My beautiful boys

I couldn't resist sharing some photos of my gorgeous boys....

Gingerbread House

For Christmas this year my Mum took me to a Gingerbread House Making Afternoon at her church.

We had a great time! We were all given our kit of precut gingerbread, bag of icing, and a HUGE array of lollies, then we were let loose.

Jack keeps calling it Mum's cake. He is going to love eating it! Matter of fact, so will Mum!!

Christmas time!!

These photos show an array of things I have made over the last couple of weeks, all taught to me by my friend Gloria from Patchwork. Each week she has brought me in things to do including all the materials I have needed. It's been great fun and now I'm ready for Christmas!!

Sew much to do, sew little time!

I have been a very busy girl trying to get all my sewing and Christmas chores done before my Carpal Tunnel Release surgery tomorrow. I have finished everything I wanted to done plus more......


I made 2 of these quilts (one without the yellow border) for friends to give as gifts. I machine quilted them around the outlines and machine quilted paw prints around the border.

My friends were really pleased.










This is my "Creative Challenge" organised by a girl in the craft forum. I wasn't going to replicate my picture but I loved the textures so I decided to try to re-create it in fabric.

I found the fabrics at a quilt store in Camden. The yellow was just the colour I was looking for - it is warm and creamy just like cookie dough. I fell in love with the green, it is beautiful!

I'm quite happy with it. It looks lovely hanging above my window in my bedroom. Yummy!!










This photo shows some of the detail. I used colonial knots to give the appearance of flour, put batting under the "dough" fabric to give the right thickness, and added buttons as cookie decorations to give even more texture.


I purposely kept the edges raw to add to the "unfinished" feel of the dough before it is baked.

Hubby's craft

I know that this blog is about my crafts and is mostly quilting related, but I'm so proud of my hubby and the work he has done landscaping his slot car set that I had to share it. I know the photos aren't great but they still give you an idea.

I-Spy squares

I bought a pack of I-spy squares at a quilt show in Springwood, and my lovely friend Stephanie invited me to go through her stash to add to them. Last night I cut the pieces into squares and there were 37!!

Thanks Stephanie!!

Fabric Baskets

The Craft Forum girls discovered these fabric baskets and the things are now popping up everywhere! No wonder, they are so easy to make but very cute too. I'm giving the Xmas ones as gifts filled with home-made bikkies, and the green one is for my sewing table to hold my threads and cut off bits.

Hubby's quilt

It's done!!!! I finished the last of the quilting on Saturday!!

So here it is, my hubby's 40th birthday quilt. I'm really proud of it. It is the largest quilt I have ever made (queen bed size). The coloured centre and strip are all tied rather than quilted. The thin dark border has 2 rows of quilting, and the large strip 4 (as you can see). The only thing left is the label which I will put on closer to his birthday in January.

Now I'm onto 2 panel cot quilts that I am making for some friends as well as some fabric baskets for Xmas. More photos soon........

Block Keeper

This is a block keeper that I made to hold my Acorn Gatherers blocks. It is approx 16" x 16" when closed. The material I used I had picked up for $10 for a metre cut and just loved it. I didn't want to cut it up and lose the print so this is a perfect way to use it. The inside has wadding "sleeves" so that it is a bit like a fabric photo album.

Caring Hearts

Thanks to all my beautiful friends from the Craft Forum for sending me these caring hearts. I was feeling very down and they certainly made me feel much better once I opened them. I have decided to incorporate them into my Acorn Gatherers quilt since they are all red.

Thanks again girls, you are all wonderful.

Jack having fun playing with Mum's pins and things...... It might keep things messy but he has such a great time!

This beautiful day-lily is in our front garden. We have up to 3 open at once. They make me smile!

Hubby's quilt

I have been working on a quilt for hubby's 40th birthday in January and am doing the last of the hand-quilting at the moment. I am now getting 5 stitches on a size 10 needle!! I am very excited as it's a big achievement for me! Now to keep practising...I can sometimes get 6........imagine 7!!!!!

