Farmville and plans

Farmville

So my farm on FarmVille is doing well. I don't know what it is about farming games - whether it's this or Alice Greenfingers, there's just some part of me that finds the whole thing deeply satisfying. Perhaps this is a sign that I should get a real garden, who knows. Or perhaps it's just a sign that I'm supposed to be revising at the moment and that procrastination is quite the enchantress.

Speaking of procrastination, I have rather a list of things that I've vaguely thought about getting around to making/doing At Some Point Maybe. Continue reading Farmville and plans

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Bizarre new backgrounds, new toys and some bits

Well, I've decided to update my blog layout for once. (For those of you who read this through Facebook, take a look at http://www.bethmcmillan.com/blog). Mad orange and cupcakes and some stuff that doesn't really line up and a few things that I'm pretty sure don't work in Internet Explorer. Plus part of its implementation involved me updating my entire installation of WordPress because for some reason it seemed easier than the alternative at the time. Hm. But I do like the cupcakes.

And how were these cupcakes drawn, you ask yourself? I happen to have purchased myself a graphics tablet for the princely sum of twenty quid off Amazon. Oh, and yes, you can use it under Ubuntu. It's fun! Its main purpose is for diagrams for my biochemistry notes... but that doesn't mean I haven't been drawing endless bunnies with it. I love living in the future.

Incidentally, I'm selling some botanical illustrations in my etsy shop. If you like that sort of stuff.

Continue reading Bizarre new backgrounds, new toys and some bits

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Knitting machines, owlie bags and Nokia themes.

First, I'd like to apologise to anyone whose comment has been deleted - I've had some fun with spam recently but the new field in the comment section seems to have sorted that out now, so comment away! :)

A few years ago I picked up a bag at a jumble sale. It was a garish green and pink monstrosity that clashed with every item of clothing in the known universe, but I'm pretty sure I've used that bag more than any other I own. Colours notwithstanding, it is the perfect size and shape for me - a messenger bag small enough not to get in the way, but large enough to fit books and my little netbook inside, with cute elasticated pockets at the side which are the perfect size for a phone or a pot of bubble mixture. Folks, I love that bag more than I will ever love a woman, but the damn thing's falling apart. The fabric is disintegrating like so many broken dreams. What's a crafter to do in that situation? Why, make a new one, of course!

So here's my prototype version of The Comfy Bag. I made a rough pattern by tracing around the original (which I can't bear to disassemble) and put it together with pillowcase fabric, then lugged it around Sheffield for a week by way of product testing. It needs some tweaking, and I need to learn how to use a sewing machine properly, but I think I'm well on the way to resurrecting and (dare I say it?) improving my old favourite.

More stuff, my new knitting machine and some web design on the inside... Continue reading Knitting machines, owlie bags and Nokia themes.

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