Falalala

Okay ... *rubbing my hands* I'm ready to have some fun again in Regency England. But I can't decide which book to write next. ("Argh! Argh! Argh!" she cried and ran around in circles, pulling her hair.) I'm in the mood to do something lighthearted (so no dark & gloomy paranormals for the time being), and I've got a choice of two stories: one is a straight historical (well, as straight as my historicals turn out to be, which isn't too straight after all *g*) (you might have already read the beginning here), the other a time travel (with a hero who looks like Richard Armitage and a heroine who steals something from a museum) (at first I thought she would steal something from the V&A, then I decided I'd use the Pitt Rivers in Oxford after all - it's so much stranger than the V&A!).

One heroine is still nameless, the other is called Gilly (short for Gillian, of course) (or perhaps for Gillianna?) and her hero is Richard *nudge nudge wink wink* Shirley, whose estate is called Brooksby Wirce. I haven't decided yet whether to make him an earl or not (isn't it nice to be able to decide things like that?). The other hero has an aunt who has travelled through exotic lands and wears big hats.

Hmmm .....

In My Library

In middle school I drew a picture of bookshelves peopled by fantastic creatures lurking between the books, chatting among each other, climbing from shelf to shelf. Clearly, these creatures had just climbed out of the books and were now busy discovering the world outside.

The concept of little people living on my bookshelves has always held a great fascination for me, and it is one that I've always put into practice when it came to decorating my shelves. So here are some of the Little People whom you can meet in my library.

Two curvy little madams ...


... who are currently admiring the TBR piles on my piano.

Pile 1:

Pile 2:

On the other side of the room, this kitty (a gift from my parents) lives among my Mills & Boon Modern Romances (between Sharon Kendrick and Sarah Craven, to be exact):

The shelf below is reserved for Totoro, who was a gift from a reader:

Another kitty, a gift from Teresa, sits on another shelf, guarding Teresa's books:

On the shelf above you can find this happy little miss:

A rather fat kitty sits in the fantasy section:

As do this sheep (which I bought on the Aran Islands) and the clay elephant (a gift from an honorary aunt).

What about your bookshelves? Have you got Little People living among your books, too?

More Pictshoores

This was another gift from my colleagues: while I was being examined as to my PhD-worthiness, they installed a new door plate:


And here's the box with the toy theatre I brought to uni for the exam (on the right, you can just see the last three of the six Champions of Christendom):

The Remains of the Day ... eh ... the party:

Horse Day!

May I present: Dr. des. Schwab (which basically means that you may call me Dr. Schwab, but I can't call myself Dr. yet):


(The robe is an old, moth-bitten one that one of my colleagues brought home from St. Andrew's; now all new doctors of our section have to wear it for the big procession through the humanities building to the big bronze horse in front of said building. The hat is a gift from my colleagues.)

Oh lookz, zere R dragonz on ze hat!

More dragonz (another gift):

(Can you tell I felt much loved yesterday afternoon?)

'Tis me, climbing onto the aforementioned horsie:

Sitting on the horsie while St. Peter threw snowflakes at us.

Group picture with horsie (I look a bit like St. Martin, don't I?).

And that was that. I still can't quite believe that it's all over now. No more Horribelz Dragonz to slay. No more headless chicken runs. How will I stand it?!?!?!

'Tis the Day

... the day to slay the dragons once and for all! :) Please keep your fingers crossed for me this afternoon, 3 p.m. Berlin time or 9 a.m. EST. If you live near Mainz, come and see me fall off the horse in front of the Humanities building just in time for five o'clock tea.

And then please send me some good vibes that I'll conquer the mess in my flat and vanquish the dust wombats:

books in the library-cum-music-room:



pile of books and papers with a desk buried underneath:


things to look forward to in the exam: Beowulf, Thackeray, pantomime, the seven deadly sins:

And this evening I'll finally be free!

The Countdown has started

Three days until the dratted exam.

Need lots of Richard-Armitage clips to keep me calm and prevent me from performing the headless chicken run. Scheme not always altogether successful.

Want, want, want, want!!!!

For a baby quilt. The line includes different panels, either depicting tree surrounded by ABC tiles or only ABC tiles. Very pretty. And isn't that little owl adorable? So far, my favourite fabric store only has the layer cake and the jelly roll. I hope the rest of the line arrives soon!!!

In other news: I want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Proof!!!

Here's the irrefutable proof that I am indeed turning into a chicken:


You might say, "But you've still got your head." Which is true, of course. You can clearly see it on the picture: I've still got my head. BUT -- for how much longer? I ask you. By now it can only be a matter of days, perhaps hours even, before it's going to fall off!

