Straight Talking Mama

Not such a relaxing weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:05:00 +0000

Well it's been a long weekend here in the UK and today is the last day, but I've had more time off that most, but I haven't been relaxing, far from it!!!!

I had transformed the tip and junk room that was my dining room into exactly what I want a beautiful, fully useful dining room and even though I swore and injured myself, and ached like hell, I wallpapered for the first time, hated every minute of that, I sawed and mitred corners for the edge of the floor, I painted, and did I mention I ached?

Here's the big reveal, just like on all those DIY shows....

See a previous post for what this room looked like before it's quite a transformation!

As you can see it's red and grey to fit in with my dinette set, but I was so nervous about the grey, which actually I picked up from the curtains cos the curtains matched the dinette and it's hard to take a dinette into the DIY shop to colour match ;o) However I'm really really happy with the grey I think it really works but I was aware it could have gone horribly wrong, it's a funny old colour grey....

Here are some of the close up details, below is my sideboard, with some of my favourite bits on, a coffee set which we were given for our wedding (20 years ago this year eeek!), a painting by my lovely husband, and a lamp given to us by friends in San Diego.

I had been looking for curtains to go in this room for ages, something that matched the colours and design of our dinette and I was super lucky some months ago when I found these, I think they match pretty much perfectly!

The only thing which isn't done yet is the light fitting, see below, given to us by some lovely friends, sadly it needs rewiring so that will have to wait for another day, but it's going to look amazing once that is up and it's all finished!

As if that's not enough I had another super lucky find this week! I have been looking for a cabinet to put my record player on and stereo in FOREVER, well ok maybe a year or so, I just couldn't find something that would fit in with our other stuff but be just right for what I need and be small enough to fit in the corner, but big enough to do the job, you can see why it's been a problem, oh and affordable too!!!!

Well I went out to lunch on Tuesday, and spotted a second hand furniture store down a side street not far from my work which I have never seen before but apparently has been there for about 5 months. I thought oh well I'll have a look, and there it was the ideal bit of furniture, it's not terribly exciting as a piece of furniture but I can't tell you how excited I was! So last night, I set it all up and after all the work I've done, I got drunk and danced around the living room for most of the evening!!

The first picture is of it is next to my record cabinet, fab eh?

And there she is, I need to tidy the cables, but I was slightly intoxicated when I set it all up and though it best to do that when sober ha ha!

I could now do with a loooooong weekend to recover, instead today I will rest, relax, sleep, eat, not get dressed and generally recover, who needs a gym, just decorate!!!

Hope you like it and hope you all has a fabulous break over Easter

Planning a Dining Room makeover!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:42:00 +0000

I'm off work sick today, since I've worked in an office and no longer self employed I feel like I'm sick ALL the time, it drives me nuts, offices breed germs I'm convinced of it!

Anyway that's not what I'm here to talk about.....

It's Easter holidays next weekend and I've taken a couple of extra days off as I plan to tackle my dining room at long long long last. We have lived in this house over 7 years now and we have never tackled the dining room, I may add that mostly this is because we used to use it as a store room for my business for many years, so there was little point it making it nice as it was a work room.

However now is the time!

I nearly always start with a colour theme from a key piece in the room. My key piece in the dining room is my dinette set, that is the one non-negotiable item. This is the only picture I can find of it, can't believe I've never taken a proper picture!

Then I look to see if I can find some curtains that will match, I was lucky enough to stumble across these last year and snapped them up, just the right colours and will look fab with the dinette set

So now down to colours, well now I do like colour on my walls sooooo I am going to bite the bullet and go red on one wall and great on either 2 or 3 walls, eeek I know it will be bright!!

Unfortunately I need to paper the walls first, I have never papered before and I'm slightly dreading it, I would love to just get the walls skimmed with plaster and lovely and smooth, but the quote was beyond my budget so some slightly textured wallpaper to hide the lumps and bumps, then paint!

I do have a question though, I need to buy something to hang the curtains on but I have the most awkward window set up in this room - actually all my downstairs rooms! I really want to have an wooden type pole as the blind is wood but as you can see I can't hang the curtains with curtain rings as the curtains will be lower than the top of the window. AND if that's not bad enough there are some badly placed pipes too grrrr! Ideas please, here is the top of the window!

I'm going to show you some before pictures, partly cos I want you to see how much difference it will make when I'm done and partly to show those lovely people who thought my whole house must be fantastic after my last post that this is certainly not the case, we all have dodgy rooms which need work, that are in a mess!! Oh the shame!!!

So as you can I have a LOT to do!

I am motivated by the use of red and grey in this picture.

So everyone, what do you think about my curtain rail suggestion? Bear in mind I'm in the UK, so no fancy options from the USA please I just get jealous!!

Appreciate what you have!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:01:00 +0000

As a vintage collector/user of all manner of things, clothes, shoes, furniture, you name it, if it's my era and I love it, I'll be coveting it! But the problem with being a lover of these things is that despite the fact that I do try to sell things on I no longer use, I have a lot of stuff I have, live with every day but just don't appreciate.

I'm sure many of you recognise this situation, I'm sure most people who love vintage stuff suffer from this particular malady! So I was just thinking this morning, after spending the morning trawling ebay and 'watching' a load more stuff, that I really should appreciate what I have too.

Here are just a small selection of my particular favourites!

My beloved cocktail bar which has seen lots of moves, lots of different locations but I'll never part with it!

A new addition to our family, I actually got 2 of these, non-matching sadly, but super cheap for the price they normally go for and both gorgeous!

