Flowery playsuit and mocasins

...now that's what I call an outfit. From Goodhood.

Norse Projects

Danish men's brand Norse Projects don't really design things for girls, but I'd happily sport these stripey numbers...

The Cetinje Ethnography Museum

Last summer, on holiday in Montenegro, Archie and I visited an amazingly romantic museum in the tiny mountain town of Cetinje. The Ethnography Museum is housed in a little white-painted cottage off a dusty square, and is filled with the most evocative collection of historic Balkan folk clothes. I wanted to spend hours there, examining the treasures: shepherds' waistcoats trimmed with bells and bobbles, hand-woven and embroidered shawls, colourful knitted socks and lace-trimmed nighties. It was extraordinary to think that really not that long ago - maybe only 100 years - everyday people would have worn these handmade treasures, and had these extraordinary skills - lacemaking, weaving, embroidery - that are all but lost these days. There was a trestle table by the entrance, selling hand-embroidered tunics, and Archie bought me one. We felt strangely sad coming out into the real world, to see everyone in tracksuits and trainers.

APC

On the most miserable of grey days, some refreshingly summery looks from the new APC range, which took my fancy. See more here. Found via Bakerby.

Ian Mankin

I love these course vintage-linen cushions from Ian Mankin.

Et Vous for La Redoute

Whenever a new La Redoute catalogue hits my doormat, I hope to open it to find Isabel Marant has done another range for them... but that looks like it was a one off. Still, the new collection by Et Vous looks rather nice...

Sew your own Mexican dress

My seamstress skills might not be up to it, but it would be such fun to sew and embroider my own Puebla dress, following this girl's downloadable pattern.

Tamu McPherson

Joanna blogged about All The Pretty Birds and I love these four ladies' outfits, all shot by Tamu McPherson.

Le Bouton

I love the look of this collection of handmade linen pieces by Le Bouton.

Lace

I like this lacy shirt for summer holidays from Odd Molly.

Beef and Guinness Pie for Matt and Becky

I should have made this pie with stewing steak, but couldn’t find any in Shepherds Bush, so rather luxuriously made it with rump steak.

About 900g rump steak, trimmed of its fat and cut into 4cm chunks
Plain flour
Salt and pepper
Butter
Olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into batons
1 leek, finely sliced
100g mushrooms, wiped and halved or quartered if very big
A large can of Guinness
A pint of beef stock
A good squeeze of tomato puree
Ready-made puff pastry

Put the beef on a work surface, scatter with a couple of tablespoons of flour, plenty of salt and pepper, and toss well to coat. Heat a good large knob of butter and glug of oil in a large heavy casserole dish and, in small batches, fry the beef on a high heat, quickly, turning it, to brown it on all sides. Remove the beef from the pan and set aside on a plate somewhere warm. Add more oil to the pan and fry the onions until soft, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the leek, carrots and mushrooms and cook, stirring, for five minutes. Add the tomato puree and cook for a further couple of minutes. Add the browned beef, pour in the Guinness, then the stock, stir, season, and bring to the boil. Allow it to simmer vigorously for about ½ an hour, then turn the heat right down and leave it for a further hour and a half to 2 hours, blipping quietly. Allow to cool, with a lid on.

Meanwhile divide the pastry into two balls, one double the size of the other. On a floured work surface roll both pieces out into large circles. Lay the bigger circle into a deep pie dish, so it reaches up the sides and over the edges a bit, gently pressing it into shape. Pour the filling in, reserving some of the liquid if it looks too runny. Brush the edge of the pastry with water (to make it stick) and lay the other pastry circle on the top, sealing it around the edges with the tines of a fork. Trim the excess and roll this out again to make pasty shapes to decorate the top – letters to spell a name, or pretty leaves, or B Loves M, as I did. Brush the whole top with beaten egg and bake at 180c for 45 mins, until golden. Serve with mashed suede and parsnips and hot mustard.

Sale shopping

I thought I'd had my fill of the January sales - I've already bought too many things - but now my head's been turned at Jack Wills...

Tie-dye

I think I'm going to tie-dye everything this summer, inspired by these nice outfits at Tory Burch.

Checked coats

If I was in the market for a new coat, I'd want it to be a checked one. I like these two, from Gloverall and Oliver Spencer.

Pendleton

When summer finally rolls around, I'd hope to be wearing things from this new range by Pendleton and Opening Ceremony. As a person who has rarely met a checked shirt she doesn't like, it looks right up my street.