snails trail and bento box quilt blocks

My sister is having a baby in August and has asked me to make her a cot quilt.

She has decided that she is going with a red and yellow theme which will suit either a boy or girl. She bought some fabrics through Z and S and I also picked some up at the Brisbane Craft show from the Patchwork with Gail B stand.

I having been toying with some pattern ideas and have come up with two options - snails trail or bento box.

This snails trail pattern can look quite different depending on the fabrics used (remember I will be using red and yellow). The top one is on the RJR fabrics site called Scatter Garden Trail (pdf here).

The bento box is very popular and there are some great examples of it out there.

I love pink chalk studios sugar + spice.

Anyway I decided to test the blocks out in some red and aqua’s. I am also kind of cheating and am going to use the snails trail one for my next doll quilt.

I am now thinking of making both! Because she only wants a small quilt I could make the snails trail for the front and the bento box on the back. That way I get to make 2 quilts!

this is … my favourite book

I am well behind on my this is posts.

Last week dees suggested showing our favourite book.

I have been thinking about this for a long time. I have lots of favourite books and lots of favourite authors. Once I find an author I like I tend to read everything they have written. At the moment I am a fan of James Rollins and I love Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels.

The book I use the most and couldn’t live without is my readers digest “Your cooking questions answered”. It is an Australian book so it uses common ingredients and metric measurements. It is sorted alphabetically and has lots of good information and lots of everyday recipes.



I have used it to find out how to ripen avocados quicker, how to make fresh pasta, used a gravy recipe

and also how to figure out if eggs are fresh.

I got my doll quilt

In the mail last week my doll quilt arrived for DQS3.

It is a beautiful blue quilt called springtime, lovingly made by annieshouse.

She has done a spectacular job and I feel extremely lucky that this quilt now belongs to me. She also sent me a very appropriate book to read to my kids which is just as beautiful.



Thankyou very much for my lovely quilt.

I sent my quilt off this week too and it was received to much surprise by Sheridan. I did have to lie and tell her that I was making for someone else, just to throw her off the track. Though I do think that she had it figured out at one stage.

It has been a great swap and I have really enjoyed being a part of it.

Now I just have to get myself organised to get my next one done for the Lemonade Stand Doll Quilt Swap.  I have been inspired by this little quilt and I am going to focus on hand quilting for that one.

three new princesses

There are three new beautiful princesses in the world.

A friend of my fathers’ and his lovely wife Jo have just had healthy girl triplets.

Photos were sent by email and they look plump and healthy with full heads of hair.

My MIL is a knitter and I begged her to make some premie hats and booties for the little girls for their stay in hospital. She has done a beautiful job. I sewed up a quick bag with some leftover freshcut fabric and sent it off.






Having a baby is life changing - having 3 at once ….. I can’t even comprehend it!

Finally sewing my Amy Butler Weekender

This project has been a slow starter. I got the pattern well over a year ago and I bought all of the supplies about 6 months after that. It has been sitting in my project box peacefully waiting to be worked on. About 6 weeks ago I cut out all of the pieces. This weekend, I started sewing.

So far I have made the two front panels. I am using different basic greens and trying to incorporate as much of a 1/2 yard of my favourite echino fabric. I have decided to only have a main pocket on one side to show off the fabric pattern.

The reason I’ve stopped …. I ran out of f**king green cotton!!!

my babies are growing up

This week my babies grew up just a little more. My little boy had his first birthday and topped the week off with learning to walk.



My little girl  turned 3 but this was the first birthday that she understood what was going on.



We had a small party with a family BBQ and they each had an iced sponge cake. Nothing as spectacular as Henrys cake, so I never showed them photos to see what they missed out on. The boy hooked into his chocolate icing fists and all. The older kids were a little more refined and used spoons.

I didn’t make them anything but Auntie Sheridan came through and made them a beautiful library bag and a fabric cube ball. They love them!!

They are 2 years and 1 week apart and they are approaching the age where they are learning to play with and enjoy each others company. It warms my heart to see them together, sharing or fighting. Brother and Sister.

