I'm just back from a lovely holiday on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.  The Gold Coast is an hour south of Brisbane, and the Sunshine Coast is an hour north of Brisbane.

As soon as friends knew I was in Noosa they all told me to go to Sand Salt Sew so of course I had to! I love a quilt shop that knows their target market.  My husband and son and agreed to allow me 30 mins max to visit the quilt shop and a dress shop while they waited in the car.  There was no time ...

As of today, we have closed the door to a chapter in our lives and we’re looking forward to the future. Our time in Australia has come to an end, but we’ll look back with love for the kangaroos, fondness for brilliantly-colored sunsets, some challenges, and bittersweet memories mixed in. 

Now it’s time to focus on the next chapter. 

The home we purchased in Australia was settled and sold today to a wonderful gentleman who has promised he’ll care for the Roos as we did. In fact, just this afternoon he sent us this sweet photo ...

The waning hours of 2022 are upon us. Less than 24 hours to go until a new year will be ushered in to greet us all. 

Sweet Fuzzy Wuzzy, napping on the cool patio during very warm days.

Roo food, apples, and water were always on hand at Chez Einmo.

This year, perhaps more than most, I’m glad to see the end of 2022 and I’m looking forward with great expectation to everything 2023 will bring. Don’t misunderstand; there were some exciting things which happened in 2022. I think of friends we met along the way, the ...

You may have noticed I haven’t been posting much on social media in the past couple of weeks, except for a few shared items (forwards) from other pages, and information about my latest DONE BEFORE DINNER PROJECT. (Be sure not to miss this one, we had lots of fun filming in the studio and this recycled grocery tote is cute and really useful!)  

CLICK HERE

Some folks noticed my absence and I was tickled to receive notes and emails from those who told me they missed seeing the Roo videos. The truth is, Mr. Kim and I went on ...

Hello, everyone!

Thought I would pop in here to share an update about a couple of fun things I currently have in the works. 

First, remember those Shoo Fly blocks I requested when we found out we were moving to Australia? I want to sincerely THANK YOU everyone who so generously sent in a block (or blocks!) Many of you also wrote beautiful handwritten notes, or sent small gifts (some even sent handmade gifts for the kitties, which were greatly appreciated!) As the blocks arrived, I carefully stored everything in a bin and shipped it to Australia in April. Well ...

Cheeto popping in to say hello!

It’s been awhile since my last post so I thought I’d take time to share some photos and provide an update. Let’s start with some new quilted wall art I made:

Last Christmas, Kent sent me four aboriginal-inspired fabric art panels he found here in town. At first I wasn’t sure how to use them but I quickly decided to hand embroider blocks of Australian animals I might meet on our travels using variegated floss. I used Solid-ish fabric strips to sash the blocks to the panels. I just love ...

Sometimes we have to put our quilting or crafting on hold while we deal with a big life event or situation. Because we have been moving into a new-to-us home here in Australia — all while scheduling work to be done (electrical, painting, new cabinets, plumbing, etc.), I haven’t had the opportunity to sew anything quilting related in the past six weeks. For me, that’s a long stretch of time without fiber therapy!

Creating is better with a bestie.

However, I did have a wonderful “last creative fling” with a dear friend just before I flew to Australia in ...

Another update

Normally, I have all the household goods unpacked and pretty much settled within 3 – 4 weeks of moving in to a new home. I forgot everything takes longer when you live overseas. And everything takes extra long here! This town is so remote and so small that if they don’t have what you are looking for or need here in town, it typically takes about 3 – 4 weeks to have something shipped. Being a “git ‘er-done-now” sort of gal, this has been a true lesson in patience for me. I’ve been a bit frustrated with hitting ...

This past month has been a whirlwind and I finally feel as if I’m coming up for air. So I invite you to pour yourself something to sip, find a comfy chair, and let’s catch up!

Last views of the Lake Arrowhead area the morning I left.

Saying goodbye to the cabin was more emotional than I thought it would be! A few tears were shed.

Three weeks ago early on a Monday morning, I said goodbye to our cabin and drove to Las Vegas to help launch the fabulous new Janome top-of-the-line, combo sewing machine; the CM17 ...

Pour yourself a cup of tea and settle in for a newsy update…

Many of you have been following our newest big adventure I first wrote about last summer. (In case you missed it, CLICK HERE.) Admittedly, my blog posts were rather sparse during the last quarter of 2021 because we put our plan into motion and my husband actually made the big transition and moved down under in early November. We spent the holidays apart for the first time in 34 years, but we chose to make the season merry despite our circumstances. As for my poor husband’s ...

Giveaway Update: 

A name has been chosen and the lucky winner is Susi Jestel! Susi, email me at moc.omnieylrebmiknull@ylrebmiK to send me your mailing address and the fabulous Oliso Mini Project iron will be shipped directly to you from Oliso! (THANK YOU, Oliso, for sponsoring this amazing giveaway!)

I’m sure you know how much I absolutely adore using the Oliso Smart Iron in my studio. I have the original, sunny yellow one and love it! If you’ve never tried using an Oliso or you’re unfamiliar with these amazing irons, you definitely need to try one. You can ...

Hello! My goodness, it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to post. The past 8 weeks have truly been a blur. We put our home on the market, sold it, and then went through the arduous process of arranging for and managing three separate household goods shipments. It was a lot of work! We were authorized to ship a small amount by air, 14K pounds of household goods by sea (which isn’t all that much weight, really!) and everything else was either donated or put into a long term storage unit. Kent and I did much of ...

I’ve been away from posting on my blog and and I’ve missed sharing updates. But there has been a good reason for my absence: we’ve been making some life-changing decisions about our future. 

Four years ago, my sweet husband was offered the opportunity to take on a new challenge with a large defense contractor and we moved from Northern Virginia to Southern California. At the time, we hoped we might be able to stay here until it would be time for him to retire (8 years from now) from his full-time career as an IT specialist. We ...

The desert was only sleeping

I have been into the Australian Outback many times in the last 20 years, but this unique environment never fails to amaze me. It is resilient and diverse, and just because everything is bone dry, it doesn’t mean that everything is dead. On the contrary – when the conditions are right…… BAM! Life emerges from places and in forms you wouldn’t believe! Two nights ago I saw what looked like an ant that was only about 1/4 inch long, but with an antennae over an inch in length. It was investigating around about ...

With everything going on last year, it seems I didn’t get around to posting a couple of projects I finished last year. Better late than never, I say, so here they are from the top:

First, my finished cover for my Quilter’s Planner 2016. When you purchased the planner, you received instructions for how to make a quilted cover. I decided to to for a scrappy look with some fabric from one of my very first quilts. I didn’t put the zippered pocket on the cover because to be completely honest, I haven’t gotten over my ...