Oxford Adventures in Pictures - Part 1

I have finally got my camera sorted so I can share some of my pictures with you! Yay!!! So we are going to be going a bit back in time today, so that I can show you some of my Oxford pics, my goodness what a beautiful city it is!

I was incredibly lucky during my time in Oxford insofar as my Sweetheart's family live in Oxford so he knows his way around extremely well, and also my parents came to stay during my time there so we all got to go and explore together which was great fun. I have visited Oxford quite a few times since my Sweetheart introduced it to me, but I never quite get over how very beautiful it is, particularly the architecture.

I can't help but thinking that one could not fail to be inspired when studying in such a magnificent place, all the students are so lucky to be here! I must admit I am a little bit in love with the romantic idea of living in one of these towers, riding my bicycle to and from lectures all day and stopping for tea and cake in between. Of course I'm sure that for the students of Oxford it's not like that at all, but I still love the idea through my rose tinted glasses :)

My parents had visited Oxford previously but had not been there for some time, so they too were very excited to explore their surroundings. The following picture is one of my favourites, showing just how enthusiastic they were to see everything that Oxford had to offer. This just looks like a lovely snapshot of a tower, yes?

Well, let's take a little bit of a closer look, shall we?

Yoo hoo!!!

That picture really makes my day :)

We had a really lovely time exploring Oxford with my Sweetheart as the perfect tour guide. We wandered about outside the colleges (it's very difficult to get inside if you're not a student for obvious reasons), went to the Natural History Museum and also took a tour of Christchurch. 

Ma familia

They do Shakespeare outside here in the summer, can you imagine? :)

Inside the Natural History Museum

Beautiful detailing inside the Museum

Christchurch

Inside Christchurch

I would like to take this time to apologise to anyone who was visiting Christchurch at the same time as myself, as I did insist on singing the music from the Harry Potter films a bit too loudly as we walked around. I was trying to add to the atmosphere, but I guess not everyone was a fan...!

I have visited Oxford in almost every different season and every time it has struck me with it's beauty and the history that is literally dripping from every building you pass. It's a magical city and it will always have a very special place in my heart. I was so happy that during this trip I got to share it with all the people I love most, it was a perfect visit :)

Beautiful people + Beautiful city = Beautiful time :)

Join me again soon for Part 2 of my Oxford Adventures in Pictures!

Wednesday Wonderfuls #44

Hello there lovely readers! A very happy Wednesday to you all! I am no longer in Edinburgh and I miss it already, I have moved on to the fourth venue of the tour: Sunderland. Now I have several posts that need to be completed about both Oxford and Edinburgh, but thankfully I now have the means to share all my lovely pictures with you, so these should all be going live this week! Hurrah!

For now I thought I'd share something with you that has been a constant love of mine regardless of which city I'm visiting: Florence + the Machine.

I adored Florence's first album, "Lungs", and I must admit that on first listening I wasn't singing the praises of her new album "Ceremonials", but after playing it repeatedly during my journeys about the UK I have to admit I'm falling in love all over again. I adore everything about Florence Welch, her style, her love of vintage, her musical brilliance, and just the fact that she genuinely seems to be a lovely person in every public situation she's in. Plus she's a redhead which is always a plus in my books :) If you are yet to experience the amazingness that is Florence + the Machine (where have you been?? You're in for a treat!) then here is one of my favourite tracks from her new album to delight your ears. Plus this video reminds me of all my favourite childhood 80s movies like Labyrinth and Legend :)

And as if that musical beauty wasn't enough, it's now Wednesday Wonderfuls time! Here is my pick of the blogosphere this week, and in my opinion it's been a particularly good one...

• Katie of Katie Cakes has written a guest post on the Laura Ashley blog all about the best tea shops in Newcastle. As you all know I'm a HUGE fan of cake, and as I'll be visiting Newcastle on this tour I'm definitely going to be taking this list with me when I go!
• Salted caramel has recently become one of my favourite new flavours so you can imagine how my heart skipped a beat when I saw this recipe for a Salted Caramel Cheesecake Pie. Swoon!
• Did you make that has written a post all about the fabulous Ray Stitch fabric shop in London, and I LOVE this shop! Check it out, it's well worth a visit :)
• A big thank you to Florence and Rose for writing this post and introducing me to the magic of Tiny Owl Knits, it's my new obsession now too!
• Yet again I am tempted to visit new places because of what you clever people write on your blogs. This time it's Harrogate after reading this post over at Advantage in Vintage, it just sounds lovely!
• "So Zo..." recently posted about Elena and her fabulous blog Seamless. Elena has invented the Seamless Pledge in which you can pledge to buy no new clothes for any chosen about of time, and exist simply on second hand, vintage and homemade goodies instead. Now that's what I have been doing for the past (almost) year and it's the reason I started this blog so obviously I'm thrilled that some's trying to put the idea out there to the blogging world at large! I wish everyone who's taking part good luck, believe me you'll have the best time if you do :)

Not bad eh? I think that's a pretty good selection of yummies for your perusal :)

Anyway, that's it from me for today, I'll be back again soon!

