A few papery bits and bobs made lately include these small envelopes (template here)- I used some pages from an old Frankie magazine for these pretty pastel ones. And instead of glueing, I was a bit lazy and fastened the edges with Japanese paper tape, but I like the effect- like a paper patchwork. I…

I saw some really beautiful linen bedding in a homewares store a while back: it had an all-over pattern of dark yellow dots and was very expensive. Then yesterday, while organising supplies for my printing class (come along! it's this weekend) I wanted to test my fabric inks, and remembered some linen pillowcases I'd op-shopped…

Feel like a quick flick-through of this book with me? It's 'Sweet dress book' (English version of the original Japanese), by Yoshiko Tsukiori, Laurence King Publishing. I wrote about another book by the same designer here in March. This book is similarly beautiful and quirky, with lots of great styling that could only be found…

Got some more cards printed, to fuel my determination to keep sending snail mail this winter. It's working, and I do love sticking on the stamp and dropping notes in the letterbox. I printed some extra sets for my etsy shop too (along with some freshly minted new copies of my book, in case you…

Went to see some great stand-up comedy over the weekend- Stuart Goldsmith and James Acaster who were both hilarious. When I got home, I did some 'research' and found this routine– the ready-to-eat apricots being my favourite part. I've been working on a set of small felt pins to take with me to this event.…

It was a rainy and cold afternoon, and there was much homework and music practice and house work to be done. So the kids and I spent three hours digging through my basket of wool, making pompoms. Keira made a finger-knitted chain from some hand-spun wool while Arlo and I became an efficient pompom making…

I'll be teaching some workshops at HANDMADE again this year, and two will involve making this bear from my book. Want to join us? I've been making up some bears as samples and was reminded how enjoyable it is to work with linen and to make toys. The class is also a 'junior-friendly', which means…

Hope you had a good Mother's Day yesterday, if you were celebrating. It was a shiny golden day here, complete with homemade cards (with original acrostic poems) and breakfast in bed (black coffee and white chocolate the kids bought from the corner shop- really) and a forest-walk to gather pinecones for the fireplace, followed by…

Working from home this afternoon, and in the last hour before school pick-up, I decided coffee and knitting was in order. Our resident teenager has requested an 'ear-warmer' type of garment to wear this winter (keeps hair intact and whistling wind out of the ears- at least that's the idea) so I'm knitting her one…

Knitting is something I love to do but hardly ever make time for- probably in part due to the many disappointments of my past failed projects. But a late-night Ravelry browsing session led me to this hat pattern, and I happened to have all the materials on hand, so I cast on for this hat.…