Inspiration for a Thursday morning...

A lovely inspiration article by one of the blogs I regularly follow, Cashmerette: Coming to Peace

What she talks about in the article is definitely part of the reason I started sewing and having found so many amazing women who are inspirational in this regard has been mindblowing. I have almost finished my first hand made item and I love the fact I made it! So proud of myself!

The Social Survival Mammoth

Read a really interesting article about the "social survival mammoth" today. I know I'm definitely guilty of this so it's something that I'm going to work on over the next few months. You should all check it out: The Social Survival Mammoth

Flossie Teacakes: Lined, zippered pouch / make up bag tutorial

Flossie Teacakes: Lined, zippered pouch / make up bag tutorial: I'm so making these as presents!

New Years Resolution

Well...here we are in 2015, a whole new year to mess up enjoy! Although I've had this blog for 6 months I've done very little sewing, mainly due to also planning my wedding but now it is a new year and I've got lots more time to spare and have a brand spanking new sewing machine to try out. In fact sewing more is one of my new year's resolutions. I have plans to make some pjamas and a skirt and dress for myself before I go on honeymoon in May and on annual leave in June, as well as having promised my husband that I would sew him a shirt being inspired by Fiona from Diary of a Chainstitcher and her lovely shirt and also Peter from Male Pattern Boldness with his sewalong of a Negroni shirt.

Usually my resolutions are always the same: lose weight; save more money; get a new job but this year I'm trying something a bit different. I read a post in internet land (http://offbeathome.com/2012/12/a-year-of-resolutions) about making monthly resolutions instead of yearly ones as people are much more likely to stick to them. So twelve one-month challenges here I come:

·       Alcohol-free month – this is currently being done in January, not only is better for my liver after it’s Christmas beating but I'm also cutting down calories to help with weight-loss so it will help with this. For a while Chris and I didn't drink in the week and only had a glass or two at the weekend which worked really well. I think that after our dry January we might need to get back to that.

·       Take a photo everyday – last Christmas (2013) husband bought me a snazzy DSLR camera so I've had it a year now but I don’t use it nearly as much as I should so that’s where this goal comes in. Not only will I get more use out of it but I think using the camera everyday will help my techniques and skills improve. This might be a February challenge as I'm going on a photo course at the end of January so will give me opportunities to practise what I learn.

·       No takeaway month – I enjoy cooking a lot but living opposite a Waitrose and round the corner from a Dominos/Chinese/Indian I do get lazy with my food and am swayed by all the tasty treats. This will be a really hard one for me and the husband but it has to be done to prove we can do it, better for bank balance and better for our waistlines & health as well. I have an awful habit of buying food, planning out our menus for the week but never cooking what I planned meaning the food gets wasted, I spend more money and it’s on crap that doesn't fill me up meaning I eat more! It’s a vicious circle…

·       Exercise every day month – in my day job I sit at a desk all day maybe only getting up once or twice to go to kitchen or printer. I know this is bad for me so I'm going to try and combat this by doing more exercise. I already do a little bit but doing some every day for a month would be a challenge. And just to clarify I'm not talking about running marathons every day here, I'm thinking going for a nice walk at lunch or a run in the evening after work. I think the offbeat home post had something about running a mile a day; not sure I could handle that but it’s something to work up to I guess! I might have to try this in the summer when I can be outside more.

So there we go… my resolutions for the first third of the year made, just have to think up another 8! Has anyone else made any resolutions? Are you still sticking to them? Good luck with all of your own ones if you've made them!

                                                 

I actually sewed something!!!

Well after having this blog for nearly 6 months I have sewn my first item and shockingly it wasn't for me! Just before christmas I made a stocking for my husband (oh yeah, I got married btw!) We do proper presents but the last few years we've done each other a little stocking £10 limit max and I decided to make his stocking this year instead of using the shop bought ones we've had previously. After much research I went with the EASIEST pattern I found which was from sew scrumptious (  http://sewscrumptious.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/christmas-stocking-tutorial-and-pattern.html?m=1) plus it had a free pattern so a definite winner! And I also bought my lovely christmas fabric from Duttons for Buttons in York, christmas fat quarters with lovely reindeer on them. 

