Frilled To Bits our SNA challenge for May

Hello there! How are you this fine Bank Holiday Monday? So, here's our Style Not Age challenge for May, as chosen by yours truly. Frills are all the rage with me currently, so why not share this penchant with my style sisters?

Gail from Is This Mutton is sporting her blend of citrus brights - the frilled blouse is from eBay, crops are from Roman and sandals are from ASOS. It's a fab summery look, isn't it!

Jacqui's frilled wrap dress is from Izabel Clothing and fits the bill perfectly. Sage green and paisley print are a winning combination! Catch up with Jacqui's backstory on her blog Mummabstylish. 

I love the pink frilled and pearly top of Emma's! This was a happy purchase when she was in Funchal recently. See more from her on Style Splash blog.

Hilda's frilled dress is from Whistles, a fab thank you for contributing to a recent fashion feature in Good Housekeeping. Catch up with her story on Over the Hilda blog. Hilda's perched on the balcony of her daughter's house during her child-minding stay - what a view!

If you're a regular to the blog, you'll recognise the frilled petticoat as one of my recent sewing successes. I've just altered the length, shortened it, so that it sits better under my orange dress. (See the whole outfit here in case you missed that one.) Today's offering is more vintage than new - the frilled blouse was bought in a vintage shop in Exeter many years ago and the skirt must be at least 20 years old, from good old Dorothy Perkins. 

The boots are new, bought especially to wear while I'm in my pink and orange phase. I found them on ASOS, see here. They're available in three colourways but this one is perfect for my summer trend.

Nothing new today with my accessories. Sunglasses are from Radley, belt is old as are my rings. 

My friend Fiona volunteered to take the photos when I told her about my fab new cowboy boots. We had fun as we always do during these sessions, with me doing lots of bossing about while she heckled from the sidelines. The evening sun was soft and flattering to the skin and the new walkway to the bird hide made a great catwalk. The view from the hide was glittering in the evening light.

Hope you're basking in the early summer sunshine too. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. Please leave me a comment if you've enjoyed today's post.

Have a super week!

Anna x

The orange linen dress at last!

At last, here's my homemade linen dress and petticoat! After many alterations the dress finally fits, but as you progress through the photos you'll see that the petticoat is a tad too long. This has come about due to the fact that I had to take almost 2 inches off the bodice, hence the length of the dress is shorter than when I took my measurements at the start of this venture. But this too can be altered and will be in due course.

In celebration of the showcase event I decided to add my floral headband - well of course you'd expect nothing less from me eh?

As I'd mentioned previously the neckline of the dress wasn't sitting properly so I took it off to my sewing teacher and she did a fitting on me which revealed that the length of the bodice was causing the problem. After much tweaking and resewing I finally made the adjustments and now it fits like a glove. Dress number two, in aqua linen, is now undergoing the same amendments and hopefully will be ready to wear soon.

I bought these pink suede sandals from Vinted to wear with the outfit - that was £5 well spent! They're very comfy and are a great colour match. 

The only problem with wearing a frothy petticoat is that I want to do lots of swishing it about!

I did a search online for an orange and pink necklace finding this one on the Zara website. I'm having a real thing about pink and orange together at the moment so this will be popping up on the blog often I'm sure! My rings are both old but perfect for today's look. The pink stretch belt is rather ancient too, but does the trick.

I'm so very pleased to have turned this little lot into this - 

Many thanks to those of you who have taken an interest in my first foray into the world of dressmaking. During lockdown I took it upon myself to make new covers for my sofa and chairs which seemed to be an impossible task, but I somehow achieved it. After a lapse of three years I'm back in the sewing groove, living and breathing old reruns of The Great British Sewing Bee and loving the new challenge of dressmaking. 

                                                                                        Anna x

Bank holiday weekend

Hi there! How's your Bank holiday going?This is me on our fine Bank holiday Monday taking a breather on the quay at New Grimsby. At last we have some fine weather here after an entire weekend of fog. It's been the World Pilot Gig Championship festival on the Isles of Scilly this weekend and some of the races have been affected by poor visibility. The event finished on Sunday meaning today will be a leisure day before the crews all start to disperse and make their way home. I personally haven't been involved but the vibe is always a positive one over these weekends.