Academic Tablescaping

Essentials:

• 1 cup of tea
• 1 primary text
• 1 sheet of paper for mindmapping
• 1 table

The Result:

I spent the afternoon planning my paper for the Manchester conference (for some reason, they want the papers well in advance) (no finishing the paper on the evening before the day you're going to present it for this conference - drat!). As you can just about see, my mindmap looks ... eh ... interesting - I hope I'll still be able to read my own handwriting tomorrow morning!

In case you're wondering: the topic of my paper is "'It is only with one's heart that one can see clearly': The Loss of Sight in Teresa Medeiros's The Bride and the Beast and Yours Until Dawn".

My Favourite Soup: Kallaloo

Three weeks from the day after tomorrow I'll have my final oral exam. If I pass it, you can then call me Dr. Schwab (I won't be able to call myself Dr. Schwab yet as I'll have to find a publisher for the Dratted Diss first). But in the time until then I'll probably enter Lala-Land again and keep running around like a headless chicken, shouting "Waaaaargh! Waaaaaargh! Waaaaaaargh!" (Not an easy feat, given that the chicken is headless!) As this might be my last sensible post in a while, I'd like to share the recipe for my favourite soup with you. It's yummy and will keep you warm on cold autumn evenings. :)

Take 400g pumpkin, cut into squares, put into a large pot, add three potatoes, also cut into squares, then add some water and cook until pumpkin and potatoes are tender.

Take that thingie-dings with which you can stomp and mash potatoes. Stomp pumpkin and potatoes (or simply purée them), add vegetable stock, finely diced ginger. Mince 500g of spinach (or simply take a large package of Rahmspinat *g*), then add to soup. Add 200 ml of coconut milk, salt and pepper (and some chili, if you like - me, I don't like).

Heat and admire the marvellous greenish colour. And when the soup is all nice and hot, it's ready to be enjoyed.

I got the recipe from a friend (hello, Matze!), and the pumpkin that was cooked in these pictures had grown in the garden of another friend (hello, Anna!). The pot and the kitchen are all mine, though. :)

Tablescaping with Books & Kitteh

You will need:

one pile of books

one kitteh.

Artfully arrange both on the dining table. Like this:

Try different angles.

With kitteh looking left ...

... looking right ...

... looking embarrassed.

(Do we have to continue with this? asks the kitteh. I feel a little bit stupid. - Yes, I say. - Ah, well, says the kitteh.)

Hmm.

Hmmmmmmm.

Hmmmm hmmmm hmmmmmmmmmmm

Hmm - ooops!

Sew & Tell Friday ... er ... on Saturday

or, On the Search for the Religiously Neutral Christmas Present :)

Take: One of the patterns from Gail Pan's lovely A Christmas Wish BOM.

Trace, stitch, cut out, add a backing and a nice ribbon, stitch together, turn, stuff - finished!

Nice, easy, oh-so-fast, and the result is just lovely. Instead of the normal cotton stuffing, you could also use some dried lavendar and thus transform your pendant into a moth repellant. :)

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Sew & Tell is organised by Amy. Click on the button to see what kind of projects other people finished this week!

Remembering my Sweetie

One year ago we had to say goodbye to Jago. I still miss him so very much.

Temptation, Temptation, Temptation

I haven't even finished my first quilt yet, but I'm already thinking about the second ... and third ... and fourth ... And it's all the fault of the Fatquarter Shop and their fiendish newsletter which leads me oh-so-much into temptation every single time I find it in my inbox. (Poor little me!)

But how to choose? Not just which pattern (I'm thinking about trying out some sort of scrappy log cabin), but, more importantly, which fabrics? Here's a selection of my favourites. What do you think? Any favourites?

Rouenneries is, hands down, my current favourite. The prints have been inspired by old French fabrics - don't they look wonderfully elegant, but in a somewhat faded, shabby way?

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And here's Nostalgia. Aaaaah, Nostalgia. Makes you think of an English garden, doesn't it? To strengthen the impression of a garden, one could always go with the greens only. Like this:

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Or perhaps another Glacé quilt? (Minus the blue again. I don't think it really fits with all the other colours.)

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Blessings is more earthy and looks as if it would keep you nicely warm in winter. :)

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Aster Manor - very feminine.

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Alliance - another collection in more earthy tones.

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And now some collections which would make fantabulous coin quilts (small stacks of colour against a solid - quite often white - background):

Thoughts? Ideas?