2017: in review

What a year.

There have been some spectacular highs and some heart-renching lows in 2017. When reflecting back I find it difficult not to think about some of these lows (Manchester and London terrorist attacks, the Grenfell Tower fire) largely because they hit very close to home. But I've also thought a lot about everyone who rallied together because of those lows, to help, support and stand up. That is the spirit I want to channel in 2018.

On a lighter note, 2017 was a pretty good year in my little bubble...

I finally got my drivers license! I've not driven a car since my test but we're hoping to do a lesson of motorway driving at the end of the month. Should be interesting...

I started studying for my GCSE in Astronomy. I've only had six lessons so far and it's tough but, I love it! I get to nerd it up about space, and the planets and stars, plus the school where I'm studying has a mini observatory on their roof - what's not to love?

It was one hell of a creative year - crocheting, knitting, sewing and dressmaking. As well as the baby quilt (and winnie the pooh), one of the projects I'm most proud of this year is the lopi jumper I knitted for Mitch. It took about 7 weeks but I think it was worth it :)

I got away from the big smoke, a lot. I know I thought 2016's travel was impressive but I think 2017 has topped it. There were day trips to the Cheddar Gorge and Bournemouth; long weekends in Deal, Brighton and Cumbria; work events took me to Manchester and Hull; and of course my passport saw some action with two trips to Denmark (Copenhagen and the island of Møn) as well as a return visit to Iceland (I didn't think it was possible but it was even better a second time round). We've got some ambitious travel plans for 2018, fingers crossed we'll get to do them :)

Lastly, I turned 30. I know this isn't an actual achievement, just something that happens to us all, but I just wanted to highlight the way 30 has made me feel: the most confident I've ever felt - in my abilities and in my own skin. Sure my 20s were beyond amazing, but I've got a very good feeling about my 30s. So here's to you 2018, I'm excited for all your potential!

Ode to brunch

Hello!

I've had a little (5 month) break from the blogging world mostly because I've been off travelling - eating, drinking and seeing some seriously amazing things. But, in order to ease my way back into this blogging malarky, I want to talk you about my love for brunch.

I know us millennials get a lot of grief over our preoccupation with brunch but whatever, it's the best (and I'll never be able to buy a house in London anyway so I may as well enjoy all the brunch I can get). Also, in my defense, Mitch and I don't always venture out for brunch, in fact, some of my favourite breakfasts and brunches have been made at home, he has skillz - namely his sourdough toast with avocado, radish, mint, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, tatziki and a poached egg (bottom right). It is as good as it sounds/looks :)

Other favourite brunches around Peckham way include: the devil's cheese (cheese and jalapeño on toast) at The Peckham Pelican (their mushrooms on toast are also perfecto); the full English at Pedler; plantain and harissa scrambled eggs at Persepolis, washed down with either their avocado smoothie or orange, ginger and mint tea.

Still sticking south but slightly further afield: Maltby market for all manner of good eats - St John bakery for custard-filled doughnuts or, for something savoury, Monty's Deli for giant pastrami sarnies (and side of giant gherkin); ALL the breakfasts at The Breakfast Club in Clapham (but especially the American one).

Lastly, my ultimate fancy weekday breakfast (which Mitch and I have only done twice but it's so civilised, I hope we do it again soon), Dishoom. Yes their curry is incredible but I'm telling you it's all about their bacon naan roll (as lush as it sounds), their bombay breakfast (best scrambled eggs and beans EVER) and their bottomless chai tea. It's altogether divine.

Me Made May 2017

Last month I took part in Me Made May over on Instagram - a pledge to wear at least one handmade item everyday in May. I had attempted to join in last year but quickly realised I had not made enough items. This year though, I did it! Okay, yes, I did double up a few times and I've counted two handmade items not made by me but, to be honest, this just highlighted two things I already know and want to change about my handmade wardrobe.

Lessons learned:
1. I do not have enough basics (particularly jersey knit tees!)
This is partly because I've not really got the hang of sewing with knit fabric. To date, I have made two Grainline studio Lark tees and a self-drafted pencil skirt, all of which I like, but they're not my best bits of sewing by a long way. Cotton is just so easy to work with and comes in so many amazing prints, I'm like a moth to the flame! Plus, I don't own an overlocker (nor have I ever used one) which means the finish on the knit items isn't great. I definitely want to try a few more jersey knit patterns, Colette's Moneta seems like a good bet.