These is my most favourite lamp, we bought it in a store in LA, we saw it, loved it but it was a little out of our normal spending range, we left it drove away and then turned round, went back and bought it. But then we had to ship it, we packed it really well to ship home to ourselves, it arrived and it was broken in two, we were so sad, but had it restored - more money! - and now it sits pride of place!

I love these little book ends!

ooooh I really love this, my bargain of the century I think! A gold glitter bar stool, really comfy really heavy duty, just gorgeous, how much did I buy it for? £15, yep lucky eh? And that was only last year!

Another bargainous find and gorgeous, my lovely 50s coffee table.

This little lady has been with me for years, she sits on my bedside cabinet and makes me smile a lot.

I was lucky enough to buy this as a whole set many many moons ago and really do appreciate having it.

I LOVE my g plan sideboard, converted to TV cabinet! It was in very worn condition when I bought it, but again I got it at an amazing price and just treated it with love. A more stylish TV/entertainment cabinet you couldn't wish for!

So why am I constantly searching for new things when I have so much to appreciate!

I guess it's the nature of collecting and loving these items.

So I challenge you to look around you today and appreciate the things you already have!

Vintage Earring dilemma!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

I love wearing jewellery, I have a great collection of vintage earrings but they are all clip on and they hurt if I wear them for any length of time. I have bought those fabulous little see-through pads for the back of the clip on, but still if I wear them for a whole day I feel like my ears are going to fall off!

So lately I have been looking at repro brands on Etsy, especially for work, as I do like to wear earrings and I wear no jewellery to work, I don't feel like me without a quirky vintage pair of earrings!

I don't know if you've heard of these brands but I've found a couple of Etsy stores I particularly like.

First up is Luxulite and thankfully they are based in the UK. I've favourited quite a few of their items, just need to get some cash together so I can indulge. Here are some of my favourites, I really will be buying some, it's just deciding which ones!

Nautical Blue and Gold Earrings

Green Confetti Lucite Earrings - Sadly already reserved!

Green and Gold Confetti Lucite Cherry Brooch and earrings

Blue Confetti Lucite Earrings

Blue Confetti Lucite with Seahorse - I'm gutted these are reserved!

The next Etsy store I found Wavy Gravy Vintage, I only favourited a couple of pairs but I really like them and I like some of their other jewellery too.

Root Beer Confetti Lucite and Shell Earrings

Blue and Gold Drizzle Earrings

Of course I could make my own, not confetti lucite, I'm not that clever, but I have some lovely spare buttons and I remember reading this fabulous post by Tasha (see her below!) at By Gum By Golly about Making Vintage-Inspired Earrings, she's such a clever gal and I do mean to keep trying this. Perhaps I'll give it a go this weekend. If you haven't checked out her blog before, do it, it's a great interesting read and she seems like a lovely lady.

Do you suffer from clip on pain? What's your resolution? Have you found a great repro earring seller for pierced earrings? Or have you followed Tasha's lead and made your own? I'd be interested to know!

I'm ready for spring!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:35:00 +0000

If you live in the UK, you will know what I'm talking about, I'm so ready for Spring! We had one day last week which was lovely and teased us into thinking this was it, and now what, it's going to snow today and tomorrow, I usually love the snow but I'm so sad, I want spring!

I'm not necessarily a pretty cotton frocks type, but I do like spring/summer clothes more than winter, and I want to wear them now!

I had a taster of this recently as I went to Spain at the beginning of February for the Rockin Race Jamboree. The weather was lovely, nice enough for capri pants, nice blouses and a light jacket, I need to do this again now. Look how happy the sun make British people, we see it so rarely, it's makes us totally happy and smiley!!

I didn't get a pic of me in one of my favourite summer blouses I made but I have one of it, I do love this blouse and just don't get the opportunity to wear it enough!

I also dragged this out of my closet as it's now too big but I want to take it in and wear it again, so it's now in my alteration sewing pile, mmmm maybe I should just sell it on and buy something else, my alteration pile is stupidly big, but I LOVE this print, so summery!

I also want to wear this again, the little number that I ran up last year, although again may need taking in now, I love it cos it looks like a dress but it's a top and skirt so I can mix things up.

Instead this week it looks like I'll be wearing something closer to this

I love shoes!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 09:58:00 +0000

If you've been reading this blog for a while, then you know that I love shoes! I would say what girls doesn't but I'm sure there are some who don't. I however am addicted to shoes, my budget means I can't buy like I used to but I still look a lot. I am lucky to have small feet so have always been able to buy vintage shoes pretty easily, however I know many of you struggle to find vintage shoes, but don't fear there are some amazing repro brands out there, one of them is Miss L Fire. I LOVE Miss L Fire.

They have just launched there Spring/Summer 13 collection and oh my there are some fabulous shoes in there, I think I need to do some big time saving!! You can find Miss L Fire's online store here in the meantime here are some of my personal favourites.

I think if I get anything from this collection this may be the pair for me, just stunning!

Tijuana in Red - £114.99

Now these are stunning!! Now only are they an amazing design but the very talented Miss L Fire has incorporated a vintage technology that you never seem to see any more in mule shoes, despite it being the cleverest piece of shoe design, the springolator!!! Yay well done Miss L Fire, so nice to see someone finally re-using this marvellous bit of shoe technology

Lola in Brown - £99.99

I LOVE turquoise, I love a raffia style wedge and I love a tropical flower, there really isn't anything to not love about these, ok maybe I NEED these too ha ha!

Aloha in Turquoise - £89.99

I'm not normally a fan of polka dots but only because they seem to have been hijacked by current trend for 'vintage' without knowing what vintage is *climbing off my soapbox* but I do love these, they are fabulous, happy, cheerful and summery!

