Merry Christmas 2018: Click the Card to Play!

Merry Christmas

Thank you for a wonderful year of creativity and support

I hope your Christmas involves good people, good food and good times. 

This year I'm a guest at my DDs table, so I'm feeling very grateful not to have any last minute food preparations. I've reached an age where I can just show up and enjoy the day (!!) Well, for this year at least. I'll keep you posted of my festive ooohs and aahhhs over on Instagram as I have no idea what she's planned and I'm taking this whole 'guest' role very seriously!

Lots of love, Esther

WOW: Last WIP Before Christmas!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Dare I even ask what you are working on, this last Wednesday before Christmas?

I'm not even going to pretend I'm being productive - I'm just doing whatever suits my mood.

Although I can tell you that I haven't even put my door wreath up yet!

To be perfectly honest, I'm all in a spin over my BOM, I think it's my best ever and I've been busy shopping online trying to hunt down the perfect fabric. Well, you know what I'm like - I'm shopping for fabric even though I haven't even committed to a colour scheme yet. Although I do think the French General is leading the charge, so to speak.

So I'll leave you with this virtual card that I got from a friend, I think it's apt for this time of year. I do most of my shopping online, but of course, there were a few things I had to pick up in person and when I went to the store I felt like I was in a time warp. I didn't recognize or notice how rude society has got whilst I've been at home shopping online. I was really saddened to see so much anger and hostility in 'general' over really silly stuff. Sure, I'm only human and I get irritated just like everyone else does. But it's a good time of year to remember that Kindness goes a long way and it's free to practice. 

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I hope you're not in a queue right now!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Getting Started With BOM 2019

I am so excited about the year ahead and can't wait for 2019 to get started. I know you have lots of questions and are eager to get started, so here's a visual step by step to getting started with the BOM 2019 program and a quick FAQ.

I will have multiple BOMs available in 2019. For the sake of clarity, BOM 2019 refers to Hold Onto Your Heart only. These files will be made available in accordance with a monthly schedule via a Members Only Download Area over on my website. This is also where paid members will download any extras and exclusives that I choose to release as part of the  Hold Onto Your Heart program.

The BOM 2018 program is now closed. The Members Only Download Area for BOM 2018 will be closing on December 31st 2018. If you signed up for BOM 2018 and have a login for that area, you will need a new login for BOM 2019 as the BOM 2018 area will be permanently closed soon.

BOM 2019: Hold Onto Your Heart will be released on the 15th of each month.
My upcoming free BOM for my Online Group will also be released on the 15th of each month.
The free BOM monthly files will be available in my Online Group in the 'files' area and via my blog each month.

All other paid BOMs that are available - including Coffee Cup BOMs, will be delivered directly via  email. You can start anytime, receiving Part 1 with your first payment and then subsequent installments each month onwards until the BOM is complete.

No matter what pattern you are making, you are most welcome and encouraged to join my Online Quilt Group where we meet up for friendship, encouragement and a mutual love of fabric!

For those of you who have signed up for BOM 2019, thank you! Here's what to do next:

Go to my website and select the Block of the Month 2019 TAB as shown below.

On this page, you can read all about 

Hold Onto Your Heart and purchase the BOM 2019 program

Once you have paid, its time to sign up for the Members Only Download Area 

Click on BOM 2019 LOGIN HERE

Which brings you to this login page

Remember, only follow this step AFTER you have paid

Once you have signed up, please wait.

I personally approve members daily.

Once approved, you'll receive an email letting you know.

Then, you can access the Members Only Download Area any time it suits you.

Remember, the BOM starts Jan 15th 2019 however I will be adding the fabric requirements later this week. 

Polka Dots Are Never Wrong

I've taken my love for polka dots up a notch and applied it to Hold Onto Your Heart

and I think the results prove the point that

polka dots are never wrong

and I can't wait to start this BOM adventure and see for myself 

what colour ways all of YOU opt for?! 

Hold Onto Your Heart

The Finished Size is 87 x 87 inches for the full floral border. And if you opt for the alternative pieced border, the Finished Size will be 85 x 85 inches. 

This is a 12 month BOM running from January 15th to December 15th 2019.

This BOM consists of a PDF pattern file released each month. You are purchasing the pattern. There are no fabrics or kits available. 

You will access the pattern installment parts via a dedicated BOM 2019 Members Only Download Area over on my website. 

