As I sat looking up at the Guinness Ad, I could never figure out how your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout

Hello everyone! How's it going, there? Everything is grand here - Nic and I are just back from a lovely long weekend at home in Northern Ireland. It was brilliant. I had been feeling ill all last week with an annoying sinus infection that just wouldn't shift, but being at home made me feel better. I slept well and of course it helped that I had my parents to look after me, but whatever it was, it was great!

We arrived on Thursday evening and came back yesterday. The thing that prompted the visit home on this particular weekend is that I had bought Nic and I tickets to see Christy Moore, who was playing with the Máirtín O'Connor band in Dungannon Leisure Centre. I've seen Christy live before, at Warwick Arts Centre in 2006, and it's something I have wanted to do with Nic ever since we've been together. Christy Moore is an artist who means a lot to me, and he is absolutely brilliant live. When my cousin's husband told us he'd seen Christy live in the leisure centre, Nic declared that this would be the only way to see him. Luckily for us, this declaration coincided with Christy Moore touring and so, on Friday night, Nic and I joined my cousin and her husband on the basketball court at the leisure centre for an absolutely brilliant gig.

It was quite strange to be back in the leisure centre: the place where I tried (and failed) to learn to swim, where my friend Davina and I ate chips while we waited for the bus home after school, and where I (very occasionally) went to basketball matches on a Friday night. That said, it really was an excellent venue. The audience was small and engaged, and the sound was brilliant. It was a very emotional gig and thoroughly wonderful to see this living legend in an Irish crowd. Thankfully, Nic loved the gig as much as I did, and we had a splendid evening also. Before the gig, all four of us had dinner together in Cano's and we saw the night out in The Square Bar. A great Dungannon night out, even if Nic has never really managed to get over the disappointment that the bar itself is not actually square (it's in The Square.)

It was one of those holidays that felt longer than it was because we managed to fit so much in - mainly spending time with family and eating, but we also made it to the Armagh Show in Gosford Forest, which was every bit as much like an episode of Father Ted as I hoped it would be.

There's one out-and-out winner and rather than waste time with a speech I'll get on with the job of announcing the winner who, today, has come first in this competition to see who the winner is in the King of the Sheep competition that we have all come to today wondering who indeed will it be, who wins the prize of King of the Sheep.

We were very lucky to be able to spend so much time with our gorgeous nephews, who change so much every time I see them. My mum is always telling me that Joe reminds her of what I was like as a baby and I must say that I'm beginning to see the resemblance myself...

His shoes have giraffes on them and mine have birds, but I think we can all agree that Joe's footwear is totally awesome.

We were also very lucky with the weather. In a shocking turn of events, we were even able to sit outside in the sunshine at my sister Colleen's house! I brought home summer dresses and wasn't even cold. High summer indeed in Northern Ireland! The weather was so beautiful that I was able to take the opportunity to photograph a couple of finished projects.

As I've mentioned before, I decided to take part in the Outfit Along organised by Andi Satterlund and Lauren Lladybird. The idea is that you make complete outfit by sewing a dress (or a skirt or whatever, I guess) and knitting a cardigan or sweater to wear with it. There are suggested patterns but it's really up to you what to do. Anyway, the suggested cardigan is Andi's newest pattern, the Vianne. I'd been hanging out dying for this to be released ever since I saw Andi's completed one on instagram. I loved the lace pattern insert on either side of the button band. I didn't even know at that stage about the lovely lace work across the back. 