2. I'm lacking cooler weather options
So it turns out mine is handmade wardrobe made with fine weather in mind (which is pretty funny given that I live in England where even summer is not guaranteed). About 80% of my stuff is suited for warm weather which, on reflection, makes a lot of sense; I tend to spend the autumn and winter months crocheting or knitting, and spring/summer is my sewing time. It's a crazy craft timetable which left me slightly screwed at the beginning of May when the weather was decidedly autumnal in London, and I quickly ran out of weather appropriate handmade items to wear! Luckily, there's lots of great patterns out there that are perfect for layering in cooler weather (Tilly and the Button's Cleo dress and Grainline studio 's Farrow dress to name a couple).

Most worn pattern: See Kate Sew's Zippy Top - I now have 6, plus I wore two of them twice - so yeah, my Me Made May would've been buggered without the Zippy Top.

Newest pattern: Style Arc's Blaire shirt. I love shirts but up until last month I'd never tried making one (mostly because they looked too complicated - collar, button holes - yeesh). I spotted lots of lovely Blaires on instagram - such a great boxy shape - and thought I'd be a great pattern to ease me into shirt making. Turned out that I couldn't have been more wrong! The succinct instructions (seriously, I've written more detailed shopping lists) were baffling. Luckily, some sewing bloggers had encountered the same problem and written some helpful tips on constructing Blaire. One blogger also pointed out that the Blaire shirt was not the best pattern to attempt if you'd never made a shirt before - I'm with her on that! Once I had the collar and collar stand under control, the rest was fairly straightforward; struggles aside I really do love this pattern. So much so that I started making a second shirt straight after I finished the first, and they're now both in heavy rotation in my wardrobe. I even plan on having a go at the dress version this week :) I've got my eye on a couple of other shirt patterns too - ByHandLondon's Sarah shirt and the Alder shirt dress by Grainline studio.

Aside from the challenge itself, Me Made May was also an excellent opportunity to connect with the wider sewing community. I've certainly started following a few new accounts on Instagram and the wealth of inspiration out there, all thanks to that one little hashtag, is crazy! People make some truly awesome things, my 'to make' list has grown exponentially! Seeing what people are able to achieve, making (what seem to me) difficult items - coats, bras, swimming costumes - gives me hope that, one day, I won't want for anything and that I'll be able to attempt such things myself. Grand plans coming from someone who struggles with jersey knit fabric but hey, 4 years ago I couldn't sew at all, all it takes is practice, time and patience :)

I ❤ manchester

At 6:15 am on Tuesday morning, I found myself on a train to Manchester for a work event (namely, the UK Space Conference). Although I spent the majority of my time in Manchester Central convention centre, I did manage to get to see some of this brilliant city in the evenings. Two things stood out: firstly, the excellent food and drink options. The first night we descended upon the curry mile (surprisingly enough) for delicious curry at Mughli; and on the Wednesday night we spent four hours in the awesome Albert Schloss - home of beer, bratwurst and Baby Grand Slam (1 stage, 2 pianos, endless requests).

The second stand out thing about Manchester is it's spirit and I'm not just referring to the city coming together in the aftermath of the horrific events last Monday (although I did go to see the hundreds of flowers laid out in St Anne's square in rememberance of the victims of the bomb attack - it was very moving and heart-achingly sad). Perhaps because it is smaller than London, there really did feel like a community spirit in the city, all the people I encountered were so friendly and helpful, the vibe is effortlessly cool and positive.

I had been to Manchester for another work trip two years ago where I managed to see the stunning John Rylands library and a wander around Afflecks. This visit has only confirmed what I felt the last time: this is one cool city, I need to come back :)

six

★ Reading: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I'm only 13% in but so far so good. It reminds me of a cross between DS9, The Expanse and a teeny bit of Firefly...

★ Watching: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (I am obsessed); Iron Fist (meh, not as good as Daredevil but it's held my attention as much as Luke Cage); Abstract (Netflix documentary series where each episode focuses on one particular creative individual - we've had an illustrator, set designer, architect, shoe designer and typographer); Taboo (gritty, grim and kinda creepy period drama starring Tom Hardy and his trademark beautiful face, mumbled lines and weird accent - good though). 

★ Eating: ALL the vegetables. I'm still not really eating meat (unless a friend is cooking me dinner) all thanks to the great food poisoning incident in Deal.

★ Drinking: ALL the tea (with ALL the biscuits)

★ Making: A second Tilly & The Buttons François Dress. I'm rather chuffed at how my first one came out (pics soon), it really is a lovely pattern.

★ Wearing: Shirts! On their own, with my pinafore dress, under jumpers - layers are the key in this transitional (not to mention changeable) March weather. 

★ Horrified by: My new passport photos, good god are they awful. It's amazing what not-smiling can do to your face, I honestly look about 10 years older! Vanity issues aside, yay, new passport!

