The children have two weeks at home, starting today. Keira spent an hour at the park next door, carefully collecting these stray daisies. I love the holidays.

    I've been really honoured to have a bit of press this month- including an interview on Radio NZ National on the afternoons programme. That was pretty nerve-wracking but such an honour, as I've listened to this station for pretty much my entire life. I also received a copy of Homestyle magazine today with…

    The children found two gorgeous crab shells when we were walking on the beach the other day. We left them there, but they often ask to look at the photo I took of those funny smiley shells. Arlo needed a new jersey to wear to school so I sewed one up from dark…

    This lush tree-fern is growing against the side of our house- and looking at it the other day inspired me to pull out from my shelf some botanical-printed linen. The linen is Swedish in origin, and was a gift from Louana– thank you again! I love the subtle colours and the print- straight…

    I sent a couple of birthday gifts away this week, and included some rather old-school cards I made. These were inspired by my great-aunt Joyce who used to send us birthday cards when we were children that she'd made herself. She is a fantastic embroiderer, and the notecards would feature an inset embroidery…

      I can't think of much to say today. Our islands are being hit by a snow and rainstorm and it feels as though winter is holding on to us with a firm grip. So while the cold weather lingers, I'm going to go back to the workroom and spend some time on…

    I wanted to make a birthday gift for a friend, so I got one of my illustrations printed on to cards, and made her up a set with envelopes. The illustration was inspired by my slightly guilty feelings about the spring garden: whenever I look out of the kitchen window, I think about…

      Here are some things I made for my etsy shop update today. I think they might have been inspired by doing the dishes- (it feels like I'm always doing them these days), or at least, the colour palette of some of my favourite dishes. I collect old china like a magpie- but…

    We have a viburnum tree in flower in our driveway. At least, I think that's what it's called. It's beautiful: each thin branch is heavy with a snowball of white flowers. And since our tree has started flowering, I've noticed there's a viburnum in almost all of the gardens on our street.  It's…

    It's dark and raining here again today, and I have a small boy home from school, suffering from earache. We made cake, because it always seems to make things better. And we used lots of lemons, for the vitamin C, of course. Citrus Cake 130 grams softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs…