Peachy, With A Side Of Keen

...And Tuesdays are bringing together all the lovely things I've been looking at!



I look at Richard Armitage a lot, mainly because he's just beautiful...

*Ahem*

I love this tutorial on how the washing up got done in the 1940s! It's especially awesome because I've been explaining to my housemates for weeks that there's a specific order dishes should be done in, and now I know it's not just me :) (Yeah I know, OCD much?)

This is the best recipe for vanilla cupcakes! Instead of the icing though, try whisking up some buttercream, add a little rose syrup, and you have the dreamiest butterfly cakes ever.

Cut-Out-And-Keep has a lovely how-to for embroidering a deer. As I might have mentioned already, I'm really keen on embroidery at the moment and this would make the cutest decoration for a bedroom!

If, like me, you're a lover of vintage and reading then head on over to the Queens of Vintage social network and join the vintage book club! We've just finished reading 'The Moving Finger' by Agatha Christie (which was brilliant) and thinking about what to read next... I'm crossing my fingers for The Great Gatsby or Lady Chatterley's Lover.

That's it for this week! It's a bit of a short list, but after finding the washing up tutorial I've been mostly reading the rest of the Behind the Curtain blog, it's fab :) What's been occupying your screens this week?

Hope you've had a lovely Tuesday!
Jen xxxx

Mondays Stuck On Repeat

So... this past week has been a massive fail! My housemate decided that being the sharing, caring person he is, he should pass his cold onto me. Cue a Jen of Doom, horrible ear infection and several days fighting the urge to faceplant my desk and take a nap :( This also means that I haven't done anything I planned on doing; both skirt and essay are glaring at me feeling unloved.

But! It's a new week and I'm starting to feel much, much better. I even ventured out of the house to join in leaving drinks for my cake-baking, bed-building partner in crime Jade. She's going back to adventure camp where she works (I have to admit to being very jealous of her job!) and won't be home again until November. Sob! I put a fancy dress on and we actually enjoyed lashings of ginger beer and cake...

As I don't have anything else to report, have some pictures of my pretty outfit :)


I don't know if I look deep in thought here, or if it looks like I'm checking my dress for dirt...!

These are my absolute favourite shoes! I found them on a random vintage stall at Ely market... they claim to be from the 1920s. Now, I'm no fashion historian but I don't think they date back that far in any way! They are beautiful though and the only heels I can happily walk around in all day :)

I tied my scarf in a huge bow at the side of my neck. I thought it looked fab, but I don't think the Monday evening Wetherspoons audience was expecting such flounce. And it made eating custard a bit tricky...

Anyway, I hope you all are planning a lovely week. It's half term for me which means no evening work and lots of time to catch up on sewing and essays.

Jen xxxx

The beginning of a new week...

I don't know about anyone else, but on Mondays I always like to make a quick to-do list of everything I want to achieve in the week to come. As I start full-time work again in a couple of weeks there seems to be lots to do in order to tie up lots of loose ends before my crafting and relaxing time gets cut into. I've also got my first comissions for sewing projects. YAY! My friend wants a skirt for her birthday, her fiancee has asked if I can crochet him a moogle and another of my friends and her boyfriend have asked if I can make them costumes for the Bizarre Ball. Lots and lots to do indeed :)

Inspiring me a lot this week is the fashion stitcher Laura Lees. Everyone who's been a regular Topshop visitor would recognise her pretty dresses embellished with awesome embroidery. As I've been making my skirt, I started to think that embroidering something on the pockets would be uber cute (especially some of the awesome birds in my embroidery book!). I went to visit my Amyfriend this weekend, and she's lent me the most awesome Laura Lees dress which just sealed the deal for me. See her work here.

So. What have I got on my list to do this week?
- Finish my skirt! It didn't get done this weekend as I got distracted by friends and shopping. Oops.
- Start my essay on anti-oppressive practice. Neither crafty nor vintage but it must be done if I want to have a chance of finishing it before the deadline.
- Go dancing. I'm going to be brave and go along to Ceroc this week even though none of my friends think they'll be able to make it. I'm bored of the gym but am getting that restless feeling that comes after not doing an exercise for a while.

It's quite a short list this week, but the first two will probably take up most of my time. It'll be worth it in the end though.

Final thought: Hobbycraft was AWESOME. The whole centre it's part of is awesome. So awesome, in fact, that it requires its own post. More details later in the week!

Lots of love
Jen xxxx

Friday Thoughts

In the future, Friday will be a day of musing on whatever has captured my brain crafting or vintage-wise. However, I’ve been at uni all week so the only thing that has captured my brain is the philosophy of religion and the theory of youth work, which I’m sure no one wants to hear about! So here’s a quick catch up of what’s been going on this week…

As I just mentioned, I’ve been at uni for most of this week, and the days have been very long so not much crafting has been done. My brain feels like it has been beaten up! I’ve got loads of work to do so need to sit down and plan exactly when I’m going to do everything and make sure nothing gets forgotten about. I’ve also just found out today that I’ve got a new job! It’s just an extension of my youth work (extra hours and such) but it’s made me a very happy Jen indeed.

In crafting news, I’m sitting down to sew my skirt today. Just been having a fight with my bobbin but we’ve managed to work things out amicably. It’s looking good! Hopefully there’ll be photos by the end of the week ☺ It was my friend Kayla’s birthday this week too and she said she wanted a monkey. As chance would have it, the girl that was giving me a lift to uni is also a big crafter and turned up on Wednesday with instructions on how to make sock monkeys! So that’s my project for tomorrow.

One final thought for this Friday… HOBBYCRAFT OPENS TOMORROW! Yep, so exciting it needed capital letters. We have a trip planned for Sunday and I can’t wait. Expect a full report soon!

