As some of you may already know I'm an out and proud geek. Yes I am the kind of girl who plays scrabble for fun, does crosswords, waches Star Trek, reads fantasy novels, watches horror movies, and loves to sit down to watch a good documentary. So it may be no surprise to you then to hear that I was very excited last night when we won a table quiz. My two loves rolled up together, smart things and pints...woohoo.
The other nice part about the trip was that I got to go to Galway,which I hadn't visited in 10 years, which is totally crazy because it's only 2hrs on the bus and it's a great city. It was totally buzzing with people when I arrived, buskers every 10 meters, a tonnes of shoppers in the city centre. I went to their market, which is great and has a wide variety of stalls. It is a bit crazy that it's in a tiny alley way and they stall are very small, it would drive me crazy as a trader. It did put me off queueing for food as I'm not a huge fan of getting stuck in crowds. I wish I would have had money on me, there were definitely a few things I would have snatched up. When I enquired at a few stalls if they sold stuff online I was surprised when most of them said no. It's so easy these days to set it up, it seems like such a wasted opportunity not to. There is one shop I totally fell in love with Lola Rosa, if ever there was a shop that I wanted to buy every single thing in it, it was this one!! It's like crawling inside someones brain who is dotty, arty, clolourful and they have a long shopping list of presents to get through. They sells lots of beautiful things that would be perfect for gifts, but also a selection of fabrics,ribbons, and buttons. Really I can't recommend this shop highly enough, and if you can't make it to Galway check out their website! 
I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to Dublin on a secret mission, and I think it's safe now to reveal the lastest Nice Day Designs developments. I was talking to Dee from Lucy's Lounge about two months back and she said she was interested in stocking my clothes. For any of you who don't know where this gem of a shop is, it's a wonderful treasure trove of vintage in the basement of SeSi in the heart of Temple Bar in Dublin. So I went up two weeks ago to work out the finer point of this and I am currently working on 10 pieces for the shop. I'm so excited, SeSi is a shop I have loved and adored since my early teenage years, and to be selling in Temple Bar it a great new opportunity for me. I think the people who shop there will be far more open to my more outlandish designs, and it's a great chance to let the wilder side of my designs flow.
Well it was bound to happen eventually, my little sewing machine eventually died. There have been lots of small problems with it for ages but it eventually gave up the ghost last night. Unfortuneately it's not the best timing in the world to be paying for repairs, but to be honest I'm surprised it lasted this long with the amount of work I do on it. Luckily my lovely friend Sharon lent me hers for a little bit so I won't have to stop working.
It looks like I'll be going back to the Sunday market this week. Not in my usual incarnation as all my clothes are in Kilkenny, but I will be selling my pocket mirrors and handmade felt brooches at my friends stall. I will also have a selection of my buttons and ribbon up until the Christmas season starts and I'll replace them with yummy handmade Christmas decorations. I'm still deciding whether I'll make Christmas cards this year, as last year it took up a huge amount of my time for not much money. I might just make a small selection of xmas themed 1950s pinup collages.
I'm already starting to freak out that there isn't enough time between now and Christmas. Lots of new things have popped up and I came to the conclusion yesterday that I'm going to have to sprout 16 extra pairs of hands and never sleep, of get about 3 volunteers to help. The money isn't exactly rolling in yet so I can't afford to pay anyone.Over the past few years I've already pul;led in all the favours I could with friends and I think that gravey train has run out. On the up side my work is in demand which is something I feel very lucky to be able to say in todays climate.
This is a slight change in topic from my usual but I was just over at my friend Declan Shalvey's blog and I just had to share. At the moment he is doing the artwork for the comic book 28 Days Later,and issue 2 has just been released of this series. Back at the very start of my blog I did an interview with this old college friend of mine, but I just thought he warrented an extra mention because his work has come on SO MUCH, and I'm really proud of him. So if you are A: a fan of comic books or B: love really beautiful linedrawings or C: you reaslly dig zombies...check him out 
Today I was doing sketches for the new Brad Pitt Light Orchestra (BPLO) album. I've done work for them before, some posters and single covers, and we have a good working relationship. They want to stay with their black white and red colour scheme as it suits the dramatic caberet feel to this seven piece band. I'm working on a series of drawing of the band members, in pen, which I will be later scanning in to play with composition. It's been hard work but I feel it coming together and I'm quite excited about what I'm gonna do with it.
