Tuesday 19 April 2016

Cherry baby

I had quite a pleasant weekend, albeit it seems like nought but a distant memory right now. The only thing I’m finding extremely irritating at the moment is the ever changing weather. I’m desperate to swap out my winter wardrobe for my summer one, but we seem to get 2 days of spring, maximum at the moment. C’est la vie, the weather didn’t stop me filling up my weekend.

Saturday morning was lovely so me and the Mr took the pooches for a long walk. They’re on diets at the moment (the pooches, not the Mr) and the extra exercise does them good. They are spoiled, getting tidbits from almost every meal we eat, not to mention bits of cheese, doggy chocs and so on. Bailey is 11 though, and Alfie 8 so we can’t help but spoil our little old men dogs. Anyway, we walked them to the local high street to post a parcel and peruse a couple of the charity shops. I didn’t find much, although I did get this fab 1970s pinafore dress pattern for a whopping 50p. It’s in excellent condition and I got quite excited when I opened it to find an original receipt for some fabric, tucked away inside.
I’m eyeing up some pink linen for this, I think it would make the perfect summer utility dress.
Vintage sewing pattern

Saturday evening we went to see the new Jungle Book film. Like most people, I love the original Disney animated cartoon, the one with George Sanders and Louis Armstrong doing the voices, so I was a bit sceptical about how good this CGI extravaganza would be. I shouldn’t have been, it was really good. It was far more scary than the original, obviously because they were like real animals and it was quite ferocious, but the voices, especially Idris Elba as Sher Kahn and Christopher Walken (who I think is fantastic anyway) as King Louis. Despite how excellent the film was (and it really was), and how much I’d recommend you go to see it, I still feel a bit sorry for children of today, they’ve lost the innocence that we had from watching drawn characters act out a fantasy world on the big screen and everything is a bit too realistic now. I sound so old!

Sunday was pretty laid back, as Sundays usually are, but I did set to on trying to finish sewing the skirt I started last weekend. I have this sort of unofficial routine now of trying to sew at the weekend and knit in the week. Knitting is so much more portable, I’m not going to haul my sewing machine on the train to work with me every day now, am I? After puncturing my thumb with a needle though, I decided to call time on the sewing, finally finishing my skirt on Monday evening. This is the second time I’ve done this Eliza M skirt pattern, and this one is definitely better. I got the waistband right for a start. I love pencil skirts, but often find that they don’t cater to my hourglass shape when I buy them from the shop, so I reckon I might run up a few more of these in some nice super bright colours. At least I know they fit me properly.
Homemade skirt
Eliza M skirt in Cherry print

So, this week is all work and no play, but that's okay. I just hope this nice spell of weather holds out to the weekend so that I can do something nice, maybe.

Sunday 10 April 2016

I'm Specsy and I know it

You've probably gathered from my last post that I'm a glasses wearer. For about the past year or so, I've always bought my glasses from Glasses Direct because, a) they are a bit cheaper than high street opticians, b) I love their London Retro line. 

So, about 3 weeks ago I went for my routine eye test and the optician advised me that I would now need to start wearing my glasses all the time (they'd previously only been for driving and watching TV and stuff), because my eyes had got worse. Also, because I've been having some frequent headaches of late, he suggested that my beloved retro frames could be to blame because they are a little heavier and that I might want to consider something more lightweight. 
Glasses Direct retro glasses
My current London Retro Babs

I was directed to a stand of 'frameless' frames. The sort that are invisible on your face. My heart sank and I got out of the opticians as soon as I could. 

So I shopped around for a week or so, looking at glasses that I might like just as much as London Retro's Babs frame, but it wasn't happening. Then over Easter, I realised something, I had my glasses on all the time and I didn't get a headache. There an then I decided to flout the opticians advise, and I got back on to Glasses Direct and ordered EXACTLY the same glasses as the ones I already have, just in the tortoiseshell colourway instead. 
London Retro Babs glasses
My New London Retro Babs Glasses

I also opted for the transitions lenses so they would darken in the sunlight, and having worn them out yesterday to go shopping, I can't recommend that lens enough. It's so good to not have to think about changing out glasses when you go in and out of shops. 

Retro glasses
The transitions lenses in action

Since Glasses Direct do a free second pair too, I plumped for the London Retro Eliza for days when I'm feeling less flamboyant too. 

I adore my Babs glasses, both colourways, and they such a part of my identity that I couldn't envisage going for something else as my day to day specs. I'm glad I stuck to what I wanted. 

Tuesday 5 April 2016

Welcome to my world

Hello. Welcome to my little corner of the internet. My name is Louise, and I live on the North Yorkshire coast with my husband, who’s an artist, and our 2 little dogs Bailey and Alfie.

Vintage cats eye glasses
That's me

I’ve written a couple of blogs over years gone by, but having reached different turning points in my life, I got to feeling that they were no longer me. I’m in the right place to start blogging again now though. It’s not really that I have more time, I have a very busy job that keeps me occupied throughout the week, but, I find myself craving that creative outlet that writing a blog brings.

Despite not being able to draw or paint, I am a creative person; I like to cross stitch, knit and make clothes. I’ve been a keen photographer at various times in my life too, but you’re probably getting the idea, and you’d be right, that I have a vast number of interests and I like to switch between them depending on what takes my fancy. I used to berate myself for being a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ but I’ve come to accept that being an eclectic individual, a collector of hobbies, a universally interested person is actually no bad thing. Who says you just need to stick to one thing forever?

It’s not limited to my interests either, ‘Chameleon’ is a word that has been used to describe my style, which can go in the space of one week from being a 1950s glamourpuss to a 1970s inspired bohemian. Life is too short to be pigeonholed, or to follow the crowd.

Here on my blog, I will be sharing a mixture of style, crafts, travel, interiors, and in fact, whatever else takes my fancy because, it’s a lifestyle blog, and this is my lifestyle. I hope you will join me, and that you find something here to pique your interest.

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