I have a free baby quilt pattern PDF download for you today.

The pattern’s name is Scrappy Posie and it’s a beginner-friendly baby quilt pattern. So if you have a scrap pile to reduce this should be useful.

If you’d like this baby quilt pattern, just put your email address in below and I’ll email it to you (and you’ll also receive my news updates via email. If you’re already receiving my newsletter, don’t worry, it won’t send you double.)

I made my version in rainbow colours. I chose 3 warm colours and 3 cool colours for the outer layers and kept yellow for the flower itself.

This is an easy baby quilt pattern – just squares and half square triangles (HSTs).

This pattern uses slightly oversized HSTs which are then trimmed back to size. I used my trusty Bloc_loc HST rulers to give me perfectly sized blocks. You can find them here* on Etsy.

It’s very satisfying to see so many scraps finding a new home!

For the back of my quilt I used a hippo print which I bought at IKEA about 10 years ago. I bet those hippos thought they were never going to see the light of day again.

When it came time to quilt, I knew I wanted a cross hatch design. The great thing about square based quilt patterns is that you often don’t need to draw any guide lines. Just using the corners of the squares is enough to keep the straight line quilting on track.

In the Scrappy Posie PDF pattern I give you 6 options for straight line quilting. Of course you could also use any free motion quilting design you like as well.

Once quilted, I bound this quilt with a half yard of a navy print. I considered using a scrappy binding (and I give instructions in the pattern for this) but in the end I went the lazy option. Although I do think a single fabric binding can be helpful in settling down a super scrappy quilt.

Initially I thought I might machine sew the binding using this zigzag method. But given all that’s going on in the world at the moment, I took the opportunity to sit and enjoy some hand sewing.

If you have some scraps that are dying to have a second life, you should make a Scrappy Posie baby quilt too.

Pop your email address in below and you’ll get your free baby quilt pattern.

If you do make a Scrappy Posie baby quilt of your own please share a photo with me. You can send me an email (just reply to any of the emails I send you) or tag me on Facebook or Instagram.

There are so many possible colour variations with this pattern, I’d love to see yours!

Keep well and happy sewing!

Kirsty

*affiliate link. Thank you for supporting Bonjour Quilts

I love using up scrap fabric as much as I love a zipper pouch, so this project makes me very happy.

My daughter asked me to make her a zipper pencil pouch for the start of the school year. (Let’s pretend that it’s still January, when we start school here in Australia!) She wanted a cute pencil case, but larger than the last one I made her. Design requirements included an internal pocket for her calculator and the colour yellow (her favourite).

Due to time restraints, I suggested that HSTs would be a faster option than English Paper Piecing. I drew a sketch and she gave me the go-ahead.

I’m sure everyone has their own favourite zipper pouch tutorial so I won’t go through the minutia of sewing a lined pouch. But if you like the outer patchwork design, I have outlined my steps for this below.

To help get the project moving faster, my daughter sorted through my yellow scrap fabric and found a good variety of yellow prints in low, mid and saturated value.

The outer panels of the zipper pouch consist of HST units set on point. There was a bit of maths involved as we needed to reverse engineer the HST size required to give the panel size we wanted. I got my daughter to use Pythagoras’ Theorem to work that out for me (my tax dollars finally bearing fruit!)

Sewing the HST panels

To form the two panels I cut 45 squares 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″. From these squares I sewed 90 HST units, which were trimmed to 2″ squares.

I wanted to create a bit of a colour gradation across the zipper pouch. I made sure there was a good mix of light/light, light/mid, mid/dark, etc fabrics across all of the HSTs.

For the top and bottom edges of the panels I used plain 2″ squares (they are lopped off when squaring the panels). You’ll need 28 of the 2″ squares in total.

Shown below is the layout for the two panels. The HST units have dotted triangle lines, the plain 2″ squares are in yellow.

Once you’ve laid out your HSTs and squares in your preferred colour order, you can sew them together. Sew the diagonal rows together first and be sure to press rows in alternating directions so that the seams will nest.

With the patchwork panels sewn together it’s now time to quilt them. This is a great way to use up batting offcuts.

I like to quilt them fairly densely as it adds strength to your patchwork seams and also gives the pouch some body. I did a simple crosshatch quilting design, using the seams as a guide for my walking foot.

