So...about that new year...

I feel like I kind of let you guys down with that last post so here's a sneak peak, an invite into my brain right now, with the new flat.



From L to R: The fabric is from the Cloud 9 "Beyond the Sea" collection; chair & sofa are Ikea; laundry is from Chez Larsson; card file organiser is from lovelydesign; recycling boxes + kitchen are from Design Sponge.

Stay up with me :)

How was your Christmas? Mine was beautiful. Christmas lunch with the family, then a 3 hour drive to the middle of nowhere, then a gorgeous 2 days in the bush, with nothing to do but drink wine and eat dips. Gosh, you had to be there to believe it :)

Now? We have to pack up in anticipation for a new place. And a new year. Gosh, it's gone so fast.

Hopefully next year I will be brimming with posts and, well, less mess...

Fabric lines I want!

Just doing a bit of window shopping to pass the time...






All from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane line.



From Patty Young's "Flora and Fauna"



From Cloud 9's "My Happy Garden".

Where have I been?

There are a million different excuses I could give but in the end, nothing sticks. I have been too hot to craft recently, and life keeps getting in the way. Hopefully I will pick up a bit of speed coming into Christmas.

I am interested in doing this.
all you have to do is just post a picture of something the color of that specific day on your flickr photostream or your blog and then link back to this blog so that people can see a list of other people who are also doing the color week. every day that i put a picture up i will post the list of names linked with their photostream or blog. and i will make a link list on the side of my blog also.
:monday: yellow
:tuesday: green
:wednesday: pink
:thursday: blue
:friday:brown
:saturday: orange
:sunday: red
:monday: black or white

Giveaway!

A stitch in time...

enjoying the summer breeze and lazy afternoons :)

Here I Go Again...

Not much happening in my little part of the world. Distracted by my engagement, crafting has fallen to the wayside! Gosh, I suck at this. The closest I came this week to crafting has been chopping a big hanky into 4 smaller ones. Wow, do I get a medal for that?

I've sworn to myself that once the obvious jobs get done (washing/washing up/vacuuming/tidying) I will be on that machine like a hurricane!

Photos will come when I have something to photograph :)

My oh my!

All of my baby plants are growing so well! It must be the odd weather we are having, because everything is either flowering or bursting with fruit! The tomatoes are looking good; the pumpkin has flowers; the cucumbers have flowers; the eggplant is huge!

bones...

Dear all,

I have been kidnapped by Bones; I haven't done anything without watching it in the background. But rest assured, I have been sewing as well! Well more like washing, ironing, cutting and tracing, but soon there will be sewing!

Photos to come :)

Joy in the New Year?

There's a post over here at Tallgrass Prairie Studio, discussing a UFO finishing project! Just what I need! I have 2 UFOs, pieced and ready to go.

I have plenty of pieces being pieced (sounds funny), so I may include those depending on how I go with ideas.

a) Ohio star block table runner for my Sister-thing
b) yellow top; needs to be machine quilted. This would be also really good practice for my quilting skills!

Meg x

Spending the day with my washing machine...

Today's a ritual cleaning day in our house. Sundays are filled with washing powder, plastic gloves, pegs and newspapers. I love the feeling of stumbling out of bed, letting the Boy sleep for an extra half hour and just spending a few minutes by myself. I get to check on my plants and my birds, and I get to just revel in the joy of a Sunday morning.

This afternoon will be spent tidying, vaccuming, cooking, taste-testing, watering and perhaps some study for the four exams I have this week. But for now? I'm listening to the Buble (Michael Buble) and enjoying the lovely spring breeze floating through the veranda doors.

Just haven't met you yet...

Thinking about books I wish I could own...just the two for now.



"The Pioneer Woman Cooks" by Ree Drummond (Amazon link here).

I love her website - I'd love to do some canning; I'd love to live in the country; I'd love to be as pretty as her! She makes a zillion things I want to, and so easily.



If I had a girl, or if I knew a baby girl (whose parents weren't adverse to handsewn clothing), I'd totally buy this book in a flash. It's got beautiful photos and the sweetest patterns. I love little girl clothes so much, they are the sweetest thing around! *sigh* This one I have no real need for so I'll just keep lusting after it.

Can you hear those sleigh bells jingling?

Just thought I'd point anyone looking in the direction of Make Life Sweet, where they're showcasing some sweet, easy to do Christmas decorations! Sometimes it's the simplist things that make the house look more festive.

Me? I'm considering lots of things homemade this Christmas...advent calendars, cushions, wreaths, garlands, penny pockets...it's all on hold though, until after the 17th.

One for the archives...

I stumbled across this delicious looking and drool worthy recipe on (you guessed it) The Pioneer Woman Cooks, and am probably trying it tonight. Most of my pasta dishes have been feeling bland lately.

But this lemon pasta look delicious! Just need to pop down to the shop and get some Parmesan cheese and lemons! Yuummm.

Block party, wooo!

Who doesn't love new tutorials?

Who doesn't love seeing other people's ideas?

Who doesn't love a quilting bee?!

Well, there are all of these things over here! Together! Imagine!

I am so excited right now, I love the challenge and excitement involved!

