oops. Somehow five months have passed since I was last here. In that time, we have hung out in the remotest part of France, found ourselves uncomfortably close to Parisian bombs, returned to Melbourne to find a new home, my son has started school and I have started a new job. sheesh.

But back to France for a moment...

We spent a final six weeks or so in a tiny village up in the mountains, in the ridiculously old home of Vincent's late maternal grandparents. We spent our days seeing Leo off to the local school, searching the nearby forests for mushrooms, cooking and eating the mushrooms, hosting family visits, collecting chestnuts and making chestnut puree with the family, and having some forced internet-free time.

We took a quick trip to the UK for a little visit with some old friends and some sightseeing, and then had the difficult task of saying goodbye to Vincent's family before beginning the journey home. The journey home involved several days in Paris, which coincided - strangely, scarily - with the terror attacks there in November. It was our last day in France, and what should have been a joyous occasion became an enormously sad, fearful and awful one. It gave rise to the very bizarre feeling of wanting to get the hell out of there, and simultaneously wanting desperately to stay.

However leave we did and we are now back in the routine of regular life, albeit a different one to that of the last 5 years, having now begun the school attending next chapter. But term one is down and we have come through it relatively unscathed.

And shock horror, there has even been some sewing happening lately.

So I am here to say, if you would like a commissioned quilt, my services are finally up for grabs again.

Hit me with your queries.