Acorn Gatherers

Yet another block for my Acorn Gatherers quilt where I swap 12 1/2" blocks with different people. I sent a stamp basket block to Shopperdeb and received the "My Family" block. I think it is perfect!

Be Creative Challenge

Lovely Sam from the Craft Forum has come up with a great idea where we each receive a picture and a colour and use these to create "something". I have bought some fabric but I'm not sure just what I'm going to make yet. I'm letting the creative juices flow for a little while first.

Sam has chosen some fabulous pictures. Mine is very apt as I have been doing a bit of baking lately, and my colour is yellow. It is a very exciting challenge!

Pot holder swap

Yet another swap from the Craft Forum, and yet another beautiful piece of art for my kitchen. I think they look very good together!

I can't believe how this has inspired me. I bought 2 new tea-towels this week, and I'm thinking of buying a couple of waffle ones and appliqueing something on them. I mean, I do spend a LOT of time in the kitchen!!! Of course I can always pass my old tea-towels on to hubby for the garage.....

Tea towel swap

This is the beautiful tea towel I received from Barb in our tea towel swap. The hearts are appliqued on and then Barb has embroidered flowers on all of them!! Much too nice to wipe dishes. I'm afraid it puts the tea towel I made to shame!

Random Acts of Kindness

This is a RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) that I received from a friend on my Craft Forum, all the way from Hungary. The embroidery thread is even made there! Thanks Doti, I love it!!

Flowering Plum

Spring has sprung here in Sydney town, although today it's overcast and a bit cool. This is a flower from a flowering plum in our front yard. It went from bare, to budding, to full flower in about 2 weeks once the weather warmed up. Just beautiful!!

My Work Space

This is my work space. I set it up when I moved my youngest and his cot from my room to his brother's room. I actually have a bigger table now, a dining table so I can spread out even more. I decided to use my bubs' change table as
storage because I knew no-one else wanted it, I already bought it second hand and it has good shelves and the height is perfect for rotary cutting (for me at 5ft it is anyway). It holds my stash, my dress patterns, some wadding, cross stitch and stitchery kits, and in the bath I keep baking paper, quilt basting spray and pellon - things I don't need often.


I keep the ironing board up on the other side of the desk and everything is always ready to go. Hubby has even planted roses outside the window for me!

Aidan's School Quilt

This is the first "full-sized" quilt that I ever made, and only the 2nd of any size. I made it for my son when he started school so I used lots of fabric with school buses, letters, pencils... I bought all the material for the centre from Post Office Patchwork at Glenbrook. (What a fabulous shop!! and I have seen Rhonda's quilt "Insanity" in person and it is immaculate!!) Anyway, with Rhonda's advice and inspiration from a quilt on display with similar fabrics, I made this quilt that I am very proud of. It is machine pieced but hand quilted inside each square, and around each applique.

Aidan's Teenage Quilt

I made this quilt for my eldest son for Christmas last year because he started High School in January so needed an older quilt than his first. He loves all things Celtic and I had bought this pattern at the Stitches and Craft Show about 10 years ago. The stitcheries were sewn over about 5 years and pieced together (the quilt design is mine as the quilt pattern with the stitcheries only had plain sashing) over a few months, then finally machine sewn on my Toyota sewing machine.

Forever Sisters

I made this quilt for my sister's birthday. It is all candlewicked. I absolutely LOVED making it. I found the candlewicking to be so relaxing and easy to pick up and put down quickly which is good with the little ones. I've decided that I'll need to make another one soon. Candlewicking is addictive!!!

The $9 Quilt

This is my latest project. I'm going to work backwards until I catch up! I bought the fabric in the centre as a scrap pack at one of my local patchwork shop for the huge price of $5!! I decided that I would make the price the feature of the quilt, hence "The $9 Quilt". The colours are definately not me but I just love it. It is my snuggle quilt for the lounge!

What a scary experience! I've been thinking about setting up a blog for a while, so here goes....

Wish me luck!!