I'm outdoors, I'm wearing comfortable clothes, I'm gardening, and I'm learning Spanish!

So, yeah. I'm deep into another fairly manic work week but it's THURSDAY NIGHT BEBE and I'm working from home tomorrow. This week has also been sweetened by payday and, as well as having booked my flights back to Northern Ireland for Christmas, I took advantage of 15% off at Fabric Rehab (oh hai Amy, thanks!) to buy the pink version of the Alexander Henry From The Hip fabric that I made my Cowgirl Cambie out of. I'm still trying to decide what to make from it, but I bought 3 metres which is more than enough to make something fabulous.

So, I thought I'd show you all another one of the gorgeous dresses I got in my swap package from the delightful Sarah. I wore this on cold, windy Sunday for a day of running errands and an afternoon of hanging out with Char, watching Criminal Minds.

 Simplicity 2886, Jonathan Aston tights and Irregular Choice No Place Like Home heels

I was TOTALLY unaware of this pattern before Sarah's swap parcel arrived and I must confess that, if it had been down to the pattern envelope alone I would have swerved this. I mean:

Like, it's not as WTF as some of the Vogue Pattern envelopes (LLadybird is particularly eloquent on this topic) but this is pretty frumptastic. Which is a shame because the details are so adorable. I did an image search as well and there are some seriously gorgeous versions of it out there, including the one Sarah made for me, so I might very well add this pattern to my stash.

And like, the version Sarah made me is just too freaking adorable! I love the combination of the blue floral and the sweet polka dot accents. The slight sweetheart neckline is unusual and pretty (not that you can see it in that pattern envelope, the hell, Simplicity?!) It's all good.

As it was so cold, I wore it with this red cardigan, my No Place Like Home heels and these fabulous Jonathan Aston tights. My star-print tights died last week and these leaf-print ones seemed like a likely replacement. And, check it out, they have MAPLE LEAVES on them! Fitting for wear with a Canadian dress, and for spending time with a Canadian friend:

Again I think Sarah knocked it out of the park with this dress, I really do love it. She has my style pegged very well, clearly! This one will be perfect for keeping bright in the colder weather, especially as there's a bit of ease through the bodice so room to layer up underneath. Thanks again, Sarah!

I'm very excited that it's nearly the weekend. I have lunch tomorrow with my girls Hayles and Lauren, and on Saturday I'm hitting the rag market in Birmingham for a sewing and gossiping day out organised by Marie and Kat. Plus on Sunday I have a meeting with a local organisation to see about the possibility of running some local sewing workshops. AND I'm having a chippy tea tonight. YES!