Now considering I made the stocking on the first day of having the flu I'm quite impressed with myself. I had to go and use the mothership's sewing machine as I didn't have one (...yet...more on that later!) here's some photos as I'm very proud of it 

And now to my new sewing machine!! I treated myself in the sale to a little try out machine. It was only £25 (half price!) and does all the basics and is light enough to carry easily. I figure it's enough to keep me going while I learn and then I can get a proper one if I want. I now feel a lot more excited about sewing again, sort of lost interest with the wedding going on but now I'm looking forward to the summer and have plans of at least a few made by me items and possibly shirt for my husband. Anyway that's all folks...I'm off to the land of nod now! 

a pretty cool life.: Rainbow Bunting Baby Quilt Tutorial

How gorgeous is this quilt and really easy instructions too: a pretty cool life.: Rainbow Bunting Baby Quilt Tutorial:

I think this might be the one that I make for my best friend's little girl once she is born...

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Autumn days when the grass is jewelled...

Can I just say...I love autumn! Come on...who doesn't love crunching those autumn leaves! 

I think as I'm getting older I appreciate the seasons a lot more, especially now that I'm not at school/university with a  timetable which defines when things happen. I think as a child, winter just meant Christmas and the summer meant school holidays and I didn't really notice what happened in-between those times, spring and autumn didn't feature at all. But now I'm a grown up (in name if not in spirit!) I do feel these things more. 

I first noticed the lovely first shoots of spring a few years back after a horrific winter which just seemed to be freezing and snowing for most of it which is unusual for England especially way down in the midlands where I live. The green poking out of the muddy dark ground really lifted my spirits and when the flowers started showing up, well I was a happy lady! 

And now we have a gorgeous and warm autumn (seriously England, sort out your weather!) which has left all the trees with amazing colours. I live in a small town in the middle of countryside and driving to work with all of the reds, oranges and yellows, it really makes the journey a bit less tedious. And there's the added bonus of pumpkin spiced latte these days! I am finding that since husband-to-be bought me my camera last Christmas I look at scenery differently and I'm longing to be able to capture the leaves with some skill. I just wish I had time to go and out take photos but at the moment every spare minute seems to be doing wedding stuff which I know I can't complain about as I want it to be a day full of gorgeous loveliness that everyone enjoys...I just wish I had a bit more spare time! 

Especially I am wanting time to do get on with my sewing, I bought patterns in the summer aiming to make pretty dresses, now with the weather turning I'm not sure if they are really appropriate any more. I guess I'll just have to try and find some autumn/winter patterns to check out. In the meantime I have a little project that I want to start which is a blanket for my best friend's soon to be born baby, the doctors are 99% sure that she's having a little girl so I'm thinking about a nice purple/pink blankie for her. I do like the idea of being able to make something for my friends as it makes a present all the more personal and if it's not done by the time she is born then it will be a great Christmas present for her.

Anyway, I'd better head off as I have wedding glueing and sticking to be doing, I'll leave you with some lovely autumn fun...

Sew Good by Deborah Good: Make a Christmas Stocking

I'm thinking that this might be a nice small Christmas project to do after the wedding, I've even got all excited looking for fur for the cuff and iron on letters to decorate it!

Sew Good by Deborah Good: Make a Christmas Stocking

Swirly nipples are the best...

So the sewing that I was planning on doing when I started this blog has sort of come to a standstill mainly because I have gone in to OHMIGODIMGETTINGMARRIED mode and have started to panic about all the things I haven't done yet for the wedding. Cue panic buying at Hobbycraft! I still have my lofty ambitions of sewing my own clothes but maybe not until after 6th November! I have made some small progress in that I've now got tracing paper, chalk markers and proper scissors...

Masquerade hen do @ Raouls, Oxford

It was also my hen do this weekend just gone which was a brilliant weekend with all my best girl friends in Oxford! We stayed at one of the colleges and the whole weekend was so much fun and lovely to have everyone all there together to celebrate. There was a treasure hunt/photo hunt in the morning, lovely lunch and then cocktail making and dancing in the evening all with a masquerade theme. Here is all of us together with our masks on. I'm the one at the front in green with the gold mask. The whole weekend was a complete surprise to me with me not even knowing where we were going until we actually arrived at Oxford. I have to say, I chose excellent bridesmaids, they planned an epic weekend for me and I know they will be amazing on the wedding day. 

