I'm very thrilled that one of my favourite online stores EVER has become a Lark stockist. If you are in the UK, or if you just love vintage homewares, have a look at Pedlars and you will want to buy everything, I promise. The lovely Pedlars people are based deep somewhere in the British countryside and they are selling my Keep Calm tea towels, vintage storybook mirrors and vintage storybook coasters.

DAYLESFORD






My town, Daylesford, was featured in the Guardian (UK) today as one of the top 'alternative hotspots' in the world. Have a look here. It is all pretty much true, Daylesford is an amazing place to live and it has just about everything: yummy local food, art, beautiful buildings, vintage stores, gay and lesbian festival, pretty scenery, mineral springs and spas, bookshops and good coffee, yet all with a 'small town' feel. Two things to point out, though - firstly, my children are not the 'attractively feral' ones referred to in the article (I don't like to see kids in tatty old cardies with ratty hair, is it just me? Am I too European?), and secondly that's not me sitting on the hay in the photo!

Lark has a mention on the Cool Mom Picks blog today! We've also recently been seen on Swiss Miss, Retro to Go, Not Martha and Apartment Therapy. These are some of my favourite blogs, do have a browse sometime!

Our new kitchen has finally been ordered. Hurrah! After months of cooking in a tiny kitchen that bears a remarkable resemblance to Mrs. Brown Rabbit's kitchen (above), it will be nice to at last have enough space to make a real mess. Because that's what kitchens are for, right?

Not for me the pristine chrome and laminate kitchens that fill the home design mags here in Australia. While we sadly couldn't keep the 1960s wooden cabinets (they are just too small and narrow), the new kitchen will still have a real lived-in look to it.

And, like Mrs. Brown Rabbit's kitchen, it will probably still be completely untidy and unsafe (can you spot the 7 safety hazards in this illustration, which comes from a 1960s Tufty Annual?).

Mother's Day in Australia. We spent the afternoon down at Lake Daylesford. Although it's only a ten-minute walk from our house, we haven't been there for a while. It looks stunning at this time of year, and we found some beautiful, highly-poisonous funghi.



I love to look at mushrooms and toadstools, there is definitely something magical about them!




We had a picnic of egg sandwiches from the local free range eggs we bought at Kyneton Farmers' Market yesterday, they were delicious. The few crumbs left over were fed to the ducks on the lake.


A very special day!

I have quite a collection of books by M. Sasek, some are original and some are the new editions that were recently reissued.


Each book has the title 'This is...' , eg 'This is London' and the illustrations are captivating.


I thoroughly recommend that you visit the beautifully-designed and informative website This is M. Sasek. And read some of the books, they're fabulous!

My knitted cakes received a lovely review from Michi Girl today!

I made these brooches from a 1960's children's memory card game. Aren't the illustrations sweet?

I went down to Melbourne today for a very long and chatty meeting with Pip from Meet Me at Mike's and Jennie from Posie, who is visiting from Darwin with her four gorgeous kids. We swapped lots of gossip and ideas and it was great to hear about their plans for their businesses. Sometimes it can get lonely working by yourself in a small country town, so it's always good to catch up with like-minded crafty gals! I was so inspired by Pip's shop that I went home and immediately made lots of new things.