I'm Still Here - Just Distracted

I've given up trying to have any order or method to my creativity the last couple of weeks. My mojo is well and truly all over the place. I'm either going hell for leather or being a total couch potato. I'm just rolling with the punches. 

Last Saturday Val and Claire showed me how to use freezer paper to make perfect applique shapes (amongst eye rolling at how difficult I managed to make it look- I can't help it if my fine motor skills are crap) and my Seville Quilt was born. (Cleverly named because these bits are orange peels and Seville is a type of orange- I really wanted to use Clementine but someone already had that idea) 

1 down - 143 to go 

I've been intermittently working on Mr. P's T-shirt quilt since I last popped in. Let me tell you that T-shirts are a bit of a bitch to work with even when you use interfacing as a stabiliser. However,progress has been made and here's a sneak upside down peek. (I was too lazy to take this off, turn it around and take the photo so please stand on your head to view it) 

For the longest time I've wanted to make a clamshell quilt but it all seemed a bit hard until I saw this blog post with a different (read infinitely easier) way to make clamshells. I've decided to do a mini for my sewing room wall just so I can say I've made a clamshell quilt and knock the urge out of my system once and for all. 

I've given up on trying to knit the infinity scarf because it seems to be taking an infinity to finish it . Ironic huh? And that applecore pincushion may end up an ancestral sewing project that gets passed down to the next generation to finish in my will too. 

I had a busy social weekend last weekend so I'm looking forward to a quiet one this weekend filled with lots of lovely sewing. I really need to take stock of what's going on over on my WIP list. I hope your weekend is full of lovely things that rock your socks off.

Living it Up.

I fully admit I'm a hermit. I go to work and respond to people all day , every day so when I'm not at work I do tend to hibernate and avoid social activities. My modus operandi for relaxing is to avoid any activity that requires clothes fancier than trackies or pyjamas on weekends. I never leave the house in trackies, I just look tacky. And if you leave the house in pyjamas people think you're either homeless or mentally ill.

Mr. P on the other hand, is a social butterfly. If I was willing, I'm sure we'd be out dancing on tables 6 nights a week. We've reached an agreement about a happy medium. We do what I want to do because that's the way for my husband to have a calm and happy life and a wife who isn't a complete basket case.  

Several weeks ago I was thinking about what to get Mr. P for his birthday. My husband is incredibly difficult to buy for because the very few things he does want are completely outside of our financial realm. I am not buying a Harley for a birthday present when my bathroom needs renovation. Although if we leave that much longer 70's tile and retro bathroom fittings are going to be trendy again so we may not have to bother. 

Inspiration strikes in the most unexpected of places. I was cruising around Pinterest when I saw this idea.  I decided that it was the perfect gift for Mr. P for his birthday. What do you give a man who is the most social person on the planet when he has a completely anti social wife. You give him the guaranteed opportunity to do something special (and social) once a month for a year. 

On the 1st day of every month Mr. P gets to open one of these bags and in the envelope inside I've arranged something for us to do together for that month. 

Our adventure for August was playing tourists in our hometown. I made a reservation for dinner at restaurant we hadn't tried before in the city and booked a hotel room for the night too.

So yesterday we headed off for 24 hours of leaving our usual lives behind, which meant I had to get dressed and leave the house. If that isn't love- I don't know what is. 

First stop: Central Markets in the city to get some goodies.

image source 

We were specifically after some artisan and unusual cheeses so what better place to head than The Smelly Cheese shop. 

We were assisted by a lady who was knowledgeable and helpful and she gave some great recommendations. Then we headed off to book into our temporary home for the night in the heart of the city.

We booked in to find we had been upgraded to an apartment from a studio room free of charge  ...I love complimentary upgrades. 

We indulged in a mid afternoon snack to fortify ourselves because we were booked for a fashionably late dinner. 

That weird looking black topped cheese was actually a raspberry infused washed rind cheese. Interesting! And the orange one is sheep's milk cheese. Accompanied by a Parmesan type cheese but with loads of strong flavour and my favourite creamy cheese. (Damn you little Miss Sunshine for every introducing me to that cheese - I eat it far too often) 

Washed the cheese down with a decent white wine , some Serrano ham and Hungarian Salami. I was feeling very mellow by the time we'd finished. 

We decided to talk a little walk down to the Mall because no trip to the city is complete without a visit to the Haighs shop at the Beehive Corner. 

image source

The Haul

Later that night we went to Sosta which was truly one of the best meals of my life. Everything was absolutely perfect from the ambience to the service and the food was amazing. I highly recommend you try it if you're ever in Adelaide. It's Argentinian so not suitable for vegetarians. If this is how gauchos eat - sign me up!

Calamari , Chorizo and something that looks suspiciously like a vegetable.

Chargrilled T-Bone Steak with some awesome glaze

Add three tequila slammers to the meal and a couple of cocktails too and we were feeling very happy by the time we left to walk back to our hotel.

We stopped to listen to a guitar playing street busker on the way and he started playing a song just for us so Mr. P and I had a romantic dance on the footpath in King William Street before we headed on up to the Hilton Bar for a nightcap.

You can't see it in this photo but my drink was brought over to me with flames dancing round in that half kiwi fruit on top of the cocktail. Another first because I've never had a drink on fire before. All in all a perfect evening and a very different way to spend some of our weekend. Stay tuned for September's adventure since this one didn't appear to kill me. (Although I did come home and sleep for three hours this afternoon - but that might have been due to all the alcohol I'd drunk in the preceding 24 hours !) 

Nothing Much to See Here

I can't believe it's August already. Before we know it we're going to be knee deep in Christmas. I'm going to tuck that alarming thought right back deep in my brain until at least December 1st ....and then assault Christmas ninja style. 

Not much going on here at Maison Pyjamas. I don't have anything wildly exciting to say and I don't want to be one of those people that you groan at when you see one of my posts pop up in your reader so I'm keeping a rather low profile.  

In actual news: 

Mr. P had his birthday last week. If you ask -he'll tell you it was his 30th. He actually got away with that for three straight years from 30 to 32 by celebrating with different groups of people every year but I have his number now and I gleefully rat him out every time he tries to make that nonsense fly for another year. For the record-he's well past 30!

Little P came to celebrate with us and we got to give him his presents and his birthday cake. Ice-cream cake is the way to get any 4 year old to love you forever.

He eventually had to be pried out of his Leonardo costume with a crowbar three days after putting it on. I'd say that present was a hit Aunty Brooke.  

In July crafty news, the flower hexies are all appliqued, the Irish chain top has gone off to the quilting fairy and Superheroes 2 got gifted. So far in August the triangles are driving me mad merely by existing and the recycled shirt quilt is being ignored...I've been cutting some more 2.5 inch strips, and started playing with shapes for an orange peel quilt. I've started a test piece but I'm not convinced about the results. This was my third unsuccessful attempt at making it come out like the vision I was seeing in my head. 

Hit a T-shirt front with the iron this week without realising it was something synthetic and it shriveled like a shrinky dink coating my iron with black crap in the process. That's one less T-Shirt I have to put into the quilt I'm making for Mr. P. 

I'm making this the only quilt I'm working on this month ...maybe then we'll see some progress.