Casablanca in Red - £104.99

Despite loving wedges and heels, in reality what I wear most are flats, I have flat feet and heels hurt me for any length of time, plus I have a disabled husband who I need to be steady on my feet for in case he needs help with walking, sooooo I love and wear flats a lot. These are just fabulous and probably are the most likely pair I will buy even though I want most of the range. These are not only stylish and pretty but fabulously flat and practical, my favourite combination, flat is certainly not ugly!

Mexicali - £56.99

All pretty shoes eh? And they have so many more to drool over, now I need to start counting my pennies!!

Sneaking back in.....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 10:04:00 +0000

Hello all, I'm sneaking back in, I want to start blogging again but it has been sooooo long I'm slightly ashamed to be sneaking in like this!

I'm off to read all your blogs soon too, though clearly can't catch up, it's been months and months but I have been thinking of you all and missing you all.

So what have I been up to, well lots of interesting and lots of not very interesting.

Recently I went to the Rockin Race Jamboree in Spain, it was an absolute ball and so fantastic to catch some winter sun, as you can see from the picture above, my husband caught it a lot than day and damn him, if he didn't wake up the next morning with a fabulous tan!

I had fun with friends, met some news ones, soaked up the sun, wore lovely clothes - all of which I had to take in (yes the weight loss battle continues to be won!) and generally had a lovely restful and partying time.

Yes this is early February in Southern Spain, sooo lovely and warm! However when we arrived back at Gatwick it was a horrible shock to arrive to temperatures of -1 and snow eeek!

Ok I'm going to leave my sneaking back in at that and hope to see you all much more in the next couple of weeks. Of to catch up on your news xx

Better sewing here I come!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:30:00 +0000

I got this fabulous book delivered this week

I'm a long term sewer/sewist/seamstress whatever but I have wanted to improve my techniques for quite some time however I didn't quite know where to start. I ordered this book hoping that it might show me something.

I follow Gertie's blog http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/ already and am always interested and inspired by her posts, her thirst for knowledge in all things sewing and her ongoing improvement!

Soooo when this landed on my doorstep I wondered if it would live up to my expectations. YES IT DID! It's absolutely fantastic, I've never been so engrossed in a sewing book.

It includes chapters on skills, preparation, essential and nice to have tools, essential techniques, stabilising and tailoring (the chapter that really gripped me!), pattern making and fitting. If that's not enough it contains some project along with patterns, now usually this I find unnecessary I buy the patterns I like and rarely do I like what is included with something like this, but these are great, I will definitely be trying several.

Has Gertie paid me? Nope. Did I get a free book? Nope. Do I genuinely love this and recommend it to all who sew, YES!

I'm back!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 07:39:00 +0000

Hello, I'm back and I've missed being here so much!

I would like to say I've been to exotic destinations and so busy I haven't been able to post but in reality I've been watching the Olympics and Paralympics. I love it and it's so blumming inspirational but I'm glad today is the last day as I want to get my life back!

How are you all? What have you been up to?

I've been up to some other things but not much. We haven't had a lot of summer in the UK this year, in fact it's been pretty dire but a few weeks ago just before I went back to work after my knee op was a beautiful day and off we went to a local antique centre for a browse and a coffee out in the sunshine. Nice but even nicer I got to wear a blouse I've never worn and LOVE! When I made it originally I messed up and made it too big, then I gained a bunch of weight and haven't been able to wear it, now it fits beautifully - well actually now since that photo it's a little loose but hey that's all good!

I know it looks like a car park but it's not, it's very beautiful, the building the antique centre is in a 17th Century Mill Building, so it's an amazing setting!

During the summer I also scored this fantastic coffee table.

I've been after another 50s coffee table for a long time, we used to have a gorgeous one but it sadly met a sticky end. This one is ideal though, it matches our living room curtains beautifully, it's always worth waiting for that piece you're looking for, I also got it very cheap too at £15!!

Well I think that's enough for now, I'm back and hopefully posting much more again and reading and commenting on your blogs again.

I have my sewing mojo back so more on that and I have lots of decorating to do too!

oh and sadly I'm having to get password put back on my comments, apologies but I've had sooooo much spam comments lately :o(

Proud and extra proud!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Well I'd like to say I've been busy whilst I've been off after my knee op but it's taken until the end of last week to feel normal again, I was awfully tired most of the week. My knee is really getting better amazingly quick, it was a keyhole op so I know it would be fairly quick but it's been a lot quicker than I thought, it's still swollen so I'm not back to normal and I'm certainly not as flexible as normal but I'm getting there. Back to work Tuesday, shame, just as the weather in the UK is set to get gorgeous!!

Anyway I had an idea what I wanted to sew but actually only got one thing done, however I'm super proud of it.

Do you remember this fabric I bought from a vintage fair? It's a beautiful vintage polish cotton, I couldn't have worked with a nicer fabric!

I've been wanting to make this pattern for a while, it's so summery and versatile as I knew with this fabric it would look like a dress when worn together but I can wear it apart with different blouse or trousers/skirt. Obviously I didn't want to add the ric rac as it's too patterned and I also didn't add the pockets for the same reason, although I'm so happy with the outcome I may buy some solid colour cotton and do another set with ric rac and pockets!

And the final result! I'm really happy with it. It's so summery, just in time for our week of summer in the UK!!

I would definitely make this pattern again although as with any sewing I learnt a few lessons as I went along which I'll share as I always think it's useful for other people who sew. I'm short and really I need to alter all patterns accordingly, this means altering the length of the blouse and the skirt, I didn't do this as I cut the pattern out and I wish I had as this would have been an even better fit than it is if I had!