Right. I have Belle and Sebastian on iTunes, a big cup of tea and my sewing calling my name.
Lots of love
Jen xxx

Thursday is Fangirl Day!

Sooooo. In an attempt to bring more regularity and consistency into this blog, I've decided that set days will mean certain types of posts. In a bit of a homage to Gala Darling, who was one of the first blogs I ever started reading, Thursday is going to be a round up of things I've been reading / dancing to / watching / loving in a particular week. I have intense, short-lived obsessions so hopefully it won't be the same thing everytime!

Reading:

I've just started Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. It's not gripped me as much as Pride and Prejudice did so far, but that is one of my favourite movies / TV series ever, so it's kind of expected. I'm only a couple of chapters in so it should pick up :)

I've also been plodding through Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson. This book is ever so slightly weird. It's so far made up of little vignettes about the life of the people living in Lark Rise and Candleford, which makes it sound a little dreary. But all of a sudden you'll look at the clock and realise you've been completely lost in their world for a couple of hours. Deceptively gripping!

I went charity shopping today (one of my absolute favourite past times) and picked up Lady Chatterley's Lover and Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence, a collection of articles written by the editor of the New York Times in the first half of the twentieth century and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen so have a stockpile of books once the first two are finished with!

Dancing to:

Louis Armstrong, Vera Lynn, The Sonics, The Raveonettes and random songs from a collection of swing music I downloaded. My most played song at the moment is probably 'Look Out Stranger, I'm A Texas Ranger'. I've no idea who it's by, or why I love it so much but it's amazing. Go find it!

Watching:

The first series of Lark Rise to Candelford, and the new series too! Pretty outfits, cute rural life... it's my dream.

I watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for the third time this evening (my housemate hadn't seen it yet) and can honestly say it's the first time I've watched it and enjoyed it! The Harry Potter movies are always a bit of a slow grower for me as I'm such a massive fan of the books.

I've also been listening to the Terry Pratchett serialisations on BBC7; check them out on iPlayer if you're a fan, they're in perfect 20 minute segments, which suits a tea break or something to listen to while you're washing your hair!

A special mention should also go to Sherlock Holmes... what an awesome film. Oh em gee indeed.

Generally loving:

The vintage skirt pattern mentioned in my previous entry. I cut out the pattern tonight in a lovely heavy ivory silk, it's definitely a dressing up skirt! The kitty and I almost had a bit of a falling out - she has a real thing for pattern paper and always tries to nest in it while I'm pinning and cutting, and today the paper got a little ripped! Once I've started sewing I think I'll make a copy and then store the original safely away somewhere. Or knit Lilycat some little booties to avoid any more clawing mishaps...

Charity shopping: oh the amazing things you find! Along with the books already mentioned, today I found a beautiful cream silk top (pictures WILL follow, it's too good not to!), amazing post office scales that will now be used for baking purposes and a few strands of pearls to replace the ones that decide to explode in my handbag. Awesome good times.

Well I think that's it for today... I've got my bedtime cup of tea and the next episode of Lark Rise calling me.

Night all!

Jen xxxx

I am a BAD blogger

A problem often encountered by one grrl with too many projects is that some projects fall by the wayside and are left to gather dust and be forgotten. This blog suffered such a fate!

It's not because I've been gazing off at the stars though, these last however many months have been manically busy. I started a masters degree in Youth Work and Community Development, which is so much fun but a LOT of work, and also moved from my poky little flat to a lovely big house. Note to everyone: do not move house three days before Christmas. You will want to kill your new housemates before you've even unpacked! I've also been making making making! Here's a list of highlights and pictures will follow for some of them (another reason for not posting is my inability to get my act together and actually photograph my handiwork). So, in no particular order:

• Homebrewed ginger beer (one word: yum)
• A book of fake panda facts (an in-joke between my sister and I)
• Countless pairs of earrings
• A jumper
• A cardigan that has taken me 18 months to finish and looks nothing like it was supposed to
• My first dress!
• Knitted bow for my hair
• Embroidered pillow case
• Robin Hood and Jesse from Team Rocket fancy dress costumes
• Assorted soft toys as various presents for lovely friends

It's quite a collection! I've started to get quite restless if I don't have a project on the go so, hopefully, I'll start posting more regularly :)

In recent - vaguely craft-related - news, my current obsession is the 1940s and all things vintage. I've just bought a couple of vintage patterns off the supremely talented Lauren from Wearing History and will be spending my pay packet on fabric this weekend. Other treasures have included a copy of 'Modern Knitting Illustrated' from the 1940s. This book is amazing and I will try and get some pictures up because words really cannot do justice to the patterns, and also the unintentionally hilarious captions that accompany them.

Right, I think that's quite enough of a catch up to be getting on with! I'll leave you with a picture of me proudly showing off my new dress (you can't really see it, but you can see the squeeable Cath Kidston fabric) with my beautiful friend Sarah!

Bye for now (but not for long!)

Jen xxxx

Present making is maybe my favourite kind of making

On Friday, my little (step)sister turns 18! 

(My goodness this makes me feel old... I remember meeting her when she was 7 and how FLIPPIN' TINY she was. Yipes.)

ANYWAY... I have a birthday / going off to uni present planned out for her in the form of a luxury leaving-home care package.  However it is yet to be put together and will also be way too big and heavy to put in the post, so I wanted to make her something I could send up to her with her birthday card.

Enter, the snoozy skull bunny.  I love his cuteness.  

In other local news, I made vegan potato salad dumplings today.  They look seriously yummy, I'm looking forward to lunchtime tomorrow!

Jen xxx