Thanks Nana xx

A while ago, I shared some beautiful embroidery, stitched by my Grandmother-in-Law. She was absolutely amazing at crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery... in fact I think she probably gave every type of handcraft a try in her 80 odd years. She liked that I am a bit crafty myself, and gave me boxes and boxes of craft books, embroidery silks, wools and fabrics. She died in October 2008, just 11 days after her husband. My house holds many treasures given and created by her. This book is my favourite.
I love the owl on the front and the back covers...

Wise and true words!

Every fathomable creature is covered, from insects...

All manner of birds...

Farm animals... I LOVE this goat illustration.

Fish...

And I know it's not "P.C", but I had to give the Gollywog a look in as well...

More insects. Seriously, I just want to frame the illustrations and put them on the wall!

"ladies, some vermillion felt and American cloth for this one..."

Well, I'm off to make a stag beetle now. Or maybe a goat. A kingfisher?

The end.

Ready?

Speaking of birthdays- there's another one approaching. Isla turns three on February 12th. We've just finished making these invitations to her party. It's a 'water' party (the child is obsessed with water in any form. Is this an Aquarian thing?) so they are in the shape of a water droplet, done by hand and then photocopied, and Isla painted them and the envelopes herself with blue watercolour, then sprinkled some glitter over them. Perfect activity to cheer up a little girl with a tummy ache!
Can she really be almost three? Seriously? Already? Where did the time go? I want to go back to the beginning and start all over again. Is every birthday she has going to make me feel like this? all disbelieving and...wistful?

I like the way it's summed up here "ready to not be ready". I guess, as parents, that's what we all are. Isla, I'm ready to not be ready for you to grow up. Okay darling?

I'm pretty pleased with the invitations though.

Twenty Six

I remember my 16th birthday quite clearly. It's hard to believe that it was ten years ago today. But when I think of all the things I've done and achieved in the time between then and now, I wonder how I fitted it all in!
I think the best thing about it, is that all the friends who were there with me that birthday in 1999, are still my friends today, which is pretty special if you ask me.

Banana and Strawberry Loaf

Rather a grey and rainy day outside today (can anyone say "New Zealand Summer"?) A perfect day for baking!

Banana and Strawberry Loaf

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup wholemeal flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup castor sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 bananas

1 cup sliced strawberries, as ripe as possible

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius, grease your loaf tin.

Sift the dry ingredients together. In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, beating well after each addition, then add the milk. Gently mix in the lightly mashed bananas and strawberries, then carefully mix together the two mixtures.

Bake for approx 45 mins, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. This loaf goes quite brown on the outside before it is ready, but it takes a lot to burn it! It stays fresh for 3-4 days and is moist and delicious-no butter needed. It also freezes well. In Winter, replace the strawberries with walnuts-just as good!

Light Fantastic

I've been tidying things up a bit over at my flickr
Being the height of Summer here in New Zealand, the light is wonderful at the moment.

And being on holiday, I can take the time to look, appreciate and capture the beautiful, the unusual and the precious all around. Like this crab shell, which looks like a smiley face-of all things!

Unexpectedly, I've discovered a new joy. Looking.

Term One starts on Monday, and so normal routine resumes-busy, fun, at times tiring...

But, in those inevitable moments of stress that the year will bring, I'm going to do my best to take a few secconds just to look.

Holiday Stitching

My holiday project so far has been baby shoes, made using this tutorial. This fabulous person has compiled a list of the top 100 tutorials of 2008, what an awesome idea! And the wee shoes are featured there.

I was relatively pleased with them, until I attempted to put one on Kyans' foot to get an idea about what they would look like being worn. I couldn't get his foot into them.

I never make things to sell or give away until I'm completely satisfied with them, so, I'm thinking a little pattern adjusting may be in order, making the back ankle part slightly longer. I'm glad I have some real baby feet to help me out! Watch this space.

Yoghurt Berry Pudding

I've been neglecting my Speckled Egg Recipe Book lately, but yesterday, in my desperation to entertain a somewhat-bored-and-missing-her-cousin-who-went-back-to-Auckland Isla, I stumbled upon this gem of an idea. I still had a box of Jelly crystals left over from Christmas Trifle time, and this recipe was on the back of the box. Simple, effective, child-friendly. Fabulous.

Berry Yoghurt Pudding

1 box blackberry jelly crystals

2 150gram tubs of yoghurt

1 cup fresh or frozen berries

Dissolve the jelly crystals in 500ml boiling water and refrigerate to cool. Once cooled, mix in the yoghurt and the berries, then pour into four ramekin dishes and refrigerate until set.

They were quite delicious! And I was pleased because in the past my experiments with adding things to jelly have always produced disastrous, watery results! But these set perfectly in a couple of hours. I also love the colour.

Hello 2009

Hello 2009

You're still very new, just 5 days actually.

But you're off to a great start.


This year I intend to;

Learn to follow a sewing pattern.

Tell my husband and children that I love them, every day.

Purchase a piano and re-learn how to play it.

Do more bush walks.

Do more yoga.

Drink more water.

Laugh as much as possible.

Remember to take my camera with me.