Next gift - return of the Embroidenator

Hmm.
imagine a conversation with one's mother about Christmas. Where one and one's mother agree not to exchange presents. Imagine saving the air consumed to cool one's porridge.

Apparently this EXQUISITE glasses case doesn't 'count' as a Christmas present, in spite of being GORGEOUS, and given to me on Christmas Day wrapped in Christmas paper.
Just as well I took no notice of the agreement too ;-)

More gifts from the heart...

The wonderful, beautiful and clever Adele Wheeley owns Whare Homewares in Christchurch with husband Andrew. I have know and loved Adele, or Dellie as we call her, since well before Whare came into being. She is the most passionate and clever retailer I've ever known, in fact I have to honestly say I never realised how much art and science went into making a shop work and making it successful.

I love Whare; it is the most beautiful gift shop I've ever been into, and also because it reflects the taste of someone whose taste is so perfectly on the spot.

Dellie sent me this beautiful tea towel for Christmas, knowing how much I LOVE red poppies. I can't bring myself to use it as a tea towel and want to make something fab out of it but not sure yet what they will be :)

Because I love them and their products and the earthquake has not exactly been the best thing that has happened to Christchurch businesses, I hope yiz all check out their website, on which one can buy things, and also on facebook there are gorgeous photos and all it takes is a phone call!

More from Gifts from the heart

Some people just seem to attract an adjective that sticks like another given name. The Lovely Anne-Marie is one of those people. She just is lovely! And last year when she made her annual pilgrimage to Mother England, she bought me this fab teatowel. She was amazed that I mounted it and hung it on the kitchen wall!

I LOVE it. No plate shall dampen this teatowel. It is educational (I can't believe I never clicked there were two King Georges in the 20th C) attractive, and has the kind of olde worlde vibe that suits our apartment. And lots of red and gold of course ;-)

Isn't she lovely!!

Gifts from the heart

I am the luckiest woman on Earth. Not only do I have wonderful friends and family, they know me so well, and over the last year I have received some gifts that are just so beautiful and so "me", I want to share them.
The least recent is my first to post about. Ms Joie de Vivre noted one day that the gorgeous cupcake stand I was given for Christmas 2009, had lots of bits to keep track of. So, she got to thinking and creating and eventually, presented me with this:

This gorgeous bag holds all the bits, and even has an extra little bag for the struts and wingnuts. It is lined, padded, and has a nice long shoulder strap.
It is such a thoughtful, pretty present! And it is VERY useful, as the cupcake stand rarely gets used at home, but is forever being lugged from event to party to work do!
Thank you sweet Joie xo

Trips and weddings

Oh the convergence of large events, how they try us! Two fabulous things are happening in the next few months. My bestie is getting married and Mr C and I are off to the UK. So, we are making plans, and I am making a dress. I may blog about it but it's really very boring for most of the process as it's just a bunch of off white silk. The trip is cool too.
I am sitting here at about 10.30pm wishing that we weren't on daylight time because the 1 pound sale at the Hoxton Hotel begins noon GMT and right now that is 1am NZDT. And it's a school night.
So, we will retain our rather shabby and poky accommodation in London that after all only cost the same as similarly pokey accommodation in Nelson. Amazing!
My challenge is to savour the run up to both of these amazing events. Either of them would be enough to fill my non-work hours, yet I have them both. I am doubly blessed! :) Blessed rhymes with...stressed hehehe.

Apartment pics at last!

It's only taken me since Thanksgiving to post these photos, which MrC took on the morning of the dinner, hence some rather random elements sitting around.

 The bedroom. Love our chandelier, which is the granddaddy of the one we had in our last bedroom. I looked at heaps of styles but this one won my heart again. Not sure if you can see the toile du jouy fabric of our curtains properly. I LOVE it. Our bedroom was entirely white when we got it, with a broken navy roman blind. Its new look gives me much joy!

 The living area, dining room end. A tantalising glimpse of my gorgeous paisley curtains!

Curtains closed and close up. I LOVE this fabric. It's so OTT having it floor to ceiling. But hey, if the shoe fits...;-)

 Other end of the living room. The somewhat odd formation of chairs was just part of preparing for 11 guests.

 Kitchen. Love the wallpaper I found for the bench, which used to be the same pumpkiny colour as the cupboards. The big red cupboard on the far right houses our fridge (facing towards the kitchen) and transformed my life! Suddenly I have a big cupboard above, the skinny one behind and there are places to put things away. Yay! That's me in the kitchen preparing to feed people. Yum.

Oh no!! We've been done over! No, actually, that's about typical for upstairs. It's a creative space and chaos is its natural state ;-)

Hand sewing project - Cathedral Ceiling

Some quilt patterns just don't lend themselves to machine piecing. The cathedral ceiling is one of them.

Not to be confused with the more famous cathedral window, the ceiling is a series of eight pointed stars intersected by shaped crosses.

This is mine so far. I like seeing it on the wooden table as the richness of the wood is not dissimilar to the missing burnt orange intersectors.

When it is completed, the finishing touch is a wee suffolk puff in the centre of each block, to represent the boss in the ceiling.

A real cathedral ceiling, from which the quilt draws its inspiration.

It may take me a few more years to complete this quilt, and to be honest I'm a bit over the autumn colour scheme of it already. But I will finish it!! I will!! :)

Before there were small things (Nano), there were Nana things...

...And so there was Nanatechnology! Things made by hand with love and care. Yum.
For the past two years, a small group of us have run a craft market at work. Just over a long lunch hour in our lunch room, and then we leave it out for a couple of days and people pop by our desks to buy things. It's cool - everyone wins. Twenty percent goes to a local organisation that helps people in need, the crafters make some Christmas spending money, and the workers can buy unique gifts for their friends and families.

Rows of delicious preserves by the Embroidenator, so pretty with their serviette tops! My tea cosies in far corner, some of HRH's gorgeous button jewellery too.

The ever elegant Miss de Vivre adds finishing touches to the presentation.

A week later, we hike it over to another workplace with a lot more people, and other crafters, and do it all again. But only for lunchtime.
It all adds to that wonderful sense of pending Christmasness, which I enjoy far more than the actual event most years. Except this one, which was ab fab. :)
Happy New Year all!