Hunger drives productivity

Well, the country has been all a flutter with success after a gruelling and not particularly enjoyable rugby final last weekend. Yay for the win.

Having been enjoying and partaking in the celebrations for the past few weeks, we decided that after the final we would try a bit of a cleanse diet to rid our bodies of the evil residues of beer, chipppies, and pies. It seemed sensible at the time....... I'm not so sure now. This is because:
1.) I'm hungry.
2.) Whilst this was sold to me by the other half as some structured medically-sound eating plan, on reflection it seems remarkably like a silly fad diet.
3.) I'm hungry.
4.) Life isn't fun when one can only eat fruit and veges and crappy soup.
5.) I'm hungry.

We are up to Day 4 or 7 days. I suspect I will not make it through.

To distract myself I have been trying out a new bag pattern. Its based on a pattern seen here at Warehouse Fabrics. I've made a few tinkers but I wanted to see what the outcome was before I kicked off making a few. I think the shape it probably a little small for my liking but I will wait and see how it turns out and then amend. I have a bit of an odd-bod ensemble of fabrics for this one - this lovely woolie tweed which has a cute wintery feel - coupled with a blue satin fabric. These are both pretty tough wearing fabrics so should stand up to some punishment. Not sure if this will look good or a disaster, but I'll pop a photo up when I'm done.

Girls natter rugby

Whilst I've never been a sports nut, and I never thought I'd get absorbed in a sporting tournament, the Rugby World Cup has been such fun.  The spirit of the whole thing has gripped the country and the most unlikely of us have jumped on the band wagon.  This becomes apparent when you're sitting having coffee with a group of girls and we are jabbering about the rugby rather than the usual topics.  The flags in all the shops, on every car, the support at every level, and the visitors from around the world has been excellent.

I've been lucky enough to be given tickets to a few games through work and the spectacle has been awesome (as we flew up to Auckland for one of the semi-finals last weekend I realised the cost of our flights would have paid for the plastering in the hallway ... but you only live once right?).  I am struck as the teams run out onto the pitch to the deep roar of the Maori horn how gladiatorial the whole thing is.  We should all be wearing sheets and have laurels on our head as we roar for our teams and watch the spectacle.

It's fun to turn up to a game that NZ is not even in and pick a team to support.  I picked Wales for the Saturday semi-final and was devastated for them when they lost - it would seem that wearing red, cheering madly and waving leeks is not enough to ensure the win.  However, the All Blacks game was a triumph (no need to pick a team to support there).  I will be so very excited for NZ's team if they can win the final - they deserve the pressure of this very passionate and demanding rugby nation lifting, and to be able to relax and unwind without the proverbial monkey on their broad shoulder.  I shall be yelling my wee head off this weekend and hope that this time round cheering madly will generate the right result.  Go the ABs!

Teapots in town

I just love love love love my recent teapot purchases. How gorgeous are these enamel teapots?

I spied them at an online auction and fell in love - thank goodness there were only 3 for sale otherwise I'd have a whole room full.  I collected them from the vendor yesterday and am totally delighted.

They will look gorgeous with cut flowers but right now I just love them sitting there as a splash of colour and style. Hurray!

From naf-wolf to nifty-wellington: a framing revamp

I like to pick up nicely shaped picture frames from second hand shops because often with a lick of paint or a refurb, they will look good as new. It seems a terrible waste that they are just thrown out so it makes sense to use these no-longer-loved frames and make them loved once more.

One such frame I picked up at the recycle shop for $2. It was pretty hideous to be frank, grey frame and with terribly naf images of some American Indian wolf baying at the American Indian moon (apologies to the artist - its a subjective assessment). It had also received some water damage so the picture was going mouldy and icky inside. Even I had to wonder when I picked it up if this was my best investment.

I removed the picture and gave the frame the classic white paint treatment. I then got a sheet of cardboard to use as the mounting - using the mouldy version for a template so I knew it was spaced correctly - and cut out the squares for the pictures.

I faffed a bit on what to put in but I'm delighted with the choice. I had found a book called "Points of View" at a recent book fair. It was full of sketches of spots around New Zealand, cityscapes and country churches etc. The book was only $4 and I bought it with the intention of taking some of those pictures and putting them on the wall. (Sorry to all those purists - I did feel like a heathen destroying a book but there seemed little point having lovely pictures hidden away in a book on the shelf) .

There were 3 nice shots of Wellington (one of Oriental Bay, one of a Thorndon street, and one of the tug boat in the harbour). These were too ideal not to use. I have used an old bit of cardboard box to be the back of the frame and I still need to quickly restring the back so it hangs vertically rather than horizontally.

All in all I am totally delighted with the outcome. From a discarded frame and a discarded book, the result is just brilliant. I know exactly where this will go (once the wall plastered and painted of course).