The post before Christmas

This is probably going to be the last post before Christmas...I hope everyone is ready. I have been baking and cleaning like a mad woman. I picked a giant bucket of broad beans for a salad on Christmas day, but forgot to take a photo before I shipped them off to Akaroa..

I have been extra busy completing all my craft projects, I've finished the February Lady Sweater, the quilt and another bear. The latter two are shown below. I have to say I am damn proud of the quilt - it has turned out much lovelier than I expected. I got some construction tips from a post at Wise Craft, and I do think they made things work out better than if I'd followed my usual approach, so thanks Blair.


It still feels as though I am ages away from finishing everything I've got on, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. January I going to be super busy as I am working all month, and we have to paint our new house, not to mention moving... I have already packed up most of our stuff, the house looks nice and clean and uncluttered.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and New Year....

Our next home....?

In March Matt and I visited this house, under the premise of research for Christchurch Modern. Nine months, endless heartache and some horrible negotiations later, we seem to have bought it.

It fits our criteria:
Matt's: 1960s, architecturally designed..
Lil's: a decent garden and enough room for Boo...

...but needs a fair amount of work as it has been more than neglected over the past 10 years.

Most sensible peeps have been telling us to stay away from it and and all the work that needs doing, but we love it too much and so we are going to give it a go. It's either going to be the best thing we ever did, or the biggest mistake we've ever made. Country living has been wonderful, but we both now feel too isolated and there is no way we can do another winter out here.

We shan't be moving for at least another 7-8 weeks, but have started packing like crazy. Bring.It. On.

Hi Pot! We're Home!

The theme for My Place & Yours this week is - what object makes your house feel like a home? It has taken a fair amount of thought for this one, but I'm going to go with Pot. I considered Boo, but Boo comes with us everywhere, including on holiday, so just cos she's there, doesn't mean we're home. But Pot, without her, we just wouldn't feel like we were home...

Feel Good Fuzzies

Aw, just look at that - a family of ducks resting by the Avon...


How can that not make you smile? And another thing that made us smile today - while we were having lunch on a cafe balcony, we peered down to see Boo doing her impression of a dead dog:


She does it so well - throughout our lunch people kept stopping and bending over and checking that she was ok. Cheeky monkey,

It's summer....apparently.

The first two days of summer have been very disappointing - it has rained all day for both days, and I have had to have the heater on inside all day. Once or twice a week Matt takes Boo into the office, so I can potter about at home without the constant guilt that I am not devoting my entire day to entertaining her. Today was one of those days and with the truly unseasonal weather I spent it entirely indoors doing winter type activities. Such as working on my quilt. This afternoon I put my head down and got all of the front side sewn together in one hit. The dreary day means the photos aren't very good, but you get the general idea:




I'm pretty happy with it - I'm not a very experienced quilt maker and didn't consult any books or anything, I figure it's just a matter of making lots of different size squares and making sure they sew together to form a large rectangle. And although it is immensely satisfying to have finished the front panel, given I haven't actually started the "quilting" yet, I suspect the hardest part is still to come.

And to top the day off, I made a citrus slice for afternoon tea (and Matt's dessert)...


Wicked. Now if summer could just show up tomorrow I will be happy....