Busy Bee

Hello Dear Readers,


Late post this week, I was pretty busy over the weekend working both days at the Sewing Rooms.  Sunday afteroon I was knackered, Pat even made me a sandwich for lunch:

All he's missing is a Kiss the Cook apron.  I managed some sewing, this cute little bag for a gift for a friend. 

And also this football on the left, which is part of an Amish Puzzle ball I've wanted to make for a long time since I read my favorite sewing book Last Minute Patchwork Gifts.  It's the gift that's a pleasure to make, a pleasure to give and hopefully it will give the reciepient some pleasure as well!

Today was a really special day because I got to see my good friend Molly (who actually looked exactly the same today!) who was down to be "standardized" for her teaching.  Remember I made this Itty Bitty Baby Dress?  Well Molly, being the good friend she is, gave me an action shot on the same day as me giving the dress.

This is a woman who knows how to appreciate a handmade gift (and ensure more will be on the way....).  So nice to see her and talk to her without baby interruptions, though I look forward to seeing Katelyn when she is more mobile.  I felt like I ate so much at lunch, but I'm hungry now!  Just  made some chocolate chip banana muffins with Nestle Chocolate Chips imported from the US, I think I'll go enjoy some.

Cheers

So......prom and so...... thankful

Hello Dear Readers,

Sorry for the lack of bloggage last week.  I worked both days at the Sewing Rooms and was catching up from Paris, but I'm back this Thanksgiving weekend.  I am thankful this weekend that I have a nice boss who let me work extra hours to take Thursday afternoon off, and I'm thankful that his graduate student, fellow American Mindy, could come by with a delicious sweet potato casserole complete with marshmallows (hard to find in England)! And just plain thankful that I have a job at all!  Well two in fact, go me!

 Here we are setting out the feast, with Patrick taking photos on his phone.  I made a nut loaf which came out pretty good, we ate it with cranberry sauce.  I also made a pumpkin pie from a new recipe I didn't read that closely. Turns out you are supposed to make it the night before and have it set in the fridge, oh well!

I'm also thankful this weekend for the photos my friend Jennifer (who visited this summer) posted on her shutterfly site.  These have already made the rounds around the Skippys and Facebook, but I want to post them here for my benefit too (and any non Skippy readers - btw, don't know if I mentioned it before but the group of people I hung out with in High School refer to ourselves as Skippys, may have to post about that sometime).

Here we are on our High School band trip to New York, can't remember exactly which year it was, but very strange to see the towers there.  That's my friend Susan on the left, Adam in the middle giving us a hug, and Devin smiling from the right.

So...... prom (the phrase heard 100 times in the last month of Senior Year).  Amy in a dress! Me in that tiara I misplaced at the post prom party and never saw again (Devin, perhaps your mother found it when they moved?).  Melch's red and black dragon dress which I made, and hammered all the eyelets up the back by hand. Jon visiting from Canada!  I love this photo, so many friends and memories.

And a few years later (Chris is now in the picture, check out that facial hair!).  At Adam's place for New Year's, my Sophmore year in college.

I'm so thankful for the internet and this blog which allows me to keep up with those friends, and for having the chance to see Jen and Amy this year.  I had so much fun with them, as if it was the day after the prom photo and not 11 years later. 

Hope all Americans had a lovely Thanksgiving, no matter where you had to spend it or with who, it's the thought that counts, and every one who is able to read this should be pretty thankful for what they have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sex(y scientists) and the City, or, Midnight(s) in Paris

Salut Mon Chers Lecteurs,

What a fantastic weekend I've had in Paris!  I took the Eurostar on Thursday evening with my friends Jacquie and Aurelie.  We stayed at Aurelie's Great-aunt's flat which was the cutest garret you ever saw, something out of a modern La Boheme. Slanted roofs and half a bath tub, complete with ornery downstairs neighbors who hit their ceiling with a broom. 

