Going to the dogs…I mean cats! Once again it’s raining cats and dogs here in Tamaki Makarau, but I do promise to stop torturing animal idioms long enough to tell you about my latest sewing project which as you can see…is a bit catty! I brought this fabric from The Fabric Store a while back, it’s a light shirting fabric with a really nice, slightly crisp finish, perfect for giving some drama to my sleeve. Who doesn’t love a bit of sleeve drama? Well me actually. Don’t get me wrong, I love those massive sleeves , and if I ever fell out of a plane some of them look like they would probably keep ..read more

It’s been a hectic few weeks here at Plum Towers and very little sewing has been done, so instead I thought a cheeky mid week post with a sweet treat might be in order. While I truly enjoy my sewing , my first love (besides The Bay City Rollers baby*…) is cooking and baking. So going forward don’t be surprised if a few shorter mid-week posts crop up, with what ever is currently popular at Plum Kitchen Treeeeeeeeeats! We had a relaxing whanau lunch at the weekend, I made Chelsea Winter’s roast lamb which was hoovered up at pace, I was too busy stuffing my face with it and my body weight in roas ..read more

Before the rains… Waiting. Waiting. Waiting some more. It’s been a weird old weekend, with Cyclone Gabrielle bearing down on Aotearoa. I felt like I was in holding mode, restless, and unable to concentrate. Like Covid lockdown but with more candles and crappier weather. Well, Gabby’s well & truly arrived, its raining, grey as heck & the wind is REALLY picking up. I normally love all the trees on my little street, not so much when you worry they might be coming to join you on the sofa. I try not to bang on too much about the weather, but suffice to say this summer has been pants! A lot ..read more

After lunch! Well its been quite the weekend here in Tamaki Makaurau, a summers worth of rain fell in approx. 15 hours on Friday, roads were flooded, houses inundated and my husband and sister still thought it would be a grand idea to attend the Elton John concert. Seriously. I dropped them off as close as possible to Mt Smart stadium , complete with plastic ponchos* and already wet feet in rain I would describe as biblical. The three km ride home was hair raising to say the least , only to discover five minutes after walking in the door the concert was cancelled. Gah! In hindsight it was a bl ..read more

Quick pic while it isn’t raining… Well hello again, thought I’d start the new year with an actual honest to goodness no frills proper blog post. Apparently Instagram is dead, Twitter has sh*t itself & blogs are coming back.* While I’m not sure this is quite the case (although the Instagram algorithms are enough to make a girl drink) I do miss the more detailed form of a blog post. I’m long winded that way… So what’s been occurring here at Plum Towers ? Rain. Lotta rain. Almost Biblical rain. I may or may not be sending the cats for swimming lessons. But since the weather is rather a tediou ..read more

Business at the front… Hello friends! Hello little blog, I’ve missed you. It’s been Covid (both of us, boo!), several colds, a dodgy haircut , zero overseas adventures and many sewing fails long, and here we are. Nice to be back. So to celebrate, a new top that is all business at the front…but lots of fun at the back. After seemingly endless rain and cold any party attitude is most welcome. Some fun at the back. The pattern I started with is the Tarlee tee by Muna and Broad  , a great versatile pattern I have made before . I really like the fit of this pattern, especially the curve over t ..read more

Nice & easy like Sunday morning Well hello there, it’s been a while.* After 50 some days of Lockdown here in Tamaki Makarau I’m not quite sure how long, so let’s stick with a while. September came and went in a carb fueled haze, October does appear to be shaping up to be the same but with less rain, so that’s something at least! I’ve not been completely idle on the sewing front , if anything I’m glad to have an absorbing hobby that sees me through some rather anxious times. Even if some days it’s just folding beautiful pieces of fabric in my stash & thinking about what I might make. St ..read more

The sun is out! Winter has well & truly arrived. Yes I did have to scrape ice off the windscreen the other morning. Mr PK & I have already had our annual “how to operate the heat pump” argument. I favor leaving it on all the time at a lower temp (also recommended by the installer), he is all about turning it off & on as required. So basically it will be operated with passive aggressive turning off and on in an extremely inefficient manner until September. Happy days! So why am I wearing a relatively summery style dress then? I cut this Assembly Line Box Please dress out about ..read more

Wondering how much chocolate we have left… And just like that its autumn. The clocks went back over the weekend and I now have the correct time on my oven for the first time in six months, yay! Sadly we’ve just brought a new car, never mind the clock, I’ve only just located the handbrake , a button for goodness sake? We had our previous car 16 years, so technology has moved on quite a bit (goodbye CD player…) My husband picked it up from the dealership with the aircon on full, couldn’t work out how to turn it off & was slightly hypothermic by the time he got home so apparently we’re a fami ..read more

Well, back into Level 3 lockdown here is Auckland. Three cases in the community, a family including a border worker who thankfully, as soon as she felt unwell,  got tested. Fingers crossed with some pretty epic test & tracing going on it will be nipped in the bud. I spent today working at home in my “lounge wear” under the supervision of Tommy & Tuppence. Many treats & cuddles were administered, cats love lockdown!  Sadly however, I did not get the chance to wear my swanky new SILK shirt to work. Boo! Yes, you heard me, I tackled silk. There were no tears, barely any swe ..read more