The pattern is designed to be knit with DK weight yarn. I bought a few balls of Cascade 220 Superwash in a colourway called 'flamingo' which I hoped would be a really shocking pink. It turned out to be a bit more subdued than I hoped for - and pretty close in colour to the pink of my Dilly Miette cardigan - I still need to find the perfect shocking pink yarn. Still, this colour is lovely and I have already worn this cardigan a lot:

Andi Satterlund Vianne cardigan, Doralee dress (Simplicity 2591) and Swedish hasbeens Mimmi sandals

This photo is such a goofy one of me, but it's the best one of the cardigan! I cast the Vianne on in the car when we were on our way down to Kent with my parents and it knit up really quickly. Actually, after that weekend I frogged what I had done - I can't remember why, but I did - so I think this was only really on my needles for a few weeks. I was a little bit hesitant with this pattern and enjoyed it less than I have done other projects but this was nothing at all to do with the pattern and everything to do with the fact that the Marion cardigan fit me so badly. Vianne is a similar shape to Marion, so I was a little bit worried, but I decided that it was worth trying anyway. I'm pretty happy with the outcome but, as ever, there are a few things I would change...

Here's a a close-up so that you can see the lace pattern around the neckline more clearly. I really love this stitch pattern, even though you can't see it especially well in this photo.

I knit the smallest size, which I think is a really good fit around the shoulders and a pretty good fit across my bust. I think I could stand to go up a size at the waist, maybe. I'm not really at my fighting weight in these photos - something about the food at home (potatoes) makes me a bit (potatoes) bloated (potatoes) and I think that a few days back on my regular diet will make the fit around the stomach a little more forgiving! I like wearing the cardigan open, anyway:

Nic caught me mid-reaction to a giant bluebottle dive-bombing my face, and this photo keeps making me laugh!

This pattern was very easy to follow. The back looks very complicated, but actually the stitch pattern was easy to memorise and so knitted very quickly:

I panicked about the cardigan a bit when I joined the back to the front, because the armholes seemed absolutely massive. I tried the cardigan on after knitting a few more rows of the body and the armholes just seemed impossibly long, and it looked like the cardigan itself was going to end up being much longer than I would like if I continued to follow the pattern to the letter. So I busked it a bit at this stage. I looked ahead to see what the stitch count should be on the last row before the waistband ribbing started and took a stab at how many more rows I'd need knit to get to my desired length, and then I worked the decreases closer together over that number of rows. It didn't work out perfectly - I should have had fewer rows and more ribbing - but I was pleased to have cobbled together a solution. Once I picked up the first sleeve, I was hugely reassured that the finished cardigan would be a decent fit. I powered through the sleeves and am happy with those, too. They're a much better fit than the ones on Marion.

I love how the pattern around the neckline is mirrored on either side of the mesh on the back, and I think that I'd like to knit this cardigan again with those details and a stockinette back. Andi has written a post on how to knit the back plain, which I will have to try to modify to my own ends at some point!

So, I don't totally love this cardigan but I am very pleased with it, and it's definitely a worthwhile addition to my massive collection of cardigans. Judging by how often I wear my Dilly cardigan, I know another pink cardigan will see lots of wear and I'm pretty happy with how this one looks.

I wasn't keen on the suggested dress pattern in the OAL - after my last Belladone dress, I decided that open backs on dresses isn't for me - so I was a little bit lost as to what to sew to match my pink cardigan. Then, weirdly, inspiration just hit, late at night. When I was trying to fall asleep I decided to try revisiting Simplicity 2591, which was one of the first dress patterns I sewed from, and I even knew the stash fabric to make it from. Isn't it funny when that happens?!

So, Simplicity 2591 is now out of print, but it was one of the first patterns I sewed from when I started sewing four or five years ago. I've changed size and shape a little bit since then, and after checking out all the measurements, I decided I'd try going a size down. I didn't toile this - but as my fabric had only cost me £4.99 per metre, I thought it worth the risk.

Doralee dress - Simplicity 2591 in rose-print cotton poplin from Birmingham market

I don't think I made any alterations to this one, so this is basically straight out of the packet. Man, I think I even hemmed it to the suggested length! I bought the rose print cotton poplin from a stall in Birmingham market when I had a shopping trip there with some sewing friends in March (I think a few of them might have bought some too - I can't completely remember) and I had 2 metres in my stash, which was the perfect amount for what I needed. This was a completely no-fuss project, which I sewed on a sunny morning on my week off a few weeks ago.

