the big smoke

I had a great weekend. I went to London with my Sookie Stackhouse book to stay with one of my absolute best friends (that I don't see nearly enough). Sookie kept me entertained on the train both there and back - now I've finished the twilight books (and in mourning) I needed a literary distraction. I think I'm going to enjoy the slightly racier True Blood series even more than twilight. Plus Bill is a much more acceptable Vampire crush for a 30 plus lady - with him being a man and not a teenage boy.

Anyhoo, the weekend was spent eating dimsum, drinking beer (quite a bit), and browsing anthropologie. Oh wow - what a store. How'd it take so long to get to Europe? I didn't buy anything, but that was because I couldn't narrow my wish list down to anything less than a lottery winning amount of cash. As I am yet to win the lottery I thought I'd be restrained. The husband was a little shocked, I was secretly annoyed with myself. Hey ho. I'm back down again at the end of the month, I can go back.

The clothes were made from beautiful fabrics, but the shapes weren't really me. Admittedly I am more into the peculiar shapes of Vivienne Westwood and Commes Des Garcons, but I was a little disappointed. It was a little too safe for my liking. I prefer the Mary Poppins look. But the homewares were awesome - awesome awesome awesome. The quilts were super pricey, but gorgeous. One was made from huge yo-yos of fabric appliqued onto a muslin background. Simple ideas always work best, don't they? I can imagine it made from the new Amy Butler collection. Mmmm. Pretty.

Friday night we were supposed to go out, but it rained. A lot. Way too much to consider trekking on the underground from East London up to Notting Hill. So we stayed in, listened to dodgy old vinyl records of Fleetwood Mac, Scritti Politti and some random soft rock compilation that was incredibly awful (so bad it was good, in fact). A great night, especially thanks to the addition of beer (which is good for your bones, according to my friend Katie).

I hate leaving London. Most of the husband's friends are down there, both of us have brothers there, it's an amazing place to bring up kids - like google is on your doorstep. Whatever subject Miss G would need to study would be available in some museum or other in the big smoke. Homework would never be the same again. Ok, so houses are pricey, it's busy, overcrowded in places....but the good outweighs the bad in my mind.

He has promised me we will move there one day. He isn't one to break a promise. I'll hold him to it. I'd even sacrifice my yearning for extra babies if we could just live in London for a bit. *sigh*

Luckily, to break me from my obsession with moving, the posty brought me gifts. He actually declared they were 'presents!!!' when he rang the doorbell today.

Mexican oilcloth from thistle hill on etsy. $7 a yard. Now, that's good value if I ever did see it.

Plus extra snippets of fabrics to add to my spiderweb quilt. Those were free - just a little gift from Dana. Isn't she the most loveliest?
You should go and check out her shop, and stock up on oilcloth (amongst all the other great fabrics). I want to cover my house in it at the minute, although I don't think the husband would agree with that. At 7 bucks a yard it's cheaper than any wallpaper I've seen, and wipeable. Oh, imagine the possibilities. Anyway, Dana has a heap of designs, I'm thinking tote bags for christmas presents. Pretty. I'm trying to avoid going back though, I can't help but shop, there's a ta dots stack I'm craving.



And talking of christmas presents, here's one I'm on with. The quilt dude, John sent me a layer cake of hushabye yonks ago, and it's been sat as half square triangles for almost as long. Now it's a nearly quilt top. Soon it'll be a quilt, once I find some flannel to back it with over here in the UK (any ideas on sources, anyone?).
This is for my mother in law's best friend, who I promised a quilt back in July when we were on holiday together. Well, 5 months isn't too long to wait, is it?



You do realise you only have a month and a bit until the big C day, don't you? How are you doing with homemade gifts? I'll admit, I'm not doing great.