Shop update

Here's the wallet I mentioned yesterday in my thrifting trip on the way home from Blockbuster. It's over in the shop now so you're welcome to have a browse if it takes your fancy.



I love that this wallet has a pocket for '£1' notes! According to Wikipedia, the £1 hasn't been legal tender since 1988, making this wallet at least 23 years old. It's in lovely condition though, I could see it in some gentleman's pocket, with their initials embossed on the front to match the silver writing on the inside.

Vintage leather wallet part 1

I had a brief thrifting trip on my way to Blockbuster and back again yesterday (£1.50 for a new release film Monday-Thursday PLUS student discount = thrift-tastic!) and came up lucky with 2 vintage leather wallets and Julie and Julia on DVD. I've seen it twice before but I know my Mum and Gran haven't so I figured I'd watch it again (because it's awesome) then pass it on to them. Spread the DVD love.



Anyway, my favourite find was definitely this lovely brown leather vintage purse I stumbled across in Hospice of Hope. The lady even gave me 75p off it since she'd been the one to donate it and she reckoned it was too scuffed for its £3.50 price tag. Bargain! It needs a bit of a clean, but nothing a damp cloth and maybe some leather polish won't fix.



Much as I love my vintage handmade tapestry purse (made from recycled tapestry from my parents old dining chairs!), it's really too small for regular day-to-day use, I can't fit my Tesco clubcard coupons (an essential, I think you'll agree) or find any card when I need it (hence 10 minute scrabble in my purse every time I need my Blockbuster or Nectar card). This one is just a much better size and makes me feel like a proper adult. Tapestry purse will be retired, I'll think of some use for him ♥



The second wallet I'll show tomorrow, it's gone into the shop for now.

Aunty Rita's chocolate crunch

This is a recipe passed on to me from my Mum, who got it from an elderly lady who used to live across from my Gran. Aunty Rita we used to call her, my brother and I would go over to see her when we visited my Gran and she would feed us millionaire shortbread, starting a love affair with the yummy biscuit that I still carry on today.



It's a bit of an 'eyeball until the proportions are right' type recipe but hopefully it's clear enough that you'll be able to work it out.

Ingrediants:
♥ 2 x 200g bars of chocolate
♥ 3 tbsps treacle
♥ butter - enough to bind it all together
♥ roughly 10 digestive biscuits
♥ roughly 10 ginger biscuits
♥ cherries
♥ sultanas
♥ large spoonful of ground cinammon

Method:
Melt the butter and add the treacle, keeping warm on the hob. Melt the chocolate and add to the butter/treacle mix. Stir in together. Crush the biscuits and mix in with the treacle/butter/chocolate, you can add more biscuits now if you don't think there's enough. Stir in the rest of the ingrediants, pour into a greased loaf tin and press down. Refridgerate and cut when set. Eat!



In other bakery news, my friend Danica (of Hedgehog Cake fame) made me an amazing chocolate cake for my birthday yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any photos of it before we all set upon it like a pack of hungry wolves, but it was yummy! Check out the amazing chocolate hedgehogs and owls from Choco-latte that adorned the top, if you're in the Clerk St/Summerhall area of Edinburgh any time soon you should definitely check out that amazing little shop!

Wedding season

It's wedding season over here at Second Fiddle, I've had one wedding last weekend, one next weekend, another in June and a fourth in October. Phew!

I spied this darling photo over on A Beautiful Mess and thought it made the loveliest wedding present. I've had a bit of a thing for dala horses ever since first coming across them in Sweden in 2008 (for another wedding in fact!) and this is exactly the kind of house sign I would have if I had the chance.



Congratulations to Jeremy and Elsie Larson!

Work in progress Wednesday

I've got two works in progress to show you at the moment, though technically I have 5 projects on the go right now, Coraline cardigan, the secret project and Vicky's jumper dress are still sitting in my craft basket!

The on going saga of the vintage tweed jacket is finally drawing to a close, I've just got to hand stitch in the lining and give it a final iron and it'll be done! I'm pretty excited to wear it again, I've missed this little jacket, it's one of my favourites. It's been a good learning experience though, I now know how to reline a vintage jacket, very useful!



The other work in progress is a jumper for Pickle, my friend's corgi. She's not very well at the moment so I thought to cheer her (well, mainly Alison, her owner) up, I'd knit her a little jumper. I'm trying it on her as I go and I think the fit should be OK, I'm finding the increases over the shoulders pretty confusing at the moment but the nice thing about knitting for a dog is that she's not going to notice or care if I get it wrong! I'm using the Bucalicious Sweater pattern off Ravelry so I'll keep you updated with my progress!

