Shut Eye

This song I found from an advert for a programme I really hate, which upsets me. But I love the song, it makes me think of walking through fields and meadows in summer! :) It's by a band called Stealing Sheep, who I know nothing about, but want to know more...

Hope you like it!

Crochet Purse Update

Hey folks,
I said that when I returned from my holidays that I would let you know the name of the gorgeous yarn that I used to crochet my purse. Well, its from a company called Araucania Yarns and I used Toconao Multy in colour 9. It is the nicest yarn that I have used so far, in 100% merino wool and the most beautiful colours that change all throughout it. I need to get some more of this bad boy!!
:)
x

Snapshot of my week

This week I have had an amazing week in Bigbury-on-Sea in Devon! Me and my man took a little break away and did not a lot. We visited Burgh Island which is a little island off the main coast of Bigbury-on-Sea, it  has an amazing 1930s hotel and was a second home to Agatha Christie, which is probably why an episode of Poirot was filmed there. There is an amazing pub on the Island called the Pilchard Inn. It's a great little pub, over 700 years old, and it's great watching the kite surfers while sipping on a cold pint. We had some amazing food, including the biggest Sunday roast, an amazing eggy bread, bacon and maple syrup stack, and a gorgeous cheddar and apple sandwich. We had a day out in Plymouth in which we saw that fantastic 1950's Ice cream van! and a day out in Looe in Cornwall, where I found The March Hare and purchased the most beautiful 1950's prom dress for a Jubilee Party :) We are very sad that the sun has now set on our little holiday away. But there's always next year :)

The Rifle's Spiral

The Shins "will change your life" said Natalie Portman's character in Garden State, and they really did. They are a great band, and have brought lots of happy memories and good times to my life ever since their first album Oh, Inverted World in 2001. Their new album Port of Morrow is a great one too, their sound has changed a little because of a change in band members, but it is still the great sound of The Shins.
This is their new single, The Rifle's Spiral. The video is stop motion animation and has a little bit of Tim Burton about it, but Jamie Caliri, the director has a few smaller but still known adverts and film credits to his name.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and I hope that it will change your life too :)

Crochet Purse

The more crochet I do the more I love it! This little project I have had on the go for a while, but life has got in the way and it has taken me forever to finish when it really shouldn't have! It is a gorgeous purse that can be used as a small clutch bag which carries the essentials or as a large purse to stuff full of receipts and who knows what!

The original pattern I found on Ravelry.com here. It is a free pattern, with simple and easy instructions to follow, although mine seems longer and thinner than theirs, but hey ho! 

I used a really lovely yarn that changes colour as it goes along. The name of it escapes me now I am away from home, but I will update you on this when I get back. If I go back, it's gorgeous here in Devon at the moment...

So.. what to make next? Something bigger I think!

Things I have eyes for..

Being on holiday throws up a lot of outfit issues. I never know what to pack, especially when holidaying in England. Raincoats and wellies are a standard need, but this is an outfit that I would pick for a lovely dinner out by the beach. This vintage dress is gorgeous and would look great over skinny jeans, with a plain leather belt around the middle to add some shape, red sandals to show off the great colours in the dress, a bag to match and some great vintage turquoise and coral silver jewellery. Simply fabulous! All I need is a glass of wine or a gorgeous cocktail like this...
Time to relax me thinks x

Happy Pills

Norah Jones is back with a new fourth album called Little Broken Hearts. I first heard this song "Happy Pills" on Later with Jools Holland and I was blown away, it's beautiful! I have always thought Norah had a lovely voice but this is the best I have heard it. So pretty. I also love the fact that she's taken inspiration for her album cover from vintage film posters, and her video is pretty cool too, love the dress Norah!!
Hope you enjoy the song too x

Embroidery

Last week, because I had a little bit of time, I decided I was going to spruce up a cheap backpack that I bought from Primark. I love all the embroidery that is about this time of year and I took inspiration from a Cath Kidston bag that I had seen a couple of weeks ago.

This is the bag, it's navy with a fake leather edging. It's really cute and packs a lot, which is good as I always carry a lot. But it's pretty boring. So what can I do about it?

With plain white cotton I made a grid, all higgledy piggledy, that kind of looks like branches with twigs coming off it.

I then embroidered a little design into each segment. Each is something that I like, be it a flower of some sorts with buttons or just cotton, there's also a sun in there to brighten my day. It could be whatever you want, but it's livened up my bag and now I want to carry on through the rest of it. I got a white one too, what could I do with that blank canvas?!

Happy embroidering :)

Knitted Snood

To be honest I did make this snood a little while ago, but I pulled it back out to help me keep warm these past couple of chilly mornings for walking to work with. I purchased some undyed chunky from Yarn to Knit and casted on 24 stitches. I then did a standard stockinette stitch until it was about a meter long (this took around just over 1 ball of yarn) and then stitched the two ends together. Super easy!! Its a great yarn, I love how it goes from chunky to thin all the way though to add texture and make it a less boring piece for something so quick and easy. :)

Things I have eyes for..

I love knowing a holiday is just around the corner, and for me its only 5 more whole days before I am walking down that beach in Devon. I am soooo excited. But what to take with me? The weather in England has been awful for like a month now but in my mind its going to be hot and sunny, which may go badly wrong, but my packing is all set for a day at the beach. Ive got a cute swimsuit and headband to wear on the beach, a beautiful dress and sandals for when I start to go a little pink, and a picnic blanket and basket filled with scrummy foods for us to munch on all day :) Ahhh want to be there now!

