Lola Goes to Market

With the weekend looming, I needed to get Lola Ladybug finished; how else to sell the panels if I haven't made her myself. A little fiddly, but not actually difficult, I finally got her done. She's not perfect (don't look too close), but she's pretty cute!

Tomorrow I'll be at AQM (the wholesale market) checking out all the new and upcoming quilty goodness, then on Sunday I'm at Caulfield Racecourse for Mathilda's/Boutique Market. It's on from 9am till 1pm and I'll be there with as much fabric as I can carry. Details over in my right-hand sidebar.

I Love Fridays

Yesterday when I was at work, the weather was terrible. Today home is work, and the weather is beautiful! I've made the most of it by getting a bit of gardening done; the weeds really take over when you aren't home to keep an eye on them. The previous owners planted Ivy and it has been a constant battle over many years to get rid of as much as possible. I'm winning slowly but boy does it make me itch.

My lavender bloomed beautifully while I was away, and brings in the bees; great for all the fruit trees. Where would we be without bees?

 

My favourite tree is the cherry blossom; I wait all year for it to bloom, then usually the spring winds blow them all away. They're almost all gone and my front yard looks like its been snowing pink petals.

The puppies are loving the sunshine, but keeping the littlest Miss still for a photo is almost impossible.

Miss Bella is curious about the camera as always.

I did a sneaky trip to Spotlight this morning to check out Sarah Fielke's new range, Millefiori. I had to hunt around a bit but I found the prints I was looking for. Into the stash they go!

 And finally a little more progress on Star Blossoms; only four blocks to go!

 

Blossoms Everywhere

I love the end of winter when all the blossoms start to appear around my yard; it reminds me that the warmer weather is finally on its way.


I adore the cherry blossoms out the front.

There are daffodils around, and jonquils too.

While I'm hand-stitching the binding on the Vintage Modern quilt, I've finally made a start on the Marmalade quilt, Star Blossoms. Its slow progress; the blocks aren't hard, but they are time consuming due to the size of the pieces. Each one takes about an hour. The lack of pressing instructions is also a bit of a pain (and a pet hate of mine when it comes to patterns).

The block is essentially a star within a star, so if you can handle HSTs and flying geese it's not too difficult.

Quilting Weather

After such a gorgeous day yesterday, I woke this morning to the sound of pouring rain and thunder. Admittedly it was already 9am but that's what days off are for. Perfect weather for lazing around, and for quilting!

Once I got all of my little jobs out of the way this morning, I hauled Hopscotch into the sewing machine and got started.

I must have been dilusional when I decided to quilt lines that close together; it's going to take ages! I'm doing five lines at a time, then taking a little break to give my shoulders a rest, especially the one I injured a few years ago. 

But I'm loving how it looks! It will give the quilt quite a firm feel, so if you like a softer quilt I'd space the lines a bit further apart. Might be better for your sanity too...

Spring Garden

I love watching all the little things popping up in the garden at this time of year.

I especially love my rununculus.
  

  

And the lavender. The bees love it too.

My quince tree is flowering; there is nothing better than poached quinces over winter.

My berry canes are also flowering. You've got to be quick to beat the birds for these yummies!

Lots of new vegies planted too; I'm looking forward to eating several types of zucchini this year. Hopefully whatever critter ate my winter vegies will be gone by then....

And my Millie turned 12 on Sunday! She's definitely gone quite grey, but she is still a puppy at heart.

It's a Bit Like...

 ...this

 and these....

and a lot of this...

plus a little bit of these...

I thought I'd managed to make it through winter without getting sick, only to wake up on the very last day feeling like death. At least today's weather makes it worthwhile having a day off work.

If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is blackcat20.

Excited

Am I the only one counting down till the end of winter? For the record, there are only 18 days to go! I don't mind the cooler weather, but a month or so is more than enough for me. I love being inside listening to the rain on the tin roof, but hate being outside in it. I loathe spending the day in wet shoes because the work carpark has no gutters or drains; it turns into a river every time it pours.

But I love the little signs that spring is on its way. First the daffodils make their appearance.

Then the cherry blossoms start blooming, and I know for sure that winter really is almost gone. The only downside is that the rain and wind usually batter the blossoms pretty quickly.

Only a little bit of sewing going on here this weekend. I'm hoping to get back into markets next month, so I've started putting together a few bunnies...still faceless but getting there.



Maker's Market Wrap-Up

We had gorgeous weather for yesterday's Mulgrave Makers Market; a little cool to start with but the sun was soon out and shining. Now that it's Spring, the market has moved back outdoors and the crowds just poured in all day!

I was positioned in between two other regular stall holders which made for some great conversation throughout the day. I also picked up these gorgeous booties from Wendy of Little Tree Kids; all her stuff is upcycled and gorgeous!).

Funnily enough, I had two people enquire about doorstops yesterday. So I had a bit of a hunt around for ideas, and whipped one up in some decorator-weight fabric I had stashed away. Not bad if I may say so my self! I'll get a couple more done in time for the October market.

Spring has Sprung!

Between the jet lag and the chest infection, there's been no sewing going on at my place. Luckily I did all my market sewing before I went away. But, there are signs of spring everywhere and I'm loving it! It certainly makes it easier to come home from a very hot US summer.

The cherry blossoms; I'm so glad I didn't miss them.

Ranunculus.

Bottle brush.

Peas! They were only just flowering when I left, and now they are bowing down under the weight of plump pods. Pea and prosciutto pasta for dinner tomorrow!

Quince tree.

Even the chives are flowering.

First Signs of Spring

It might only be the start of the last month of winter, but those little signs of spring are starting to appear around the garden...


My blueberry shrub


Cherry blossom buds

Ranunculus


Grevillea

I'm quite pleased to see these little signs before I go away, as I love the start of Spring.

Procrastinating

I'm meant to be finishing off my last assignment for the semester, but the weather is so nice, you can't blame a girl for wanting to be outside. I've been pottering around in the garden, admiring the roses which have just started to bloom.

I've also been finding sneaky places to plant tomato seedlings; my vegie patch is chockers with onions and garlic still developing, gigantic silverbeet (chard) plants, and next years leeks (plus some very large herb plants).

Instead I've been rummaging around for spare pots, putting them whereever I can. I've got some in old black pots, a couple in our old recycling tub (that we used to put our bottles and cans out in), and even a few in the front garden by the chimney. All the pots were filled with soil from my compost, and I even found a few cheeky potatoes while I was digging around.

I've also put a shrubby pot tomato in a gorgeous blue pot that I scavenged during hard rubbish week; it had previously had some sort of weedy plant in it, and was full of soil and roots, but it cleaned up really well.

I've also been collecting vegies for dinner; a fresh leek perfect for a yummy risotto, and some fresh peas.