Why you shouldn't have cats....

Thursday morning, 10 o'clock... I come home from the hairdresser, completely relaxed - well, as relaxed as you can be after your hairdresser of 7 years told you that today is her last day and you'll have to find somebody else who does your hair... - When I opened the door, my little purring macho vanished into my bedroom. This is nothing unusual for him, he pretends to be supercool though he is rather a little pussy cat - what a good joke! - and when the door opens he shelters under the bed. You never know who comes in.... But todays behaviour went one step further.... He pressed his belly against the floor and tried to be invisible. Rather strange.... He was basically wearing a sign on his forehead with huge, red letters: "It wasn't me! Blame it on somebody else!"
When I came closer to the kitchen table I noticed why... Behind the table was a huge mess. Brown, white and green stuff on the floor.... No, this doesn't look like somebody had overturned the bowl with the dry food. On the floor were two plants from the windowsill, one of the potts smashed and soil all over the place.... So well, my little Mr Scaredy-Cat had all the reasons to act invisible. As I know perfectly well that it was him...
Needless to say that both cats vanished when they saw me opening the storage board not to take out their favorite toy but the hover....

So but why do people have cats? Well, look at the two of them... Answer enough to this question? It is only a week since they moved in here but I'd never ever want to give them back! Even if they smash my flower pots. .

 My little mouse

Mr Macho

A tea a day keeps... You happy during Christmas time

I'm a tea drinker - hence the name of this blog - and so are my bestie and my mum. So I decided that they need an advents calendar with teabags. My bestie got a red-green-gold one hanging on a long band while my mum who loves blue obviousely got a blue one with silver one in a box.

I know it is a bit too late now for this year but I post the tutorial nevertheless. If I remember I'll post it again next year in early November. And maybe somebody still needs a last minute idea. 

The bags are quite easy to make though cutting, folding and glueing takes some time. You'll need: gift wrapping paper (70*80 cm), 2 sheets of coloured crafting paper, star shaped stickers, gold or silver pen. For the box version: one small metal or cardboard box or a matching bowl or flower pot or whatever. For the hanging version: ribbon, cellotape
Tools: Scissors, ruler, pen, glue, set square

Cut the wrapping paper in 10*23 cm big pieces. Fold in the middle of the long side. Fold and glue 1 cm on each short side to the back and let the glue dry well. Fold 3.5 cm from the open side down so that the bag is 8*8 cm. Mark the middle of the open side and cut from there down to the folded line on each side. If you use paper that is white on one side make sure that there is no white visible when this triangle is folded down.
When you go for the hanging version cut gift ribbon in pieces, fold them in the middle and glue to the back of the bags with cellotape.
Fill the bags with tea and close them with a star shaped sticker. Cut the tags out of the coloured paper. I used cookie cutter for the motives, though you could also do it freehand or make a cardbord pattern. Write the numbers on the tags with a gold or silver pen.
For the hanging version: Cut holes into the tags, fix them to the gift band and hang all the bags on a long fabric band.
For the box version: Stick the tags to the bags with another sticker and fill them into your box.

 Step by step

 Sorry for the bad quality. Winter, artificial light, darkness and so on...

I don't think many people have 24 different teas at home... So three ways of getting so many tea bags.
1. Look out for sampler boxes. For example Twinings has boxes with 5 different "plain" or flavoured black tea (5 bags for every flavour, so you have something to try too) Health food stores also often have boxes with different herbal teas and if you don't have any tea at all, look out for tea advents calendars.
2. Ask friends to give you a teabag each of three or four different teas. If you ask a group of friends you'll soon have a lot different tea
3. Make teabags out of your loose tea. You can find a tutorial here

Like a cursed princess

A while ago I stitched this card for a friends birth day. It is not a classical bday card of course but I came across this design in one of my Cross Stitching Card Shop magazines when I was searching for a nice card for her. Stitching on dark Aida is quite a nice experience as it looks so neat and nice.

Feeling "home"

When I came home yesterday a huge parcel was waiting outside my door. First I wasn't even sure what I've ordered.... I ordered quite some Christmas presents these last days but thought that I've got all of them. Well, once I looked at the box a bit closer I obviousely remembered what it was. My Britshop-order. It is very hard to come upon British food in Switzerland. The English Book Shop (Orell Füssli) sells some things, but not much. And, as I discovered this week, Coop too, though only a very limited range (Marmite - yuk! - some crackers, tea, apple sauce, mint sauce, custard and some marmelade and cutneys)

Last week I decided to try out the Brit-Shop. Delivery charges are quite high, but well... If you order only once in a while it is ok. And they were very quick, I ordered on Sunday, payed by credit card and got it all on Wednesday. So I can higly recommend it!

