Sweet Mary

  Yesterday we walked into the village to visit the monthly Craft&Design market and especially to visit the Coulter&Coulter stall to begin my Christmas shopping. Any excuse really to think about Christmas as I so enjoy it. Mostly its not far from my mind any time of the year, except maybe just after the big day when you have those extremely silly thoughts about never doing it again. Coulter &Coulter are my friends Nicola and Peter and they are pretty dam clever people. From designing and carving their own wooden stamps, sourcing the organic ink and vintage or organic fabrics to hand printing and sewing the fabric up into the most irresistable items, they come out tops! Nicola also prints onto vintage NZ wool blankets and  makes the cutest cushions from the not so perfect ones. The best kind of remastering happens at Coulter&Coulter headquarters. Click  HERE to visit their blog and then when you ...

Hello and welcome back to my Sweet Mary blog. Since my last post I have finished off a small number of quilts for special people, spent time sorting out my garden and organised my cupboards into a reasonable semblance of order. Funnily enough they don't look any different but I know they are! Mainly what I have been doing is starting a new business hiring out vintage tableware for "any special occasion" tea parties. Click here for :  Little Vintage on Facebook  and click here for the Little Vintage website Hope you enjoy having a look around. I will post occasionally on Sweet Mary but mostly I will work on my new sites.

Damson plums. Amy Butler fabrics. Last post - for a good while anyway. I have struggled with my blogging for quite a while now so have decided to give the whole thing a long break. I am not sure for how long but off the top of my head, maybe till next spring. Come back and have a look September time. In the meantime I will be sewing and making simple quilts for the joy of making. I may make a few damson plum crumbles too as I bought that lovely lot (top photo) at the Farmers market this morning.

Mid week in the Sweet Mary house and not much to blog about so I have just uploaded a few random photos. Parcels arriving at my door always cause excitment, especially when I am expecting new fabric. This little lot came from the US and is a lovely collection of reds and greys. Pretty greys, the ones I actually like, are hard to find so I am pleased with this lot. Its a grey day here today so its fitting to wash my new fabric and hang it on the line for a splash of colour. A little part of me wants to leave it there forever as I like the look. Last night I made risotto - Jamie's recipe and I just happened to have all the items listed so only took half an hour. Maybe its in his "30 minutes" book. Anyway, this one was online and if you are interested in having a go, click HERE . I put the courgette in but actually think peas would be nicer. Be careful not to overcook as I did a wee bit. It should have more of a sloppy texture. Lastly, a photo of the set of beautiful rose...

Two patchwork lavender hearts, two of the many Sweet Mary items now for sale at Coco and Co in Hastings. I have also listed a few more items in my Felt shop - click HERE.

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...

If you walk down to the left, outside Bay Espresso in Hastings city centre (Market St. South) you will find a fabulous shop called Coco and Co. Its the latest venture by Jess and Jo of Fruit Bowl Craft Jam. The contents are an eclectic mix of vintage and vintage style homewares, clothes, gifts, toys etc. There is just so much to look at and bring a smile to your face. Shop hours are 10-3 on Thurs,Fri and Sat. each week. Click HERE to see the website. From late next week I will have some Sweet Mary products for sale at Coco and Co., including these beautiful pincushions stuffed with wool and lavender. There is more of a story about the wool but that is for my next post in a day or two.