The 1st fish pie I've made

The photo doesn't make justice.. it was good, I was a proud girl :-)

Some books I want

Decided that I keep forgetting what books I want so I've started taking photos of the covers so that I can remember to buy them some day when I have money.

I would like to learn more creative disciplines, amongst them jewelery. Been looking at courses but hard to find a suitable one in Christchurch! Anyhow, I leave you with these wonders.

Oh.. and also wanted to share this photo of me in a winery. Just North of Chch there are a few in the Pegasus Bay (which I think is a super cool name for a Bay). So we went exploring and ended up here. Wine (Riesling) was deliciously sweet to contrast with the strong blue cheese. A great treat!!

Updates

Been meaning to get updating here but having to resize pics and find the time to upload has hold me up... however, the time is here! I have mostly nice pics.. that I hope are inspiring..

I've had this massive collection of fabric samples.. and not known what to do with it.. so I started sewing, for the sake of it and this is what I came up with. A passport bag? or travelling jewelery bag? just experimenting..


During our holidays in Greece last August I started this scarf.. it was inspired by the colours of the sea there... I'm still working on it. Making the most of the sunny Autumn days, I jump in my bike for a work break and knit on the grass...

I suppose I should put a pic from Greece so that you can see what I was looking at whilst knitting...
And I think this inspired Talia to get on with knitting.. I've been preaching about it for so long now...

My friend Julia came to visit my flat.. as she hadn't been before, she brought house warming pressies.. how lucky am I?!!! Gorgeous lilies. Apparently she was looking for yellow and red to represent the Spanish flag but was disappointed for not finding them. However, she didn't realised that they are the Japanese flag's colours!! so well done!! She also gave me this gorgeous body cream that smells soooo yummy! And it came in this so-cute bag :-)


These red lilies were just stunning.. they seemed like made of plastic!! The colour was so intense.. (click to make bigger)
The contrast of colours was great :-)

And then.. to top this up.. I got last weekend another bunch of STUNNING flowers! the pics don't make justice and the scent... the most amazing sweet scent I've ever smelt coming from a rose! And the lilies were gigantic and the pink.. the fucsia I should say, was just unbereably gorgeous. But the delicacy of the roses, old style English roses.. wow..




And to finish.. quick recipe of salmon "cake": with mashed potatoes, plum tomatoes, spring onions and barely seared salmon with onion.. SERIOUSLY easy and tasty - was very succesful on the night :-)

Another wonderful Sunday

Seeing that the weather isn't as nice anymore we got together for more crafting, yummy food and great conversation! It turned out fantastically!! In order of appearance: Marlena, Agnes, Mar, Delphine, Talia, Carly, Helene and me :-)

Remember you can click over the pics to see them big size

Funny, in this pic everyone looks bored!!
But actually there was some good chatting going on..


This is a sequence from an Amy buttler's pattern to Mar's adaptation of it

Special mention to Delphine, whose savoury carrot cake and yummy soup were homemade!! To die for...

the wonderful Fortumn & Mason packaging for the yummy cakes that Marlena brought

the whole group pitching ideas to help Carly with her new dress
cute, isn't it?

It's all about team work
And the result
Me in action....

Some details of the bag I made. The picture at the bottom of the collage shows
the way Mar taught me how to finish things to make them look nice.
I looove it!

ps- it is my granny's birthday today.. she turns 84 so from here: Feliz cumpleaños abuela!!

My first meat pie

I was always scared of pastries, cakes and anything to do with oven baking.. until I saw others making them (my mum wasn't into that kind of thing, probably something to do with being Japanese and them not eating these kind of things) - then I decided to give it a try and.. it seems to have worked! First was the carrot cakes and banana loaf - which worked out with a 10/10 (if I may say so). And now this yummy pie!! Success!! YES!!

(before and after)

(and banana cake & banana loaf)

Third Session

Sunday was a very rainy day but the girls still made it to my place. We had new comers, which is always exciting: Rose, Carly and Caroline turned up to our 3rd session in London, N4.

I must say that I wasn't very inspired and for the looks of it, perhaps because of the weather (or maybe because of the previous late night out), we were all a bit less productive than usual on the craft side.

On the cooking (and eating) side, we managed to do so well!! Specially because the girls provided us with irresistible delicious treats. Caroline made an splendid and healthy quiche, Rose made her own version of Asparagus rolls with soft cheese (very tasty and with nice soft bread), Carly brought her latest addiction: cheese-non-fattening-pretzels (always loved their name, pretzels) and a super sweet and juicy pineapple, Helene spoilt us with a great selection of French cheese from La Frommagerie, accompanied by nut bread.. what else we need to be in paradise? oh yes.. my carrot cake!!

Half asleep I stumbled out of bed at 10 (after finishing our previous night's party at 3am) and made the cake. Just as I slided it into the oven I turned around to discover I forgot to chuck in the grated carrot!! Thankfully it still worked out adding them at this stage. And I followed Amy's advice and chucked in raisins and nuts (by adding my morning muesli).

Carly's capable hands serving up the yummy quiche

The day went well, with lots of gossip, background music (including Flight of the Concords), bit of crafts and the best way to spend a Sunday, with friends!

Anyway, this is what we worked on:

Caroline starting a knitted clutch, after deciding she will make some pillow cases
with her stunning kimono fabric (which I forgot to photograph!)

Rose decided to do an embroidery bookmark for her
granny, who apparently is a master embroiderer!
Here you can see her beautiful hands in action!
The beautiful necklace bases Rose found in a charity second hand shop in Islington, I should go try get some! They are so delicate and femenine, I cannot wait to see what she makes of them!Rose and Caroline in a thinking mood,

Helene is still working on her funky and original decoupage box (see detailed photo below)

My first attempt, I tried to make a cover for my nano-iPod but it just didn't work out,
I just couldn't see it... (note my new needles case, cute hey? from a matchbox)

Second attempt, more succesful, cute..
but I'm still not convinced... And I haven't got any pictures of Carly because she mostly did some repairing work on her clothes, which I envy cause I can easily list all the garments I got with about-to-fall buttons!!

Second Session

Yes! More girls adding up to our group. Helene and Amy joined Mar and me last Sunday and the result was a few good sunny hours making lots, chatting lots and... eating lots!!

Bought these for the first time and they disappeared very quickly! They are from Bon Mamman.. tastyyyyy!! and the sweet's were just for colour inspiration ;-p

Amy in action...

And Amy finished! proud and happy!
Funny, her work matches her clothes!!

Camera shy Mar's hands in action. She is GOOD!
And one of Mar's two very pro looking things, the door stopper


Helene, having a snack whilst working on her super collage box.. still working on it
Helene shows proudly her work on her super cute new top,
with matching shoes (I should have taken a pic of them!)

a detail on the "Klimt-esque" look of the top of the box

and me...
took me a loooong way to get here, after meassuring, drawing and cutting, cutting and cutting! This is the outside of my new bag

Before
And after, with the lining... (still unfinished)