David is the Star of Block Five!

Hello lovely quilters, Block 5 of the sew-along has been uploaded.
You can download it here.

This week's block is Dave the Scrub Turkey, it can also be a chicken. It's a bit of an Aussie tradition to have chook shed in the backyard. I'd love to have chickens in the garden but we have far too many snakes for my comfort. Instead we have David and his barmy army.

Scrub (or bush) turkeys are very destructive and have very powerful legs. When it comes to garden damage, think of a deer and a gopher combined. One is bad enough, one will completely destroy everything, including established trees. We currently have NINE turkeys living in our garden and I'm just about at wits end with them. They've dug up everything including a wattle tree (mimosa) and my lemon tree. 

I've been playing around with Gail Pan's new Friendship Garden quilt collection. I've always wanted to make a flower basket quilt and this fabric is perfect. I've added some basics to add extra colour and I'm loving how the blocks are coming together.

I've also been putting together the background panel for the model quilt. I will write the pattern, but I have to finish the quilt first! I know it's been slow going but I have been so busy.

The 'Flat Cat Boogie' quilt pattern has been uploaded to the shop. The pattern includes the instructions for three different sized quilts. You can purchase it here.

My (fabric) version of the 'Flights of Fancy' quilt pattern has come back from being quilted. Julie did a brilliant job as usual. I'll take a photo when it stops raining. The quilt pattern will be available soon.

I was going to implement a rewards programme this year and I wanted to give you an update. Unfortunately the apps that allow websites to run these programmes are very expensive and out of my price range. Back to the drawing board...

I've also been thinking about starting a 'block and border club' for a small subscription price. More on that later, I need to work out the logistics of it all. I think it's could be a great alternative to purchasing patterns though - you would be able to download applique blocks in, say, two different sizes, plus have access a variety of borders to fit. What do you think? 

I've been getting a lot of emails lately asking me why a pattern isn't finished or hasn't been uploaded to the site and I wanted to address that. First up, I feel terrible that I'm not getting the quilts finished or the patterns written. I constantly feel I'm letting people down.

I'm a one woman show - I have no employees or interns. It's just me, two elderly cats, and my much loved, rarely empty, tea pot. Not only do I run the corner store, I have to make all the products in it. 

My biggest nightmare has been having to re-format my patterns for print shops (they keep shutting down). That's happened three times in five years. Now Microsoft is retiring the programme I use to write my patterns, so I have to start all over again. That's 200 patterns, reformatted, printed, and proofed x four. I feel like I'm in a hellish word processing ground hog day! 

Enjoy David's block. Please share the link to the sew-along, it's almost impossible getting seen on social media these days. Thanks, love to y'all, toni xx