Paris is very much a city of art, but I didn't appreciate just how much there would be just around!  Apparently the famous graffiti artist Blek le Rat has kicked off a lot of it, and these little space invader mosaics can be seen all over the city.  It's one thing knowing Paris is a center for art and culture, but I was blown away by it.  I really came away with a lot of inspiration and ideas for new projects, one of the things I love about traveling. I regret that I didn't bring my sketch/idea book with me to capture it all.

 It also helped that we were with a local who knew which sites to take us to, such as this view of Paris by Night that we got on top of a famous department store.

 We steered pretty clear of the touristy stuff, though I got a good view of the famous tower by night as well.  We had spent the day walking walking and walking, starting with the local market places, going to Sacre Ceure where we had a sunny picnic (and I picked up some Linen fabric for a bath towel - so absorbent!)

 The last day was more walking walking walking, and discovering lovely historic architecture in the older part of the city such as the Marie.  We had so much bread wine and cheese, but really I could have stayed and eaten another week.  We had Corsican food, Aurelie's Great Aunt fed us crepes with homemade jelly and we also had traditional buckwheat crepes from a Brittany crepeerie.  The company was so good too, above are Aurelie and Elisabetta and me in Louis XIII square (I believe). Not pictured are Jacquie and Mirella.

The last evening we couldn't stay away from Notre Dame and walking on the Seine like all good tourists.  We also checked out the famous Shakespeare and Company, the English language book shop facing Notre Dame.

There was just so much to do and see, we are already thinking of another trip back.  I really need to take Chris next time too, it was really a romantic city and though Elisabetta let me hold her arm while we were walking on the Seine (she's Italian, it's very natural) it's not quite the same.  This was more like a taster to whet my appetite for more.

Mes amis au revoir!!

The Best Laid Plans

Hello Dear Readers,

Well I had big plans for this weekend, pruning the neighbors rose bush (it grows over into our garden) painting the office and kitchen, the full laundry of three people (incl. sheets) but Friday night I felt a sore throat and Saturday I had a full blown head cold, curtsey of Patrick.  Boys really do have cooties!

The only thing I really managed was to make this Itty Bitty Dress for my friend's daughter. I kind of tried to do a hybrid between the 3T size and the newborn one by shrinking the 3T by 25% and adding .5 inch on each side, but it's still hard to know if it will fit.  I used two old t-shirts, one from Patrick and one from another friend, and the butterfly is off of a pair of Molly's old jeans.....so what goes around comes around, a pretty eco-friendly up-cycled dress all in all!  If it fits and she likes it I plan on making several more as it perfectly uses up most of a t-shirt and I have a bunch of color combos and embellishments I want to try.  She my only friend with kids who has a girl, so unfortunately she is going to be at the receiving end of a lot of girly wear as dresses are more fun than trousers!

I also went to Patrick's Four's Head race this year, hard to believe it's been a year already.... Wasn't up for doing a brunch this year, though I thought about it.  Just too much going on.

I went in to work today because I was giving a short talk to some A-level (mid high school I think is the equivalent) students, but by lunch time I was dragging so I took the afternoon off.  Hanging out with knitting, pod-casts and tea, hopefully I'll be up to speed tomorrow.  This Thursday I take the Eurostar to Paris.  Can this really be my life?!?  Too much fun!

I'll take lots of photos and catch you up on all the fun, fashion and food of Paris next week.
Heather

Baby's First Halloween, or, an excuse for pumpkin hats

Hello Dear Readers,


Last weekend Chris and I took a trip up to Chez Brooke-Becker in Cambridge to visit my good friend Molly from graduate school.  I made a pumpkin hat for Katelyn and it was pretty much the cutest thing you ever saw, and we got a number of compliments on it from strangers.

She even wore it to the pumpkin patch, naturally, where we picked some pumpkins for carving and snacking on seeds. Molly made a cute, sorry, scary face out of the word BOO (left) and George made this fantastic screwball eyed beauty (right).

Chris and I tag teamed a Jack Skellington look alike (center), who hopefully spooked some kids last night.  We weren't home on Monday evening so we didn't get any trick or treaters, but I did see quite a few around coming back from the gym, lots of skeletons and witches, very traditional here.