I've had a week off work to play at my sewing machine, although it's not been fun and games all the time. I'm a bit held up while I wait for supplies to come through the post which is painfully slow. I've started sewing dress number two despite dress number one still needing adjustments around the neck. I think I need to replace the interfacing as it's too heavy. This is all very hit and miss, but is a very good learning curve for me.

Apart from sewing, my other tasks were to defrost the freezer (done, tick) and make a batch of soup for my lunches (two week's portions, done, tick) and then to undertake the bi-annual clothes changeover (done, tick). Which is where today's outfit comes from. The gingham seersucker shirt was new from TK Maxx last summer, but this is the first time I've worn it. In addition, the gingham baseball boots were a new purchase also last summer from Primark but never worn. It was great to discover them when I opened one of the suitcases; in fact I've come across a few other things that still have labels on them that were packed away at the end of the season. My jeans are by Curve Appeal (old) and are uber comfy with lots of stretch.

I do love filling my wardrobe with all of my colourful summer clothes! I can't wait to get back to work now. One of the other things I've done in the midst of this changeover is a big dejunk. I've thrown out 22 pairs of shoes that were truly sad and worn through - much loved to the point of being worn out so off they go to the bin. In addition I've filled an entire holdall with shoes and anther with clothes that I'll be selling on Vinted over the next few months. I've been quite honest with myself and decided that these will never be worn by me again, so off they go!

The 60's necklace and bracelet were both charity shop finds as was the funky ring. Sunglasses are by Radley London.

I'll probably nip out later to swim on the high tide this afternoon and then I'll spend another couple of hours at my sewing machine before dinner. My week off has been lovely, very restorative and just what I needed. 

                                                                                          Anna x

Easter weekend on Tresco

The sun shone down on Tresco this Easter reminding me how beautiful this little island paradise is. The view is from the Sea Garden Cottages, namely from the patio of Shrimp where I was visiting friends. I regaled them with my memories of being a (hopeless) chambermaid 45 years ago at the Island Hotel here in these grounds; I was besotted with this view and thought it to be the most idyllic sight I'd ever seen, so much so that I spent far too much time staring out the window and not enough time cleaning. The truth is, I still find it mesmerising. Anyway, the figure in the distance is one of those I was visiting - more recognised for his voice than his physical self.

Yes, it's the Radio 2 DJ legend that is Johnnie Walker! Johnnie and his gorgeous wife Tiggy are regulars to Tresco, this most recent visit being to celebrate Johnnie's 78th birthday. Doesn't he look well on it! Johnnie hosted a birthday dinner at the Ruin Beach Cafe where he was joined by friends for an evening of good food, fine wines and lots of tales about the music business. I quizzed him as to who has been his favourite musician to interview to which he replied James Taylor. You can't argue with that.

This was Monday's work outfit showing nothing new, simply a mix of pieces shopped from my closet as they say. The main feature is this rather fabulous coat by Clements Ribiero which I bought about five years ago in Manchester from TK Maxx. It's three years since I wore it last on the blog here and yet I do so love it!

I've mixed designer with high street fashion to give my own style. The sweater is from H&M, trousers from Primark and the gold leather Chelsea boots are so old I can't recall where I found them. The boot cut trousers are maybe a tad short, but I've seen girls wearing wide cropped trousers so thought I could get away with this too.

Nothing new  with my accessories either - the gold chain necklace was from Zara, rings are old too and sunglasses are from Radley London. 

External photoshoots are always tricky whether it's due to the weather or someone popping into the shot or the camera almost getting blown over which was the case here. I'd dodged about the island trying to find a quiet spot out of the wind before the gale arrived, hence the varied backdrops. Today it's been raining for most of the day with winds gusting up to 70mph and tomorrow is forecast to be more of the same. We were lucky to have it so good for Easter. I had a lovely swim on Easter Sunday on Green Porth beach - see my timelapse clip on the Instagram link at the top of the page.

