Today I'm writing over here at Anissa's place, about a favourite possession. Thanks for inviting me, A! Happy new week, dear readers.  

I found a beautiful new cookbook at the library this week: Isa Does It, which features everyday vegan recipes. I'm not vegan but like the idea of eating less animal products, and this book is very inspiring to me. Isa Chandra Moskowitz, of Post Punk Kitchen fame, has been writing cookbooks since 2005. This one…

Two finished projects from this week: a project bag from some great woven cotton in a minty-green shade, and a drum lightshade, in mint and cream striped cotton. I had a lot of fun making the lightshade and it's now in Arlo's bedroom because that's where it was most needed. He helped choose the fabric…

We celebrated Arlo's eleventh birthday over the weekend. Eleven!  X X X X x x x x X X X X x x x x X X X X  p.s. Thanks for entering the printing book giveaway. Anna drew a winner – congratulations Glenys.

I'm guest-posting today about free-form embroidery over at The Craft Sessions blog. Will you follow me there? Also, there's still a little time to enter this giveaway, if you haven't already.  Hope the sun is shining where you are. 

I came across some beautiful old fabrics in a second-hand shop recently. They provided the inspiration I needed to spend some time at the sewing machine, putting their best parts to use. And updating my usually-neglected etsy shop. I love turning unwanted things into new, useful things. And old fabrics feature the best colours, don't…

Here's a scarf to match the cloudy weather: hand-printed at both ends with Xs of various sizes. I was going for a hand-drawn, random look (conveniently..) so I carved quite a large printing block with the shapes and stamped it on this grey cotton scarf ($1 at the op-shop- hooray!) This particular op-shop trip was…

Do you like colours and inks and papers and shapes? Yes? You need these books on your craft table. A couple of weekends ago I met Anna, who runs Qwerky Home from here in Wellington. Q.H is a funky little shop that stocks homewares, craft supplies and stationery from all around the world… including products from…

A spot of knitting by the fire this week resulted in this green neck-warmer, or cowl, which I made for a friend's upcoming birthday. The (free) pattern is the drop-stitch cowl by SpiderWomanKnits, the simplest and loveliest little project I can think of to warm up a June evening. I used super-bulky yarn (100gms of…

Last week I was given a coupon to try out 'Printic', which is an smartphone app. Love your phone photos but long for real prints to pop in your wallet or stick into your journal? This is a great solution and blends old and new school technology in a pleasing way. Printic works on iPhone,…