holidays

merry christmas xxx

photo

baked goods

on sunday, despite the plus 30c temperature, i baked.

these are (some) of my christmas treats made so far;

cranberry and pistachio biscotti from the latest donna hay magazine

shortbread from an old cookbook that belonged to my nanna (though of course no shortbread is as good as my nanna’s!)

toasted pine nut and almond toffee (which is jaw-breakingly moreish) from this bargainous book

and rosemary and thyme roasted almonds (adapted from here).

not seen:

these gingersnaps (the dough for which is maturing in the fridge)

a solid chocolate christmas tree (that still needs to be stuck together and decorated)

these snowballs (which i’ll make a little closer to chistmas)

these caramels (forgot to get cream so will make them tomorrow)

and this magic sauce (because even i need to eat something other than sweets all the time, and because it truly is delicious).

meanwhile, i have no idea what i’m going to have for dinner (and no inclination to cook anything). might be reaching for a tin of baked beans tonight, methinks…

liberty

lusting after liberty.

if only it weren’t so damn expensive..!

 

quilting

this quilt by jane e. dunnewold is beyond amazing.

wrapping presents

okay, i said that i was going easy on the christmas decorations around the house this year, but that excludes wrapping. i’m all for bright colours this year (though when am i NOT about bright colours?!)

magazine gift bow instructions here (found via pinterest)

free printable tags from gifted mag and eat drink chic

ps. this picture has made me realise that i have SO much more christmas shopping to do…

 

decorations

i’m going easy on the christmas decorations this year; i sort of forgot to put them up at the beginning of the month, and it’s just too late to put them out now (read: i can’t be bothered as we’re not planning on having anyone over in the next week, and everything needs to be dusted first).

but man: i wish my house was looking as awesome as supermarket sarah’s. i’d definitely be having everyone ’round if that were the case…

 

nice surprises

last night i went out for korean barbeque which was super, super delicious (and super, super cheap).

i ate beef in all shapes and forms, and pork and kimchi and soup and seafood pancake and and i loved it all. and this is coming from an ex-vegetarian who still very rarely eats meat. it was just that good.

and i also got some surprise gifts from some recently-returned-from-overseas friends. how a c e is this rabbit calendar? thanks ineke + jude!

time to think

louise bourgeois from here

blue + red + yellow + green

typically awesome christmas catalogue from craft victoria

perfect colour combinations

i love the colour explosion of this castle + gorman collaboration. my love of neon + neutrals is showing no sign of waning, especially with the weather warming up.

i especially like the beach towel in the top pic: i totally need a new beach towel, even though i rarely go swimming. my current beach towel was a christmas present from my nanna and pa more than 20 years ago. and it survived 5 years of everyday use when i was living overseas, so, as you can imagine, it’s seen better days…

honeycomb

i love honeycomb paper decorations, especially vintage ones.

these were a lucky op-shop find last week: 90c for the lot.

they’re too delicate to be used, but the colours have faded so beautifully, it seems a shame to hide them away.

but just look at the prints on the outside, especially the circular ones with the masks and confetti and bonbons: i wish i’d been at that party..!

textiles

i’ve been collecting fabrics to make a quilt.

around this time last year i made two quilt tops that i still haven’t actually turned into quilts: i guess arranging the colours in pretty order is more fun than handsewing metres and metres of quilting lines…oh well. cheap thrills, i guess.

but i’m determined to finish both of them, and start a new one this summer, hence this stash which is composed of: an old shirt that i never wear anymore, some nani iro left over from nanna’s christmas present last year, more japanese florals, a few liberty scraps that i’ve been hoarding since i lived in the uk, some hand-dyed solids that i made last year, and a few more pretty prints.

yep. after a pretty hectic year, i’m looking forward to this.