So there is only one British thing I really miss... Pret à Manger... Well, and Boots... And Monsoon.... And Sainsburys chocolat chip chookies....

Christmas crackers (the fill-your-own ones) * Christmas cards (wasn't able to resist...) * Kettle Chips Mature Cheddar and Red Pepper * Walkers Salt & Vinegar * Coleman mustard powder

How to upgrade a High Street brand winter coat.

I bought my winter coat last year at C&A and really love it. I love the tweed, I love the wide collar and I love the belt. But when I had to fix some lose buttons  I decided that it needed a bit of an upgrade. So I spent a happy hour yesterday evening with my sewing box, trying to find ways how to decorate it a bit.

You need: Your winter coat. Two hairclips with flower. Ribbon. 1 plastic (or wood, or glass or whatever) pearl for each button. Sewing supplies like thread,  needles, pins, scissors

I bought some plastic pearls a while ago at the Christmas department of a furniture shop. I applied one to every button. I just sewed the button on and then as last step before securing the thread I sewed the pearl on. I guess it would also look great with a small button applied on top of the normal one.

The sleeves also had a button on it, which I think is quite useless. I removed the button, fixed the fabric with some stitches - quite easy on tweed as it is almost invisible. Good for somebody who isn't able to sew neat and nice... - and then fixed two hairclips with flower to the buttonholes.

As I was already on it I removed the belt loops which were only thick thread. I found some black ribbon and formed it to two loops about the size the original belt loops had. Then just sewed them back in place - I marked the place where the original loops were with a pin before I removed them so that I knew where to place the new ones. I did the same with the buttons - and put the belt back into them. Done.

 Sleeve before

 Sleeve and buttons afterwards

 The button loop before...

... and after

Sorry for the bad quality pictures, light was bad, I wasn't in the mood for testing and trying how to get better pictures, so I just took some while I worked and here they are.

Dior 677 Rose Flamboyant Blazing Pink

A while ago I told you about my beloved Dior Red Royality I bought in New York. Last week I used his little brother, the Rose Flamboyant for the first time in quite a while. I really like the colour, it is pink but not too pink, a fresh colour but not too much. Just the right thing to brighten up a dark and foggy autumn day. I wore it with a matt top coat, which I think makes bright colours much more elegant.

Sunday again

*seen* Downton Abbey. Phineas and Ferb. Pixiwoo. Guess who's coming to dinner. *heard*Virginia Plain (Roxy Music). The violine piece from A novel in the viola. *read* The hat shop on the corner. *done* Stitched like crazy. Was lazy and did nothing at all beside stitching. *eaten* Homemade brownies. A stew I haven't had for ages. Carott soup. *drank* A lot coffee. Gingerbread latte. *thought* that Christmas is coming closer and I'm not in a christmas mood. *been glad* when the weekend came. *been annoyed* about my shyness. *bought* Mr Chartwell. "London weather forecast" nail polish. *Clicked* a lot pages with crafting ideas.

 Zurich about two weeks ago when my bestie and me had dinner in town

Bento

A while ago I decided that I "need" a bento box. But as soon I had it I realized that it is too small to carry my lunch... Amd as I'm normally just taking left over dinner with me I put it into good old Tupper again.... And the nice bento box ended up somewhere in my cupboard. Till I found it yesterday evening.... As it happens I have some stuff like nuts and dried apricots to use up as they're coming close to their best-before-date. So I decided to start taking my snacks with me in a bento box. These are the boxes of the last two days.

 Top: Clementines. Bottom: dried apricots, walnut, ginger bread, chocolate 

Top: Clementines Bottom: Quark with lemon curd, 2 oatmeal cookies, dried apricots and bananas

Sunday again

I've been absent from blogging for quite a while. There was no real reason, I just wasn't in the mood. But now I'm back - hopefully.... And will start with a Sunday again.