What I did do this time that I rarely do is I did everything properly. I have sewn for more years than I care to remember but I'm a sloppy, I sew for me, I have never cared about technique or the finish, but I have decided I want to improve as people are starting to ask me to make for them, however I'm not happy with my finish yet, so I'm improving my finish on all my garments, then perhaps I'll start making for others.

Anyway things I did for this that I don't normally.

1. The pattern didn't have facings for the collar and armholes and I thought it needed them so I added them and I'm glad I did

2. I've always struggled with hemming fuller skirt so I found this tutorial

on Gerties Blog for Better Sewing and followed it, it was great and I'm so happy with the result, so much so I'm determined to make more full skirts.

3. I ironed seams at EVERY stage, not just when I had to, preparation and thoroughness in sewing leads to a better garment all round!

Ok so that's what I'm proud of, what am I extra proud of??

I fit back into one of my favourite vintage dresses, a 1950s gold lurex dress, I am chuffed beyond belief, I am overflowing with joy, now I need to go somewhere to wear it again!! It's a little tight still, it could do with being a little looser but I'm in it dammit and that is HUGE for me :o)

Apologies for the slightly blurred photos of my outfit shots, I have no idea why they did that, working with a timer confuses me, I must have pressed something else too!!

A Milestone achieved and some serious thinking!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:36:00 +0000

Today I reached a weight loss milestone, I've now lost 25lbs, it feels so good I can't tell you! I'm so proud that I've tried so hard and it's working. Sometimes it's not hard at all, sometimes you just want to stuff your face with whatever is in the house, but I've resisted. I've exercised and done it the right way as I still have treats, just not as many and not as often as I used to. I still have a ways to go but I'm getting very close to some of the stuff I haven't fit for a long time and other stuff is falling off me :o)

I haven't been able to sew yet, I've been kinda tired after my op and today I went out properly for the first time since my op so I'm super tired today. I'm hoping to start some sewing tomorrow.

Now onto the serious thinking and this IS serious.

I heard some sad news this week about someone I know with regards to their health, it's a sad situation and I wish her all the best, sending the biggest most positive vibes ever. The same day I saw my friend who's Mum died very suddenly and unexpectedly a month or so ago, she wasn't ill as far as they knew and next thing she was dead. Sorry I said this was serious! As regular readers will know we've been through some life changing stuff too and you would think this would constantly make you think that life is short and stuff has to be done, but you know after a while you forget and you get bogged down with all the stuff that happens to us day to day. But the last couple of days and perhaps having time on my hands, has made me think hang on, life is passing, and I'm not necessarily using my time how I want to. I did get a bit distracted by my business failing last year and sorting out my life financially but I think it's time for a reassessment.

Do you do this often? I think it's sometimes important to stand back and think what do I want? How am I going to get it?

One of the things I want to do is sort ourselves financially so that we can start enjoying some of the things we used to love doing. My first one, a trip to California, we love California, but our finances and the increase in cost of flights and poorer exchange rate means we haven't been for a while, so I'm going to have a good think about how we can get back there! Who wouldn't want to go back here?

We'd love to go travelling more anyway and we used to travel a lot in Europe, so before we can afford a Californian dream holiday again, we're thinking some European Cities, perhaps Barcelona, we went years ago and loved it, so watch this space.

We also are awful, both of us, at appreciating the small things in life and so we're determined to do that more too.

I would also definitely like to work for myself again one day, but I'm ok working for someone else for now, however I want to make sure that is always in my mind as I don't want to let go of that dream.

Very long term plans, we would love to move to a property with more character and perhaps out of the area we are in now. Now this would be ideal but unlikely unless we win the lottery he he! Yes it's in California....

So time on my hands has made me think a bit more.

Do you lose track of your dreams sometimes with day to day living? What are your plans?

Time on my hands....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:19:00 +0000

You know when you're busy and all you would like is some time on your hands, then when you have surgery and just have to sit with your leg up you think whaaaaaa I want something to do! That's my situation, sadly I don't look quite this glamorous!

I thought I would sew after my knee op - it's only keyhole so wasn't too ambitious - however I find I've been very sleepy and need to spend most of the time with my knee elevated. I am improving and down to one crutch so hopefully soon before I go back to work I'll manage some sewing.

I have had a visit from a friend today and tomorrow another friend is taking me for coffee so that should be nice.

I've managed to walk around the block today, only a small block but I did it so that is good.

Meantime I've been trawling ebay and etsy to look at all the lovely things I can't afford or searching patterns that I would like to make going forward.

If you live in the UK you'll know we haven't had a summer, if you live elsewhere, I'm letting you know the UK hasn't had a summer I've never seen so much rain! So my thoughts are turning to autumn/winter sewing.

I have never made a coat or jacket and I really fancy trying it this year. I love 50s style swing coats and good vintage ones are becoming very rare so why not try my own. I have some but don't want to over wear them for day to day, so I'm going to give it a go.

So far I've found lots of lovely ideas for jackets, including one that I did feature last year but never got round to doing.

I seem to be veering towards 40s style rain macs, mmmm I wonder why ha ha!

I love this pattern and it is for sale, I may buy this. I've never had a rain coat and considering what it's been like here lately I could do with one.

Cute and look at all those lovely colours!

Beautiful and stylish!

Have you noticed they all have hoods? Yes it's been that foul lately!

I'm more likely to try this first, it looks easy and it's a style I like anyway, so I may give it a go.

I also like this style and it seems like a nice practical style for work, it's not very exciting but it is stylish. I'm just worried about lining a coat for the first time, I imagine that to be complicated!

