How to make my day!

I have received a very exciting message from Annie at Sew Nutty, a fellow Aussie girl, who has just finished her beautiful version of my 'Simply-a-Bloom' quilt. She has used 'American Primer' by Minick & Simpson for Moda.

I think you'll agree, she has done a fantastic job. Congratulations Annie on surviving my tutorial. It is an enormous relief to me that my instructions made sense! And very special to think someone else liked my pattern enough to make it!!

I have set up a Flickr group, Made with Bloom. Please feel free to add your photos to this group if you happen to make things from my tutorials. I would love to see your creations. There is also a Moda Bakeshop group which is a great place to visit for inspiration.

Mum has returned to the farm, but not before she made some significant progress on her table runner.

The pattern and fabric details are on my previous post. She is up to appliquéing the Dresden plates & it is looking beautiful.

Hey Mum, look what I can do ...

This week, I learned to pin butterflies - real pins, real butterflies! My job at the moment involves curation & identification of all sorts of insects. So I have added the skill of pinning specimens to my rather eclectic list of achievements! Aren't you proud Mum?

Speaking of Mum, she is visiting at the moment. A quick visit to the patchwork store, some 3 Sisters 'Glace' charm packs on special, and a great pattern from Moda Bakeshop has yielded at least the beginnings of a table runner:

The plan is that it will grace Mum's dining table for family Christmas. The pattern is called 'Plates for your Table' and you can find it here. It is designed by Kim at bitty bits & pieces who has posted some great free patterns for Moda. We modified Kim's instructions to suit two charm packs, instead of using fat quarters.

And speaking of my work, I couldn't help but photograph these beautiful blooms outside my building.

It is Liriodendron tulipifera, or Tulip tree.

Annie Flowergarden has been showing us some gorgeous photos of her blossoming spring garden, which inspired me to snap these shots.

The centres of these flower cups are quite mesmerising. They look like there should be fairies living inside I think! Mind you, any fairy would be living a dangerous life outside my work. They would probably get frozen, pinned, classified & archived for posterity!

Tidbits

Not a lot I can report on the stitching front right now. I am working on my next Moda Bakeshop tutorial, teaser below!

I have also managed to revisit my Dear Jane at long last, and put this solitary little block together over the weekend.

E5 Rising Sun

The rays are freezer paper foundation pieced and the circle needle-turn appliqued. So nice to see you again Jane!

Not so Grumpy

No more Little Miss Grumpy for me - the mail has come! You may (or may not!) remember this bag that I made for the SEWN giveaway some time ago?

Well, I entered it in the Amy Butler Midwest Modern competition way back in June. And blow me down, I was one of 15 lucky winners. My prize parcel arrived this week.

There are certain packages which should come with the following label:

WARNING - Considerable risk of hyperventilation upon opening.

This is one such package.

In the most generous of prizes, I received four of Amy Butler's newest patterns; 'The Liverpool', 'Sweet Harmony' bag, 'Field Bag' and a very cute Mini Dress/Top. All are delicious!

There was also a copy of Amy's recently released software which is a gorgeous package of 22 more projects for my 'to do' list! My favourite? This super cute floor cushion with my favourite of trims, pom poms.

And then there was fabric too!! Can you see why I was hyperventilating?!

Sandi Henderson has posted a great video interview with Amy Butler at the recent Quilt Market. You can watch it here, and see for yourself what an unassuming, gracious & genuinely sweet person Ms Butler is. I am very thankful for her generosity in offering up such an unbelievable prize.

You can see all the competition entries here, and the winning entries here.

(My Amy Butler obsession can be traced back, fairly and squarely, to the influence of Chookyblue. The first time I met her was over a little basket of bargain AB fat quarters. I spent a fun morning last weekend with the Chook, talking incessantly about gardening & quilting for the limited time we had).

Grumpy!

In a grump today, chained to the desk doing farm accounts. But, at least I have these sweethearts to keep me company, the first Lily of the Valley I have ever grown.

And then there's this little pile of stitcheries waiting patiently for me to make into quilt blocks, when the paperwork is done.

Things could be worse - I could be at Cadet Camp with my daughter hiking in the cold & the rain! Get some perspective Bloom!

Plus quelques roses de mon jardin

It seems I'm not the only 'rose-tragic' out there! Thank you for the many lovely comments on my last post. Because I promised, here are just a few more roses in bloom at my farm garden right now - I couldn't resist a little French title for this post considering so many of these roses are French Delbards!

