Hello, Hello! I'm here with one of my surprise, out of the blue blog posts. 

I actually sat down to write about a recent trip to the top end of Australia but found this half written blog post waiting for me to press send, so I'll do that, and then start writing my next post straight away. 

I've been having great fun teaching workshops at Hobby Sew Kings Park and Top Ryde. The workrooms are huge and the shops are jam packed with colourful inspiration and shelves of wonderful fabric. The workshops we've had so far are 1 day classes with a focus on a technique or a quilt. So far we've had a couple of 'Tickety-Boo' workshops. 

For those of you who don't know, 'Tickety-Boo' is my newest Ric-Rac quilt with ways of making sewing curves a breeze, I also share ways of sewing the blocks without Ric-Rac as well, I always like to give quilters different ways of doing things. Here are a few of the wonderful fabric combinations from our clever class participants.




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Meanwhile on another weekend in another part of the country. I also taught 'Tickety-Boo' as part of my 'Ric Rac Adventures' weekend at Berry Quilt and Co, along with extra days of 'Groove In the Heart' and 'Bubbles'.  

I took this photo of the shop one morning. It was lovely to see it framed with autumn trees and it shows that the shop is painted the prettiest shade of pink, like strawberry ice-cream.








Even the piles of scraps were pretty!




Time spent with Sharon ( pictured hanging the bunting, and that's Charlotte with the chairs) and the team at Berry Quilt and Co is always a treat. If I had to pick 3 words to describe the shop I'd say it is - welcoming, friendly and inspiring.

Some super fun happy dancing fabric that I found at Berry Quilt and Co. 


Then zipping back to the Blue Mountains, to Patchwork Plus where our monthly class keeps everyone busy with different projects from Yoyos to RicRac quilts to Whizz Bang blocks.

Kerrie is well on the way to having a quilt made with these fabulous blocks!!




Marie made a sun with her block.


At Sew Can I on Whizz Bang Sundays we have lots of Big Happy Daisys popping up!! 
Jenny's Big Daisy is a wonderful mix of vintage and new fabrics. 



I really love it when people share their beautiful quilts made from my patterns. Here are a few fabulous versions of Groove Is In The Heart.

Raelene Munting made an interesting twist to the pattern by reversing every second row. I love how this version lead your eyes up and down the quilt following the points of the hearts. 

Janice Bartlett of the Woolongong Quilters has made pretty much all of my quilts, and several of her favourites. She combined my RicRac quilts with Groove is In The Heart to come up with this beauty! It has been long arm quilted by Pamela Rouse in a wonderful swirly happy design that suits the quilt perfectly. 

I've made a special listing in my Etsy Store for both the "Groove Is In The Heart" and "Tickety-Boo" patterns in case anyone would like to make a a Hearty Ric Rac quilt like this.. 


A few Upcoming Workshops..
I'm travelling here and there and everywhere around Australia, mostly NSW, SA and Victoria. To find out where I'll be visit my calendar page,  however here are a few that you might like to consider. 

*This weekend!! - There's still time to join in! *
PINE STAR workshop at Hobby Sew Kings Park, 27th June 
Time 10-2.30pm. This is a great intro to the folded fabric blocks. 
For more details or to book,
Book Via Eventbrite here 

AQC, ( Australiasian Quilt Convention)  Melbourne- I'm very excited to be returning to AQC this year!! 4 fabulous days of sewing fun at the beautiful heritage listed Exhibition Building in Carlton. I'll be teaching a 2 day Whizz Bang workshop , the very popular Tickety-Boo ( 1 day) and a super new fun cushion/pillow (1 day), visit the website to see photos of it on the website here.

https://aqc.com.au/aqc-class-timetable-2021/


Now, I know many of you can't make it to my classes but there are patterns for all of these quilts in my Etsy Store here.  
Plus I have virtual workshops planned from September onwards, so stay tuned for those. 

If you visit my Etsy store you'll also find greeting cards with photos of my quilts. I had some printed for my art exhibition and they flew out the door. There are more than 25 designs so I'm listing them as random picks. At this stage it would take me forever to list them separately plus a random mix makes it a fun surprise! 

Each card includes a hand cut fabric heart, so you know each card is packed with a piece of fabric love.

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You know I like to share flower photos with you all. 

These flowers are very rare Pink Flannel Flowers. They only flower under the rare conditions of bushfire followed by heavy rain. A beautiful gift from nature after the destruction of the 2019/20 bushfires. 
I took a zillion photos and I could pick just a few favourites so I'm sharing a million here. If it's too many just scroll through them, you can pretend you are a butterfly flying through the flowers. 
Or take your time and notice all of the beautiful details these flowers and the landscape has to offer. 




The flowers are quite small, about an inch in diameter but they were flowering in big clumps so they created a fuffly pink sea of blooms, especially striking with the sculptural twisted burnt trees.















No matter how many times you see these views from the mountains they are always breathtaking.



























A rare sighting of Mr Daisy...



Last but not least, a cheeky cockatoo wanted to say hello to you all. 

For those of you who signed up to receive my blog posts as emails I'm using a new platform so they may look a bit different. Hopefully it all works and you receive them.. fingers crossed. 
And to all of you who read my blog, thank you! Wishing you happy days and happy hearts until I'm back with my next post.