Saffrons Blog

The Blossom Patch is here. As we only want the best we had to wait for the fabric to be reprinted and it was worth it—it's terrific. This the 5th design in the Bird Tree range. Purple flowers on a green oasis background.

Buy it here for $28.00/m.


We have also added it to the Bird Tree 50cm fabric bundle and Bird Tree 1m fabric bundle. Happy shopping.



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We have enjoyed the last five days in the Snowy Mountains. We drove for 7 hours through the wonderful Australian countryside to Kosciuszko National Park and headed up in the ski-tube to a white wonderland of fresh snow. We stayed in a lodge which I have been staying in since I was 5. This year the lodge celebrated its 50th birthday. As my Grandmothers' brother  helped to build the lodge we are one of the few families who continue to come. I enjoyed introducing Sequoia as the 4th generation. It was sort of a replay for me as I have such clear memories of learning to ski and being in the lodge over my life, such as jumping out the window as she has done above. We celebrated the birthday with cocktails and excellent food on a big table, chatting and reminiscing about its history, the huge wood fire crackling and snow gentle falling around us.



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I am still someone in a daze over the birth of my sister's baby. My head has been all fluffy and with a feeling of Spring in the air I feel quite light hearted.

It has been a challenge to find furniture we like for my daughters bedroom; too many hours spent shopping. To define my own interior design style is difficult, it's really eclectic. I like an old wooden box from Australian hard wood mixed with painted timbers, soft tactile objects, tin and anything handmade. Modern and vintage Australian bush furniture gets me excited. I think people who fill their homes with furniture they love are either really lucky or very diligent, or tuned into the universe which is how we found our Parker chairs and discovered our hand made dining table.

For my daughter's bedroom we talked about buying untreated plantation pine furniture and put our own spin on it. We bought the furniture and painted the bookshelves, stool and chair grey and pink to work with the new Bird Tree range. Thanks Patrick for all the painting, I have never seen our daughter happier helping and getting covered in pink paint!

I added the patterns using the Bird Spot fabric by covering the stool. While on the chair I sewed a cushion with the Bird Tree fabric. They took a bit of time and effort from us but as we look at them every day they are worth the effort.

Finally I added some curtains from the Tree Garden fabric to tie it all together.




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Special moments, today my sister gave birth to a daughter.

Tonight my daughter asked me if I could go to sleep with her. I tucked my arm beneath her head and she moved as close to me as she could. Her 5 year old brain is full of questions and I try to answer them until she let herself drift off to sleep, I felt her body relax and her breathing changed into a lovely soft rhythm. I shed a tear of joy reflecting on the day's events.

My sister had her baby girl this morning, 10 days early. I have spent all day thinking about the new life in our family. My sister’s birth was remarkable; the baby was born in her home in a birthing pool, only one midwife and her husband there to help and reassure. The baby weighs 4.5kgs, she worked hard for it. I am proud beyond words. I would have been there but my sister lives in Margaret River, a long flight and drive away.

I thought of my sister and the amazing human being she is and this is what I love about her.

1.   That she has so many friends.
2.   That she has so much energy and still finds time to bring in her neighbour’s bins.
3.   That she loves the ocean more than anything and shares that with me.
4.   That she has so much patience for everything in her life, her son and family.
5.   That she left school to become a successful professional snowboarder and surfer.
6.   That even when faced with near death she found the power and courage to survive.
7.   That she has the motivation to push others to do their best.
8.   That she knows how to laugh. It oozes from her.
9.   That she makes me cry more than anyone else in the world.
10.   That she knows no obstacles ever. Nothing will stop her (at age 8 she could carry the water buckets to feed the horses when no one else could. Except dad who was at work).

So Dear sister, big congratulations for the birth of your daughter, I am so pleased for you.



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For my daughter's pre-school fundraiser this year I painted and "collaged" a canvas for each of the 4 groups. The teachers of each group created a drawing exercise with the children who in turn created these wonderful colorful texta drawings, which filled me with much joy.

All the drawings were carefully cut out hoping to keep the childlike nature of the drawings, such as the wavy lines. I then glued them to a painted canvas based around the colours of the drawings. I also added some beautiful patterned papers from Pulp, a creative paper shop up the road. I had a ball covering my studio with bits of paper and paint.

This first canvas has a lot of lovely family orientated drawings combined with fish. The children in this class are around 3-4 years old. I love the drawing of the two yellow turtles holding hands. Such wonderful relationships in this class I feel.



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It has been a while since I left Sydney, I am a girl who loves the open spaces of the country and being on the road for a drive. So I went up the coast to meet up with fellow quilters Kate Conklin and Rebecca Johnson both of who write blogs that I love to read. They also both design quilts and successfully sell their patterns nationally and internationally. Thanks for having me girls. It was a fun show and tell. Kate’s wheels got spinning when she saw the new Bird Tree range. I am so looking forward to her ideas for this fabric range as she's done amazing things with the Fairies and the Forest Elementals.
 
As we were leaving we started to talk about having a retreat where we actually get some time to sew and maybe even make a quilt! I think a night away would be great. Coincidentally on the fat quarterly blog I read this article on how to host a retreat. Maybe we will start small and build up.
 
Other some other interesting things that have happened this week:

My first work experience request, which I had to decline, mainly because my studio is a tad tiny.
Made a few cushions with my new fabrics.
I caught a cold and developed a very sore throat.
My daughter was an angel. Only mildly covered herself in texta tattoos.
Patrick had to cook for 10 days straight, do the school run and all my work as well as his own.
Got to read a book and watch a movie in bed. Pretty much everyday.
Discovered tinned peaches do not hurt my throat.
I was fast asleep by 8pm every night. I woke up at 8am, not the usual 6.
When tree branches hit electricity wires from strong winds they spark  in the dark night sky and fly so very far.



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Thanks everyone for entering such lovely comments, I'm very humbled and so happy you all like the new range. The winner of the give-away of the Bird Tree fat quarter bundle is Rachel Koopmans as chosen by the random number generator.

Congrats Rachel, hope you'll send us a picture with the finished project.



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