My Place and Yours: Just Five Minute's Peace

Ha! I wish :) The theme this week at Meet Me At Mike's My Place & Yours is Five Minute's Peace, chosen by Pilgrim:

where do you retreat to for that sanity-regaining break? i am interested in what or where in your home your sanctuary is...

My place of peace is at the sewing machine at the moment, and in quieter times as well! It's a place I'm willing to insist on my time at, willing to put with complaining and where I can ignore mess and other pressing concerns. It stills my mind and I (usually) feel a sense of accomplishment while I'm at it.



At the moment I'm finishing up a pair of Sewing Green slippers for my brother-in-law's Christmas present, made out of wool from a thrifted jacket and some wool jersey fabric a friend gave me. I think they're going to look splendid, although the wool isn't so nice to sew as it's a bit prickly. Still, I love sewing wool like this, it's so...compliant!

My Place and Yours: Wherever I lay my hat...

Another toughie for the My Place and Yours meme over at Meet Me At Mikes! This time the theme queen is Tania at Myrtle and Eunice and this is what she's specified:

What are the treasures in your house that signify ‘home’? Is there anything that reminds you of a childhood, a life overseas, a loved one? Is there a blanket you always curl under, a teapot that brews the perfect cuppa? Do you have a ‘Droopy Dog’ like that one above – a twelfth birthday present who fits perfectly in the crook of a sleeping kid’s arm and who may or may not have ventured to Europe in a backpack, ahem, three times?

So this time it was more a case of narrowing down a plethora of options to one or two! I have lots and lots of things that remind me of a life lived overseas, a few things that remind me of childhood, books that I'll never pack away, but what makes me feel like I'm at home?

If you'd asked me this just over 4 years ago the answer would have been different, but now there's Hazel and so the answer would be that anywhere she lays her head is home to me. I love my stuff, and I love archaeology, but my life revolves around her these days.



On a slightly less sappy note, one of the other things that caught my attention was the mention of things from childhood and items that may or may not have accompanied you on backpacking trips. My stuffed mouse Timothy qualifies for this in spades, and he also makes home home.



I got Timmy for my 4th birthday so that makes him 37 this year (quick, do the math!) and he is what my Dad has always called "a well-travelled mouse". He's been to Europe a couple times, around the South Pacific at least twice, around New Zealand at least 3 times (including when I was in my 20s), Australia and Syria. And he's not small either! On the plus side, he makes a fabulous pillow.

My Place and Yours: That's nyoice, that's different, that's unewesyewl!

Ha, I love the title for this week's Meet Me At Mike's "My Place or Yours", chosen by Toni from Little Suitcase. I loved Kath and Kim! So, what do I have in the house that's particularly noice, different or unewesyewl? This is the brief:

Does your home have a quirky feature or several? Something you throw a strategically placed coat over if people are visiting or avoid telling the real estate agent about? You might be very proud of your house flaw.

Well aside from the funny layout of our little house, the thing most people comment on (and this was also true in the 'Front Door' one from a couple weeks ago) is the fact that we have a line running down the hallway where the house was cut in half to move on to our section.



We did have a rug covering it for a long time, but I quite like it now. What I don't like so much is the big square cut into it on the top right there, we think that was for putting the jacks in to raise it. Why they had to replace one board with pine I don't know. I don't notice it much anymore, but it still bugs me when I do!

The line looks a bit like an appendectomy scar



I don't know what we'll do come time to sell the house - to cover or not? Luckily that's not on the cards right now so decision's averted until then :)

My Place and Yours: My Collection

Thank goodness for memes - they save a boring stretch of nothing to blog about! This week the theme over at Meet Me At Mike's "My Place and Yours" is My Collection, chosen by Kate at Fox's Lane. The brief is:

I want to see a photo or photos of what it is that you collect.
Then if you feel like it you could let us know what your collection rules are;
Does it have to be green? Does it have to be from another country? Does it have to be second hand or a gift? Does it have to be old or complete?...
What constitutes a collection for you? Is it more than three of the same thing? Is it rare things?
Is your collection ongoing or is it complete?
...what's your story?

