Progress on the Hawaiian shirt quilt has sped up over Christmas and the New Year, despite a severe case of man flu. The top is now almost finished and I just need to insert a few more portholes. Portholes are a great way of doing circles in a kind of reverse applique way. They look really sharp and if you are patient enough then you can do them in really small circles which I think looks very effective. For this quilt I wanted to contrast the crisp clean edge of the porthole

This month I've been fortunate to have one of my quilted cushion covers featured in Quilt Now magazine (Issue 35 - never mind reading this, go and buy it ;-) ) The opportunity came about through meeting Katy, the editor, at the weekly sew in evening at Simply Solids. Getting the cushion published reaffirmed a few things; firstly if you don't ask you don't get, secondly, it's not what you know but who you know and lastly the worst somebody can say is no. I've has loads of posi