Everything is coming up roses!

I spent today planting new roses into the sticky muck that is an excuse for soil in our town garden. Never have I required a crowbar to plant roses - until today! There is big rain due in the next few days so hopefully the roses will be happy. If they survive the soil conditions, they should resemble these:

Most of these are David Austin's (my favourites). From top to bottom, left to right: 'Lichfield Angel', 'The Endeavour', 'Jude the Obscure', 'Triple Treat', 'Summer Song', 'Strawberry Hill', 'Darcey Bussell', 'Jane McGrath Rose', 'Heidesommer'.


I still need to choose a couple of climbing roses, so if you have a favourite, please suggest it to me.

'Friends & Flowers' quilt by Princess Martha

We were home at the farm last weekend to check on our lupin crop. It is the first time we have grown lupins, which is nitrogen-fixing legume crop. In as much as I know anything about them, they seem to be looking really good.

Being back in our farm garden always gives me a chance to take nice quilt photos! This quilt was won by my brother in a local charity raffle and was made by my lovely friend, Princess Martha.

Such a fresh and happy quilt. My brother likes to pretend he wasn't too excited about winning a 'girly' quilt, but let me tell you, he was on the phone immediately to boast about his win!

The fabrics The Princess has used are Mary Engelbreit 'Friends & Flowers' for Moda. She very artistically pieced the back. The artistry was lost on my brother, but I love it! And it is beautifully stippled all over.

Gorgeous quilt, Princess - you were very generous to give this one up!

Hey baby, my name's Bloom ... how am I doing so far?

Life has been so busy lately that I don't know if I'm coming or going. My mum would say, "I don't know if I'm Arthur or Martha"! But at last, today I have reacquainted myself with my sewing machine. It has been a while, and she barely knew who I was either!

When I am 'time=poor', the stitching has to be simple & quick. I am working on a very simple quilt using 'Verna' fabrics by Kate Spain for Moda. I have used Kona 'Snow' for the sashing.

Simple, fresh and most importantly, DONE!

This baby is off to the quilter. Hope you have a great weekend and find some quality time to spend with your machine. Best wishes, Bloom x

I have this naughty friend Nellie ...

... she works in a fabric shop and is always on the look out for fabric treasures, which she duly purchases, stashes away and posts to me, out of the goodness of her heart. Her parcels arrive, unexpectedly, and often at a time when I really need cheering up! She is such a lovely friend to me, and we've not yet met 'for real'. Her poor husband has his 'axe-murderer-internet-friend' suspicions!

Anyhoo ... why naughty? I nicknamed her 'Naughty Nellie' because she keeps sending me beautiful fabric when she really shouldn't! She spoils me way too much! I came up with a brilliant plan to, in some small way, thank Janelle for her generosity.

The conversation went like this:

Me: "Nellie, thank you so much for sending me beautiful fabric AGAIN! Please allow me the pleasure of making you a Frilly Dilly bag to thank you. The deal is, you send me five x 25cm fabrics of your choosing, and I will do the rest". (See this post for context!)

Nellie: "No deal, unless you allow me to send you one of my rosy bags".

Doesn't she drive a tough bargain! Resistance was futile. This arrived in the post last week:

Janelle is making these GORGEOUS bags and has just opened her very first online shop to sell them. They are really beautifully made, wonderfully textural and oh so glam! She has some of her PVC totes available for sale too, all made with 'to die for' fabrics. You can find her shop, Janelly Belly Bags and Things, right here. Please pop over for a browse, and tell her how wonderfully talented and lovely she is. Bloom said so!

And these are the amazing fabrics she has sent for me to transform into a Frilly Dilly. I'm very excited about these. So vibrant and happy, just like Nellie I'm sure. Can't wait to see how they come together. I'm thinking they will make for one very cute Frilly Dilly.

Love to you Nellie. You are an absolute treasure!

Daybook entry #5

Outside my window ... it is dark and very cold. The kids went off to school today excited by the forecast of 'snow showers' and it didn't disappoint:

I am hearing ... my daughter doggedly practising scales for a fast approaching piano exam (AMEB 6th grade for those of you who know about these things).