Once you’ve quilted both panels you can trim them back to give two identical rectangle pieces.

My two panels ended up being 8-3/4″ high by 13-1/2″ long.

The zipper pouch lining

As well as the two outer panels, you’ll need two fabric pieces for the lining. My daughter chose this cute birdy fabric from which I cut two rectangles 8-3/4″ x 13-1/4″.

With quilted pouches I like to reduce the lining panel width by a quarter inch to accommodate the bulky seam of the outer panels.

You may recall my daughter asked for an internal pocket in the lining to store her calculator. If you can talk your child out of this, do so now. Consider using chocolates, head scratches or a trip to Disneyland. The internal pocket was a pain to put in and you will regret it immensely if you agree to it.

I, unfortunately, did agree to it. Sigh.

I used this Youtube tutorial by Lisa from Andrie Designs to learn the process behind creating such a pocket. She uses a different sized bag for her tutorial so you won’t want to follow her fabric sizes. For my pocket I instead used another 8-3/4″ x 13-1/4″ rectangle as well as an 8″ x 11-1/2″ rectangle (as I didn’t want the pocket to go right to the bottom of the pouch). I used a 10″ zipper for the internal pocket.

I worked nice and slowly and paid extra attention to making sure my birds stayed right side up.

Eventually I had the pocket formed and was able to sew the lining and outer panels to the zipper. I used a 10″ zip here as well as it was all I had on hand, but I would have liked a 12″ or 14″ if given the choice.

And remember to always open the zipper before you sew around the edges of the lining and the outer panels. Otherwise it’s a nightmare trying to turn the thing right-sides-out again!

Phew, it was quite a journey, but I got there in the end.

I even learned a new skill.

I missed the start of school by over a month, but my daughter was very gracious as she knew I was sweating over that pocket. Best of all she loves her new cute pencil case, which has a spot for all her bits and pieces.

Thank goodness for that!

It’s been a rough start to the year for many Australians. Bushfires are still raging across many areas and have caused devastating loss.

It’s hard to watch the destruction of human life and property, as well as the large scale loss of native animals and their habitats.

The team at the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild (WMQG) are putting together quilts which they will distribute to families who have lost everything in the bushfires.

They have chosen the theme of trees for the quilts. Those who’d like to contribute have been asked to make tree blocks that are 12-3/4″ square unfinished. (The blocks will then be trimmed by the WMQG to a uniform 12-1/2″ and sewn into quilts.)

Please check out all the details (block requirements, postal address, etc) in this WMQG Facebook post.

Folks are welcome to make any sort of tree block they like. I have a tutorial here for a tree quilt block for anyone looking for ideas.

The Tree Quilt Block

This full and happy tree has 4 leaf fabrics, a trunk fabric and a background fabric.

Please make life easy for yourself and choose non-directional print fabrics (or solids) to make this block.

You can use scraps (or a 10″/layer cake square) for each of the tree fabrics.

For the background, you’ll need a fat eighth or some larger scraps.

Cutting Instructions

Cut the following pieces from your scraps/fabric:

C1, C2 and C4: 2 squares 3″ x 3″ and 1 rectangle 2-1/2″ x 4-1/2″

C3: 1 square 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″, 2 squares 3″ x 3″ and 1 rectangle 1-1/2 x 2-1/2″

Trunk: 1 rectangle 2-1/2″ x 3-3/4″ and 1 rectangle 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″

Background (BG): 2 rectangles 3-3/4″ x 5-3/4″, 2 squares 3″ x 3″,

1 rectangle 1-3/4″ x 13″ and 2 rectangles 1-3/4″ x 8-1/2″.

If cutting your BG from a fat eighth, I’d do it like this:

Sew the HSTs

HST method: Select two 3″ squares. Use a pencil to draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of one of the squares and then place them right sides together. Sew a scant quarter inch from either side of the marked line. Cut on the drawn line to yield 2 HSTs. Press as directed and trim to 2-1/2″ square.

