Dreaming of Dresses

The Great British Sewing Bee started on Tuesday evening and even before the programme finished, I though "I wanna make some simple dresses for summer"! Whilst pinning I came across Samuji, a Finnish designer, and I love their light feminine dresses above. Since, I've been thinking about the tulip shaped dress, like this one, but I'm going to continue on the hunt for the perfect pattern. I've loved the clothes by Wiksten for a long time, check out the collections. For now I must keep my architecture head on, just 35 days to go, after which I can get the sewing machine out and dream of holidays in the sun.

Images by Samuji

WOW

I have been incredibly lucky to have visited the Olympic park three times over the past month. On Sunday I was invited to go to the Paralympics with Steph and, with day passes, we were able to see wheelchair tennis, goalball and wheelchair basketball. Then last night Rhian took Fi and myself to watch the evening session at the Olympic stadium.

Walking into arena is just incredible when you see the seats all taken; people smiling, cheering and waving flags. The superhuman athletes are phenomenal themselves, no matter what nationality everyone screamed them on (only the yells became louder when it was Team GB!) We were sat next to family friends of one of the GB athletes, Paul Blake, which made the cheering all the more special. There was 80,000 peoples worth of good vibes in that place last night!

I've said this before, but the whole atmosphere around the Games has been great. I've got many happy memories from watching London 2012 but I don't want it to end!

All Green

Steph, Fi and I went back to Garson's Farm this week - beans, raspberries, broccoli, kohl rabi, cauliflower, courgettes. I'm going to get onto the jam making this weekend!

Polesden Lacey

On Monday we visited Polesden Lacey and met up with family. It's a National Trust property, where the Queen Mother had her honeymoon no less, and I have visited it since I was a little girl with my grandparents. We explored the gardens and found the colourful hens and cartwheeled over the grass (no me!)

Fine Food

Since we finished this semester, there has been more time to do the things I really love: cooking, drawing and crocheting. The weather has been absolutely beautiful so we've been able to entertain; last week we had a(n iced) tea party, so I made a pineapple chilli cake and roasted pepper focaccia. Recently I have been bookmarking lots of food blogs, and these are some of my favourites:

The Forest Feast - beautiful house and illustrations
The Wednesday Chef
Smitten Kitchen
Island Menu
Manger

Images from The Forest Feast

Dirt Bath

The sun has been out this week; it's felt more like summer than spring. Puck has been able to have a good ol' run around in the garden, whilst the chickens have rediscovered their bathing spot and have been rolling around in the dirt!

Beach Hut

I'd love a beach house like this by studiomama. Dreams of summer weather.
Images from studiomama

Tunisian Tales

Lou, Fi and I spent a lovely, sunny week in the Tunisian sun last week. It was just so relaxing to be laying in the sunshine, chilling by the pool... As a souvenir I brought back this hand woven rug to pop in my new room in Manchester.

Prune Conserve

Today we popped along to the car boot sale at Epsom Hospital where Ben Smithers was selling his childhood for a bargain. I was enticed into buying an old Kodak camera for £1, which I've given to Brother Dowle to add to his collection, and bought these sweet jars of homemade jams. It's such a beautiful day, fingers crossed that it'll last for my last week at work!

Wear Colour

I don't understand how the weather in July can be so miserable! To counteract it we should all embraces brightness and wear a lot of colour and maybe the sun will follow suit...

Images from: 1. cuillère à absinthe  2. bekleidet 3. street style aesthetic, all via wear color

Wowee Weather

Raining, scorching... the British summer has gone mad! The veg are liking it in the garden though and the chickens are as boisterous as ever.

Long Skirts

I love all these mid length skirts for summer, but looks like I'm going to have pull them off with a pair of heels... wedges are needed me thinks!
Images from butter and brass

Park Life

Spring has Sprung

...or maybe even Summer! Who knows, but what I do know is the temperatures have been in the mid 20s - surely this is unusual for April in the UK? But you can't complain.

Here is a picture my brother Alex took of Puck in the park yesterday, and what a beautiful snap it is. So may this lovely weather last... (thundery storms are forecast for tomorrow!)

nonsuch park, originally uploaded by alexdowle.

Jam Jar

Since I saw these snaps from wikstenmade, I have thought alot about using jam jars as cups. Then yesterday, in the Evening Standard it was written about as a trend! We're having a bbq this weekend, and we're all bringing something so one idea is cocktails in jam jars. Or beetroot cake as per here, seeds and stitches which was mentioned in the article!

Images from wikstenmade

Early Summer

There's the warmth of summer in the air but a fresh breeze in these photographs taken by Mark Borthwick for LyricsM, a clothes brand in Japan. I think that images are magical, especially because of my love for wild flowers.

Via butter and brass

Flea Flitter

I can't wait for summer to arrive and to go wandering round Wimbledon Flea Market to find some treasures. This image by Gemma Booth got me thinking about wandering round stalls, finding some bargains, though perhaps not dressed as fashionably! It felt like the weather was getting warmer... but then it changed its mind! 

Image by Gemma Booth

Sewing Shop

This weekend I popped back to Canterbury and we wandered into The Sewing Shop so that Tash could buy one needle! It's been completely redone and looks more like a boutique than a dated haberdashers. There was such a great range of fabrics, like these Liberty ones, and it makes me want to get sewing something to wear this summer!

Summer Art

Today Ma and I went to the Royal Academy Summer exhibition, an annual outing to see such a variety of painting, prints, sculpture, photography and architecture. It's so interesting to see such a plethora from both amateurs and professionals. The question 'is that art?' pops up on many occasions, as well as 'how can that be worth £125,000?!', but we always love to have a wander around.

I had some particular favourites. The architecture room was great - and seeing as it's my chosen profession made me excited to see the sort of work that can be produced - and occupied a bigger space than previous years. Individually I liked:

Oran O'reillly's Rizla (After Hokusai)

Thomas Hillier's Migration of Mel and Judith

Ian Whittlesea's The Sun is but a Morning Star

Images from: 1-2. Amelia's magazine 3.Oran O'reilly 4. Thomas Hillier 5. Peter Foolen