I am reading ... Jane Eyre ... again! I was introduced to the world of the Bronte sisters by my aunt when I was about twelve, with my first copy of Jane Eyre. I still love it. From the sublime to the ridiculous (!), I have just finished reading this:

From time to time, I like to read the books my children are reading. This one belongs to my 11-year-old son and is about a young boy who has lie-detecting nipples!! Every time he is exposed to a lie, his nipples go all 'feather duster' and itch - you can only imagine the adventures that might lead to!

I am wondering ... which of my birthday purchases I might start first! It was my birthday last Friday and in what is fast becoming a tradition, I visited Hatched & Patched with my Mum, and returned with appropriate birthday booty.

Should I start this? A sweet felt needlecase, scissor fob & pincushion set called 'Bluebirds in the Hedgerow' by Diane Leftwich:

Or this? A new release quilt pattern from the always divine Joanna Figueroa of Figtree Quilts:

Or perhaps this? 'Petite Sewing Kit' by Hatched & Patched:

I am spoilt for choice! If I don't get off this computer, I won't make a start on anything. A perfect night for sitting in the toasty warm & doing some stitching.

Flowers for my blossie

So nice to be back at my sewing machine this afternoon. I finished my version of Janelle Wind's 'Flowers for Daisie Mae'.

I have been saving up a luscious jelly roll of 'Sweet' fabrics by Urban Chiks for this project.

I made some minor changes to Janelle's pattern, mainly to finish it more quickly. I appliqued a single flower rather than two. I machine appliqued rather than using needleturn. I modified the handles to a single adjustable shoulder strap, using a very groovy slide adjuster from Nicole Mallalieu.

I used Heat 'n' Bond for the scallop applique at the top of the bag, which made it a little stiff. The lining consequently wanted to protrude from the bag by 1/4", so I just went along with it. I quite like how it gives a 'bound' look to the top of the bag.

It was excitedly received by my blossie after school this afternoon!

Thank you to Janelle for another excellent pattern. Janelle has a listing of stockists of her patterns on her blog.

A topsy-turvy day

Wonderful news from my doctor today that there was no sign of any tumour on my MRI. Praise God! Whatever is causing my neck pain should now be safely treatable with physio. Thank you to so many of you who have left sincere, thoughtful and supportive messages in the last couple of days. You are all very lovely and I am blessed to count you as my friends!

That news was the 'top' for my day. The 'turvy' came this evening with a harrowing phone call from the wife of a old friend from Uni days. She bravely called to tell me that my friend has died at 46 from pancreatic cancer. Her distress was heartbreaking. She has four children, the youngest just two. Her phone call put my recent concerns in perspective. Her husband & I studied Soil Science together and spent many an hour at the Grandstand at Sydney Uni philosophising, arguing about religion & solving the world's problems, but mostly drinking beer! I am so sad for her and her children.

So, at 11 o'clock in the evening, I am an exhausted mess of emotions. So thankful for my own good news, but devastated by the bad news of my friend. When life gets too tough, I walk in my garden and talk with God, wondering with Him what on earth it is all about. And in my garden, even in the winter, I find solace & peace ...

Delicate creaminess of Erlicheeer jonquils, the first of the bulbs.

Bright & happy buttercups jump up out of nowhere, announcing cheerfully, 'Look at me"!

Drifts of violets, nodding heads in the breeze.

The first fluffiness of the winter's wattles.

The promise and hope of blossom buds, preparing for a riotous spring.

The birthday wish list of a 9-year-old girl

It was my youngest daughter's 9th birthday last weekend. My handmade gift for her is late - nothing new there! I am in the process of converting this 'Sweet' jelly roll ...

... into a version of Janelle Wind's 'Flowers for Daisy-Mae':

If you happen have a nine-year-old girl in your life who you need gift ideas for, here are some of the things that were on my blossie's birthday wish list:

Kimidoll jewellery, in particular this bracelet & matching necklace:

Penny Scallan Girly Bird toiletry bag:

Style Me Up glamour purse:

Klutz 'Fancy' Paper fashions:

Crayola Slik Stix super smooth crayons

My personal favourite was a special edition Pippi Longstocking book (my choice!), purchased here. It is a beautiful hardcover book, delightfully illustrated by Lauren Child, who we both love.