Using the method shown above, pair the following 3″ squares to make the required HST units:

1 BG and 1 C1 square to give 2 BG/C1 HSTs. Press toward C1.

1 C1 and 1 C2 square to give 2 C1/C2 HSTs. Press toward C2.

1 C2 and 1 C3 square to give 2 C2/C3 squares. Press toward C2. (One of these HSTs will be surplus.)

1 C3 and 1 C4 square to give 2 C3/C4 HSTs. Press toward C3.

1 C4 and 1 BG square to give 2 C4/BG HSTs. Press toward C4.

As mentioned in the HST method, trim all units to 2-1/2″ square.

Sew the Trunk

Sew the long edges of the 3-3/4″ x 2-1/2″ trunk rectangle to one edge of each of the 3-3/4″ x 5-3/4″ BG rectangles. Press both seams toward the trunk fabric. See below (I was making 2 blocks at the one time, your eyes aren’t playing up. You’re only sewing one of these units.):

Now sew the C3 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ rectangle and trunk 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ rectangle together along their longest edges. Press as preferred. You’ll have a 2-1/2″ square once sewn. See below (again, I’m making 2 blocks so you’ll only have one of these):

Lay Out the Tree Quilt Block

Now that you have the 9 required HST units (remember there is one surplus C2/C3 unit) and the two tree units, you can lay out the block as it needs to be sewn:

The shorter BG strips go to the sides and the longer strip to the top. Check your HSTs carefully! If you look at the HST to the right of the trunk above, you’ll see I got it wrong. Luckily I caught it when laying out my 2nd block.

Sew the Tree Quilt Block Together

Now we’ll sew the units in each of the 3 rows of the tree top together.

Press the top row toward the left.

Then press the middle row toward the right.

Press the third row to the left except for the righthand trunk seam. Press that seam away from the trunk so that it will nest nicely with the bottom trunk unit.

Now you can sew the three tree top rows together and press seams as preferred:

Sew the side BG strips to each side of the tree top patchwork unit:

Then sew the top BG strip and bottom trunk unit in place. Be sure to nest the trunk seams.

I pressed the top seam toward the tree (to prevent a seam shadow on the white background) but it feels quite bulky that way. You may prefer to press toward the background so the block lays flatter. I know some people are willing to die over shadow seams, so I’ll let you choose for yourself. 😁

Trim the block to 12-3/4″ square. The lovely WMQG folks specifically asked for a generous 12-1/2″ block therefore I’ve made the block slightly oversized. This gives them some wiggle room when putting the blocks together.

I made 2 tree blocks because I couldn’t bear the thought of that left over C2/C3 HST feeling glum over the lost opportunity to comfort someone in need.

To make 2 blocks at once, you just double all the cutting amounts except for one less C2 and C3 squares (so only cut three C2 and C3 squares, not four).

I hope you get the chance to sew up a tree quilt block for a family affected by the Australian bushfires. You can find all the details for postage, etc at the WMQG’s Facebook Page.

Other Ways to Help

If you don’t have time to sew a tree quilt block, consider a donation. There are many organisations doing good work for the people and animals affected by the fires. Here are 3 that I’ve supported:

Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery fund

NSW Rural Fire Service

Wildlife Victoria

Thank you and stay safe, wherever you are.

Kirsty x

I really can’t believe it’s already been a year since I published this Christmas Tree mini quilt pattern!

You can find the first version I made of this Christmas-themed mini quilt (called Candy Christmas) over in this post here.

I wanted another version of this mini quilt in a red colour scheme for the Christmas table. (All these little gingerbread flavoured morsels are my downfall, I love them so much. And the fruit mince pies. Mmm.)

All the fabrics are from stash and my scrap pile. The tree and trunk fabrics feel like they were designed especially for these purposes. The Alison Glass Sunprint low volume* has sweet little motifs already on it. And the taupe, flecked neutral* is very bark-like.

I used a feathery satin stitch to appliqué the tree and star to the background.

Wall hangings and table toppers are a great way to use up offcuts of batting. It also feels like a low risk opportunity to sew smaller pieces together as home decor items usually receive less wear-and-tear than a quilt.

For quilting, I went with simple straight lines, using the patchwork piecing edges as my guide.

For binding I used the outer most fabric, cut at 2″ to create a more narrow frame. The backing was another sweet red print from stash.

This mini quilt was a super quick sew and will be adorning our Christmas Day table.

