Brighton Adventures!

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to spend my day off with my wonderful Sweetheart in the wonderful town of Brighton. I had never been to Brighton before, and nothing could quite prepare me for the  treats in store!

I was probably most excited excited about visiting the Pottery Painting Cafe, something I had been looking forward to for a long time, and it didn't disappoint. I had a wonderful time painting a cute pair of matching egg cups for me and my Sweetheart (who was incredibly patient in dealing with my perfectionist tendencies!) it was so relaxing. They will be glazed and baked at the cafe before being posted on to me later, I can't wait to see how they turn out!

We also paid a visit to the fabulous Choccy Woccy Doo Dah, and my goodness I have never seen anything like it! The cakes in the window display were ridiculous, I couldn't believe that these beautiful sculptures were made of chocolate! After browsing in their shop and resisting the urge to buy everything in sight we took a stroll around the corner to their cafe where we both rather indulged ourselves. We both chose ice-cream sundaes, my Sweetheart opting for a berry filled concoction whilst I picked a chocolate filled monster. They were amazing. I think that afterwards I was in serious risk of slipping into an ice-cream coma. 

Other highlights of my day include cupcakes from the Angel Food Bakery, browsing through the delights of Snoopers Paradise and Beyond Retro, a delicious meal at Bill's (seriously, one of the best meals I have EVER had!) and just wandering about the Laines and taking in the sights. I am well and truly smitten with Brighton, there's so much still to see and do, I'll definitely be taking another trip there soon. Any suggestions for other places to go?

As you can see, my Brighton Adventure left me grinning from ear to ear :)

Bye for now!

Katie xxx

Wednesday Wonderfuls #55

Hello Blogosphere, Happy Wednesday!

This week has been really quite lovely with some serious adventures going on in my part of the world, more an that very soon! I've also been surrounded with some beautiful food as you can see from some of my pictures below, a couple of Instagram shots from this week.

And now here are my picks from the blogosphere this week...

• Boo Boo Kitty Couture has a lot to answer for this week for introducing me to the shoe brand Swedish Hasbeens. I now want to spend all the money I have on these shoes, view them at your peril!
• I'm very excited about this exhibition that is coming to the V & A, thanks to Natasha Bailie for sharing!
• A gorgeous example of something stunning created through recycling old clothes from Marmalade Kiss.
• I cannot tell you how much I am in love with Gertie's wiggle dress. I can't wait for her book to come out!! 
• This plush doll twin from A Beautiful Mess is just too cute.
• A great simple pom pom tutorial from Elisa McLaughlin, I really want to try this!

Well that's it from me for another week of Wonderfuls, but never fear, next week there will be more!

Katie xxx

January - The Best Bits

Sources, Clockwise from Top Left
1. Instagram Calendar Tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, 2. 1880s Bustle Dress from Wearing History,
3. Chocolate and Beetroot Cake from Joy the Baker, 4. Pirate Dress from Cassie Stephens

This has been a great month in the world of The Little Red Squirrel, I feel like I've started 2012 with a bang!

*The blog got a make over*

*I vowed to do 24 special things before I turn 25*

*I celebrated my 1st blogiversary!*

*I started my UFO/Stash Busting Project*

And now for an update on the progress of my two big projects:

24 Things Before 25 - Update

Had my first special family day with my gorgeous mum

I started my UFO/Stash Busting Project

I started the great purge of 2012 and visited the Pottery Painting cafe in Brighton (more on these very soon!)

I started an amazing e-course at A Beautiful Mess, seriously, it's incredible!

UFO/Stash Busting Project - Update

I completed my 1950s knitted shrug, both a UFO and a Stash Buster (thank you for all your lovely comments by the way! I'm so thrilled you like it!)

I have started work again on one of my oldest UFOs, let's just say it may have thought that it defeated me, but I'm back with a sewing vengeance!

I hope that your Januarys were filled with adventures, I can't wait to see what February has in store!

Katie xxx

Sweet as Sugar Shrug

Project: Knitted 1950s Shrug

Pattern: Vintage knit Bolero 1953, from this lovely shop

Stash Buster? oh yes!

Items From Stash: Beach Filo yarn from Linz, Austria

Date Started: July 2011

Date Finished: January 2012

New Techniques Used: crochet edging

Wear Again? Yes, yes, yes!