Colour combos? I still would like to make something with this colour combination, it's just stunning! Yellow and leopard, swoon, or green and leopard, who knows eh?

Well I am off work until at least Monday or Tuesday depending on how I feel and whether I can drive, I have some stuff to do but lots of sleeping seems to be happening too!

Hope you all have a good week.

Gingham, Sewing and FABULOUS fabric!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:04:00 +0000

So it's been another few weeks since I posted, sorry!

Anyway I've been busy, still getting used to full time work, doing lots of stuff I wanted to get done before my knee op (which is this coming Friday eek!) and I've been sewing - as well as continuing to exercise and lose weight :o)

As you know I'm losing weight - over 1 1/2 stone right now, a scrape under 22lbs to be exact! - and my clothes are getting bigger so I needed to make a new blouse for work. I have loads of green gingham sitting around in my stash so thought I would use that. It's so nice to be wearing something that fits rather than too big, I'm also 2 vintage jeans sizes down, just got back into these jeans for the first time in years!!

I also made myself something I've been promising myself for a long while, not an essential piece of clothing but a make up coverall! I am one of those people who is forever dropping make up on myself, it drives me crazy. I know some people are great at this kind of thing, me, not so much. So I made up a 50s apron and I've had no make up down the front of my clothes for over a week now YAY!

I've also scored big time on fabric lately, at some great great prices too! All great prints, pretty much all tropical/hawaiian and I can't wait to make them up, but I'm going to wait until I get to a weight I'm happier with so it make be a little while til you see the final product!

The first 3 I bought from the same seller in the US, I think it's repro as it's in such good condition, but it arrived and it's 36 inches wide and feels vintage, I'm really not sure now. Anyway I don't care cos it's AWESOME!!

I got this really cute fabric from a US seller to for next to nothing, it does however smell a little - only of old peoples houses, like moth balls or something - so I'll be washing it before I use it, but very carefully!

This fabric I bought from a UK seller and I have lots of it, enough to make a dress. It is far better in the flesh, for some reason photographs don't do it justice, even in on ebay it didn't look as good as it is but I thought it might be, so again I got it for a song!!

Last weekend I swapped my old office and sewing room round, I put Paul and all his art and painting paraphernalia in my office and I went into his old art room which is now my sewing room. Once I've sorted it fully I'll take photos. When I was moving my stuff I found a stash of UFOs (unfinished objects for all you non-sewing types), this gorgeous blouse was amongst them. I remember starting this several years ago before a holiday but then just didn't have time to finish it, I think it went wrong and I abandoned it. Anyway I have dug it out, it's still too small right now but I will finish it up, it's stunning fabric, and I will fit it soon :o)

And last but not least, please don't be scared he he! I have a bigger bust it's no secret and every time I try to fit something to my tailors dummy it just doesn't hang right as all my measurement is at the front, not round the back. So I decided to get a bra out, fix it to my dummy and stuff it, it's not glamorous, but boy what a difference it's made! Sadly my waist isn't quite that small yet, but that's as big as this dummy goes, but it will be soon, they are however my hip measurements :o) I wanted to show you this as this is a good idea for those with a larger bust who are trying to fit clothes better!

So as you see I've been up to a lot. As I said I'm in for my op on Friday, so you'll probably hear a lot more from me during that week cos I'll be off work.

Hope you're all well, sorry I haven't been able to keep up with my blog reading but I mostly caught up today.

What to wear....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:42:00 +0000

As I said in my last post a couple of months ago I started working in an office again, I've worked for myself for so long that of course my first thought is what will I wear, I know so shallow ha ha!

Of course my problem has been compounded by my weight loss and continuing change of shape. I don't really want to buy anything as in a few months time it'll be too big, I have made a couple of things, but right now I'm making do. Wearing some things that are too big, some that I'm just getting into again, some have had to go by the wayside as they are just too big, no one wants their trousers to fall down as they're walking through the office ....!!!

I'm prompted to write this post as I sat down today to make a new work blouse out of my stash of fabric, sadly I didn't measure as I went along, I made it a little snug, usually I'd take it apart and start again but as I am losing weight I'll just finish it off in a couple of weeks and it'll fit soon

So I got to thinking if I had limitless amounts of money what would I LIKE to wear to work.

I prefer smart to casual although my work is kind of casual, so not sure these would work but I sure would like them!

I do love a good suit and used to wear them a lot when I was younger, however as I said it's a pretty casual office so I'm veering more towards this look.

Although without the bullet bra!

It's is a poorly ventilated office, it's local government they have no money, so when it's hot it's really hot, so sometimes I've had to resort to cropped trousers & blouses, but I am running out of ideas and as I said I don't want to spend money for no reason.

I have been relying on a few older blouse I have and these two that I made before I started losing weight, although they are getting far too big now.

I really want more variety, but I'm in limbo with losing weight, it's a great limbo but it is limbo.

In the meantime I guess I just need to search my stash for plainer material to run up a few blouses and skirts to keep me going. I already had to take apart the trousers I made just before I started losing weight, they were enormous.

So like I say a nice predicament but a predicament nonetheless!!

Oh and I have good news. I got the date through for my knee operation, Friday 13th July, just as well I'm not superstitious isn't it?!

No doubt you'll hear from me much more that week as I have to take some time off for rest after it.

Farnham Maltings Vintage Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 14:21:00 +0000

Well I have a lot to catch up on because I haven't blogged for so long and one thing I wanted to let you know about is Farnham Maltings Vintage Fair which was on Sunday 6th May, I know over a month ago!