*seen* Border Security. UK Border Control. Downton Abbey. *heard* C'est ma tournee by Joe Dassin. Christmas Songs. *read* Die Löwin von Aquitanien about Eleonor of Aquitain. *done* Started getting into Christmas mood. Bought the first Christmas present. Donated blood. Wondered if I'm gettin a cold. Spent a nice Saturday afternoon with a friend. Went for a winter walk. Found a pair of boots in my basement. *eaten* Lovely cake. Sushi. Ham. Chocolat chunk muffin. Cheeseburger and chips. *drank* Ginger-Lemon tea with honey *thought* That I'm strangely not in the right mood for snow right now *been glad* that it seems that I don't get a cold. *been annoyed* by the fact that it looked as if I'm getting a cold for pretty much all of this week. *bought* some Christmas decoration. A lipstick.

You can see on the post in the right corner how much snow there is!
 

We {heart} owl shirts!

Late Summer Walk

Summer really had a great showdown today with a lot sun and warm temperatures. Tomorrow should be warm again but from Wednesday on autumn will be back. I love this time of the year, everything is still green though the first yellow leaves sneak in and the air is full of this crispy smell of the first fallen leaves roasting in the sun.

As I had the afternoon off I took the oportunity to take some pictures.

 

A rainy day in London

Soon soon...

I just found this lovely video about Brighton and thought I'd share it here.

Looking forward to....

.... seaside walks

... picknicks in Preston Park and strolls through the streets in the Preston Park area

... endless bus rides to Hangleton and Hollingbury

... a walk arround Lewes and Arundel

... the wonderful "I'm home" feeling when leaving the train in Brighton

... Covent Garden

.... a walk along the Thames 

... Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Britain and Imperial War Museum

... endlos walks through town

... looking over to the House of Parliament from the other side of the river

... Billy Eliott

  

... Krispy Kreme dougnuts, M&S Lemon Cookies, Pret a Manger 

.... a nice Cider Mixed Berries in a nice pub

... Monsoon, Cath Kidston and Boots

.... fish and chips and Cornish Pastry

Friday filler

I love autumn!

Can't wait for my holiday to start and hope that my sister will like Brighton, London and the UK.

I'll try to roast a chicken on Sunday and hope that I'll manage to carve it.

I cleaned out the cupboard with all my tea. I have tons of it but always drink the same ones.

I started stitching a Christmas picture yesterday an expect it to be 60 hours of work.

Day at work was good fun though I wasn't too productive.

Weekend will be rainy and cold according to weather report so I'll spend it inside with reading, stitching and Dvds.

Sunday again

*seen* Nothing! Really, no single movie all week long! *heard* Girls, Girls, Girls. A quite sad song about love and dreams. *read* The Centenarian Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared. Nero Corleone.*done* Spent a lot time on the balcony. Read. Stitched a card for my sister. Celebrated my sisters birthday. Enjoyed our village fair. *eaten* Too many chips. My favorite cake. Ice. Salad. *drank* No single gulp alcohol though I felt drunk yesterday *thought* That I haven't gotten such a nice compliment for such a long time. I asked somebody why he was smiling at me yesterday. His answer: "I saw you standing there and thought, that you love your life. So I smiled at you." *been glad* that I'm able to love my life. *been annoyed* by somebody who tried to kiss me  *bought* a CD of a local band

Blueberry pancake

If somebody offered my a blueberry pancake a while ago I'd said no, thanks. Not because of the pancake but because of the blueberries... I had so many of them when I was a child as my granny was always going "into the blueberries" as we used to call her trips to collect as many of them as possible. We also often had to join as kids and it was a death-boring thing.... The only more or less interessting thing about it was singing, as this upset granny quite a bit cause somebody could hear us and try to steal our berries.... So I'm not a big fan of blueberries.

Well, not "am" but "was" as a bowl of them just jumped into my shopping basket on Friday.... And a second bowl found it's way to my kitchen yesterday.... I don't know why I haven't liked them for so long as they're just delish!

So this morning I felt like having some blueberry pancake. I topped them with lemon yoghurt cause I wasn't able to open my bottle of maple syrup.... The lid was almost glued to the bottle.... So I had ti find a substitute topping.

For 2  servings

150 g flour
200 g yoghurt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
salt, lemon zest, baking powder
blueberries
butter for frying

Whisk eggs and yoghurt in a bowl and flour, sugar, a pinch of salt, some lemon zest and some baking powder in another. Add the flour mixture to the yoghurt, stir well.
Heat a tad butter (really just a pea-sized bit) in a frying pan, put the batter into it (roughly one tablespoon par pancake) and top with the berries. Fry for three minutes each side and transfer to a plate. Repeat with some more butter and the rest of the rest of the batter.

