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!

September 1

I really wanted to put this post up yesterday while it was still August ... but I just ran out of day. So September the 1st it is! Hello Spring, I'm happy to see you!

This is the time of year when I'm spending a lot of time working on secret squirrell projects, but I do have some bits and pieces I can share with you - today I finished working on the applique block I will use in my Sarah Morrell quilt. I'm pretty happy with it:

I did some embroidery around the edge of the broderie perse flowers at the top as I wasn't satisfied with the edges, and I quite like how it looks - so I may do some additional embroidery at some point. Next up I'll make up a wreath style block, and beyond that I'm not sure. The little bits of broderie perse weren't too daunting, maybe I'll get more comfortable with it as I go along and ultimately make up some whole blocks. 

Recently I rescued a stitchery project from the archives. I had purchased some perle cotton with the gift voucher prize and this was what I thought I could use it for:

The flower and the lettering was all I'd done so far, so the ovel shape and the green box were what I did recently. It was just a fun little thing to work on for a bit, but I need to put it aside again so I can finish with my 'must do' projects. Mum and I are travelling to Europe next year, and this is what I'll take with me to work on on the plane and on train journeys. We're having fun with our planning, and I simply cannot wait until we head off.

I've also been putting more stitches in my wholecloth quilt - as I mentioned on Instagram, it won't be finished this year, and probably not next year either. But if I keep working at it, my wholecloth will be ultimately be complete.

This weeks fun news was that my Lily Rosenberry quilt has won another ribbon at the Royal Adelaide Show:

I never tire of seeing Lily hanging with her ribbons. Unfortunately my schedule means I'm not going to be able to get in to the show to see Lily in person, but I very much appreciate my friends sending me pictures to enjoy.

The last picture for today is Rowley-centric. We love taking him on long walks, and here is one from last weekend:

He's such a happy boy, and will happily head out for walkies two and three times a day. It's hard to wear him out.

Well, that's it from me for today. Hope you're all doing well - I'm off now to check for any comments I haven't responded to - I really have dropped the ball in that regard. Chatter soon lovely friends!

July 13th

Well, this has been the most exciting of weeks! As you know I finished my Lily Rosenberry quilt recently - I was working really hard to have it ready for our guild show. Tuesday was the day to hand the quilt off to guild committee, and I spent an anxious evening wondering if I'd remembered to trim away any stray threads, had I missed any dog hair etc. You know, stuff that you can't do a darn thing about ...

On Wednesday evening I got a call to ask if I was coming to presentation night as my quilt had won a prize. Ohhh my goodness I was so thrilled, and still kind of anxious. On Thursday to help with all that nervous energy I made myself a cute skirt to wear to presentation night - mostly to keep my mind busy. I sent a picture to my sister-in-law as she's getting into sewing ... here's what I made:

I love the big houndstooth, and I've got extra for some fun cigarette pants. You see Rowley there bottom right - he really wanted to get in on the picture too:

Sweet boy, he always wants to be in on the action. He's bugging at me to go for a walk right now ... it's late, and we'll drag him out shortly.

Anyway, I won't keep you in suspense any longer:

I was gobsmacked when I learned that my quilt had won 1st in Professional Applique, Best Hand Quilting, and the Retaining the Tradition award. And then I was rendered absolutely speechless when it was announced that my quilt had won Best of Show. Ohhh my goodness, I feel so lucky!

I spent Friday and Sunday at the show standing with my quilt chatting with old friends, making new friends and generally having a lovely time with the folks at the show. What a great weekend!

The major sponsor for our show was Bernina Australia, they're always incredibly supportive, and my prize for Best of Show was this darling Bernina 570QE machine.

Thank you Bernina Australia!

And the cherry on my sundae was learning that my dear friend and quilting twin Zara Zannettino had won runner up to Best of Show. I was so thrilled to share the stage with such a wonderful person and huge quilting talent.

