Bludge. It's quite good, actually. You don't even have to drink it. You just rub it on your hips and it eats right through to your liver.

Evening, dudes! Stormageddon hasn't hit Leamington yet, but Nic and I are battening down the hatches anyway. I have a presentation to make at work tomorrow and, if I'm honest, being rained in is probably preferable! It's been a busy and exhausting week. I've been too tired in the evenings to sew or blog, which has been irritating because I spent the first few days of the week in an angry blur and the hum of my sewing machine usually soothes that angry beast. I've calmed down a lot now, and my friend L has promised to give me a gold star for managing not to slap anyone this week!

And as for blogging; well, I learned the hard way that blogging while angry isn't a good idea! But as ever, I do have a backlog of projects to share and stories to tell. These photos are from a fortnight ago, hence the sunshine in them! For some time now, I've been addicted to Alexander Henry's pin-up fabrics. I like them all, but most particularly the fabulous cowgirl print in From The Hip. It's available in a variety of colours and I have made dresses from the blue, the pink and the red. I once owned a Get Cutie dress made from the black version of the print, but it was so low-cut it was indecent and I never wore it so sold it on ebay. God, I'm boring, sorry. Anyway, although I only very rarely wear black, I wanted a dress made from the black version. I wondered if four cowgirl dresses was too many, and consulted with my friend D at work. She advised me to go for it, so I did. I bought the black fabric on ebay and got to it. If you've been able to hang in there during my tedious rambling, here's the dress:

Absent Friends dress and Topshop shoes

Yes, it's another Simplicity 2444. NOT EVEN SORRY. I love this pattern a lot. A whole lot. There is one slight issue with it though, when you're trying to combine it with 44" wide fabric that has a one-way print - the skirt pieces are too wide to fit. I redrew the skirt pieces, keeping the shape at the top, but curving the side seams in gently towards the hem to give it a slight (very slight) tulip shape. It meant I was able to get this dress out of under 2 metres of fabric and the skirt is slightly different from the other 2444s I have crowding my wardrobe.

I wore this on a beautiful Saturday afternoon two weeks ago. Nic and I walked to Warwick and back to get some fresh air and have a look around the shops, and to have lunch in Wylie's Cafe. It was a great day, but sadly I think the long walk broke my long-suffering Topshop shoes and I had to bin them after they basically disintegrated. I have no shortage of shoes - and no shortage of red shoes, even - but I am sorry to see these ones go. I've already started looking for a replacement pair on ebay. 

Nic took these photos on Warwick New Road, which is the route we usually take when walking to Warwick. It's a very pretty walk, and I'm always intrigued by these gates to nowhere. There is no longer a Sunshine House; the building was redeveloped in the 90s into luxury apartments. I'm glad they kept the gates, though.

That's one of my favourite things about living in Leamington Spa. It's twee, middle-class and very middle-England, but it's very beautiful here. I feel lucky every time Nic and I go for a walk to live somewhere so beautiful, even if I do spend a lot of my time tutting at the parents of all the Jemimas and Olivers making a nuisance of themselves on micro-scooters on the pavements. I'd say that makes me grumpy, but it doesn't. I'm already grumpy. 

All right, I'm all talk. I'm not really that grumpy. How can I be, surrounded be beauty and covered in totally bitchin' cowgirls?!

I'm hoping that this week will be less stressful. It will be as it's a three-day week for me. Nic and I are off to Cardiff on Thursday for the weekend, as he's speaking at a conference there. I'm looking forward to my first visit to Wales (shameful, I know) and to poking around whatever fabric shops Cardiff has to offer. First I have to get through Monday-Wednesday. I have a big, important meeting tomorrow and I have to give a presentation. I've been practising, don't worry.

And then I might very well go and buy myself something pretty. Because, you know:

Night night, now!