Happy Easter Sunday, dear blog readers. I love this time of year. I'm not a church-attender these days but as a child I sang in a cathedral choir and Easter music was always the best. And this golden autumnness is also very beautiful. It's the same in the Northern Hemisphere too, I remember longing for…

Second installment of pattern friday today- this time the pattern was the result of playing around with oil paints with the kids. I used an old photo of swans I took in Germany a few years ago as inspiration.  Last week I noticed that Susie of Flowerpress joined in with her bright weaving design- if…

I forgot to show this brooch I made from another button sent by Sarah– this one is quite large and has a shank fastening and an engraved geometric pattern. I made it into a rosette-style pin using some wool felt and vintage ribbon, to fasten to my best dress.  Thank you for entering the button…

These handmade buttons by Sarah of Fulton and Co arrived in the letterbox over the weekend. They are made from pearly smooth ceramic, slightly earthy and delicate at the same time. I think they look beautiful on handmade garments- if I was more of a knitter, I would knit a stack of winter cardigans and adorn them…

I bought myself a new sketchbook the other day, and (to make sure I actually use it) I'm challenging myself to drawing a pattern every Friday to cheer up the blog. So here is my first 'pattern friday'- feel free to join in if you like! This pattern was made with watercolours, listening to this…

Birthday celebrations went on all weekend for Miss K with a surprise visitor from down South (thanks, Dad) and family and friends dropping in for coffee, outdoor eating and fun times.  I noticed a bit of a golden-yellow theme going on. While waiting for her friends to arrive on Saturday afternoon, K and I made…

I painted a birthday card for Keira- she turns eight today! Because this blog has really grown up with her, I dug out a few of my old photos to make her a birthday post. I believe I started writing here when she was about one or two. Watching a child grow is a good,…

The iceblock obsession continues around here with recipe testing (me) and taste testing (children + friends.) This latest batch was requested by Tom, who remembers eating pina colada pops when his family lived in Australia for a year when he was 10 years old. But he'd not seen them anywhere since. So I made these…

I made a clutch purse for going out- I wanted something just the right size for my phone, cards, etc. A few weeks ago I came across a bag of soft leather scraps in the op-shop, and cut down to size, leather proved to be a good base for the purse. It's sturdy and strong,…

Isn't this dark berry-red a beautiful colour. I found an old tablecloth in my fabric stash, it was made from very fine linen and embroidered with red roses. Most of the table cloth was in bad condition, but I rescued the rosy bits to make a pair of matching lavender sachets. Very pleasing. And another…