Sweet Mary

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...

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!