Lavender @ Sweet Mary HQ



The photos above show one of the reasons I haven't blogged all week - I moved my sewing room from the sleepout (outside room) to a room right in the middle of the house, with a sweeping view over the front garden. Now this new room was actually my son's bedroom but as he is at uni most of the time, he very reasonably said he wouldn't mind moving to the small bedroom next door to this one. I am delighted with this move, not only did it give me a much bigger work space, I also got a chance to sort through all my stuff which was a bit of an eye opener - I had truly forgotten about some of my treasures. It was an exciting few days making these discoveries. Also nice not to be tucked away but to be in the centre of everything - phone and computer access, not to mention kitchen for hot drinks and the loo! Spot the order of freshly made lavender hearts waiting to be packed up and sent off.
We live in an old farmhouse which often seems colder inside than out. Lovely in the summer but testing during the winter months. We do have a wood burner so last night we had our first fire of the season. A cold southerly came in late afternoon and by the time my "fire-building" husband came home we were all ready for some warmth. Of course, after a few hours of that warmth coupled with a glass or two of wine, we were both nodding off in the middle of a gripping thriller on the TV. Our children are home on their uni holidays which is always fun if not a little noisy and messy. Another reason why blogger activity is curtailed - I have to negotiate for my time on the computer. I am going to get this posted and hopefully blog again later on today.

Popular posts from this blog

Ginger Crunch

Image
Ginger Crunch - a New Zealand classic with a twist. Lois Daish ( much missed food writer for The Listener a couple of years back) says this version is from the Wholemeal Cafe in Takaka. It is absolutely delicious. Two good sized pieces have been eaten rather quickly already. Base: 150g butter 2 tbsp golden syrup 3/4 cup soft brown sugar 3/4 cup desiccated coconut 1 1/2 cups rolled oats 3/4 cup plain flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp ground ginger Preheat oven to 175C Line a 20x30cm slice tin Put butter, golden syrup and sugar in pan and melt gently together. Remove pan from heat and mix in all the other ingredients. Press into tin and bake for 15 minutes - I find if I go over this time it goes too crunchy when cool. Mark into squares while still warm and spread with icing. Leave to cool completely (if you can!) before cutting through icing. Icing: 60g butter 120g icing sugar 2 level tbsp golden syrup 3 tsp ground ginger Melt together and beat till smooth.
Read more

Lavender Life

Image
 With the best will in the world, I still haven't managed regular blog posts here. Lots going on re: my lavender filled sachets so if you can please come and see me on my Instagram account you will see very regular posts there. Please click HERE  ðŸ’œ
Read more

The Wool Story

Image
Te Koha organic, biodynamic wool, fresh from the sheep. Cleaning and sorting the wool to use in my lavender and wool filled pincushions, see the previous post. One gorgeous pile of the softest, sweetest smelling wool for me to use. Now to the story which my friend Bev, of "French Street Plum Jam" fame, told me last week. I have typed it out exactly as it was written: I was five years old when my mum invited me and my five siblings to go wool picking and the wool would be made into half-quilts for our beds. Mum would make a picnic of fresh homemade bread, butter from our churn and delicious plum jam made into sandwiches and a bottle of cordial for each child which we stuffed into our leather school bags and slung over our shoulders. In our hand we each carried a sugar sack to gather our wool in. We walked up hills and around the fence lines picking the wool off the barbed wire fences where the sheep had stopped to scratch, leaving behind little tufts of wool snagged on the...
Read more