From the Garden

The Spotted Pardalote

I was so thrilled to get these photos of this little bird when I went back into the garden yesterday. It was only the second time I have seen it in our yard however I have seen females which are less colourful in previous years. Even though the kids came running out screaming and I ran out of memory on the card and had to erase some shots (this always happens at crucial moments) he just stayed in one position as if he was posing for the camera. 

He is only a tiny little bird about 9 cm. I think I may need to work on some designs or illustrations featuring this little sweetie.

4th Place Elephant and Donkey Parade

Another surprise last week to come 4th in the Elephants and Donkeys competition. I am looking forward to working on a collection based on this design, and as Spoonflower has just launched their new wallpaper and wall decals products I think I will do some cute wall decals too.

From the Garden

    

It is school holidays and the kids are having a great time outside, and it is a good chance to get some gardening done too. Alex was doing a spot of bird watching yesterday. I was hoping to photograph some birds as there has been a few I have never seen before in our garden, unfortunately no photos of birds though but lots of bees.

In the garden today

Hello little bee

Egyptian Puzzle Collection

       

A little while back I had the Egyptian puzzle collection printed on linen cotton canvas. It prints so lovely, I am planning a bag and some cushions soon. 

Japanese Cameo Collection

This collection is Japanese Cameo printed on cotton sateen and available in my Spoonflower shop.

I am just about to start a project with these so I thought it was a good chance to photograph them before I cut them up... stay tuned.

Festive Bird Tutorial

Last year I designed a Christmas decoration and it has been so popular I thought I would show step by step how to put it together. The decoration fits on an 8 inch swatch, however the fat quarter has an extra 2 birds and 2 owls. 

2nd Place Typewriter Ribbon Tins

I was really excited to come 2nd in the contest last week. I love how Spoonflower photographed a typewriter with all the top ten fabrics. All of the black and white fabrics looked great together, I think they would make a wonderful quilt.

This is my entry this week for the Donkeys and Elephants contest.

From the Garden

Just a few things flowering in the garden this week.

I know this is a weed.... but it is too pretty to pull out.

Wildflowers Zig Zag Cheater Win

I was so excited to find out that my Wildflowers Zig Zag Cheater Quilt design won the Spoonflower contest this last week. There were so many beautiful designs, I had lots of favourites and three Aussies in the top ten as well. The nice people at Spoonflower print the top ten fabrics and put them up for sale, they also made a 'mock up' of my quilt and took some great photos. Can't wait to get the actual printed fabric I ordered hopefully in about a week.

This weeks contest is typewriter designs in black and white, there are lots of fantastic and very creative entries.

Here is my entry for the week.

Spring had Sprung

Some of the flowers in my garden on the first day of spring.

We had 3 glorious days of wonderful sunshine, time outside with the kids, gardening, the washing taking 3 hours to dry instead of 3 days... and then it came, torrential rain and gale force winds.
The wind and rain has stopped now, the kids are outside again, back to the garden.

Fabulous finds

Strathalbyn Antique Fair - Sunday Market
Every year the town of Strathalbyn in the Adelaide Hills holds an Antique Fair and on the Sunday morning there is a market with many stalls and loads of collectables. I have been going for quite a few years apart from when the kids were younger. This year I picked up a few items to add to my collections. I was hoping to find more retro and vintage style items, no pyrex unfortunately but quite a lot of vintage 70's travel tea-towels and sewing items. 

I just liked this one

for my bear collection

for my ceramic chicken and ceramic donkey collection

The chicken and donkey collections I have are from the 1950's to 1980's I think, from my great grandmother and grandmothers collections, so when I see one at a market or fair, I just can't pass it by.

I did also get a sheet of decals from the 60's and a glass with green spots from the 50's for only 50c each. Bargin!

I almost forgot these lovely sewing baskets

Wildflowers and Wrens

My entry this week for the Spoonflower zig-zag cheater quilt contest. I chose to feature stylised Australian wildflowers and some sweet little wrens. You can see some of my other designs in the collection below.