After you have paid, you will need to sign up to this Members Only Download Area in order to access the pattern once the BOM starts. After that time, you will be able to access the Area whenever it suits you and new files will be ready and waiting for you to download 24 hours a day in accordance to the release schedule. 

Whilst you will be accessing the pattern parts via an exclusive members only download area on my website, I hope that you'll head on over to my online BOM Group (on Facebook) where you can share progress pics of your work and generally join our friendly quilting hub. Everyone on there is making one of my patterns and we'd all love to see how you're getting on!

  Early Bird Discount  

BOM 2019: Hold Onto Your Heart 

Complete Single Payment
$83.00 USD

Hold Onto Your Heart: Dotty Purple Colourway

Applique lovers, your new quilt project has arrived! 'Hold Onto Your Heart' is my BOM for 2019 and is full of splendid details. If you love exquisite applique, sign up today and snap up the Early Bird Special.

This dotty purple version makes my heart go boom!

Don't you just want to wander around these scenes? 
I love the atmosphere this centre evokes.

These colours just... well, bloom!

Like It? Make it!

The Finished Size is 87 x 87 inches for the full floral border. And if you opt for the alternative pieced border, the Finished Size will be 85 x 85 inches. 

This is a 12 month BOM running from January 15th to December 15th 2019.

This BOM consists of a PDF pattern file released each month. You are purchasing the pattern. There are no fabrics or kits available. 

You will access the pattern installment parts via a dedicated BOM 2019 Members Only Download Area over on my website. 

After you have paid, you will need to sign up to this Members Only Download Area in order to access the pattern once the BOM starts. After that time, you will be able to access the Area whenever it suits you and new files will be ready and waiting for you to download 24 hours a day in accordance to the release schedule. 

Whilst you will be accessing the pattern parts via an exclusive members only download area on my website, I hope that you'll head on over to my online BOM Group (on Facebook) where you can share progress pics of your work and generally join our friendly quilting hub. Everyone on there is making one of my patterns and we'd all love to see how you're getting on!

  Early Bird Discount  

BOM 2019: Hold Onto Your Heart 

Complete Single Payment
$83.00 USD

BOM 2019 is Launched: Hold Onto Your Heart!

Every now and then I design a quilt that seems to take on a life of it's own. This is one such quilt. I'm head over heels happy to announce that it's my paid BOM for 2019. I think it's a splendid quilt and I love every bit of it. I hope you'll love it too. Applique lovers, this is a journey for your creativity to soar through. Get ready for 12 months of paced installments that will accomplish a masterpiece worthy of all your delight and pleasure. 

Let's take a good look at what this design has to offer. 

'Hold Onto Your Heart' is a sentimental quilt: it's full of evocative motifs that represent all those values I hold dear to my heart; love, abundance, perseverance, sanctuary and journey. This is a meaningful quilt, a work of your own hands and passion. 

The middle section consists of detailed applique scenes before the eye reaches outward and rests in the calm borders. I love these strong calm edges. And the details? such details! This is a quilt that will jump for joy at any extra love and attention you invest in it: fussy cutting, broderie perse, stitchery, embroidery, perhaps a few beaded embellishments here and there.. 

This is one quilt that can take as much fussiness as you want! In the pattern there are exquisite extra details that you can't see here -for instance, thorns on the vine (which aren't added to these images yet). 

Lavish all your detailed attention on each little scene and make it as personal as you wish. It is after all a masterpiece of your own making. And I'm still just talking about the centre, there's even more pleasure to come!

At first glance, the design creates an impression of a life map (..or perhaps a treasure map?) before searching for and finding all those wonderful details that make this quilt so special. 

The floral border is a triumph; full of rose heads tumbling through the vines and spilling over into the previous border. Are you imagining your favourite fabrics at work in this design yet? 

You know I can't resist a rose garden or baskets full of blooms, but for anyone not interested in the blooming rose border, there is also an alternative pieced border option included in the pattern that has been designed to zig zag any gorgeous fabrics you may want to use instead. And the alternative border option is not some afterthought - it's been perfectly designed to allow you to compliment the centre with enough visual room to allow you to showcase beautiful fabric prints. 

See what I mean?

Ok, let's talk details!

The Finished Size is 87 x 87 inches for the full floral border. And if you opt for the alternative pieced border, the Finished Size will be 85 x 85 inches. 

