tiny happy

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 a little picture of my 'flock of birds' teacups nestled in amongst lots of lovely NZ-made homewares. This magazine is fairly new to me, but it looks great and I can't wait to read my copy. (It comes out in NZ bookshops on Monday.)

And in the latest North and South magazine, there's a small article about me and my work, expertly written by Matt Philp- with a photo taken in the sewing room of our old house. The photographer was wonderful, but I felt sorry for her- I made it very awkward in my typical fashion. And Tom has been enjoying teasing me about how huge my feet look in the photo- which I put down to a combination of my shoes being a couple of sizes too big, actually having big feet anyway, and the wide-angle lens. It's always good to have someone to bring me firmly down to earth.

So thank you to those kind readers who have emailed or left a comment here about the interviews- and welcome to my blog.

In other news- at the second-hand shop a while ago, I found a circular piece of glass covered in hand crochet which reminded me very much of Margie's gorgeous work. So now it's gracing the kitchen windowsill and making me think of her. It seems quite old- like a delicate kind of dream-catcher.

I hope you have a relaxing weekend!

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 grey wool jersey fabric, but it seemed a little plain. And then I knew what I had to do. I took a drawing he did of a pair of dancing, smiling crabs and made them into a freezer-paper stencil, and printed his new sweater with white ink. Voila- a crab top. Just what he always wanted.

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 out of an old scientific plant book. It was just the right size to make a tote bag that I think would be useful for trips to the market or library. I made a set of three for my shop this week- they are all made from linen and have a base made from wool fabric for extra hardiness and strength. And also so they can flung around the floor without ruining the linen.

More botanicals I'm enjoying today include…

these by Tiel in Australia- found on the way to her letterbox,

these figs by Stephanie Congdon-Barnes,

and waterlilies and flowers by Liivia in Finland.

Wishing you a happy Wednesday.

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 on linen with her fancy handwriting inside. 

Actually, she sent my siblings and I many lovely gifts over the years, including needlebooks, a chatelaine for me because I liked crafts, and once, a journal with a hand-embroidered cover that I remember writing some very angsty poetry in. She also embroidered (in long-stitch) a portrait of my youngest sister jumping on the trampoline when she was about four. It was brilliant.

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 my orders and other jobs.

Over the weekend, I discovered the Icelandic musician Ólöf Arnalds and her lovely new album, Innundir Skinni. I really recommend it- the music is beautiful. You can also hear a duet that she sings with Bjork, called Surrender here at Pitchfork Media. Once again, I'm craving a trip to Scandinavia- though it's nearly as far away from here at the bottom of the earth as it's possible to go.

I hope you had a nice weekend, wherever you are in our world.

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 how i must do some weeding. But for now I'm getting inspired by all the clover leaves, so they can happily stay there a bit longer.

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 just lately I've been showing restraint, because I think I have enough. Perhaps if I had three more children, I would need more plates and bowls. But that's probably not going to happen. 

I love the old patterns of vintage Crown Lynn and Kelston Potteries dinnerware, and it's possible to find the odd piece here and there at flea markets and second-hand shops. Perhaps over the years all the other pieces get broken or lost, leaving a stray saucer or bread-and-butter plate. It makes my finds all the more delicious. The fern-printed bowl I've photographed above is a piece by the British Johnson Brothers. Do you have a favourite old plate or bowl?

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 a little difficult to translate into stitches, but I tried anyway. 

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

1 1/2 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 cup milk

Both the rind and juice of 3 lemons, or a mixture of other citrus fruit (I used lemons and limes). 

Cream butter and sugar until light, and mix in eggs one at a time. Then sift in the flour and baking powder. Next, mix in the milk until the batter is smooth and of a good 'dropping' consistency. Lastly stir in the grated rind of your citrus fruit. Pour mixture into a lined cake tin and cook at 180 degrees Celcius for about 30 mins.

After removing cake from the oven, spoon over a syrup- made by heating the juice of your citrus fruits in a small pot together with a spoonful or so of raw sugar until dissolved. Delish.