★ Looking forward to: Said new passport as I really need to book some holiday when it arrives. In the more immediate future, I'm very much looking forward to a weekend away in the New Forest. 

★ Musing: Today marks six years since I started this blog. Six! Granted, it's been rather quiet on here for the last couple of years but my plan to write something at least once a month seems to be working. I say it at every anniversary but I love the fact that I have six years worth of memories here, so much has happened in that time and the blog captures a unique little part of it. As ever, I am (pleasantly) surprised that I've managed to start something and not abandon it, this blog is in fact testament that I can start a project and see it though - it's probably the only thing but whatevs. Here's to the next six eh?! 

a weekend in Deal

Seven of us spent the last weekend of February in the very pretty seaside town of Deal. As always, it was SO good to get out of London - I'd not left the city for more than one night since October(!) - needless to say, a few days by the sea was desperately needed.

We arrived at our lovely Airbnb on the Friday evening, had some of the most delicious seafood in this restaurant, before finishing the night in an excellent boozer not 5 minutes from our accommodation. Saturday was mostly spent walking 23km on and around the white cliffs, the views were pretty sweet. We stopped for tea (and a gigantic slice of victoria sponge cake) at the half way point in St Margarets at Cliffe (it's rather cute there too).

As with all our walking weekends away, Saturday night is dedicated to having some well deserved pints and pub grub but unfortunately,on this trip, this is where it all went wrong. Rather than a pub we ended up going to a resturant which gave us food poisoning. We'd planned to spend Sunday getting fish and chips and taking a stroll on Deal pier but this was abandoned as my friend and I were sick as dogs and just wanted to be in our own homes (close to our own loos). Food poisoning really is the worst. I'm gutted that the weekend got cut short, I really liked what I saw of Deal (apart from that one restaurant) and hope, one day, to go back, for the pier, the castle and those fish'n'chips.

three-oh!

I am 30.

I am 30 and it feels fan-bloody-tastic!

To celebrate this magnificent feat of aging I did several excellent things:

1. My work colleagues surprised me with prosseco, cake and an awesome gift (astronomical binoculars!!!). They are the best.

2. I hired out the 70s room at the Jam Circus in Brockley and a load of my friends came to booze the evening away with me.

3. A lovely dinner with my parents and sis in Richmond.

4. For my actual birthday, Mitch treated me to what was, essentially, a perfect day: breakfast, a visit to the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition at the Natural History Museum, followed by cinema (La La Land - loved it) and a v.lush dinner.

So yeah, here's to 30. Time flies when you're having fun, especially when you have the best husband, friends and family ever (and a tiara and handmade William Morris dress to celebrate in). ❤

2016: in review

Back in January I made a vague list of ideas to keep in mind for the year. I've been attempting to write a review of 2016 based on that vague list for the past 15 days (15 days people!), so instead I'm going to ignore that list and write what I like.

Although lots of shit things happened in the world in 2016 (brexit still hurts, watching Charlie Brooker's 2016wipe gave me heart ache about it all over again) it was also the year that Mitch and I moved into our new home which was (and continues to be) the best thing everrrrr. We've hosted dinners and a christmas party, had our parents over for lunch and friends for tea, but actually the best thing about it is lounging around in our pjs watching netflix at weekends. Because. We. Can. 2016 has also been the year that we got stuck right into Peckham - the pubs, the restaurants, the library, burgess park and the community garden (FYI, I bloody love l living here).

It was an excellent year for travel, both around the country - weekends in Brighton, the Brecon Beacons, Edinburgh and the Peak District - as well as a couple of trips abroad - four days in Helsinki and a glorious week in Sicilly.

2016 saw me get my craft on, particularly in the dressmaking department. I made more clothes this year than any other (10(!) In case you were wondering, 5 dresses and 5 tops). I think I'm most pleased with the two recent dresses (the tartan one and the William Morris print dress) although it's the good old zippy tees that got the most wear over the summer. Aside from the dressmaking, I got back into crochet, quilting and (right at the very end) knitting. Yes, all in all, a very productive year.

In other news 2016 brought a new hobby (bee-keeping), a new job (hello astronomy!) and the start of something I've been meaning to do for over 10 years: learn to drive.