If you are a fan of embroidery and/or beading you might like to embellish the Christmas tree on your mini quilt.

I have a short, 5 min video below showing some embroidery stitches that look great in either floss or perle cotton thread. Use plain or metallic threads to sew little decorations and garlands on the Christmas tree after quilting.

If you’d like to sew your own Christmas Tree mini quilt then you can find the pattern here in the shop.

I hope you’ve made all your silly season preparations. I think we’re finally done, just a few more presents to wrap for under the tree.

This year I actually bought my own presents (which I heartily recommend – you always get exactly what you want). I’m having a love affair with jigsaw puzzles at the moment after working on this amazing puzzle* at a friend’s house. I loved the quality of the puzzle and humour in the illustrations, so I’ve ordered this fun French kitchen version* for me for Christmas. And I guess I’m now officially a crazy puzzle lady as I bought one of these organisers*, too. So easy to slide under the couch!

Wishing you and your families all the best for the holiday season. I hope you get to take some time for yourself and enjoy some sewing!

Cheers,

Kirsty

*affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Bonjour Quilts!

Today I’m miniaturising my Plus Side quilt pattern to make a Christmas cushion.

The Plus Side quilt pattern can make many different quilts, depending on fabric choice and block orientation. Here’s 3 quite different versions of the one quilt:

At first I thought I would make a Christmas quilt. However Australian Christmases are very warm, so I decided to scale down the pattern and sew a cushion.

Some math reworking was required, but once that was done I pulled out my scraps and got to work (these blocks can be made with layer cake squares 10″ x 10″).

The majority of my blocks were Christmas green teamed with low volume or silver fabrics. I had a pair of blocks in white/silver which I didn’t end up using as I felt they were a bit too light.

I had some fun playing around with the orientation of the blocks, using value to form designs.

Cross design:

Offset radiating diamond:

Diagonal stripes:

Checkerboard, dark centre:

Checkerboard, light centre:

I don’t know what to call this one:

Centre radiating diamond:

Eventually I settled on the centre radiating diamond layout. Then I set about moving some of the individual blocks around to get the effect I was after (and to make sure like fabrics weren’t touching). It’s always makes me laugh how much work it is to achieve a ‘I just threw this together’ random look.

I tried it with a light centre and then a dark one. The final layout was also when I decided to do away with the white/silver block pair.

Once I’d settled on my layout and sewn my blocks together it was time to quilt the panel.

At first I considered a radiating design, guided by the diamonds in the layout. However this would have required thread burying and my Christmas cheer didn’t extend that far. So instead I fell back on trusty cross hatch quilting, which was easy given all the squares in the patchwork blocks to act as guides.

Once the Christmas cushion was quilted and had a zippered back, it was ready to be stuffed with a size 20 (20″) pillow form.

This Plus Side cushion also plays very nicely with my green Scrap Magnet Christmas pillow. You can read more about that pillow in this post here.

I suppose I should sew a red Christmas cushion variation now, just to even things up on my couch.

That might be a job for next weekend.

If you already own The Plus Side quilt pattern, you will have received a pattern update with an addendum detailing how to downsize the pattern to make the mini patchwork panel.

I have amended the pattern listing to include the addendum for all future sales.

The Plus Side can now be made in mini, baby, throw, twin, queen and king sizes!

Happy sewing,

Kirsty x

Are they Christmas pillows or are they Christmas cushions? I’m not sure, but I do know I love them, no matter what they’re called!

These Christmas pillows were made from my Scrap Magnet quilt pattern. The pattern has instructions for a single block (as well as a lap quilt and an oversized block baby mat), which is perfect for a mini quilt or a pillow.

I used an 18″ pillow form in mine and it is nice, snug and plump.

Choosing fabric colours

When I first had the idea to make a Christmas themed pillow from a Scrap Magnet block I began thinking of red and green. I decided on having a single colour theme for each cushion. They would look nice and Christmassy together, but it also opened up the option of using them on their own in the non-holiday period.

I chose silver as my background fabric and kept the accents in black, as they added to the Christmassy feel.

However, if your response to Christmas decorating is to go hard or go home, then you could look at making each pillow in both red and green. A self contained piece of holiday goodness, as per these mock ups.

