August 3

My goodness, time has flashed by since I dropped in here, and while I was looking through photos to share I realised I've worked on quite a few things!

Though I was a little adrift when we first got home from our holiday, it didn't take long for me to spend time in the sewing room. I finished the placemat pattern I had been working on, and got it into my Etsy store. I love these placemats, and I'll be working on some more soon:

And once they were done, I pulled a project from the archives - my version of the Rajah Quilt. I had gotten stuck as I didn't want to do the final applique border, and I put it aside for Seven. Years. I switched out a border that I wasn't happy with, and decided to add a border print instead. This has been a year of deciding not to follow patterns to the letter, and it has made me really happy. Here's the final quilt top, I'm so thrilled with it:

And then it was time to finish up another project I've been working on - I put the quilt top together of my Fancy Four Patch Challenge. I'm super happy with this too:

And I chose a border for it too - I haven't stitched it on yet, but it will be a fun project for a weekend.

On another note, did I mention that when Mum and I were in Paris, we made a special trip to a gorgeous dollhouse store in one of the covered passages? I was looking for inspiration, and some little bits and pieces for a project that I knew would be upcoming.

You see, I bought a dollhouse from a lovely friend to rehab for my darling granddaughters. It's a real fixer upper, and it needs SO MUCH work, but I'm just the person for the job. Here it is (please forgive the screenshot from my phone):

I've been working all new windows and doors which will be much larger. The walls will need to be replaced, and hubby and I have decided that the orientation will be changed. The front will no longer be opening, it will be open at the back, and we'll add electrics too. 

I think I'm inspired to make this dollhouse for the girls as Amy had a lovely dollhouse made by her great-grandfather when she was little, and it was absolutely treasured. Unfortunately it didn't stand the test of time and is no longer around, but we can recreate something like it for our sweet girls. And we'll have fun working on it (and playing with it) too.

I've already been practicing painting techniques on inexpensive items from dollar stores, and learning how to build the most basic of things so I can make some of the furniture. Here are my most recent efforts:

And I had the best luck recently when a lady in the next suburb was selling her old dollhouse project along with all the furniture and electrics. I felt like I won the lottery when I saw what I was getting for my $50 investment. The furniture in the photo, and so many other items too. I won't overwhelm you with them all, as really this is chiefly a quilting journal ... but I'm sure there are many of you that would have a little dollhouse nostalgia too ...

A few of the pieces need some minor repairs, but I'll have fun with that also. See the little dollhouse in the photo - a dollhouse for in a dollhouse ... how fun!

Anyway, it's getting late here now, so I'll sign off. I'll make no promises about checking in promptly, as I don't seem to be able to keep up my end of that bargain. Hope you're all doing well, chatter soon! xox

June 17

My goodness, I'm so sorry, I have to confess that I kind of forgot about my blog as I've slipped away from the regular posting schedule I had going on there for a while. 

If you follow along on my Instagram you'll know that I have been keeping busy, so I'll quickly share one of my recent finishes which has traversed the globe and now resides in France.

I do have some additional pictures, but I haven't transferred them from my phone to my laptop yet, so I'll get back to you with those (assuming I don't forget again of course).

This little quilt was the result of the Doll Quilt Exchange I participated in earlier in the year. Laure in France and I admired each others work and decided to do an additional trade. This is what I made, and I'm so pleased it arrived safely, and Laure loves it.

I'm also in the middle of a big sewing room clean up at the moment, so I'm anxious to get busy with that while the inspiration is with me - sometimes the inspiration doesn't stick around long. So chatter soon friends. Thank you for sticking with me! xox

February 8

Hello friends, I've just been over here living life, and then this morning I realised that I'd completely fogotten about blogging. So according to this little page here, January didn't happen for me. Of course I've been a busy bee - I don't remember exactly what I've been doing, but things are moving around in the sewing room, and that's a good thing!

Let me update you with a few things:

I got my 2026 doll quilt exchange in the mail, and it's currently winging it's way across the globe to it's new owner. I cannot wait until it arrives!

This was a really fun quilt to make - I hit the scrap drawers really hard. You can see the Jane Austen background fabric there again, and you'll be seeing it again and again as I still have a lot of it! If you're interested, you can see the lovely quilts that people are making over on Instagram with the hashtag #dollquiltswap2026

And another challenge I'll dip in and out of is being hosted by Larissa from mmmCrafts. You can do either the 12 Days of Christmas, or the Merry Humbug challenge, and maybe some people are doing both? I'm working through the 12 Days already for the grandies and some friends, so I elected to do last month's Merry Humbug project, Mr Scrooge:

Ohhh this was fun! Really lovely handwork while watching the Australian Open tennis. One of the  hardest things for me with these projects is deciding what colour palette to use. I wonder if Mr Scrooge himself would have chosen to wear a lovely pink robe ...

