Quick Friday Five. Got to keep my hand in. 

Friday Five (1 of 5) Oysho

I love a little browse round the Oysho website. They do lovely pyjamas (I have a navy pinstripe flannel pair which are lush in the cold months) and I seem to have racked up a few of their dresses too  over time which I hadn't realised till now. I just had a nosey to see what was coming in for spring/summer and they are doing lovely stuff for energetic people who do things like yoga and running (not me) and pretty stuff for people who want to lounge looking all serene and stuff (me). Oh and there's a couple of nice dresses which caught my eye too. And guess what, Oysho are on to the fact that us ladies like our pockets in our dresses! Here's just a few of my favourite picks.

Friday Five (2 of 5) Flip Flops

I have some little brown Havaiana flip flops. I've had them for years and decided that I wanted to wear them this summer so I got them out and tried them on and thought "They've shrunk!". Well actually, they were always just on the cusp as Havaianas do weird sizing. They do a size 35-36 which is a 3-4 UK size so I compared them to another pair of regular UK size 4 flip flops and the Havaianas definitely are much smaller. So I ordered the next size up 37-38 and they are way bigger. - too big if truth be told. Havaianas - why the weird sizing?

Friday Five (3 of 5) Italian Sausage Ragu

Italian Sausage Ragu (Anna's pic, not mine)

If you're in M&S Foodhall, pick up a couple of pack of their Italian Sausages because they are fab in this easy peasy AnnasFamilyKitchen recipe. It's easy peasy and I'm all about the easy peasy.

Friday Five (4 of 5) Loves Me A Pretty Blouse

Zara Blouse

It's white'ish, it's pretty. It's got a bit of embroidery, it's light and airy and it's also very me. If you like what you like, you like what you like and I like a pretty white blouse for the summer months. I don't buy much from Zara to be honest but it's a hard habit to break so I still look and then I end up with another pretty blouse. Ho Hum.

Friday Five (5 of 5) Upcycling

Upcycling!

The hubs took delivery of a load of Allstars Cricket kit for the local cricket club and was sorting it out when he asked did we have anything we could separate all the different types of balls in to. Why yes indeed - all my handbag bags! There's a reason why I keep everything for years and years! Eventually everything will have a use and purpose!

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So I bought this dress in January .....

... with the express intention of turning it into a skirt. There was no way I was wearing it with that cutout back! 

The idea was I was going to chop off the body of the dress and with the spare fabric, fashion myself some pockets and maybe make a few hair scrunchies with what was left. Go me!

So I started making some changes to it in February, made some more changes not long after and took some pictures of the finished item in March with the express intention of blogging the process and guess what - it's now April. End of April even - I took my time doing this one didn't I? Time is not of the essence where I am concerned. 

So if we backtrack to February, I chopped off the top ....

Then I unpicked the part of the waistband where I had cut - removed the excess fabric, reduced the width of the elastic as it was making the waistband pucker and sewed up the waistband again (below pic) by hand. 

Then I decided I couldn't live with the bad check alignment on the back seam so unpicked it all and realigned it and sewed it back up. I figured that I could make a slight adjustment to the hem to accommodate anything that was a bit out of sorts. Before and after pics below.