Quilting the Christmas pillows

Once my two blocks were sewn it was time to contemplate quilting (for a second) before deciding on a cross hatch.

These blocks are so easy to cross hatch as there are so many squares to act as a guide. If you like your cross hatching to be spot-on then you could use a hera marker to draw in some guide lines. But I just went for the organic look and did mine by eye.

I’ve used a dove grey thread as it blended well with all the fabrics.

I find I don’t have much time for any quilt designs that aren’t organic these days. Am I lazy or sensible? A bit of both, I suspect. 🙂

Sewing the pillow backs

Once my pillow fronts were quilted, I chose some coordinating fabrics for the backs.

One of my backs came together beautifully. Look at the pattern matching across this zipper! I did not try in any way to achieve this, it’s a Christmas miracle.

Before I could get too excited though, I then sewed the zipper in the red pillow’s back and went to sew it to the pillow front.

Uh oh. That didn’t go quite so well. Rather than rip out the zipper and sew it again with correctly sized fabric I decided to add a couple of strips either side. Thankfully the fabric print hid the additions quite well. Catastrophe averted.

These pillows are now happily decorating my couch, waiting for some company.

If you’d like to make a Scrap Magnet Christmas pillow of your own, you can find the pattern here in my shop.

Happy sewing! (and remember, less Christmas cheer and more measuring when sewing your cushion backs) 🙂

Kirsty x

P.S. If you’d like to see a different Christmas cushion I sewed, check out this post here.

ETA: The random number generator has declared the winner of the 2 spools of thread to be: Kathy E! Congrats Kathy, check your inbox for an email from me.

It’s all happening in today’s post – flying geese, fussy cutting, a friend’s new book and a chance to win some Aurifil thread! What a great combination!

The lovely Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts has a new book called Mini Masterpieces out now. You can find it on Amazon here.*

I *heart* mini quilts

I love mini quilts. So when Alyce mentioned she’d be doing a Blog Hop to support the release of the book I asked if I could participate. Lucky for me, she said yes!

The book is great at leading you gently through a range of blocks which you can then use to create some gorgeous little mini quilts.

Mini quilts are fantastic as skill builders. You can try a new technique without having to commit to a huge quilt. All the mini quilts in this book could be used to make wall art, a cushion cover or a table topper – small, useful items.

Alyce asked me to sew up the flying geese sampler block from the book.

Choosing my fabrics

For me the fun always starts with fabric selection.

I knew I wanted to fussy cut with this beautiful Pat Bravo fabric* from her Artisan range.

Then I needed some accent fabrics. I plucked out some of the colours in the print – navy, pale yellow and white.

I knew the flower print had to form the mama goose (due to its size). Then I did some rough auditioning to see which fabrics I’d use for the baby goose and the background.

The following layout is the one that won the audition. (I realise now that I forgot to audition the white fabric for the baby goose. Oops.)

Sewing my flying geese blocks

With my colour scheme settled, I fussy cut my large geese blocks. I rummaged around in my ruler drawer and found a rectangle that was the perfect size. Of course, it was one of my Bloc_Loc flying geese rulers*. Even when I’m not using them for block trimming, they come in handy for fussy cutting.

A little bit of sewing and the blocks took shape.

Mama and baby goose, ready for action.

And here’s the completed flying geese sampler block:

And here’s four of ’em:

Flying geese block layout options

While I didn’t have enough time to get these whipped up into something, I did have the chance to play around with layout. I’ll make a few more blocks and turn them into a cushion over the Christmas holidays.

Here’s how they look laid out in several different orientations.

Do you have a favourite? Mine is the second one, where the mama geese are having a chat. I’m sure they’re holding tiny little margaritas.

Let me show you the stellar line up of bloggers who are participating in this Blog Hop. Then I’ll tell you how to get yourself in the running to win some Aurifil thread, wahoo!

Awesome blogs to visit…

Here are the fabulous sewists participating in the Blog Hop for Alyce’s Mini Masterpieces book. These blogs all contain a wealth of information and inspiration. They’ll also give you another chance to win some thread, so yay! Pop over and visit.

