A little golden light for a rainy, grey day. It's pretty cold out there, but at least there's only a month to go before spring now. That is a very happy thought. I had today at home, and I made a few new things for my shop. A yellow rose purse and a cushion cover…

The sun came out this morning, and when I was joyfully hanging out the washing, I found this miniature daffodil under the trampoline. Silly old daffodil. Today was National Poetry Day. I celebrated by reading from this book on the bus, attending a poetry reading at a book shop, writing a poem at a street…

A windy, rainy stomp home from school this afternoon inspired a bit of chocolate mixing and whisking- the nicest thing to drink in the depths of winter, we think. I first wrote about this a couple of years ago here– and I used a recipe from an old copy of The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna…

This is a little crystals pouch I made for Tom's cousin, who turned 11 this weekend. She is really into crystals and gemstones, as are my kids, so A and K chose her a few and we made a little safekeeping pouch for them from silk. This silk was printed with the end-of-a-pencil eraser and…

Tucked behind the shed, I found a raggedy little wintersweet bush. I couldn't believe my luck, as not much is growing around here right now. I snipped off a branch and brought it inside. It has a deeply comforting sweet/citrus scent. The flowers inspired a bit of watercolour work, and that in turn led to…

It was the stormiest day in a long while today, so I was appreciating these two very spring-like things: an old patchwork quilt that I found second-hand (with lots of ink stains) which I recycled into a tote bag and pen case- i hope it's happier like that. Also these beautiful double-narcissi (I think) lending…

Marigolds seem to be the only flower-type things in our garden right now, and are certainly the most colourful of the winter-enduring plants. I picked a few and then embroidered yellow ones on some recycled wool fabric, in order to make these phone cases for my shop. I made one for my own phone too…

Here are three good stitch patterns that have come my way lately: – a beautiful vintage embroidery that was a gift from Louana. There are poppies, daisies and cornflowers stitched onto velvety fabric. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet- I wonder if it might have been a tea-cosy at one time? –…

I just discovered that my camera can take black and white photos, and I never realised before. I took a few monochrome pictures of the children playing in the garden. It's fairly unkempt and hardly ever warm or dry enough to play in these days. There's an expansive wild bit down the end of the…