Outta Sight

Hello! I'm currently trying to stay out of the way of the grabber dropping off the building supplies needed to lay the foundations for our new shed. Keep everything crossed that the weather plays nice and brickies Johnny and Scott can get it finished this week. With our new super shed, we can get rid of three of our existing sheds (not the Kinky Shed, that's the black one in the photo below)!

Despite the grey skies, I was sweltering on my way back from our morning swim and walked home bare-armed. 

 

 My dress, an Indian block printed cotton maxi with a quilted bodice and Kantha stitched hem was originally from Monsoon and used to belong to Nikki. 

I spotted this tooled leather bag in the £2.99 charity shop last week, I thought it was vintage but discovered an Accessorize tag inside when I got it home. Vintage or modern, I'm a sucker for a bit of tooled leather.

Yesterday I wore an old favourite, this tissue silk 1970s kaftan, bought from eBay in the days BC ( before COVID). As well as Greece, its travelled across Rajasthan and spent time in Delhi, Mumbai and Goa.

 

 Since I rekindled my love for swimming three years ago my style has evolved into something more casual. These days I'm all about comfy footwear and easy on, easy off kaftans, no faffy fastenings, belts or underskirts required! I scored the red cotton one on the end for a fiver last week. I think its made for a giant, I need to lop about a foot off the hem to make it wearable! 

This handmade suede corset was a charity shop find last year and was probably made by a local fashion student what with Walsall being the centre of the UK leather industry since the Industrial Revolution.  

I was saving it for the festival season but love how it looks worn over my Ayesha Davar recently redyed maxi dress. My 1960s Canadian copper and turquoise pendant was my Mum's (I also have the matching cuff) and my lovely friend Sheila, has its twin. Sheila and L lost their beloved cat, Vizzini, last week. Do keep them in your thoughts, us animal lovers know how hard it is. 

I seem to be selling more than I'm acquiring lately which is a good thing, I suppose. New (to me) additions include this marvellous Moroccan tagine with a cast iron base for £7.50 . It's the first purple one I've seen and the veggie tagine Jon made in it was delicious!

   

I'm always on the hunt for strappy cotton maxi dresses which I can layer up for summer. This Indian-made quartz pink "Santorini" maxi is by Californian luxe label L.Space was £5. I love how well it goes with my turquoise jewellery and it's perfect with several of my sari wrap tops (and gorgeous on its own!)

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This Daughters of India maxi dress wasn't cheap but I couldn't stop thinking about it and after some negotiations with the Vinted seller I pressed the buy it now button (and subsequently sold something of mine for same price, technically making it free!) It's on their website for £146 (not the price I paid!) DoI is based in Byron Bay and makes such beautiful block printed clothes, it's probably better not to look! 

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I'd not heard of Elena Ferrante* before I picked up this set of books from the clearance charity shop on Sunday morning. According to The Guardian (HERE) the critically acclaimed Ferrante is a bit of an enigma. I realised when I got home that this is three quarters of a quartet. Hopefully the final volume is in the shop and I missed it. I'll go and have another look after my swim later in the week.

*I've since discovered that she also wrote The Lost Daughter, which was made into the hauntingly sad film starring Olivia Colman a couple of years ago. 

I'll leave you with the boys...one indoors and one outdoors, although I don't think it'll be long before Gordon's got his paws firmly under the table, Jon actually picked him up this evening!

See you soon.