Favourite Things Friday

Good Grief ! I'm not sure where this week has gone  since Friday is here again already. How is that possible? Wasn't it only Friday the day before yesterday? No matter- If you have a favourite thing this week I'd love to hear all about it. Feel free to write your own post and link up at the bottom of this post so I can come and have a squizz.

Op Shopping is  the art of buying things at a fraction of retail price, finding unique and unusual items, and adding pretty things to an already over flowing house. There is nothing I like better than toodling round the local op shops and scoring myself crazy bargains. It's absolutely true that one (wo)man's trash is another (wo)man's treasure.

Sometimes I see things that make me run across the length of a shop in order to get to it before someone else gets their hands on it.  In this case I elbowed my own mother out of the way to get to these. Sorry Mum.  I am a vintage chenille freak and it's possible that I have cornered the market in the Southern Hemisphere. When I die it's going to come to light that I was the crazy chenille lady. Even Mr. P doesn't know how much of this stuff I have stashed all over the house.

Ditto on vintage sheets .....I have about 40 of them ....I don't have any plans for them . I just collect them. I might need them one day. For when I open a vintage sheet shop.

Op shops are a mecca for all sorts of cool stuff...like fabric. I found these curtains and pounced on them like a seagull on a chip.  How cool will these be for applique or the back of a quilt? 

I love old glassware . This is a recent find.

And this is an antique butter dish I found on another trip. My sister loves this and it lives with her now.

Lace and Linen. I have big plans for these. Oh- the possibilities!

 I picked up a pair of sizzling platters on one of my recent expeditions.One of the thrills of op shopping is that you never know what you'll find.

Among my all time favourite finds is this soup tureen.

And this very cute shabby old chair...

Do you op shop? What's the best thing you have found? Do you go with a plan in mind or just wander aimlessly waiting for something to catch your fancy?

Happy Friday to everyone. One more day until the weekend. Whoooooo Hoooo!

15 Minute Challenge with Kate

I haven't linked up to Kate's 15 minute challenge the last couple of weeks because there hasn't been much going on here in the creativity department. There wasn't a whole lot happening this week either but I did manage to get the bases for my Christmas gift boxes sewed together.

I got one block to completion and I'm liking the way it looks. 15 more blocks to go. Lots of seam pressing in these blocks which we all know I love(insert sarcasm here)

In pondering my lack of significant achievement  again this week, I have realised that having an actual paying job that I'm expected to attend daily really interferes with my crafting. As does hosting birthday parties, having house guests, and falling asleep on the couch at 9 pm every night. How do other people manage to find the time to be so crafty? I don't have kids to worry about and still can't get my shit together.

I would also like to point out that Ms. Seams Inspired is kicking my butt in our Quiltalong with these blocks. Little Miss Sunshine and I are lagging way behind so if you want to join in you're still not too far behind to catch up!

Pop on over to Kate's to see more creative peeps and their achievements this week.  I believe there is a Christmas giveaway going on there.

P.S. If my awesome boss is reading this I LOVE my job. I just wish you'd come to the party on the idea of me hand stitching during meetings.

High Tea

A few weeks ago I decided to actually use all the things I buy and hoard and never use. I have the most beautiful tea cup collection and some delightful bowls and glassware that never actually get used and it seems like such a shame not to create a reason to use all that gorgeousness instead of hiding it in a cupboard and so the idea of High Tea was born. I am  a tea mug and eat the biscuits from the packet kind of girl so much research was needed to ensure we did this properly. Oh google I love you so.

So on Saturday I dressed in my best girly clothes (jeans and a polar fleece vest with my fluffy white slippers ) and dragged out the tea set and all my pretty china for High Tea. Many many hours were spent baking and I bought a new table cloth for the occasion. I invited my best girlfriends and we sat down to an afternoon of gossip and sipping tea.

Peppermint slice and caramel slice

Gluten free goodies for the wheat challenged.

 I'm sure that in the  days of old they had chocolate at High Tea.

Teeny tiny one bite sandwiches- ham and mustard and fish paste (not all in the same sandwich because that would be too gross)

Scones - courtesy of Sister of Pyjamas

Mmmmmmmmmmm....

Butterfly cakes.

Our resident expert SAJ showed us how to class it up because she's actually from the land of High Tea.

Sister of Pyjamas confessing her scones are made from a box of CWA mix. Just add water.

Patty Pie (Mother of Pyjamas ) showing us the correct way to use a tea pot. 

Lamington sponge. An Aussie favourite.

Aside from the fact I traded both my lamb barrah kebab and cinnamon bun pancake recipes for the scone "recipe" (I'd like to know exactly how long she's been cheating for) and also the fact that I stuck my left boob right in one of those butterfly cakes reaching across the table in a very unclassy fashion it was a very high brow afternoon. I think this is something I need to do more often!

PS. I totally cheated. Aside from the sandwiches everything else came from Bruce the Baker. Thanks Bruce.

Favourite Things Friday-The Delayed Edition

It's been a completely insane week at Maison Pyjamas.  I haven't been around at all  to comment on and visit your blogs or even respond to email. I fully intended to write an FTF post this evening based on my day today and I've just realised I'm halfway through and it sounds like I'm talking swahili. Which would be kick arse awesome if any of you spoke swahili but I'm pretty sure none of you do.

Sometimes I take on too much. Sometimes I over estimate my ability to juggle 10 things at once.  It's simply not possible to work fulltime, have people over for dinner Monday and Tuesday , go out for dinner Wednesday , have your parents arrive to stay one day early on Wednesday, cook, clean, shop , make sure you know where you've hidden your clean undies, generally live life and still manage to blog when you're organising an emergency banquet dinner for your entire family  at your house for your father's 70th birthday on the same day you're hosting High Tea because your Dad had a surgical procedure yesterday that rendered the idea of the family going out to celebrate his birthday completely untenable. It would appear that there are limits to even my endurance. 