I normally go to the monthly antique and collectors market there and occasionally find a little gem, I'd heard about the Vintage Fair that was on last year and so I thought as it was local it would be rude not to go!

I feared it would be hideously overpriced and full of faux vintage but to my surprise there were some real gems there. I also knew a few of the stall holders so that was nice too. Homes and Antiques did a nice little review here. I'm crediting them as I'm stealing a photo from them later!!

So what did I find?

Well the very lovely Acorn & Will had a stall and I've been promising myself a lovely brooch from them for a while. I couldn't choose and as they were doing 3 for £10 I bought myself this trio of lovelies!

Are they lovely?

The next 2 things are rather predictable for me..... fabric!

I spotted this lovely slightly glazed cotton fabric almost stuffed under a table for the princely sum of £10 with enough to make a dress, so a total bargain and just my colour too.

I can't wait to make this up, but as the weather has turned decidedly wet and windy this last week the urge to make a lovely summer dress has left me for now.

Last but not least I got the most unbelievable amount of fabulous barkcloth at an amazingly bargainous price - I know bargainous isn't a word but I like it :o) There are yards and yard and yards of this stuff in fact there is so much I haven't measured it yet I just snatched it right up as it's our kind of colours and our kind of print.

It's in absolutely pristine order, the colours are bright, just gorgeous. I don't have plans for it yet but I could not pass this up as it was just too good. Interestingly it seems to have a story behind it too. It's in one enormous sewn together panel, I couldn't imagine what it was used for and then saw something sewn in the top of the panel. As far as I can make out it says Redhill Hospital, Merton R*dland 3/63, was this really in a hospital as a cubicle curtain? Could that be? It's just lovely and perfect with no fading. Anyway I thought this was fascinating.

I mentioned I met some people I know there, Tina and Gemma were there, see picture below of Gemma from Homes and Antiques article. I saw some other friends and stall holders too, all in all it was a nice morning out, although have to say it got VERY crowded as we were about to leave so if you do go when it's next on, get there early and get out!

I would definitely recommend it for a visit though, it was fun, we saw some nice things and bought some nice things too!

Wow life has changed!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:16:00 +0000

Sorry I've been missing for so long, missing from this blog and missing from commenting on your blogs but I've had so much go on in the last 2 months I've found it impossible to keep up!

What's changed? I decided about 2 months ago I needed to go back to full time employed work, within 2 weeks I had a short term contract and was back at work before I knew it.

I've also been getting up at 5.30 each morning to exercise, so I can carry on with my weight loss which incidentally I've now lost over a stone in fact about 16lbs so far :o)

So as you can see, blogging was kind of at the back of the pack!

So apart from starting a full time job, exercising all the time and losing weight what else have I been up to?!

I went to a great party! Can't believe how much weight I've lost even since then, already....

We had a wedding anniversary, 19 years!

Gosh I can't even remember so much has gone on in this last 2 months it's like my whole world had turned upside down.

Anyway I'm back, I won't be able to post quite as much but I am back. I've missed blogging and missed you all too, my worldwide blogging family!!

Right I'm off to try to catch up just a little on your blogs xxx

And the winner is.....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Natasha De Vil !!!!

I used a Random Number Generator, but for some reason it wouldn't let me copy it onto here, I do apologise.

So please contact me via the email here so I can send you your voucher and you can buy those swing trousers!!

Thanks for all your lovely comments and entries into the competition, sorry if you didn't win, I never win either ;o)

Now I'm wondering what my giveaway will be when I get to 500, that would be quite the milestone.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend.

Shopping & Sewing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000

It's Easter weekend as you all know and it's such a joy to have a few days off to just do whatever you please without trying to cram it all in isn't it?

It's only Sunday so I intend to spend the rest of today and tomorrow sewing and watching movies, bliss huh?

Yesterday we had our monthly visit to Farnham Maltings Monthly Market. I always find something and one lady was having a retirement sale, she was selling fabric & linens. Most of the things I wasn't interested in at all, but she had some plain fabric which I snatched up to make some day to day blouses from they only cost between £1-£2 per piece! They're in the wash so I can't take pictures and it's all fairly plain anyway.

I also bought some nice buttons and a belt buckle from her. Great for my stash, you can never have too many buttons!!

As you know I've been swimming a lot recently and one of my problems is what to do with my wet swimsuit. I always forget to bring a carrier bag to pop it into, so inevitably end up wrapping it in a towel which then has to be washed as it stinks of chlorine.

So I woke up this morning and thought, I'm going to make me a wet swimsuit bag!! I had the oilcloth in my stash anyway and I also had some waterproof lining in my stash - I know weird stuff to have in a stash!

I've never sewed with oilcloth before it's quite hard going as it doesn't feed through the sewing maching very easily, but I'm pretty pleased with the end product, cute and functional!!

I have enough in my stash to make a gym/swim bag actually, so when I feel ready to sew with oilcloth again, I'll be doing that.

Meantime I need some blouses desperately so I'm going to dig out some blouse patterns and see what I fancy whipping up.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here to win a £50 Heyday Voucher, it closes Midnight BST Monday 9th April.

I do hope you're all having a lovely Easter Sunday, I'm off to sew and then watch some Harry Potter later!

It's Giveaway Time!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 11:24:00 +0000

Well it's all very exciting I woke up this morning to discover my little blog has reached 400 official followers, I know I have a lot of lurkers as I often get comments on Twitter and FB!

Anyway I think this calls for a giveaway.

I've been planning this for a couple of weeks when I knew that a new milestone was coming up, it's very exciting, I'm offering a £50 voucher to spend at Heyday!

