diamonddew

If you haven't received a rating from me, please don't be angry - just remind me and I'll rate you asap. I'm not perfect and I do forget sometimes.

I'm originally from Wales, but currently living in London and training to be a midwife, which is amazing, but absolutely exhausting at times!

My other interests include animals, the environment, reading and escaping to the countryside when I can, as well as arts and crafts, which I always manage to make time for, even at the expense of an assignment!

I've also recently started playing roller derby, which has become my new obsession. I play for the London Rollergirls rec league.

My favourite method of procrastination is crochet, particularly amigurumi, which is the Japanese art of crocheting cute little animals and creatures.

I've only been crocheting since the beginning of 2009, but I'm learning very quickly. I'm looking forward to being good enough to design my own patterns:)

I'm also make the occasional stuffy and have flirted with ATCs, preferring the original mailart-type which was popular among artists and musicians in the late 60s/70s.

I just finished Revolutionary Road, which is such a great book, if a little scary. If you never want a humdrum, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses lifestyle in the suburbs, read this!

Some of my faves:

Popism by Andy Warhol, Master and Margherita by Bulgakov, Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene, John Wyndham, Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin, Alexander Solzhenitzyn, Stephen Jay Gould, Shakespeare, Sergei Lukyanenko's vampire trilogy.

Arthouse, foreign, horror, comedy... I love zombie films, supernatural stuff like The Others, anything by Pedro Almodovar or Wes Anderson and anything with Ben Stiller or Will Ferrell.

Faves:

Bill Murray, Al Pacino, John Cusack, Dustin Hoffman, Grosse Pointe Blank, Anchorman, Braindead, Delicatessen, Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Poltergeist, Anchorman, Girl on a Motorcycle, Ghostbusters, Meet the Fockers, Barbarella, Pulp Fiction, Matrix trilogy, Napoleon Dynamite, Dancer in the Dark, Zoolander, Dr. Strangelove, Saving Face, Moulin Rouge...

I don't watch much TV, but I do buy the occasional box set. I love David Attenborough's wildlife documentaries, Six Feet Under, Scrubs, Black Books, The IT Crowd, Sunset Beach, Nip/Tuck, Doctor Who (mostly for David Tennant), Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure.

My tastes are very eclectic, but here are just a few of my favourite artists:

Beck, Bjork, Holly Golightly, David Bowie, The Beatles, Pulp, Blur, Adam Green, The Pixies, Rolling Stones, The New Pornographers, The Raconteurs, The Velvet Underground, Billy Childish, XFM, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Beastie Boys, Billy Bragg, The White Stripes, Johnny Cash, Camera Obscura, Lead Belly, Cyrz, The Clash, Elastica, Jimi Hendrix, The Gossip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Basement Jaxx, Heartless Bastards, Belle and Sebastian, Woody Guthrie, The Moldy Peaches, Kimya Dawson, Nancy Sinatra, The Delgadoes, The Doors, Cerys Matthews, Islands, OkGo, Prince, The Cure, Super Furry Animals, Nouvelle Vague, The Sunshine Underground, Richard James, Air, Kate Bush, Buzzcocks, Turner Cody, Pulp...

Check out my last.fm account (above) to see what I've been listening to recently.

At the moment I'm really digging Jeffrey Lewis... The man is amazing :)

Fabric - I like pretty florals, kitsch prints and candy stripes. Some of my favourite designers are Laura Ashley, Robert Kaufman, Alexander Henry, Michael Miller, Timeless Treasures. I love vintage 50s/60s/70s fabric.

Handmade items - I'm inspired by handmade items in any medium and love paintings/drawings/photography. The less commercially sourced the better, i.e. I'm not so keen on stickers, shop-bought teddies etc

Random stuff I like - Natural history illustrations, strawberries, different types of tea, embroidery silks, zines, crochet patterns, animal-friendly toiletries, opera CDs...

Colours - I don't have any strong colour preferences, although blue is probably my favourite.

Mooncups! What a fab invention - kind to your body and the environment :) You can find out more here:

Slipper socks

Mod Podge

Ceramic paints

Embroidery threads - I have enough of these at the moment :)

Cookie cutters

Notepaper and envelopes

Address labels so I can reuse envies

Tea - any kind - the more unusual the better!

Vintage crochet patterns (pre-1980s)

Rowan Classic knitting/crochet patterns

Sewing patterns for skirts/dresses/bags

Totoros!

Any of the Somerset publications - I've never seen them before but have heard great things - especially Stuffed, Somerset Studio, apron•logy, Art Journaling, Belle Armoire, GreenCraft and Somerset Apprentice.

If you need any other ideas you can take a peek at my wishlist at the top of the page! This is not an exhaustive list - just to help you out if you're stuck for ideas!

Emily The Strange T-shirts (new)

Russ Trolls

Hello Kitty stickers and keyring

Paul Frank - style wristwatches

Please PM me for more details :)