As well as the tragic national and international events that took place in 2016, there was also some sad news closer to home; in November, my granddad passed away. He was 92 and had had a full and exciting life, although things hadn't been the same since his wife Nancy, my nana, died two years ago. His passing meant that my dad and his brother had the emotional job of going through all my grandparents things in order to clear their house. I've inherited a few choice items: my granddad's giant spoon (carved with the accolade: World's Biggest Stirrer), a couple of my nana's cook books as well as a handful of the old games my sister and I used to play when we went to stay with them. I have great memories of granddad - going to Great Yarmouth and sitting in a deck-chair refusing to take his shoes and socks off, wearing a knotted handkerchief on his head; showing me how he took cuttings to grow all his tomato plants; his shed full to bursting with every kind of 'handy man's' kit you can imagine; his laugh (watching Norman Wisdom or Tommy Cooper); the bowl of sweets he always kept by his chair (humbugs, worther's originals, fox's mints); his most over-used word: "saff" to be used in most contexts, "saff me" being my favourite. The last time I saw him, he was smiling, I was telling him about the delicious Horlicks-flavoured icecream I'd tried recently (he loved Horlicks, it's all he would drink at the end) and that's how I'll always remember him, smiling a big toothy/gummy smile very similar to my own.

Yes, a year of ups and downs, and I'll bet that 2017 won't be plain sailing either. Given the national and international events of last year, 2017 will mean more change, change that will hopefully inspire action and pull people together rather than drive us further apart.

In my own little world, I have a feeling that 2017 will be big year - my 30th is in a couple of weeks, I'll hopefully pass my driving test (fingers crossed) and we have some rather ambitious travel plans (everything crossed!). Saying that, I actually keep coming back to a 'less is more' mantra for 2017. Inspired by multitude of documentaries on Netflix (thank you The Minimalists) and my friend who recently moved into a new flat and ALL her belongings fitted into a taxi, I am ready to recycle/give away/sell some of my things, as well as give serious thought about what I do decide to bring into our flat. The bottom line is, I need to stop buying stuff, particularly stuff I don't need, I want to have a proper go at making things myself or better yet, doing without it, we shall see...

A very belated, but no less genuine, happy new year to you all :)

It's beginning to look A LOT like christmas

case in point:

1. We bought a tree and decorated it! (Our first tree since the days of Surbiton.)

2. I've only got one Christmas present left to buy (*smug feels*)

3. We dressed the work christmas tree whilst munching mince pies and drinking mulled wine.

4. Christmas biscuits have been made (twice!)

5. I joined the work choir (why not) and spent the last five Wednesday lunchtimes rehearsing for our imminent Christmas carols performance in the courtyard of Burlington House (the nerves are yet to kick in).

6. Lastly, mitch and I are staging our first proper gathering at our flat and - you guessed it - it's a christmassy affair! Mulled wine, cheese and both kinds of crackers :)

experiments in dressmaking: the tartan dress

Over the last three months I imposed, upon myself, a spending ban on fabric. This is because I've got a big old stash, full of lovely stuff, that wants using (or losing). I started my crusade against the over-flowing stash box with my chambray dress, and this tartan beauty is the follow up...

Like the chambray dress, it's from Tanya Wheelan's Ultimate Dressmaking Guide - basic bodice and gathered skirt but with the addition of capped sleeves and a little white collar. Given my history with zips (and the fact that the last two were disastrous), I opted for a side one and I'm rather pleased with it! It's not invisible (let's not run before we can walk) but it's neat! (Gotta take the little victories.)

The skew-whiff bodice is rather annoying but I can honestly tell you I didn't notice until I'd finished adding the collar (which I redid three times!) and by that point I'd had enough (and that's why I'd never make an good dressmaker). The collar too, is a bone of contention. It really should go all the way round to the back but it was driving me nuts and I just wanted to stop. And that's the mature and measured reason why it's only collared at the front. At least she's one of kind, eh? :)

All criticism aside, I am very pleased with it, she's had four outings already and a few compliments to boot. I've already started on another dress (all in aid of using up my fabric stash of course), here's a sneak peek...!

a weekend in the peaks

Autumn really is the best time of year and never is that more apparent then when you're hiking through beautiful countryside, the peak district did not disappoint.

At the beginning of the month, 11 of us stayed a couple of nights in a cute little village in the Hope Valley. The weather on the Saturday was perfect for our 9 mile walk on and around Stanage Edge, insanely windy yes, but also gloriously sunny. I took a lot of photos. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent in the pub(s) drinking local ales, eating hearty grub, playing games back at the hostel and, as it was bonfire night, watching the fireworks and playing with sparklers. Sunday was a bit of a wash out but we did manage a quick wander around picturesque Castleton before driving back to the big smoke.

As I always say, I'm super lucky to have an excellent bunch of friends to escape from the city with. The peaks was our last adventure this year, but rest assured there'll be lots more to come in 2017 :)