They are my life and I have been extremely lucky to have been in a position where my husband has been able to look after them for the last 6 months since I returned to work. He has done a wonderful job running the household and raising our children. He starts a new job on Monday the kids will miss him immensely.

Hubby - Thankyou. We apreciate everything that you have done for us and we love you.

Spice is Nice Quilt from Quilts and More

I just picked up my latest copy of Quilts and More and immediately fell in love with this quilt - Spice is Nice.

I love the fabric, I love the pattern and I love the way it is quilted.

I want this quilt!!!

The fabric is Blossom by Urban Chicks for Moda and I have had trouble finding it. I would use charm packs for the centre squares and I have even found the backing which is an all over print that has different circles of the fabrics from the range.

The only thing I can’t find is the green binding - well I can but don’t want to pay $11 postage just for 3/4 yard of fabric.

Have you ever seen a quilt and just wanted to make it as is? using the exact same fabrics and colours? I think it is a first for me.

I really want to make it but am hesitating a little.  Am tempted …. but ….  $$$$ …. another quilt!! ….. just don’t know.  Maybe I need a cooling off period.

I also found the creator of this beautiful quilt  - The Happy Zombie. She has a great blog and it is well worth a look.

this is my latest discovery - my library card

We have been living in this area for over a year and it was only in the last couple of weeks that I ventured into our local library and got myself a library card.



It is not a particular big or inviting library but what I have discovered is their online library catalog.

All of Brisbane city council libraries are linked and you can easily get books from their other libraries for just a small fee of 55c.

It has been awesome. I have been placing books on hold online like a madman. Then a couple of days later - I get an email and I just pop in and pick the book up.

Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to get a hold of all of these crochet books.

We have also borrowed dozens of kids books, a few recipe books worth mentioning (Gordon Ramsay - Kitchen Heaven and Ice Cream) and a few quilt books too.

It has been a great discovery.

orange doll quilt for “chaletgirl”

this post is pretty photo intensive

Sheridan and i decided to do a doll quilt swap between us - just for something to do.  One of the rules was that we had to use what was in our stash.  She got it yesterday (check out her blog post)

I picked the orange fabrics before she started this recent orange fascination.  Sometimes it is scary how well we know each other - even living 1000km apart.

I wanted to do a half square triangle pattern to use some of my collection of charm squares. The pic below shows them folded in half to give me an idea of the layout.

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Then I evened the squares up and cut them in half,

then played with the layout

and sewed them altogether.  First making squares, then joining the squares to make rows, then finally the rows together.

I hand quilted alternate triangle using different coloured embroidery thread.

and I put on a simple binding of calico.

Then I put it in the post with her birthday present.  I think she loves it just as much as I do.  I am so pleased.  I love this quilt and had no hesitation in giving it away because I know it will be cherised and the work involved appreciated.

Thankyou Sheridan for being such a great friend that shares and understands my crafting obsession.  I love making stuff with you and for you.  BTW Happy Birthday.

Things are a little hectic

I am having a four day break from work with no plans to go anywhere but stay at home and do stuff.

My mum is moving in next week so we spent most of yesterday moving the contents of our study into various other rooms. This meant creating a new study/play room in my boys room and moving the boys cot into the girls room.

Last night was there first night sleeping in the same room together. The boy cried a few times, then there was some squealing and laughter and eventually they went to sleep. I am sure they will get used to it eventually.

We are also getting ready for the kids birthdays. The girl turns 3 on Wednesday and the boy 1 the following week. We are going to have a joint party/family BBQ on the weekend. So there is lots to do and organise and tidy.

I didn’t realise just how different and troublesome a little boy could be.  I think he thinks he is helping, but more likely just exploring.

Also a beautiful package arrived in the mail today from cias palette. It contains my fat quarter packs that are going to be used for my next Joint quilt project with Sheridan. Not real sure how we are going to do it yet, but it is going to be fun.