As with the cardigan, I'm pretty happy with this dress, even if I don't completely love it, and if I sew another 2591 there are a few fitting tweaks I'd like to make, such as lowering the armholes very slightly and reducing some of the bulk there, and also giving myself a bit more space in the bust. These are only minor things though, and not enough to prevent me from wearing this particular dress.

It's a shame this pattern is out of print now, because it really is cute and unusual. I no longer have any of the ones I sewed when I first started out, so there probably is room in my wardrobe for another 2591. I like the gentle gathering at the waist and the usual design of the pockets. My mum was delighted with the pockets and pointed them out to my granny when we visited her on Sunday, which is when I wore this dress. My auntie Jeanette liked my shoes, which was also pleasing:

Yeah, that's right. And I got another pair of clogs in the post today. Insert Ron Swanson Don't Even Care gif.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday and I was able to put this whole outfit through its paces by wearing it to play in the park with my nephews, visit my granny, eat lots of sandwiches and sit outside in the sunshine with my sister, brother-in-law, parents and Nic, watching the dogs play and catching up on local gossip. This dress is already full of happy memories, and I ended that day full of noodles. You can't beat holidays, lads.

Anyway - you've had to tolerate seven million photographs of me, and also it's getting pretty late here and I have stuff I need to do before I go to bed. Before I go, here are some photos of the dogs of the weekend...

My sister Colleen had a difficult start to the year, but Lola joining the family has helped put a smile back onto her face. She's a shih tzu, apparently, but I think she's actually an Ewok. She's ridiculously cute, at any rate.

...and who can forget our Mini?! My parents were trying to work out how old she is, and we came to the conclusion that she must be seven, because we've had Nic for longer than we've had her. Certainly, she's finding it more difficult now to jump up onto the sofa and she's become tolerant in her old age. I saw her allowing Joe to stroke her and she even tolerated Lola in the house. She still barks at the postman who, more than once, has threatened to stop delivering to our house. It would take far more than her being cheeky to the postman to knock her from her pedestal in our house, however. She's top dog by some long way...

Pupstagram

I only hate sunburn and hangovers. This is just business.

Hey everyone, happy Friday! It has rolled around more quickly than I expected it would, given that I was back at work this week. It was helped by the fact that Nic and I booked a holiday to Paris for later in the summer. YEAH BOI. We're going to have ten days in Paris and we're staying in a beautiful apartment in Montmartre, although it is a different one to the place where we have stayed for the last few years. Maybe we'll grow tired of Paris eventually, but we're not tired of it yet. In any case, it's really good to have a holiday to look forward to.

It's been a decent week, all in all. Work is in a quieter spot at the moment, which is nice. There are a few important activities coming up over the next couple of months, but it's much less frantic a pace than it is throughout the rest of the year. The office itself is horrible in the summer months - it's one of those modern buildings that's all glass and steel and where the windows only open by decree from estate management, who are based on another site. Luckily, I'm able to work at home, and that's what I've been doing this week.

One of the really good things about working from home is being able to use my commuting time for other things. Often that's sleeping, but this morning it was a little bit of sewing. Although my commute is short, it can be very draining all the same (you know, the public) so not having to do it also usually leaves me with more energy in evenings. Nic was out on Tuesday evening and I made a dress - a nautical Cambie/Belladone combination that I will try to photograph over the weekend - and this week I also finished my Andi Satterlund Vianne cardigan. It's blocking away as I speak. So, it's all been very productive!

I've been sewing away but recently I've bought or been given a few lovely RTW dresses. Last month, Tom from Carousel Clothing in Dublin got in touch with me and asked me if I would be interested in learning about his own brand, Circus, and choosing a dress to try out. I don't often accept these sorts of requests but I was interested by the brand. Their patterns are cut in Dublin, and their fabrics are printed in India, where their clothes are made. I had a look through the catalogue and chose the Brigitte dress, which is €65.