Edinburgh Adventures - I may have been a bit naughty...

Let me start this post off by saying a huge "Hello and Welcome!" to all my new followers, I'm so thrilled to have you here! Yay for new followers! I hope you enjoy what you read here :)

And let me start off by saying that my naughtiness isn't really all that naughty, in fact it's made me very happy indeed, unfortunately my bank account is not so happy...

Remember when I told you in my previous post about my adventures with Debi that I was very good and left some of the yummy fabrics behind? Including some "beautiful soft netting"? Well I have a confession to make. I went back and I bought some. Two different colours. Three metres of each. Six metres of netting after swearing that I would take none home. What a naughty thing I am! But seriously, I couldn't leave such loveliness behind, it would have been a crime, you would have done the same I'm sure (at least I hope!). Just look at my yummies:

Dusty Green *swoon!* 

Dusty Pink *double swoon!*

Seriously, these pictures do not do the colour of these fabrics justice, they are so lovely and I am so excited to get to use them. They are destined to become 1950s style petticoats like this one, but hopefully the netting will have more body for a more poofy look but be soft enough to not be constantly itchy like many other kinds of tulle. I need me some more petticoats in my life!

And now let me distract you from my terrible fabric overindulgence by introducing you to my new sewing pal. I have named him Horace.

Isn't he adorable? :)

Bye for now!

Lest We Forget

I hope that today you all wear your poppies with pride!

Edinburgh Adventures - Metting Debi!

I had the very great pleasure of meeting up with Debi of My Happy Sewing Place this week and what a lovely time we had!

I must admit I was a bit starstruck when we first met because I've been reading Debi's blog for quite a while now and her sewing skills are incredible (and she was wearing the beautiful shirtwaist dress she just posted about! And yes it was as amazing as it looks online!). And guess what readers? To top it all of she's the loveliest person and we got on like a house on fire!

We spent lots of time browsing through the wonderful Edinburgh Fabrics and I must admit I was tempted to buy almost everything I saw (seriously, I don't know how Debi lives so close to this goldmine and isn't bankrupt!) but I managed to restrain myself to only two purchases. 

Of course I could't come to Scotland without getting my paws on some genuine Scottish wool, and I just feel in love with this beautiful plaid. Hopefully soon it will become a beautifully warm cape with a chocolate brown fur collar *sigh*.

I love WOOL! 

I also bought some yummy red linen (I've been searching for good quality linen at a decent price for ages and this store had just want I wanted in about a billion yummy colours, swoon!) for a pair of wide legged trousers that I have been wanting to make for a long time (and yes I know that everything I own seems to be red, but at least I know that I'll wear them, right?).

Boring picture, but lovely fabric :)

Edinburgh Fabrics was an amazing place, stuffed to the gills with goodies (I very sadly left behind some lovely cotton prints and some beautiful soft netting in pastel colours) so if you are ever in the area you simply must pay it a visit! After our time at the fabric store Debi led the way to some of her favourite vintage and charity shops, including Armstrong and Sons where she picked up a huge length of tartan for only £10! (jealous...!) I also picked up this vintage table cloth at a charity shop for a mere £4, I think it would make a very sweet summer dress, although we couldn't decide whether of not the pattern was supposed to look like fish...!

Fish? Or not fish? That is the question...

We finished our little blogger get together with a cappuccino and a hot chocolate and a really good chat, all about sewing and blogging. Basically it was a pretty much perfect outing, I had a blast and I know that we'll meet up again soon. Thank you so much for your time Debi and for giving me yet another reason to visit Edinburgh again soon! 

(Check out Debi's post about our meeting here)

Wednesday Wonderfuls #43

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

I have been having the most marvellous time in Edinburgh so far, exploring the beautiful city, munching some pretty fabulous food and also having the great pleasure of meeting the wonderful Debi of My Happy Sewing Place, I was quite starstruck I can tell you! But more on that later :)

Today I visited the Elephant House, the birth place of Harry Potter - where J.K. Rowling sat and looked out of the back window to the castle and scribbled down stories of Hogwarts :) - and I had a lovely old time! The food was delicious, I had the most yummy food, steak pie and mash followed by malteaser cake, and a lovely natter with my gal pals, it was great! A good time was had by all, if you've never been I would recommend it, it's a very atmospheric place and as a Harry Potter fan I must admit that it felt like a pretty special place :)

nom, nom, nom!

