tiny happy

A friend who does a lot of work in the Pacific brought me a gorgeous gift home from a recent trip to Tonga: a bag of giant vanilla pods.

Ever since, I've been dreaming of a light, coconutty cake with a milky vanilla topping. I finally baked it (I used a plain cake and added some milk and a cup of coconut along with the scrapings from one of the vanilla pods), and can assure you, it is a good idea for a cake. The best part is the black vanilla seeds flecked throughout. I don't think vanilla extract from a bottle is going to cut it any longer.

Now I'm dreaming up my next vanilla bean creation, maybe homemade or yoghurt or icecream? Will keep you posted.

Wild onion weed, or Allium triquetrum, is a familiar plant around Wellington. For many years, it was the only thing that adorned the outdoor areas of my student flats. It's still prevalent around the city. I went foraging for plants to embroider the other day, but all I could find was the notorious onion weed. So I used it as inspiration.

I have a vague plan for an embroidery series of 'favourite weeds of NZ' although, of course, they're only weeds if you don't like them. But I do, in the most part.

(In this article writen by Johanna Knox of A Forager's Treasury, she recommends cooking with onion weed as though using spring onions. Might never need to buy a spring onion again!)

I call this pencil-pattern 'drying herbs'. It's inspired by a big bunch of rosemary my friend Emma cut from her garden for me and tied up with string. It's hanging upside down to dry. I made a dish of rosemary potatoes to go with some other dishes last night. Simple and delicious.

And speaking of plants and herbs, I came across this beautiful flickr stream today, with thanks to another friend, Melanie. It's called the Biodiversity Heritage Library. She warned that I might waste a bit of time on it, so proceed with caution if you're a fan of vintage illustrations of mushrooms, flowers and ferns. Not to mention insects, animals, fossils and birds.

It's amazing how greatly my mood can be improved by finding one small, pale yellow freesia growing in a patch of weeds near the letterbox. So, thank you tiny thing, for braving the spring rain and wind.

Keira was given a sourdough 'bug' to make Herman the German Friendship Cake. Have you made one of these before? It's kind of like a chain letter, in the form of cake batter. Taking care of the mixture and following the 10-day recipe almost became an obsession for K and I, until finally baking it on the weekend with spices and apple. It was very nice. And now she's since been given two more portions from different friends. It's the never ending cake!

Happy new week, lovelies. It was a beautifully bright weekend here in Wellington, mostly because I got to catch up with many old friends on both Saturday and Sunday. That was pretty nice. 

Yesterday I made the trip to Featherston to have lunch with Emma and Helen and also to attend a spring book launch. I bought a copy of Johanna Knox's A Forager's Treasury which I'm excited about- it's a beautiful book. If you want to know more about it, you can read this interview with the author on Helen's blog here. I'm hoping this summer will present many foraging opportunities. That's something to look forward to.

In a very short burst of craftiness, I made some pine tags. A while back, Dee sent me some pages from an old book about trees. I used the pine pictures, brown card, a cup to trace around, a hole punch and some cotton string to make these tags. I'm thinking they'll come in handy for Christmas presents. Sometimes it's good to make something just for fun.

Today's pattern was inspired by all the apple/plum blossom in my neighbourhood until it got blown away in a wild storm this week. Blossom doesn't last long around these parts. But it was very nice while it lasted, like someone had decorated the streets for a wedding.

Happy Friday! I am so glad to see the end of this week. There have been a few dramas for me, including work deadlines, nervewracking real estate issues, and bad dental surprises. Won't go into details, but let's just say I'm going to have some chocolate this weekend. Or some wine. Or both.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. If you're a Bill Callahan fan, you might enjoy watching this soothing and beautiful garden-song.

A while back I received this sweet kimono felt kit for Mother's Day. I had a play with it one evening, and made these colourful needbooks. It's nice to do something different and use materials that you wouldn't normally have on hand. 

The felt kits are made by Lucy Patterson from NZ, who has a beautiful aesthetic and an eye for the bright and patterned. She prints felt with designs from vintage kimono silks. It's easier to make things with felt than old silk, I can tell you! The felt is very sturdy and friendly to work with. It just wants to become something cheerful. 

The kit includes pieces of plain and printed felt, along with an inspiration booklet of project templates and ideas. I have my eye on a string of felt birds and beads, next.

The small embroideries from yesterday were used to make a few pairs of reversible baby slippers. I haven't found any old linen for the past couple of years. This is partly due to not second-hand shopping as much, and living in Wellington, where the opshops are very well patronised and linen/fabric is a very rare find.

It was about time I used my own stitching to make baby shoes, don't you think? And there's always a lot of inspiration to be found.

You know how I published my baby shoe design in my book? I am curious, has anyone used the pattern to make a pair? 

I've made a Sweet and Simple Handmade flickr group, so please join in if you're making any of the designs. I'd love to see them! I'm hoping the group could also be used to discuss ideas, suggestions, questions, etc. 

Two good things from the weekend: I found this beautiful hand-crocheted blanket in the opshop. In natural colours and with a sweet little tag in spidery handwriting: '100% handcrafted from wool'. Perfection.

And some hand embroidery finished in the Sunday afternoon sunshine. I'll show you what I make with it tomorrow.

Happy new week, lovely readers.

When I was making this pattern I was imagining it as a wallpaper, in my imaginary, 'one-day' kitchen. Maybe for one small wall, and the other walls would be painted yellow. A tansy kitchen. Yes, that would be nice (at least, before it got splattered with pasta sauce and cake mixture.)

Actually, the kitchen we have right now is pretty good. It doesn't have hand-painted wallpaper but it does have big windows looking out on to a lemon tree and lawn. So that's pretty lucky.

I found this pattern site: Pattern Observer. It has some truly amazing designs on there. I especially like these wing-inspired patterns by entomologist Eugène Séguy. Now that I'm writing about science every day, I'm tempted to start asking researchers about their hidden pattern design habits.