Every year the kids get invited to a Halloween party at a friends' place and every year we scramble at the last minute for dessing-up ideas (I've never been into makeup or costumes, so the kids have to come up with the lot themselves I'm afraid.) This year it was more fun, and it's all…

Erin Gleeson's Forest Feast was a recent library find and already we've made some dishes from it. Keira had a friend to stay over the weekend, and I kept them busy with various activities including a recipe from Erin's book: Peanut Butter Balls. They were lovely and enjoyed by a succession of visitors over a…

I had a metre of some beautiful cotton: soft with grey and cream stripes. I thought that if I made pillowcases, I could use and see the fabric everyday, so that's what I did. These were super simple to make, and have French seams for extra longevity. I made each case from a single length…

I was commissioned to make a collection of project bags for the London knitting store Loop and I spent my winter evenings designing and embroidering them. It really was a good way to spend those cold and dark nights, and even more thrilling to walk to the post office in the spring sunshine to send…

Over the past couple of months, a friend and I have been going for evening walks in our neighbourhood. Primarily, this is about exercise and a chat (S' motivation) and exercise, chat and spying on other peoples' gardens (my motivation).  These snowdrops and their scruffier impersonators, the onion weed flowers, are growing everywhere these days.…

I re-joined Instagram recently (my cellphone broke and the new one I got was able to download apps and stuff) and have been enjoying posting little snapshots of the world and checking on friends' snaps too. The images above were taken with my trusty phone camera, which, I must admit, is somewhat easier to take…

  Thanks for entering the giveaway in the last post – so many great dinner ideas shared. If you're wondering what to cook tonight, take a look here. I drew a winner randomly and it was Caren. Will send it off soon, C. It's been a happy few days here- spring has properly arrived, complete…

My friend Nicola is a clever woman: she makes beautiful food and writes about it over on her blog Homegrown Kitchen.  Her latest project is the 2015 food calendar. Printed on lovely thick paper, every month features a seasonal recipe, as well space for kitchen and garden notes (I love this feature.) Recipes I'll try…

We have a lot of lavender in the garden at the moment. The bees are happy. I've picked some bunches for drying around the house, to use in later projects. Keira is visiting her grandmothers this week, and made these little gifts to take with her. They're lavender sachets made from a fine grey linen…

Out on my evening walk the other day, I came across an old willow tree that had been knocked over by the wind. It was lying in a gully but still covered in furry catkins, so I picked a few on the way home, for embroidery inspiration. We used to love those soft furry pearls…