Since I'm in the middle of marking these final exams and rediscovering all over again for the nth time that people who don't answer the question fully are doing themselves a serious disservice, I'll do my best with this one!

Although I have had various collections in the past, and also collected Poole with my huband Mat, my own personal collections are white vases and random pretty trios. I'll do the white vases this time around because I have more of them and they're very photogenic! A collection definitely has to be more than 2 items, and you have to mean to get more - unless you have everything (or run out of money or space) and then you have completed your collection. I haven't done either of those so it's still a work in progress, although slower these days.



I have no idea if there is a technical name for white-glazed earthenware but I generally think of it as "the white stuff". I started collecting it about 10 years ago before it got popular. I'd like to emphasise that last point because firstly it's true, and secondly it explains why I have trouble paying some of the prices asked for it now, and thirdly it makes me sound all cool and ahead of the pack. :P I don't have any hard and fast rules on what I'll get, except that it has to be white, I have to really like the shape and it has to be in reasonable condition. I don't mind a bit of staining or crazing but too much ruins the aesthetic effect, if not its functionality. I don't care who the maker is, although the two main companies by far are Crown Lyn and Sylvac.



As for why these particular vases I can't really say for sure. I think its tied up in a feeling of gentile tranquility they give me, of thoughtful flower arrangements and house-proud women showing off their gardening skills. It's afternoon tea, ladies a plate, frocks and men with hats. I also like the sculptural effect that some of them have and the way the light plays across the designs. They're like a living black and white photograph.

I'm definitely still collecting but I'm more picky now I think and as I said, they're much more collectible and expensive now so harder to come across in dusty old antique shops. Not that there are many of those around any more, Trade Me and Ebay have taken care of that. :( I can see from this photo that I need a couple taller vases, and maybe a few smaller ones as well. Time to start haunting Trade Me again perhaps!

I do use them as often as I can, although most of them are really too big for our little house and I have no idea how to arrange flowers in them! The most-used ones are the small squareish ones, the faux-bamboo one, and the urn. I don't like the urn so much anymore as it's somewhat funereal, but it's a good size for roses. I also try and use the waterlily one (Crown Lyn knock off of a Suzie Cooper design. Or some famous woman potter anyways) but it's big and takes a lot of flowers! I need to go out and pick some of our beautiful spring roses and fill some up, that would be worth a photo!

My Place and Yours: Through The Front Door

This week's theme for My Place and Yours over at Meet Me At Mike's is 'Through The Front Door', set by Femme de Montmartre. The brief is "What is it you see when you enter your home? And how do you feel? Whatever happens when you walk through your front door, we want to know about it!"

The first thing I should mention is that we rarely use our front door, everyone comes and goes through the back door, so it's always a bit novel to come in my own front door! I do love it though, it sums up what attracted us to the house in the first place - except better because we've done it up since then.



Our house was built in the late '40s most likely, and was moved onto the section in the late '80s - you can see the line in the floor boards where it was cut in half. The wood is all native rimu, essentially untouched except for being stained/varnished slightly darker, which we removed. I think in decorating terms the skirting boards and doorways would benefit from being painted white as it's very dark altogether, but I can't face it, especially considering it's escaped that fate for all these years! We stripped the floor boards and polyurethaned them all ourselves, I highly, highly recommend NEVER doing that, get a professional in to do it!

The other view you get when you come in the door is our sideboard of knicknacks. I think they pretty much sum up our interests in total - except for books. And Hazel. And the cat maybe. But otherwise it's all there! I've tagged it over at Flickr if anyone's interested in a rundown of what all that crap is.

