wish list

i get slightly freaked out about buying people presents. i love giving presents. but i want to give the perfect gift. always. so i get a bit obsessive about buying the right present.

of course, i am the easiest person to buy for *cough cough*. but right now i am going to give you a sneak peak of what's on my ultimate gift list. The BlogThis challenge this week is to write a list of 5 things that would be on the list of perfect presents for me. here goes...

1. a handbag. i can never have enough!

it would probably be nice big one, so i can put everything i could possibily imagine i will need. and look a bit like this witchery one...

2. a bit of bling... and would hopefully arrive in a little blue box... *grin*

3. and then, to satisfy my magazine obsession... a lifelong supscribtion to real living magazine.
i just can't get enough!

4. i'm hopeful for a little bit of travelling next year... around the world?? why not!! a passport cover is definetly on my wish list... and i love this one by Aussie crafter Pepperberry & Co. So kitsch!

5. and finally, a fail-safe present for me. pajamas! I LOVE PAJAMAS! aren't these ones from deshabille beautiful!!

cute!

motherly love

family IS a very special thing to me. i have a fabulous Mum & Dad who i'm lucky enough to live near and see regularly...
(every Saturday? 11am?? lets just say the phone will ring & i'll know who it is...)
the Blog This challenge for this week was to share a memory of your mum or dad... Where do i start? there are so many great memories of me & my parents: mostly ones that make me laugh: and that's a good thing!

but here are a few pics of Me & My Mum this year on Mothers day...


a day where my mum got a new camera lens (because, you know, 4 isn't enough...) and then needed to take pictures of Josh's vegie patch... (josh then decided this would be perfect opportunity to weed. let's just say it was a productive morning!)



and then she had to steal a bit of the produce before going home...

(i've gotta say, that was a great crop of basil that made more than one batch of pesto!).

My parents are all about the outdoors... getting into the garden... taking photos in the outdoors... holidays in the bush... so this memory was a great one: we weren't sitting on the couch having a stuffy morning tea: we were outside getting our hands dirty and having a few laughs at the same time!

book club

i love reading. i do. i'm an obsessive reader. when i'm reading a book, everything else goes out the window: eating, sleeping, cleaning. So... that's why i thought we needed a book club on Cup Of Kitsch... and Blog This has a "what's on your bedside table" challenge this week. so: enter stage left, the first book club post!

i heard a beautiful quote recently from author Alexander McCall Smith, who was being interviewed for ABC Classic FM by Margaret Throsby. When asked "What's on your bedside table"... he replied

"towers of books.... my bedside table is actually a bit hazardous
to approach because there are large numbers of books..."

that imagery could just as easily applied to my bedside table. There you'll find my favourite books, ready to refer to when the moment calls. Books that i feel i should read, books i want to read.

some books i have read, and loved, and will love for all time...

Pride and Prejudice - J. Austen
Persuasion - J. Austen
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
Frederica - Georgette Heyer
A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson

some books i have sitting there, waiting to be read...
La's Orchestra Saves the World - Alexander McCall Smith
The Man who Ate the World: in search of the perfect dinner - Jay Rayner
Julie & Julia: My year of cooking dangerously - Julie Powell

but let me quickly tell you a little bit about a book i have read recently. this is a book that i had known about for several months. and i had an absolute aversion to it. DID NOT want to read it. and then i started dreaming about it, and it would come up in conversation. i felt i just had to read this book.

it's called the shack, by WM. Paul Young...
and it's a story about Mac, a father who's youngest child is abducted while on a family holiday. a series of terrible circumstances show this child was then abused and tortured in a small shack in the middle of the wilderness. and her body is never found.

sounds terrible? it is. i felt physically ill reading parts of this story. but you have to keep reading, because of what happens next.

Mac is traumatised. why did this happen. what could he have done to stop this? what if's...

and then a letter arrives in the mail. a letter inviting him back to the shack where his daughter was killed. a letter from God.

wow. what a book. i can't tell you the whole story. you need to read it to believe it. it is a fictional book, just a story. but a very powerful story. and in some ways it answers the question of "why does God let bad things happen". i think it shows how faith can be relevant to us, today. it's a story of healing. of empowerment. and it IS just a book - there's parts in it that didn't quite sit right with me. but a fantastic read...

and i would recommend it if you haven't read it. if you have read it, i would love to hear what you thought, too.

happy reading!

image: The Shack Book

fabric...

yes. i do come from generations of fabric hoarders. it's in my blood! what am i supposed to do? use it?!?!?!

So i'm a guest blogger at Blog This this week: check it out! and check out the blogs!

argh! so many things to make, so little time :)
(she says as she goes back to the sewing machine...)

let the fun begin

ok. i must admit that i have run from this for awhile. i'm not sure why, but probably the "stereotypical" view the (non craft) world takes on quilting.

but i have started a quilt.

eek!

i thought i would throw in a teaser of some of the fabulous fabric i'm using:




yes, out comes my orange obsession again!

they are by a designer called Lizzy House - she has a beautiful blog worth checking out!
the quilt (yes, my first ever!) is a childrens design. easy block design. wish me luck!

pictures to come...


images : andover fabrics

mushrooms...

no, not magic mushrooms! but little button mushrooms! and we're growing them (well, i should actually correctly say my husband is growing them!)

check out our little box of goodies:



the box comes all ready-to-grow, and it lives in our garage (dark and cool) and gets a light spray of water every morning. and wallah! 3 weeks later we're eating mushrooms for dinner every night...

all mushroom recipe comments gladly appreciated :)

what a weekend...

What a weekend! as always, it went too fast... but hey, that's life.

it's fun to do crazy things every now and again. like put up a christmas tree. in july. and have secret santa presents. and bon bons. and sit around a table and have a big cooked dinner and tell the stupid jokes from the bon bons.
[eg. what's big and green and always points north? a magnetic cucumber. seriously. who comes up with these?? ]



so yes, Christmas In July happened this weekend for us. and it was great to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen for AGES... it's good, isn't it?? to catch up. chew the fat. laugh. cry.

(love christmas!)

and here i am, sunday night. i have so much blog inspiration: and so little time. but here is a little promise: a blog this week! mayhaps two... oh i'd like that :)
shall i finish with a picture of rudolf in my lounge room. He's gotta have a red nose for Christmas, right?!



i think'd make santa proud, don't you?