Speaking of the wedding it is one month today!!!!! I'm getting very excited now but also rather scared about all the things that still need to be done. I made a terrifying list on Thursday that ran to 4 sides of A4 paper of stuff that needs doing and I'm still finding things to add to it. If any of you out there are planning a wedding, listen to all the lovely advice that says do not leave DIY things until the last minute as you will regret it! I had two whole years to get stuff done but it's all getting done now...fail Kirsty, epic fail! Still the list will get crossed off gradually and I will just have to delegate things I think, luckily my sister (one of the bridesmaids) isn't working at the moment and is super crafty so she has now been put in charge of making all of the centre pieces and I will be dealing with the stationery stuff which is more my forte! In some ways I just want the day to be here so I can celebrate with all my friends and family and not have my brain taken up with purple glitter and table plans! 

Pumpkin drool

Now although I am not an American I loooove a bit of pumpkin and adore pumpkin pie as much as any Yank! Thanksgiving or not I will eat it!

Unfortunately we don't get a lot of pumpkin flavoured food over here in England so I have to make do with what I can find which is usually pumpkin spiced lattes in Starbucks in October time and the occasional tin of pumpkin in Waitrose...because who can be bothered to cut up a whole pumpkin just to get the flesh of it! 

Anyway my point is pumpkin is awesome and here you can find lots of scrummy recipes to make it even awesomer. First on my list to try are the turtle pumpkin ice cream cake and triple chocolate pumpkin pie....told you there would be pumpkin drool! I mean how can you resist something that looks this good 

<----- turtle pumpkin ice cream cake

Everyday sexism...

I read a really interesting article today on the Guardian website about the language used to describe women and how some words are generally (though not always) used against women in a discriminatory way. I honestly had never really considered this until I read the article and realised it had been going on without me even noticing! 
Anyhoo the article can be found here on the Guardian Life & Style section and you should all go and read it!

Back to work blues...

Well, here I am back at work again after a week off. At the start of it, the time seemed so long...9 whole days off in a row, but it has soon slipped past! To be honest the holiday started a bit earlier as we had plans on the Thursday and Friday night and whole of Saturday before going away on the Sunday to London.

London was a great break if a bit (read a lot!) wet! We got pretty much soaked in the rain every time we stepped out of the hotel on Monday & Tuesday though Wednesday was better at least, no need for the umbrella! We had a lovely time none-the-less and did some spectacularly touristy things as well as more unusual ones. 

Trolled up to the National Gallery to see an excellent exhibition called Making Colour which surprisingly enough is about colour!! Was a fascinating thematic exhibition and talked about the theory and the way the different pigments were developed as well as showing the traditional uses of each colour. It's on until 7th September so if you find yourself at a loose end near Leicester Square and the National Gallery I would highly recommend it!

We also went to see a Prom (Austro-Hungarian /Viennese music) at the Royal Albert Hall which was just up the street from our hotel. Had a slight drama when I ACCIDENTALLY spilled some water on a woman in the bar where we were having our pre-prom drink (typical clutzy me!) and she went absolutely mental and we then made a swift exit. Her shrieks included the following "Ohhhh, What have you thrown on me?"  "My hair is ruined" (it wasn't, in fact you couldn't even tell she'd had it done...) and when Chris apologised again saying that we were as wet as she was, from the 20 minute walk in the rain obviously..., she just tutted at us and said "I don't think so!" I'm sure if we were older she wouldn't have kicked off as much. So barring that incident the proms were lovely, the Albert Hall was amazing and the music was beautiful. Even got to hear the Blue Danube waltz which is one of our joint favourite pieces of classical music. 