Many thanks for popping by. Have a lovely week!

Anna x

Gallery Manager once again

Hello lovelies! Yes, here's me back in my normal guise as Gallery Manager of the art gallery on Tresco. It's been a long seven weeks during which time I was seconded to the Cottage department in my role as art curator of the large Tresco Art Collection where I rotated paintings between houses, adding new works when I deemed it necessary. I'm now onto the next step which entails cataloging every one of the 40 cottages with its updated collection. My photographic memory is serving me well as I can walk through every single house to visualise each piece, room by room. 

My outfit of the day is made up of old and new, as is my wont. The jacket, I inherited from my daughter many years ago, was from H&M. The brown jumpsuit came from TK Maxx last year, but this is the first airing on the blog, worn with a thrifted orange leather belt to go with the chunky orange necklce (old) and my new and rather fabulous orange boots from ASOS - see them here, now reduced in the sale! 

None of my accessories are new - the brown across the body bag with orange trim was a charity shop find. Rings are preloved and sunglasses are by Radley London.

The sun has returned as have the holiday makers, all descending on the islands in time for Easter. I'd forgotten how busy the island can get! 

                                                                    Anna x

Denim - But Not Jeans is our SNA challenge for March

Welcome once again to our Style Not Age monthly challenge! Jacqui's theme is a good one - Denim, But Not Jeans and we've all found our own way to express ourselves without being too similar. My jacket isn't new, but it's not been shown on the blog for some time and it's still an interesting piece - easy to do if you have some old brooches lying around.

Hilda went for a double denim look (not breaking the rules was it?) after finding this oversized jacket in Primark. I love this light blue denim twosome but she decided to return the jacket after some thought - not really me is a good instinct that has to be followed. See more from Hilda on her blog here.

Gail's maxi dress in denim is new from ASOS and is a real style statement. I don't wear a lot of denim myself but love this bold look. Read Gail's back story on Is This Mutton blog. 

EBay came up trumps for Jacqui as she scoured the internet for this denim maxi skirt which she's paired with a pretty yellow blouse (old from M&S). The combination has a fresh summery look to it, very fitting for the official start to summer, eh? Catch up with Jacqui's news on her blog Mummabstylish. 

Emma's denim dress was also an eBay purchase, but from way back during lockdown. It's a vintage find with lots of beads and embroidery as well as batwing sleeves and a figure hugging shape that suits her perfectly. Find out more about her outfit on her blog here. 

We've been having wild weather down here on the Isles of Scilly but I just had to bite the bullet and get out there to take my photos. This was a work outfit, mostly shopped from my closet apart from the boots which are coming up next...

These white leather cowboy boots are a recent buy from Vinted and the brand is Topshop. I plan to wear them with a long dress, but which one, I'm not quite sure yet. Vinted has become my guilty secret of late, a weakness my daughter is to blame for. She did warn me that the site can be a bit addictive. The good news is that I'm have a few successes with selling on some of my shoes and clothes meaning I snowball funds momentarily before I splurge the lot on another purchase!

Jewellery and sunglasses are all old, as is the rest of the outfit. Trousers were from Topshop, belt from eBay, sweater from Primark and sunglasses from Radley London.

Standing on the road that leads to Old Grimsby quay was just like being in a wind tunnel! I feel a small fanfare is needed as I will be working on my last cottage rehang of artwork tomorrow (Tuesday). It's been a long old slog to bring about the change that was so needed and at times it did feel like we were working in the eye of the storm, battling against time before the photographer arrived and even when she did, we were simply one cottage ahead of her for two whole weeks. That said, I'm extremely proud of all of the work Mel and I have achieved and am looking forward to seeing the overall results on the website in due course.

Many thanks as ever for taking the time to pop by. Please do take a look at the other blogs too if you have a moment. Until next time, take care and have a great week!

                                                                                             Anna x