A Day at the Races

As you may be able to tell from the backdrop of these photos, I went to the races yesterday. I love racing and I love Aintree. There's no other place quite like it. Even though it wasn't Ladies Day (that's today), everyone was still dressed up to the nines. It's Liverpool: we don't need an excuse to frock up.

However, in the space of about 50 yards, I saw three girls in the exact same dress. It was a very pretty dress and clearly wasn't from Primark or anywhere like that, but ooof, you don't want to get glammed up for the races only to discover you look like everyone else, do you?

I didn't have that problem. I made my dress from a curtain. There wasn't going to be anyone else wearing this!

This is yet another Simplicity 2444 - I'm not bored of it yet! I fell in love with this fabric solely because it reminds me of some orange floral curtains that lived in the house I grew up in. It came in a massive chunk from ebay. I think it was about £15 for almost 5 yards and there's loads left to make some actual curtains with. Woop!

There are many, many shades of yellow, orange and green in this fabric but I wanted the detailing to match the daffodils which I'd centred the bodice around, so I went for a pretty lemon yellow satin ribbon and bias binding.

The pretty yellow shoes and cute clutch bag are totally not the same shade of yellow as the dress details but what the hell. They kinda match each other and they go with some of the dress, even if it's not the daffodils. The colours below are a wee bit iffy though - the photos above are a better idea of what they actually look like.

Dress - handmade
Blazer - Warehouse via charity shop
Bag - Jacques Vert via charity shop
Ring - Dorothy Perkins sale
Flats - Koah 'Ginny'

Look at my enormous bet. Ha! This was the one day I should have done a placepot. Everything I picked came in the first three but I wasn't betting each way, wah wah wah... I would have won about a squillion pounds with a placepot. Damn it.

I had a very lovely day out with my Dad though and that's the main thing. He gets special credit for taking my outfit photos, although not so much credit for making me giggle and pull ridiculous faces. No idea what I'm doing here!

Suggestions Please

My usual charity donations consist of a set amount per month that goes to a different charity each time, plus a mild habit of spending too much on books in charity shops. Oh and things like buying the Big Issue and shoving change in charity collections. All in all, I don't think you could say that I'm stingy with my money.

I have a little bit of spare money this month and it'll do more good in a charity bank account than it will in mine; I'll only buy shoes or something frivolous. Plus it's the time of year where we should be especially thinking about giving rather than receiving. I've donated some money to the Samaritans, some to Shelter and some to Amnesty International but there's still a bit left. Do any of you lovely lot have any favoured charities that you think could benefit from a little bit of extra cash? I like to spread it around and there are so many good causes out there that it's hard to know who to pick!

ps - can anyone who understands post scheduling please explain it to me in really simple terms? I'm following all the instructions exactly and it just ignores the date and time I've set and publishes it immediately. Perhaps it's the technology curse striking again.