My first completed project of 2011 and also the first project for my Stash Busting/UFO Project! Whoop whoop! I bought the yarn for this shrug (or bolero, whatever you want to call it!) when I was touring Europe last year. I had lost my favourite old cream shrug, bought years ago from Monsoon, between venues and in my pining stage I desperately wanted a replacement. I had already earmarked the knitting pattern online, so when I past a yarn shop with a sale in Linz it felt like fate! Of course I then found the original shrug , screwed up at the bottom of a pocket in my suitcase and the project fell by the wayside. Over all it has taken me nearly 7 months to complete, crazy for a knitting project this small and simple!

Front View

I restarted this shrug at the end of last year with the Stash Busting Project still forming in my mind, but it really started to come together properly in the last couple of weeks. Despite the amount of time it appeared to take it is a relatively simple pattern and I would recommend it. The highlight of this project is definitely the crochet edging, it was so much fun! Crochet it weirdly addictive, I cannot wait to learn to do it properly. Soon my friends, soon :)

Back View

I have already worn this shrug out on multiple occasions and have received some lovely comments, it's clearly a hit, particularly the shape of the back. The one slight flaw is that I didn't check the colour lots of all my wool (silly, silly mistake!) and you can see the slight difference of shades of yarn in the above picture. However this won't deter me from wearing the shrug, I like it too much :)

The Complete Outfit!

Outfit Details:

Shrug: Made and Stash Busted by me!

Top: Topshop (an ancient buy!)

Skirt: Vintage Exchange, altered by me

Tights: shop in Edinburgh

Boots: Miss L Fire

Happy Stash Busting!

Katie xx

The UFO/Stash Busting Project! Why not join me?

Hello there lovely readers! I am so excited about this post it's not even true, this is something I've been planning for a while and I cannot wait to get started!

One of the typical problems that most home sewers face (myself in particular!) is the ever growing stash. When you love making clothes it's so easy to get over excited by fabric stores and buy things that you don't really need or fabrics that you don't have a project in mind for. And there's nothing wrong with this of course, we all deserve a little treat now and then, but I've started to look at my stash and feel a bit guilty. 

I have piles of beautiful fabric, heaps of unused vintage sewing patterns, and, being a knitter, I also have an obscene amount of left over wool, all of which are just crying out to be turned into something beautiful. I also have a selection of UFO projects, both sewing and knitting, that for some reason or other have fallen by the wayside over the past year. I could have almost doubled the amount of clothes I created last year if I had finished some of these UFOs! My sewing space has become overrun, so much so that something has to be done and pronto, or pretty soon I'll have no space to do any actual sewing! 

And so the UFO/Stash Busting Project was born!

This year I have decided to tackle my stash head on and also finish all the UFOs that I've been meaning to work on for months. The main idea of this project is to take note of all the fabric, patterns, wool etc. that I have stored up simply make use of them. I will also gather together all my UFOs and either complete them or turn them into something new and exciting. 

Now I'm the type of person was needs to set myself some guidelines when it comes to big projects, so here they are for your viewing pleasure!

UFO/Stash Busting Project Guidelines:

1. Projects must use at least one item from the stash, for example one pattern or one piece of fabric. A combination of items can of course be used too!
2. New elements may be bought but they must be used with an item from the stash. For example I can buy fabric and notions for a particular pattern in the stash, but I can't just buy fabric all willy nilly!
3. For every new project I start a UFO project must be completed. I added this because I know that personally I get carried away with new projects rather than finishing older ones. This way I'm giving myself a bit of structure and discipline!
4. I will find and/or create projects that use leftovers from the stash. I find very often that I have pieces of material and balls of wool leftover when I have finished a project, that aren't enough to make an item of clothing on their own. I want to find ways of using these leftovers to make useful and beautiful things.

Excited? I sure am! If you are, perhaps you fancy joining me? As always this kind of a project is so much more fun if you're not going it alone! If you feel like taking part then add this badge to your blog and add the following url to link back here: 

http://misskatie-littleredsquirrel.blogspot.com/search/label/UFO%2FStash%20Busting%20Project

Don't forget to let me know if you do want to take part, I'd love to see how your stash busting goes! If enough people want to get involved I'd love to start a group where we could all share our projects and ideas, think of the stash busting we could achieve together!

I really am so excited to get started, I've already lined up some projects to finish and I can't wait to try out some of my leftovers project ideas. And don't worry, I will of course be sharing everything that I do right here on my blog!

Bye for now!

Wednesday Wonderfuls #54

Hello there and a very happy Wednesday to you all! If you're having anything the like weather I've been having for the past few days you will definitely be needing some Wonderfuls to cheer you up, I know I do!

