sew-nice.

a few weeks ago le boy and i had a conversation that went like this:

him: hey babe, if we got you a new good sewing machine how long would it last? 

me: hmmm about 20 years. 

him: let's go tomorrow morning. 

and when we went to john lewis and spoke with the lovely and helpful sales lady, she informed us that yes, they do last 20 years, in fact they last longer :) i was pretty certain about what i wanted (a jonome) le boy, being the consummate value for money man, asked a lot of questions, maybe more questions than most men would ask in the sewing department, and definitely more than a man who won't ever actually touch a sewing machine should ask. but i kinda love that he did, because it means that he cares about the stuff i care about. (ok sappy portion is over). in the end we walked out with a janome, of course we paid for the privilege. 

so what else to do but put the new baby to work? 

and work she has!

wanting to dress up our bed i made a few quick throw pillows. the basic how-to for cushion covers is here with a great measurement guide for the most common sizes. 

i wanted to dress them up a bit and turned to martha for some ribbon inspiration.

for the loopy centre pillow.

and for the rosette.

i just pintucked the ruffle until i liked it and sewed straight down the centre of the ribbon.

all very easy and very very quick!

and for the thing i'm currently most proud of? the console table slip cover! an ikea expedit bookcase turned on its side and covered now provides oodles of hidden storage. the instructions and genius behind this is found from in the sept 2011 canadian house and home.

(and isn't the new chair pretty?) we're ambling our way toward finishing up the living room. in my dreams i'm sewing the curtains this weekend...

and a partridge in a pear tree.

i'm a bit behind, but here goes.

we decided to spend christmas just the two of us. we've had an enormous amount of travel this year, and with money short and limited mobility due to surgery six weeks earlier, we just wanted some time to be at home and be together. we are so glad we did! we realise that this probably won't happen very often and actually, sharing our first christmas together, just us, was such a special time.

to say this year's christmas was catagorized by food would be an understatement. we basically ate our way out of the house.

but shall we start at the beginning?

christmas morning was wonderful. we woke up and had our coffee in bed while we opened our stockings. santa was oh so good, bringing cute note cards, a 'keep calm' mug and a book i'm so glad to read - the meaning of marriage by tim keller - love it already. knew that i would!

christmas morning church is a tradition that we started last year, reasoning that with overseas family we might be frequently travelling during the period, but we'd always be able to find a local church. this year it was special to worship at our (new) home church and enjoy a church filled-to-the-brim with small children, oh so excited about christmas. we remarked that it was a fantastic way to remind ourselves of the reason for christmas - christ - and we hope to keep this tradition alive in our family!

we returned to begin the preparations for the feast and open our under-the-tree presents. it was a year of abundant blessings, our offerings were small, our hearts flung open, our bellies were FILLED.

i set to preparing the dinner that ended all dinners. and once it was all in the oven. we headed out for a walk.

prawns on a bed of winter greens with horseradish cream - i substituted prawns for scallops in the recipe, mainly because my fishmonger was all out on christmas eve, but we liked it so much it's getting a second chance at a birthday dinner in six weeks time!

king of his castle.

roast partridge, pheasant and guinea fowl - why go traditional when there's only two mouths? this was stunning and seemingly more appropriate and still an enormous amount of food!

the very best roast potatoes - use goose fat, it changes everything. and i'm not exaggerating at all.

for dessert we had lava cakes, i wasn't thrilled with them. partly they didn't end up as chocolate lava in the middle, partly the oven decided to stop working in the middle of them baking and partly we were just to filled with food to appreciate anything. lesson learned, in future, i'll go for a pre-cooked, light dessert!

the evening was topped off with watching the classic - national lampoon's christmas vacation, love it. and then suffering from a serious case of 'christmas-itis' we went for a midnight walk through our neighbourhood. it was so lovely to see houses lit up and trees in bay windows and the streets completely quiet, save our footsteps and the jingle bell on the collar of the cat that tried to follow us home.

pantry.

what to do in a kitchen with no space? we have about 5 cupboards in our teensy kitchen. and both food and dishes for cooking and eating, to store. so how to fix this?

we've put up a couple corner shelves, painted white to match the walls, and we're using glass jars.

to keep from mixing up the sugar and salt, icing sugar and flour and the different types of flour i use, i printed cute labels found on pinterest onto sticker paper (seriously, the most useful stationery item i own!). this was an inexpensive project, gets us away from using plastic to store food in and prettied up the kitchen! all with the added bonus of random food no longer falling on our heads when we open the cupboard doors!