I can't wait to be able to share my proper pictures of my adventures so far with you all, I have seen so much, Edinburgh really is a fantastic city, I have quite fallen in love with it :) But for now I will have to tempt you with some Wednesday Wonderfuls to tide you over until the pictures come. And I've gathered some good ones this week!

• Tasha has started a great set of posts all about fair isle knitting. Believe me she knows her stuff so these are definitely going to be worth reading :)
• Check out these beautiful crochet project suggestions over at Here's Looking At Me Kid, I want to try them all! Although of course I'd need to master the art of crochet first...
• I discovered a new online tutorial for multi-layed tulle petticoats and just had to share it with you all. This one looks quick and easy and so pretty with all the different colours together :)
• The Cats and the Berries have put together a beautiful selection of vintage pyjama and lounge wear pictures and I just couldn't stop looking at them. I adore these kinds of things, believe you cannot fail to be inspired when you browse through these images, some really gorgeous items, I'll take one of each please!
• If like me you are a fan of the blog Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing you will love Tilly's Day in the Life post this week, which features none other than the lovely Gertie! This was a great post and has made me love both Gertie and Tilly all the more, yay for lovely sewing bloggers!
• And finally Debi has once again created something beautiful, this time a "Kitten" gathered skirt, I want one just like it please! And Debi, I think your kitty looks just perfect in that bow :)

Didn't I tell you there was some great stuff in there? :) That's it from me tonight, but I have some other great posts lined up, I cannot wait to share my adventures with you all! Seriously, Edinburgh is brilliant!

Bye for now!

Edinburgh Adventures - Bibi's Bakery

Happy Monday my lovely readers!

So remember when I said that I was going to keep things simple by posting about my Oxford adventures before I started with Edinburgh? Well that's not going to happen because I managed to forget that in order to get my lovely adventures pictures from my camera and onto my new laptop that I need to load the programs onto said new laptop (although I can;t be too sad because I have a new laptop, hurray!). I have yet to do this so obviously those Oxford posts are going to have to wait until I get back home and have a second to sort things out. Because after all, what's a blog post without piccies?? This also means that all my lovely fancy Edinburgh photos will have to wait a bit too, but for now I have been making do with my trusty iPhone, so that I can at least share some loveliness with you all :)

Long story short, let me show you one of my more yummy Edinburgh adventures thus far... Bibi's Bakery!

I was recommended Bibi's Bakery by a cupcake-loving friend, and as a bit of a self confessed cupcake connoisseur I couldn't resist paying them a visit, plus the bakery is just a 15 minute walk from the Playhouse where I'm working. But my goodness I didn't expect how glorious this bakery would be.

The second that I walked into the bakery I was bowled over by the smell of freshly make cakes and brownies, all of which are baked, iced and decorated on site. The trip was worth it for this smell alone! Everything was set out beautifully, with big window displays full of cupcakes plus counters heaving with all kinds of baked goods. I was in heaven.

I loved the variety of flavours on offer, you had your classics like chocolate and vanilla and red velvet, together with some more interesting and exotic choices (chocolate chilli!) plus a few containing classic chocolate bars (malteasers and smarties actually baked into cupcakes, swoon!). I spent a while umming and ahhing over what I might like to take back with me because of the sheer amount of choice on offer, and I have to say that the service was brilliant, I wasn't rushed and the lovely ladies were more than happy to give me recommendations and tell me what their personal favourites were. All in all it was a great trip and I would happily visit again (and let's be honest it's so close to work that I probably will!).

And yes, I did leave with some goodies in tow, and yes, they were as tasty as they look...

As it was bonfire night over the weekend I decided that the chocolate biscuit cake was also a good option, just look at the little chocolate stars, it was so pretty :) I didn't get to go to any proper displays this year (although we did have a little fireworks night at my Sweetheart's parents' house in Oxford, more on this later!) so I had to be satisfied with my bonfire night-esque chocolate covered treat. I can't say that I really had much to complain about, it was delicious!

So there you have it, if you're in Edinburgh go and visit Bibi's Bakery, if you're a fan of a good cupcake you won't be disappointed!

I hope you all had a wonderful Bonfire Night weekend hopefully filled with cakes and yummies of your own :)

Bye for now!