This month the challenge is to make Santa, so I'll get busy on that at some point. Ohhh, and don't forget if you're working on these challenges and are anxious about painting the sweet faces, I have them available in my Etsy store for purchase.

And another challenge I accepted ... Repro Quilt Lover Taryn is hosting the Fancy Four Patch challenge. I'm up to date so far with two weeks having been released, I know I won't be able to keep that up though with upcoming travels etc. But here is week two: (I have to hunt further to find what I did with the week one image lol)

Last week I made another block for the Sarah Morrell quilt. This a project I've been on go-slow mode with. Maybe I've found a little of my mojo with it though?

The centre section was hand pieced and the outer section was foundation pieced. A few of the points are less than perfect, but I'm happy enough to let them just slide on by.

I've started another block, and hopefully I'll get it finished during the next week.

My sourdough starter is still kicking along and doing well. I don't remember what I talked about last time, but since I've reactivated the starter, I've learned that I have better success with baking in a loaf tin rather than a dutch oven. This is a recent loaf:

I've been baking about twice a week, and the rest of the time my starter lives in the fridge. I use about 50g of rye flour in each loaf and the balance is regular bread flour. Camo and I love it, Marty not so much - he's a white bread from the supermarket guy.

Last of all for today, here is the puzzle that Amy and I completed during the holiday break:

It was REALLY fun! It's a Jane Austen World puzzle, and it was so much fun looking at all the characters and buildings while we were putting it together. It had to get put away eventually as the small people wanted to play with it all the time, but I think I'm going to put it together again sometime this year. I enjoyed it that much!

Anyway, that's a little of what I've been up to recently, thank you for being patient while I mindlessly bobbled around here - hopefully I can remember to check in with you all a little more often. Ohhh, and Happy New Year!

November 14

Hello lovely friends. I was trawling through photos on my phone and thought it really was time to check in with you all. I think I have a few interesting ones to share.

But before I get to that, I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to see our lovely friend Teresa from Fabric Therapy posting again. I missed her lovely humour and wonderful work, and I don't mind confessing that I was worried. But there she is with her delightfully quirky applique and I'm beyond thrilled to see her again. Hi Teresa! xox

During the last month it seemed like I got a lot done, I get forgetful what I've shared here, as I've often popped a few pictures on Instagram - it's so much quicker to share there. So here goes:

A lovely friend of mine experienced a terrible loss, and my quilter brain immediately wanted to make her a quilt to wrap her in love. I used some favourite fabrics and this was the result. I can't talk about it too much, it's too sad, so I'll leave it at that.

The little cutaway HST's and scraps meant that I could make up this small table topper, so I gifted this to her too a bit later on.

Another DJ block, B5 - Hot Cross Buns. I tried so hard to get the points of the applique diamonds really good and sharp - some are better than others. There haven't been any more DJ blocks since this one - I'm definitely flitting from one thing to another at the moment, and I'm quite enjoying not having any particular deadline right now!

Some friends and I took a day trip to Victor Harbor and visited with lovely Penny at Pennylane Patchwork. I had never been there before and absolutely LOVED it! Here are my purchases on the day - I really had to restrain myself as I had set myself a limit of $200 for shopping, and came in just under the wire. There was no proper reason for me to have set a limit, but I find it really easy to buy SO MUCH and I know that there are fabric and notions purchased long ago and they are crying out to be used!

Here we have a little decorating I did in the hallway for Halloween. My darling friend Norma made the sweet little crochet pumpkins for me. And you see the Halloween table topper from a few years ago on the table there.

For the first time ever I put a couple of decorations outside. I saw someone on Instagram who had made up these light up pumpkins - I'm sorry I don't remember who it was, you know how it can be when one is mindlessly scrolling. You take a garden solar light (the kind where the top of the light looks kind of like a hat) cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin to fit the light but hat sits on top of the pumpkin - a small hole in the bottom of the pumpkin if you want the spike to poke through. Set the pumpkin with it's little light inside in the garden for the day, and in the evening watch it light up. I was thrilled with the result, and it was really inexpensive. This year we actually had a couple of trick or treaters which is unusual for our street!

