I didn't get where I am today by wearing underpants decorated with Beethoven.

Just a few things this evening as I'm recovering from a nasty sick headache that laid me low for most of today. Seriously, I spent most of today sleeping on the sofa while Nic finished marking essays. It's all glamour round here, isn't it?! Anyway, I am feeling a fair bit better now, helped along by being nursed by Nic. You'll have to forgive me for this just being a random assortment of my thoughts.

I finished the halterneck dress! Only, I decided against keeping it halterneck, instead I crossed over the straps at the back and sewed them to the dress. As I said earlier, I found this second dress more difficult than the first but I like it a lot, and I will definitely wear it, and I've learned lots from it. I need to get better at gathering, but there's plenty of time for practice. Apologies for the slightly blurry photo - the light wasn't very good, and I'll put up a better picture when I actually wear the dress:


I'm cheating a little bit for Ruby Shoesdays by modelling this with my Mermaids, but in my defence they're probably the shoes I will wear with the dress! Also, having realised that I could clean up the slightly scuffed sides using nail varnish remover, they're feeling like new shoes again! I have a fair bit of this lovely fabric left over, so will have to find a project for it. I'm going to go at making a maxi dress next, using some more of the lovely fabric that I bought in Paris.

I finished reading Room by Emma Donoghue. I won't review it, because Martha has already done it better than I could. You can read her review here. Like Martha, I found the book utterly compulsive and it got under my skin in a way that hasn't happened for a long time. Jack is a compelling narrator and, although I've finished reading the book I can still hear him. In fact, it's fair to say that the book left such an impression on me that I found myself looking at my surroundings through Jack's eyes, which was unsettling to say the least. You should go on over and read Martha's review, and pre-order yourself this book, it really is extraordinary.

Okay, that's all for this evening. The horrible bratty children from the house behind us are making a racket in their garden (seriously, it's half past nine, shouldn't they be in bed?) and it's difficult to concentrate. So I'm going to get a lemon ice lolly and attempt to ignore the little gits. Maybe their parents will put them to bed soon, or maybe I'll invest in a water pistol.