Serve with maple syrup - if you're able to open the bottle - or whiped cream, lemon yoghurt or whatever you like.

Friday filler

My sister and I booked our holidays on Wednesday. It is coming closer! It will be the first time in the UK for my sister and also her first flight! She is already quite excited about it! And so am I!

Since I found out that Zalando sells Irregular Choice shoes I'm checking the page every now and then to see if some lovely ones in my size turn up. Today I finally found lovely ones, red with dotts!

The shoes will be a great thing to wear for the dotty-party a friend is planning.

Yesterday I met a friend in town but as we met relatively late and it made no sense to go home I drove through half of town by tram and read to use the waiting time.

I read the second great book this month, Random Acts of Heroic Love. So much wisdom on 400 something pages.... And such a good book was standing unread on my shelfe for at least a year.

My bestie and I will watch Starbuck tomorrow. 

I have a new favorite series at the moment, The Tube. Watched the 2012 one and now started the older one from 2003 or so.

Downstairs in the restaurant the piano player/singer is in action and it is good fun to try and recognice the songs he is playing. As sometimes he has his own way of singing/playing them.

My first sewing project in years

I really want to be creative at the moment and one of the things I wanted to do is sew something. I found a tutorial for a pillow includinc zipper a while ago and decided to make some for my sofa. Though then my sister told me that her boyfriend loves to open and close the zipper of his favorite pillow while watching telly. A while later an idea was born; a pillow with a zipper just for fun and a part that can be removed with buttons. And a great idea for me to practice buttonholes and zippers as I haven't used the sewing machine much since I left school.

He is a typical boy (though turning 23) and loves cars, so I decided on this car design. It took me quite a while to sew it as I had to do the side with the zipper twice as it didn't worked the first time. And the button holes turned out to be a nightmare too, as the machine should actually save the size of the button hole till you switch it off, so you just have to do one properly and then the rest should go automatically. But didn't.... It isn't perfect in any way, though I really tried my best. And really enjoyed sewing! Should do it more often!

 Front side with the extra part

 Front side without the extra part

Back side with zipper

Friday filler

I'm still quite impressed by A novel in the viola.

I started sewing a pillow this week and will still have a good deal of work to do tomorrow. Two zipper and six button holes.

My boss and me had to enjoy this last week on our own before getting an apprentice again on monday.

When everything goes to plan my sister and me will travel to Brighton and London mid september. I hope she'll like it as much as I do!

I see down on a railway track a bit away and while I had dinner on my balcony saw "Churchill Doppelpfeil" passing which is a red engine, who was nicknames "Red arrow" and since it was used to transport Winston Churchill when he visited Switzerland in 1946 is named after him.

In guess I'll bake apricot crumble on Sunday. Can't have enough crumble.

Hiking

My sister called yesterday if I'd like to join them today. She and her boyfriend wanted to go hiking with my parents and take a friends dog with them. So I said I'll come as well. It was the first time in years that I went hiking! Well, if we don't count some "long walks". But real proper hiking with backpack and hiking shoes... Haven't done it for a long time. So down to the basement to find my hiking shoes and my raincoat - wasn't even sure if I still have it...

We spent a really great day, though weather turned bad in the afternoon and we got quite wet. Afterwards we visited nanny for some coffee-drinking and it was such a great day!

 View over Walensee

 Yeti? Bigfoor? Nooooo! Kiri!

 Kiri enjoys the view

"Menhir left by Obelix on his way to Rome"

 The last part of the journey was a bit a wet business

Friday filler

Sometimes when I have to wait at the station I count the wheels of passing trains.

I was prepared for a rainy day today and ended up dressed ways too warm.

I bought some stitching supplies today and the shop assistant asked me how I find the patience to stitch. Funny that's what everybody asks.

Started a new book today after it was standing on a shelve unread since late last year... A novel in the viola by Natasha Solomons. So far it is absolutely living up to expectations!

My new grey cardi arrived today. It's from a label called Postcard from Brighton.

