Life

I have been getting lots of work at the library lately (which is great) however, it doesn't leave me much time for sewing, baking, reading, even blogging and all the other things I enjoy doing.

Over the weekend I celebrated a birthday, so I was spoiled by my family with a special dinner and homemade birthday cheesecake, bubbly, lovely presents and time with Mum, shopping for clothes, plants and fabric.  The above bouquet was given to me by Mum - all the flowers from her garden The Irises always flower in time for her to pick them for me.

Fingers crossed life starts to get back to normal soon and I actually have time to do some of the things that make me happy.

Have a fabulous week.

Lately

Making : plans for a day out with my sister when she comes to New Zealand in December
Drinking : Rose and French Vanilla Tea as I type this post

Reading:  I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Looking: at lovely sewing, cooking and interior design books
Wasting:time on Facebook(I finally succumbed and signed up)
Sewing: by hand, Liberty dresden plates on their backing fabrics

Wishing: my house would clean itself
Enjoying: going to the movies with a friend - we saw The Dressmaker
Waiting: for my Mum to arrive on Friday for the weekend
Liking: new season asparagus
Wondering: why the birds keep pulling out my lettuce and marigold seedlings
Marvelling: at how Mum's who work full time get eveything done, I find it hard with part time hours
Loving: warmer days
Needing: chocolate 
Smelling: jasmine and clematis  in my neighbour's garden
Wearing: a sari, bracelets and bindi at work to celebrate Diwali 
Following:  the All Blacks and their Rugby World Cup games and results

Noticing: new growth and flowers on plants in my garden
Knowing: that there are only a few weeks left of school
Thinking: that I really need to do some Christmas shopping
Feeling: pleased that I mowed the lawns before it is supposed to rain
Bookmarking: dessert recipes for Christmas Day

Wednesday WIP

There is nothing subtle and ladylike about this Liberty Quilt.    I think I like it - definitely not what I originally had in mind when I started working on  this quilt. Perhaps it is leaning towards the more Bohemian artists and style associated with the Bloomsbury group.

The other day while wandering  in Spotlight, I fell in love with a beautiful shot cotton.  I decided it would work perfectly for the corners on my Bloomsbury Quilt.  After a lot of playing with contrasting and co-ordinating solids, I have been very brave and gone for a grape colour which picks out the purple/grape in the shot cotton.

So far only the centre panels have been sewn together, I am now trying to decide whether to hand or machine sew the Dresdens on and what colour centres - patterned or plain to give them.  Also debating whether to keep it at the original size which is about 60" square or add some borders so it makes a really big quilt for my bed.  That would mean I may have to buy some more Liberty.  Damn!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Weekending

• harvesting from my garden - beautiful rosy rhubarb stems  
• baking rhubarb crumble cake - using the above rhubarb
• leisurely reading - this beautiful pile of books - lots of inspiration for interiors, quilts, knitting and food
• sewing - liberty rectangles for the Bloomsbury quilt

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

Pinspired

The Scout has a habit of sending me links to recipes he thinks sound rather delicious.  I usually pin these recipes to my Delicious Board on pinterest for looking at later.  Yesterday I didn't work and the cake tins were empty, so I made this very delicious Salted Caramel Slice.  Since I sampled the piece in the photo above, I have actually cut the bars in half again because they are so decadently rich.  I will be making this again, but it certainly doesn't fall into the basic category of home baking, and the cake tins are still empty for school lunches.  Guess what I'm doing this weekend.