hilkat

For the last couple of years, I’ve been growing my hair, and now I’ve decided to lop it all off again. I’d really love an elfin crop, but don’t have the confidence to carry it off, so am going to opt for a quirky bob instead (rather like the girl in the Toast catalogue!)

But anyway, that leads me nicely onto my most recent style crush, the wonderful Carey Mulligan, star of An Education and girlfriend to Shia LeBeouf. I absolutely adore her quirky, understated style, both on the red carpet and off duty - and obviously, her hair is a particular plus point…!

I’ve had a really good run of flowers around the house lately, and decided to save all the lovely photos for one gigantic floral post. There will be a sad lack of blooming goodness around in the next couple of weeks, as my window sills are fit to bursting with propagators full of vegetable seedlings and pots of as-yet-to-flower geraniums for my hanging basket, so I thought I’d make up for it with a post packed full of petals…

I’ve always got a lot of different projects on the go at once, sewing, crocheting, painting, furniture renovation…. but I’ve finally got round to actually finishing two, which means this post is solely dedicated to the showing off my wares.

I proudly present, my first two finished crochet projects…..

The hat was a massive case of trial and error, and actually involved a lot of pattern adjustment - the instructions meant the hat turned out more like a beret than a beanie, and although that would be fine, I actually wanted a much smaller style hat.
The bird cushion started life as a table mat, but for some reason I ended up with far too many stitches, which meant that the edges curled - rather than unpick it, I folded it in half and was inspired by the shape to create a bird shaped cushion. The beak is just two triangles sewn on either side of the crochet piece that makes up the body, and the wing is a circle with increases at one end to create the pointed shape - the wing was the most difficult part to work out, as so far all I’ve ever done is follow patterns! I got there in the end though, and have to say I’m pretty pleased with both of them.

I now have visions of combining my love of fashion and crochet to make beaded, crocheted, woven jewellery and waistcoats. Now I just need to find a pattern….!

The best thing about working in fashion is that you’re automatically granted permission to dress as creatively and expressively as you like, throwing in individual touches here and there. As much as I adore spending every waking moment with my son, it’s certainly a breath of fresh air to wear something apart from chocolate-covered t-shirts and boyfriend-fit jeans three days of the week.

I’m currently having a huge love affair with the new Spring tailoring, particularly the wonderfully voluminous and architectural trousers that seem to be cropping up all over the high street recently. I’ve always been of the opinion that a successful outfit has to include one stand out piece, whether it’s a bold print, an oversize accessory, or an interesting piece of tailoring - and the new trousers certainly do not disappoint. A mix of peg leg and harem pants, they should be worn loose, tailored and with the highest of heels. Pick from full length lovelies that gather in a cuff on the ankle, or opt for the mid-calf length variety - team with a simple vest for Helmut Lang style cool.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been this bad at blogging since the whole project started - but hey ho, that’s life with a toddler for you! I’ve also been really busy making our new home look pretty, investigating shops for goodies (TK Maxx homewares department is an absolute GOLDMINE) and generally making everything as cosy and comfy as possible. I’ve developed some sort of a mug obsession… I’ve never noticed until recently just how many wonderful cups and mugs there are around….

My favourite so far (it was a tough contest, and this one only won by a whisker!) is nothing short of fabulous, and I love the little saying painted round the top; “life is like a teapot, what you put in is what you pour out”. Brilliant!

The kitchen seems to be the area getting most attention at the moment, whether it’s with plates and trays…

…floral goodnesses….

…or egg cups and oven gloves (what a wonderful name that would be for a domestic blog - Egg Cups and Oven Gloves!)…

And although there hasn’t been much progress anywhere else, a tiny corner of the bathroom is looking a lot more colourful than before…

The little beach hut is actually a box, and although I have absolutely nothing to put in it, I couldn’t resist - it does the perfect job of brightening up the window sill.

Finally, after two weeks of carrying, lifting, moving and shifting, losing feeling in our feet and continually digging the car out of the snow and ice, we are settled in our new home. Somehow, I managed to pick not only the same year, but right down to the same week and even day to move house that the UK decided to go all unnatural weather-wise, and deliver us 20cm of snow - if it hadn’t been so annoying, it might have been funny. I hate moving house at the best of times, and it’s safe to say that trying to get everything done during what was dubbed, ‘The Big Freeze’ with a fifteen-month old toddler in tow really iced the removal cake. BUT, we’re in now, so I can get on with more exciting things, namely, new crafty goodies and a sneaky peek into our new home!

Our new place is much bigger than our old one, so we have lots and lots and lots of homewares shopping to do (secretly, my favourite kind!) to really fill it out and make it look as comfy and cosy as we can (while remembering to place everything up high so it’s safe from the sticky grasp of the little man). I’ve made a good start on the kitchen, with milk jugs, flower pots and printed trays all jostling for space along the worktops, and gorgeous little postcards dancing along the picture rail…..

