Sweet Mary

My sewing table over the weekend while making treasures for my Sweet Mary stall and yes, some of them are for Christmas! These lavender pillows (15x15cm) are filled only with New Zealand grown lavender rubbings from Hauiti Lavender Farm. Made with Cath Kidston fabric topped with vintage lace and embroidered heart, they have a red with white spot base fabric. These pillows would make a lovely Christmas present for a special friend or family member, to scent the bedroom and help with a peaceful sleep. I only have 5, so if you just have to have one, make sure you come along to the next Craft and Design Market at Hawthorne coffee shop in Havelock North. It will be on Saturday 22nd October, 9-12.30pm. And finally, a bit of prettiness to make you smile. SMILE!

If all goes well these gorgeously pink bags should be brimming with strawberries come summer and especially bountiful for the Christmas table . After dreaming about the trailing harvest to come I decided to raise the bags well off the ground so have sat them on the old day bed. Just what it was made for! Come to think of it, the day bed shape will be handy when I have to net the strawbs from the birds.My husband thinks the bags are a "bit pink" but I have convinced him that the pink will look pretty peeping out from underneath the greenery to come. There were three strawberry plant choices at the garden centre and after reading the decriptions I settled for Supreme which apparently like fairly tight packing which is just what they have got.

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 other evening, while cooking dinner, I looked up to see a most beautiful scene unfolding itself outside. Above the vegie boxs and the old tyres planted with tomatoes the sky was not only pretty shades of blue and pink but it kept changing so fast that by the time I had rushed to get my camera the best bits had been and gone. I still had to blog about it and just let you know what a beautiful part of the world I live in. My husband, Mr Picture This says the Hawke's Bay sky is the best. Christmas is less than 7 weeks away and I love every moment of it. So, I started with a wee bit of festive shopping last week. A gentle build up to the great day. We are having some family to visit this Christmas so it will be extra special.

The night before I left for a few days in Auckland I ran another Sweet Mary stall at Black Barn. It was a twilight market running from 5.30pm to 8.30pm. Most of the stalls were food stalls but it was good to be there and chat to customers and visitors and I sold more than enough to cover costs. Looking out from my stall in to the centre of the market - its a permanent stucture of about 20 stalls in a circle surrounded by trees and the lovely landscape around Black Barn. We returned from our very busy but fun trip up to Auckland to find the sweet peas in the garden desparately needed picking - they smell so good. I did a spot of fabric shopping for my Sweet Mary business while up there and also came home with a nice little stash of presents from the family.

These three little cuties are for sale on my Felt site - just click on Felt to the left of this post - then double click on individual pictures for more information. There are 5 of each for sale.

I have been selling my Sweet Mary lavender hearts through some New Zealand shops ( see left) for a year now and with a little encouragement thought it was high time I faced my public! So I expanded my range and set up, ready for business on the first day of the three day Holly Trail in Havelock North and what fun I had. Can't wait to do it again. The cushions I made out of antique linen and faded paisley fabric were snapped up and though I was happy that happened I would have also have been very pleased to have taken them home again as they looked rather nice in my bedroom. Last minute, as you do, I made what are called my "Sleep Hearts" which turned out to be big sellers, in fact I had sold out of them by the second day. They are larger but flatter than the other hearts and tuck nicely betwwen pillow and pillowslip to help you sleep. I also thought it would be good to make something for the men so I made my "Men Only" sachets filled with lavender, rosemary...