Just had a really tasty dinner! Feta with tomato sauce! Yummy

Been busy stitching

I've been quite busy stitching for the last three weeks. Just can't stop and have so many things I want to do! At the moment I'm working on another sheep-pictue, "Baaaattle of Hastings" where some sheeps are standing on the battle field with shields and flaggs and stuff.

Elephant Happy Birthday card for a friend

Great sheep in Literature card for my bestie -as we both love spying

Butterfly card, no idea yet for what I'm going to use it

Keep calm and read on bookmark for myself

Smilie bookmark for a friend

I'm really in love with the elephant card, I guess I'll stitch some more of them. I like the colours as they're so seventies though I guess it would as look great in green and yellow or violet/pink.

Sunday again

*seen* Some documentaries about history and stuff. *heard* There's a ghost in my house. Bits and pieces. *read* Rivers of London (again) *done* Had sushi with my bestie. Managed to keep my flat clean and tidy. Stitched. Spent a lazy Sunday. Went to the fleamarket. Smashed a glass at half past eleven yesterday night and had to hoover my bathroom... *eaten* Sushi. Greek salad. Daim ice cream. Berry crumble. Lasagne. *drank* Water *thought* That some things are rather strange. *been glad* That I got some really good news.  *been annoyed* By all the small flies in my kitchen. But I guess there is nothing you can do, as soon there are some fruits arround they come as well. *smiled* When I watched my neigbours performing kind of a teenage-gang-hand-shake... Though they're both in their late sixties *laughted* When my strange neigbour asked me, if that nice Asian guy is my besties (who live in the same house) boyfriend? It is her brother and he isn't looking Asian at all.... *bought* Cath Kidston sewing book "Sew!" *clicked* google to find some cross stitching patterns

 Brighton, April 2011. How much I'm missing it! It has become something like home to me. Like a second home, far away though very familiar.

Friday again

Why does the weather has to be bad during the weekends? That's not fair!

I got a mail today which contained good news for one of my projects! So now the planning can really go on and my mum and me are already very excited about it! And everybody else who is involved so far, is excited, too.

I'll have another relaxed weekend, might go into town tomorrow when weather stays dry just to have done something.

I bought SEW, the Cath Kidston sewing book and can't wait to start doing something.

"Put that in your pipe and smoke it!" I love the Dowager Countess of Grantham and started watching Downton Abbey again.

"Are you free, Mr Grainger?" And yes, I also love Are you being served? and since the episodes are all on youtube and I don't have to borrow the DVDs from my bestie, I watched some of them again.

Wanted to call my sis for a quick chat and we ended up chatting for more than an hour.... Mostly about our favorite topic; cats...

Blue polka dotts

I ordered this blue polka dott dress a while ago but it was a bit too small, so I hung it outside my wardrobe as weight-lossmotivation. Yesterday morning I tried it on and decided to wear it, just for the sake of it. It isn't perfect yet, but worked fine with a long cardi to cover the sides. I hope it will soon fit much better.

Sunday again

*seen* Mrs Dalloway. Downton Abbey (Series one, episode 1-3). The Iron Lady. *heard* A really nice song I forgot to save in my Youtube Favorites. Radio (I listen to a station that plays mostly oldies as this was the music I grew up with. My parents stoped going on with musical development when they turned 30 or so) *read* A village affair. Sonjas dritte Sternstunde (an old German novel for girls) *done* Worked. Was tired. Slept. Stitched. Read. Had baths. Had brunch with my bestie. Went to Starbucks. Tidied some stuff up. Binned some cosmetics. *eaten* Cheese cake. Brunch. Jacket potato. Kinder Bueno. *drank* Tea. Orange juice. *thought* That a bath really helps. *been glad* That I stopped panicing  *been annoyed* by my panic. *smiled* When I watched my neigbour playing basketball with her granddaughter. Cause of my sister who sent me links to pages of animal shelters and cats. *bought* Stitching patterns. 16 count Aida in "red" and "Christmas green" *clicked* http://craftgawker.com/ for some inspirations.

What to do on a rainy Saturday?

Day was rainy though the sun comes out now so I'll go for a walk in a minute.

As weather was so bad I enjoyed a lazy Saturday inside, doing some things.

 

Tidied up my DVDs and CDs and binned some of them

 Finished a bookmark for a friend

 Tried to stitch a bookmark for myself which ended in a nice spelling mistake.

Enjoyed some berry-crumble

Polished my nails (Essie Forever yummy!)