Getting back on the horse - and other challenges

I have, on anyone's view, been out of the loop recently. Various things have meant that blogging (and unfortunately sewing) have had to take a back seat. But, I am hoping this is about to change.

This doesn't mean that I am about to become a bloggeuse furieuse, nor a seamstress on speed but I am aiming to get a little bit more balance which should mean more blogging and more sewing (although the blogging won't always, from now on in, be about sewing - more on that later).

Of course the fact that sewing has recently taken a back seat doesn't mean my machine has been completely out of action - now that would test my sanity. In fact I have, even if I say so myself, been rather productive in the garment producing department over the last few weeks. But instead of bamboozling you with everything newly sewn now I have come across a rather better way to showcase the said garments.

Some of you may be familiar with another blogger seamstress called Zoe - she of 'So Zo'. Well, if you follow her blog at all you may be aware that she has organised various 'me-made' or 'self stitched' challenges gathering together home sewers from around the blogosphere who sign up to the challenge to wear at least one (or in some cases solely) home sewn garments each day for a whole month. The last couple of challenges she has organised I have viewed from afar with respect and admiration for those participating so when I saw that the latest challenge kicked off today I decided to jump straight in and sign up. My aim being to make sure that the garments I have made get worn and seen and also to get back on the blogging horse....I have definitely missed my little bit of "me" time but the longer it had been the harder it seemed to start up again so hopefully documenting the 'me-made' clothes throughout the course of this month will get me back in the swing.

But just tipping my toe in the water to test the temperature seemed a little too easy so I am also taking part in not one but two other June challenges - it is obviously the month to take the challenge!

As I said above my future blogging will not only be about sewing  - I have lots of ideas for different things but first off it is photography. One of the things that has been keeping me busy over the last couple of months is a photography course which I am nearing half way through so when I say the next two challenges I thought I would also take the plunge and sign up. Both contests run along the same lines - each day you take a photo according to the instruction of the day and show them on your blog or flikr account.

Both challenges are open to anyone with any kind of camera and the instructions are open to any kind of interpretation. Basically and simply a way to get those involved taking photos.

You will see the links to the Me Made June challenge on the side bar and I will get the flikr group links up for the photo challenges over the next few days if anyone is interested - and you can of course check back here each day this month for details of how I am doing!!

For the 'Me-Made June' challenge I signed up to wear at least one item of me made clothing each day for this month. Today it was my new broderie anglaise blouse. The self drafted pattern has a round neck, inverted box pleat at the front, puff sleeves and a button closure at the back of the neckline. The neckline is finished with a lace trim. As the temperatures here have, over the last couple of weeks been in the early 30's c I have made a handful of summer dresses to wear during this month. Obviously when I woke to gales, rain and 10°c this morning my plans to kick off the month in some style evaporated and I ended up wearing jeans and my blouse together with a cardigan for most of the day but that is fine. I kept within the rules and also decided that I actually rather like this blouse, much more than I had previously thought!

Broderie Anglaise Blouse

Things stayed relatively simple for day one of the photo challenges as both contests stipulated that the photo for June 1st should be a self portrait. Now, when I say simple, you have to understand that taking a picture of myself involved either the self timer or the remote to release the shutter but once I had got that sorted I was away. Given that there are two challenges I thought I would include two self portraits - starting as I mean to go on!

30 Day PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE - Day One Self Portrait

30 Day Photo Fun - Day One Self Portrait

From here on in I will do two or three separate posts each day - one for each challenge  - I know, I am fully aware that it is going from the sublime to the ridiculous but if you are going to get back on the horse you might as well see whether you can still gallop........