The holidays are pretty great but I do feel as though an awful lot of food has been made and consumed… growing kids and their friends tend to do that, don't they?  A favourite new thing we have been making and eating these holidays are these savoury pinwheel pastries. They are super-easy and quick to…

I've been collecting these vintage pudding bowls for a few years now. They were made by Crown Lynn in 1960's NZ, along with a lot of everyday utilitarian ceramic ware, and are now collected and prized by many people. You can still find some of the patterns in op-shops and junkyards, but most of the…

Here's a bit of botanical-inspired stitching based on plants from around the garden. We're in the first week of school holidays here, and the children have been doing a little bit of helping out with weeding and other gardening chores, and the rest of the time making more mess to be sorted out later. A…

Some more rabbits (a bit like this one) made their way out of my sewing room over the weekend and were quite happy to pose for these photos on the mantlepiece. I was asked to make one for a sweet new baby, and thought I'd make a family and the other two are in my…

I've been admiring the tree fern which grows outside the bedroom window this week. It is so intricate and changes each day, and there's something about the long skinny tendrils it sends out that makes me think of an octopus. Isn't that central koru something quite amazing… spirals within spirals and a protective hairiness like…

I found some chamomile-printed fabric at the Recycling Centre recently and it made me think of these daisy flowers we have growing happily in the garden, as well as all the baby chamomile plants that should be flowering by summer, too.  I wanted to make a bag that featured the fabric (and a few others…

The rain seems to stretch on and on here but I do quite enjoy the misty grey sky and light it creates outside. The look of the spring blossoms and branches against the grey clouds inspired these small embroidered pieces- one on blue linen and the other worked on some new dark grey I found…

It's misty and rainy here today- it was all weekend, too. It seemed the right time to crack open my new ceramic paints and work on this pair of coffee cups, spurred on by the forget-me-not flowers gathering along the edges of our garden. I've always loved those little blue flowers- they're to be found…

It's probably a bit early in the year to be making summer dresses, but I finished this black linen one the other day, and it's making me feel excited about the warmer season ahead. I used a length of crispy black linen with quite a nice weight and crumple to it, and a pattern that…

Did you know I'm unable to crochet? Believe me, I've tried. Probably about 58 times, with the help of different books, videos and patient people. And yet, my efforts still resemble a crazy tangle of yarn, rather than something neat and flat. And I won't lie, tears are always near before I throw my crochet…