Di Mill

Tuesday Trackdown

5 things I'm loving out in blogland this week:

 

1. I would never have thought to use vintage thimbles as miniture pot plant containers!

 

image via At Home with Kim Valee

 

2. I am desperate to try out this cake....do you think I need to wait for a special occassion before I give it a go?  Go to this blog for the recipe.

 

image via fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody

 

3.  You know how much I love organisational tools....well how cute is this?

 

image via pinterest

 

4. Instead of throwing out a heap of paper shopping bags or mail envelopes, turn them into a gorgeous woven basket. Go to Design Sponge for more photos and instructions.

 

image via design sponge

 

5. I'm still a big fan of the red and white theme, so when I saw this sampler I just had to share it with you.

 

image via Romy in Austria

 

Take care....Di

 

Thursday Inspiration

 

 

image via tinywhitedaisies

 

Take care...Di

 

Morris Meadows

The beautiful Morris Meadows range of fabric has arrived into Australian Stores and the designs and colour palette are gorgeous. Michele Hill has designed this William Morris inspired range for In The Beginning Fabrics and it is proving to be very popular. I snapped some photos while I was at QuiltEssentials in Eatons Hill the other day:

 

 

Michele has also designed a lovely BOM that uses this range and Claudia has a sample of the quilt in the store

 

 

You can visit Michele's blog for lots of William Morris inspiration!

Take care...Di

Happy Valentine's Day

 

Although red is my favourite colour, when it comes to roses - I'm such a pink and creamy white girl! So I just adore these sweet spray roses that are from my valentine:

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Take care....Di

Thursday Inspiration

 

 

Take care...Di

 

It's been a bit wet!

It has been raining around here for days and finally we have a little break and some dry days. I'm not sure how long they will last but I did manage to get out and weed some of the garden. Don't you love weeding when the ground is wet, soft and sponging and the weeds pop out so easily? The garden looks so lush and green at the moment and there are raindrops everywhere!

 

 

 

Take care....Di

Tuesday Trackdown

5 things I'm loving out in Blogland this week:

 

1. The Charming Triangles Quilt on Red Pepper Quilts is very eye catching. Love the colours! Go to the blog for a quick tutorial.

 

image at Red Pepper Quilts

 

2. Very sweet hoop embroidery seen over at Por Amor

image via Por Amor

 

3.  How cute is this picnic basket? It's so feminine and romantic and perhaps a beautiful way to present a gift of vintage china and cups to a friend.

image via Por Amor

 

4. This is a great little tote to keep and cary your library books in. Pop over the Sew Mamma Sew for a free tutorial.

image from Sew Mamma Sew

 

5.  Love Love these flower coasters:

image via pinterest

 

Take care...Di

 

Better Gnomes and Gardens

In The Beginning fabrics have a new fabric range, designed by Heather DuPont, that is being released in March called "Better Gnomes and Gardens"! How cute is that name? The fabric is just as cute, full of sweet little gnomes and mushrooms, flowers and leaves. This fabric will make an adorable quilt and accessories for any baby that's about to be born or has just arrived.

There are 3 colour palettes - blue, pink and green. The panel is delightful and will make a quick and easy quilt without any piecing needed.

Green:

 

Pink:

 

Blue

Check to see if your local shop is getting this range in. Lloyd Curzon Textiles distributes In The Beginning Fabrics to Independent Patchwork Stores throughout Australia.

Take care...Di

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday browsing

While browsing around on the net today, I came across this beauitiful piece of art by Bluebirdie that I wanted to share with you. It's called Christmas Storybook and I just love the quilt on the bed...such beautiful colours....I always have a soft spot for dresden plate patterns.

 

image via deviantart

 

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.

Take care....Di

Tablescapes

We had a 30th birthday recently in my partners family and as I was in Sydney at the time, we hosted a small intimate family dinner. I wanted to decorate the table so that it looked special as you don't turn 30 every year.

I decided on a dark grey and white scheme. I don't know if this happens to you but I always find a picture of what I want but then can't buy anything close to it - very frustrating. So I had to improvise. Being in Sydney, on a tight budget and not able to find the fabric I wanted close by ...I resorted to making a runner by hand painting a design in white onto a dark grey cloth and using double sided tape to turn under the edges (no sewing machine available).

 

 

I added candles and fake crystals that I scattered over the table...

 

 

 

...and used beautiful white lisianthus flowers to add some softness.

 

 

 

 

I had just bought some vintage bottles in Tasmania a few days before so I used them as extra vases on the table.

 

 

The napkin holders were a bit trickier but I finally found some inexpensive bracelets that had jewels on them that were perfect. I snipped the elastic that held the bracelet together and reused the focal jewels by threading ribbon through them.

 

And then we come to the cake! I have to say - I don't have a great track record with making gourmet cakes, so I was a bit concerned. I decided to play it safe and stick with chocolate and strawberries:

 

 

I made two chocolate cakes and sandwiched them together with frosting. Then I covered the outside with frosting and added some piped chocolate squiggles and chocolate coated strawberries on top. It was delicious! I used this recipe for the chocolate cake and it has gone into my "best cake" recipe file - everything a chocolate cake should be: rich, moist and light.

 

No matter how often I decorate a table, I always learn something new:

• fabric paint doesn't always look good with one application - this one needed two.
• its always going to take longer to make something than you think!
• making chocolate squiggles by using baking paper made into a piping bag is NOT EASY, even though the you tube video says it is!
• pipe the squiggles onto a sheet of baking paper first and put into the fridge before putting them onto the cake...not like me who tried to pipe them straight onto the cake - not pretty!
• double sided tape does not always work
• chocolate cake and strawberries and very small children result in....mmmm...a mess!

 

 

Take care....Di