After the spooky season passed, I set the hallway back to it's usual state:

Next came Melbourne Cup day, and I decided I wanted to make a pillbox hat to match a pencil skirt I had sewed earlier in the year:

Oh my goodness I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. I purchased the pattern from Elsewhen Millinery - the pattern very easy to follow with great instructions. I did make a couple of alterations because of the thicker fabric that I used, but it's about 98.7% exactly as written. Here is a link if you're interested in seeing the wonderful patterns this designer has for sale: Elsewhen Millinery.

On the next Saturday we had a dinner party with lovely friends. I took this picture before we learned we would be having extra guests and added the extension table. I love to use my Spode Byron dinner setting it's so much fun that the cabbage pieces add something a little different. I do have enough side plates to do the job, but the contrast is cute. We had a really great night and I left the cleanup for the next day. When that job was complete it was time to ...

... put up the Christmas tree! The Adelaide Chistmas Pageant had rolled through the city the day before and for so many local folk that means it's time to start decorating for Christmas. I would normally have done it on the Saturday but dinner party preparations meant that I was a bit too busy. There is a big gap at the bottom of the tree which I've since filled with a large pick including berries and poinsettias etc. I only noticed it after I'd taken the picture from this angle. Isn't it funny how pictures often reveal what the naked eye can't see. And I've used my favourite Dresden Plate Tree Skirt. I think I'll make another someday, maybe with a red toile fabric and coordinates. It's so much fun being able to change things around on a whim.

So that has been my past month - thank you for sticking with me if you've made it this far. It really has been quite busy and I haven't had many opportunities to check in, neither here nor on Instagram, but I hope to post a little more in the lead up to Christmas. Hope you're all well, and chatter soon! xox

August 12

Heavens, it has been almost exactly one month since I posted here. It genuinely doesn't seem like that long!

I've been in a bit of a sewing slump since my big win at the show, and it's not the first time that's happened. It always goes away, and I'm already feeling more motivated, but there hasn't really been anything of note created.

I did manage to put a little something together to celebrate Christmas in July before that month disappeared completely:

This fabric stood out to me while shopping before Christmas last year:

I can't remember the name of the range, but I think I've since seen it around, and I thought it would look good combined with my Halloween Table Topper pattern. I'm super happy with how it came together, and will definitely use it when the season comes around.

Also recently, my lovely friend Norma has been teaching me how to crochet. I kind of knew how to crochet already, but I didn't know how to follow a pattern, so I've been working in stolen moments on this zig zag blanket:

My photo isn't great, so you can't really tell that the yarn is a pretty purple in addition to the soft pink and cream. I only seem to workk on this when I'm keeping Marty company while he watches on F1 races/practice etc. They're on hiatus at the moment, so I probably won't pick it up again for a couple of weeks.

And for the last picture which is somewhat quilt related - one of my prizes from the quilt show was a voucher from lovely Jeanie at Kookaburra Quilts. I had a lovely time shopping on her site, and here is what I bought:

Very useful things, and lovely fabric - I think all from Devonstone collections. Thank you Jeanie for your incredible generosity!

This weekend just gone, Camo wanted to check out a somewhat new Lego store that had opened nearby. I wanted to see it too, so I was absolutely happy to go. I loved their little photo corner - Camo flatly refused to have his picture taken there. My how times have changed!

And this collage on the wall was so impressive - the store attendant showed me where a piece was missing, not stolen but it fell out and was lost when it was installed. I don't think I could find the spot again if I was asked, and I'm certain you won't see it in the picture! But here goes:

I've loved Lego since I was a kid, and it's always tempting to buy a kit here and there. There may or may not be a few pieces in my sewing room ... can't prove anything :-)

Well, that's it for me friends, not a quilt heavy post, but hopefully I'll have something more exciting to share soon! xox

Hand quilting obsessed!

I've been really inspired to get as much hand quilting done as I can lately, and even though I've got a lot of work to get through in other areas, I've been making time each day put a few stitches in.

There are a few other pictures I managed to snap ... I set up a little corner by the front door for Halloween, and if we have any trick-or-treaters we'll be ready. 

We don't often have little people stop by, Halloween doesn't seem to have really taken off in our neighbourhood. But there was one time that I wasn't prepared and had to give some little darlings chip packets from the pantry - and since that day I've been ready. Just in case.

Something I needed to make this week was a little mat for my bedside table. It won't really be seen, but I grabbed a sweet little border print from my scrap stash and put this together:

The mat is pieced and quilted, and I've stitched the binding on the front. All that remains is to hand stitch the binding on the reverse side and I can put this little mat in use.

Walking the dog is still happening each day, and I try and take pics of our surroundings when I can. We live in a lovely neighbourhood with fabulous walking trails.

