30/07/2014

Floral dressing

It’s no secret that I like a nice floral and this gorgeous weather is the perfect excuse for some seriously summery dressing! And in a rare outfit post I thought I share this dress sent to me by online clothes retailer Joe Browns*.

Now, I really struggle with summer dresses as nearly all of the ones on the high street are just too darn short. At 5'9" I’m always looking for something more knee skimming than thigh skimming so this dress was bound to be a winner, throw in the floral print and sweetheart neckline and I'm sold.

It’s a great fit, the adjustable button straps and shirred back make it fitted yet still comfortable, perfect for prancing around in the woods (see image three) and generally having fun! I'm often guilty of opting for comfort over style, especially when it's hot, but Joe Browns are all about clothes to live life in, a rather nice mantra don't you think?

They are clearly becoming a popular brand, this dress is already sold out but this one is the same style with a slightly different floral pattern.... p.s it's on sale!

We've been making the most of the sunshine this week by going for lots of evening walks and have made it our mission to discover where all the paths in the field behind our road lead. You can see a couple of the paths in the pictures below, so far we've found the remains of a windmill and a country lane with some very nice houses.





*Sponsored link, this dress was sent as a gift - there was no obligation to post about it and all opinions are my own.

23/07/2014

Granny square crochet cushion

I did it! I crocheted a granny square cushion and I love it *jumps for joy*.

I’ve wanted to learn to crochet for the longest time and finally made it a New Year’s resolution this year. I started learning back in February, making the individual granny squares first, before slip stitching together and then making the giant square for the back and slip stitching this to the front.

Yes, it has taken about five months (although about a month of that was wasted when I kept forgetting to buy a cushion pad) but it’s been so worth it and plans are already afoot for (hopefully quicker) cushion number two.

The small squares are made from this pattern from ravelry and the giant back square is thanks to a great how-to by the lovely Sam of Pattern Piper blog. All the wool is Robin Double Knit.






ps. Despite my fear that by learning how to crochet I’d forget how to knit, I have since tried knitting again and, so far, haven’t forgotten how!

18/07/2014

florals and feathers: the July edit

florals


Floral dress / Brown Bag Vintage / Etsy
Deep rich colours, sixties floral print, shift shape AND it’s knee length... what a dress.  I love that it’s from New York too. Oh, and did I mention it’s handmade?


Floral coasters / Hama or Perler bead DIY / Craft and Creativity blog
An old school craft brought up to date with some florals! Who remembers making Christmas decorations out of these beads at school and brownies?  You put them in your desired pattern then iron to fix together, in this case Helena uses cross stitch patterns and gorgeous pastel colours as inspiration. One craft idea that definitely shouldn’t be left for the kids.

feathers


Feather wreath / Pinterest
Wreaths certainly aren’t just for Christmas anymore and with a few feathers, twigs and some wire you could have a beautiful door wreath or a bit of wall art. Thrifty, fun and a use for those feathers I’m constantly picking up.


Boho feather print cushion / Barker Wild / Etsy
You can never have too many cushions, particularly when they are calico with feathers printed on them. Almost too nice to sit on!

11/07/2014

A visit to Fountains Abbey

When planning our trip to Yorkshire the place to visit at the top my list was Fountains Abbey. Considering my (not so) secret love of castles and historic houses the opportunity to visit the ruins of a medieval monastery, surrounded by a deer park AND water garden, was hardly one I would pass up. It certainly didn’t disappoint either.

The ruins themselves are beautiful and much larger than expected with towering err, towers and ‘room’ after ‘room’ of crumbling walls, long lost staircases, missing roofs and intricate arches. There were no ropes or rules, you could walk wherever you liked and simply explore, which I loved. 

Once the monastery had been ruined (thanks mostly to Henry VIII of course) the Aislabie family brought the ruins and surrounding land together. Alongside the ruins they built Studley Royal Water Garden, a series of ornamental lakes and pools complete with statues, follies and adjoining deer park.

You really do need a whole day to visit we walked around five miles through the abbey and garden and didn’t even have time to go off into the deer park. Oh well, we’ll just have to go back!





06/07/2014

Work in progress – a knitted teacup

You know that feeling when you want to make something, just because. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, but it catches your eye and whispers ‘make me’. Well, that happened to me when I spotted a knitted teacup pattern in craftseller magazine. Naturally I set to work and used some of my leftover neon green wool (naturally). Although I must remember not to use this wool in the future as it’s so difficult to photograph!

Here’s my progress so far... 


...an inside-out cup and TINY handle...


...just need to sew it all together now.

01/07/2014

The Yorkshire Dales

We really fell in love with the Yorkshire Dales on our holiday last week; beautiful countryside, picturesque villages and friendly people (and no rain!). As much as I wish we could have stayed for longer we did manage to fit a lot into our four days. And just to give you an idea, here’s the math...
18 miles walked
2 books read
5 pub dinners, including 3 at the same pub
1 metal duck purchased (she’s named Daisy)
9,568 sheep seen (estimated figure but they were everywhere and surprisingly noisy)
2 National Trust properties visited
10 minutes in a Jacuzzi at the local swimming pool
5 swan feathers collected

As you can see, we spent most of it walking and exploring local villages and pubs! We stayed in the village of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales National Park at Raines Close Bed and Breakfast, which was only a 2 minute walk from the village centre so great for pubs in the evening. I’d definitely recommend the B&B - yummy breakfasts (the most important thing, let’s face it), clean room, comfy bed and nice views. Their breakfast room overlooking the garden had the best view in the house and you could watch the rabbits and ducks who were regular visitors to the bottom of their garden! The joy of watching ducks over breakfast may have influenced the metal duck purchase listed above. Oops.

Our walks included several around Grassington, a visit to Fountains Abbey (more on that in another post) and walk to Malham Cove, which is a natural limestone cliff with great views and a strange stepping stone-like limestone pavement at the top, fantastic fun to walk and jump across. We printed most of the walks from this website.

As usual I took a lot of pictures, but here are some of my favourites.









Have you ever been to Yorkshire?

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