This is a 12 month BOM running from January 15th to December 15th 2019.

This BOM consists of a PDF pattern file released each month. You are purchasing the pattern. There are no fabrics or kits available. 

You will access the pattern installment parts via a dedicated BOM 2019 Members Only Download Area over on my website. 

After you have paid, you will need to sign up to this Members Only Download Area in order to access the pattern once the BOM starts. After that time, you will be able to access the Area whenever it suits you and new files will be ready and waiting for you to download 24 hours a day in accordance to the release schedule. 

Whilst you will be accessing the pattern parts via an exclusive members only download area on my website, I hope that you'll head on over to my online BOM Group (on Facebook) where you can share progress pics of your work and generally join our friendly quilting hub. Everyone on there is making one of my patterns and we'd all love to see how you're getting on!

  Early Bird Discount  

BOM 2019: Hold Onto Your Heart 

Complete Single Payment
$83.00 USD

WOW: Getting Ready to Reveal

Sunday Update: Hi Friends! I was planning to launch my BOM 2019 this weekend but my family had other plans - I've been 'treated' to a long weekend away with my daughters and I have no access to my emails or the normal stuff that has become a part of my daily routine so please forgive me for not replying to emails or launching :)

WOW = WIPs On Wednesday

I've designed a quilt so special that I've been wondering whether or not to release it! Crazy, huh? You see, I have a folio full of designs waiting to see the light of day that are each as fabulous and unique as the next. And then, I have an extra special sketchbook devoted to those designs that are just..something so much more. They take on a life of their own. They call you in. They are beautiful. They are then. They are now. They are uniquely their own. They demand to be plucked from the design stash and brought onto the design table. And you know what? I can't resist.

BOM 2019 will be revealed this weekend. 

See you then! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspirational Greens

It's been unseasonably cool in my part of the world. Usually December is hot and the air conditioner is already blowing a cool breeze indoors by 8am. But this year the cool spell has lasted longer than I can remember. I had the heating (!!) on over the weekend and there's been rain too. It feels like a European spring to me which is not helpful -I'm somehow always seasonally confused. I'm hardwired to 'experience' December as a winter event and always get taken by surprise when true summer shows up, no matter how long I live in a hot, dry climate. However, despite all that, today's inspiration is characteristically Australian. Look at these glorious birds!

They're called Rainbow Lorikeets, although I wrongly called them Rosellas for years until someone corrected me. The Rosella is also very brightly coloured native bird but they have different markings. They're here everyday. I've been unable to photograph them until now because of the strong glare in the mornings which have made all my pics so far look like this one below. There's probably a lens or camera setting to deal with this kind of thing, but I'm too lazy to find out what it is.  

Luckily for me, it's been so gloomy and overcast in the mornings this past week that the pics suddenly started looking worthwhile again and I snapped these. Boy, can they chirp! They're a noisy bunch. There's a whole flock of them that fly overhead at around 7am, but only 2 of them come down together into my backyard. I think the rest must try their luck in different gardens, so I wonder why this couple keep trying out mine. They hate this tree! They always nibble at the fruit and then spit it out and stomp around a bit in disgust! The next day, they try again. I'm wondering when they're going to give up..

Nature is a huge inspiration for me. I can sit and just observe a plant or animal for hours, enjoying every little detail. These birds are a riot of colour. I am constantly re-amazed by how vivid they appear in real life. And it still marvels me that something so natural is so brightly coloured. 

 I have no idea what this fruit is, it's completely inedible. It has no taste whatsoever - neither bitter or sweet, which is odd as I did think it was some kind of ornamental tree but wasn't able to narrow it down. I keep it around for the bird play and leaves, the texture on these leaves is stunning.

I'm actually thinking of creating an 'orange room' in my garden from heirloom flowering plants that bloom in everything from pale apricot hues to vivid red orange shades. Looking at these pics, I think it's about time I got that sorted. I feel like it's time to create a whole new inspiration cycle in the garden.

WOW: November Down!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

OK, so November has taken me by surprise even though I tell myself each year that this whirlwind of a month won't pass me by so unexpectedly again. 

 I'm taking charge today. It's time for me to organize my projects.  

Today I'm working to finish my LE angels before I clear my desk for the launch of BOM 2019.

And WOW is all I can say.