Snapshot of my week

This week has been a busy with work, but I did manage to squeeze a few things in. I went to see is i cinema at the Victoria in Birmingham. They are a Birmingham based band who I have seen a few times and they play some really good music, worth a listen if you can find them. I started an embroidery project to liven up a basic bag. I will show more of this when I get around to finishing it. Me and my man made a Chicken Ramen, its easy peasy, just boil some chicken in chicken stock, after about 20 minutes add some noodles and you are done, a brothy soup with noodles. We added sweetcorn but next time maybe we will add more vegetables. Just the right thing to keep me warm on a chilly evening. :)

Sunday Drive

Ladyhawke is a singer-songwriter from New Zealand. She has already had one self-titled album out in 2008 which was good but her song, My Delirium, was too overplayed in my books. But this new single from her album due out in May 2012 I really love! Upsettingly I always look up gigs that I want to go to like the day after they have been on, and its the same in this case :( Oh well I will just listen to this over and over again :)

Things I have eyes for...

This week I have been thinking about my holidays. Knowing I am going away in only 2 weeks is super exciting, and my head is racing with all the things I need to take with me. I am staying in England and seeing the weather recently, I know I'm going to need coats and jumpers, but looking at new exciting summer goodies doesn't hurt!

These new Converse are great! I remember my first pair, in fact I still have whats left of them, and I am looking at getting a new pair, so these might be them! The second is this cute little bag, I like to take a bag out when I go walking along the beach and it only needs to fit my essentials so this is perfect. The crochet cardigan is gorgeous. I wanted to make one myself, but I don't think I am going to have time so I bought this one, it fits so nicely and it's great as a small layer! This snood is perfect for those chilly times, and it's spotty too! Gorgeous. I saw these shorts and jumped for joy, they are beautiful and will cuten up any outfit, I love the embroidery. And this ring is definitely something I am going to have a go at making. Why have I not done it before?

Ahh, I can't wait to be walking down that beach again...

Snapshot of my week

 

This week I have had some good times, I got a promotion at work so my lovely man took me out for dinner at a nice restaurant called The Farm. The food was lovely, and so was he.

Then the rest of the week included a really nice day out with a friend doing some shopping, we found an American diner in Selfridges in Birmingham and had burgers. I saw the Bullring bull's new spandex outfit, this poor girl was gluing on many many sequins, and all for the Olympics hey! I found some bracelets made from knitting needles on folksy.com, and when they came they were so lovely. I love a handmade item!!

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has been there for me recently, helping me to get my job, you know who you are and you are all fabulous!! :) THANK YOUUU!!!

Mac and Cheese

Sundays should always be a lazy day, and when I am not working I love nothing more than relaxing, watching a film and eating lots of nice food :) Ever since I found out a couple of months ago that I was lactose intolerant I have really missed all my favourite foods. So today I decided to try a lactose free mac and cheese using lactose free milk, margarine and goats cheese, but to be honest you can use any cheese that you love, the tastier the better!!
Here's how I did it...

In a pan melt 40g butter or margarine.

Add 420ml of Milk.

Add 25g Plain flour, salt and pepper to taste and whisk until lump free. Simmer, whisking occasionally, until thick.

While the white sauce is thickening put some pasta on the boil, it doesn't have to be macaroni if you don't have any, I went for some crazy pasta I have not had before. Penne is really good for this, its like giant macaroni.

In a food processor pop a couple of small slices of nice bread and some fresh herbs. I went for rosemary this time just because it is one of my favourites and my cheese is quite a creamy one, but it depends on which cheeses you are using.

Whizz until you get herby breadcrumbs :)
Then I fried up some panchetta cubes (you could use bacon) just as a quick extra. When the pasta was cooked I drained it and put it back into the pan. I added the white sauce and mixed in my cheese and panchetta. Its best to do it when its still warm because then the cheese starts to melt. Yummy.

Sprinkle your breadcrumb mix on top of your pasta/cheese. What it great is also sprinkling some Parmesan cheese on top of this :)

Pop it under the grill for a few minutes until your breadcrumb crust is a lovely golden brown. Serve!!

Nice cold weather comfort food to keep me happy on a rainy day :)
Happy Eating..

Friendship

Today I was looking at all the friendship bracelets that shops are charging silly prices for and thought I would just have a go myself.
I purchased four colours of embroidery thread and cut around 60cm of thread in each colour, and then cut in half so I have 8 strands of colour in total. I left a gap (enough to use to tie) and then tied a knot. I used this knot to put a safety pin through and then attached that to something stable and yet something I am not going to be upset about ripping if I accidentally pull too hard.

This bracelet is one of the simplest and easiest bracelets that can be made, it looks difficult but it really isn't.

You take a strand (maybe think in advance if you want a definite pattern) and from left to right wrap it around the front of the rest of the strands, around the back and through the centre. Move this knot up to the top and pull tightly. Basically repeat this until you have finished with that colour and then swap for the next colour. Easy peasy!! You will notice that the little knots spiral around the bracelet giving a cute little detail .

When you have made it to the length that you require, tie another knot and that's that! Tie it onto the wrist of a friend, or just keep it for yourself. The great thing is that they are cheap to make and you can make many different designs and colour combinations.
There is quite a good tutorial on more complicated designs here. That's my next step, I was never great at doing them as a child, I just did simple plaits or the above design, but I am gonna attempt something harder I think!
Happy Crafting x