tiny happy

summer making + baking

Hello from a balmy summer's evening in Wellington. It's unseasonably warm here these days, and not at all windy, which means we can have all the doors and windows open and listen to the cicadas at full volume.

Today's post features a project I finished last year. I made a bag for my Mum and it wasn't really a Christmas present but I gave it to her over the holidays. She asked for a similar bag to the one I recently made my sister (you can read about that here) and the pattern I used was the 'zip pocket tote' from this great book by Anna Graham. 

The pattern calls for the use of some industrial-strength interfacing and the finished bag is quite sturdy and large with lots of pockets and two zips. I used some grey cotton/linen blend fabric for the exterior, paired with a vintage cotton print from my friend Helen. Mum likes it and the last time i saw her she was toting her current hand-applique project inside.

+ - + - + - + - + - +

Also over the holidays I fell in love with a cookbook - it's called Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young. The book features beautiful photos and writing about the author's favourite books and the food within. There's a recipe for the pizza from Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels, Pippi Longstocking's Swedish pancakes, and Paddington Bear's marmalade, to name just a few. 

I've found myself making many of the recipes in the book, including two you can see above: mint juleps (truthfully, Tom made these - so refreshing after a long hot day!) from The Great Gatsby, and Vanilla Layer Cake as described in Anne of Green Gables (with our seasonal addition of borage flowers from the garden.)

Kate Young has a website/blog with lots of recipes like those in the book, and also a column in The Guardian.

I don't mind telling you I even made crumpets from scratch, inspired by Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca and they were delicious and definitely worth the effort. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

patched together

I recently had fun piecing together the leftover bits of fabric from other projects (the corners cut out from project bags, mostly) and making some free-form patchwork pieces. At the end of last year, I must have been on a grey-peach-green colour vibe! 

I didn't have enough scraps for a whole quilt, so instead used the patchwork to make some handy little pouches and project bags for my etsy shop. I love being able to make things from salvaged pieces... nothing is wasted. Now I'm saving up squares for my next afternoon of patch-sewing... this time it seems to be lots of blues and neutral fabrics.

In other news, Tom and I have been watching the second season of The Crown (along with nearly everyone else I've spoken to lately) which I'm really enjoying. Beautiful set design and lots of interesting history to read up on as you go.

I've just finished Kate Atkinson's Life After Life (highly recommended!) and am now reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates which is extraordinary and changing the way I think about things. 

Are you reading or watching anything special at the moment? 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

The flowers at the top of this post are alstroemeria (Peruvian lilies) growing in my Mum's garden while we were visiting this summer. Their peachy-pink petals growing against the white stucco wall needed to be captured.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

summer postcards

Happy new year! 

We've just returned home after our annual trip to visit family and friends, eat berries, swim in the sea, sleep in tents and get sunburned. It feels like we really had a proper break from normal life and are grateful for it. I hope you've had a good summer too, or winter, as the case may be.

Above are some 'summer postcards' - just a few snaps in time captured when I remembered to get my camera out. 

Most of the time I was too busy talking, cooking, eating, drinking - not a bad way to spend three weeks! I also managed to get a bit of knitting done and a few books read which is a mark of the best holiday, don't you think? Especially loved Autumn by Ali Smith and My Father's Island which is about a NZ literary editor, written by his son.

We also tried lots of new salads. In fact, it feels like this is our summer of moghrabieh (pearl couscous) salads and I'm looking forward to trying to recreate some of the beautiful dishes we tried when visiting family. This one looks great and Ottolenghi recipes are on my -must-make list for summer dinners.

 

+ + + + + I hope 2018 has started well for you. See you back here soon. + + + + +