What I Wore Today....2

One of the lovely Boden customers was supposed to send me and San Fashion Week tickets...and she didn't! Very unfair. Seeing as it finished on Wednesday, by Sunday I had given up hope of them arriving, and so bought tickets to Fashion Weekend instead which is tomorrow!

So, in continuing with the Fashion Week theme, here's some of the outfits I wore this week.

Monday

Monday = Boden Mondays at work which means everyone is supposed to wear Boden clothes - to cheer us up with all the bright prints and colours. I'm slowly expanding my Boden wardrobe, although trying not to spend all of my lovely allowance at once!

Necklace = Next, Top = Primark, Dress = Johnnie b, Belt = Next, Tights = Sainsburys, Shoes = Animal (from Claire)

Wednesday

(As Sharon said, 'Do you really have time to hang up all your clothes and take pictures?' The answer is yes, but not when they're now in the washing machine, and half an outfit would look ridiculous! Hence skipping the days.)

Top = Primark, Dress = Mango (altered by me!), Belt = Primark, Tights = Sainsburys, Boots = Mini Boden

Friday

My newest item of clothing, and definitely a wardrobe favourite - although I was worried that I might look about 10 years old, and not get served in the pub on Friday night..

Necklace = from Laura, Cardigan = Primark (it seems to have been a Primark week - and I rarely shop there, I just have a few 'classic' pieces!), Playsuit = Johnnie b, Belt = Next, Tights = Sainsburys, Shoes = Fat Face. 

So that's all for now, sorry not enough time for a proper blog entry...but there will be more, when I've chosen my Fashion Weekend outfit to wear tomorrow...and some catwalk photos! Of course!

What I Wore Today

So in honour of London Fashion Week, which starts today, I decided to do a short blog about what I wore today...and well what I've been wearing this week. I have a very random mix of clothes, I love high end high street shops, things I've picked up at the clothes show and at vintage markets and I think I have a nice, quirky, colourful style....

Unfortunately I can't draw at all, unlike some of the other 'What I wore today' bloggers so have settled on some photos instead...

Monday

Necklace = from Claire (from Cornwall), Top = H&M (new organic range), Skirt = Boden, Belt = Primark, Tights = Sainsburys, Boots = Mini Boden

Tuesday

Necklace = from Nepal, Cardigan = H&M Kids, Top = White Stuff, Skirt = Mini Boden, Leggings =H&M, Boots = Mini Boden

Wednesday

Top = White Stuff, Dress = Esprit, Belt = Accessorize, Leggings = Uniqlo, Shoes = Animal (from Claire), Necklace = Fairly Amy (www.fairlyamy.co.uk)

Thursday

Necklace = Fat Face, Jumper = Vintage Market in Milan, Skirt = Cotton On (Australian Brand), Tights = Sainsburys, Boots = Mini Boden

Friday

Necklace = Fairly Amy (www.fairlyamy.co.uk), Shrug  = Primark, Top = H&M, Belt = Primark, Harem Pants = Clothes Show Live (Birmingham), Pumps = Urban Outfitters (New York)

So to Sanam who laughs at me because she says I always wear Pink...a surprising lack of pink, proving that I love all colours indiscriminately!!

Atiu

About this time last year, I was in Atiu, one of the islands in the Cook Islands. The Cook Islands are about as far away from the UK as you can possibly get, a random website I found tells me it is 10,001 miles or 16,091.61 kms from Bristol to Avarua (the capital of Rarotonga - Main Island). 


It then goes on to say that if you drove at a constant speed of 60mph, it would only take 166.7 hours to get there, although it does warn you that "Things like Oceans, Seas, Rivers and Mountain ranges would have a bit of an impact on these estimates, so please don't take these literally!"

Anyway...it was a tiny island, and I arrived on a 9 seater plane with a few locals, and one other tourist, an American called Joe. I think it's the fact that it is so far away from anywhere, plus the flights are expensive, that puts people off but it really was an amazing place. 


Shaped like a wide brimmed hat, everyone lives in the 5 villages in the highest point in the centre, and then all around the edge is farmland. Despite there only being a population of around 400 people, they have 9 tennis courts!! Apparently in the 1990's the villages got into a bit of a 'My Tennis Court is bigger and better than yours' competition. 


The flat 'brim' of the island is fossilised coral reef, and from the edge, there is a shelf which drops straight down around 2000m to the sea floor. Not a good place to drop a very expensive reel of cable as done by a telecommunications company.....

So..things I wasn't necessarily expecting...there are huge crabs - they can break into coconuts so you hate to think what their claws could do to your toes...and we were given a tour of some caves - by a lovely man from Devon - and swam in an underground pool...


I made poor Joe walk pretty much every path on the island, we usually didn't see a single other person, apart from the odd local whizzing past on their scooters, wondering why we would possibly want to walk in such sweaty heat! 


We stayed at the lovely Are Manuiri guest house which is run by Juergen and Andrea and they supplied us with freshly grown coffee and mangoes and passion fruits everyday. Every evening we were surrounded by local children who informed us that we had to entertain them. This usually ended up with them telling me that I was really old and really strange for wanting to go on holiday with such little stuff!


Andrea runs the Atiu Fibre Arts Studio and combines her own ideas and techniques with traditional art forms from the Cook Islands. The main work they produce for commissions and to sell are Tivaivai - Cook Islands traditional ceremonial cloths, made mainly from appliquéd cotton, sometimes with heavy embroidery.

Now I'm off to try some patchwork...maybe not quite so intricate though...

Why I love Buttons...

Why do I love Buttons...well that's a hard question and the answer would probably look something like: Because...

There is no one reason. I realise that to most people they are something useful which occasionally fall off your clothes and get lost but to me there is something magical about buttons. It is almost like they have a story to tell and I am very selective about where my buttons from my collection end up. I would never want to waste a button.

So it all started when my Granny gave me her button tin many years ago. Inside there were many buttons that I recognised from some of her dresses and these instantly conjure up memories...of seeing the dresses hanging up in her wardrobe and playing hide and seek amongst them, or out on a walk in the sunshine. Others were just old, a bit musty but they were all a bit used, rough around the edges and wonderful to run your fingers through. So many clothes today have cheap small buttons on them that when you find fantastic, worn, leather and wooden buttons, it is such an exciting feeling.

There are spare buttons I have from outfits, which are still attached to the labels, and buttons like this one which came from a selection from a Charity Shop. I haven't found the right destination for this red button yet as it just emanates love. Somebody cared enough to save this button and label it for the future which just emphasises my point that buttons are full of memories.

My button collection right now fills 2 round tins and one glass jar. I am always buying buttons, from markets, charity shops, anywhere I find exciting ones, but I am always using them. I will add some pictures of recent projects below, showing that they aren't just for sewing on clothes...

This dress was given to me by a friend who had bought it and then decided it was a bit boring and she probably wouldn't wear it. My first thought was also 'it's a bit grey' but now with a bit of lace, ribbon and a few buttons, I love it!! As most of my friends would say - It's suitably Amyfied!

Blog about buttons and other things...

Hello and welcome to my blog.

I have been thinking about writing a blog for a while but wasn't really sure what angle to go for. One of my friends said 'Just write about something you love'. Well funnily enough, Buttons were the first thing which came to mind so here it is...my blog about buttons - well, amongst other things....