Weekend wind down

Hello and how are you? How was your weekend? We had a mixed bag of weather and I timed it badly just missing the sunshine that I'd hoped would be the backdrop for my photo shoot. I tweaked the brightness on the photos as it was turning showery and grey. By the time I'd taken six shots the rain started!

I seemed to spend most of my weekend cooking, doing prep for meals this week and then catching up on laundry, so pretty much all that domestic stuff that just keeps coming. My outfit is super casual, but worth mentioning are these fab orange boots from Vinted, costing me £12 (River Island is the brand). Hubby thinks I've been influenced by all the workmen that are busy on the building site that Tresco is at this time of year as roads are resurfaced and houses are renovated. 

As you may already know, I love the colour orange, but also I do have a passion for a rugged, chunky boot. This look is not for the faint hearted, but what can I say? I love it!

It really excites me to be able to mix things up from a tulle skirt one week and camo trousers with builders boots the next. How wonderful to be able to change one's personna so quickly and easily. Thank goodness I'm living now and not 100 years ago!

My black puffa jacket has been a go-to this winter - it's so cosy and even has a tog value just like a duvet! The brand is Zara and I actually bought it (new with labels on) from the British Red Cross charity shop in Truro last year. They receive goods direct from Zara that are end of line or returns from online sales. It has a huge hood which came in very useful at the end of this shoot.

And this is the moment it started raining! I couldn't help but laugh as honestly I'd procrastinated for most of the day to get outside and take blog photos thinking that it would be sunny forever.

I quickly whipped off my jacket to reveal the orange roll neck sweater, not new, but perfect for this this outfit. The necklace is by Charlie Dodge, a jewellery range we stock at Gallery Tresco. The orange belt is old too, from Primark.

And quick, it's time to go!

I took shelter for a while and then eventually gave up and walked home in the rain.  Thanks for joining me again! Wishing you a good week ahead.

                                                                                           Anna x

Another linen dress and petticoat

Hello and welcome to a sunny evening on Appletree Bay, the perfect backdrop for my newly finished linen dress and petticoat. I've been labouring over this version for some time now and at last it's finished. One of my followers and fellow sewers, Pat, said a very wise thing to me when she was on Tresco recently, "It'll be beautiful when it's finished, and if it's not beautiful then it's not finished." Many tiny adjustments and tweaks later and I'm happy to say that it is indeed beautiful.

So, this is me on the way to the beach, the dress having its very first outing. I wanted to show you this before the rest, as after doing lots of sitting down and moving around on the beach the petticoat ended up hanging down much lower, but the fit ideally looks like this.

There's no point in have a frou-frou petticoat if you don't show it off, is there!

And this is the finished petticoat. I want to make one more version of this in orange to wear under a green dress that I've had for ages. Every time I make this I learn a little bit more, so hopefully the orange one will be equally successful.

Someone had made this big shell shape, a fish maybe, on the beach which was perfect for my photo shoot. I took my little tripod and used my timer to capture these shots. Appletree Bay is great for evening shots as it faces the setting sun.

This is my beach of choice for swimming at the moment. We have a predominantly east wind blowing meaning that Appletree is tucked in out of the wind. I swim the length of the bay and back most days. Sometimes I have the beach to myself (early mornings) and other times I have to weave around the small boats and dinghys that are anchored up along the shoreline.

 

When I bought this aqua linen fabric I imagined this setting for wearing a summer dress - the shade is exactly the colour of the sea when you swim across this bay on a sunny day.

I opted for neutral shades and various tones of turquoise to complement today's outfit. The stretch woven belt was from Primark last summer, sunglasses are by Radley London, rings are both old and preloved, the short cowrie necklace and long dancing girl pendant were both bought from Gallery Tresco. Natural coloured suede platform sandals were from TK Maxx many moons ago.

Reluctantly, it was time to go home. I'm so aware of how lucky I am to be able to wander off to the beach after work; a ten minute stroll and I'm on a golden stretch of sand, a haven all to myself to relax and unwind. Summer is here and life is good. See more about my beautiful island home of Tresco here.

                                                                                         Anna x