Flora Africa Protea

It was great to come fourth in the Spoonflower contest last week, the theme was African textile design. I wanted to do something with the Protea incorporating some design elements influenced by African baskets and mud cloth printing.

Below are some of the illustrations I did although, only the top two were used in the final design and the elements around them were drawn on the computer. This was one of my favourite contests, I loved all the colours and patterns, and ended up voting for about fifty designs.

Happy Little Ditsy Cheater Quilt

This cheater quilt was designed over a year ago and Mum and I finally got a chance to make it up. Originally one of the patterns, Happy Little Ditsy, was designed for a ditsy contest at Spoonflower however it expanded into a 70's style collection of small prints which included the cheater design. We used 70's Ditsy Green on the back and Flower Star Red on the binding.

Fabulous Finds

How cute is this little owl! I found him at a thrift shop yesterday and once I picked him up I just could not put him down again. He now has a good home with an owl milk jug and sugar pot.

From the Garden

It is still very dry here and the temperature is up and down. The belladonna lilies have been flowering and not much else at the moment. I love the way the stems come out of the ground like snakes and then the beautiful flower opens.

Fruit Loaf

A few years ago a friend gave me a very simple recipe for a fruit loaf that I had forgotten about until recently, so I decided to make it with the addition of a few extra ingredients. The original recipe is 1 cup of chopped dried fruit with 1 cup of black tea in a bowl for about 15 minutes. To this you add 1 cup of self raising flour and mix then put into a loaf tin lined with baking paper. I added 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds and 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds. On top there are some extra pumpkin and sunflower seeds as well as rolled oats, coconut and half a teaspoon of cinnamon.
How easy is that! It is not sweet really but it is great with a cup of tea.

Aussie Animal Friends

The contest this last week at Spoonflower was Australian Fauna to celebrate Australia Day which was on the 26th of January and I was so happy to come 1st place. The photo above was taken at Spoonflower as they print, photograph and put the top ten designs up for sale. There were some beautiful entries and I had quite a few favourites.

Banjo the Echidna Tutorial