Captain America Crochet Shield

I thought I'd show you this quick make I did for my friend Jacqui. I wanted to make a Captain America shield so I just winged it from a picture. I couldn't make a solid silver star small enough to go on the blue, so I could do the blue bigger. But I'm quite pleased with this anyway!

What My Mum Wore

Welcome to the 2nd of this occasional series "What My Mum Wore". As before, my mum is mid 50s, and a size 18/20. I hope that some older women can see that plus size fashion isn't just for young people! I think you'll agree that my mum looks fab!

Skirt - Marks & Spencer

Top - New Look

I love this skirt - it's such a bright vibrant colour, and the top sets it off beautifully. 

Book Swap

Several months ago Beth held a book swap and I signed up. I was paired with Cathy and we dutifully exchanged emails about what books we like, and I bought a couple on eBay for her, and then I think we both forgot about it. We remembered and when I finally got my ass to a Waterstones, I got the rest of her books. In the meantime I'd received an amazing box from Cathy, so I wanted to post about them. Better late than never!

I like loooots of different types of books. My main passion is Young Adult literature as that's what I'm writing. I also love crime because it's really escapist for me, but there isn't really a genre that I *won't* read. You can see that Cathy catered to my tastes and more! The books are:

The Cutting Room by Jilliane Hoffman

This looks like a good crime novel!

Poppet by Mo Hayder

How petrifying is that cover?! Cathy said that was partly why she chose it. I think I'll have nightmares!

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I haven't actually read any John Green, even though I know that loads of YA readers love him, so this will be my first foray! 

The Republic of Trees by Sam Taylor

The blurb says that this is chilling, which I really love. I don't like scary films but scary books are great! 

(My favourite scary book is The Shining by Stephen King)

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble

I haven't read anything by Drabble before but I've heard she's good. This book is partly set in 18th century Korea which appeals to me as I like to read stuff that isn't set in Britain or America. 

The American Boy by Andrew Taylor

This is a crime novel set in early 19th century England, but the boy in question is Edgar Allen Poe. I like novels that mix fact and fiction when nobody knows what the truth is. I also share my birthday with Poe so I have a bit of a soft spot for him!

So there you have it! I was so thrilled to received these books and I hope Cathy liked the ones I sent her just as much! 

What I Wore 16th July

It was my friend Roslyn's birthday and I was free so I said whatever she wanted to do, we would do. She can't drive very far so she asked if we could go to the seaside as it's a good hour and a half to any kind of seaside from where we live in South Yorkshire. She wanted to go to Whitby which is two hours away, but I don't mind driving so off we went.

It was cloudy but warm, and it was absolutely packed! There were lots of people there, lots of retired people but lots of families too. We went to the Magpie for lunch, which is a fish and chip cafe. It's really famous and there's always a big queue but since there were only two of us we didn't actually have to queue for too long. We had fish, chips, mushy peas and bread and butter! It was fab!

We walked down on to the beach which is where I took this first photo.

We went up to Sandsend which you can walk to from Whitby if you're feeling energetic, but if not it's just a short drive. There's a cafe called Wits End which I really like and recommend! 

When we got home I got Ros to take some pictures of my outfit. I got this dress recently in the Evans sale for just £18. I'm wearing the 26/28 here and it's plenty big enough for me. I feel a bit like Minnie Mouse in this outfit! 

My shrug is from New Look, leggings are from Very and my sandals were from Brantano footwear and I'm absolutely living in them at the moment. 

As you can see, I've cut and dyed my hair. It was long overdue for a cut so I decided to go quite drastically short. I dyed it blue black and I love it! 

This is the drawstring on the dress and a close up of the pattern. There's no stretch in this cotton which I actually love. 

And here you can see the shirt top part and miracle of miracles - no gaping over my boobs! I love this detailing. 

New bedding from Asda

Lee and I bought a new bed last winter. We had had our old one since we'd moved into this house and it was only supposed to be a temporary measure. Ten years later it was time to finally buy a new one! We went for a king size and it's fab, it's got so much room! We bought a duvet cover and then my mum bought us another one for Christmas. But the first one was a ridiculous fabric that I just really didn't like, so I popped into Asda to see what they had.

The owl on our bed was a ridiculous present from Lee for my birthday. The cushions that we use as a headboard (and for lounging, let's be honest) were a Christmas present from my mum and were all from The Range I think.

My eye was caught in Asda by this white set as our bedroom is grey, black, and white. Yes our colour schemes aren't for everyone but I love it! Our living room is black, grey, and pink, haha.

I also really liked the writing on the pillowcases - "Mine" and "Yours". I knew it would appeal to Lee's sense of humour and it did.

This duvet set was £18 and it's really soft and comfortable.

Woolly Bike Trail

A friend of mine, Cass, got some funding to do a Wooly Bike Trail as part of the Yorkshire Festival which is happening because the Tour de France Grand Depart was in Yorkshire. I'm actually really impressed with how much arts stuff there was around during the Tour, not just sports stuff. It has been a fantastic spotlight on Yorkshire!

Cass' idea was to have 10 themed bikes, knitted and crocheted in 10 towns and cities throughout Yorkshire. She held 20 workshops in the towns and loooooads of people went along to help. On 3rd July the bikes all went on display in Sheffield Cathedral and I went along. It was great to see them en masse! They will remain there until 3rd August when they'll mostly return to the towns where they were made.

I was at the Halifax workshop. Its theme was 'multicultural'. I crocheted part of the surrounding of the back wheel, some of the chains wound into the front wheel, some of the Union flag on the back wheel, and some flowers that are on the crossbar. These were made from sari yarn which was difficult but interesting to work with.

This last photo is the Leeds bike, as you can see it's all Yorkshire white roses! 

Do go and see the bikes if you're in Sheffield!

New nighties from Yours

I, along with grandmas everywhere, love a good nightie. I get way too warm in pyjamas so I wear long nighties in the winter and shorter ones in the summer. I have several that came from Simply Be forever and a day ago, but when I was looking again I was shocked at the price! So I was pleased to find these in Yours in Meadowhall. They were two for £16 and they had a variety of colours and patterns. 

I chose this one - grey with neon pink hearts - and one that is lilac with white polka dots. If I remember I'll take a photo when I wear it! 

Nightie - Yours

What My Mum Wore

I decided recently it might be nice to showcase my mum sometimes on this blog! My mum is mid 50s, a size 18/20 and always looks fab! She and I have some similar styles but she sticks to quite a classic colour palette, and she also wears trousers a lot more than I do. I'm hoping to make this a semi-regular feature. There are always plenty of photos of my mum around as my stepdad takes hundreds! 

Recently she went on holiday with my stepdad and his mum and stepdad and I asked my stepdad to make sure he got full body shots of my mum for this feature. So, without further ado, here's the first What My Mum Wore!

Trousers - BHS

Top - New Look

What I Wore 3rd July

I had a hectic day on July 3rd, I went to an exhibition of crocheted/knitted bikes that I will write about later, and then I had a date with some rad fat lasses at Meadowhall. It was an exhausting day but I had fun!

I decided to wear this bright floral dress that I got recently from New Look. I chucked my cardigan on for warmth. I'm also wearing new leggings. Leah recommended them - they're from Very (So Fabulous) and they come in a two pack; there's a shorter pair (these are those and they come to my lower mid calf) and a longer pair, for £20 which I think is reasonable. I got these in a size 24 because I like my leggings tight.

Dress - New Look

Belt - New Look on a different dress ages ago

Leggings - Very

Cardigan - Tu at Sainsburys

I did a bit of a shop in Meadowhall, I'll share some bits later!