I also got worms from Molly for my compost bin who will hopefully keep it going though the fall, though we are having a strangely warm November.  I had plenty of room to bring stuff back because I brought a bunch of stuff to share with them, including the baby skirt I made a while ago.  She's still a bit small for it, but I have no fears she'll grow into it quickly.  She also really loved the baby monkey, especially the red mouth, that one goes on the top of my list for baby presents in the future now.

All in all we had a fantastic trip, looking forward to going back in a few months for George's birthday if everything goes according to plan.

Cheers!

Like White on Rice

Hello Dear Readers,

This weekend was the first one in a while where I didn't have to work either day at the sewing shop.  Instead, I made a long time dream of mine into a reality, painting the hallways and living room!!

We spent Saturday taping copies of the trashy paper Metro all along the base boards, washing the walls with sugar soap and painting the edges and trim with a brush.

Saturday came the fun part of actually laying on the white, acrylic paint.  Gone are the tire marks, gone are the weird scratches in the wall at hip height (?) gone are the randomly placed hooks and most of the nasty water stain from that leak.......

Yup, it was a true team effort as Chris, Patrick, Calvin and I all pitched in at varying stages and abilities.  There was a two for one sale at the B&Q (Home Depot for my American readers) so we have 20 liters of paint, enough probably to do the kitchen, bathroom and office as well, maybe even a little bit of our room.   That will have to wait a while because I think we are all painted out right now, but how wonderful it looks!

Friday night I went with some girlfriends from knitting and Chris and my brother to see the opening of Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the museum.   It is totally worth a go, and I know I'm going back a few more times on my lunch break, some of them you can hardly believe are real.

On the bus ride back I finished up this cheeky monkey, a pattern I got for free when at Michaels picking up some much needed ribbon for Cat's wedding.  I'm going to visit my good friends Molly and George this Friday-Sunday and I thought this would be a good gift for their baby Katelyn.

Here he is admiring the whiter than white wall near my brother's room - I think I'll go on the stairs now, sniff paint fumes and admire the snowy whiteness.....

More from Cambridge next weekend!

Cheerio!

Cat Lindon Got Married..... and I helped!

Hello Dear Readers!

Greetings from London!  The flight back was ok, I managed to rest my eyes a bit before landing, hopping in a cab, dumping my stuff and cycling to work!  I also am working at the sewing shop all weekend so there is no rest for the wicked.

Speaking of work, here is a picture of the sweat shop my sister was operating before the wedding.  Here we are assembling boxes, cutting paper to put in them, filling them with wedding M&M's and tieing them up with ribbon!  Well, SOME of us did, Patrick is dj'ing in the back there.  What did we do before Spotify?

It was all worth it though, the wedding was splendid, and Cat and I were knock outs!

There was lots of food, dancing and general merry making (open bar!).  Cat and Jeff make a lovely couple, don't you think!

I also had a great time hanging out with both sides of my family (The Baums on my mother's side and my dad's brother and sister and their families).  There was also a girl there who was a friend of the girlfriend of a friend of the best man (got it?).  Turns out though, she works for the company who has the contract my dad's company is taking over, though she didn't know that the Cat of Cat and Jeff's wedding that she was going to was Cat Lindon.  She sees him every Wednesday, apparently, small world!

My aunt gave me a splendid quilt in blues and purples which is currently gracing my bed as it gets chillier in London, though still unreasonably warm.  In exchange I gave her this lovely Ice Queen I made out of the lilac cashmere my friend Lucy brought back from China.

Just her color too!  You can see my Greek flashcards just under her elbow on the left, didn't have too much time for knitting and studying but I wasn't too far behind when I went to class Thursday night, so I seem to have made out ok.  We also took a family trip to Walden pond, one of my favorite spots in Mass.  Sigh, so hard to come back, but nice to be home.

Off to relax with Chris, we hardly go to see each other this busy week!

Cheers!