Please excuse me while my unscheduled mini-break from blogging continues. I thought I should take some time to have adventures, rather than just writing about them. I’m getting pretty excited about a few things at the moment. The sewing machine is out, the stash is reducing, the baby is smiling, the two year old wants cuddles and I am reading lots of books...

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When I had Little e, my mother passed me my Plunket Book. It was carefully covered with a recycled greeting card. I seem to recall that my brother’s matches, but with a blue cover. It is nice to be able to flick through the pages and see that milestones are all the same, even thirty years on. The advice in the front made...

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Jerusalem Sonnet 18Yesterday I planted garlic,Today, sunflowers—‘the non-essentials first’Is a good motto—but these I planted in honour ofThe Archangel Michael and my earthly friend,Illingworth, Michael also, who gave me the seeds—And they will turn their wild pure golden discsOutside my bedroom, following Te RaWho carries fire for us in His terrible wings(Heresy, man!) – and if he wanted onlyFor me to live and...

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I’m loving this* book from our local library at the moment. Like all Gecko Press books it is “curiously good”. It’s about a mother duck and her four ducklings. One of them is a bit odd but she loves them all just the same.This page struck a chord with me:“Mother Duck didn’t notice. She was reading”In case you were wondering how we know...

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Sometimes the simplest things can be the most fun. Little E can get into the fabric drawers and loves it. Fat quarters are waved in the air, up high and down low, to music. Long strips are wrapped up and admired as scarves in front of the mirror. More recently, layers of “blankets” have been found laid over sleeping toys. Sometimes it drives...

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The fire has been going for a week solid now and so blankets for keeping warm are still at the front of my mind. I have even been making them for gifts. This one is made from two layers of merino double rib with contrast binding. The colours suggested acorns, so I just had to add one making the ideal one size fits...

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