The Great Batting Shortage

Ok, so maybe not "great", but it certainly was harder to get my hands on my favourite batting this week! I've had one of those months where all the bills due are way more than my income, so I'd been putting off quilting Jelly Girl. I finally had a spare bit of cash, and everyone was sold out!

In the mean time, I stitched together a few offcuts from my last two quilts (4OT and Falling Star), and quilted Picnic. It's turned out really well!

I also dug into my stash and started on "Sassafras", a Thimble Blossoms pattern using Cotton Blossoms. I love this fabric so it'll be nice to have a second quilt from it.

Don't you just love unwrapping a new jelly roll? Bella certainly does!

I did finally manage to get my hands on some batting; not my usual (wool/polyester blend), but one I'm told is just as good, but gives a better "drape". Works for me. Now to baste it and get started!

Giveaway Winner

The winner of my 100th post giveaway is....Bea!

Please email me your address and I'll get your goodies in the post asap!

BOM3 and Raspberry White Choc Muffins

Block 3 of the FQS Mystery BOM was nice enough to arrive today on my day off, and I've already got the block together. I spent all morning de-ivy-ing the garden, so I figured some theraputic sewing was a good reward for all the hard work.

This one looked quite complicated, but was actually quite simple to put together, and it looks pretty good.

I also made some divine Raspberry and White Chocolate muffins, with the following recipe:

In one bowl, put 2 cups plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 3/4 caster sugar.

In a second bowl, put 1 cup sour cream, 2 eggs and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. Whisk together.

Stir liquids through flour/sugar until just combined.

Then add 1 1/4 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen) and 3/4 cups chopped white chocolate.

Stir very briefly to prevent toughening of muffins.

Divide into 12 1/2 cup muffin tins, and bake at 180C until cooked. The recipe says 12 min but I found 20 worked for me.

100 Posts and a Giveaway!

To celebrate 100 posts, I'm having a little giveaway! I'm absolutely hopeless at using scraps created from my various projects, so I'm giving away a little "scrap bag".

In the bundle you will find some Blossom charm squares left over from "Picnic" as well as a few 2 inch HSTs, and some larger strips from the backing. There is also a small piece each of a Cotton Blossoms print, the butterfly print from Wonderland and pink Starling fabric. There are also some jelly roll-esque strips from Oh-Cherry-Oh. The strips are 20 inches long by 4 inches wide. Lastly, there are 40 jelly roll offcuts of Winter; each is about 3 inches long. All tied in a Moda ribbon of course! Its also entirely possible that I'll include some chocolate with the package.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment by Sunday 5pm (Melbourne time). Thanks for being with me over the last 100 posts, and I hope you'll stick with me for the next 100!

Picnic Time

The Picnic quilt top is all put together; it's only little so it'll be good just to hang on the back of the couch for those times when your feet get a little chilly. And yes, its sunny here in Melbourne today.

Finally got my camera to play nice; these are nectarine blossoms:

The chaos that is my vegie patch; herbs across the front and right sides. Cauliflower and carrots back left, silverbeet and spinach in the middle (plus one huge bok choy plant), broad beans across the back, broccoli hiding behind the rosemary bush. Snow peas climbing up the back fence. I've planted some seeds today for spring planting...where they will go is a mystery at the moment.

And this is what happens when you leave your potato crop in the cupboard...back into the garden they go!

And...this is post 99, which means the next one is the big 100! It's also a year this month since I started the blog...time sure does fly!

Hints of Spring

Firstly, apologies for the delay between posts. I meant to post earlier in the week, but I've had camera troubles. You see, I wanted to post lots of pretty pictures of all the blossoms that are just starting to appear; the first hints of spring. But the macro function wasn't coming to the party, so no pretty pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it that all the cherry blossoms look amazing.

I did however get a nice pic of my broad beans; check out all those flowers! By the time I'm finished with the two crops, I'm probably never going to want to see another broad bean again...

Not a lot of sewing over the last week or so; I've been piecing basket blocks for ""Picnic", a Miss Rosie pattern.

And I did finish Catch a Falling Star a few weeks back, but its so big that to take a good photo I need to spread it out on the front lawn. Winter isn't so conducive to that, so this will have to do (and as usual, there is an animal in the photo!)

And I got myself a new toy! Absolutely love it, but having issues getting a screen protector on without lint under it... (er, yes, that is just the box...)