Back...

Hey everyone, I'm back!

What an amazing 7.5 weeks it has been - I almost can't believe we were away for that long or that we are back already (and that it's nearly Christmas. I'm just not ready for Christmas yet).

We ate far too much pizza and pasta in Italy, and far too many English Cream Teas in the UK, we met some amazing people (including a number of fellow sewists!) and we walked and explored until our feet hurt.

Now I get to unpack the loot I found including vintage knitting and sewing patterns, silks from Goldhawk Road and wools from Edinburgh, vintage glass buttons and vintage skirts... Oh, and I get to catch up with my feedly feed. I could be a while...

I'll be back this week with a few sewing projects I finished before we left that I didn't get a chance to write about. Talk soon,

xx
Jen

Hey London!!

Calling all London Dwellers!!

Do you want to come fabric shopping with myself and Elisalex (of By Hand London fame)? Well, you can!! We are doing a Goldhawk Road fabric shopping trip next Friday 15th of November at 1pm.

I know it's a school day for many of you, but if you can come, I'd love to meet you. It will be my last day in the UK as David and I will be flying out to Sydney the following day.

There are already a few of us coming (thanks Instagram!), so please send me an email if you are interested in joining the gang - jenniferlauren.is@gmail.com

Looking forward to seeing/meeting you!

xx
Jen

Wanderlust...

I was going to title this blog post Itchy Feet but I thought that people might think I was referring to the wrong kind of itchy feet, you know, the fungal kind, as opposed to the traveling variety (though I'm sure if you've ever had the fungal kind, you'll know that your feet do get very itchy indeed!).

Tomorrow (!!!) David and I are heading away for 7 weeks of travel adventures. I kept meaning to post about our travel plans months ago but other things just kept popping up. We fly into Brisbane for a few days for a conference that David is presenting at before boarding a plane to Italy.

Words cannot express my excitement to finally make it to Italy. We are spending 2 weeks there, starting out in Rome and then travelling up the country by train to Florence, Padua (to explore Venice and Verona) and then onto Milan.

From there we have a 4 week long road trip around the UK. We are literally travelling all the way up and around the country, visiting as many places as possible with our main stops being Oxford, Birmingham, Lakes District, Edinburgh, Inverness, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Anglesey, Cotswolds, Brighton and then finally back to London. Phew!

I love travelling and David and I have been very lucky to have visited some amazing places these past few years. I have very fond memories of all of those trips - I've met some amazing people, seen lots of beautiful things and I'm so excited to be doing it again.

If you have any must see places off the tourist track, favourite fabric haunts (I'm going to try to buy fabric from all of the places we go, then, every time I wear or see what ever I've made, it I'll be reminded of that place... which reminds me, I really need to make a few pretty things with my Paris fabric hoard.) or fancy a meet up if there is time, please let me know!

I'm not quite as up to date on writing posts beforehand as I thought I may have been, so these parts may be a bit quiet until I get back in late November. I still have garments I made back in Sydney that I've not had the chance to even take photos of yet, so, we'll see how that goes... :)

If you feel like following along, I'm on Instagram at Jenniferlauren3.

xx
Jen

Signs of Spring...

We have been home for about a week now and spring appears to be springing here in New Zealand (though the temperature would say otherwise...). Daffodils are poking their brightly coloured heads through the dead winter foliage. The the rock garden is coming back to life. Reflections in the window. Cherry trees heavy with blossoms. Kitties safely tucked inside after their long flight.

Mocha has almost completely settled in but Monty is taking much longer. This is the first time he has been anywhere other than our place in Sydney since he was a kitten (other than trips to the vet, including the especially long trip to the vet when he got really sick with a bladder infection and had to stay 2 nights). He hasn't been eating much, but is slowly nibbling on a few cat biscuits after I hand feed them to him one at a time. He better not get used to this...but I hope he starts to perk up soon.

xx
Jen

July in Pictures...

Some snaps from my Instagram during July...

Hanging out with the Mont-ster...

Secret sewing - I love these vintage shell buttons with this beautiful vintage fabric.

An Indian summer in the middle of winter. The lavender is confused and has started to bloom.

My sewing supervisor asleep on the job - typical!

Panda feet!!

Trying to remove 'mothball smell' from a vintage cardigan using white vinegar. It didn't work. 

Any other suggestions??

Big cat, little box.

I can't believe it's August already! We are officially on the countdown for moving countries (whose bright idea was that anyway?).

August 30 is fast approaching as is the date for my sewing machine to board a ship. I have 2.5 weeks left of sewing time and there is so much to sew and so many other things competing for my time, like packing, paper work, kitties, typing up Norwegian poems for David, planning our massive Europe trip (for which I do have a post coming!) and I'm trying to get ahead of myself so that there are interesting things to put on the ol' blog until the end of November when I am finally (hopefully!) reunited with my sewing machine.

Ugh, stressy McStress!

xx
Jen

It's Official...

I posted this photo the day we left NZ for Sydney in February 2010...

We're moving back home. Back to The Land of the Long White Cloud, Aotearoa, New Zealand.

It's been official for a while now but it's become even more official over these past few weeks as I've been preparing for it. Flights are booked (30th August), Kitties flights and NZ accommodation is booked (they're leaving a few days earlier), quotes are coming for moving all our things back over the ditch and the time is flying by.

We are leaving for a few reasons, the major one being that David has nearly finished his PhD and our lease is up at the end of August where we are currently living. It's expensive living in Sydney and so we decided it would be best to move back home while we figure out the next step in the road.

It's exciting and stressful. David is racing to get his thesis completed and I am planning some awesome travels to Italy and the UK in October/November at the same time (more on that later!!).

I'm also trying to get as much sewing done as I can before my sewing machine boards a ship. I have things to make people! Like more comfy travel Vogue 8728's!

Once my machine has gone, if I don't prepare sewing posts in advance, I fear my blog will turn into a wasteland of granny squares and granny triangles... there is no escaping them... I even have an evil scheming plan to make a granny square in every city we visit on our big trip...

So, it's onwards and upwards!

xx
Jen