My Place and Yours: Secret Weapon

This week's theme over at Meet Me At Mike's, courtesy of My Bricole, is 'Your Secret Weapon'. Oooo tricky! I thought long and hard about this, as the description specified it should something that you know you can go to in a pinch and it will never let you down. I thought about chocolate, but sometimes it doesn't do the trick. I thought about Mat and Hazel and other people in my life and I thought that perhaps it was unfair to put that kind of label on them because so often being let down by people is more about you than them. I thought about makeup, but that definitely lets me down sometimes! Then I remembered my red merino dress. That never lets me down, it always makes me feel good when I wear it, and it's the perfect shade of red.



It's by a NZ outfit called Stitch Ministry and if that name isn't perfect then I don't know what is! The story of my dress is this: One day I was down in Wellington visiting my Aunt and I was browsing through a Saturday magazine from the Dominion Post. I came across an ad for Stitch Ministry and the dress . I fell in love. I memorised the name and checked it out online when I got home, pretty sure that I couldn't afford it. But as luck would have it, it was on sale and they had one in my size! I felt it was destined to be, so I bought it online along with another top. An hour later I had a call from a very nice girl at the shop saying that unfortunately their website was playing up and they didn't have the red in that size, perhaps I'd like it in black instead? I said no, the red was the object of my desire. She said they'd refund the money and get the top in the post asap. So I was disappointed, but as a pessimist I sort of expect these things in life! A couple days later the package lands on my doorstep and it feels a little heavy (you know where this is going of course) and inside, much to my astonishment, was the dress! They had it after all. So it really WAS meant to be, and I love my dress all the more for it.

ETA: Deb asked for a photo of me in said dress - the only one I could find is this very blurry self-portrait from just over a year ago. Check the sassy hand-on-hip pose!

My Place and Yours: Blog HQ

I missed last week, but I'm back on the wagon for this one. The theme this week over at Meet Me At Mike's is "Blog HQ" so here it be:



I like how people are using the tag feature over at Flickr for their photos so I've done that and it's annotated all to hell :) The desk is in the spare room and also does double duty with the sewing machine; and no, it's not usually so tidy! The whole room was cleaned up last week in anticipation of the Hallowe'en party we had yesterday so I'm quite pleased I was able to keep it relatively tidy until this meme came along.

ETA: I'm amazed how many people doing this meme have Macs! Are we some sort of self-selecting population or something? Does that old adage of 'arty' people using them more really still hold true? Or are we just a really discerning bunch? ;)

For Hallowe'en I carved my first jackolantern for getting on for 15 years! The pumpkins here aren't so well-suited for them as the larger and thinner-walled N.American versions are, but it turned out fine even so. Hazel was entranced, she'd never seen one before!



I also managed a few Hallowe'en-themed treats for the party. These little cupcake ghosts were from somewhere but do you think I can find the link? No I can't. They're fondant draped over those sugared jelly lollies, on top of chocolate cupcakes.



And these marshmallow ones at Martha Stewart


(shouldn't have used buttercream icing in retrospect, too yellow! But they looked better than they do in this photo)

I had a bunch of other ideas for food but either ran out of time or couldn't figure out how to do them with ingredients available in NZ. That was more of an issue than I'd expected, the sheer range of junk food available in the States puts our meagre selection to shame (which is a good thing I know!).

What's on my shelf

I'm woefully late with this - I've been debating taking the time to do it all weekend, but the essays are looming large. Still am, so here I am blogging instead! Yay procrastination! You know I'll be regretting this stolen hour when it's 2am and I'm totting up marks.

This little meme called 'My Place & Yours'is from Pip over at Meet Me At Mike's. This week's theme is what's on the shelf.

I've spent the whole weekend sitting at my desk marking essays - when I'm not being pestered by a small spotty child that is. On the windowsill is a small stone and I've been watching the light change across it as I struggle with misused semi-colons and free-form grammar. Its roundness contrasts so perfectly with the straight white lines of the windowsill.