The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow

Yes, the sun actually did come out for most of the day today, at least in Bristol. The rain has returned now, but it was nice while it lasted.

I've been working on Kids Clothing Week Challenge yesterday and today. I'm rather late to the party as it started on the 23rd of April. I only heard about it a couple of days ago through Joanna at Things Handmade, but I decided to jump in anyway as I need a bit of a push to get sewing at the moment. The challenge is spend one hour a day for 7 days related to sewing clothes for your kids.

I bought a book called Sewing For Boys a while back and this is the first pattern I've tried from it. It's called Easy Linen Shirt and I'm making it from some linen look curtain fabric.

 (Iheartlinen.typepad.com)

Day 1 

In reality I spent slightly more than an hour on the shirt yesterday, but I traced off the pattern and cut it out, ready for sewing up.

Day 2

 I didn't have so much time today, so I just sewed, finished and top-stitched the shoulder seams and pinned in the arms.

Another thrilling instalment tomorrow. Can you handle the excitement? (probably)

Just a Jump To The Left

Firstly, WTF happened to blogger dashboard?! I'm pretty techno-savvy, but I was foxed there for a minute!

Hey ho, now I've recovered, how about about some witterings?

A rare appearance from yours truly in an outfit picture or three (look away now if you're of a nervous disposition).

Cardigan - online shop (can't remember price or website), Flower (Dorothy Perkins I think, about £5 3 or 4 years ago), 60s jumpsuit (ebay, 99p), earrings (Claire's Accessories sale, £1) Chair (£6.51, ebay)

Time for some silly posing! Boots (ebay £10)

I'm seriously in love with this jumpsuit - it's not specifically a maternity one, but it just seems to fit really well and it's so comfy, plus it was only 99p. Sometimes being short has it's advantages - the seller described it as best suited to someone under 5'3" (I'm 5'4" but it's perfect on me) and there were no other bids.

I had a day to myself yesterday as Mr R&B and Baby Bird went back to visit his family, so I headed down to the Redfest Flea Market in the morning and a jumble in the afternoon. The flea market was a good mix, several vintage sellers, but also some crafts, food and a lovely florist, who I chatted to for ages. The prices were really reasonable, most of the clothes were under £20. Of course I had to bring a few choice pieces home with me, which I'll share soon when they've been washed and dried.

The jumble was slightly less successful - the clothes rummaging was nigh on impossible as I'm just not in a condition to barge at the moment! Mind you, I did get a few bits from hovering, again to be shown post-washing.

Today was not very exciting, but I made a cake this afternoon, inspired by some of the treats on offer at the flea market yesterday. Just a basic (but yummy), Victoria Sponge. Just goes to show what a few strawberries and whipped cream can do! I should point out that I don't make these every day, but it was a bit of a special occasion yesterday as it was our 5th wedding annniversary.

Won't you have a slice?

Of course, now I NEED a proper cake slice and one of those fancy covered cake stands!

High School Musical

Yes - 'tis me! Yet again, apologies for being a bad blogger as I've had such a lot on my plate recently. Nothing earth-shattering, but lots of little things that all seem to add up. Close friends of ours got married a couple of weeks ago and Mr R&B and I were fairly involved in proceedings (he being best man and myself being cake-decorator). I've also gone back to good old ebay to get my vintage shop going (6 items sold this week, yay!) as Etsy isn't working for me at the moment. Baby Bird has been sickly since Thursday - though happy enough in himself, let's just say we've gone through a LOT of nappies and bedding this weekend!
I keep having lots of ideas for blog posts - I like to write them in my head, but they don't make it on-screen. I'm going to have to start a blog notebook and jot ideas down as they come. Another reason for not posting is that I know you like to see pictures and I just haven't been wearing or doing much worth sharing. Despite my vow not to spend my whole pregnancy in jeans and stretch jersey, I've pretty much done it anyway!

I've been planning to do the High School Playlist tag for a while, despite not actually being tagged (hey, I'm breaking the rules - deal with it!). Music was such a big part of my Secondary School years (1992-1997), especially as I lived in a one-horse town in South West Wales with nothing to do except read and listen to Radio 1 until I was 14. I'll steer swiftly away from my (short-lived) dreams of marrying Mark Owen (like a lot of 30ish girls of my generation), and move on to the slightly cooler music. The early to mid-Nineties were of course the height of grunge and Britpop. I wasn't hip enough to like Nirvana and co (perhaps a little early for me), but give me a bouncy guitar riff from four wannabe Mockneys any day! I've always been more of an album person, so I've picked five important albums and chosen my favourite track from there.


So first up is:
1. Blur - Parklife (Parklife)
The first album I bought with my own money. I saved up for weeks to buy it on cassette and walked all the way to Pembroke to buy it. Looking now, the round trip was just over three miles, but it felt like going to the moon and back then! What can I say? Probably Blur's most famous and most played song. Love it or hate, I bet you're humming it! All together now: 'Awwwll the peep-pull, so many peep-pull..'

2. Suede - Beautiful Ones (Coming Up) A harder one to choose, though I loved Suede at the time, they've somewhat dropped off the radar for me these days.

3. Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer (Crossroads)
An iconic track (can music be iconic?) for so many people for so many reasons. I know it was originally released in 1986, but it's been with me since I taped the album from my friend's copy (those were the days!).

4. Pulp - Sorted for E's and Whizz (Different Class) I probably shouldn't have known what this song was really about when I was 14, but I did and it made me dream of going to festivals (not that I've ever taken illegal substances - just doesn't interest me), although I didn't to my first until 2001.

5. Levellers - Hope Street (Zeitgeist) Still love them today, only band I've seen live more than twice.

There you go then, my secondary school in a nutshell!