Colette Fall Palette Challenge 2011 - 1960s top and tunic

You may or may not remember that way back when in September I vowed to take part in the Colette Fall Palette Challenge. I got as far as making a mood board and selecting my colours (see the post here), but then there was a slight problem with my sharing my finished projects with you. Because there weren't any! For various reasons, including the theft of my sewing machine, I found myself unable to complete any of my planned items for my Palette Challenge, however this all changed a few weeks ago! I have finally completed two of those projects and I can finally share them with you now...

So take a look at my new 1960s style top and tunic!

Usually I'm draw to the looks of the 40s and 50s but I found the pattern for this ensemble tucked away at the back of a vintage shop near my home and brought is home for next to nothing with a whole bunch of others. It did feel very strange to wear such a short skirt after so long in never wearing anything above the knee, but as soon as I got used to it I must admit I enjoyed it! 

This outfit uses three of the colours from my Fall Palette Mood Board, grey, cream and red (although I had the red items already!) and I love how they all work together. I'm totally in love with this dress fabric, which is covered in black and white pictures which have their names underneath them in french, I bought it at Ray Stitch and I cannot get enough of it! I also made a bow belt, once again using Tilly's tutorial, and I think it really sets off the whole look.

The top is my first ever attempt at using a stretch knit fabric! It's made with a beautifully soft t-shirt fabric that I picked up in Manchester months ago and it's so snuggly and comfortable. It was surprisingly easy to work with and the finished top is something that I know I will wear again and again and again, in fact several of my friends have expressed an interest in having one for themselves, so who knows, you may be seeing more of this top in the future! The original pattern had a high necked pussy bow look which I altered to add the peter pan collar - a favourite look of mine! - and I also added some fabric covered buttons to the cuffs and collar for a nice extra detail.

And yes, the observant readers amongst you may notice that the boots I'm wearing are the very boots that I featured on my mood board for colour inspiration! I love my Miss L Fire boots, they are heavenly to prance about in :) Although this isn't my usual look I really enjoy it and I'm sure I will be taking this outfit out on the town again soon!

Top - Handmade by me

Dress - Handmade by me

Belt - Handmade by me using this tutorial

Hat - Knitted by me using this pattern

Gloves - a gift from my Sweetheart

Bag - won in a competition by the wonderful Emma of Lady Jardin

Boots - Miss L Fire

All photos taken by my Sweetheart

Wednesday Wonderfuls #50

Hello my lovely readers and a very happy Wednesday to you all!

Dita and I sending you love!

I have always enjoyed the few days between Christmas and New Year, they have always been a time to relax and enjoy the festive feelings that still remain after Christmas before welcoming in the New Year filled with hope and promise. It's an exciting time where you can look back over how much everything has changed since last year and think about all the incredible things that could happen to you in the next. In January this blog will be celebrating it's first anniversary and I really can't believe how quickly that time has gone by! I really didn't think that anyone would be interested in what I have to write about and now I have over 160 followers and I'm so thankful for each and everyone of you! 

This is my last Wednesday Wonderfuls post of 2012 and I wanted to take this moment to thank you all for your support during 2011. The fact that you take the time to stop by my little piece of the blogosphere to read my ramblings and to leave gorgeous comments really does mean the world to me :) Writing this blog makes me very happy and hopefully I spread a bit of that happiness around for you all too!

Anyway, let's get on with the matter at hand, the Wednesday Wonderfuls!