Heyday have some great new items which have just come in, adding to their already fabulous selection, so what would you choose if you win? I know what my particular favourites are at the moment, in fact I wish I could enter!!

I cannot tell you quite how much I love this new gab jacket, it has lurex thread running through it, just my thing, I absolutely will be buying one of these, just stunning!

Gab Jacket - Evening Sparkle

I really love this new Mary Dress in Leopard, the Mary Dresses are such a complimentary style for all shapes and I do love a bit of animal print!!

Mary Dress in Leopard

So what are the rules so that you can enter to win the voucher?

You need to be following the blog
If you tweet or share on Facebook about the competition you get an extra entry but you need to tell me you've done so in the comment below.
You need to comment below telling me what you would buy from Heyday, or what you would put the voucher towards
That's it all fairly easy!

The competition runs until Midnight BST Monday 9th April. I'll try to announce the winner on Tuesday 10th April, depending on time constraints, please bear with me if it's a day or 2 late!

Ok I can't think of anything more to add, apart from to thank you all for the lovely comments on my post yesterday, yes ok I will share more old photos!!

A trip down memory lane....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:29:00 +0000

I know from previous posts that the readers of this blog LOVE old pictures, I always get such a response from posts like this, so when I was looking through some pictures the other day for something in particular I scanned a few in for your enjoyment!

I thought I'd give you a bit of insight into what life was like being in a band and on the road. It was a long time ago, it was fun but sometimes the long hours on the road in the van with a bunch of blokes just all got a bit much, but mostly it was fun!

I love this one of me and Paul

On the road on our first ever trip abroad many many many years ago

Our second trip abroad to the rather glamorous location of Nice, however sharing a room with 6 other blokes wasn't so glam!

When you travel with a band most of your life is spend in the van, it's like another member of the band!

You do get to visit some lovely locations though, that is definitely one of the upsides!

You do spend a lot of time just passing the time though, one of my favourites was table football, bet you didn't see that coming!!

Backstage is for downtime and getting out of sweaty clothes after a show, I do love this shot, just shows how hard the guys worked that night and how hot it was!

I really love this shot, getting ready before the curtains open, people don't often see this. I also love that dress, is was an apricot silk organza but was so delicate it just starting falling to pieces :o(

And last but not least an onstage shot, this was one of my favourite dresses ever, it came to a sticky end when I tore it on the drum kit, how sad is that. This was the point I started to have dresses custom made for onstage as wrecking vintage ones saddened me so much!

I do hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane!

Planning Summer sewing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:25:00 +0000

The weather was so gorgeous last week all I could think about was my Summer wardrobe. Of course now it's all changed but I can still think ahead!!

I purchased 3 different patterns last week 2 adding something new to my wardrobe, one not for me but maybe in the future, however I could not pass it up.

First up is this cute Marian Martin blouse pattern, I LOVE these patterns, they are my favourite patterns for blouses, in fact I have several of their blouse patterns. I really love all these, but the one that sold it to me was the middle one, I just love those tie shoulders!

And a really neat addition is the cutting from the paper that the original owner placed in the pattern, she's written the date on too, July 21, 1954, how cool is that?

Next up looks like a rather dreary old lady pattern, but when I saw the shape of it I thought yes I know what I would like to do with that!

I see this worn casually, not tucked in, over peddle pushers or jeans, with the 3/4 sleeve, can you see what I mean? It's also in a bigger bust size which is great for me!!

I have to say though I LOVE the back of this pattern, there are such fabulous nuggets of information like ' The price of the material is usually a safe indicator of it's worth' love it, so true as well, I never think you have to go crazy, but if you buy really cheap even today, it rarely lasts the distance. See if you can find any other gems....

And last but certainly not least this beauty!

I once had this exact bikini made by for me by a friend many moons ago (and many lbs ago too!). It was so complimentary and I've been looking for the pattern ever since. Obviously I won't be making it for me at the moment, but it could be a future project, either for me or as part of a project moving onwards eeek!!!

Do you like my finds? Do you have any plans for sewing for Summer?

PS I swam a whole mile this morning, go me!!

California dreamin......

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:44:00 +0000

This time of year always reminds of California, why? Well when we had more cash we used to always be preparing for a trip to California at this time of year. We always tried to coincide it with a couple of anniversaries we celebrate one on the 27th April and our wedding anniversary on 1st May. So usually at this time of year I'd be preparing my holiday wardrobe! I miss travelling a lot but more than anything I miss Pasadena CA, our favourite place on earth.

I know I've mentioned it before but we would live there if the opportunity arose. We went once for 3 months, rented a short let apartment, and although we couldn't work, we lived a normal life to a degree as we had to do the laundry, shopping and cleaning, we LOVED it and we would certainly like to do that again one day.

So what do we like about Pasadena CA?

One of our favourite places is Fairoaks Pharmacy, it's an old fashioned soda fountain on old Route 66 with a pharmacy attached, it also has a great little gift shop full of vintage and retro goodies. The food is delicious too!!

Source

The Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market, this is just so overwhelming! It's the biggest flea market I've ever been to stacked high with vintage clothes, furniture, jewellery, you name it, it's here, you could spend a whole day looking around, it is PURE heaven!

Palm trees, there are huge gigantic palm trees everywhere in Pasadena, Palm Trees make me smile!!

We love Pasadena so much we have vintage postcards in our living room of the city, as a reminder of where we always want to be!

This is a picture of our pool in the apartment building we stayed in whilst we were there for those 3 months! Yes the sky was this clear and blue nearly every day *sigh*

The outdoors lifestyle, something we just don't have in the UK, we just love it!

