wordless wednesday.

play along?

birthday celebrations.

yesterday was bb's birthday. he started the day with a little gift unwrapping, i tried to well and truly spoil him after he spoilt me last month.
he then toddled off to work for the morning and i headed in and met him for a most indulgent lunch. 5 courses, matched with 5 different european beers.
in true blogger style, i took lots of foodie picture.
first course (which i forgot to take a picture of!) was citrus and herb prawns, with a glass of hoegaarden.
second course, crisp cocktail sausages on mash with a delicious jus and a glass of stella artois.




up third, braised pork belly on swede puree with caramelised witlof and a glass of leffe blonde.




fourth course (i was well and truly struggling by this point), a delicious beef stew with smashed potatoes and a glass of leffe brune.




and finally, dessert was a rich and decadent chocolate mousse paired with an amazing cherry beer, bellevue kriek. so very rich, but oh so delicious.




it was so great to be able to do this together, it's not something that we would normally do, a new delicious and indulgent experience.




the birthday boy enjoying a pint.

and now, if you have a few seconds, pop over and visit cam. some not so favourable decisions were proposed yesterday and i for one am off to write some letters to tell some silly people what's what.

my creative space.

today i'm hoping to get some sewing done. some garment sewing *cue gasps and looks of shock*
i'm not a very big sewer but today for some reason, i have some (most likely misplaced) confidence.
last night at ncb, the lovely anna, kindly brought along two massive bags of her 'scraps'. in one of the bags, there was a massive piece of jersey knit and after a quick measure of myself against the fabric, i knew it would be perfect for a wooly winter sweater dress.




i've got a dress that i like in a similar weight of knit, so today, i'm challenging myself to re-create it in the brown knit i thankfully received last night.
well that is as long as i get my painting done first that is...

for more creative spaces, pop over here

this week...

last week, i wanted to start on some painting and get some long promised sewing done, and i managed to get both done!
the top drawer of the kitchen drawers is all done and the second drawer even has a coat too!

the priority this week is more painting obviously! one down, four to go!







i also have to get some housework done, i've been doing the bare minimum for a few weeks and it's all starting to build up... floors need vacuuming and mopping, there's dust covering almost every surface and the washing basket is full! and you don't want to know about the toilet...
so yep, lots of houseworking to be done!

i also have not one, but two cushion covers on the go. hopefully i can make some headway on both of them this week :D

what are your plans for the week?

sunday snippets.

i've finally got the day off on a sunday and can therefore FINALLY play along with sunday snippets.
working sundays tend to be quite boring ha ha!

today i wrapped a very belated present...



and then delivered it! i got to meet the new addition and got lots of baby hugs :D

we then headed home and i settled in for some couch crafts while the football plays on the tv.
a bit of sewing on my machine (yes, machine sewing on the couch, the epitome of laziness!)




and some tidying up of granny squares left over from the baby blankie (still yet to be delivered, i'm a fairly terrible cousin...)




now off to do some grocery shopping and organise something for dinner tonight.

what are you up to this sunday? play along with sunday snippets with cathy.

this week...

late again oops, let's pretend it's monday. ok, let's not do that... mondays are generally horrible right?
changing the subject...
last week, i wanted to get a couple of things done. and i actually managed it!

degrees are mounted and framed, now i just need to hang them on the wall...


door snake is stuffed and finished and keeping the drafts outside where they belong.




and as for this week?
i still need to get that bit of sewing done that i've been promising a friend...
AND i'm starting on one of my september goals of getting my kitchen drawers painted.



i've spent a bit of time this morning stripping out the layers of contact and scraping away years of dust, dirt and grime. quite gross but i can't wait to get painting!

what are your plans for the week?

crafty swap.

i did get the little crochet project i was working on finished for my craft swap partner. i just didn't quite manage to get it sent before the 1st of september deadline. not to worry though, it got sent the following day, packed with a few other little goodies too!
would you like to see?



it's a convertible cowl! modelled here by the ever so helpful, fred the fan. i scored the pattern from here but in my usual style, didn't really follow it to a great degree... also i mayyy have had to fudge my way through a couple of things. for instance, whenever i'm crocheting into a base chain (to work straight, or in the round or whatever), my base chain is ALWAYS too tight! does this happen to anyone else? or just me?
in any case, i turned my crochet inabilities into a 'design feature' by decreasing the other end to match my terribly tight base chain. voila!



i also sent my swap partner a little crocheted picture frame which i found the tutorial for through pinterest (slight obsession happening with that place...). it was my original idea as to what to send my partner, but i wanted to make something a bit bigger and more useful. i have a feeling the cowl should be quite useful heading into a washington autumn and winter.

i hope you like your little bits and pieces kristi!

september.

my word, it's september already! august seemed to go super fast, but that might be because i didn't do my august post until well into the month...
speaking of, i managed to get the baby blanket done in august (because i'm the slackest cousin it's still folded up and in my lounge room...) but i didn't really get anywhere with the design wall. i still have this pile sitting in the middle of my lounge room floor, waiting for me to have the patience to get out a ruler and centre everything to frame it (it's on my to-do list for today but we'll see...)




well let's look forward to the beautiful month ahead! day 2 and the weather is spectacular, i'm really hoping this is indicative of the weather for the whole month! mainly because my mum came and stayed with me after last weekend and mowed my lawn when i was at work. i swear, this is the best it's ever looked and i fully intend to keep it looking nice! especially because i've just moved the bbq outside, can't wait to get cooking on it!
also planned for this little outdoor space (hopefully this month...), getting some seeds in the soil and getting some veggies growing AND attaching some hanging baskets to the fence. fences are so boring pfft.




i also have a little project planned for inside! i want to get the inside of our drawers painted. i (shoddily) applied black contact to the bottom of each of them when we first moved in and it just looks terrible! a nice white coat of paint or two for each of the interiors and they'll be looking like new!

the sunshine and spring air has got me making crazily long to-do lists :D
what's on your agenda for this month?

now i'm off to the post office to post my (now late) craft swap craftings, will be back tomorrow to share!

my creative space

i think i may have resolved in an earlier post to stop leaving things to the last minute. yep, that sounds like me, making resolutions i'll know i'll never keep... just look at my wish list at the start of every month...
anywho... 6 months ago, i signed up for a craft swap. yes you read correctly, 6 months ago. and no, i'm not 5 months late, it was a swap that gave you 6 months to get something beautiful made. and when did i start this beautiful project? last night of course!


i have to send it on the 1st of september, which happens to be today. i've got a lot of hooking to do today!

hope your day isn't quite as chaotic!
for (hopefully) less stressed creative spaces, pop over here