I've been doing a bit of baking while working at the cafe, and one of the most popular things on the menu is lemon slice. Customers often order a wedge with their morning coffee and it's pretty easy and quick to make. I felt a bit shy about stealing the recipe from the…

Now the equinox has passed, the mornings are getting darker and we're slowly sending the warmth back to the northern hemisphere. There's so much good food at the start of autumn. Tonight I hope to bottle pears and we'll eat the last of the sweetcorn from the garden. Sometimes after dinner, Tom and I sit…

  After school today I drove out of town for Arlo's piano lesson. The wind was pushing the heavy clouds quickly across the sky, and they were gathering together in protest over the sea. I had to stop and take a photo. I've committed to spending the next few weeks doing other work during the…

      I ordered some of my favourite cards- these recycled ones, made by my friend Caireen. They arrived from Scotland this week, and C had wrapped my parcel in these pages from the latest Gudrun Sjoden catalogue. I have a deep love for this Scandinavian designer, and often go and gaze longingly at…

      Inspired by the amazing pieces of vintage lace that I'm lucky enough to be sent by kind readers (thank you, lace suppliers!) I worked on a new design this week: a treasure purse. I used gathered linen of different colours, and pieces of vintage lace to make a few for my shop…

It's definitely still too warm for winter clothes, but the crisp autumn air outside has given me motivation to make a few things for the children for next season. I made Keira this 'flying birds' cardigan/jacket on the weekend. She likes birds and can often be found looking through my collection of old nature books.…

    Thank you for your birthday wishes for Keira. We had a great weekend, talking up her first day of school (today) and celebrating with a kid's party in our local park. It was simple but fun, with blankets laid out on the grass and a cd player to play music for 'pass the…

    Keira will turn five over the weekend, and to celebrate we're having a family dinner at the Indian Cafe to eat dahl, her 'favouritest' meal. But then on Sunday she'll have a small tea-party in the park with some of her friends from kindergarten. Today I prepared a few things for this: the…

  I love green. In all its forms: pure, fresh lime-green and dark, lush leaf-green, like the grapevines spreading across our back wall. I've made some green things for my shop update this week: a sashiko-quilted purse made from a very old piece of Japanese kimono fabric: light green with black running stitches and a…

    I was listening to a science podcast from our national radio station last week, in which local organic winemakers talked about biodiversity in their vineyards. In particular it was about how they use flowering plants around their crops to encourage 'good' insects, and keep away others that are not beneficial. NZ native plants…