tiny happy

The kids and I went on an outing to Petone (an old part of the Wellington region situated on the northern shore of the harbour) to walk on the beach and mooch around the shops and cafes. 

It's a beautiful bit of Wellington, and I always forget about how good it is until I get there – and it has a great array of specialty food (and other) shops as well as good coffee and second-hand places.

I found a book I've wanted for ages, called 'beauty, even' which was published to accompany an exhibition of NZ artist and poet Joanna Paul's work in 2004. There aren't many books published about her (she was a prolific producer of drawings, paintings and poems) and I've loved her work since first discovering it in a library book when I was a kid. Her drawings, especially. 

In the last photo above I have tried to capture a new favourite piece of clothing which has been worn quite a bit so far. I sewed it from some soft linen originally set aside for embroidery (there's still some left for that purpose) in dark blue and grey, with a grid pattern – quite hard to photograph. I used the pattern 'Lou Box Top' (found here) and the back neck opening is fastened with a white ceramic button. The partnership of ceramic + linen is very pleasing to me.