October Challenge 2014

I see all sorts of challenges appear at various times on Instagram and none of the photo ones particularly appealed to me. In the spirit of my hundred happy days challenge (going well by the way #joshappyhundred if you're interested!) I thought I'd make a list of 31 things to achieve this month. Little things that Mae a difference to me and others. Things that make me feel happy. Some things that are just a plain old good idea! 

They might be done one a day or could be accomplished over the course of the month. I hope it will be a little daily push to achieve more! 

1) cook something delicious

2) handmake a present for someone 

3) finish a sewing project

4) finish a knitting project

5) bake a cake for someone else

6) take photos of my family

7) take photos of my friends

8) do something for charity

9) hand make birthday cards ready for up to Christmas

10) start a Christmas list (!!)

11) make a new skirt

12) try a new vegan dish 

13) go running again

14) pick blackberries

15) pick apples and make apple sauce to freeze

16) eBay some old wardrobe items

17) read a new book

18) learn about something new

19) start learning Italian again

20) have a pampering day. Face mask, nails, the lot! 

21) try a new dance move

22) do something kind to make someone smile

23) crochet a dark red snood

24) clean out and use a new handbag

25) make up some business cards for work and the jazz club

26) make a Halloween costume

27) write a letter to someone

28) go on a walk and collect sloes

29) make slow gin

30) make my car sparkle 

31) make some donations to a charity shop 

Hopefully this will give me something to aim for each day (or at least start and finish within a month!!). You can follow me on Instagram or twitter (@ofavintageair) to see my progress. #josoctoberchallenge 

Jo :-) 

February Aim & January Catch Up!

First off I'd like to send my best wishes, love and hopes for dry weather to anyone who's been affected with all the storms in the UK. I know we're supposed to have miserable winters but this is crazy! 

So February happened the day we got back off holiday, spent the entire day sleeping and then went to a Burn's night party! 

It's taken me a while to catch up with everything. Work. Laundry. Ugh. Coming back to real life after two weeks is always such a shock to the system!! 

So, as usual on this blog, I present my monthly aim! Late. :-)

I love that picture. Although I'm kind of glad we haven't had any snow yet! 

I decided to carry on January's aim really, to decrease my pile of almost finished sewing projects! Which should tell you how January's aim went! I just completely ran out of time before holidays! 

We've got a Mardi Gras at the Jazz Club (@colchesterjazz on twitter if you're interested!) which my Hawaiian fabric should be perfect for. 

So here's a quick list of things that need finishing. 

Evening dress - I sewed the side seams too tight so I just need to add a couple of inches, re sew, then seam rip the old ones! 

Hawaiian pieces - skirt, shorts, halter neck top. 

Silk Blouse - silver bias binding round arms and neck. 

Sheer skirt - I'd like another of these, and they're very easy to make! You can find my tutorial for one here. http://www.ofavintageair.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/easy-sheer-gathered-skirt-tutorial.html?m=1

I've got a bag to finish made from some jeans. A whole load of wool related stuff, and a dress to turn into a skirt for a friend. 

So that should keep me busy for a month! 

Normal service should be resumed fairly shortly, I think I'm just about caught up with myself now! The 100 happy days posts that I've missed due to lack of Internet will be up soon, too. I think technically I've failed on the challenge as I haven't uploaded one a day, but I have taken them, I just lacked Internet connection for most of the time!! Then I got lost on what day I was on number wise and gave up a bit, so I'm hoping to catch up with it all over the weekend! 

Wish me luck!

Jo. 

P.S. planning anything special for February? 

January Aim - Halfway

First off, I can't believe it's halfway through January already. 

Time is flying along!! 

My aim for this January was sewing. Catching up on projects I've started, but not finished yet, and mostly getting things done for India. 

I'm leaving for hols on Friday, so there's not much time left!! This is the list I had in my original blog post. 

Things I'd like to finish for India:

1) Evening dress that's still on the mannequin. I finished this a couple of nights ago, but I've managed to see the side seams too tight, so my MUST DO job Friday morning is to sew looser new seams and seam rip the old ones! 

2) Halter neck top in Hawaiian print. No progress, the self drafted pattern is not helping matters. When will I learn!! 

3) Shorts in Hawaiian print. Just the (really aggravating) waistband and bottom hems to do. 

4) Wrap around circle skirt in Hawaiian print. Haven't started this, and may just make one of my normal circle skirts on Friday. They only take a couple of hours! (<that's probably the nail in its coffin though!!)