Circus clothing Brigitte dress*, worn with Swedish hasbeens Frederica sandals

I used to buy a lot of dresses. A lot. Nowadays I don't, and when I do, it's usually because it's a fabric or a cut that I either wouldn't able to replicate or just wouldn't replicate. This is the latter. I've only rarely seen a striped fabric that I would want to buy, and even if I did - well, my attention span is genuinely not sufficient to faff around with stripe matching. So this dress is kind of perfect for me!

I'm uncomfortable with ragging on the quality of RTW clothing - after all, ALL clothing is hand-made - but I don't like buying or wearing cheaply made clothing. I was pretty impressed with the quality of this dress. It's made from a good quality, medium weight slubby cotton. It isn't lined, but this isn't an issue for me with a summer dress. The neck and armholes are finished with self-fabric binding and the dress fastens with a side lapped zip. The zip is really lovely, actually, if you can believe that - it's a very high-quality metal zip. Thumbs up all around for quality. The dress comes with a self-fabric sash belt which - well, look, I guess other people can make those work, but I can't. I always end up looking like a sack of potatoes that has been badly tied around the middle. I think this dress looks grand without it, but I will be looking out for a nice shiny patent red or navy belt.

I went full-on nautical when I wore this the other day, pairing it with another Lobster-themed garment...

Collectif Lucy Lobster cardigan

I bought this cardigan as soon as Char pointed it out to me and I am pleased to find it will work with dresses other than my lobster dress. I bought the Punky Pins necklace over the weekend from a shop in Leamington... and I'm very tempted to go back in and buy the lighthouse one as well. I also have the matching earrings. I'm a sucker for anything nautical, basically, because I am lame.

Hold Fast! You can see the dress fabric in more detail in this photo

The Brigitte dress has the sort of silhouette that I gravitate towards - a fitted bodice with a gathered skirt - and it fits true to the size chart on the website. I asked for a size 8 and I think it fits very nicely for an off-the rack dress. It's very lovely all round and it's a dress I'll wear lots in the hot weather - it's breezy and cool and cute.

This awesome vintage handbag was a gift from my friend Louise, and I bought the red hasbeens on deep sale over the winter

Thanks to Tom from Carousel for sending me this lovely dress. I like it so much I have my eye on the gingham Ava dress... which seems to be in the perfect large-scale 100% cotton gingham that is basically impossible to find:

Right-o, lads. My uncharacteristic burst of energy this morning has me seriously flagging now, so I'm away here to brew up a massive pot of coffee and get my head back into checking spreadsheets. WOO YEAH.

Disclosure: I was sent the dress featured in this post for free for a review. I was not otherwise compensated for this post and none of the links in this post are sponsored. My opinions are my own.

I know I look square, but I'm like my father's tractor. I take a while to warm up, but once I get going I can turn your topsoil till the cows come home.

Hellllooo! Actually no I should say, "howdy y'all" because Nic and I have been watching Nashville again.

That's how finding out that S3 is online made me feel

Anyway. I was back at work today after a pretty blissful week off and, all things considered, it wasn't too bad. I sweetened the deal for myself a little bit by making sure that I would have a shoe delivery waiting for me when I got home from work. I also made sure that I had some carrot cake waiting for me when I got home (my friend Amy baked some for us over the weekend) so I'm basically winning right now, right?

Having a week off work was really good. After we got back from the coast and my parents went back to Northern Ireland, Nic and I decided to really rest and relax. It was brilliant. We didn't really go anywhere and mainly spent a lot of time dandering around in the sunshine, watching stupid films and chilling out. I spent some time knitting and sewing, and we were able to hang out with friends as well. I hadn't really realised until I wasn't at work how much I needed the break - I slept well for the first time in months and all the tension that I've been carrying around in my neck and shoulders suddenly lifted. It was very valuable and a good reminder of how important it is to prioritise life over work. I went back to work today feeling totally refreshed, which is excellent! Of course, it helps that I have a long weekend coming up next weekend - Nic and I are going back to Northern Ireland for a few days to go to a gig and to spend some time with family, which is going to be lovely.

