I haven't had much luck taking photos lately. I'll blame the grey weather, rainstorms and office work. So I thought I'd look through my flickr photostream to see what I got up to in other Julys. There are so many projects and moments documented on that page. I was surprised! And pleased that I had put them…

I have a few vintage embroidery books, but I don't spend enough time learning new and interesting embroidery stitches. But this is something I'd like to try – there are countless stitches to learn. Also I like their old-fashioned names. One of the workshops I'll be doing at The Craft Sessions will involve learning new…

Another embroidered pattern for today. This one was inspired by colourful everlasting flowers which didn't last long enough but at least I have proof that it hasn't always been rainy and freezing here. It's easy to get stuck in that wintry feeling. I stitched the little bouquets of flowers freehand onto striped linen and sewed…

I'm teaching 2 classes in Kilbirnie at the beautiful Stitchbird store (Lyndy has secured a great nearby location for teaching in.) Come and make an embroidered needlebook with us- Monday 22 July- 7-9pm Or carve some rubber stamps and print some fabric or papergoods: Thursday 18 July 7-9pm You can find more details at the…

This is a bag I made for a friend who had a birthday on the weekend. We often meet up at the library, so I thought the shape and size of this might be good for lugging her family's books around.  I used some vintage tweedy woven fabric for the body of the bag, which…

My friend Helen sent me this bird-garland. She used cotton string and old maps for the birds themselves. They are currently flying along my kitchen window and cheering up jobs I do underneath them such as the dishes, or making soup. They also cheer up that eyes-half-closed-shock-of-the-morning feeling I have most days at 7am.  I…

Lemons are good in winter. Lemon cake is practically medicinal, right? I made a lemon cake for Sunday morning tea. I like my cakes to be really dense and lemony, which involves a lot of lemon juice and a very classic, plain cake. This is how I made it. LEMON CAKE 150g butter, softened 1/2…

Today's pattern is an embroidered one- miniature lily-of-the-valley sprigs on oatmeal linen. I embroidered the pattern to make a linen project bag, the kind of thing that might be nice to keep your knitting or crochet in.  I'm interviewed on The Craft Sessions blog today (the first of a series of Teacher Features plus giveaway…

I'm heading to Nelson at the end of July – do you want to join me at this event? Nicola is an old friend of mine and she's helping me organise this cosy wintry evening at Prego cafe. She's a cookbook author and keeps a beautiful blog called Homegrown Kitchen. She'll do a little cooking…

I found this fab fabric one day at Stitchbird Fabrics and knew I had to have it: it was just something about the mustard yellow and olivey green details . And happy-looking forest animals too, of course. I made a cover for a giant feather cushion and backed the linen in olive green wool. 'Lucky' for…