5) Denim shorts. Not gonna happen. No time. 

6) A couple of sheer blouses, time has not permitted, but I've got a half made silk top that I might find the time to put some bias binding on!

Knitting and Crochet

7) pink beret. Nope. Might take this with me. 

8) green headband. Done a bit more, again, might take it with me!

(Old picture, it's much bigger than this now!)

9) cream scarf. Nope. 

10) chunky blue scarf. Still nope! 

I would say I'm failing quite badly at this months challenge!! I think a) I'm better at sewing things I need and b) I got distracted by upcycling some of Eric's old jeans into a slouchy bag and some aprons. 

I have seen up a (beautifully easy) sheer, floor length, gathered over skirt though. Which is wonderful. I hope to share an easy peasy tutorial on it while I'm away! Internet dependant! 

That's all folks, wish me luck with manic sewing Friday morning! 

Jo :-) 

P.S. has your sewing pile shrunk any this new year? 

December Instagram Round Up

Or. An excuse for some pretty pictures! 

I normally do the top five most liked pics, but this time there's three tied at the bottom. So I'm going to do seven instead. 

Just think of it like a bonus!! 

7) 

Sewing on my wonderful Singer. She is the best. I never want to change her. 

The culottes I was sewing though. Failure. They need some work.... Or maybe a bin. Hmm. 

6) 

Draping a dress to go with some beautiful 30s deco items from my eventual mother in law. The fabric was £2.50 from a charity shop and it's just lovely. 

Can't wait to put this together. 

5) 

Making mince pies with my mum. And feeling like a child again. 

This set off a monumental amount of baking in my house when I got home. I've made mince pies, jam tarts, puff pastry for the first time, sausage rolls, pork and apple chutney pies, marmite swirls, and enough food to last months!!

4) 

My hair doing wonderful things for a change. Right before I went to bed. Ugh. 

Apparently my hair has a sense of humour. Which would explain why when I need to leave in five minutes, it decides its going to look rubbish and be completely unmanageable. 

3) 

The black satin that finally arrived for my Godmother's housecoat. It's lovely. Just need some pink fleece and we'll be in business! 

2) 

The housecoat pattern. Which has led to me lusting after one in blue and white stripes...

It's just so beautiful. I see many things being made from this pattern in the future!

1) The top liked post of December is.....:

A terrible selfie of me in a mirror! 

Really. Fitting myself for an evening dress I'm making using a top I don't wear anymore, a 25p zip from a charity shop, some fabric from India and mile upon mile of silver bias binding!! It's coming along nicely and is part of my aim for January. Can't wait to see it finished. 

Jo :-)

P.S. what were your December best bits? Instagram or otherwise!

Crazy Birthday Wishlist >or< what I'd buy if I won the Lottery!

So hi guys! It's my birthday today. 23!

I don't really do birthday lists (don't even think I did them when I was little, Santa lists yes, birthday, no) but I thought it would be fun to do a crazy, extravagant, lottery win type list. Because let's be honest, I'd be happy with a slow cooker and some chocolate! :-)

It's a good excuse for a post full of pretty things!!

So, without further ado:

1) A DeHavilland Tiger Moth. Or Gipsy Moth. Sorry for the bad photo quality. Phone picture. That I zoomed in on! Seriously though. My favourite aeroplanes. So lovely!

2) A vintage Mustang. Gorgeous. Oddly my crazy Wishlist seems to be vehicular in nature! 

3) Vivien of Holloway wrap dress and a funky new blue petticoat to go under it! Given that I now sew somewhat more than I used to, the skirts are becoming more accessible to me, but the structure of tops and dresses still scares me! 

4) A stunning (and slightly too in your face!) sparkly necklace. Diamonds preferably! This one is made new on Etsy, in a deco style and is gorgeous. As is the price tag of £3300. Definitely a Lotto win bit of jewellery!

5) a personal trainer?? Who'll followed round and yell at me when I want to buy chocolate and when I watch "Come Dine With Me", get obsessed with the sponge pudding, google it and go make it in the microwave. (May have happened. My lips remain sealed and slightly sticky with golden syrup...) Who forces me to run and jump and skip and get lovely and healthy again!! Haha! 

Anyway, silliness aside! I hope anyone else who shared an August birthday with me has a great day! 

Jo :-)

P.S. What's been your favourite birthday present? I love my bike and my VoH dress and petticoat to death, and my evening dress from my Dad for my 21st!