Ooh, I do love a good thriller. Louise Candlish has outdone herself with this one. It has twists and turns and had me hungry to know the story from the perspectives of the other characters. When a young man is killed in a car accident, his mother’s grief leads her to plot revenge on the […]
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.
Playing with Prisma
Playing with photo filters is an aimless activity, most suitable for these dreary winter days. I enjoy using Prisma on my iPad (it’s available for Android devices, too) to create different versions of photos. This is my original photo of poppy seed heads from my garden. This one has the Thota Vaikuntam filter applied. It […]
Floral Feather quilt
My favourite quilt block is the Feathered Star. Several years ago I made my Floral Feather quilt from pink and yellow fabrics, because I love the ‘pop’ they give each other. I pieced the 47cm square Feathered Star block by hand. A floral Kaffe Fassett fabric features in the centre, star points and binding, while […]
Garden inspiration from Elizabeth Farm
Several years ago, I visited a Spring Harvest day at Elizabeth Farm in Rosehill, NSW. Let me tell you a little about that place. It was the home of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, who arrived in the colony in 1790 on the Second Fleet. The building commenced in 1793. It is the oldest existing colonial […]
Reaching for words
I’m going to add posts about some of my older quilts and a few crafty tutorials from the past on this website. Instead of simply copying posts from my old blog, I’ll update them so they may reach a new audience. I used to hand-dye fabric and embellish it with stamping and other methods of […]
My book of the month: June 2021
Wow, this is such a powerful story. It’s a riveting read about Martha, who knows her mental health is not right but she doesn’t know what’s wrong. By the time she finds out, her illness has influenced her life in so many ways that it doesn’t matter anymore. This story absorbed me and I kept […]
Winter celebration of the sun
It’s easy to lose contact with the seasons and the natural passing of time. That’s why I always like to note both growth and decline in my garden. It’s my way of staying in touch with our Earth. Today is the winter solstice in my part of the world – the shortest day of the […]
Do my plants talk about me?
I read an article recently that outlined how trees communicate with each other to warn of danger. It focused on the work of Suzanne Simard. To quote from the article:“Chemical alarm signals generated by one tree prepare nearby trees for danger. Seedlings severed from the forest’s underground lifelines are much more likely to die than […]
In my garden column: June 2021
Aah, June – that month when winter finally arrives. We’ve had a blast of cold air this past week and some long-term locals even started talking up the possibility of snow. That didn’t happen, thankfully, but I wouldn’t rule it out as the season progresses. There’s lots for me to do in my garden this […]
Weekend reading
I love that we can experience the changing seasons in our area. We’ve had two frosts this week and another one is forecast for tomorrow. Most deciduous trees have discarded their leaves although many are just hanging on, at least until the next winds blow. I’ve lost track of how many piles of leaves I’ve […]