Source: sissyprint.blogspot.com via Brie on Pinterest

i love the look, the old-time feel and the ease of it all. the kitchen is 100% more functional! which makes me one happy lady! 

glass jars from ikea, variety of sizes: £0.90 - £2.69

sticker paper: free

corner shelves (4 total) : £4/shelf

Total cost for new pantry: £30

something new.

'upcycling' is a huge trend these days. i'm sure our grandmothers would laugh if they heard about this - taking something that's no longer fit for its original purpose and giving it new life with a little creativity. part of the 'make do and mend' trend. that being said, i'm loving it. i constantly find things all over the house that can be made into something new.

most recently? old wool sweaters. i love wool - i mean i've usually got some of it tangled in my fingers and ready to keep another warm, but what happens when a sweater is past its prime? i had two sweaters that were in this condition. one sweater, the red one, is more than 30 years old. it originally belonged to marvellous, and i believe was purchased over here in the british isles (we have a long love-affair with this island in my family). i came into ownership about a decade ago and i wore that sweater to death throughout university. the moth holes and thinning elbows making it all the cooler. but now, it just looked pitiful. the second was a super cute short sleeved sweater that i accidentally shrunk in the wash...i tried to wear it a few times after that, but it was never the same. so what to do?

i felted the red sweater in a super hot wash and then dry in the dryer - this thing was half it's original size and had fuzzed up really well. i then cut off the sleeves, hemmed closed the arms and neck holes and stuffed a pillow inside. i then used an invisible stitch to close the seam. the white sweater was of course, already mainly shrunk and so i didn't feel it needed a second whirl. i followed the process a second time and had two sweaters-pillows with minimal sewing or effort. plus, i didn't have to buy any fabric or spend any time knitting to then felt it. and really, that's all folks. they are now sitting pretty in our living room, a little seating nook has been created with a footstool and a few cushions and that's a welcome relief because we are sorely short on seating at the moment!

monday musings.

to say we're in a bit of a big week is an understatement. if i'm honest, things might be quiet here this week, but for good reason.

• marvellous arrives tomorrow 
• i'm getting work squared away for 2.5 weeks off 
• surgery on thursday for a knee that isn't working the way it should
• job interview for le boy on thursday (yes that's the same day as surgery) 
• i'm getting laundry done and the house tidied and meals in the freezer 

it's a lot. but there are so many blessings. 

find printable here.

• marvellous arrives
• i'm fortunate to work for an employer with generous sick leave 
• my surgeon is the best, and this is pretty much the appendectomy of orthopedic surgery
• le boy has a job interview, in a difficult economy 
• we've spent the weekend getting caught up on laundry and making food and sorting life here and there
• i'll spend the next week with two people who love me better than anyone and i'm already grateful for their grace

day in autumn:: {november}

it is hard to believe that november is upon us. an aunt of mine once decided to take the month as it came, eating when hungry, sleeping when tired. there is something about november that can be draining. maybe it's the quickening darkness? that in the northern hemisphere we're plunged into winter?

here we're preparing for what i've affectionately called my 'planned convalescence'  it's rather strange to know you're about to be laid up for many weeks. i'm trying to get in all i can while i've got the chance. to rest and prepare my body for healing. to prepare our house for a period of quietness. wool has been ordered. marvellous is coming over. the lovefilm queue has been updated. i'm stocking the freezer. and piling up the books.

::intentions for november::

• leave an extra 15 minutes for getting ready in the morning (stop the rush!) 
• take this month just as it comes
• be gentle with myself in the lead up to and after the surgery
• exercise every day until nov 17
• drink 2+ liters a day of water - the heating in my office has been turned on, bad news for the skin!

 

 

Day in Autumn

By Rainer Maria Rilke 1875–1926
 

Translated By Mary Kinzie  

After the summer's yield, Lord, it is time

to let your shadow lengthen on the sundials

and in the pastures let the rough winds fly.

As for the final fruits, coax them to roundness.

Direct on them two days of warmer light

to hale them golden toward their term, and harry

the last few drops of sweetness through the wine.

Whoever's homeless now, will build no shelter;

who lives alone will live indefinitely so,

waking up to read a little, draft long letters,   

and, along the city's avenues,

fitfully wander, when the wild leaves loosen.

twenty::newlywed::homemaking

::: to see all 31 days of posts please click here :::

i mentioned that i was changing out our curtains the other day. the old curtains were intended to match a purple wall - which is no longer purple. and really, the flowers weren't really our style anyway. i was looking for an inexpensive option (remember, we're on a budget). inspired by pinterest to go with drop cloths and yes, i'm a little behind the times, i realise this was cool about two years ago, but i didn't have a flat to decorate two years ago...

