Roman Holiday

Well not quite Rome but recently I did go to Italy! The South of Italy to a lovely little coastal town called Tropea where the local specialities are their chillies and red onions. It's a small town so there isn't a great sight to do but it's all you need if your hols are to be a relaxing a restoring experience with much lounging and loafing. I did so much reading while away it was great and something I need to do much more of.

Unfortunately the weather was not too great at times and on one day it actually haled but I guess that's the luck of the draw if you go out of season. It was very warm when the sun did come out and we did manage to get a couple of days in at the beach.

My Freddies of Pinewood jeans were a lifesaver on the cooler days and a fantastic investment. If you're "umming" and "erring" over buying a pair stop it and snap them up!

 

And fineally it seems the Italians love Nutella as much as I do. 

Circle Skirt Sew Along

If you don't know me very well then you don't know that I am crazy for circle skirts and most especially border print circle skirts *gasp*! I own a couple of circle skirts but have been dying to increase my wardrobe with more as I think they are very flattering to my figure and so nice to wear in the summer. When it gets a little chilly (as it appears to be doing right now) I’d love to have a quilted circle skirt to wear with thick tights for a bit of warmth. All these skirts don’t come cheap though and in the case of the quilted skirt they’re not exactly easy to find too. With this in mind I bought a pattern and have been prattling on at my Mum for ages to help me make one; or many because I don’t believe you can ever have too many circle skirts.


Due to us both having lots to do at the weekends we haven’t as yet managed to get together and get sewing. And then suddenly up pops a smashing blog post from Casey’s Elegant Musings for a circle skirt sew along. I’ve only just read her post and am already far too excited to be normal. I love the idea of doing this sew along and getting all the tips and inspirations as we all do it together. I had been thinking of doing the New Vintage Lady sew along however felt like I needed something more suitable to my skill level (i.e. beginners). As Casey has said in her blog this is a great sew along for all as it’s a dandy project for us beginners who will be able to learn some of the basics to make a simple circle skirt. As well as being interesting for the more advanced sewers who can embellish, quilt and generally do fancy things to their skirts.

In the words of everyone’s favourite sponge “I’m ready! I’m ready! I’m ready! I’m ready!”

This fantastic skirt and many more can be found at this here blog: http://heres-looking-like-you-kid.com/tag/circle-skirts/ I especially like the Chirstmas themed one too!

See you all soon with hopefully more circle skirt mayhem! Ta-raa lovlies!

Post Script: Check out my new follower http://living-vintage.blogspot.com/ Twila Jean's blog always looks beatiful and I wish I had flaming hair like hers. She's a gem!

FatCat Friday - Relax

FatCat say relax. Tomorrow's Saturday.

It's Been A While

How are you old chums? It's been a while.

Technical difficulties hound me still and where as before I would get a cheeky post in during work time I am now so busy that I barely have time for a spot of tea! I'm still enjoying work though and have had three very fun/important/busy events going on. The first being the Royal Visit where I got to meet Prince Edward and I shook him firmly by the hand while mumbling something like "hi". My boss texted me after the day was over and thanked me for my hard word and confidence; she said I was everything she knew I could be. I also got many compliments for my dress which was a 1940's reproduction tea dress from the fantastic Electric Gypsy. They really are brillient and I can't wait to have some spare cash so I can buy more dresses. More!

Then two weeks later it was the annual Pelican Trust Summer Outing which this year was to Mablethorpe. I can't deny I was very excited and I like to think the feeling spread to others as I have been told it was the best summer outing for year. I received a lovely thank you card which was handmade by a learner and signed by everyone; they even remembered I love Whitby as they made it with a picture of Whitby Abbey on.

Talking of Whitby I shall be going there straight after I come back from my family holiday to Italy. I'm off up north to my favourite seaside town for the Railway in Wartime weekend. And you guessed it I'll be wearing a dress from Electric Gypsie since I just can't get enough of that shop. I'm pretty nervous for the Wartime Weekend because I've already looked up pictures from previous years and everyone looks so amazing and period accurate. I keep telling myself that I'm just starting out and one day I'll have a fantastic wardrobe full of period pieces too.

Anyway I hope that was enough ramblings for now and I hope to have many more wonderful blog posts for you soon.

Ta raa for now!

M.I.A.

It's been so long! Where have I been? Everywhere and yet nowhere.

Life's been a tad hectic lately as a lot has been kicking off work wise and since I don't have the internet at home this means I don't get a chance to write any posts. I really am very sorry. If you don't know me then you won't know that in February I fully moved into my promotion as Development Officer for the small Lincoln based mental health charity which I have worked at for the past three years. It keeps me out of trouble and I really do love my job.

And so dispite such a long absense I really don't have a fat sight to tell you.