Etsy envelopes

Oh, annoyance. I gave away the present I was working on without taking a photo of it! I'm pretty bad for doing that, I'll have to try and take a photo next time I'm round their flat. It was a crochet stripy blanket anyway, for a wedding we went to on Saturday. Hopefully now that one is out of the way (it was a bit of a manic rush to get it done in time!) I'll have more time to craft and blog! Blogging has been a bit on-off over the last month, between being away on placement and having exams, life has been a bit stressful. Even at the moment, my timetable at uni is more relaxed but I'm still finding myself pretty busy with ongoing deadlines and group work. It's much more manageable though and I have more free time to catch up on all the things I couldn't do because of exams!

Anyway, back to the crafting! The blanket was very much like this one but in purple and white instead. I like crochet blankets, they're nice and simple but you feel like you've acheived something when you get to the end.





I've also been busy making more envelopes for my Etsy shop. When someone places an order, they get a business card and their paypal receipt in a little handmade envelope. I like to make the envelopes from interesting, thrifted paper and in the past have used Where's Wally books, magazines and old map books. I'm not so keen on the magazines so I'm steering clear of them now but this new batch are from an old OS map, a child's 'learn about the world' book and an old Cabbage Patch kids story book. I'm really pleased with how they've turned out and it's nice to have a stash to turn to, rather than rushing to package a parcel and have to make the envelope as well. Makes me feel very organised!

Two works in progress

I have a little preview of a work in progress I'm currently beavering away on, it's a present so I can't reveal the whole thing yet but it should be done in the next week so all will be revealed soon (just in case you can't guess from the rather obvious photo!).



Also, the dreaded jacket I'm in the process of relining has resurfaced. I've been too stressed and preoccupied with exams recently to attempt any craft project that might add to that stress and so the jacket has been shelved. Well, no more! I am determined to finally finish it, it's so close now. With the help of my Mum, Gran and Gran's friend, we identified the mistake I'd made (got 2 pattern pieces the wrong way round) and after much bickering about the best way to rectify this problem, I think I'm back on track. Watch this space!

Baking on hangover day

Had a lazy, hangover day today. Slept late, read in bed for a few hours, crocheted whilst watching films and did some baking to use up some old bananas and apples (thanks for the chocolate Heather!).



I'm planning on cooking a pork roast tomorrow to try the apple sauce, can't wait!

29th April 2011

29th April 2011. What a day. My brother's 22nd birthday, Andrew's Mum's birthday. And, obviously, the Royal Wedding day. I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about the Royal Wedding but since I'm an English girl living in Scotland (or a Scottish girl visiting England, depending on how I feel about my nationality that day) with a home counties accent and a love of weddings, it was only natural for me to get ridiculously over excited, put up Union Flag bunting and hold a tea party.

Here are some of my favourite Royal Wedding related items off Pinterest.

The cover of Vogue in 1947, after Queen Elizabeth's marriage to Prince Phillip. From The Bride's Cafe, via Pinterest.



Westminster Abbey illustrated tea towel from Helena Carrington on Etsy. Would look great framed I think!



Royal wedding cross stitch sampler from Bugs and Fishes. So cute!

Care package

I made a little care package for my friend Heather after she had a rubbish week and put it all in a fabric basket I attempted to sew from this tutorial from Notes from a very red kitchen. I was reasonably pleased with how the basket turned out in theory, except I messed up the measurements (in that I eyeballed them and didn't use a ruler...) and ended up with a basket that only barely fit the things I wanted it to hold. Meaning when you picked up up, the basket folded in two and everything fell out. Meaning I eventually had to present everything neatly tucked in the basket, held together by a plastic bag reclaimed from some loose onions I bought. Sigh. It's all in the presentation...



Still, it's a lovely tutorial and I'll definitely try again, measuring properly this time!

Mannequins vs. models

Gosh, it's been a while. I've spent the last 2 weeks pretty much solidly in the library, getting there at around 9am and not leaving until 10-11pm. It's been rubbish, but at least most of my exams are now done with. Until resits in July, sigh. Luckily we find out the results on my birthday, along with a 3 hour euthanasia seminar. Sometimes I wish I'd done law.

Aaaanyway, moaning aside, I've been very much neglecting my shop, blog and crafting in general. I have 3 secret projects in the works, 1 of which is finished already but I can't show you until I've given it to the person in question so watch this space!

In the meantime though, check out the cute new sweater additions to the shop, just in time for the summer! You can't say that we here at Second Fiddle don't work for your convenience.

Lovely salmon/coral handknit sweater



Preppy yellow sweater, very classic



White lacy sweater, perfect for layering



Fairisle wool sweater