November 18 – Simple Squares
Sarah from Sarah Ashford Studio – @sarahashfordstudio
Janice from Better Off Thread – @betteroffthread

November 19 – Strip Piecing
Molli from Molli Sparkles – @mollisparkles
Sarah from SariDitty – @sariditty

November 20 – Snowball Blocks
Ali from Arabesque Scissors – @arabesquescissors
Kitty from Night Quilter – @nightquilter

November 21 – HSTs
Andrea from 3rd Story Workshop – @3rdstoryworkshop
Caitlin – @caitlinpolden

November 22 – Flying Geese
Kirsty from Bonjour Quilts – @bonjour_quilts (You are here!)
Karen from Karen Lewis Textiles – @karenlewistextiles

November 23 – HRTs
Jemima from Tied With A Ribbon – @tiedwitharibbon
Rebecca from Bryan House Quilts – @bryanhousequilts

November 24 – Simple Curves
Nicole from Modern Handcraft – @modernhandcraft
Ava & Neve – @ava_and_neve

November 25 – Complex Curves
Elisabeth from Elisabew Quilts – @elisabew
Samantha from Aqua Paisley – @aqua_paisley
Christopher from The Tattooed Quilter – @the_tattooed_quilter

November 26 – Improv Curves
Aurifil – @aurifilthread
Nicholas from Quilts From The Attic – @quiltsfromtheattic

November 27 – Applique
Lauren from Molly And Mama – @mollyandmama
Sedef from Down Grapevine Lane – @downgrapevinelane

November 28 – EPP
Sharon from Lilabelle Lane – @lilabellelane
Jodi from Tales of Cloth – @talesofcloth

November 29 – FPP
Kristy from Quiet Play – @quietplay

Win 2 spools of Aurifil thread!

All you have to do to go in the running to win 2 spools of beautiful Aurifil thread is to leave a comment on this post before stroke of midnight on November 29.

The two thread colours I have to give away are 2140 Orange Mustard (the gorgeous golden yellow that would suit my sampler block perfectly) and 2021 Natural White (good old, ever useful white). You can see the yellow on the left in the photo below, and the white on the right side.

So please leave a comment. You can just say hello, or tell me what is your favourite small thing to sew? Do you love mini quilts too? Or are you more into pincushions or placemats? I want to know!

Leave a comment and I’ll draw out a winner (randomly) on November 30.

ETA: The random number generator has declared the winner of the 2 spools of thread to be: Kathy E! Congrats Kathy, check your inbox for an email from me.

Happy sewing, all. And congratulations on your beautiful new book, Alyce!

*affiliate links. If you purchase through one, thank you so much for your support of Bonjour Quilts. These small commissions help me pay for my hosting fees.

There hasn’t been much quilting around here of late as we’ve just returned from a 2-week family holiday in Tasmania.

We thought it would be 100% fun to squeeze our family of 6 into a motor home, so we hired one for the trip. In retrospect I’d say it was 90% fun, 5% frustration and 5% …er, smells. Thankfully we all survived the experience and still remain firm friends.

Here’s a run down of some of the things we got up to in our time away.

Port Arthur

After a couple of days in the capital city of Hobart we headed around to the Port Arthur area.

Port Arthur is a well preserved convict site. It was once a prison, military base and shipyard – it’s heyday being the 1840s and 1850s. It was a bit of a wet, dreary day when we visited, but it is definitely a spot I’d like to get back to (we only had a morning there, I’d recommend taking 2 days).

The building above was a flour mill for a while (they decided to make their own flour to save some money) before being converted into more prison cells and military barracks (on different levels).

We were told the soldiers’ rooms were actually smaller than the prisoners’! Below, the kids realise that being in a motor home isn’t anywhere near as bad as being a Port Arthur soldier.

On the way back to our caravan park we passed a lavender farm and decided to pull in for a look. The grounds were beautiful, and there was a nice café which we didn’t use because, hello, we were paying good money to drive our own café around!

How I know my children are growing up: no one tried to sit on the sheep. Sniff.

If you’re a lover of lavender, you might also enjoy this post from when we lived in Provence, France. Quite a bit of lavender around those parts.

While we didn’t visit the café at the lavender farm, we did exit though the gift shop 😉 and collect some yummy lavender-infused goodies. The hot chocolate you see above is hands down the best I’ve had. Decadent is definitely the word. I’m deeply disappointed they don’t sell it in their online shop.