Also, if you're looking for other awesome tutorials...check out A Sometimes Crafter's Quilt Along. She has amazing pictures and explanations (which I'm sure is the same as the lovely ladies at Block Party!).

Nanoblopo (National blog posting month).

Attempting this because hey, November isn't crazy enough already!

I'm going to try to post everyday -- recipes, patterns, tutorials, random blatherings, who knows?

To start with I have a bagel recipe I found through my favourite recipe website: the pioneer woman cooks. I'll probably have a few more from here as the month goes on ;)

So here's the recipe: bagels!. It looks fairly involved but good to try at least once. Plus I love a good bagel.


(Image from Smitten Kitchen)

Saturday Sewing...

I decided to wipe out a few of the easy projects I've been meaning to do for ages.

The first off the list is this camera strap, which the Boy saw and needed. We chose this fabric:



And it worked out so easily and so nicely. Now our camera is fully customised and I no longer feel like a dweeby tourist!



Am off to see if I can get another project crossed off the list :) Will be back with an update if I do!

EDIT: I was surfing the internet and found these (make your own gift bows from magazine paper) and gave them a go. So sweet! And very very easy. I just grabbed a piece of paper and within 5 minutes had one all done. They add a bit of interest and I think are the perfect recycling effort :) We have a glue gun so it was super easy.

Handmade holidays.

I am so excited that Handmade Holidays III is starting today/tomorrow at Sew, Mama, Sew!

I am so excited for all the projects I will (obviously) be doing in my holidays. Although my UFO list is huge. Gosh, I fail at life.


Maybe I'll get the boy on 2 1/2" squares today. Or working on my AMG block. It's so hard being me!



I'm working on the first block in the LH corner right now, but I should have finished at least six of them! Will keep you updated.

New haircut!

Sorry this week has been so quiet -- lots of university work not a lot of sewing :(

I saw a very sweet sewing calendar today - tempted to buy one for my sewing desk (potentially room??).



Got a haircut and a fringe so I feel like I finally fit in the blog world!

Nursery newborns...

Went to the nursery this afternoon, and went a tiny bit overboard. We bought passionfruit, mandarins, sweet potato, coriander, more basil, strawberries, eggplant, pumpkin, cucumber, carrots oregano and new lettuce! Our garden is beautiful now!

I have to draw up a plan, let me know if you have any tips (I know my lemon tree loves the sunshine)...I want it to be easy to walk around and stll see everything -- not that it's huge or anything, I just am used to the few pots on the side of the balcony).

Next up -- fruit salad trees! What a lovely idea.


(This is my mandarin tree - so excited!)

Guess-who-went-to-the-quilt-fair!

If you guessed me, you'd be right! I made it there and back and picked up a few goodies! Seeing as I was with the Boy, I couldn't really peruse the notions but it was still so-much-fun.

These fabrics were all *really* cheap and I don't know why I didn't get more. The fruits are all for some of these ziploc bags which I'm going to get around to making, I'm very excited.

Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!

This is my garden. Seeing as we live on the 2nd floor of an apartment block, we don't have a lot of room to spare for my little plants. I have: a lemon tree (dwarf), lettuces (3x), tomatoes (2x), basil, rosemary, broccoli, zucchini and celery. [Sorry the photos are so dark -- they seemed quite a bit lighter this morning!]



But they still grow quite well (this is my buddy basil). This is the oldest plant I have and, as you can see, is getting quite woody. Will need to be replaced soon.


This is the ever pretty celery. Got it at a green market for quite the good price.


This is the tomato plant my sister gave me (one of two). They seem to be doing ok with the height difference, but we'll see :)


Lettuce plant! So handy and so big! Again, from a green market. It was convieniently planted with three types of lettuce, so it's like a mixed salad straight from the garden.



This is the beginnings of a beautiful friendship (my broccoli plant). I always stress that seeds won't grow so I overplant just about everything and then am always quite sheepish when they are so close together.

Christmas swap: completed!

I decided to make this bag from here; it didn't work out quite the way the tutorial did, but I was still quite impressed! My corners aren't quite right, and my seams aren't flawless, but you know, it's a learning curve. Overall I was very happy with myself.


(Close up of fabric - kokka)

A List...

Here's what's currently occupying my time...

1) Getting ready to send off my package for this swap:



2) enjoying some of the new fabrics I bought last week!



3) Frantically stitching my Aunt Millie's Garden blocks:



Barely a spare second around here :)

Linkage

Just a note to say you can find me over at my tumblr:

http://liamandmeg.tumblr.com

I promise to post more soon!

Heather Ross...

Am I the only one crushing over Heather Ross' Far far away and her mermaids/octopi line? I really want some but the stores here are out...

Looks like I'm off to trawl ebay!

Success!

I have just finished 2 projects! Granted, only teeny-weeny ones but hey!

I made:
- a ponytail tie
- a tiny box

Hopefully I will have pictures tomorrow and some other projects to update you on!

Needing that push...

I am trying to encourage myself to finish some of my WIPs so I figured this blog may be the way to do it!

I have a few tiny projects (which won't come together for some reason), and some huge ones which need me to get in and do them!

I'm going to the Craft Fair in October, but will be updating before then? Who knows...

Will keep this updated when something happens. :) Hopefully that will be soon.

Meg