'Henri Matisse'

Gorgeous soft red splashed with white paint strokes. Works beautifully with all my David Austins.

Released by Delbard 1995

'Camille Pissaro' Another painterly rose, a real stunner, golden yellow, red striped Released by Delbard 1996

'Citron Fraise' A very pretty rose, ivory edged with raspberry. Released by Delbard 1998

'France Libre'

Not sure if I will keep this one. It is an 'in your face' orange. I don't mind a soft burnt orange, but this screams at me a bit. I will keep him a little longer & see if he grows on me!

Released by Delbard 1995 'Le Reine Victoria' Another amazing old rose, always laden with heavily cupped blooms. Released Schwartz 1872 'Angel Face' A cute, frilly lavender coloured rose. Released by Swim & Weeks 1968 'Jumpin' Jack' A low grower, with beautiful stamens on open blooms Released 1997 Happy weekend everyone! Bloom x

Ring-a-ring of roses

A relatively warm winter in Australia means the roses are out early. Yay! Here are some of mine from my farm garden. Perhaps you can smell them?

'Golden Celebration'

The most beautiful golden yellow blooms, deeply cupped & deliciously fragrant. One of my very favourites.

Released by David Austin 1992

'Falstaff'

Tightly packed double blooms can have 100 petals.

Released by David Austin 1999

'Seduction'

Gorgeous creamy ivory, tinged with pink. A 'must-have' rose, beautiful for cutting.

Released by Meilland 1999

'Reine des Violettes'

Beautiful deep pink, very double rose with an amazing damask fragrance.

Released by Mallet-Malet 1860!

'Moonbeam'

A really different rose, beautifully formed buds open to a frilled, stamen-laden bloom. I love this one too!

Released by David Austin 1983

'Pat Austin'

A real show stopper! The most wonderful shade of copper apricot, with a paler yellow reverse. Delicious!

Released by David Austin 1995, named for his wife.

'Double Delight'

An oldie but a goodie. Wonderful for cutting, the most intensely perfumed rose in my garden. I have a mass planting of this rose, either side of a path (see below), so that you can meander through them and ingest the scent - heavenly!

Released by Swim & Ellis 1977

Am I a rose-tragic? You betcha. More soon!

Sweet Menagerie

The second of my tutorials, 'Sweet Menagerie' is now up on Moda Bake Shop. Thank you to each and everyone who sent such encouraging messages about my last quilt. I was so excited!

This quilt is made from Tula Pink's cute new line called 'Hushabye'.

I couldn't resist another pieced backing! And Belinda Betts of Eucalypt Ridge Quilting worked her magic with her beautiful quilting. The quilting design is called Retro Feathers by Anne Bright.

Do let me know if you use my tutorial. I would love to see your interpretation. Enjoy! Bloom x

Blooming perfect!

I received something special in the post today. For absolutely no reason at all, except that she is thoughtful & kind, Liz at Luv 2 Cre8ate, sent me this.

She found this PERFECT ribbon during her shopping one day, and thought it was something I might be able to use - WOW! I have blogged about the amazing kindness & generosity of bloggers before, and so it continues. And if that wasn't enough, she sent some of her beautifully hand stamped & coloured cards. Thank you so much Liz for a wonderful surprise parcel - you made my day!

Mysteries solved & a birthday gift delivered

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my previous post identifying my mystery object as a button hook - how clever you all are - I know who to ask next time I have a mystery to solve! So it is used for buttoning the many tiny buttons on boots/corsets or gloves back at the turn of the 20th century, making it close to 100 years old. I feel very special to have it my possession.

Since I'm on the subject of tools to make dressing a more pleasurable experience (coincidentally!), I have been working on a little gift for my Mum's birthday.

The pattern is 'Dressy Hangers' by Marg Low, the fabrics are 'Darla' by Tanya Whelan.

I really love Marg Low's well-written patterns. She makes beautiful things. Be sure to check out her blog.

Making these hangers could easily become addictive. They require little fabric, and it is lots of fun putting combinations of fabrics together. Thought it would be great to make one for each of my children each year for Christmas, so that by the time they leave home, they will have a cute selection. Hmmm, so many ideas, so little time ... Have a great weekend!