Tasman Arch, Devil’s Kitchen and the Blowhole

After a couple of days in the Port Arthur area we headed up north. On the way out we stopped off at a trio of geological sites called the Tasman Arch, the Blowhole and the Devil’s Kitchen. All three are interesting coastal rock formations created by the ocean over many, many years.

The photo below is the best I could get of the Blowhole – looking through the ocean-made tunnel to the other side. My family had a matter-of-fact discussion about the logistics of swimming through these rock formations while I breathed into a bag and tried to think about puppies.

Near the Blowhole we found a good spot to get out of the van and have bit of a climb.

Freycinet

Our next stop was the Freycinet Peninsula, which is almost at the middle of the east coast of Tasmania. We stayed in a caravan park in Coles Bay.

We enjoy hiking as a family (it’s one of the few things that everyone likes to do, so there’s no bribery/coercion/flattery/threats required to gain cooperation.) There are lots of lovely hikes of differing lengths and difficulties in the Freycinet area.

We chose the hike that took us to Wineglass Bay (seen below) and back again. (If you’re wondering, like I did, why it’s called Wineglass Bay when it looks nothing like a wineglass, I have a sad story. Apparently back in the days of whale hunting, they used to slaughter the whales in the Bay and the water would look like red wine.)

Once we made it to Wineglass Bay we found a very lovely beach (several tourists, ahem British, stripped off for a swim, but there was no way we were getting in that cold water). There were also wonderful rock formations that we all really enjoyed scrambling over.

The colours of Freycinet are beautiful – green mountains, white sand, aqua blue waters and fiery rocks.

The beautiful shades on the rocks are actually lichen.

We had a fabulous day out and everyone slept very well that night.

Cradle Mountain

After some time in Launceston we then made our way west to Cradle Mountain. The weather in that area can change very quickly. We’d been watching it in the weeks leading up to our trip and it snowed the week before we arrived. We actually thought we probably wouldn’t be able to hike in the area as we weren’t going to bring any gear suitable for snow.

When we checked the weather forecast on arrival in Tasmania we were delighted to see that there was one day in the week where it was forecast to be 19℃ (66℉). Wahoo! The beauty of shoulder season travel is that you can change your schedule easily as you don’t have to book in advance (or even book anywhere, motor home FTW!)

So we got ourselves over to Cradle Mountain and had an epic hike up to Marion’s Lookout.

This was a quite a hike as it was (given the youngest of our party is 8 years old). But when we got to the top, many of the returning hikers who had been further than us told the kids “there’s still snow up there”. Well, that was it. We had to go on until we reached several very large snow patches further along the track.

The kids had an epic snowball fight in shorts and t-shirts, it was quite surreal! Here Miss 13 has a whole hat-full of snowballs she’s about to chase her older brother with.

It was quite a day! We probably hiked about 15kms (9.3 miles) but that doesn’t really reflect how far it felt as we did a lot of climbing. We were all very proud of the 8 year old, whose little step-counting watch said he did 27,000 steps that day. The beer tasted especially sweet that evening!

(The next day at Cradle Mountain it was raining and only 7℃ [44℉]. The weather really is a bit crazy there.)

Although it’s a bit remote, I would recommend Cradle Mountain whole-heartedly. It’s such a well run and well preserved area of Tasmanian wilderness. There are tons of tracks, trails and treks at varying degrees of difficulty. The easiest one is only 10 mins on a wheel-chair accessible board walk. The hardest is the Overland Track which would take 5-7 days.

Low Head Little Penguins

Our next stop was the small town of Low Head, to see the penguins! There’s a Little Penguin (also known as Fairy Penguin) colony that lives in the waters off the coast of this town. Some months of the year they come ashore, breed and raise their chicks in burrows on the beach.

Each morning at dawn one of the parents from each burrow will head out to fish, returning at nightfall (for safety) to feed the young. They come back to the beach in largish groups (again for safety) and this is the best time to see them.

Little penguins are the smallest penguin in the world, standing only about a foot tall. They are very cute and quite smelly (sorry penguins, but it’s true). Their habitats are also under threat, so it’s important that we preserve their breeding grounds.

