Happy Easter everyone!

His wounds have paid my ransom

Good Friday at our house means homemade hot cross buns & an easter egg hunt in the garden with the cousins.

But Good Friday is also a time for our family to reflect on Jesus - who he was, what he did and why. This song by Stuart Townend sums it all up for me. (You can listen to this by clicking on the play button below).

How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the chosen One,

Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

I'd love to hear what answers you've found to the 'Jesus question'(be they similar to mine or not), or how you spend Easter at your place. A very happy Easter to you all. Best wishes, Bloom.

March of the loyalty cards

I have at least 20 cards in my wallet, most of which only get used very occasionally. I was fed up with these cards falling out of my wallet. Thankfully, A Spoonful of Sugar came up with the perfect solution! Using their Scrappy Loyalty Card Wallet tutorial, at last my cards are in some sort of order! I made this one ... to go with this bag! 

But then this bag needed a matching wallet too: 

My 13-year-old blossie is away for an entire week on cadet camp (read: 'roughing it, no showers, lots of dust, sleeping in the open'!), so I thought she would enjoy a little surprise on her pillow when she returns. This one goes with her frilly dilly.

I had fun in amongst my vintage buttons ... 

... with this duck egg blue one being my favourite. 

Couldn't resist using a little selvedge trim on this one for my daughter.

Thank you to Lisa & Sarah for a great tutorial. I had lots of fun making these, and my world is a nicer place now that my cards are organised. The house is a mess, but my handbag is looking very cool!

Giveaway at 'Don't Look Now'

To celebrate the release of her brand new pattern, Kellie at 'Don't Look Now' is having the most amazing giveaway.

Do yourself a favour, & get on over to say hi to Kellie. Prepare yourself for a visual feast of texture, colour & unbelievable workmanship. This woman's talent blows my mind!

M-u-u-um!! I sick ...

Feeling really green this week.

No, 'green', as in, 'sick-as-a-dog' green, so very little creativity to report. What to do? Call in Mum for backup, of course! This is a little cot quilt she made for my nephew.

It is made from a single printed panel, and so it is quick, and so very cheerful.

My favourite blocks:

two funny frog fingers

three tiny shiny kitty claws

and seven spendid zebra stripes.

If you're feeling off-colour, have a look at this site. It will cheer you up and you can be any colour you want! Fun!

Bad people & beautifully good people

I am sick in the stomach & angry this morning. It is just a small thing in the tapestry of life, but my littlest daughter, age 7, had her bag stolen at a school fete on Saturday. She naively put the bag down at one point to do something with a friend, & returned a short time later to find it gone. A tough lesson for her. There were tears, & not just on her part! This is the bag that was taken:

I made this little backpack for her fourth birthday from a Rosie Quinlan pattern called 'My Dolly Kinder Bag'. Yes, I still have the pattern. Yes, I will be making a replacement for her birthday in July, and I know it is just an insignificant material possession in the larger scheme of things ... ooooh, but THIEVES MAKE ME ANGRY!

On the other side of the ledger are beautifully good people like Janelle of Threads of Friendship. She not only did me an enormous favour recently, but then followed the favour up by sending me a gift of gorgeous fabrics! Let me share the gorgeousness:

My very first piece of Kaffe! It is called 'Paisley Jungle' and is stunningly vibrant & cheerful. The start of a new obsession? ... Oww, probably!

Some wonderful 'Park Slope' by Erin McMorris. This coordinates perfectly with the one piece of Park Slope that I have in my stash.

This one I didn't recognise immediately and there were no selvedge clues, but I had a vague thought that it reminded me of Anna Maria Horner. And sure enough, a quick search confirmed it to be from her latest line, Good Folks. Janelle sure has an eye for the good stuff!

I have saved my favourite piece until last! This is a Michael Miller fabric called 'Birds of Norway' & it is amazing! I have a thing for bird designs, & this one has me smitten.

This fabric has 'new winter bag' written all over it. Although, I will be fighting off my girls for it - they think it would make the perfect skirt for them!

Thank you Janelle, you have blessed me more than you know. You are generous, kind and BEAUTIFULLY GOOD!

From the Bloom archive

Not much time to post today. We are expecting the entire Mathematics staff (at the school where my husband works) for dinner tomorrow night. They are not the geeky crowd you might expect - they are all lovely, & good fun! And many of them are girls. Nothing sexier than a girl who's into mathematics (I say, with all authority, having done three years of Pure Maths at Uni)!!

... I digress. I've dug something out of the archives. I made this quilt a couple of years ago for my lovely mother's 60th birthday.

Her favourite colour is mauve. This quilt is made from Robyn Pandolph's 'Butterfly Kisses' range. I got brave on this one and tried some free motion quilting on the cables - don't look too closely!

I love a wavy edge on a border. It made a really pretty finish to this quilt.

Have a great weekend everyone. I'm off to clean the house!

When whimsy strikes

Someone asked me what I would use my 'Whimsy Journal' for. Well, it is totally for whimsy! I jot down ideas as I think of them, so that I don't forget. I keep it nearby so that when inspiration strikes (and it can be any time of night or day!) I can quickly put the idea to paper.

I print off photos of quilts & artworks that inspire me & stick them in my journal.

And generally just doodle about! It is fun & just for me. 

Weirdly, I am at my most 'whimsical' & come up with my best ideas when I am feeling a bit sad & introspective! So the journal is always close at hand at those times.

And the little girly on the front never fails to make me smile!

Journal covers being stitched up here, there & everywhere

It is very exciting to see some journal covers being made up from my tutorial. It still blows my mind that from my humble little sewing machine in Australia, I can stitch something, blog it & almost immediately see a version made by a stitcher on the other side of the world. BLOWS MY MIND, I say! Here are some of the lovely versions that I have come across:

Poor Jean at Linen & Raspberry was one of the first to 'survive' my tutorial instructions! We exchanged an email or two ironing out some confusion in my instructions, but she has come up with a lovely cover nevertheless! 

Jean has added some gorgeous hand stitching to her cover, and a very cute bloom on the back.

Jannimary has made this stylish duo. Using a striped fabric horizontally instead of vertically looks great.

Fiona at Scraps in Progress really got busy and whipped up several journal covers as gifts. She has used some of her wonderful novelty prints, making the most of the large print designs. 

Jane at Sew Create It has added some gorgeous button detail to her journals. 

And Pia at Pia's Place has added some embroidery & a sweet butterfly.

Well done girls - they all look fantastic. It is so much fun for me to see your interpretations. 

What was I thinking, Dear Jane?

I made this block a lot harder for myself than it needed to be ... but I think I like it.

This is G5 Poof - yes, that's it's official name! Personally, I wasn't keen on the big white 'poof' that was supposed to dominate this block, so I tinkered with it a little.