• If you're still in a Christmassy mood and don't feel like letting go quite yet, then try these cupcakes from Joy the Baker, guaranteed to make you feel all warm and fuzzy from the inside out!
• If you've ever thought about making your own Photo Christmas Card then this post from Craftyminx may be a big help. She has created some amazing cards over the years and here she gives you the low down on everything you may need to think about during the creative process. Maybe keep these things in mid for next year!
• Another Christmas-type post, and yes I know that Christmas is over now this year but this peppermint packaging tutorial over at Strawberry Moth was just too cute and pretty not to share. This is definitely how I'm going to go with packaging next year...
• I'm getting serious house envy after seeing another post from A Beautiful Mess, this time of her stunning kitchen *swoon swoon swoon*. 
• If you one of those old fashioned type (like myself!) who will always prefer a letter to an email of a text then why not send out written thank you cards this year? Heart Handmade UK has rounded up a great variety of free printable thank you cards, so it doesn't have to cost a fortune, so why not show the ones you love that you care in a really personal way :)
• Lots of people have been looking back over their posts of 2011 and sharing their favourites, none so useful as this year in tutorials from the Coletterie. It's packed with useful tutorials, tips and tricks, check it out!

That's it from me for today and that's also it from the Wednesday Wonderfuls this year! But don't worry because they will be back again next year with bells on :) 

Bye for now!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Boxing day to you all! I hope you've all had a wonderful festive season, opened lots of presents, ate lots of Christmassy food and spent lots of time with the ones you loved. I had a great time yesterday and also today, and saw both my family and my Sweetheart's family, it really was pretty much perfect :) 

Anyways I just wanted to drop in and show you the outfit that I was wearing, you may remember from this post that I was planning to make the perfect Christmas dress based on one of my favourite of Chuck's dresses from "Pushing Daisies", and I did! I finished it at the eleventh hour on Christmas Eve, and the perfectionist in me can see quite a few things that I'd like to tweak to make it just right, but all in all I love it and I couldn't help but feel festive in it! Also it has a horsehair braid hem, how cool is that!

I also fixed myself a fancy hairdo trying out my new Christmas snood, a gift from my fabulous mother, she's knows how to pick a brilliant present! 

Unfortunately I was unable to complete my New Year's dress (my own version of Gertie's Bombshell Dress) because I've been so busy with Christmas preparations. I guess I'll have to save it for a Valentine's outfit or something! But hey, I don't really care what I'll be wearing because my lovely Sweetheart will be welcoming in the New Year with me in Dublin so I'll be grinning from ear to ear regardless of what dress I end up wearing!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all enjoy the run up to the New Year, I can't wait! 

Bye for now!

Wednesday Wonderfuls #49

Only four more sleeps until Christmas! My goodness me I'm excited!

You may have noticed that posts have become a little sparse here recently. As I'm sure is the case with many of you, I have become completely swept away with Christmas preparations, not that I'm complaining because I love this time of year, but it has made blogging a little bit difficult! I do have a couple more blog updates to post before Christmas, but I'm going to be focusing most of my time on spending time with my beautiful family and my Sweetheart, so I wanted to take this last Wednesday Wonderfuls post before Christmas to wish you the very best of the season, I hope you have exciting plans for this festive time of year :)

Anyways, let's have some lovely Wonderfuls to get us in the mood for Christmas, I can't wait!!

• Fancy using up your odds and ends of yarn for a last minute Christmas gift? Try making one of these knitted felted rings, a free pattern from Tiny Owl Knits. They are so sweet, I'd like to make a whole bunch of them :)
• Here's another project for your left over yarn, I know this one's been going around the blogosphere for a while but I love it so much that I really had to share it myself :) utterly ridiculous but utterly adorable, crochet apple covers!
• Here's something I'd love to give a go in the New Year, a stunning walk in wardrobe! It's going to be a while before I have space for one of these of my very own, but a girl can dream...! 
• And finally here's a treat that I think everyone will enjoy (both the making and the eating!), hot chocolate spoons! What a simple and fun gift, if you have time left before Christmas you really should give these a go, I wish I could!

Right, let's all finish getting ready for Christmas so that we can enjoy this magical time without any stress! Who's with me?

That's it from me today, but I'll be back soon! :)

Wednesday Wonderfuls #48

Hello there lovely readers, and a very happy Wednesday to you all!

It's been a really fabulous week so far for me as I'm on holiday, 10 blissful days at home with my gorgeous Sweetheart and my beautiful family. So far I've had a brilliant time, baking, putting up Christmas decorations, wrapping presents and making cards, vintage shopping, visiting craft fairs, going to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and seeing the amazing musical, "Matilda". It's so nice to have a big stretch of time to just enjoy myself and not think about work, plus I've got a whole load of sewing done, updates soon to follow!