The views from the huge lounge windows are lovely, and on a clear day you can see all the way across to the Isle of Wight - although this week it looked more like this…

Apart from the endless possibilities of finding coloured delights and little knick-knacks for our home, the second exciting thing is how many crafty projects I’m planning. For Christmas, my lovely husband-to-be bought me a Brother sewing machine, so I wasted no time in logging on to eBay to see what lovely fabrics I could find - I particularly like the blue owls that I’m going to use in the little man’s room, and the colourful flowers…and the stripes… actually, I love them all!

As you can see, I’ve also got some rather lovely new yarn for various crochet projects I’m starting (why work on one thing at once, when you can work on ten?!), and several new craft books to work my way through. I’m planning a post soon to actually start showing you some of the things I’ve (half) done, so keep an eye out!

My blogging productivity seems to go in peaks and troughs - the latest trough seems to have outlasted all the others by miles, though. Work, the Boy becoming a walking, talking, miniature hurricane, the festive season (SO many post opportunities missed!) and moving house have all taken their toll on my poor, neglected blog, so I thought it was time to add some content.

I’ve got plenty of pictures of gorgeous fabrics, snippets from around our new home, the snowy scenery and other delights waiting on the camera, but typically I seem to have mislaid the lead which connects it to the laptop. Sigh. So for now, here is a little post on some of the best cushions (is my obsession with interiors showing through?!) around at the moment from two of my favourite websites.

Etsy

Not on the High Street

Apart from art, books, bright colours, crafts and gorgeous vintage clothes, one of my favourite hobbies in life, like many women, is shoes. A former slave to heels, my shoe wardrobe took a rather drastic about-turn when my son was born, and I now find myself dedicated solely (get it? Sole-ly? Oh dear…) to flats. Pumps, brogues, boots and ballet slippers all contribute to my (somewhat lengthy) winter shoe lust list, found everywhere from French catalogue La Redoute to rather more trend-based Topshop.

Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins, I have to admit, isn’t on my list of top shops to visit, and I tend to find them a little, dare I say, overpriced? However, I was pleasantly surprised when I wandered in there on the off-chance one day, and managed to indulge my brogue obsession for a mere £28 (red, patent, heaven!). The shoe-lover in me continues to head there first for cheap-but-not-too-cheap footwear, which may not break the bank, but won’t fall apart in five minutes either.

Topshop

Kate Kanzier
I only discovered Kate Kanzier when someone at work mentioned the website, and as soon as I visited I fell in love with the collection of brogues. They might not be leather, but at the bargain price of £35, you can’t really complain.

La Redoute
Jewel coloured pumps, stack heeled boots and fringed ankle boots - what a wonderful selection! I’ve never really investigated the La Redoute catalogue before, but after seeing these I might be having a further look!

Office
Office has to be the King of the Shoe Shops… it caters to every taste, holds numerous concession lines and above all, stocks shoes under a massive price range. As you can probably tell, I’m a huge fan of flats (in truth, I can hardly walk in heels!) and they had the best selection I could find - how I’m supposed to choose between them is beyond me!

I’m terrible with projects, really I am. I’ve got about ten half-finished things on the go at the moment, from clay bead making to knitting, several crochet ventures and a little dressmaking (note: I’ve never made anything clothes-wise before in my life…) thrown in for good measure. The two most predominant are my crochet blanket, which is technically a gigantic granny square, and my knitted scarf, which is turning into a multi-coloured wonder. Neither are anywhere near finished, but here are some more current pictures anyway…

I’ve also added to my button collection with these gorgeous little beauties - the reason behind my rapidly expanding collection is that I was going to add buttons onto the purl sections of one end of the scarf. The majority is knitted in garter stitch, so the two purl stripes create two indentations, perfect for sewing buttons into. Surprise surprise, I haven’t actually managed to sew anything on yet, but am justifying this by deciding that it should be done last, after the knitting is complete. Ahem.

While I spend most of my time dribbling over the Toast website, stroking the beautifully made and brightly coloured clothes at Paul Smith (my place of work!) and perusing the Next catalogue, I have to admit, I do still receive the Topshop style notes email. Usually, I scan it quickly and then dismiss the bodycon dresses (after a baby? I don’t think so!), hot-pants and shorts (ditto), and paper thin t-shirts and fashionably ripped jeans (Winter equals cold, and I’m just not prepared to suffer for my fashion anymore…). But when I received the latest edition, detailing the rather lovely Jubilee collection (OK, perhaps not the cycling shorts…), I sat up and paid attention. I am a big lover of cardigans, comfortable clothes, sequins and bright colours, and this little lot seemed to tick three out of four boxes. Although I’m not that keen on bows in the hair (surely not on anyone over the age of ten? Is that controversial?), bows on clothes is fine, and while sweatshirts are great for Winter, they’re always a bit better when they’re embellished. So lets have a drum roll for my pick of the rather lovely Jubilee collection at Topshop…