It's probably a bit early in the year to be making summer dresses, but I finished this black linen one the other day, and it's making me feel excited about the warmer season ahead. I used a length of crispy black linen with quite a nice weight and crumple to it, and a pattern that…

Did you know I'm unable to crochet? Believe me, I've tried. Probably about 58 times, with the help of different books, videos and patient people. And yet, my efforts still resemble a crazy tangle of yarn, rather than something neat and flat. And I won't lie, tears are always near before I throw my crochet…

A handful of cuttings from the garden inspired some wool embroidery today. I hope you're having a good Tuesday, too. 

   I found this great little craft book, Lovely Things To Make For Girls of Slender Means by Eithne Farry, at the library the other day. It is divided into 4 chapters of projects that reflect the seasons of the year, and in the Summer chaper (along with designs for a kaftan, a necklace made…

I made this rabbit for my baby nephew Leo, who turns one tomorrow. He and his sister live on a farm, so are more likely than I am to see a live rabbit in their garden. Leo is one of those beautifully squishy, jolly babies and I'm looking forward to seeing him tomorrow. I wanted…

A few weeks ago a friend and I went to hear Alexa Johnston speak about her new book, 'What's for Pudding' which is fresh in the bookshops now (I wrote about her other great baking books here.) She was a very interesting woman and so passionate about food, but one of my favourite things she…

Inspired by a mixed assortment of flowers from the garden this week, I have been doing a bit of wool embroidery. It's quite a thrill to have things pop up in the garden that I planted the seed for a year ago…. my current favourite is honeywort (cerinthe) which you can see better in the…

One rainy Saturday afternoon recently, the kids helped me make this wildly striped sock monkey. He was inspired by an old blue-and-grey one of Keira's that she'd found in an opshop. Our sock monkey suffers from a rather dated colour scheme, but we were limited in our sock choices. He was great fun to make-…

The viburnum tree is my favourite in our garden, and it's happily flowering now it's springtime. At this time of year the tree really seems to resemble a mass of giant white pom-poms but they don't last for long, so I thought I should capture them on linen while I could. I hope you've had…

These little pansy or viola flowers are popping up in the garden this week, showing their cheerful faces and not seeming to mind the spring rain. I'm starting to feel better after nearly a week with the 'flu, which I don't recommend to anyone. Seriously. But something that did help was sitting very still, calmly…