Source: theletteredcottage.net via Brie on Pinterest

i dispatched le boy to our local diy store - he's definitely making friends with the owner! and he returned with two drop cloths of 12'x12'. we've got one of those drapery hanging systems which has hooks and eyes - i wasn't really looking forward to the sewing, but determined to make this experiment work! as it turned out once i'd washed the drop cloths and looked at the whole system - that i could wiggle the hooks through the drop cloths without any sewing - a big bonus is that drop cloths are already hemmed! 

here's a before: 

and here's a few afters...taken at night (darkness is falling at about 6pm these days...)

the next afternoon le boy and i took a walk around the neighbourhood and our local park.

can i pause for a moment and just say how blessed we feel to live in our neighbourhood? there are families with children everywhere! which might seem normal for a neighbourhood with a park, except that this is london and generally children are nowhere to be seen. the park has a small pond/lake, a couple of playgrounds, a track and field area, enormous playing fields, three sets of tennis courts, a mini-putt and a fantastic running/cycle route - we LOVE it.

on the way back i asked le boy to go in ahead and draw the curtains, i wanted to ensure they looked good from the street side too! and in the process i took a few shots of our lovely house. oh how we love it!

where's le boy?

the wrought iron:

our red door:

 

and the gate: 

nine::newlywed::faith

::: to see all 31 days of posts please click here :::

 

thanksgiving you say? in october? well seeing as i'm canadian, yes indeed! i choose to live abroad, i didn't choose to leave all my customs behind, and honestly, any custom that involves enormous amounts of food, gathering the people you love, and the beginning of autumn, is pretty great. so we did thanksgiving, uk-style. which means we had chicken instead because turkeys aren't ready until december - but poultry is poultry right? and we used our teeny-tiny kitchen to feed 5,000 - ok 8, but it was a learning experience! 
 

i've hosted thanksgiving before, but this time was definitely different, because we were hosting thanksgiving. it was a team effort - as i write le boy is cleaning up the teensy but fairly messy kitchen! (now that's something to be thankful for!!!!) and because it was new for us, i changed things up a bit, dishes which were stars around my parents' table were switched  for slightly less involved items. i found great inspiration from this easy how-to guide, complete with downloadable timeline for a trouble-free thanksgiving from real simple. 

 

the menu included:

• chicken, stuffed with a lemon, rosemary and thyme (the single best way to roast a chicken!)  
• garlicky green beans
• easy (make-ahead) stuffing
• mashed potatoes
• crispy sweet potatoes
• salad (contributed by a lovely guest) 
• gravy (of course)
• flourless brownies (recipe coming later in the week) 
• apple crisp (another contribution)

i had a fantastic time placing little touches around the house - as seen yesterday. the centrepieces were candles and some squash with acorns we collected last weekend while in richmond park (i filled le boy's pockets!) and berries from a tree that grows in our garden. 

printables for the place cards and wine glass markers can be found here.  clairebella has some lovely printables! so much of my thanksgiving inspiration can be found on my thanksgiving pinterest board. 

and here is my list of thanks - i'll never be able to list it all. his grace is enough, his mercy new every morning.

• a messy kitchen - i have friends to cook for and food to eat
• a husband who cleans up after everyone's left so i can post this
  
• friends gathered around a dinner table
• welcoming compatriots into our home 
• candles filling the space with warm, soft light 
• using the silver set that used to grace grandma's table, now feeding my family 
• signs of autumn all around 
• weather good enough to sit in the garden before the mid-afternoon meal 
• the warm bath that's waiting for me 
• good books 
• a home to open to others 
• telephone calls and text messages across oceans 
• a dishwasher 
• a saviour who has rescued this mess of a girl, called her by name and promised a future.

amen. 

eight::newlywed::homemaking

::: to see all 31 days of posts please click here :::

it's thanksgiving weekend around our house. so this will be brief. just a quick peek into how we've decorated for the holiday, and a link to the printables - loving what can be found online these days...

 

we are abundantly blessed. 

1 thessalonians scripture  

give thanks banner

one::newlywed::homekeeping

::: to see all 31 days of posts please click here :::

welcome to 31 days of newlywedded bliss! i've decided to join up with a group of bloggers, who are writing on one topic for 31 days. topics are varied and it will be so great to see what people come up with. i'll be linking up via the reluctant entertainer - i LOVE her blog and find so much great inspiration for entertaining ideas!  i'm looking forward to this challenge and to exploring some of the new bits of life that come along with being newly married: hospitality, home organisation, cooking and friendships to name a few. my husband, affectionately referred to as 'le boy' on the blog, has given the green light to the slightly greater-than-usual reveal of our daily lives...but really, he started dating me after the blog was started, so it's a bit part and parcel eh?

