Penultimate summer show

How quickly this has come around! I can barely believe that we have only one more summer exhibition to host and the schedule will be over. 

Yesterday we opened another collection (see here) with our attending artist, Flynn O'Reilly. This was Flynn's first show with us, but he wasn't in the least overcome by the occasion and chatted to clients about his work which was the result of his winter residency on the island. Flynn lives and has a studio in Cornwall and has been holidaying on the Isles of Scilly since he was a young child - consequently he knows his subject inside out. Congratulations to him for making his first two sales with us by the end of the evening!

My outfit for the evening was not what I had planned. I have a really lovely vintage maxi dress in a sheer black fabric printed with orange flowers that I had hoped to wear, but after much faffing about with underskirts of various lengths combined with camis/bodies I gave up. I really need to line it and do in fact have black satin bought with that in mind. Time has been sadly lacking to get this done over the summer months, but hopefully before the October show I will manage to get my sewing machine out to tackle the job. Instead I wore - skirt: QED London, top: Tu at Sainsbury's, belt: eBay, shoes:H&M, necklace: Dorothy Perkins, rings: pre-loved.

My thanks as always to the dream team of the evening - Heather, Polly and Max who were all in fine fettle as you can see!

On Friday I'll be featuring my Black Trouser Challenge and on Sunday it'll be time for Ping Pong Piece once again. Do please join me!

Anna x

The joy of colour

I'm never happier than when I'm wearing bold colours and today's outfit is pretty much as bold as it gets. Fuchsia and orange just sing out, signalling joy to anyone who cares to take a look. The overcast sky was a bonus this morning as I think bright sunlight might have bleached the overall effect. 

My outfit is a mixture of new and pre-loved (my new favourite word for a favourite way of shopping). The top is from TK Maxx, by Figuerola & Flower, trousers are from New Look, the sky scraper sandals are by Catwalk, necklace is pre-loved as is the orange ring and bangle, whereas the pink ring and bangle were birthday gifts from years ago, sunglasses are from Quay Australia. The pink culottes are still on sale, see here. I bought mine in the Truro store last month during the summer sale (£8) and they were the last pair on the rack. I fell in love with the colour and grabbed them to try on along with the armful of summer fripperies I'd found. Well, when I took them off the hanger I discovered that they were a size 18 (I'm an 8/10), but that didn't put me off. These plisse fabric culottes work fine on me in this size as they don't cling, sit on the hips (allowing a large lunch to be consumed without worry of mid-afternoon-belly-bloat) and therefore are more like wide leg crop trousers than mid-calf culottes. I'm a huge advocate of ignoring sizes in favour of trying on to see how things work out. Yes, I could have searched online to see if these were still available in my size, but the thrill of the chase was on and I needed these at that very moment. Impatient, impetuous, impending broke - yes, that's me!

Anna x

Black trouser challenge 11

Another week, another variation on the black trouser challenge. If you missed the start of this then you can catch the first instalment here. 

So here we have the 11th styling of my fabulous fancy pants and I thought it was time to go the whole hog with leopard print. In my book, there was a time when this print was very Bet Lynch of the Rovers Return - way be before your time? 

Since then, I think leopard print has graduated into the classics. No longer is it tainted with that slightly seedy influence, but has become mainstream fashion. Hands up out there if you don't have one single piece of leopard print, not even a scarf, in your wardrobe. Why do I think that both my sisters have are sitting at the back with their hands held high and eyes rolling? 

Anyway, I'll skip right along now to the bit where, right about this time of year, I send my apologies to my fellow bloggers and those of you who very kindly take the time to comment here and on my instagram account. Yep, I'm confessing to being over-run at work, home and life generally and am just about keeping the blog on track - apart from the fact that I'm not managing to answer my comments or visit other bloggers. Please know that I have the best of intentions, but have had to make the decision between keeping posting my own blog or doing the rounds to others as well as responding. All of this takes time and I thought it best to keep you coming back to see new features. Hopefully, in about a month's time, I ought to get back on track and do hope that I won't have lost too many followers through neglect. Please hang on in there - I love reading your comments!

Outfit details - trousers: River Island, cardigan: H&M, shoes: BCBGeneration, necklace: gift, rings: old.

Anna x

5th August show night

I'm surely not the only one to be slightly alarmed at the speed we're whizzing along currently. Here I sit, typing away frantically on the 9th about the event on the 5th while I have my mind on the 11th! So let's stop, breathe and just be in the moment.

I've been waiting for months to show you these fabulous new shoes. I bought them in the River Island sale in April when I was in Harrogate and have been keeping them for the right outfit. Fuchsia and red make for a stunning combination don't you think?

My frock is a recent charity shop purchase. The brand is Monsoon and I was delighted to find a dry cleaning label attached meaning I didn't have to undertake that myself. It's a lovely coral colour that works perfectly with the shoes.

 The breeze made for an interesting photo shoot with the majority of the photos being discarded thanks to my lack of fringe - oh how I hate to see my white forehead!

And here are the girls, also battling the effects of the wind. Max, Polly and Heather were on top of things for the evening, making everything run smoothly as usual. Many thanks to them.

The artists featured in this week's show (see here) are Teresa Pemberton, Tom Rickman and Jenny Ulyatt, shown above with her husband. They spent a couple of days on the island winding down after her opening night. Jenny works in watercolours, but with a very fresh, contemporary feel. See the link above to view her work.

Apologies for being brief, but I must head on out for my morning swim now. The sun is shining and there's still a brisk wind blowing, but the sea beckons no matter the weather.

Outfit details - shoes: River Island, dress: Monsoon, necklace: Debenhams, rings: charity shopped, sunglasses: Quay Australia. 

Anna x