Sweet Mary

On a wet day the different shades of green in the garden are highlighted by the rain and seem to shimmer... my eyes are drawn to it throughout the day. It makes me dreamy and thoughtful. I am not keen on the very hot days we have had recently here in Hawkes Bay so these few days of rain are much enjoyed before the heat returns. More colour to feast on in the form of Amy Butler fabric pieces that have arrived very promptly from here along with a charm pack of Tilda fabric by designer Tone Finnanger . With the cooler weather I have been able to complete my summer project ( a secret for the meantime) and also list a few items in my Felt shop and Etsy shop. Either click on those words to take you there or use the links on the right side of this blog. I have also updated the look of my blog with the help of my multi-talented daughter and very pleased with the look so far, with just one or two improvements yet to be made.

Look at the beautiful foccaccia bread and rustic rolls that my daughter made for us yesterday! She used the Basic Bread Recipe from Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Using Jamie's recipe was not a surprise as said daughter just loves Jamie.

I am easing in slowly to this new year of 2011- hope its a good one for you all. Since my last post before Christmas my time has been spent totally immersed in family time. We had visitors for Christmas including our daughter as the BIG bonus, home, just in time for the 25th. All the way from London but via Manchester to make sure she got a flight out of the UK after terrible weather had closed Heathrow airport. After the initial flurry and excitement we have settled into mooching about quite happily. Lots of baking has been done and as I write this I am awaiting home baked bread from the oven. Since leaving home and coming back again our daughter has surprisingly turned into quite an impressive cook. The above photo was taken a few days ago at the end of a very hot day - I think the temperature hit 33 celcius. A nearly finished bottle of home-made elderflower cordial, plums just bought from the local organic roadside stall, an empty punnet of strawberries, the last of the sweet peas,...

Its time for me to sign off for the year and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for all the comments over the past year and thanks also to the lovely people who visit me on my Sweet Mary stalls. Your continued support is most welcome. Have a good one!

Looking out from the back of my stall at the beginning of the Fruit Bowl Craft Jam, aka the Makers Market last weekend. It was held in the open plaza space betwwen the Hawkes Bay Opera House and Opera Kitchen cafe. A great venue and a really enjoyable community event. The locals supported it well with a constant stream of people who enjoyed the wonderful array of quality hand made crafts, excellent coffee and food and entertaining buskers. I managed to get a few photos of one or two stalls: Jess and Jo organised the event and Jo even managed to set up her stall to display and sell her wares. Iris from Secret Garden Crafts makes the most beautiful spun wool creatures and further down the line is Jessica of Furchin who is featured in the latest issue of Extra Curricular . The most amazing wallpapers were displayed alongside Liz's carnival fan magnets. After the two day event, the only thing that we could possibly eat for dinner was Pipi pizza and next to perfection it was. An...

For those of you who can't make it to the Makers Market in Hastings this weekend I have listed a few Christmassy things on Felt today. Click here to have a look. The Makers Market will run from 12 midday until 5pm, Saturday and Sunday, the 4th and 5th December. It is being held in the "outdoor" area of the Hawkes Bay Opera House in Hastings.

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...