There is soooo much more about Pasadena we love. We'll be back one day, we'll be back!!

A new start!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 09:58:00 +0000

It's been so stunningly gorgeous here in the UK the last week that I've been all distracted and not blogged at all, shame on me! Still those that live in the UK know that you just have to take advantage of it whilst it's there, after all that could have been our Summer people ha ha!

Why a new start? Well as you know I've been making some decisions about going forward in life, what I need to work on, both personally and work wise, and just stepping back and thinking. One of my new starts is I'm back at the gym and swimming, and I've started weight watchers! Yep scary huh?

If you're a regular on the blog you'll know I rarely do outfit posts, just cos I really don't like how I look right now. So things are changing. I feel great about it, the meds are keeping the knee pain at bay so I'm ok to exercise now and the weight loss will also help with my knee.

I have a small group of cheerleaders helping me along and I feel good. I've already lost a few pounds, several stone to go.....

Meantime I've been looking at gorgeous clothes that I already own knowing it will take time and effort to get back into them, but feeling very determined to do so.

One of my most favourite gowns, just stunning on!

This is one of my favourite dresses of all time, great colour and plenty of bling!

And a picture of me in it many years ago, I believe I may have had a drink or two....

Ah I love this Hawaiian dress, still a firm favourite! Sorry for bad picture it was taken in the hallway at Viva Las Vegas, many moons ago!

Now this is a poor picture again but this is a gorgeous and rather rare printed woman's gabardine jacket, it's just stunning. However it needs some work to restore it to it's former glory, the cuffs are frayed and I'm waiting until it fits again to work out quite what to do about it.

Remember these trousers I finished only a few weeks ago? Well they're now a little loose YAY me!!

I won't bang on about this journey, it's going to be a long journey and could get very boring for the reader, but hopefully after a couple of months you may start seeing more outfit posts from me!

My Favourite time of year for shoes!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:14:00 +0000

It's true I love autumn and winter, but spring and summer is my shoe time. I think I must have lived in warmer climes in a previous life, nearly all my shoes are spring/summer shoes to the point where I struggle for autumn/winter wear - ok I say struggle, my husband and friends would disagree, but I certainly don't have as many options!

I should love to be modelling my spring/summer shoes for you today, but I have 2 enormous blisters on my insteps from extended walking without wearing sports socks with my trainers whoops. So all I can bear to wear on my feet right now are slippers, I have just bought special blister plasters so hopefully it will sort itself soon!

I have many shoes, I can't deny it, but when I thought about spring/summer this year, 3 pairs sprung to mind!!

First up, when I was doing some work for Miss L Fire I was lucky enough to pick these up, I love them. I did want some of the cream ones, but by the time I could afford them they were all sold out, but I'm pretty happy with these. They look kind of blue in the photos, but actually they are a mint green so I'm on the look out for some mint green fabric to make something nice in now!

Next are one of my go to pair of summer shoes, I love these! I bought them in LA many years ago, they remind me of sunshine. I also like that they are pretty inside where your foot goes, no one else knows but you do! They are obviously repro not vintage but they look fabulous with hawaiian shirts & pedal pushers, or a cute summer dress.

Last but not least my walk of shame. I bought these many years ago and they have never been worn, I just have not brought myself round to wearing them, but this is so ridiculous as I'm writing this I'm thinking am I actually crazy!! So this year for the first time since they were made - I'm thinking late 40's - I'm going to wear these wedge sandals. Aren't they just fabulous?!!

And to prove they've never been worn!

My craziness about shoes IS improving though, both last year and this year I've parted with shoes I never wear even if I loved them. In fact only yesterday I mailed a pair of shoes off that I sold on ebay, I wanted them to fit, they never did, and of course never would, so I sold them. What do addicts say, one step at a time.....

Right I'm off to sit in the sun and have a coffee for my break, hey when you live in the UK you have to take the sun when you get it!

It's the little things in life....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:38:00 +0000

Well this week has gone so fast already I have no idea where my blogging routine went, totally out of the window clearly!

So to my blog title, what do I mean? Well Spring seems to have well and truly sprung here in the UK, although to be fair one can never be sure there may be snow next week! However although with some changes I'm making in life and some changes that have happened anyway, I've been taking a little step back and trying to appreciate the little things in life.

I am not a gardener, never had been, but I like plants and flowers, there is one particular tree/bush I see every spring and I think, I'd quite like one of them, only this week did I find out it's a Magnolia! Oh please let it be a Magnolia and I'm not showing my gardening ignorance ha ha

Source

How beautiful? There is nothing that quite shouts Spring to me like this, I think I'm going to get me one, although I imagine by the time I do, blossom season will be gone!

I also went for a long walk yesterday in the sunshine, listening to the birds singing and the sun on my face. It was truly blissful. As someone who is self employed you so often get into the habit of thinking that you must work every hour of every day and every evening and weekend too. This is not good for the soul! I recently lost a contract which was quite a number of hours, so I am left a little adrift, not quite knowing what to do and not quite earning enough but trying to make a decision where to go next. I've realised decisions will only be arrived at by stepping away from working all the hours, getting some fresh air and making some changes! So that's where I am....

I'm back at the gym & swimming despite my ongoing knee problems, saw the consultant on Monday it will be 4-5 months until I have an operation and I'm not waiting that long to exercise again. I've only been back to it a couple of days and apart from an aching knee, I feel good!

I just took 10 minutes out to have a Café Cubano made by myself of course, the only way to drink espresso coffee!

Source

So do you ever step back and take it all it and try to appreciate the little things in life? Does it help you to come to a decision? Or is it just something you do regularly anyway?