Hello from a balmy summer's evening in Wellington. It's unseasonably warm here these days, and not at all windy, which means we can have all the doors and windows open and listen to the cicadas at full volume.
Today's post features a project I finished last year. I made a bag for my Mum and it wasn't really a Christmas present but I gave it to her over the holidays. She asked for a similar bag to the one I recently made my sister (you can read about that here) and the pattern I used was the 'zip pocket tote' from this great book by Anna Graham.
The pattern calls for the use of some industrial-strength interfacing and the finished bag is quite sturdy and large with lots of pockets and two zips. I used some grey cotton/linen blend fabric for the exterior, paired with a vintage cotton print from my friend Helen. Mum likes it and the last time i saw her she was toting her current hand-applique project inside.
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Also over the holidays I fell in love with a cookbook – it's called Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young. The book features beautiful photos and writing about the author's favourite books and the food within. There's a recipe for the pizza from Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels, Pippi Longstocking's Swedish pancakes, and Paddington Bear's marmalade, to name just a few.
I've found myself making many of the recipes in the book, including two you can see above: mint juleps (truthfully, Tom made these – so refreshing after a long hot day!) from The Great Gatsby, and Vanilla Layer Cake as described in Anne of Green Gables (with our seasonal addition of borage flowers from the garden.)
Kate Young has a website/blog with lots of recipes like those in the book, and also a column in The Guardian.
I don't mind telling you I even made crumpets from scratch, inspired by Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca and they were delicious and definitely worth the effort.
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tiny happy 
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