.09.10

China ahoy

This is why i wish I had gone to glastonbury this year...

please follow my second blog, thank you

It's been a while

Nearly there

The end is nigh

This weekend

This week

Today I have mostly been editing my duck photos.

gah!

oh how things have changed

four out of six ain't bad

My favourite things 16.3.10

Lustre

ducks win!

gah!

recent times in bullet points

by robert jones, journalist extrodinaire x

1 down, 6 to go

Tell me now where was my fault, in loving you with my whole heart.

It's a camera, thats a book

In the last week I have mainly been...

Some design work.

where did that come from?

8058 words

some good, some bad

Winner!

*sigh*

New beginnings

I am so slow at writing...

still going

A new day

I've written more

gaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Another year, another term

2009

One big christmas blog.

What do you think about christmas?

Shouldbepenelope now makes purses!

Carrot top

It's only 4 weeks until christmas...

This is my shoe.

I'm excited about this...

I know I have posted this video before.

Partly cloudy

I can't remember who has sampled this song...

I believe this is real life

Thinking

GAH!

Spring/summer 10 I like

Bonfire Weekend

Dissertation Survey

yes!

This website is lovely

Meow

Today I have mostly been...

Clothes Show Live 2009

Some sketchbook

I want...

Florence - the longest blog ever

One night in London town

sigh