So much rain! There's water pouring down the hill and flooding the streets.  It is a good day to be inside with the fire going, though. I spent a bit of time today making this cushion cover for a friend. The front is thick wool jersey fabric in a charcoal colour and the back…

  It's never too early in the morning for a bit of creativity, don't you know. I hope you're having a good Thursday!

    I made some differently-sized zip cases for my shop update today, and realised afterwards that they make a rather colour-coordinated collection. I seem to do that every week- subliminal colour groupings.  We have two big camellia trees outside and little K likes to pick the flowers and bring them in for me. Almost…

    I ordered some seeds online in anticipation of spring gardening, and some extras to send to friends around the country who enjoy growing things. The seeds arrived in bulk quantities, and I wanted to divide them into individual packets, so I made my own seed envelopes. They are just kraft-paper 'wage envelopes', with…

    Thank you for the well-wishes re. the chicken pox! K is feeling much better now, after a quiet weekend. She'll have a few more days home from school yet, though. I've been trying to think of ways to entertain her- so far we've been painting, drawing, watching films and making bead necklaces. I…

      K is home from school with the chicken pox. Not fun. But we have been finding some ways to distract from the itchiness. So far they've included staring out the window at the birds eating from our bird-feeder and trying to identify which birds they are from a NZ bird book. We…

    I bought a set of four matching oak chairs from a second-hand store last summer, and last week I finally got around to recovering them. It was a pretty quick and easy job, I'm not sure why I put it off for so long. The fabric is a cotton canvas that I found…

    I wanted to make the kids some small bags in which to carry their toothbrushes, etc when they stay the night at their grandparents' or friends' houses. I was thinking about what I could use to make them waterproof when I came across an old plastic tablecloth in the op shop. Do you…

      A couple of weeks ago at the flea market, I found an amazing old eiderdown- the one in the top picture above. It's made from a silky cotton that is soft with age and has a row of small shell buttons along one edge. I love it very much. After a good…

      Thank you for entering the competition for the calendar over the weekend. I used the random number generator to pick a winner, and that turned out to be Megan of Mousehouse. Hooray! The photos above show a few of the things we've been up to at our place over the last week…