Last of all for this week, I managed to get another Morrell quilt block made in the evenings as I was winding down. I had this block about one third pieced on the machine, and I was just so unhappy with how it was going together - with so many Y seams, points weren't meeting as well as I'd like them to, and it was just looking a mess:

So I pulled the block apart entirely, and used all the pieces to hand stitch it together. I'm so much happier with how it looks now:

So, that has been my news over this past week. Honestly, I feel like I'm floating on cloud nine. I'll check back in again soon, though I'm sure I won't have any news to beat this in a good long time!

June 30th

Hello friends, I was hoping to get a post in again in June, and here I am on the last day. Whew! It has been a busy month, and I can share many of the things I've been working on in the sewing room:

Recently I shared the little applique piece I found when I was cleaning up the sewing room. I formulated a plan (which included using some of the little Ohio Star blocks I made) and created this little top:

I was super happy with how it came together - I had salvaged a forgotten project, and used a bunch of scraps up in the process. I'm still going to make more 4.5in Ohio Star blocks - I just love them!

I quilted and bound it with a favourite purple fabric - followed by a trip through the wash, I just love the crinkle it gives. Tomorrow it's going for a trip in the mail. It's destined for a new home.

Recently Camo had his birthday, and rather than have a cake, he requested that I make an apple pie. I made something like a pie - it's a tart - my first ever apple tart, and delicious!

I've continued hand quilting on the wholecloth - and moved the hoop since this picture was taken too:

And last of all today, I've made another block for the Sarah Morrell quilt - I'm thrilled with this one:

The little floral square was just a bit small for the space I needed it to fill, so I added a little frame, and I'm so happy with how it looks. I've now made 25 blocks for the quilt - there are still so many to go.

I've also been working on some secret squirrell projects, and I'll share those when I can, but for now they'll have to stay under wraps.

That's it for me today - I hope to check back in with you again really soon. Let's see how I go with that!

June 8th

Hello friends! I've had busy fingers in the sewing room these past couple of weeks, and I'm enjoying the freedom of working on whatever project I feel like putting my hands on. One of the first things I did was finish up a dress I had worked on before we headed off on the cruise. It didn't fit well so I put it aside - I've fixed it now but forgot to take a picture. I will genuinely remedy this in my next post.

I've also put together a couple more Sarah Morrell blocks, the first one in these two pictures I just finished up this afternoon:

In the pattern, the block above doesn't have any floral/broderie perse additions in the centre. I decided to add something to tie it in with other blocks nearby. I still struggle with broderie perse, particularly when the fabrics fray. Here's hoping I grow more comfortable with it, as there are so many blocks with broderie perse coming up!

This peacock block is a special one. Longer term readers may remember the funny story about when I nabbed Chris Forster at the airport when she was visiting Adelaide. It was all very innocent and fun, and she knew we would be catching up at some point, as she had a little gift of some fabrics for my Morrell quilt. The two fabrics above were from Chris, and based on an inspiration picture on Pinterest (which I'm not sure who it belongs to) I combined the two fabrics to make the block. I'm super happy with how it came together, and it really was very easy. 

I have additional yardage of the fabric I used for the circular frame, so if I feel like I'd like to do some more of the same, I'll be able to do it. I don't have a lot of fabric with birds though, so I'll most likely use larger scale florals. 

Piecing has also been happening, and I've now made a dozen fun little Ohio star blocks from scraps:

I've been having an enormous clean up in my stash - particularly the scraps that have been building up in my baskets. I've been finding little treasures along the way and making up these blocks - the fussy cutting is so much fun when I find the right fabrics. I'd like to make 200 before the end of the year - a big goal at what is traditionally my busiest time - it will be fun to see what I can come up with.

Another fun thing in my sewing room - my lovely friend Bridget gifted me some wooden cotton reels after her Mother had a clean out, and now the apothecary jar in my sewing room is full to the top:

Let's pretend there isn't any dust on the top shelf there ... haha :-)

I'm working on some secret squirrel projects that I'll share later in the year. But last of all for today, here are some new additions to my Etsy store:

A darling little card craft sewing basket:

Vintage lace and ric rac:

The Etsy listing pictures above are clickable if you'd like to have a closer look at the items. I have many more items to list, so if you're into vintage trims etc, do check back in.

That's it from me for now, thank you for reading all this way, and I'll check back in with you all soon xox