rosella tea

My housemate, Sandy, has this awesome habit of bringing home crazy foods that I've never heard of. Last week, she casually said "here, try this banana passionfruit." To which I responded: "That doesn't exist, you made that up!"

This week she made this beautiful tea out of rosella flowers and ginger. Floating in the water, the blooms looked like little jellyfish.

It's so nice to live with people who love food, or tea in this case :)

my creative space: a knit pillowcase

Remember a few days ago when I said that my fingers were itching to make something out of wool.

And I also said that, for now, I would be sticking to something simple. Well here's what ended up happening...

A pillowcase that I made up in one continuous piece, ribbed on the front, normal on the back. Actually, 'normal' is probably an overstatement. Want to see something funny?

Yeah, this is what happens when you run out of wool, THREE times! Oops. I was intending for the whole pillowcase to be the one colour, but oh well. I like to think of it as charmingly kooky.

Finally, here it is in action. I just love the feeling when you finish making something and you can put it to use!

p.s. I just wanted to say thank you all for your sweet, helpful and inspiring words on my last post!

how do you get out of a funk?

I feel like I'm in a bit of slump lately. I won't go into it all, but for various reasons I'm feeling scattered and not very motivated/productive. To give you a concrete example of this, I am currently trying to read 5 books at the same time (FIVE!) which, of course, means I am not getting through any of them.

So I want to know, how do you get out of a funk? Do you dance around to Alanis Morisette alone (consider that box ticked), read, run, watch chick flicks?? I need to know!

red

Just some little bits and pieces of red I've been noticing around my house today...

p.s. This was the first post I've written with blogger's "new look" and it did my head in! Especially the adding photos part, which ended with me shouting expletives at my computer like the classy gal that I am. Is anyone else finding it frustrating?

a happy song for your friday

This song makes me happy. That is all. Happy Friday friends! 

xx

my creative space: gifts for a baby

It finally happened! After nearly 2 months of being completely ignored, my sewing machine finally saw some action this weekend. My unofficial sewing club friend and I got together in my little sewing room downstairs (I have my fashion design studying roommate to thank for that one!) and made stuff.

I made two bibs and appliquéd one teeny singlet to send off to a very special baby on the other side of the country. Both were inspired by patterns in Kelly Doust's The Crafty Minx. The little birds that I used for appliqué are from some old Ikea fabric and I'm the other fabrics were small pieces from my stash.

I have to say, there's something so satisfying about sewing for a baby. And imagining the little baby boy, who I haven't actually met, with a handmade bib around his neck, well that's even more satisfying.

lately, in my kitchen...

Lately, in my kitchen I have...

Made up a BIG batch of orange and walnut granola. Funny story: I realized as I was almost finished making this that I had actually been following a recipe for oatmeal muffins. Oops. I saved it, but I have to admit it's not the best granola ever.

Made vegan chocolate peanut butter cups one too many times. They are just so damn addictive.

Loved the look of these bottles filled with seeds. Reducing, reusing, recycling in action.

Laughed at how much my roommate loves her label maker. But really, I do too.

Snacked on a feijoa. Made my day.

What's been happening in your kitchen lately?

it's wool time

Every year when autumn rolls around I get the itch to bust out my wool and knit something. But I have to admit that I'm not a great knitter; in fact, my repertoire mostly extends to scarves and the occasional toque and every year I hope to change that. Whenever I see the beautiful sweaters that soulemama makes I wish that I could make one too.

Like this one, sigh... It's so simple and lovely, and I even have the pattern sitting on my desktop. For now though, I think I'll warm up with something simple. A scarf perhaps, or maybe some pillowcases. And then maybe, just maybe, I'll get started on my dream cardigan.

In the meantime, I'll hope that a knitting fairy godmother (i.e. someone who can help me complete said cardigan and fix up my mistakes) will magically appear!

the pallet couch

My flatmates are pretty smart. The other day I came home to this...

It's a pallet couch. It's in our yoga studio.

Since we decided to sacrifice our living room and have a dedicated yoga space instead, the room is pretty bare. But the girls thought that somewhere to sit might be nice, but it needed to be portable. So they found some pallets on the side of the street, brought them home and whipped this up. Want a close up?

We're talking about sanding them down and maybe painting them so it looks a bit more professional, but we'll see if/when someone gets around to it :) For now, it's a good place for bunny snuggling...

3 blogs I like (a.k.a. the Liebster)

(photo by Alanna Bowd)

I chose this photo because it looks like I'm talking, and what I imagine I'm saying is:

"Gee, thanks for giving me a Liebster award Kelley (from the lovely blog Casa Crafty)! I'm touched."

Seriously though, I have to admit that I sometimes ignore these blog awards because they can seem a bit chain mail. I like the idea behind this one, however, which is that it's for up and coming blogs, i.e. blogs with less than 200 followers.

And I am all for supporting my fellow up and coming bloggers, so without further ado, here are 3 blogs I love:

1. Our House This Hill. A beautiful blog by Kesh, who is about to have her first baby with her super talented husband Tim. Oh, and they love in Australia, yay!

2. Eesh Your Heart Out. A blog by my bestie, Aisha, who is a fashionable foody living the good life in L.A. She posts wonderful recipes that are healthy to boot.

3. Life Like Honey. A fellow Canadian, Teaka, studying fashion design in Alberta and blogging about it, as well as her life in general. Check out her new collection here, it's to die for!

Happy Friday friends!

my life in iphone photos round 14

Continuing ed for yoga teachers, a friend and I with semi-matching tops

Galaxy leggings, Parsley Bay

I just liked this little dude, flowers

Jessica and Ziggy, ridiculously sweet caramel filled koala

jivamukti, a book I want so bad! It's out of print :(

Beautiful Body Mind Life, pancakes for brekkie

I made two, TWO, batches of my homemade chocolate peanut butter cups last week, and some granola

Katie's backyard chickens, sleepy Ziggy and I

eco wrapping made pretty, the beach oh so early yesterday morning. It was freezing and people were swimming!