Spring time blanket

I made this before Christmas to list in my Etsy shop but between making Christmas presents and exams, I didn't get round to listing it. Although I feel a bit silly for missing the holiday season, I think the colours of this blanket suit spring time much better than winter. I like doing crochet blankets, they work up quite quickly and because it's the same few stitches over and over, I can do them whilst watching TV in the evening. I'd like to do more complex ones to sell but the problem is, I always get so attached to them. It's hard to sell something you've put hours of work into, so I think for the moment I'm going to stick to plain designs.





I'm working on one for Frances' wedding present, she got engaged just over a year ago now. Photos of that to follow, once it's finished of course!

Calorie-free cupcakes

It's that time of year, when everyone is watching their waistlines, trying to lose those last few holiday pounds.

What you need is a calorie-free cupcake! "Does such a thing exist?" I hear you say. Well, they do now! And they come with jolly smiley faces. You can check them out over at my Etsy shop.

Christmas presents part 2

I saw these over on Miso Funky and I could resist copying them for Christmas presents. These two went to Frances and Vicky, along with hand made floral aprons that my Mum's sewing machine chewed to pieces. Not my best work.





Apologies for the terrible photos, I ran out of time before Christmas and ended up having to package these as soon as they were finished, rather than waiting for natural light to take the photos :-(

I want to do one for me now, I'm thinking 'Darwin is my homeboy' with an outline of the man himself, or something equally nerdy ♥

Oh bag, I heart you

I've needed a new bag for ages, my poor little pink Jansport bag has lasted me 5 years but has recently developed holes in its bottom (painful!) and the zip is starting to go. I'm not letting it go just yet though, it's been retired to the hook on the back of the study door, but I need something sturdier in my life.

I've been going through a bit of a clothing crisis recently, it began back in the summer of 2009. I was doing a research project into racehorses with a supremely difficult equine vet and she made a couple of thoughtless comments about my clothes. It got me thinking, I've been a student now for 6 years and have been actively buying my clothes from charity shops, Ebay, vintage shops and Etsy for the past 4 years. I've been pretty pleased with my avoidance of high street, poorly made, sweatshop, mass produce but I think it was starting to show a little, I was starting to look like a bit of a bag lady.

So, I set to on my wardrobe and sent 2 black bin sacks of clothes to charity. I had amassed so many items that didn't fit, were the wrong size or colour or style, that I had basically only bought because they were cheap, I needed a t-shirt/jumper/skirt and it was the only thing I could find at the time. Since then I've started to be a bit more discerning about my clothes, I still shop mainly in charity shops and Etsy but I'm a bit more choosy, it has to fit properly, be the right style and colour and I have to really *love* it before I'll hand over the coinage.

This bag was my first proper 'investment' purchase. It took me months of trawling the internet to find just what I wanted but now I have it, I'll never look at another bag again, at least a bag of this size anyway. It's the perfect size for uni, I can fit an A4 pad or folder in it, and it's brilliant for shopping, I never need to take a plastic bag again. The added bonus was that I bought it with money I made from selling the nicer items from my wardrobe cull, so I didn't even feel guilty about spending the money.







It's from The Leather Store over on Etsy and the lady is lovely, really friendly and helpful. It came wrapped in tissue paper with instructions on how to take care of it and she's just added some new designs so go check her out!

Beautiful brown leather bag, I salute you ♥

Christmas presents part 1

It's been a slow start to the year, blog-wise, mainly because it's been a super busy start to the year real life-wise! Also, all the batteries in the flat appear to have been secreted away by some black hole down the back of the sofa or something, so I can't upload all my Christmas photos to the laptop. I like to keep you all on the edge of your seats...or something...

Anyway, here's what I got my brother for Christmas. He managed to lose his wallet back in November but luckily, Etsy was on hand to save the day!



It's made from a reconstructed tweed herringbone suit jacket and a charcoal grey wool suit. I bought it from PrixPrix and I was really pleased with the wallet and the service. In retrospect, I wish I'd got something a bit more funky, she has some amazing funky necktie wallets but I do like a bit of tweed. ♥

Happy New Year!

Goodness, it's taken me until the 6th day of the new year to update my blog, that's a pretty poor show. Also doesn't bode well for the coming year!

Well, exams, Christmas and New Year are all done and dusted and can I just say, thank goodness. I know it's very un-festive of me and I love Christmas and New Year as much as the next person, but after a while it all just gets a bit much, y'know? I think most people think that but just don't want to say for fear of being called Scrooge or something. It was lovely to be back home with my folks and I managed to catch up with a lot of old friends, which was really great. It was also nice to be back in Edinburgh for Hogmanay, I had my brother and his girlfriend staying so it was good fun showing them my lovely city and taking them out for fireworks and boozing on New Year's Eve. I had a friend from school and his girlfriend staying for one night as well and it was good to sit around drinking wine, eating cheese and attempting to put the world to rights (well, Andrew and James did that, Kate and I discussed Doctor Who, which is every bit as important).

Now that it's all over though, it's really nice to be back in the peace and quiet of our lovely little flat. I'm not back to uni until Monday so I'm spending my time doing DIY (first DIY attempt ever, I'm putting up shelves!), catching up with washing, sleep and Buffy, sewing, catching up with Edinburgh friends and just generally enjoying the quiet. I have lots of photos to share but in the meantime, here's some little felt stocking decorations I made for friend's children:



From left to right: Tove, Alfie, Euan, Charlotte and Oshan ♥