Leeds

At the weekend, I went to Leeds to see a few of my friends, and I thought I’d share with you a couple of shops that I recommend

Firstly was Baa Ram Ewe, a fantastic yarn shop not far from the city centre. When I arrived, they were just finishing a dyeing workshop, so the shop was very crowded (it’s a tiny little shop). However, there was plenty of gorgeous yarn crammed in, and I nearly succumbed to the lure of some undyed sock yarn (I’ve found somewhere in London that sells Koolaid!) but I caught myself and reasoned that I already have several skeins of sock yarn, and I am a very bad sock knitter. I love that they stock local yarns from the Yorkshire area. Big thumbs up there.

Next was Rose & Co., a very sweet apothecary selling toiletries, including bath bombs that you could easily mistake for real cakes. Downstairs is the clothing section, with lots of vintage-inspired clothes and accessories – right up my street!

Finally, Yum Yum Beads, my favourite shop of the weekend! Yum Yums sells a lovely variety of beads, findings and kits, with lots of jewellery made by the very talented staff hanging around the shop for inspiration. I bought some pendants there the last time I visited Leeds, but for some reason failed to buy chain. After literally months of looking online for somewhere to buy a chain that would match, I finally got some from Yum Yums <3

‘Scuse the peeling, grubby windowsill!

That’s my favourite – I love the details on the key!

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Sew, sew, sew…

A leopard print purse for my sister’s friend

And a FOURTH damask purse, along with a polka dot one, for two more of my sister’s friends

People really seem to love that damask fabric, I’ve made 3 for other people and I’ve got another SEVEN to make D:

And some mittens for one of my friends

And with all this sewing I’m surprised I had time to move to uni! But I did, hence the lack of posts from me. It’s a bit strange, living in London alone, but I think I might get on OK with it! I found three amazing fabric shops in Soho the other day, whilst on an epic search for interfacing (found some eventually, although it was more than TWICE the price of the exact same brand I can get at home! ) but hopefully I will blog about those in the near future

And whilst I had my camera out, I took this photo…

I think it sums up my interests quite well – crafts, languages and music

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Purse

Purse made from this tutorial

I’m so pleased with how this turned out! I did a practice one using cheap lining fabric and it looked… Different, to say the least. So I was terrified this was going to look rubbish too, but I pressed it after every step, and I pinned, and tacked, and sewed slowly, and it all worked out fine!

I can see all my cards, I don’t have to fold notes up into quarters, the change won’t fall out when I open it…! Perfect!

Even the snap closure went without hitch! Although I need to find something to cover the back of it on the tab – I’m thinking a pretty button. I shall have a look in the haberdashery tomorrow and see if I can find anything suitable

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100th post!

Yep, I’ve been blogging for over three years and have only just reached 100 posts! I’ve been putting off blogging for the last week as I felt I needed something good to post, but I’ve just acquired lots of littleish things to mention really!

Going back to the 5th… I decided the night before to go and see Muse in Teignmouth, Devon (a 600 mile round trip!). And it was worth it. Much craic (as my Irish Muse friends say) was had, and the whole weekend was brilliant.

Queue a week of recovering! I finished Cloud Atlas during the week. I wasn’t looking forward to reading the book, but I was definitely drawn into it, out of curiosity more than anything. The end was a bit… Well, I didn’t feel like the ends were all tied up neatly, and I find that a little frustrating sometimes!

Then the weekend just gone… I met up with Cherry Makes… (who has summed up the weekend far better than I could in her latest post!) and Aino (as yet blogless ) at iKnit on Saturday. OMG! It was brilliant!

250g of Wensleydale tops from the Wensleydale Longwool Sheepshop, 2 skeins of Pure Cotton from Woolfish and stroopwafels from The Dutch Knitters!

The basketweave square was started when we stopped off at the Macmillan stand – we were each given wooden needles, a huge choice of Rowan yarns, and sweeties by the lovely ladies at the stand. I’m hoping with a bit of blocking my square will be big enough! It’s a tiny bit narrow at the moment.

Then after iKnit, we met up with more Muse friends, and went for tapas (SO good!) and then on to see Amanda Palmer at the Union Chapel, London – another fantastic gig. It was eerie, going to a gig in a fully functioning church, with the audience all sitting in pews. I’ve never been to an all-seated gig before but the atmosphere was brilliant.

