Friday list: 27 January 2012

On Monday I thought that today I might hoe the weeds in the garden but it’s pouring down and while I don’t mind gardening in the rain, it’s time for inside jobs…

• Make some more Emma Makes cards
• Pack up a couple of orders
• Go to the Post Office
• Take the leftover books from the book clean out (that didn’t go to Arty Bees) to the op-shop
• Do some op-shopping
• Investigate/cut out my new dress pattern – I’ve bought a vintage-style pattern that I hope will make the process of dressmaking easier
• Read some of my book: There is No Dog
• Make dinner

A pretty relaxed sort of day today – the best kind.

Secrets of the Wairarapa pt.1

It’s a little known fact, but the distance from Featherston to Greytown is the exact length of November Rain.

Lunchtime yoga

Late last year I started doing lunchtime yoga once (ish) a week and really loved it. I began going because I saw a street sign on Lambton Quay advertising the classes and when I looked on their website it was cool. That’s right, that’s how the mind of a sophisticated consumer works.

This year I’ve decided to commit to once a week – I’ve made future bookings and cleared space in my calendar. I highly recommend it. I do ‘power yoga’, which is lots of dynamic stretching with not really any rest in between.

It’s challenging but never makes you feel useless and our teacher is wonderful. I do quite a lot of stalker breathing in the class (I hope nobody can hear) but find that over time I am getting slowly better.

And at the end of each class I feel equally stuffed and alive, which is the perfect mix for a very focused afternoon of office work.

Here’s the timetable if you want to join me – there’s also an online booking system.

Not my actual yoga studio

New toys from Emma Makes

Late last year I decided I wanted to make whales. I’ve really enjoyed making my stuffed kitten toys and wanted something new because I’m retiring my short-lived but successful dinosaur line.

After making a few drawings and creating a pattern I began making prototypes and adjusting the pattern. I ran some user-testing (comments and suggestions for improvement from Tom) and here’s what I came up with… I plan to offer other colourways throughout the year too. They’re available through the Emma Makes online store.

Blue whale by Emma Makes

Blue whale

Grey whale by Emma Makes

I'm particularly fond of the tail

Dear hydrangeas I love you

The Christmas before last my brother Tom and his partner Anna gave us a gardening voucher. I blew the lot on hydrangeas.

I love huge, blousey hydrangeas and after a good six months of looking dead, ours have flowered with gusto and seem to quite like their position. We’re also growing pink, blue and white right alongside each other – proving that Featherston does indeed have magical soil.

I also found this rather good-looking blog while writing this post.