I just worked out how to download photos from my phone- so apologies for the average quality of these pictures. They were taken this morning on a quick walk in the (extremely) fresh Wellington air- up a hill to look at the deep grey sea. It always amazes me how there is so much wildness…

Hello and I hope your Monday is going well for you today. There has not been too much going on here, except (among other things) a bit of baking (these favourite old biscuits, some with cherry jam and some with lime marmalade) and a bit of embroidery. Coloured thread on black wool recycled from some…

I made this dress slowly over the past week, working on a little bit each day until it was finished. The fabric was painstakingly unpicked from an old kimono I bought here (yes, yet another one!) and the pattern was the same as this dress– New Look #6457. When I bought the kimono, the man…

I've been sewing a winter curtain- inpired by the above page in this book by Lisa Stickley I wrote about a while back. This is quite a large curtain, to fit our front door which is made of panelled glass, and I had to piece together a few different fabrics in true d-i-y style to…

Here are a few snaps from our long weekend. It involved some child-free time for Tom and I (dinner + spy movie), building some raised vege beds, a few long walks, hanging out in the garden, city adventures, baking both sweet and savoury (the cookies in the above photo were made using this recipe) and…

The kids and I have been making great use of our local public pool, which is in easy walking distance from here. I've found it a really good way to pass a bit of time in the summer day, and there's even a place for non-swimmers to sit and drink coffee in a most civilised…

The first mail to arrive here at our new house was a parcel containing this beautiful black shawl. It was a gift from Francesca who lives in a small Italian village, and is a master crocheter- isn't that a beautiful shell stitch? As someone who will never learn how to crochet, I am thrilled to…

Here is another project made with a deconsructed vintage kimono, like the curtains yesterday. This is a belt I sewed from kimono silk that features a kind of hand-painted stripe in pale colours, on a beige background. I really love this fabric, but after deconstructing the old kimono, the pieces were in long, narrow strips,…

I discovered a new shop not far from here: Asia Gallery in the Kilbirnie (Wellington) shopping district. I first heard about it a while back on Rachelle's blog and my visit there last week was pretty amazing. Picture a small back-street den crammed with racks of vintage kimono and shelves of handmade pottery dishes, dark…

I made up a batch of plain biscuits this morning and the smallest child managed to fill in about three hours painstakingly decorating each one. Why hadn't I thought of this school holiday activity before? It worked a treat and she was so happy with her apron, chair, sprinkles and moth cookie-cutter.  The quiet morning…