A spot of card making

My sadly depleted stash of handmade cards has finally been replenished thanks to some newly purchased Heather Bailey papers.

This is one of my all-time favourite cards to make - quick, simple & all-purpose.

Another birthday party survived!

We put together an 8th birthday party for our youngest blossie this afternoon. She chose a red & white theme. All fifteen girlies came dressed in colour - very cute! I abandoned the single big cake idea & went with the ever-so-popular cupcake stack.

All credit for these little cakes goes to the excellent instructions in this book:

I'm not sure who had more fun - me making the cakes, or the girls devouring them!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Bloom x

The evolution of a garden

Eighteen months ago, we left our small farm and its garden that we grew over 10 years from a bare lucerne paddock. We still own the farm, and return as often as we can. I miss my farm garden terribly! Here it is in its 'glory days':

We purchased a house in a new estate in town, so that we could be closer to school for our children. This was the backyard when we moved in:

True to my name, it didn't take long before I was planning to set the yard 'a-bloom'! It has been a long, slow process, but yesterday I took photos of my first town garden blooms - quite momentous for me! This is Prunus 'Elvins' blossom.

I thought the gardeners of you out there might like to see some progress shots of our 'baby garden' over the last 18 months.

Step 1: Intall bore in backyard for water supply.

Step 2: Install garden shed - a critical step to keep husband (aka 'my garden slave') on side!

Step 3: Bring in some serious digging implements. We landscaped the yard into two levels at this point.

Step 4: Two levels in a garden necessitates the building of a retaining wall. All hands on deck for this job. Coerce children into some bricklaying - nothing like a bit of child labour!

Step 5: Get creative & mark out garden beds.

Step 6: Lay turf - at last some green, after months of moonscape.

Since the previous photo, we have painted the wall & planted lots of trees & roses.

As we wait impatiently for plants to burst into leaf & bloom, we can look back and at least see where we have been in the last year and a half. It is such fun to build garden - hard work, but fun!

So at last I have my very first blooms from our garden in town to share with you.

"The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies." - Gertrude Jekyll

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." - Greek proverb

"How sweet is the life of a gardener." - Bloom!

Feeling inadequate?

I have made a start on 'Sweet & Spotty' pattern by Cinderberry stitches, free pattern available here as part of Stitchers' Angel Project 2009.

The satin stitch is testing me out. I am eternally grateful to my mother & grandmother for instilling in me a desire to hand craft. But I have to say, they have also 'psyched' me out of a couple of significant life skills. As long as I can remember, I have been solemnly warned of the difficulty of baking a good sponge cake & mastering satin stitch. To this day, I've not been brave enough to tackle a sponge, and it is with much trepidation that I attempt this little design & all its satin stitched flowers. Wish me luck & do let me know if you have any inadequacies you can blame your forebears for!

Cot quilt finished

My Mum has been visiting & has finished her cot quilt for my niece. We traipsed all over the local botanic gardens to find the perfect spot to photograph it.

I had poor Mum climbing over hedges, battling branches & all but hanging from trees to get these photos. The things I make her do!

The quilt is made from Anna Griffin's 'Mackenzie' range by Windham Fabrics.

I really love the back of the quilt, borne of necessity as we didn't have enough backing fabric.

All folded & ready for delivery. Good job Mum!

Unfortunately, the reveal mentioned in my last tantalising post has been unavoidably delayed. Sorry to be such a tease! Circumstances beyond my control have meant a little more waiting.

On a deadline

No time to chat today. Stitch Bloom, stitch!

All will be revealed soon ...

Stitchers' Angel Project 2009

With the enormous success of the Stitchers' Angel project last year, Helen Stubbings of Hugs 'n' Kisses is very generously organising this wonderful stitching collaboration again. She has arranged for seven stitchery designers to release a free pattern each week for seven weeks, all with a 'roses' theme. You can find the details of designers involved here.

Helen released the first pattern, a sweet waffle weave bag with a rose stitchery which you can download here.

Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches provided the pattern for this week, the delightful 'Sweet & Spotty Needle Wallet' which you can download here.

Please be sure to say a big thank you to Helen & Natalie, especially if you use their free patterns. The generosity of these women is heart-warming. And keep on eye out next week for another great pattern to keep you busy.

A new pincushion

A quick visit to Hatched & Patched last Friday yielded a kit for this little pincushion, called 'Maisy's Flowers'.

I couldn't resist putting it together over the weekend. A great project - quick & satisfying! It is my first project using wool felt, & I really enjoyed the rustic texture of the wool. It is a very forgiving medium!

The pincushion is filled with silica sand & lined with a contrasting cotton fabric on the back.

I can definitely see myself stitching more of these. Another addiction in the making!

Spring is on its way

Our Taiwan flowering cherry (Prunus campanulata) in the garden at the farm is in full bloom right now.

It is the very first of our spring blossoms to burst into the cold late winter air. It is always so special when it comes into flower after the bareness of winter. A really bold statement, & so beautiful against a bright blue sky.

I caught a noisy miner helping himself to the nectar.

These birds are very common in eastern Australia and a bit annoying. They are true to their name, very noisy & bully other birds. You can hear what they sound like here.

Baskets of blooms

I am spending every spare moment I have sewing, and it's killing me, but I can't show any of it to you just yet! Be assured that the very moment I can share it I will. Ooooh, secrets! So I thought I would show you a WIP of my Mum's.

It is a small quilt 60cm x 60cm, embroidered with four naive baskets of flowers and an outer vine border.

The pattern is called 'Basket Quilt & Pillows #57' by Bareroots.

Cute baskets laden with hearts & hollyhocks ...

... sweet daisies ...

... stars & swirls ...

... some tiny bees ...

... and even some wheat!