Frances' wedding outfit

Finally, it's finished! The dress you've all been waiting for, the sequel to the makes-me-look-like-a-small-child dress, the dress I'm wearing to Frances' wedding!

Apologies for the grainy pictures, the weather here is still terrible so the light is really gloomy and dark. I'm sure there will be photos to come of me wearing said outfit but I always think my handmade things look nicer if I'm not in the photo, I'm not the most photogenic person.

The bird-print wrap was inspired by yystudio's cashmere wraps but since I don't have a spare $109 lying around, I thought I'd make my own. It matches my cushion covers!





I wanted to be pretty and had to match wedding colours of pale blue and pale green since I'm an usher, but equally I wanted to be warm because it's an April wedding. Since it's snowing around the country right now and the wedding is less than 2 weeks away, I thought I'd err on the side of caution. The dress is made from boiled wool, so is smooth and non-scratchy, but warm and heavy. The shawl is printed cotton on one side and wool on the other, so hopefully overall I'll be warm. I'm pairing them with the vintage shoes I traded for on Etsy a few weeks back and the pattern was the same 1950's retro Simplicity pattern that my tartan dress was made from.

Windowsill Farm expands

Windowsill Farm has grown! I finally decided to get my wellies on and get into the garden, the weather has been lovely over the past couple of weeks, although typically it broke as soon as exams were over and it's rained ever since. I acquired the veg bed off my friend Aletheia, she made it herself but then moved house and couldn't take it with her, so I swapped it for some shelves that were left over from an Epic Fail of a DIY project.

These are the before pictures, I need to take some of the work-in-progress pictures but it's been raining the past few days. I'm planning on growing veg and some flowers and so far have planted a climbing rose, some irises, garlic, onions and strawberries. Inside in the propagator (Christmas present from Andrew!) I've got leeks and broccoli and just pricked out chillies and tomatoes. I've also got potatoes to plant out as soon as the shoots are long enough.

Aletheia's veg bed:



My little compost bin (look at how overgrown the garden is!):



Steps up to the garden:



The shrubbery at the edge of the garden:



As you can see it's hideously overgrown, I don't think it's been touched in years. There's basically no clear soil, it's all grown over with chickweed and ivy. I collected some manure off a lady on gumtree last week to start planting up the veg bed so I'll take photos of that (exciting stuff!). Ideally I want to get to the point where I could sit out there on a sunny evening, drinking wine and watching my veg grow but sadly it's overlooked by all the tenements and at the back of the Thai restaurant so I think for the moment it'll just have to be a veg production site, rather than a proper garden!

Vintage cameras

So, I've been working on a few projects at the moment and they're all finally coming together! Sadly the weather has been rubbish today so I haven't managed to take photos but fingers crossed for tomorrow. I've got Frances' wedding present and the dress and shawl I'm wearing to her wedding to show you all.

In the meantime though, I've noticed these vintage cameras haven't been blogged about yet and it's a shame because they're so awesome! One has sold already, but the other two are available in my Etsy shop (here and here in case you're interested). I really like them, I wish I knew more about them, it would be great to try and get them running again. There's websites where people show off photos they've taken with their working cameras of the same models, but I'm just selling them as interesting pieces of photographic history.

New Etsy items!

I keep forgetting to update the blog with new Etsy items, so if you're new to the blog or shop, pop on over to Etsy to check out my vintage and handmade things!

In the meantime, here's the two latest. I like blogging about the things that end up on Etsy, it's nice to share the story of how I came to own or make them.

This one was given to me by Andrew's mum, I think it's brilliant but I look SO ridiculous in it! It's a shame because I did a little research into the brand and although this one is vintage, the brand Nurseys is still going and is over 200 years old!



This second one is so lovely, I bought it from a vintage shop in London over Christmas with the intention of altering it and wearing it to Frances' wedding. I was going to lower the neckline a bit to make me look slightly less like a small child dressed up as a bridesmaid, but in reality I'm not that good with a sewing machine yet and the material is the type that would fray hideously. So, it's landed on Etsy and already has 2 hearts!

Heather's birthday apron

It's my friend Heather's birthday and since she makes cakes for a living, I thought I'd make her something baking-related. I toyed with the idea of knitted cupcakes but in the end settled on an apron. At the moment she's using a plastic apron with a recipe for spaghetti bolognese on the front, so since she's into floral, country-inspired prints, I thought this fabric (£3 for a double duvet set from a charity shop, score!) would be perfect.



I'm not sure I like the pocket, it's from some pink velvet I got from Freecycle, so I'm thinking I might take it off, but then a pocket in an apron is so handy. Hmmm...*strokes chin*...

Goodnight Pumblechook...

Well, dear readers, it's been a sad old week in the Taylor-Dyce household. We had to bid goodbye to Viola, only 18 months after getting her. She developed a neurological problem and went downhill really quickly, so last Friday we took her to the vet to have her put to sleep. She's now buried under the tree in the garden so I'll have to start proper work on the garden soon, to make it nice for her.



She was the huffiest hedgehog and definitely the most anti-social out of the pair of them, but she was ours and we miss her.

Here's to you little Pumblechook, we love you ♥

Hobbes T. Hobberton

Wow, check this out! My friend Jessica made 'Tronstein' as a present to Andrew and I to celebrate our '51st week in the flat' party (which was last weekend and went very well, thank you for asking).



Isn't he adorable!! Much more adorable than the real thing, who bites you and poops everywhere. Aww, Hobbes, I don't mean it really. ♥

And the amazing thing is, she's only been knitting since Christmas!

Wedding shoes!

It's my friend Frances' wedding in about 1 month and I'm busy preparing her present (a crocheted blanket, photos to follow once it's finished!) and my outfit.

I'm making another version of the retro 1950's style dress but with a more flowing skirt, in light blue (one of the wedding colours). I haven't decided what to do about a cardigan/shrug yet though, I'm scouring ebay and etsy for ideas!



To go with the dress, I recently traded these marvelous shoes from Revolving Styles. They fit perfectly and although they're a little bashed up, I traded them for $14 and a pair of earrings so I think I can overlook some 'character'!

I'm really looking forward to the wedding, just got to crack on with the dress!

Mum's birthday brooch

It was Mum's birthday back in October and it just occurred to me that I never showed you all what I bought for her! I joined an informal craft group back in September that meets about once a week to craft and chat and sit in a bar, they're all really lovely ladies but sadly uni has taken over my life and I haven't been since the start of January.

One of the ladies is Julia, who runs Materialised. She makes lovely brooches, coin purses and pin cushions and each piece is a little bit of wearable art. Mum has a heart condition so sometimes gets a bit down about everything and I thought this gorgeous little brooch was exactly what she needed to cheer herself up!





It was pretty difficult to part with it! Anyway, check out Julia's other lovely things over on Etsy ♥