One thing that I have been loving this week (let's be honest, I love it any week!) is Pinterest. I'm a fully fledged Pinterest addict. Nothing makes me happier than collecting images and seeing them all beautifully grouped together on their little boards, it's the crack cocaine of the blogging world! For your viewing pleasure I have collected a few of my current favourite pins (together with links to wonderful people who pinned them and also their original sources), sp please enjoy the visual spectacle!

Sources, Clockwise from Top Left
1. Claire Donovan from here, 2. Elsie Larson from here, 3. Casey from here,
4. Cassie Stephens from here, 5. Vanessa from here  

Now isn't that almost too much gorgeousness to handle?! I really am loving Pinterest, if you have an account do leave me a link to your page, I love browsing through what other people collect! And if you don't currently have one then join up, you'll love it! And why not follow me while you're at it? Click the button in my right side bar to do just that :)

And now for the Wonderfuls I have been collecting from around the blogosphere this week...

• First up we have a cute turban tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, plus Elsie also gives you some great tips for sewing with stretch fabrics.
• I loved this article from the Velvettes this week about whether or not some clothes have an age limit (cue pictures of an adorable kitten covered frock). Personally I don't think I'll ever stop dressing up :)
• Like smoothies, love this.
• I will never get tired of these pictures. Thank you to Voluptuous Vixen for posting some I haven't seen before!
• This week Wendy of the Butterfly Balcony changed a piece of UFO knitting (5 years old!) into a sweet knitting bag. I love that although it didn't turn into the tank top it was intended to be this UFO had a happy ending :)
• And finally we have what looks like the perfect Valentine's Day cake from Joy the Baker. And you don't even have to mention to your Sweetheart that it has vegetables in it...

I hope that these Wonderfuls will tide you over for another week! Enjoy yourselves and if you are in the UK don't let the weather get you down too much!

Bye for now!

The Perfect Girlie London Day

On one of my recent visits home I had a practically perfect day out in London with my wonderful mother. It has been a while since we've had some real quality time, just the two of us, so this day out was the perfect fix, just what the doctor ordered!

We started our day with a visit to What Katie Did where I was treated to a sort-of-belated Christmas present (I did in fact receive my present in Christmas day but the items didn't fit properly!) of a stunningly beautiful set of retro inspired lingerie. The whole experience was amazing, the ladies of WKD were so helpful and friendly and I was treated like a film star during my fitting. I will definitely be visiting there again, I'm a convert to vintage style lingerie!

Next up I treated my mum to afternoon tea at Bea's of Bloomsbury at St. Pauls. The venue itself was really special, our table had a view of the cathedral which looked beautiful in the wintery sunshine, but the food itself was what really stole the show. We each had a selection of sandwiches on beautiful crusty bread, a cupcake (we had chocolate peanut butter and a red velvet), scones with clotted cream and jam, homemade vanilla marshmallows, lemon and pistachio biscotti, a brownie, a blondie, a coconut meringue and an individually wrapped salted caramel. Heaven on a platter! And I also had a pot of some of the most delicious peppermint tea I have ever tasted. It was d divine. I was a bit horrified at the amount of food I was able to put away, particularly as I had intended to eat much healthier this new year, but to be honest I don't regret it. I know for a fact that my mother and I would have been happy to eat it all again, although perhaps with a bit of rest time in between to aid digestion! It was a wonderful experience, brilliant conversation over fabulous food, I couldn't have been happier. I can't recommend Bea's of Bloomsbury highly enough (beautiful food, great service and very reasonably priced!), I know that I will be back there very soon and I intend to bring lots of friends too!

We ended our girlie day of fun with a trip to Haymarket cinema (one of the most beautiful cinemas I know!) for a showing of The Artist, something that I have wanted to see for quite some time. It was a beautiful film, I won't write too much about it in case you haven't seen it, but let me just say that the dog is a scene stealer and they couldn't have asked for better faces for silent film from both their leading performers! Seriously, they were both so gorgeous it almost made my eyes hurt :)

We returned home exhausted but happy, filled with food and carrying lovely purchases (plus extra cupcakes for my Dad and my Sweetheart, how nice we are!), it was a perfect day and I was in perfect company. I have always been close to my Mum, she has been my constant friend and my rock over the years, she is always there for me and asks for nothing in return. It makes me incredibly happy to be able to show her, even in a smallish way, how much she means to me. It has been difficult for me to spend quality time with my family recently because of my hectic touring schedule, but being away from them has made me realise just how much I need and love them. This is why I added "Orgainse some special family days" to my list of 24 things before I'm 25. This has been my first of these days, spent with the most wonderful woman I know, and I intend to have many more with my whole beautiful family. 2012 is the year for the ones I love :)