My sincere thanks to each and every one of you for your best wishes and prayers for my health. At my best, I have convinced myself that all will be well - that God has taken good care of me in the past, and can again. At my worst, usually laying awake in the dead of night, I relive my previous tumour experience & dread what may be ahead for me. All prayers and good vibes will continue to be gratefully received!

One quilt + one small boy = ?

I am just back from two weeks at our farm, pruning the garden into shape. I took the opportunity to take some photos of a quilt I made for my son a few years ago.

The pattern is called 'Road to St Louis', and I made it in the brightest of colours, tempered by a dark navy & tan microcheck for the background.

The backing is a brilliant purple swirl fabric, and for the label, I asked my boy to draw a picture of himself at the time!

My baby boy is now eleven, and ever so willing to help me with photographing his quilt. "How about I run around like a lunatic Mum?"

"Or perhaps take my quilt for a bike ride in the mud to get the mail?"

"How about this Mum? Is this good?"

We did have fun taking these photos together, and it was the perfect tonic for taking my mind off some medical stuff that is going on for me. I had a benign tumour removed from my spine 14 years ago, and have had no further trouble until just recently. Recurring neck pain has raised suspicions of a further tumour, culminating in an MRI today. I will not receive the results until next Tuesday. I am working hard at not worrying until I have something definitive to worry about. Thankfully, I live with the perfect distraction - a cheerful, 11 year old boy!

Lovely to be back chatting with you. Bloom x

Farm garden tour - Part 4

This is the final post of my farm garden tour. Today we'll wander about the side of the house, and to the vege garden out the back. Last post, we walked along the front of the house and turned left at the silver birches. If we take a right turn instead, across the stepping stones, we head down the eastern side of the house.

The stepping stones lead to a meandering lawn which swings in and out, corresponding to bedroom windows on this side of the house.

This is the view from the main bedroom window. I got a great deal on some standard Iceberg roses, so they dominate this part of the garden, planted on either side of the lawn. They are underplanted with catmint, irises and borders of a variegated geranium.

On my last post, Hanady (all the way from Egypt!) asked if I started with a design for the garden. We did sketch out a design for the front portion of the garden, but this side garden just evolved over time. I love this part of the garden - lots of curves, creating a sense of anticipation as you wonder what is around the next corner!

We spent a lot of time thinking about the garden from the inside of the house - thinking about what we wanted to see from each window. So each room of the house has its own little view, with 'appropriate' plantings. For example, the garden outside my son's room has lots of burgundy, orange & purple flowering plants, no pink!

Walking around the back of the house, you will see more meandering lawn, and my 'Burgundy Iceberg' hedge! There is a story here. I went off to a end-of-season rose sale a few years ago, promising my sweetness to purchase just two climbing roses that we needed. I returned with a car full of the white Iceberg standards I mentioned ($7.50 each, I couldn't leave them there!) and a bundle of Burgundy Icebergs tied up with string. I paid $20 for the bundle, and when I untied the string, discovered there were 42, I say 42, roses in the bundle! We had just finished the winter prune on the roses, not my Sweetness' favourite job. He threatened that the only way these 42 new roses were going to get pruned was with the chainsaw! So my Burgundy Iceberg hedge was born. It gets trimmed VERY roughly with the hedge trimmer and flourishes!

As much as my Sweetness might hate rose pruning, he LOVES to build stuff. I asked for a frame in the vege garden to grow my snow peas on. I got this!

The vege garden is at the back of the house, straight out from the kitchen window. This is what I see from the sink:

I wanted a vege garden that was 'pretty' and a nice place to be as well us functional, hence the 'Pierre de Ronsard' entrance! There is a small circular lawn with a fruiting crabapple in the centre. I have planted strawberries as a border around the lawn. We plant vegetables in straight lines radiating from the centre. It works really well.

Ferne asked about our paths. We have used decomposed granite for all our pathways. It is inexpensive, blends naturally with the garden, and drains quickly. We love it.

So that's about it. I could bore you silly for days with details, but I will spare you! I would much prefer to be taking you all on a 'real life' tour, but this virtual one is the second best thing.

So from my garden to yours, bloom and be happy!