I tried my hand at applique and am really pleased with the results. It's a bit out of season what with being a reindeer but I love reindeer thanks to a song by the Knife. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ9KQI8gCXg

I did this design onto a pillow case, wrapped it up in pink paper and ribbon and sent it to Miss Jessy Belle.

I have been visiting my parents and that means lots of lovely hugs and spoils for Felipe! I'm pretty sure hugs and kisses don't mean the same thing to rabbits as they do to humans but I give him lots anyhow. I've also been putting his lead on him and trying to get him used to it but I'm not sure he likes it much. He's terribly stubborn.

For the Bank Holiday Weekend I had some friends over and it was so much fun. There was lots of walking up and down Steep Hill (which is actually a ridge). As you can tell from the name it is of a steep gradient and my left knee still hasn't stopped clicking. There was lots of shopping with Lucinda and plenty of pubbing with David. Indi came over for the Sunday night and we all had dinner at the AMAZING Brown's Pie Shop(http://www.brownspieshop.co.uk/) then off to the cinema to see The Hangover 2. I baked mushroom pies and cupcakes for David and Lu which had for dinner on Saturday night. I also baked a Victoria Sponge with berries on top for Indi which we had when we got back from the cinema. As if that all wasn't enough on Monday night we did the Lincoln Ghost Walk and had dinner at Thailand No1.

Hair Today...

...Gone Tomorrow. Well Saturday actually. Here I am second time in as many days with, this time, a slightly vain post all about my hair.

On Saturday after my shower I was thinking what to do with my poor heat damaged hair as I wanted to curl it in a pony tail, Grease Lightning style I call it, but I really didn't want to use my curlers on it like I ordinarily would. My curling tongs are Nicky Clarke hottest you can get and they literally burn my hair - not good! So messing around I did a few large pin curls one on my left and two on my right to compensate for my ridiculous side parting; I was working from memory of a you tube video I'd seen nigh on years ago. They turned out pretty good but I wasn't sure what to do with the rest of my hair as I couldn't very well just leave it straight. So with nothing to lose I tried my very first hair roll at the back. Well it my not have been perfect but I loved it. I got out of my car at Mum and Dad's house shouting "look at me barnet!" and Dad said it was "Nanny hair" meaning that's how his Mum used to wear hers.

I then went to a Rockabilly gig looking slightly last decade (i.e. 1940's) but that didn't matter. There were loads of jive dancers there and I even got invited to lessons which I'm going to start tonight. Scary/exciting. By the time I got home I flopped into bed and didn't take the curls out (which was the plan I promise!). Woke up in the morning and loved my new curls! It was really comfy to sleep in too because there were not curlers or bendy rollers poking in the back of my head. Once brushed out they went a bit big but I think that's because I still need to perfect brushing out.

So what do you think? I'm over the moon and now I know how to wear my hair for Raucby War Weekend. Yippie!

Remember Me?

How long has it been? Months? I've been pretty lax on the blogging front I know but I think I'm back. I am also back to using my old camera phone which has 12.1 mega pixels. Well good. It's a bit of a Steven Hawking of the technology world though. Really clever but keeps crashing.

Any way I'm just going to give you a little update of the most fun thing which has happened to me lately (I say most fun when I really mean the only fun, sigh).

T'other weekend I braved the cold climate and when oop north to Newcastle to visit my sister (and yes I really thought it was cold despite the constant sunshine). Aside from seeing my sister, going to the theatre, visiting the lovely seaside town of Tynemouth, finding pretty Stratton compacts and going to the Baltic Art Gallery the highlights for me were, of course, the food. I think I have an issue.



Unagi Bento



Miss Jessy Belle excited for her Tempura Bento



One of my big food loves is Bento which I think I may have mentioned before. If Bento is on the menu then everything else is off in my books. Above is a picture of my Unagi Bento which was teriyaki eel. I have read about what eel is like as a food before and I have to say it was an experience but I won't be going there again in a hurry. It was bony and I think I'd have enjoyed a nice tofu steak more. An experience though and now I know Unagi. My biggest let down was that they had run out of the vegetable gyoza; I still need to try them. Need!

But wait, there's more! More food? Oh you betcha.

The main event was Afternoon Tea at Jesmond Dene House. It was lovely and we looked like Bright Young Things sitting there with our nightclub hand stamps (which wouldn't wash off) on the backs of our hands. Afternoon Tea is right posh hangover food.

  

It was all so perfect and despite looking like not much ("I'll have you know I'm going to eat the lot" were my famous last words) it was actually really filling so we took some home in boxes; though apparently not called a doggy bag.

The top tier of sweets were stunning and if I were on Come Dine With Me I would love to be able to do something like that for dessert. Very sweet but it was fun and such a nice selection.

A big thank you to Jessy for a lovely Royal Wedding Weekend and taking me for awesome Afternoon Tea. Nom!