And after all that excitement…

…I have a stinking cold.

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Stuff

Well, time certainly flies, doesn’t it! I suppose a fair bit has happened since my last post (although it doesn’t feel like it!) – the main thing being I got into university! It feels like it’s been such a slog to get to this point, but it is so exciting to finally be at this point. 34 days until I move to London!

I’m almost 200 pages into the 529 pages of Cloud Atlas, and I will admit it is growing on me. I was a bit non-plussed when I started it, but as the story(ies) progress, it is intriguing to see how it is going to pan out.

(Almost) The rest of the tomato crops

Today I went to my grandma’s, and picked some blackberries and elderberries from her garden. I was surprised to see the extent of the blackberries – they were seemingly everywhere. I didn’t get very many (a lot of the berries were puny little things, or withered) but hopefully I can put them into a crumble or something with some homegrown apples my mum was given.

Two new fat quarters

I couldn’t resist these fat quarters when I saw them in the fabric shop yesterday! I love delicate, intricate patterns like these, and I really like the blackcurrant-red on off-white colours – a little bit of a departure for me from my usual blacks! I’m hoping I can squeeze a headband and a covered frame from a quarter, but I think it will take some squidging!

My next post will mark a bit of a blogging landmark (well, for me, anyway!)

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Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Done!

I finished Captain Corelli’s Mandolin! I will openly admit, I have never cried so much whilst reading a book before. I enjoyed reading it so much, and I think any book that causes such a reaction deserves kudos.

Photo from Wikipedia

I highly recommend this book, although I would suggest you have a box of tissues at hand! I was tempted to watch the film but I’ve heard it doesn’t do the book justice at all, which is a shame

I think Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell will be my next read

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The finished product

Available here!

Available here!

I added the bows and think they look pretty, in an understated way. I didn’t want to overegg the pudding, as it were.

I also started reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin yesterday – I shall reserve judgement until I have read more! So far, I am intrigued.

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Pride And Prejudice – Done!

Such a satisfying feeling!

I finished Pride And Prejudice last night, hurrah! I must admit, I didn’t enjoy it very much. I can’t quite articulate why, but I just found myself thinking “UGH, how self-involved and pretentious!”. I didn’t sympathise with any of the characters, or even find their stories particularly interesting. Maybe I’m just a philistine, but I was glad to finish it so I can move on to another book on the list! I think I’ll go for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin as mum picked up a copy for the mighty sum of £1 last week, and I am intrigued. If you’ve read Pride And Prejudice, leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of it – I am interested to see other people’s opinions on it!

I hope the weather is better wherever you are – I had to go on an epic journey to get margarine earlier and ended up soaked through because it was raining so hard!

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A (slightly) new look!

You may or may not notice that I’ve changed the look of my blog a tiny bit – I’ve streamlined the sidebar a bit (it got a bit chunky) and made a new header (I’m quite pleased with it actually!) as I fancied a bit of a change.

Anyway, I have been in a bit of a funk lately – sitting around waiting for exam results to be issued on the 20th is not a productive way to spend my summer, but I’m feeling a bit apathetic. But today I finally did something I’ve been meaning to for weeks.

Cotton fabric on a plain headband

I finally got round to covering one of the headbands I bought a while ago, as a little experiment, and I’m very happy with how it’s come out. I am wondering though, if it should be embellished? I’m thinking maybe a little felt flower or a bow or something, or even a clay shape? What do you think?

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Mosaics

Mum likes to make mosaics from pictures she finds on Flickr, and so I decided to have a bash at it, using some of my Favourites on Etsy.

An “eclectic” selection…!

1. 50’s style flocked dress (sold out) by petapledger
2. "Bleu Peacoque" hair clip by SweetGrassMill
3. Wrap shrug by malam
4. Butterfly knee high socks by post
5. Black bird messenger bag by rainbowswirlz
5. Dr. Martens shoes by RockZombieOldies

Rather an odd mix, by most standards, but I suppose that sums up my personal taste really – not in the slightest bit cohesive! I’ve been wearing dresses with knee-high Dr Marten boots lately, for example, which is a bit of an odd combination I suppose. I think I would wear a less dressy dress (you know what I mean) in that outfit though – I think it looks too lovely on its own to cover up with hoodies and wear day-to-day.

Anyway, that was a diversion for half an hour!

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