when we were married (all eight weeks ago) i knew that our lives were changing. and there are many great, really great, benefits to being married. i'm fortunate to have been raised to know the basics of running a home and i fortunately married a guy who does know how the washing machine, dishwasher and vacuum all work! but running a home is a bit of trial and error, and a bit of learning from others, and a bit of stealing ideas from martha stewart.

recently we've been learning how to handle the masses of laundry that two (!) people generate. there's of course the personal laundry - which we just do together, and whoever realises first that something needs to be done, throws it in the machine. we're extremely fortunate to have a washer/dryer combo! many british homes only have a washer, which is fine, and great for the environment, but can be a little tricky given that there's not much extra space to handle laundry. our machine has a handy delay function, so you can start something in the middle of the night, and it will be finishing up as you wake! (or gets done in the middle of the day and is ready to be unloaded as you get home from work). 

figuring out the cycle for bedsheets and storage of all our wonderful shower gifts of towels and sheets was a bit of a process - but i think we've stumbled on something that's working (for now at least.) 

saturday morning (today in fact!) we change the sheets on the bed. 

we try to immediately put new sheets on - this takes five minutes, but means that tonight, when we're tired, or coming back from somewhere late, or finished having people for dinner, we don't have the moment of 'darn, we still need to make the bed.' fortunately, le boy is obsessed with a made bed, and happily helps - i think his favourite night of the week is saturday, simply because there are fresh sheets on the bed. we change our sheets every week, we change our duvet every two weeks. this seems reasonable for us now and keeps us feeling, well, fresh. 

in a small european flat however, there is always the challenge of storage. where on earth do you hide all those essentials (you know, sheets, towels, bathmats?) we had a moment of genius when buying our bed and bought a bedframe that had drawers built-in to the frame! it provides us with oodles of storage and helps because we can store items in a logical location - bedsheets next to the bed, you say? novel? well i've known people to resort to storing bedsheets in the bottom of a tv-cabinet, because that's where there was space...so yes, it's rather novel! 

this drawer has 8 towels, 10 face cloths, three sets of sheets, two bathmats and 10 hand towels...it's the little drawer that could! now if only le boy would fold the towels 'just-so' and everything would fit! but actually, in this newlywed adventure, i'm realising that you can let things go...and equally, you can gently mention the 'best-practice' i find a bit of jokey manner to be the best...but that's just my guy :) 

finally, for us, it's all about ease. can we find all the pieces we want to make that bed in five minutes flat? and here we steal from martha, again. fold your fitted sheet (tutorial for that pesky fitted sheet here), flat sheet and one pillow case to the same size, i like making them the depth of the pillow case, and then neatly place everything into the remaining pillow case. then when it's bed-making time, you just pull everything out together! plus, things fit in the drawer better this way too! 

whew. who knew i could speak so long on sheets and towels. sorry if this has been a total bore. but these are the things one thinks of when getting married and setting up home! 

what's mine is yours. (?)

they tell you when you get married that you are going to share everything. in my head i was cool with the attrition of shampoo that was inevitable, and with the sharing of things - le boy has developed a strong favouring for my macbook (i do believe he's coming over to the dark side), i recognised that it would be essential to discuss decorating ideas and share even the less exciting events like cleaning (although the rubbish is wholly his to handle!). i wasn't prepared for sharing closet space. not because i thought he was without clothes, but mainly because i failed to concieve of just how many dress shirts, casual shirts, dress jeans, casual jeans, work-appropriate trousers and suits a man can own! and let's not get started on the sports gear - we've got an entire storage space filled, half the spare room and two bins in the bedroom dedicated to 'sport stuff!' shall we just say that i've spent countless hours 'pinning' organisational ideas?

le boy was actually great about cleaning out his wardrobe, we've both been ruthless and the local charity shops and our friends nearby have benefitted immensely! but still. combining all the clothes we own into relatively small spaces has been a challenge. when i was unpacking i came across three hangers, all empty, even though they had enormous potential for space-saving.

ikea::brallis

but they were empty? why i wondered, as i put all my trousers (how british am i?) on the hanger. well i found out rather quickly why...they were slippery! by the end of the week half my trousers (pants for you non-brits) were on the floor. and my section of the closet was looking decidely untidy.

but pinning took me to martha, and martha suggest this:

martha stewart :: stay put pants

add a couple felt pads, originally intended for the legs of your chairs and tables, and no more slip.

so it turns out that this is actually a post about how le boy has learned to share. because i accidently stole 'shared' his hangers. but this is the guy who wasn't using them, (and packed them along to his next house) because his trousers were ending up on the botton of the closet...i say the fixer gets to keep them? plus, my side of closet is looking MUCH more organised these days....