Home

After four weeks travelling across 22 states of the USA from Los Angeles to New York City, I'm finally home.

So many amazing places, it's just not possible to share everything. I loved seeing how the country, and the people, changed as we headed east, then into the deep south. And I loved trying all the different food!

I loved meeting the 50 or so new people whom I travelled with.

I loved the nightlife of Vegas.

I love seeing the Grand Canyon again.

I loved the majesty of Monument Valley (this is the view seen in Forest Gump).

I loved that everything was bigger in Texas! (and I bought awesome cowboy boots).

I loved seeing Memphis (and Graceland) and New Orleans.

Harry Potter World!

I loved the glitz of Miami.

I loved visiting the Kennedy Space Centre.

I loved the old buildings in Savannah; I want to live there. Charleston was amazing too...Aussie McMansions have nothing on their houses.

I loved all the monuments in Washington DC, and being there for 9/11 was an honour, as was visiting Arlington Cemetary for the changing of the guard. I also loved being there for my birthday.

And of course I loved New York, but I haven't sorted out those photos yet...

A Spring Clean of Sorts

Yes, it's summer, not spring. My mum is on holidays this week, so we figured it was as good a time as any to blitz the house. Two adult women living in a single house can become very squishy, especially as I have bought a lot of things that I'll need once I do finally move out.

Starting Bella's Patchwork hasn't helped; all the fabrics have been living in their boxes in the little alcove that is meant to be our home's dining room. Only this alcove is so small you can fit a table, but no chairs. It would certainly make for an interesting dinner party. So this space has gradually been getting more crowded as boxes have been arriving, and filling orders gets more difficult as the stack of boxes reaches three deep.

My mum had something of a sleepless night last night, and while lying there, a plan formed: to tackle our hall cupboard and make it the new home for all those lovely bolts of fabric that have been hidden from sight until now. Our hall cupboard is a bit of an odds-and-ends heaven, where random items go to live. Everything from an old (working) mixmaster from the 70's, stockpots, Christmas decorations, and my collection of homemade jams and relishes.

We hauled everything out of there, took out all the shelves, and gave the whole thing a good clean. We live in a 50's weatherboard house, and it's very prone to being dusty.

Then the fun part; hauling all the boxes into the hall and lining up all those gorgeous bolts. There are also more bolts in the next cupboard too, so we managed to get every Moda fabric in there!

Bella is loving having so many empty boxes to play with, even just for a little while (you can just see the top of her head towards the bottom right of the photo, above the esky with all the jam jars in it).

Definitely a job well done!