Day 5 & 6 - Wrestling with deadlines

So yesterday my cousin, who is a professional female wrestler (!!wow!!) picked me up in her lovely open topped car and flew me round Manchester to an incredible little space that she trains in and that we'll be using for the photoshoot for the next single!! Woop woop! So, what's the plan? Plan is this - my birdcage which has been travelling through time carrying me in it exploring and experimenting with art through the ages and eras lands unexpectedly and totally by Almeida accident smack bang in the middle of a wrestling match. There will be a ring, there will be victorian outfits, there will be a real wrestling audience wearing masks, there with be smoke there will be fog there with be lights and sweat and at the helm there will be the incredible Emily Dennison working her stylish magic behind her weapon of photographic choice. Check Emily's work out here

I'm so VERY excited about the shoot and there are some very interesting surprises in the shot that I look forward to sharing with you.

What else... Well, today, I sat at a sewing machine for 8 hours sewing bits of paper to try and get these handmade deadlines for this first single out the way whilst Annie wrestled with a typewriter. Annie was literally pulling her hair out whilst I was trying to become the sewing machine repeating mantras and trying to breathe in time with the stitches. Alas, it is now 10.30 and I shall still need to sew to get things finished!

Here is your playlist for today ladies and gentleboys - I give you... MILK

Day 4 - Alice in Annieland

So, what's up? What am I up to? What's the crack here at Limefield? The obvious really. I'm making 2.5 meter flowers out of silks. Just an average day I hear you twitter? Yup. Why? Because they're being commissioned by the Bury Rock for their first year anniversary fashion show. We've been cutting, hemming, painting, varnishing, wiring, laughing and rolling around in silk. Alice and Annie helped me on Saturday as I was pulling my hair out and wondering why I had said yes to so many overlapping projects! I had handmades going on in the back room, a giant pink chalk board going on in the kitchen and 6ft flowers happening in the living room whilst I was also designing the last T-shirt in the other porch. Total madness. There was a moment when the confusion really set in as we were all scratching our heads trying to work out how to get these giant flowers to stand up straight when after a long period of silence Annie said, 'Have you ever wondered why we only have 4 fingers and a thumb? I mean do't you think its weird and there should be five fingers?' We all rolled about laughing and then got on with it. So, there will be 3 giant flowers one orange, one red and one purple and there will be a few giant butterflies. It's going to be a beautiful fashion show! Will let you know when and where nearer the time. I wish you well. xxx

Day 3 - One, two, twinkle & a whisk...

I've so much to say but with such spent energy !!! So many many many mnay myan things to tell tell but such little nrg. enjoy. I 'll explain when I can ! Sleep well. x

Day 2 of the mad dash to the first single line

Today Agent Annie and I worked a little slower than yesterday - for a darned good reason! We made a playlist based around biscuits! Oh yes. Agent Annie & Kirsty's Almeida's Biscuit Playlist

Annie is on the main stretch for the handmades preparation and late tonight and tomorrow I shall be putting finishing touches, sprinkling some extra magic and sewing them togther with some good time positivity before taking them to the experts next week. I am at the finishing line for three designs I'm on at the moment - there're a few sneaky peaks at the bottom of this ... The beginings of a couple of T-shirt logo ideas for the Feel Good Festival...

I am designing 6 T'shirts at the moment and some beautiful 6ft Silk flowers for a very colourful exciting do. Tomorrow, I'm off to take the measurements for an abstract bunting installation I've designed for the Nice Cuppa Tea Dance before getting back to begin the 6ft flowers with Tour managing Alice (who's beautifully creative) and Agent Annie. Stay near x Here's a petal heart I found at the lake...

Agent Annie & the Handmade's Tale

So its begun!! Madness is all around and I am a cyclops. Sometimes I am a butterfly. Sometimes I am a mad scientist staring at sewing machines (I have 5) with the look of a researching scientist so very near the answer. Sometimes I am a giggling teenager high on abstract and then every 10 minutes I am brought to the reality of running a record label in between as emails come through.

So, today Agent Annie came round to help me as I have so much work now its outrageous and wonderful. We prepared 200 more hand made singles for the radio pluggers and PR and I worked on the last of the limited editions too so that they could be posted out this week. Here are a couple of shots from today. I promise to take more tomorrow.

We played game today too...one would pick a song by an artist on Spotify and add it to our playlist then the other would have to pick the next song by taking the last letter of the previous artists name and finding a new artist who's name starts with that letter - hard to explain but heres our playlist and a pretty good one it is too...

http://open.spotify.com/user/kirstyalmeida/playlist/0D6E4q996tm5blwq4zupVG

overflow

It isn't physically or mentally possible to do what I have decided to do in the next month and that's the end of that. I realise now why, er...Everybody needs a Lucy had to go back to work after her years leave to come and help me and now - boy am I beginning to notice. Lucy, Matt and I had such a strong team happening and we were really working so well but now, alas, I am overflowing.

So, today, a friend, Alice said let us help you and I hadn't considered that before. Help. Wow. I really hadn't thought to ask. Madness. So now, people are coming to help!! Thank God they are cause this could be a wonderfully fun month. 200 handmades, a few more limited editions, some 6ft silk flowers to design and produce, 2 videos to make, a website to design and produce, a single to release on my label, a film coming out that I wrote the music for and its premiere, the 2 'Nice Cuppa Tea dances' to organise and decorate, srings for the quartet to finish writing with Matt, new songs to finish for teh 'Brewgaloo Do' a cover to paint for someone elses album, 2 T-shirts to deign and send off..blah blah blah...honest the list goes on!

I'm going to keep you updated so that I can at least relax a little bit by bringing my day to words.