Anyways, let me spread my joy around the blogging masses with some Wednesday Wonderfuls, and this week has been a particularly good one in my opinion!

• Still looking for a good homemade Christmas present idea? Check out this messenger bag tutorial, it's great, anyone would be very lucky to get one as a gift!
• Or how about a lovely Christmas decoration tutorial? Look no further than the Evil Dressmaker and this gorgeous ice skating boot decoration, it's so sweet :)
• Fancy a bit of homemade booze for your holiday season? Well you can't go wrong with homemade amaretto, which is actually my Sweetheart's favourite tipple. I guess I know what I'm going to be doing some time soon!
• Have you ever read one of those articles about capsule wardrobes that always seem so popular at the start of a new year? Well Zoe gave them a piece of her mind brilliantly this week, do check out her article, it is, as always fantastically written :)
• Now this is a video that you should really watch in the lead up to Christmas, it's all about how to pipe icing! If you're a fan of gingerbread like me then I'm sure you'll find a use for it!
• Tasha is once again showing us the knitting ropes this week with a post all about stranded knitting. It has made my fingers itch with the need for new knitting projects!
• And finally, let me share with you the perfect Christmas dessert over at Joy the Baker, a chocolate peppermint roll with chocolate ganache. Be still my beating heart. Excuse me, I need to get baking...

What a great week of posts! I hope you've enjoyed them, I'll be back again soon with some more yummies :)

Bye for now!

Wednesday Wonderfuls #47

Hello there lovely readers, happy Wednesday to you all!

It's fairly short one from me today as I am all tuckered out, it's sleepy time in the land of the Little Red Squirrel!

But regardless of how tired I am Wednesday Wonderfuls wait for no man, so let's get started!

• Ever fancied making a jumper but don't want to go to the hassle of knitting? Gertie shows you how!
• Have any of you been checking out the wedding posts over at Strawberry Moth? They are so beautiful, this one featuring the bridesmaids was just too gorgeous not to share!
• This week I have started following a new blog, Curves, Patterns and Pins, and I'm loving it, particularly her check techniques posts. She has a whole list of sewing techniques that she's slowly working her way through, it makes for great reading. Maybe I'll follow in her footsteps and give some of the techniques a go myself :)
• Still not sure what to give your loved ones for Christmas? Why not try this homemade limoncello recipe, it looks good to me!

Sorry about this hastily written post, I'm going home after tomorrow night's show for 10 days of loveliness and holiday-Christmassy fun, I can't wait! But I really must dash, I have a lot of packing to do!

Bye for now!

Edinburgh Adventures in Pictures - Part 2, My time with Harriet

One of the best things about my time in Edinburgh was that I had a visit from one of my favourite gal pals in all the world, the beautiful Harriet! 

Harriet and I met at school years ago and out of all my old school chums she is definitely the one I keep in touch with the most, but due to both of us leading such hectic lives (seriously, it's impossible to get hold of this girl, she's been in Sri Lanka, Kenya, you name it she's probably been there!) it had been quite a while since we saw each other last, so my goodness we were thrilled to be able to spend some quality time together!

We had a lovely old time in Edinburgh, we went for a gorgeous lunch at The Cellar Door, which I highly recommend if you're ever in the area, where I had my first taste of haggis and was very pleased with myself. We also made a cheeky trip to Bibi's Bakery to pick up some yummies for girlie time later (yes I know, my addiction to cupcakes may not be all that healthy!). She watched the show and afterwards we went to the pub and sipped on some large glasses of Crabbies alcoholic ginger beer before heading back to my digs and having a proper girlie sleepover, it was absolute bliss! The next day we had a divine breakfast at a little bistro down the road from where I was staying, where we both gorged ourselves on eggs, muffins, orange juice and hot chocolate or coffee (can you tell that a lot of our relationship is based on our mutual love of all food?!). And of course the only time we stopped talking during her visit was to eat or sleep, it was brilliant!