We took a tour with Low Head Penguin Tours. They only take small groups through to see the penguins, causing minimal disruption to the colony. (You don’t want to go off on your own trying to find these little guys, inadvertently trampling burrows or chicks.) It was a very well run tour with experienced tour guides – we learnt a great deal about penguins from them. The kids really enjoyed this experience and we’d recommend the tour group to anyone looking to see the penguins.

Tasmanian Devil Unzoo

Another great place to take the kids is the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo, on the Port Arthur peninsula. As the name suggests, the wildlife enclosures at the Unzoo are unzoo-like, better mimicking the animals’ natural habitat.

The Unzoo contributes to the conservation efforts underway to save the Tasmanian Devils. The Tassie Devil population has been severely threatened by a disease that was first observed in the ’90s. The disease causes facial tumours that stop the Devils from hunting and eating, so they slowly starve to death. It’s one of only 3 transmissible cancers in the world and has decimated the population.

The Tasman Peninsula is so far disease-free, and the Unzoo is helping with efforts to keep it that way.

As well as the Tasmanian Devil wildlife displays, you can join in on a bird show (funny and educational) and check out Tassie Devil feeding time.

The kids’ favourite part was the kangaroo enclosure. The kangaroos are very docile as they are regularly fed by Unzoo visitors (provided food only).

These kangaroos are Tasmanian natives, and they have a denser coat than mainland kangaroos, which makes them super soft and snugly. Some of them are fairly old and veterans at hand feeding. They hoover it up with efficiency (you can see by my husband’s face it tickles a bit).

The younger kangaroos are a little more hesitant and eat very delicately. This young mum was a little shy.

As well as eating from your hand, they also love scratches on their necks and backs. The guide told us the kangaroos aren’t keen on head pats, which I can completely understand. No one wants a three year old pulling on their ears.

As well as kangaroos they have these cute little pademelons (a small wallaby) who eat up all the leftover feed.

A Cape Barren goose even got in on the act for a while. Cape Barren geese are the rarest type of goose in the world. They almost went extinct in the ’50s but thankfully a conservation program prevented this. These geese can actually drink salt water – crazy, right?

The kangaroos are tons of fun, although they can get a bit feisty when the feed runs out. Just kidding.

Swansea

We spent our last night in the central-east coast town of Swansea. We had heard about mutton birds coming home to roost on the coast right near the local caravan park. After our successful Little Penguin excursion we thought we’d give it a try. The scenery on dusk was beautiful.

It was, however, very cold that night. And one of our party had a wee tantrum over something (I can’t remember what it was) and needed a bit of alone time.

It started to get quite dark and there was still no sign of the mutton birds. So, we just enjoyed the view for a bit and then went back to the van.

And the next day we had to return the motor home and head back home. Our 2 week adventure came to an end.

Visit Tasmania!

Tasmania is a fantastic holiday destination. It has plenty of history and beautiful coastlines, not to mention all the wineries, craft beer and cheese. (Tassie is excellent dairy country with its cooler temps and higher rainfall.) There are also plenty of outdoor activities to keep you in shape (so you can eat more cheese) and help you get out and enjoy the countryside.

Spending a couple of weeks in a motor home was also a great experience for our family. We had to step away from our busy lives and emerge ourselves in a minimalist lifestyle. Very nice for a change! It was fun to be reactive and spur-of-the-moment with our schedule.

It was also nice to be so close to our kids for the holiday. Our eldest is 15 and we know the days of family (the complete family) holidays are numbered, waaaah. I’ve stockpiled a lot of fond memories to get me through my old age!

Home, sweet home

Since we’ve come home I’ve enjoyed my full sized kitchen, en-suite bathroom and not sleeping in the vicinity of snoring teens. 🙂 I also enjoyed getting back to my sewing machine.

First up I finally finished off my Scrap Magnet cushion. I did some cross-hatch quilting of the panel before I sewed it into a zippered cushion.

Next I sewed the corners of my Scrap Magnet lap quilt closed. I had used my zigzag machine binding tutorial to sew on the binding and just needed to finish that last little task.

Lastly, I sewed the binding on my Zed quilt. I can’t wait to finally see this one finish and gifted to its new owner.

Wow, that was a long post! Well done if you made it this far 🙂

Until next time,

Kirsty