I wish I could take pictures that looked as good as my eyes can see. Does that make sense? Anyway I could learn a lot about photography.

Last of all for today, one of my sweet quilting friends had a significant birthday this week, and lovely Norma made this gorgeous fruit flan, isn't it so pretty?

It tasted as good as it looks. I have such talented and lovely friends.

That's it from me for today, my days continue to be super busy, but I hope to check back in with you in a week rather than the two weeks I've been stretching out to lately. Chatter soon friends! xox

Getting things done!

Last weekend I had a blog post kind of ready to go, and when I had some difficulty with my photos for some reason, I put my laptop aside, and then it all went out of my head. So I'll pick up today where I left off and share some pictures with you.

First up, I was so very happy to get a project finished which is a gift for a dear friend. I used my Dresden Tree Skirt pattern, and instead of cutting the gap and circle for the tree, I appliqued a circle in place to tidy up the centre. I had the top made and quilted for a little while, and popped it aside while I waited for a cute sparkly micro ric-rac to arrive.

I think you can just see the sparkle on the ric-rac in the picture. It's so sweet and tiny at 1/8" wide. Once that was stitched in place, I could apply the binding and sew it in place on the reverse side.

The floral fabric is a favourite. I originally purchased it thinking I'd use it for broderie perse, but it's great in this project, and there's hardly any left. The fabric in the centre circle is a Dutch chintz. A shard left over from when I made my Montmellick quilt.

And the finished article. Not a great photo, but you can see that it's on the larger side. Almost going from side to side on our dining table. It's destined to cover most of the top of a round table. 

Once that was finished, I put together another of the strippy hexagon mats for my Great Aunt. That was a simple project, and I neglected to take a photo.

Late last week I took my car into the dealership, so Mum and Dad picked me up and we went out for an adventure. We visited some antique and second hand stores in Semaphore, then headed to West Lakes - I needed to replace my Christmas Pickle ornament from last year. Did I tell you it broke when I took the tree down? Well that's taken care of now, and I have a spare. Then we went to lunch at the Grange Hotel and took a walk on the pier - it's so lovely by the beach there:

A beautiful terrace building on the Esplanade. It had become a little rundown over time, and is being restored. You can see some of the centre apartments are missing their ironwork.

Since vising Norfolk Island many years ago, Marty and I have had an affinity for Norfolk Island pines. We often joke about planting one in our front yard. They become so large, it would be very much ill advised. I understand that they're often planted in coastal areas as historically they were great for use as masts for ships.

We walked to the end of the jetty after lunch.

And the view back to where we walked. After we were done here, my car was ready to be collected, so off we toddled!

In the last few days I've been working on a couple of table mats. I'm entirely thrilled with how they're coming along:

The main prints in the mat are Tim Holtz prints from his current Christmas collection. I paired those with some coordinates I had on hand, and added some sparkly ric-rac once again. This one is a little larger than the one I used on the table topper at 1/4" wide. 

I don't know what your experience is like where you are, but I find it really hard to get interesting ric-rac and trims locally, and I found a great source on Etsy. So if you'd like the information, pop me a note and I'll share the details with you. I based the pattern for these mats on the Halloween Mat I made recently, just shrunk down the centre pieces so I could cut three from a width of fabric. If you've purchased the pattern and think you'd like to make these mats, let me know and I'll send you the amended cutting information.

Because I was doing quite a bit of chain piecing recently, I didn't really have anything Insta-worthy to share, so I grabbed a couple of pictures of the centre of my Phebe quilt which is hanging in the lounge nook. I'll never grow tired of the applique in this project:

I love all the fussy cutting in the Phebe quilt, it was such a fun project to work on.

And last of all, this last photo is a bit of a peek behind the curtain. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I've been working at a slow pace to try and organise my pantry. It's quite a tricky job because my panty is so deep, and things tend to get lost in the back. One of my sweet readers Janet asked a little while back how I was going with it, and I finally decided to take a picture. It isn't great, so bear with me:

I'm afraid it isn't ever going to be featured on The Home Edit, I don't have a lovely selection of rainbow coloured groceries. But it's as good as it will get for the time being. I didn't even straighten up for the picture as you can see.

There are clear drawers for pasta/noodles, herbs and spices and baking supplies. The bottles etc are on two turntables so we can access the things in the back. And the lads enjoy the snack drawer above the cookie jar, you can see what's available for them easily. I don't think I'll be doing much more in here for now. My job will be to maintain it and it will be easy to see when things have run out.

So that's it from me since I checked in last - it has become a bit of a long post, and I'm happy to have caught you up. I'll chatter soon friends xox