Notre Dame as promised
- Sarah Fielke
- Nov 20, 2025
- 3 min read
Back to regular programming for now Smites. More Christmas hoo-ha coming soon to a post near you.
I've been in a lot of churches and cathedrals in my time - whilst I'm not at all religious, I love an historical building and I absolute ADORE old graveyards. Give me worn stone, old wood, graves of historical figures, some stained glass and an organ and I'm a very happy girl. Poor old Damo gets dragged in and out and off the beaten track everywhere we go - although I like to think that after all these years, he enjoys it too.
Having said that, I'm not sure I'e ever been in such a beautiful cathedral as the refurbished Notre Dame. It feels like every stone, window and patch of paint has been polished and shone, lovingly rebuilt and renewed. The whole thing glows like an enormous pearl on a velvet cushion. Waxing slightly lyrical there I know, but it really does deserve the praise.
While the cathedral itself is a wonder, the thing that grabbed me most of all were the designs in the side chapels. These are some of my favourite inspirations in any church or cathedral, and I always go with a sketchbook in my bag and my camera at the ready because I know there will be treats waiting to be appliqué shapes whichever way I turn. Believe me when I say that Notre Dame did not disappoint.
I don't think I even need to say anything past this point, I hope the phots do it some justice. The colours are to DIE FOR. So much so that I think I have settled on the next BOM inspiration - a mix of le Petit Trianon and these side chapels. In macaron colours.
One last thing before I sign off peeps.... if you're a QuiltNSW member, you might have seen the email today announcing the new Co-Presidents of the guild - the charming and effervescent Molli Sparkles, and... me! Ask a busy person and the job will always get done. I was approached by several members to stand for President and I just didn't think I would have the time, so I chatted to Molli and now we are officially the Dynamic Duo. If you live in Australia - yes, even if you don't live in NSW - now is the time to become a member and get involved with QuiltNSW. We want to see new general members, new committee members, new quilt show entrants. We want to know what YOU want from your quilt guild, and how we can make that happen! Between us we have a lot of fun ideas and a lot of energy, and a LOT of love for quilters, and most of all for our existing QuiltNSW volunteers and committee members. Are you a QuiltNSW member? What do you want to see from the guild? Are you an Aussie and NOT a member? Why not? I'm really asking - Molli and I WANT TO KNOW. And who better to ask first than my lovely SMites?
(For those of you overseas, or of course Aussies who have never heard of QuiltNSW, we are the state quilt guild of New South Wales, which is the state that Sydney is in. We are the largest guild in Australia, and amongst our other activities for the quilting community we run a wonderful quilt show each year with over 400 members quilts, tutors and in 2026 - an exciting special international tutor! You'll be the first to hear about that too, I promise!)
Sarah x
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