My lovely friend Roh has been in the midst of moving house over the last week or so….Dave & Her must really love being in Wanstead & me because they were living just off the high street, but have moved about 8 doors down from me!

I loved them living so close before but now I can annoy them ALL the time! heh heh

Anyway they don’t have any internet in the new place at the moment so I’ve tried to help out by knocking together a couple of posts for her, thus meaning my poor little blog has nothing much to show for it of late.

Have a look at my last-minute Christmas Present buys for under 20 squids….

Let me show you my favorite, I wish i had an iPhone so I can get this

Chocolate iPhone cover £12 Urban Outfitters

Oh and look another piece of my craft antics has been featured today on the wonderous blog by Rohini : The Beat That My Heart Skipped, see if you can spot my carefully handcrafted (with love) patchwork quilt on her post “Old homes, New Horizons”

Hello my lovelies,

look my wonderous crafting talents have been featured on my lovely friend Roh’s blog, I am planning to become her proper craft editor in the New Year but for now here’s a little snippet for you, right HERE!

Earlier this week on my journey home from work, I was, as usual on the Overground train from Camden Road to Stratford…. and as usual I was plugged into my Ipod and had my nose buried in a book on the very damp train (it was bucketing it down all that day).

I happened to look up from the pages of my book about fairiey folk (The Various by Steve Augarde…. I love young adult fiction almost as much as I love regular adult fiction) and what did I see but a pair of beige cord trousers….. “So what” I am sure you are thinking, but wait! These were special… this pair of Beige corduroys were embroidered all over with little hunting dogs!

You don’t believe me! Well look here’s the proof…

I had to stifle my giggles with my scarf and try and turn my attention back to my kids book… well that wasn’t particularly successful because I couldn’t keep my eyes off them…. added to that the fella wearing them wasn’t a tweed clad, flat cap wearing, hunting stick carrying toff but from what I could see a perfectly normal Londoner (barring the off trouser choice, which I might add were teamed with Converse & a DC jacket).

I know I shouldn’t laugh, and I do love that the people of this epic city will wear whatever they feel like and craft themselves an individual look, not necessarily to stick out & say “Oi look at me” but just to BE INDIVIDUAL and not JUST like everyone else. Oh look at those little doggies! They are so cute!

I’ve been a busy little sewing bee recently, I’ve just finished Cinderella’s Ball gown for the Woodhouse Players panto . It’s a gorgeous velvet & satin Navy vision!

My second project, which actually something I’ve been commissioned to make, is a lovely little empire line silk dupion dress.

I just had to take a picture of the fabric as I unwrapped it from the carefully wrapped tissue paper, yes wrapped in tissue paper! When youre spending this much on fabric from Broadwick Silks, it bloody should be delicately folded & wrapped for you to take home & create beautiful things with.

The young lady, who’s lovely boyfriend commissioned me to create this dress, has not yet seen it made up so i’ll only show you a couple of close up & working shots.

Here’s the contrast trim on the sleeve’s cuff…

… and here is me mid stitch working on the precise topstitching on the pleats along the front of the dress…

…and the finished pleats on the empire line…when i’ve got the lady in question in the dress i’ll take a full length picture.

Look at the lovely Christmas lights that are all along St Christophers Place this Year, I spotted these whilst caning my debit card today in the West End looking for a Christmas Dress….

My grannies taught me to knit when I was little, I remember endlessly working on stripy jumpers & scarves as a kid, for many years I fell out of the habit of knitting, but in the last couple of years i have taken it up with a vengeance, some of my creations can been seen in previous posts. But this particular post is a little special, I have acquired from one of my grans a pattern book from what I think must be sometimes in the 60’s or 70’s, the patterns specifically themed for little items to be sold at Bazaar’s…..who remembers them?? There really is not enough of them nowadays!

of patterns featured in this booklet which do you think I made on the page below?

Yes of course it was the hat….. although i was greatly tempted by the toy bunny & elephant, here’s my first attempt,  Teal green with a contrasting pink ribbon

What do you think i should make next? Maybe one of these smashing tea cosies or maybe the sweet little egg cosies…I do love egg & soilders after all!

I think i’m getting a little obsessed with embellished dresses…. I’ve been invited for the first time to a Christmas Lunch hosted by my company for our biggest client at the Mint Leaf on the Haymarket & obviously i will need to buy a new dress as everything in my wardrobe has been worn & is generally too big since i seem to be shrinking in size (YAY!)… I’m not buying a dress JUST for this one occasion it’s also to cover my work Christmas Party & any other Chritmassy event i may well end up attending….not New Years Eve mind you, this is usually spent in Panda PJ’s with Tammy having a film-a-thon! oh i seem to be getting off the point as usual; as i was saying I am becoming obsessed with embellished, sequined, embroidered & studded things, & who can blame me just take a look at the these lovely examples:

and of course what Christmas party outfit is complete without a feathered tiara….

Metal Embellished Headband £18 – Topshop / Black & Ivory Embellished Dress by Ben Di Lisi £250 - Debenhams / Spike Gold Studded Platform £75 – Topshop / Black Studded Mini Dress £225 – Butterfly by Matthew Williamson at Debenhams / Pearl Embellished Bolero £125 & Snow Queen Tiara £35  - Both Topshop

sorry this has taken so long, i’ve been so busy over the last couple of weeks i just don’t know where i am anymore! anywhoo finally the production pics from the Lark are ready, here are my favourites but you can see them all including a couple that i am in here….. there’s no need to go looking for them they are hardly exciting.

All pictures courtesy of The Woodhouse Players

this weekend my mum has come to visit and i had a lovely day rich in culture planned for saturday. First stop the Royal Academy a first visit for both of us! We almost spent as much time in the lovely gift shop as we did look through the rooms!

My favourite momment was seeing this little toddler so overwhelmed with excitement at seeing their warped reflection in Anish Kapoors “Tall Tree & the Eye”

i also fell in love with the beautiful gilt mouldings of the Fine rooms!

Next stop was Liberty, which is my favourite & best looking place to shop, this was a first for my mum so we made sure we covered every floor, including the Christmas Shop (one of the best christmas shops i’ve seen, especially for jars of old fashioned sweets). Of all the beautiful & delicate decorations i took a snap of these…..

yes actual puppy baubles…. these i am quite sure will end up on mine & Miss Pinks christmas tree this year. Both of us have an awful soft spot for ridiculous tackyness!!

After exhausting all the floors we ended up in TEA for a scrummy lunch & beautiful rose bud tea served in Silverware by Liberty of Londons original designers.

next we were off to see a play, to see my fab costumes, the Lark hopefully the official shots will be up soon for you all to see!

oh yes & here’s my mum’s cat Cath the Ginger Mitten who has also come to visit & pester us all for cuddles

xoxo