Crochet

One of the goals on my to-do list is to learn to crochet

{All images found on Pinterest }

I think crochet is beautiful, I'd love to make a huge blanket, although perhaps I should start off with something a little less ambitious!

As I don't know anyone personally who can crochet I figure I'll have to teach myself, so if anybody knows of any good online tutorials or books please let me know! :)



Cupcake cookies

Last night I decided to take a break from working and bake these glitter and sprinkle covered cupcake shaped cookies

Delicious! :)

Summer dress

The beautiful warm weather we've been having this weekend, coupled with my new found sewing enthusiasm spurred me on to making this summer dress.

I've had the fabric since last summer but just not got round to doing anything with it, I used this pattern which I have had forever and pretty much all my dresses have been made from it. It's easy, super versatile and I know that it fits and suits me well, although I do think this year I will push myself to try something new and a bit more adventurous :)

This is definitely a dress to wear on a warm summers day for a picnic. I can imagine myself in it, lying on my patchwork picnic blanket in a field somewhere with a wicker basket full of sandwiches, cupcakes and pink fizzy wine (such things being staples of a picnic in my opinion :) ) Oh I can't wait!

(More) Ruffled, embroidered goodness

I'm really enjoying my uni work at the minute, this project is the very epitome of everything I adore. (which figures really seeings I wrote the brief!) But this week I really have to wrap up my playing and start to get down to the serious business of taking all these yummy scrummy fabrics and techniques and turning them into actual designs, this is the difficult bit, but I have some ideas swirling around already in my head so I'm hopeful I can translate them into real life designs. Wish me luck! :)

Sewing machine love!

This is my first project made with my new sewing machine, in all honesty this week has been so crazy busy I haven't had a chance to to look at my lovely new machine which made me sad, so I set today aside to play and also to make a birthday present for my lovely sister in law who's birthday is on Monday.

I used this Amy Butler pattern, also my first time to try any of her patterns and I would absolutely do so again; simple, easy to follow and lovely design, took me about 5 hours start to finish. I'll definately be making one of these bags for myself at some point, it's big enough to fit pretty much everything (which I thought would be good for my sister in law who has a million things to carry around for my beautiful 5 month old niece) and has plenty of pockets, which I used as an excuse to try out a decorative stitch to add a little fancy-ness. I lovelovelove my new machine, definately an investment worth making, all in all, a good days sewing!

Shiny new toy

So, at the weekend I bought myself a present. Well, it was really a necessity seeings how my old sewing machine decided to die on me :( I had been wanting to get a new one for a while though but couldn't justify it whilst my old one was still going, so all in all, the death of my trusty old machine was a blessing in disguise :)

I've never had such a shiny high-tech sewing machine, it has all manner of fancy stitches and is all computerised, I am seriously like a child in a sweet shop!

 Here is my sampler of all it's decorative stitches. I want to frame it and hang it above my sewing desk as a quick reference when I'm sewing. Now I'm all eager to get on with all the sewing projects I have in mind, watch this space...! :)

Working away

I've been working away on samples for my project the last couple of weeks, using the ruffler foot, pleating machine and digital embroidery. I'm super excited about the results and I'm now really looking forward to bringing it all together in the next week or so. Here's a peek at what I've been up to!



Happy Valentines!

I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's day, I'm one of those who believe that if you love someone, you should tell and show them everyday not just once a year! And I'm not a fan of the commercialising of romance either, having said that this year, for some reason I'm feeling the love slightly more, it's struck me that there's nothing wrong with indulging in a little soppy romance, it doesn't have to be done in an extravagant over-the-top commercial way and anything that spreads a little cheer can only be a good thing! (Although I'm quite certain most singletons wouldn't agree!)

Here are some Valentines themed cupcakes I've baked for fundraising tomorrow at university, I may have eaten quality control tested one or two (or three) Oops!

Beautiful day

I have to share these beautiful sunrise and sunset photos over Cardiff from last week, the skies here have been amazing!



London

On Monday I took a trip to London. I went on my own and had a really lovely day, there is something so liberating about getting a train all by yourself. I visited the V&A, Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and a lovely little fabric shop and got some brilliant market research done for my project.

One of the highlights was definitely the ceramics section at the V&A, I've never ventured up to the sixth floor before but I wish I had, they have a vast collection of beautiful ceramics from all over the world.

{Photos taken at the V&A Ceramics collection }

 Unfortunately it was something of a whistle-stop tour but still wonderful, I even managed to stop for a picnic in a snow-covered Hyde park. Fabulous!

Ambitions

I've been thinking a lot recently about goals and ambitions, which I think has much to do with my relatively recent discovery of A beautiful mess and Elsie's endless inspirations list making of goals and dreams. I always knew very certainly that I would go to university; to study what, I wasn't sure but there was always a definite knowledge that I would attain a degree, beyond that though I wasn't sure, and with said degree drawing to a close it's time I started looking forward to the future.

At the age of 18, fresh out of college I took a gap year, which turned into two, in which I worked and travelled. Travelling was another thing I knew very definitely I wanted to do. So for two years, I worked a while and then when I had enough money saved I scooted off around Europe. Most of this travelling I did alone. People have always been amazed at me, a not particularly outgoing person just going off to a foreign country alone but to me it was something I never thought twice about. I knew that I wanted to travel and I knew that if I waited around for someone to come with me I would never go.

As it was I had the time of my life, I met amazing people and saw wonderful places, I look back so fondly on that time. I was completely free and so very happy. I was completely and utterly living my dream, and I learned so much about who I was as a person and what I wanted out of life.

Three years later and my priorities are somewhat altered but I think it is once again time to sit down and figure out what I want, what I really want. To figure out what are my goals and ambitions and dreams. I think it's vitally important to have ambitions, they are what keep you going through dreary days in a less than ideal job or when times are financially difficult, that is when it's most important to keep hold of your dreams.

So my task this weekend is to sit down and come up with a list of 'things to acheive before 30' Graduating is both exciting and uncertain but I am determined to turn that uncertainty into opportunity, to acheive in my life the things that are most important to me.

{All photos taken from my European adventures}