On Tuesday in the rain we went to the amazing shop that is Libertys of London. My Mum first took me in there when I was about 13 or 14 and I fell in love with the place. For those that don't know, Liberty is at heart a posh department store but is really so much more than that. It has a beautiful mock Tudor frontage and sells the most amazing fabrics and all sorts of exquisite things. I think my favourite place there is the rug room, which is just a room chock-a-block full of oriental style rugs, on the floor, in massive piles, hanging from the ceiling...heaven! Now because I am paying for a wedding and am poor I resisted all the beautiful Tana Lawn fabric and treated myself to some little scissors in the same print as I liked, the height of restraint I'm sure you will agree. 

Another highlight of our trip was a visit to a fabulous restaurant called The Big Easy, we went to the Chelsea one but there is also one in Covent Garden. Basically their specialty is Lobster but they do all sorts of other Americana type foods like ribs, burgers etc and amazing cocktails. Being brave souls Chris and I decided that we would try the 1 and a half  pound lobster as neither of us had tried it before. And dear readers, I can truly say it was delicious! I'm not a massive fan of seafood so this is a departure for me and I'm so pleased I made the brave leap. The meat (if you can call a crustacean's flesh meat!) was very sweet and not at all disgusting. Plus we had awesome fun with the implements they give you to eat it, cracking tools, long prongs etc...and took funny photos with claws. All in all a great place to go and have a good meal, great drinks and an excellent time! 

One of the best things about where we stayed was its proximity to Chelsea and the Kings Road meaning we could do a bit of celeb spotting while we were there. Not that we were that great at it...our best spots were Spencer and Andy from Made in Chelsea. Speaking of MIC if you've been watching the new series in New York you should read this blog about it on Tatler website. Very funny stuff by Sophia Money-Coutts.

You know for all me starting this post moaning about being back at work, I've actually cheered myself right up by recapping our London trip for you all. 

Can't sleep...

So it's stupid'o'clock in the morning and I can't sleep. Was having a really random dream that I can hardly remember now and I woke up to the sound of smoke alarm going off. Now I've no idea if this was just in my brain or actually real but now I'm a little bit worried to go back to sleep. I have checked out the whole flat and can't see anything that would cause the alarm to go off, smoke or otherwise, but still little bit concerned. 

Other than that it's been a pretty good day. We got back from London last night, feels a lifetime ago already, but knew we had stuff to do today so alarm went back on even though we're still on leave *sob.* At least I knew I was getting up for a good reason, to get me hair cut & coloured! It's now a gorgeous auburn colour, no change in the length since I'mgrowing it for the wedding. Please excuse the poor photo, it's in the waitrose toilets! 

We also had our pre wedding engagement photo shoot with our official wedding photographer today (well technically yesterday now!) The idea is to get you used to having a camera in your face all the time and to how they tell you to move as it's not necessarily natural. Did the "shoot" in the little village where the photographer is based so it's got nice countryside and villagey goodness in it! Hopefully the photos will come out beautifully, if they don't will be our fault and not the photographer's as he is excellent!  

Oh, alarm just went off again, guess I didn't dream it then...fiancé woke up this time and he doesn't seem bothered about it. Says it's just the batteries n will sort it out in the morning. I'm not sure I'm going to get much sleep with worrying about them beeping n if it's actually detecting something or just tripping. Eeep! 

London Baby!

Today I am in London 😄 fiancé and I are staying for a few days over the bank holiday. Normally we could just get the train down and it would take us 40 mins to get here but thanks to the amazing minds at network rail who decided to do arrange engineering works over this w/e we had to get the coach. It wasn't too bad I suppose, just hot n cramped but no traffic jams at least! And here we are in a very nice hotel in Kensington just near natural history museum. See delightful photo below, and yes...I am in bed...

This evening there will be lobster, ribs and frozen margaritas; Tomorrow there will be proms, on Tuesday there will be afternoon tea and on Wednesday there will be Libertys of London for fabric sighing over... All in all a good holiday I'm thinking. Then we don't even go back to work til the week after. Excellent use of annual leave! 

"I wanna rock!!!"

Well this evening I had a great evening out. Had double date with fiancé and one of my lovely bridesmaids plus her husband. We went out for dinner (thank you Tesco clubcard vouchers!) and then to see Rock of Ages at the theatre. I even curled my hair for the occasion ☺️ The show was very funny, a little bit naughty in parts and a great sing-a-long of 80s classics! The best thing about it was that they didn't take it too seriously, one bit they even went totally off script and corpsed totally, had the audience in stitches! The lead character was played by Noel off of Hearsay and Wales so there were plenty of sheep jokes in there. All in all a good fun night with one my bestie and my lovely man. Few pre-theatre pics are below... 

