Hola from Segovia!

Just a few snapshots for you from lovely Segovia, our first leg of Big Goddaughter's 18th birthday trip. Yup, it was very rainy, with dramatic skies, when we arrived.

Some day my prints will come

While packing for my holiday, I noticed how many printed fabrics I wear nowadays. Prints are funny things. Somehow, the prints we choose are even more personal than our choice of colour. While there are colours I'm not fond of wearing myself, there are people who can wear them or use them in a way that makes me look at those colours afresh. There's room for every colour in a wardrobe. I can't say the same for prints. There are plenty of prints that I just don't like. I often get frustrated as repro firms sell clothes in silhouettes I love, then pick a print I'd never wear in my life. (Though I may well like them on you, because we are different people and what looks dreadful on me might just be perfect on you!)

Four Mysteries

When I saw that 4160 Tuesdays were fundraising via Indiegogo to create four new perfumes, all inspired by 1930s murder mysteries, I was intrigued. I love perfume, I love vintage crime novels, and I try to fund kickstarters every once in a while because I believe in giving people the chance to create beautiful things and follow their dreams – we all need dreams. I joined in, and received my four spray vials recently. I'll be getting a book to go with the perfumes, but that's being shipped later than the scents. This is a good thing, as it meant I could try each perfume on with no preconceptions, then look up the notes the perfume company says it has, and I guess I'll see if it goes with the story when the book turns up.

Bathroom complete - after a horrible week!

Pair of wonks

Before I tell you anything else, I'd better get the horrible week bit out of the way. Ziggy, one of our two kittens went missing. We saw him at midnight on Wednesday, but he didn't show up for breakfast on Thursday morning. This might not sound like much, but because they were born feral, the kittens are VERY greedy, and pretty much inseparable. We'd wanted both anyway, but the charity wouldn't have let anyone who wanted to separate them have one. They had to be together. At first, if they couldn't see each other, they'd cry hysterically. They've got better in the months since we've had them, but they are still very attached to each other - if Pippin walks into the room and mews, Ziggy immediately gets up and goes over to her. So, you see, missing food and not being with his Pippin was very unusual for Ziggy, and we were worried straight away.

Sod it, I'm shopping

I went to see Vix; a new dress was a bonus!

I've bought more clothes. I didn't manage to lose any weight before my holiday, which left me the choice between wearing stuff that's too small - a choice that comes with a side-order of self-loathing - or buying stuff that actually fits. I'm still going to do lots of walking, and I'm doing very well at laying off the cake and comfort food, but it's not having much effect yet and there's no way I'll go on a trip I've spent three years saving up for and spend it feeling bad about myself.

Cancelled costume drama!

So long, Peggy and Jarvis...

Thanks a bunch, Friday 13th - Agent Carter has been cancelled. Almost everything I like on telly seems to get cancelled. Two of my favourite shows from last year were Partners In Crime (I even did costume writeups for 'The Secret Adversary' and 'N or M'.) and Jekyll and Hyde. I wasn't taken with the initial episodes of either, but stuck with them and loved them by the end. Unfortunately not many other people felt the same way, and neither is getting a second series. Being a fan of the geeky stuff, I thought that perhaps a 1930s-set monster-battling kids' programme was never going to get big audiences, so I should just be grateful ITV took a punt on Jekyll and Hyde in the first place, but I honestly believed a Marvel production like Agent Carter would have sticking power.

Most of my favourites could be described as 'genre' shows, but now it seems even straight dramas aren't immune to the curse of cancellation. According to an article in The Guardian, Channel 4 recently revealed there would be no third series of Indian Summers. That announcement seems to have sneaked out under most people's radars, but when ITV announced the cancellation of Home Fires earlier this week, people were annoyed enough to start a petition for the decision to be reversed. (You can sign the Home Fires petition here.)

Good post day

The weather may have turned horrible - we're on a Yellow weather warning for rain down here in the south-west of England - but the postman brightened my day up no end. Today I had two parcels waiting for me when I got home.

Shorter hair, don't care

Shoulder-length hair often seems like a bit of a no-man's-land, not as sassy as a bob and not as eyecatching as long hair. I dunno, though, it seems to suit me better. I did trim it off a bit a couple of weeks ago, so it was shorter in my most recent outfit post, but over the weekend I really decided to go for it.

Bobby Darin Swings [CD]

Where we got this CD is an absolute mystery to me. I think we must have inherited it from Mr Robot's mum, because I'd have been playing it much more if I'd known we had it.

We already own a CD called Sinatra Swings, and were a little disappointed in that. I have reviewed it (here), but in short, it wasn't as upbeat as we'd hoped for. This Bobby Darin CD has all the swing we wanted, the cheek and confidence of 1960s Las Vegas. 

Something steamy for the weekend

Atelier Fabry-Perot: things made of NOM

Just a quickie post this - if you're in the Chepstow area of Wales tomorrow, be sure to drop by the Drill Hall for the first Chepstow Steampunk Market day. It starts at 10am

There should be lots of clothing to buy from a range of manufacturers. Laserists Atelier Fabry-Perot will be there with their wares - they make lovely stuff; Pippin ate a few of their Christmas decorations back in December, but she hasn't trashed the vase engraved with cog-fossils that I got from them. There will be lots of accessories on sale too. Several of the stalls are offering hats, and Skewwers, who I bought my excellent rocketship brooch from, are going to be vending.

All in all, should be great. I won't be able to make it, but if you're in south Wales it would make a fun excursion - and you can dress as vintage as you like without getting funny looks!

Crinoline Robot's vintage week

My boy has been poorly but is all better now

Yup, it's another roundup of my bimblings. I haven't quite managed to take photos every day, owing to the Bank Holiday weekend making me forget, but I did put some effort in nonetheless. I wanted to get images of some books for the website, and hit on an idea for interesting backgrounds: papers from my papercrafting stash. I don't do much papercrafting, Halloween cards aside, so it's good to find another use for those lovely papers. And it definitely does make the books look nice, because I was able to pick colours and a style to match each one, though I could still do with working on the lighting. Much nicer than plonking them down on tatty old Victorian floorboards, anyhow.

Direct Hit: The Blitz Detective [book]

Foyle's War has been one of my favourite things on telly in recent years, and I'm going to miss not having more programmes starring Foyle and Sam, so when I spotted this 1940s-set crime novel in the Oxfam bookshop in Bath, I pounced. Could it fill in the gap?