Sweet Mary

The cherries from Plum Cottage on Brookvale Road are very delicious and definitely our local favourites. I dropped in last week and bought a large bag of seconds for $10 which looked pretty perfect to me. There were too many for us to eat before they were not at their best so I decided to make Cherry Jam. Normally I would sit down and look through my recipe books but as I was a bit pressed for time I googled a recipe instead. Click here . Its a messy job so cover up well if you decide to make some. I managed to get cherry juice all over some paper work that I thought was well out of range. An hour later I had two beautiful pots of cherry jam to pop away. One for me and one for a special friend. Most of the past weekend was taken up with finishing the last of a big order for Redcurrent. Today I am back to making Sweet Mary goodies in preparation for my last stall for the year at the two day Makers Market this weekend at the Hawkes Bay Opera House. . See top left, click on the link an...

Its been a hot, hot day, too hot really to be sitting inside at my sewing machine. I stopped though, around six to have a cool shower then a glass of wine. After dinner, we sat outside to have our coffee and to admire the roses I picked from the garden a few moments before.

A week ago I was all set up and waiting for the start of the Hospice Holly Trail Fete which was held at one of the beautiful gardens and homes open to ticket holders. The fete ran for the three days of the trail and was a great success as usual. There were about 30 stalls with a mixture of food, crafts and homewares. Not everything is home-made but its all of a high quality and a fun shopping experience for the mainly female shoppers! I sold a few of these and lots of those (below). One of my five Heart cushions sold so I have a few left for my next two Sweet Mary stalls. I am so pleased with my cushions that I will be very happy to keep them if they don't sell. Thats the nice thing about making stuff that you would love yourself. I will be at the Hawkes Bay Design Market this Sunday. It starts at 9.30a.m. and is being held at Ormlie Lodge. See the link, top left of my blog.

I called by to buy some fruit from Catherine today and she handed me this beautifully illustrated leaflet with details of a Pop-up shop. Its on for ONE day only, this Saturday,double click the photo to make it bigger and find out more. I will be running a Sweet Mary stall at the Holly Trail so won't be able to make it - drat!

Making Christmas hearts to deliver to Redcurrent in Havelock North. The heavy cotton fabric used for the front is printed with colourful holly leaves and berries. Bright green ribbon, red spot fabric and a Merry Christmas label complete the look. Nearly forgot to mention - they are filled, as always, with New Zealand grown lavender. These hearts will only be available in Redcurrent, Havelock North and not on my Sweet Mary stalls. At the end of my working day, I wandered around the garden and took a few photos. My husband had picked broad beans from the garden and was podding them at the garden table. We had them later for dinner as part of a pasta dish with red peppers, bacon and mushrooms. I find these thrown together meals can often be the most delicious ones ( occasionally not!). Not a great photo to show the bronze to salmon pink colours of these Westerland roses. I love the rich green parsley and red geraniums underneath. This is the view I have from the kitchen window and it ...