I wonder what you'll say?! 

I'll know in the coming days.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

WOW: Love Entwined Border Progress

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

There's been so much 'Love Entwined' activity making the rounds lately, especially on Facebook. Seeing so many completed masterpieces has put me in the right mood to return to my own. It has been 5 years after all. I know! I just said 5 years. Let that sink in! Time surely flies when you're designing quilts.

These little leaves are perhaps the hardest applique motif on the quilt, so I'm pleased to have them all done. I've done some embroidery stitches on the centre basket too. Oooh just looking over this beauty fills me up with all those ideas of intrigue and mystery all over again.

I'm playing around with the idea of some pretty fussy cutting for my border flowers and here I am,  turning their little edges.

This is the fabric I'm harvesting for the very purpose

Aren't these lovely? I'm determined to have my border completed this week and the way I'm progressing, I really might just manage it. 

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Queen's Garden by Michele Stastny

Queen's Garden by Michele Stastny

of Yorktown TX

Well, what do we have here?! Michele Stastny has created my Queen's Garden pattern .. with a twist! Here are two cushions and a bed throw, all taken from the design and made into practical and beautiful pieces. I LOVE this idea! And as you can see, the classic pink and green colouring is drop stitch gorgeous. I love every inch of this new project, stunning!

'Queen's Garden' 

Read more about this quilt by clicking here now

--------------------------- Open Quilt Gallery--------------------------- 

Thanks to Michele Stastny for sharing her finished quilt with us all to take inspiration from. If you'd like to see more finished quilts made from any of my patterns, visit my Open Gallery. It's a place for all quilters who make any of my quilts to show off their creations in a central online gallery. It's new and I hope you'll join us by adding your own quilt there. Submitting your quilt pics is easily done via an upload screen directly on my website. Click here now if you'd like to submit your own quilt.

Lily Roser's this is YOUR post!

WOW! November, what is going on? Just last week, 'Red Delicious' enjoyed a revival with a group of lovely ladies deciding to use it as their sew along pattern. Then this weekend, the love has turned to 'Lily Rose'! I feel like every time I check my email, there's a new request or notification for a group sew along, talk about busy! Just when I thought it was time to wind down for the year, a new buzz of activity has started up - a whole new group of quilting newbies are getting together to make Lily Rose in person and they're starting in December.

I mean, what a way to start an adventure. They've selected Lily Rose because they all love it (obviously) but have also told me that my blog posts about each step of the making process won them over - they love the idea of being able to check back on how I created my own stunner. I also think the manageable size must have played a part too. Honestly, I think Lily Rose is a fabulous group project and I am already in anticipation for the beauties that will come from this latest group quilt along. This gathering of ladies are on a tight budget and kindly asked me to help them start this 'Lily Rose' caravan.. and HOW COULD I REFUSE?

So yep, it's unbelievable but I'm about to do it all over again. To encourage absolutely everyone who wants to get involved in this project, I'm offering the pattern for the heavily reduced price of $4.80 USD. Yes, really. But only for 48 hours. I don't want anyone to miss out because of financial reasons.

And, with the Lily Roses shaping up in the real world, I've decided to offer this same low price to my online community too, in the hopes of jump starting Lily Rose here as well.
I mean, why not? The more the merrier, right? I mean, how long is your WIP list? Go ahead and add a floral wall hanging to mix. Why not, huh?

Honestly I'm just laughing as I type this because I'm overjoyed at all the love my patterns are getting. I'm grateful that my designs interest people. I'm thinking 2019 will see a lot of my quilts popping up everywhere. And what's not great about that??

Ok, Lily Rose let's do this!

Lily Rose

Complete Digital Pattern for 48 hours ONLY

$19.95 USD

An InLinkz Link-up

What you need to know:
Payment is securely completed via PayPal

You don't need a PayPal account to pay as PayPal also securely processes Credit Card payments
Pattern downloads are INSTANT and followed up with a live link to your email inbox
Check your email for the follow up email (and check your spam / junk folders if you can't see it)
The pattern will download to your computer directly
You REQUIRE an UPDATED PDF Reader in order to open and print the PDF Pattern

Note:When you receive your download, be sure to SAVE it to your computer.
If you print it directly from the browser download screen, it will not be backed up to your computer. 

Click here to read my tutorial on printing my PDF patterns at home