I'm looking forward to seeing Daddy's cheeky face again next week. Nic took this photo of us on the beach at Sandgate last weekend - Daddy isn't as serious as he looks here though!

I'm hoping that I can keep carrying this good mood and positive attitude towards work with me over the next few months, but I'm sure that I can. Life is really very good right now, with lots of very exciting things on the horizon.

So, as I mentioned, I spent a little bit of time sewing this week. My desire to sew has really been subject to ebb and flow this year, but last week inspiration struck. I decided to take part in the Outfit Along being hosted by Lauren Lladybird and Andi Satterlund and the other night I was hit with inspiration as to which dress pattern to use: an old favourite, Simplicity 2591. I don't have any photos of that to show you yet, but I so enjoyed sewing it that it prompted me to revisit another favourite Simplicity pattern - this time, Simplicity 2444.

18th Arrondissement dress: Simplicity 2444 in Michael Miller 'Gay Paree' fabric, worn with my Hetty cardigan and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

Sewing this was honestly sort of weird to me - you know, another Simplicity 2444 in a Paris-themed fabric - and, I must admit that immediately after I finished it, I berated myself for stepping in the same stream twice. But of course, you never really do step in the same stream twice.

In any case, very few of my Paris-themed dresses fit me now, and similarly few Simplicity 2444s, so it really was high time to revisit this lovely pattern. What I should do with this fabric, which I had bought on impulse back in January, had been bugging me for a while. Going old-school Dolly Clackett on it seemed to work!

There isn't a great deal to say about sewing this. I sewed a size 8 basically straight out of the packet - the only alteration I made was to use a larger seam allowance at the shoulder seams, because this is an alteration I always make, and I omitted the pockets. I hardly ever sew pockets in dresses now, especially not if they're side-seam pockets. I didn't look at the instructions but I sewed pretty much to them - I really like the way the instructions have you sew the front, then the back, then sew them together (rather than sew the bodice and then sew it to the skirt).  I used white bias binding for the armholes and a white concealed zip, both of which I had in my stash.

This fabric had hung around in my stash for a while because I wasn't sure whether the white background would suit my intensely Irish skin but, as I've taken a bit of sun recently and my skin is less blue than usual, I think it's okay. Obviously, I was charmed by the print also...

Nic actually picked this fabric out. I bought it on impulse, but mainly because he liked it so much - probably because it reminded us both so much of one of our favourite places in the world, Montmartre. We didn't exchange gifts for our first wedding anniversary but we have been talking about going back to Paris at some point this year. We might not make it as there are other travel opportunities that might take priority, but in case we do, I'm happy to have another Paris dress in my wardrobe. Even if it does mean that I'm increasingly becoming a pastiche of my blog personality.

Mainly it felt good to sit down at my sewing machine again, you know? So much so that I have another two dresses cut out to sew in the near future. As always, I have more plans than I have time, but I'm getting better at making that time for myself.

I wore this dress on Saturday afternoon - we had been out on Friday night, so Saturday morning consisted of pyjamas and nothing else - to have ice-cream in the park with Nic, drinks in the pub with friends, and dinner round at the house of different friends. It was a very lovely day. On Sunday, Nic and I went to Coventry with Rick and Lauren to a record fair and I found further evidence that I am becoming a parody of myself:

Yes, that IS in fact a 12inch record featuring the Cagney & Lacey theme tune and "other American television themes". Actually, the version that they have of the Cagney & Lacey theme is not that which is used on the show, but it's still totally amazing that such a thing exists. What's even better is that side B is just Mike Post incidental music from cop shows. My love of Mike Post is well-documented, so this was a completely awesome find. I mean, he's my favourite composer. Nic laughed when I told him that, but I'm totally serious. You tell me the man who wrote the theme to Murder One isn't a stone cold genius.

Right, anyway, that's enough of that. I'd need to slide on here because I'm tired, and the rest of that carrot cake is calling to me. I'LL BE RIGHT THERE CARROT CAKE.

Did I hear you say cake?