A new pattern means a give away!

I have had a little flurry of pattern sales on my Digital Pattern Store over the last few days and I am not really sure why....but thankyou! So with that it must be time to give a little back. I have finally completed the new "May Morris Portiere" quilt pattern instructions that will be available on the store page next week. Meanwhile leave me a comment (with your email address), and this time next week I will email two digital copies to two lucky people at no cost.......

Hopefully next week I will also have all the photos and information about the William Morris meets Beatrix Potter tour prepared so I can share that too.  Meanwhile the Hill household continues to enjoy happy times even through the excessive summer heat. We are hearing of the freezing cold temperatures in the northern hemisphere and here at home we recorded the hottest day ever since records began 130 years ago.......we reached an unbearable 46.6C last Thursday(almost 116F) and it didn't go below 31C (almost 88F) overnight either. We were out for a while on this day and the car registered 49C (120F) but I only managed to photograph 48C when we got home! One friend had her car register a whopping 51C!.....

We are so lucky to have air conditioning and I can recall as a child not having this luxury. We would sleep outside at night and get eaten alive by mosquitos (and I dont recall sleeping very much either!). The only comfort inside was a wet flannel and small fan! So with all this heat we've enjoyed some time at the beach to cool down.....

 The weekend was a little milder but still quite warm but this time we enjoyed one of our favourite activities....a steam train ride. No matter what the size we still love steam trains......

Maisie decided to cool Poppa down by painting his face with water.......

Tomorrow is her first day at kindergarten and she is very excited. She was also excited that her 'little ear' has enough earlobe for a little stick on earring but she still prefers not to wear her hearing aid......

And you will be pleased to know that William Morris is still lurking about in our lives! I have been invited to give a talk to the Yankalilla Ladies Probus Club in April and have a William Morris in Adelaide tour early May. I also received an email from the Friends of Adelaide's Botanic Gardens asking if I could assist them with putting on a William and May Morris display for all the month of May as a part of South Australia's History Festival....so of course I said yes! Being in the Botanic Gardens will be a perfect time to celebrate all of William and May Morris's designs that celebrate flowers......so more of that in May. Meanwhile enjoy our day when went to the botanic gardens for the meeting. I only had my phone with me but the images are still lovely and of parts of the garden that I haven't visited for a very long time including the 'new to me' gingko gates......

 My meeting was in the North Lodge and the ever patient Larry came prepared with his puzzle book.......

 We shared a light lunch after the meeting under the cool canopy of an enormous and very old oak tree.....

 We were being watched for quite some time and then he thought he would join us looking for leftovers.........

 As we left the gardens we noticed changes nearby including a new entrance to Adelaide University. This time leading up to the University of Adelaide's Barr Smith Library named in honour of Robert Barr Smith who also happened to be responsible for much of Adelaide's incredible William Morris collection.......

 Larry spent many years in this library and gained two academic degrees during that time.........

So another week and another thank-you for visiting........and do leave a message if you would like that new pattern! x