Not-so everyday needs

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to blog about this, Matt bought me this wine carafe/decanter for Mother's Day this year...


It is quite stunning - designed by Russel Wright, but Matt picked it up from Everyday-Needs - a genius online store curated by Katie Lockhart, who must be New Zealand's most amazing interior designer/stylist.


I'm now eyeing up the Karen Walker pajamas that are available on the site... $200 for one pair though...hmmm...probably not going to happen anytime soon.

A finished project...

My friend's baby cooked a little bit longer than anticipated, which was fortunate as it gave me enough time to finish the quilt. I have to admit, I love this quilt. Much more than the one I made for my own baby. I think it's to do with the use of mainly vintage fabrics, which are softer and slightly faded, and also the haphazard arrangement of the pieces.


And, I hand quilted it, no mean feat. That's a lot of little stitches.






It was a great distraction while it lasted.

We escaped!

Well, for 24 hours anyway. We left a cat at home, dropped off a dog in kennels and left the kid with some trustworthy folk and drove up to Lewis Pass. We stayed at Maruia Springs.



A private hot pool, full body shiatsu massage, sparkling wine and a king sized bed. It was dodgy, but relaxing. And there were no earthquakes.


I ignored the fact that the whole reason the hot pools exist is because the land lies along one of the world's largest faultlines.

Brightening up our days...

I recently bought a little Dala horse off TradeMe. Made in Sweden by the Nils Olsson produciton house, they are a traditional carved toy. I think they may be sold to bucket-loads of tourists, like clogs in Holland and boomerangs in Australia.





He's sitting on the windowsill of our not-seeming-so-temporary accommodation, but I think when we move back home, he will be a little reminder of this crappy time in our lives. A little bit of solidity, colour and simplicity amongst all this unstable, depressing chaos.

I have gone on a bit of an online shopping bender in the past week, purchasing items from here, here and here. The exchange rate with the US dollar is crazy good, and I seem to feel inclined to shop shop shop after each half-decent shake.

Comfort food

I can't believe it's been nearly three weeks since I last posted. Things have been a bit rough here - nothing new, just more massive earthquakes putting our lives at risk, cutting our power and water and sending more filth spewing up onto the roads and into peoples backyards. Winding back the recovery-clock a few months.

There has been lots of comfort food. We've had various soups (pumpkin & ginger, pea & bacon), bolognese, baking (chocolate cakes, banana bread) and last night for dinner we had Welsh Rarebit.


A fine Three Boys Porter beer, with some stinky hard cheddar from our local cheesemonger, mix with some Worcester sauce, egg and cream and spread on sourdough bread bought fresh from one of our favourite vendors at the markets.


It was a tangy and cheesy dinner. Tomorrow, I'm going to roast a chicken. You'd think we'd be stacking on the weight, but it seems the general stress and uncertainty seems to keep things in that department under control.