In other news I collected my first fabric parcel from the post office and have purchased a measuring tape so Operation Made by Me is ready for the next stage ( and yes that is a partially stolen code name that I just invented!) I also bought my wedding tiara which is exciting. 

And now since it is past pumpkin time I'm off to sleep, have to be up im 7 hours to go to Harrogate ..... Long story, will tell it another time 

"People gonna rate you, People gonna hate you, People gonna shove you, People gonna love you, People gonna do whatever makes them feel they own you better!"

Yesterday, dear readers, I brought you the tale of my amazing shoes of love with the gorgeous peacock feathers on. So in infinite wisdom I decided that I really could do with in my life is a matching dress...now not many places sell amazing peacock feather dresses so I, of course, decided to buy some more fabric for one of my as yet hypothetical dresses! 

So here it is in all it's beauty - the peacock fabric of love! 

Isn't it so pretty and bright and colourful :) 

"Charlie, when they close the book on you and me, it will say that at this moment you were not there for me. And for that, obviously, there will be some kind of punishment."

Another day, another post. This one is about shoes and more specifically the beautiful wonderful shoes of love that I have bought! Somehow clicking through various links on facebook I ended up on this wonderful website called Modcloth which has all sorts of lovely things on it and then I found the amazing shoes of love: 

Unfortunately they didn't have these ones in my size, although I have requested them, but they did have the flats available, hooray!! I think these might be my evening shoes for the wedding since our colour scheme features purple heavily and they are decorative enough to be special on the day. I just hope that since they are coming from the US they will get here in time for my November wedding! 

In sewing news, still not got my fabric delivered yet so just sitting waiting to get started now. I suppose I could measure myself so I know what to cut from my patterns. Ah well, that can be a job for when everything is delivered! I think now the weather is turning a bit (read a lot!) more autumnal I might have to make some long sleeves dresses now. It almost feels like going back-to-school weather, which I know sounds ridiculous since I left senior school 10 years ago! 

I have my engagement pre-wedding photo shoot next week and have no idea what to wear, it's going to be done out in the fields near where the photographer lives so don't particularly want to go all glamorous but I still want to look good in them. Luckily I'd already arranged to have my hair cut that morning anyway since I'm on leave so that's one less thing to worry about, just the rest of me to stress over. I'm also hoping that the rather massive big red spot I have just under my nose will disappear in time for it, wicked witch is not a good look on me! If anyone has bright ideas about how to get rid of my spot or what I should be wearing in my photo shoot please speak now or forever hold your peace...

"I am making a mental list of those who are snickering, and even as I speak I am preparing appropriate retribution."

Well here we are with my very first post. After stumbling on to some sewing blogs (A Million Dresses and Dolly Clackett) via the Aspire website I've become inspired to have a go at making my own clothes, more specifically, dresses!

I love dresses and I'm always drawn to them when shopping but being of a slightly rounder body shape than is fashionable these aren't always available in my size in the patterns I love. So this is why I have decided to take the plunge and try and make one myself. So I have committed and bought not one but TWO patterns off of amazon, read all about patterns and how to use them and ordered some lovely fabric(with the help of my lovely fiancé Chris)  with Paris landmarks on it that I'm hoping to wear on my honeymoon there. Oh yes, not only am I venturing into the brave new world of sewing, I'm also planning my wedding at the same time, only 11 weeks and 2 days to go! I know it would probably be best not to start a new project while the wedding is still going on but I can't help it, I got excited! Along side these fabulous projects I am also attempting to re-watch all of The West Wing now it is on Sky On Demand because I LOVE them all so much. It is very 90s now but it still is so good for the snarkiness for example, the title of this post!

So I will keep the world updated on my sewing exploits on this fresh brand spanking new blog. I'm currently awaiting my material and then have to go and borrow (steal!) my Mum's sewing machine to head into my dressmaking era.