How cute is this fabric!!

It's from a new range by Australian designer Amanda Brandl called Marsupials and Monotremes. 

And today is my spot on the Marsupials and Monotremes Blog Tour.

I've admired Amanda's pretty fabrics over the years for the way she features Australian flora and fauna in fun fresh colours, and this range is particularly cute. I love the inclusion of oranges and the shades of blues. 


Sweet wombats and cute nosy echidnas wandering through pretty flowers.

Rachaeldaisy Barbie jumped into this photo to help you see the scale of the prints. 

Platypuses are a bit like a beaver with a duck bill. 

It's always interesting to see how different colours can change the look of a print.

There are those cute echidnas again. 

Echidnas really are the funniest little creatures. Here are some photos of one that lives at the bottom of our garden. They have spines like a porcupine and a cute pointed snout that is handy for reaching tasty bugs in tricky places.


Other fabrics in the range are inspired by Australian flowers.

Beautiful grevilleas look as though they are blowing in the wind. 


When Amanda asked me to join the blog hop she suggested I make some of my folded fabric blocks, and while I agree that they would have looked fabulous ( a project for another day), I decided such cute happy fabrics deserved to be a cute happy quilt. 

So perfect for my Charming Smiles pattern.

It suited the scale of the prints and I really enjoyed making a version that utilised the light and dark fabrics in the range.

I didn't especially fussy cut the fabrics. I didn't need to..

...everywhere you look, there are cute little marsupials and monotremes wandering here and there.

Time has really raced away from me over the last couple of months and I only got to the flimsy stage of the quilt, but one day I plan to piece lots of squares of the darker colours together to make a fun patchwork backing. 


It doesn't need to be a finished quilt to have a glamour photo shoot. 



I like the way the fun mix of lighter fabrics result in a summery fresh look. 



How scrumptious is a rumpled, swished flimsy. 

A special thanks to my friend Leonie for helping me cut squares and sew lots of curvy ric-rac. 

It was a rather hot summers day and we sewed like busy bilbys while her son Jack kept us entertained with a great sound track of music that had us all singing at times. 

The blog hop has been going for a couple of weeks now but it's really worth going back and visiting the other participants blogs. Everyones projects are amazing! It's so inspiring to see how Marsupials and Monotremes can be used in so many different ways. 

To see the full blog tour schedule for this Australian animal fabric collection, and to find a stockist please go to Kennard & Kennard or visit amandabrandl.com.au.

If you'd like to make your own version of Charming Smiles you can find the pattern in my Etsy store - Rachaeldaisy Designs or at any of the super wonderful quilt shops who stock my patterns. 


And because my blog posts always have a few random photos... 

A friendly cockatoo

I'd never seen this flower before. It's known as a Dutchman's Pipe vine after the odd shaped buds.

It's really quite mesmerising!
Treasures from the sea. 

I wonder what the world record is for the largest cherry? The cherries have been exceptional this year. I'm addicted!

May there be lots of happy big cherry moments in your days, until next time.