Up In The Air

Action shot of Tink from the Aspire Qualifier/ Akl Secondary Schools competition earlier this month:

Photo courtesy of my lovely neighbour, Clare, 

who also made that amazing leo.

Just in Time

Jess coaches levels 1-3 for Xtreme Rhythmix and one of her girls needed a leotard for the Counties RG Invitational.  After a rummage in the stash, she chose:

Finished in time for Jess to take to the competition for her gymnast to wear.

Jess reported back that it looked great on Ella, and great on the floor - yay!

That same week (i.e. the week prior to the comp) I decided I really didn't like Red Zebra on Tink and that a new hoop leo was required.  Another rummage in the stash, where I pulled out the lycra I had intended to use before the red zebra fabric came home, I put together this:

Tink wore it on Saturday for L6 Hoop, where the substitute Evil Gym Moms (I was elsewhere judging AER) reported back that it looked good on her, good on the floor but showed a tad too much flesh... so a bit more applique and lots of bling required apparently!

Wonder if I'll get that done in time for Auckland Secondary Schools comp that is happening this Wednesday??

Hi-Vis for luck

After making the AER leo for Tamsin, Clare gave me back the fabric I'd bought for it. The piece of glitter orange velvet was big enough to make another leotard:

Definitely hi-vis! To be worn for her ballet medal test in early July (she wore it in class today to check with the teacher that it was ok) and probably as the new interim ribbon leo.
More bling to come: more rows on the back and all along the bottom edge of the skirt.

Procrastination in progress

I'm a procrastinator.  I have no stitching mojo at all right now and haven't had it for months, even though part of me does want to be finishing my many cross stitch WIPs and get started on all the lovely projects in my stash.
Being a slow stitcher does not help, as even when I do put some time into a project, I get so little done that it is discouraging.
Also, it is winter now, and I have very dry skin on my hands that no amount of moisturiser can counter.  This results in cracked skin, meaning holding a needle can be painful and awkward, never mind how much the thread can snag on my fingers.
My get up and make leotards mojo is also on the fritz.  Tink really needs a proper ribbon leo, I'm not happy with the hoop leo and her ball leo needs either more (lots more) bling or an alternative one made; I have 2 more leotards on order plus I need to make some more for stock since my last size 7 was sent to its new owner during the week.
As one excuse, my time is curtailed at the moment as with it being competition season every second weekend has us at either an AER comp or a rhythmic one (if not both!).  This takes up a lot of time and I'm finding it harder to get past them mentally, particularly if I was judging.  Oh yeah, I'm an AER judge - did I ever say?
As is so often the case with procrastinating, once actually started all is ok:  it feels good, progress is made etc etc, making the not starting (or going back to it) all the more frustrating.
Still, I did manage to get a leotard made over the last fortnight:

That I love this colour lycra helped to get this done!

For a very nice Howick gymnast, who liked it so much she wore it home :)