One shower in a drought

Hello strangers! I seem to have been taking a little unplanned break from blogging of late, so this is a little update to tell you what I've been up to and to help me get back into the swing of writing.

Sewing photo shoot

A couple of weeks back I went to the Sew Weekly London meetup. Debi, Karen, Tilly and many other people wrote really good accounts of the day back when it happened so I won't bore you with my own! Needless to say, meeting a group of lovey ladies with so much in common and going for a museum visit, followed by a fabric shopping trip was just wonderful. My only regret is not getting to speak to everyone - in particular the bloggers who I've been reading for the last year with whom I came over all star struck and couldn't think what to say to...smart moves eh?! I feel I should also thank Steph from Little Miss Twitchy who very kindly accompanied me on our jaunt round the shops as all the other shoppers outpaced us. I was hunting for wool and doing so very slowly but Steph stuck with me all the way to the pub at the end. Thanks Steph! I was too busy to attempt the Horrockses dress what we were supposed to make and then I just couldn't face starting something new the day before the meetup, so I wore my old faithful bow blouse (which I did make, albeit a while ago) and Freddies of Pinewood jeans (which I had to keep telling people I hadn't made, sadly).
I did get a good haul though. I won some lace sent all the way from America in the raffle and picked up these patterns in the swap.

 These are some of the fabrics I bought - Top to bottom;
Seersucker check with metalic threads, soft cotton - the flowers remind me of the Flower fariy illustrations and came from the swap, a cotton/silk mix and a gold fine cord.

 Grey wool, I have this lined up for trousers, some aubergine crepe, red viscose (I think) and a very light cotton lawn.

No more shopping for me for a while!
I also bought a lot of wools and linens to make mroe viking period kit with. The stuff I've made so far has gone down well and I am seriously considering making a few bits and pieces to ebay.

I also took my history exam last week, that's Nazi Germany done and dusted! I think the exam went quite well but I'll have to wait until the 18th August to find out how I did. It's torture. It's a relief to have my free time back actually, though it's only a few weeks until I start the second year's studies. Still, I'm going to make use of the time while I have it and finally make some of the clothes I've been planning for months. I'm loath to make any skirts or trousers for the moment, the weight is still falling off me and I'm worried that it'll be too big in a month if I fit it well now! Tops are, therefore, the order of the day - a good job actually as I am a bit lacking on that front at the moment...

AQA and ATS

I've been very busy of late, hence my sporadic posting over the last few weeks.
The biggest news is that I took my first exam for my history A-Level last Thursday. For anyone older than 28, or outside the UK, the current A-Level system (which are the courses taken between 16-18) is split into 2 qualifications. The first year you study 2 modules with exams taken in January and/or June. This earns you an AS level, which is a qualification in its own right.
The AS can also be extended with a second year of study (A-2) into a full A-Level with another 2 modules and in my case, one exam and one coursework essay.
I was in the first year of teenagers to take this new qualification in 2000/01 and I keep forgetting that everyone older than me finds it confusing that the courses are very modular and flexible. Anyway, I digress.

Since the end of the summer I've been studying a module in British History 1906-1951 with a private tutor and a lot of books (and a few old movies). I had hoped that being a reasonably intelligent 20-something with a degree and a job where I do a lot of report writing would mean that I could breeze the study and exams designed for 17 year olds, but that hasn't really been the case. It's been a slog to fix all of the dates and Acts of Parliament and important people in my head, but I think I managed it and I actually didn't find the exam too much of a slog. Except the writing - when was the last time you wrote frantically by hand for over an hour? Typing I can keep up for hours on end, but my hand nearly fell off after about 40 minutes. There was serious pain for a whole day after!
I've now moved on to my second module - Life in Nazi Germany (1933-45) - you see I'm looking at a broad range of the past ;). I'll get results in March some time and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good mark.

The study of that period led nicely onto my weekend, when I spent my time in a massive Youth Hostel in the Lake District pretending to be an ATS girl in late 1940, caught up in a murder mystery (with zombies).

The whole thing is hard to explain so I'll just describe it as Foyles War meets Indiana Jones or the start to Hellboy. There were magic-using Nazis and resistance fighters and an unlikely group of heroes consisting of (amongst others) me and Tom (playing a detective), some RAF pilots, Gracie Fields and some scientists. Bizarre, scary and hugely fun, I came back exhausted but very happy, and I can't wait for the next one.

Sadly I didn't get many good pictures of me in my uniform, but I'll try to take some myself over the next few days. It's not all accurate yet, the rank badging is all wrong for a start, but I was very happy with how it looked for the weekend!