Harriet is the type of friend that when I see her I can't believe I let so much time go by between each of our visits and yet every time I see her our relationship hasn't changed. She probably knows more about me than most people in my life, the good and the bad, but she never judges me. I can talk to her about pretty much anything. She is an incredible person, she has lived half way across the world before to teach children english, she has dug wells for people who need water, she is currently kicking arse at her amazing PhD and yet she doesn't seem to think that there is anything all that special about herself. And that just makes me love her even more :)

I will always admire her for being so damn gorgeous and not realising it, and of course for our mutual obsessions with Johnny Depp, Richard Coyle and Terry Pratchett novels. She gets me, for all my quirky little habits and oddities, and I think that someone like that is worth holding on to. Plus she loves cakes and baked goods almost as much as I do!

Thanks for an amazing time in Edinburgh Harriet, you, as always, rock my socks off :)

See how big my smile is? That's how happy I was to see her!

Happy Tuesday my lovely readers! Now go and tell your best friends that you love them!

And yes, just to embarrass you, it's you eating cake! mwahaha! love you :)

Edinburgh Adventures in Pictures - Part 1

My time in Edinburgh really was perfect, it was such a beautiful place, I cannot wait to get back there (I'm already thinking about a second visit!). Anyways, I want to share some of the beauty of Edinburgh with you with some of these pictures, just looking through them makes me want to go back there right away!

Pretty, pretty places...

One of my favourite places in Edinburgh would have to be the Grassmarket, walking down these streets you cannot fail to feel cool :) It is stuffed with gorgeous shops, I could spend hours wandering around the Grassmarket, browsing and probably spending an obscene amount of money...

The Grassmarket is also the home of the amazing vintage shop, Armstrong & Son, thank you so much to Debi for introducing this shop to me, it was brilliant! (And yes, I may have spent an obscene amount of money here...)

Just take a look at some of the vintage goodness that was stuffed into this cave of wonders...

Plus, if you didn't already think that Edinburgh was amazing, it also has a castle. Oh yeah...

Basically, Edinburgh is awesome. I wish I could have stayed there for longer than two weeks, I can't wait to get back :)

Oxford Adventures in Pictures - Part 2

One of the things I am determined to get done before Christmas is to get up to date with all my pictures from Oxford and Edinburgh, so expect a couple of these picture heavy posts over the next few days! Luckily quite a few of your seemed to really enjoy my previous Oxford post so I'm hoping you'll forgive the sudden surge of pictures...!

Unlike my first set of Oxford pictures which were very architecturally heavy, these are very person heavy, don't say that I don't give you variety!

My new friend at the Natural History Museum

And of course it wouldn't be Oxford if we didn't take a trip out on the river, even though it was pretty darn cold! My Sweetheart showed off his impressive rowing skills to my parents...

And then later my mum had a go, and she was surprisingly good at it too!

Another of my favourite moments of my time in Oxford was the mini fireworks night that we had at my Sweetheart's parents' house. We were about a week early for actual Bonfire Night, but that didn't stop us having all kinds of fun with fireworks, roasted marshmallows and, of course, sparklers!

My Sweetheart and I had a great time pretending to be Harry Potter...

And that concludes my very silly picture post, next time I will bring you Edinburgh!

Bye for now!

Happy First of Decemeber!

It's the day when I finally allow myself to publicly express my love of the Christmas season! Yes, I know I've been making presents and posting about them since October, but from December 1st I really allow myself to indulge in some good old festive yumminess :)

I wanted to spread a bit of festive cheer around the blogosphere today with some music that I was introduced to yesterday in my dressing room, it's pretty much perfect for getting you into the Christmas way of thinking. If you haven't heard these songs yet you are in for a treat, and if you have you'll know just how fun they are. Allow me to introduce you to the magic of "Straight No Chaser"and their versions of The 12 Days of Christmas and The Christmas Can-Can!

Yay for Christmas! :)