We moved here two years ago today. It was a beautiful Southern Highlands spring day – sunny with a light breeze – much like it is today. The day started early as we packed our cars, mostly with bedding and plants, and parked them in the street to keep the driveway clear for the removalists. […]
Welcome
Hello! I’m Erica Spinks and I’m so pleased you are here.
Welcome to readers who have followed me from my Creative Dabbling blog and to all of you who have just found me.
I write mostly about gardening, reading, writing, quilt making and creativity.
Sewing small
A great way to try out a new quilt idea on a quilt is to work small. I’ve experimented with making A4-size quilts in the past. They are easy to finish, which always gives me a feeling of accomplishment! This is my Limeade quilt, named for the colours I’ve used. Each square is an inch […]
Not likely to forget these flowers
I like blue flowers in my garden. I also like flowers that look after themselves. That’s why, last spring, I flung the contents of a packet of forget-me-not seeds in a bed in a dull corner of my garden. At this stage, those of you who are familiar with the plant’s behaviour may be recoiling […]
In my garden column: October 2021
It’s such a beautiful day here. The temperature is a mild 18 degrees and it is sunny with a gentle breeze. I appreciate this even more than normal after the showers, storms and even hail we had this past week. I’ve spent the morning in the garden, observing what’s happened, weeding and flinging some seeds […]
Are you all over the place, too?
We moved here nearly two years ago. We busied ourselves with making changes to create a cosy home – having cracked roof tiles replaced, installing carpet, buying some furniture, arranging spaces to suit. In the garden, I discovered what had been planted and added a few of my own. When we arrived here, the area […]
Passionflower quilt
I’m not overly fond of quilt challenges. Usually my quilt ends up too big or too small, rectangular when it should be square, or in breach of one of the other challenge conditions. But this challenge was different. We were each given a bundle of hand-dyed pink fabrics and had to include some of each […]
15 years of blogging
Earlier this century, I started blogging. Fifteen years ago, in 2006, to be precise. I find that astonishing. I started on the Blogger platform, with my Creative Dabbling blog. This was where I posted on a regular basis right up until last year, when I registered my webpage address and set up this site. As […]
My book of the month: September 2021
Reading a new book in a series is like catching up with an old friend. You discover what has happened in their life since you last communicated and whether circumstances have changed. The main character in Hemlock seems like one of those friends. I’ve been reading about China Bayles’ life through 28 books so I […]
Talking about tulips
I could never successfully grow tulips until we moved to a cooler climate than Sydney’s. I followed all the tips about storing the bulbs in the fridge until planting but they never flowered. All I have to do here is plant them in the ground in May and they flourish. I’m thankful for that since […]
Visitor plants
Visitor plants often pop up in my garden. They are usually self-seeded and arrive unexpectedly. Some are generally regarded as ‘weeds’ because of this but I admire their will to live. Several of these Corydalis plants have popped up recently but I didn’t know what they were until I used the PictureThis app to identify […]