All of this is my waffly way of apologising for not having a FTF post  for you this week. For not being around to comment on your posts and for not being a great blog buddy this week. For not responding to your emails  ( Hey Kristie - go easy on that chocolate babe) and in general being a very unexciting blogger. Sometimes life happens. And it's completely out of my control.

I'll be back on Sunday with my High Tea Post. I'm so looking forward to sitting round with a cuppa tomorrow and scoffing down some  lots of cake. I've conned Sister Of Pyjamas into bringing her famous scones. I'm seriously thinking about having them scientifically analysed so I know how to make them - they're that good and she wont share the recipe. I hope you'll find time to join me and show me what High Tea looks like at your place.

 

PS. On the up side now you know I keep FTF totally real. It's not written in advance. I don't have back up posts that I've polished and made deliberately funny and honed and crafted. Surely that's got to earn me some brownie points right?

Pyjama Party Sunday

Fueled by 9 Little Debbie Snack cakes and a pack of Hershey's nuggets for breakfast  (those things are as addictive as crack I swear )  I spent some of today making a test block for a Christmas quilt. This is based on a Kate Spain design called Flurry.  Mrs. Seams Inspired , Little Miss Sunshine and I have decided to do the same quilt at the same time as a kind of mini quiltalong. You can get the pattern here as a free PDF download if you want to join in.  

And because the test block was not a disaster I decided to forge ahead and start cutting fabrics for the  real blocks. Yes ! It's July so that must mean the start of some Christmas projects....Thea and I are planning a Christmas stocking assault in a couple of weeks.

I finished the Dresden quilt top which was not without swearing when the sashing didn't line up and I had to unpick it. Several times. I hate sashing that has to match up.

I sewed all of the sashing onto the BWR quilt too.  I just keep liking this quilt more and more.  Maybe I'll keep it for myself.

Mr. P made me a light box so I can trace my stitcheries without taping paper and fabric to the one window in our house that gets good light for about 15 minutes a day. It works beautifully!

I've been thinking lately I'm utterly sick of myself. I look like a dag, I dress like a dag and I'm turning into a middle aged dag. Gone is the bloom of my youth and I'm firmly stuck in frumpy-ville. Time for drastic change.

That is me...raw and without the benefit of makeup, my straightening iron or photoshop yesterday morning. Even I didn't know how bad I looked until I saw this photo.

I've been contemplating a new look for the last 18 months but haven't had the guts to do it . Yesterday I took the plunge. 3 hours and many bucks later this was the result. Now I just need to start wearing makeup.

And that sums up my weekend. To check out other people's weekends hop on over to Marg's for a peek at Pyjama Party Sunday.

To all my American friends Happy July 4th for tomorrow. Have fun eating fried chicken and hot dogs and watching fireworks.

P.S. This post has absolutely no sparkle. I'm down with a rotten cold and I'm completely devoid of vim and vigour unless it's Hershey fueled. Oh! Did someone say chocolate?

The Sweetest Thing I Ever Saw

I'll see you all again when I'm completely pruney from standing under the hot water until it runs out...

PS. Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends. Have a butter tart for me eh?

Favourite Things Friday

I want to say that hot water is my favourite thing this week. Unfortunately I wouldn't know about that since I still don't have any. And I'm pretty sure if I don't have any by next week I'm going to go into total meltdown....I have houseguests due to arrive next week and it's going to be interesting for us all to get clean using a 1.7 litre kitchen kettle.

I know some of you will be wondering if I'm a Stinkasauras by now . I want to reassure the world that I am indeed still taking showers. My in laws live close by and we've been using their hot water . All I can say is I would have made a sucky pioneer because it would have  involved washing in a creek in cold water. I understand now why personal hygiene was so lax in the olden days.

In reflecting this week, (when I have been able to stay awake past 9 pm )  I have realised one of  my favourite things  is spending time with all of you. I have made some wonderful friends through the blogging world. Some of you I've met in person. Some of you know my deepest darkest secrets. Some of you have offered me hot water, Oreo's  and places to stay if I ever make it to the other side of the world. You've celebrated with me, pepped me up , made me laugh, commiserated with me, offered advice , shared stories with me and have let me take you on the crazy journey that is part of living at Maison Pyjamas.

Some of you know me well enough to be able to take the mickey out of me and know I'll let you live. This arrived this week as a surprise gift . I think it's well established I'm more carnivore than herbivore. So this is a deliberately ironic quilt.

That Little Miss Sunshine would take the time to make this as a joke shows the level of friendship we have. I actually almost wet my pants from laughing so hard when I unwrapped it. Yes that's right . Blogging is responsible for me having poor bladder control- and for letting me meet one of my best friends.

And that name!...I'm not convinced that vegetables really are peaceful entities at all... they're put here to torture me.

One of the other things I love about blogging is being exposed to all sorts of different cultures and people. Australia has a fascination for anything "overseas", probably because we're so far away from everything else that it all seems very exotic. This week Larri sent me  "America" in a box! A heavy,very full box...with lots of things in it that I've only ever heard about.

Apparently grits and collard greens are as much an acquired taste as vegemite.

I'm going to feed the Kool Aid to Little P ...5 minutes before he's due to go home. Apparently it's 100% sugar.

 Oreo Heaven.

I'm going to practice talking American so eating all of this is all the more authentic.

Friends, blogging , generosity , diversity , mail , surprises. They're my favourite things this week. And a huge thank you to all of you for sticking around and sharing all of this with me. I appreciate each and every one of you (and not just because some of you are my personal Oreo Pushers)