I had a few tough winter days this last week. To comfort myself I visited my friend Natasha and her baby Imari.

For me, life becomes simple again when you read to a baby.

I love reading Imari the little Maisy books by Lucy Cousins.

In one illustration I discovered a picture of Maisy’s quilt. It was made of forty-two little squares of red, yellow, black, white and blue.

With a pencil I drew up the pattern. At home I rummaged through my fabric scraps and found pieces that approximated the same colours. I cut out 5cm squares and laid them out in the same design.

During the afternoon I sewed the tiny rows together. I found some old wool wadding and a cherry red scrap with fine white dots.

These layers were pinned together with the little quilt top. I machine quilted around all the little squares and secured the edges in a decorative blanket stitch.

Finally I machine embroidered the letter M in the corner and took it to give to Imari. Together we wrapped her tiny toy Maisy and put her into a cardboard bed.

Maisy’s quilt project filled a rainy afternoon with colour and fun.

It is fun to focus on something small and playful and get lost in it.

I wonder what strategies you use to to get through your difficult days?

I have always doubted the articles in magazines that say - Make A Quilt This Week-end. Now I have just made one.

Two factors made my week-end quilt possible. I used a quilt kit with a large central panel. I was also away with my quilting mates for a sewing week-end. What a pleasure to relax with friends to laugh with and a project to work on.

Secretly I thought that using a kit and a panel was cheating. That was before Carols of Midland started coming out with some stunning kits. Now I no longer care if it was cheating or not.

This rug is for my two year old nephew Bronson who lives in a cold wild corner of Tasmania. I backed the quilt with royal blue chenielle to make it cosy.

It was fun to use the BSR function on my Bernina to sew around all the big digger outlines in the central panel. This makes them stand out and gives the rug some interesting texture.

I hope Bronson drags this rug around the yard. I hope he takes it to watch his brother play footy. He might use it as a cubby or a truck rug when he is driving with his Dad. I hope it is used every day.

A few years into school Bronson will probably be too grown up for a quilt with yellow diggers all over it. By then I hope it is stained, threadbare and enjoying a second life as a beach shack bath mat or a rug for the new puppy.

I have written before about how important it is not to expect children to be grateful for what you sew and what you do.

I am sure a lot of you will agree with me that the joy needs to come from the doing - anything after that is a bonus.

I’ve just received such a bonus in the form of a hand made red felt doll made by eight year old Elke.

Finding out her mother was visiting me she said, “Take this and show Julia. No give it to Julia - she was like another mother to me when I was little.”

I felt stunned and deeply moved. All the memories of cuddling Elke, reading stories, drawing and walking hand in hand down the street came back to me.

Elke moved away before she started kindy - it didn’t ever occur to me that she could remember the special times we had. I loved them too Elke!

Elke found the lovely pattern for her gift to me on page 14, Lucy’s Monster (by Marne’ Kales) in the book Softies by Suzie Fry and many others.

You’ll find some other great inspiration on the website Softie Central.

Jenny makes artificial eyes for people. Several times a week people sit for her and she hand paints the iris of their new eye.

For Jenny’s birthday I made her a cat from the same pattern I used to make Imari’s Dingle. I stitched the words Make Art With Heart on his belly.

On the back of the cat is a cape. Underneath that cape there is a pink flannel heart sewn in reverse applique.

This tells a story about Jenny. She puts her whole heart into every eye she makes no matter who it is for.

It doesn’t matter if a client is grumpy or difficult. Jenny understands the processes of grieving and loss. She is just as committed to making them the very best eye she can.

Underneath her lab coat Jenny has an extraordinary heart. Her clients love her. They bring her vegetables from their garden, their favourite novels, pictures of their children and chocolate cake.

It is wonderful to know that there are people like Jenny in the world. She just turned forty. I gave her a cat. I hope she likes him.

I’ve just made my mother a snake dog for her birthday.

The design comes from Miyako Kanamori’s wonderful book Sock and Glove. Miyako’s patterns use socks or gloves to create soft toys.

My mother lives in town these days but for fifty years she was a farmer’s wife. She spent many days alone in the bush with the farm dogs for company.

A snake dog was a great asset to any farming family. Our best was a red cattle dog called Cindy who came from the RSPCA.

She had a great instinct for a quick attack, grab and shake. Dogs that grab behind the head live the longest. Any snakes that came too close to the house would have to deal with Cindy.

She was only bitten once when she tackled a big brown snake under the house. My brother applied a pressure bandage, drove 35 km and paid a few hundred dollars to save her.

This birthday my mother will be 88. She has just bought a five year membership to a local football club. In his later years American comedian George Burns used to tell people he didn’t even buy green bananas.

I had great time making Barker for my Mother. I hope she likes him.