It's my 30th birthday today, and I've had a really nice time with friends and family. And also, I've had lots of treats and kindness shown. Thank you, everyone. I was a bit nervous about turning 30 because it seems properly grown-up, (and also, I happen to remember my parents turning 30), but I think…

My friend Helen sent me a pad of watercolour paper made up into postcards: blank on one side with address lines and a stamp-square on the other side. Something about those little pieces of lovely paper made me want to get out my paints, so I made some postcards to send to friends. They are…

I've had this tree-silhouette fabric sitting on my shelf for a while now, and finally let myself cut into it. I love the natural tree print combined with rather fanciful colourings: pink, rust-red, blue and grey. I used it to make these cushion covers for my shop update this week. They have matching backings made…

I found the picture of the lovely woman surrounded by flowers in a vintage gardening book: the 1958 edition of Yates Garden Guide. It's a great book, filled with lots of helpful information and some pretty interesting photos of people holding vegetables and flowers. I fell in love with that picture, and the way the…

I did a quite a bit of work in the garden this weekend, and the end result of that was a giant pile of weeds/wildflowers ready for the compost heap. Even though the dandelion plant seems to be the most pervasive in our garden, I can't help but admire it, anyway. I think it's beautiful…

The biggest project of the school holidays has been finished: sewing curtains for the house. Well, just three pairs, but they were large windows. This was a big job and I'm very relieved to have finished. I used a kind of thick, slightly textured cotton in a natural shade, and lined them with a fine…

Here are some photos I took whilst walking along the track in this National Park yesterday. It was one of those extremely bright and shiny days- everything seemed to glow in the sunlight. It's lovely being able to take the children walking now that their legs are a bit longer- even though a little bit…

A tangle of jasmine from the garden and another plant, which I think is called a hardenbergia. And two new second-hand finds: this amazing old framed embroidery featuring a swan and some rushes, and an old Crown Lynn milk jug. The mantlepiece is happy. We're planning a walking trip into our nearest National Park tomorrow,…

On the weekend we got so excited about October arriving, that we set up a little outside area for eating and reading on the front deck. After a month or so of searching for some outside furniture, we decided to go for the recycled option, and bought this old 1950's mint-green formica table from the…

I was in our local bookstore the other day buying a gift, and couldn't resist getting this book for our own shelf: 'Seasons' by Blexbolex/ Albin Michel Jeunesse and reprinted by the NZ company Gecko Press. It's a seriously beautiful book, to hold and to look at, and has been enjoyed by Tom and I and the…