A Material Obsession

The first quilt I ever made was a pattern made up by me. The second quilt  I made was a variation on a Sarah Fielke from Material Obsession 1. But I knew then that exact cutting and perfect 1/4 inch seams were not for me. So I went on to other things. I did have a brief encounter with a triangle ruler and the Ginger Bliss quilt but mainly I have felt that Sarah's gorgeous quilts were a bit too hard. But after a summer of simple squares, and my successful Swoon quilt- when it came time to use all my lovely Purl Soho fabrics I again turned to Sarah for inspiration.

I like a quilt that I can fathom the pattern from the picture - then I know that it will make sense to me and be within my skill level- but then I found a picture of the Stars in Her Eyes quilt and it was love at first sight. But I couldn't work it out without the pattern - kindly supplied by my star friend Theresa from Sew and Sews. So with some extra time this weekend I plunged into its intricacies . Starting by cutting all the star fabric strips. I then had a bit of a panic about how complicated it was going to be - I still wasn't sure what a 'set in' seam was, so I decided to make the first star before going any further. And I am glad I did.... It wasn't hard but it has puckered badly in the middle.

And now I don't know whether to plunge on ahead and hope that practice makes perfect - or abandon ship. Am sure there are lots I could do with 55 -2.5 inch strips.....what do you think - will they get better with each passing star or should I give up while I am ahead. Either way I am off to sleep on it. And one more thing - there is A LOT of waste in this pattern. All this from one star and there are 12 in the pattern.

Quilt wrangling

Trying unsuccessfully to get great shuts of my quilts on s sunny but windy day....

I wish I had listened to my maths teacher....

After the disastrous market experience in March I still had quite a few baby quilts to sell. So when I heard of Madeit, an Aussie version of Etsy, I thought it would be an easy thing to list my quilts and see what happens. So I was very pleased when I got a message that there was a buyer interested in my quilts. She asked if I would do a similar quilt in colours that she preferred and being so excited about a possible sale I said yes- to a custom quilt for the same price as one I had already made out of scraps ...... Well ok I thought - I have a lot of scraps in the colours she wants - and it will be a sale. First she wanted to see the fabrics choices - so far so good. And then Theresa pointed out that I had listed my quilt as being 60in x 60in. At least that was what I guessed it was....but no it was closer to 30in x 30in. And I had agreed to a custom 1.5m square quilt for $70....I had to fess up as I now needed to buy new fabric, batting and backing fabric. My customer was quite disappointed as she thought she had come across such a great bargain....she offered to pay extra and I asked for a little bit more- enough for the extra purchases - and then went ahead with the quilt. I finished it today and I think it's lovely. I hope my customer does too- and she enjoys her bargain!

PS I had another enquiry for a custom quilt and I gave her a proper price which included covering my actual costs.... And I never heard from her again

Mrs Treasure

My recent Secret Squirrel quilt was a wedding present for a wok colleague who invited Alan and I to her lovely wedding. I hope that Sarah and Michael enjoy the quilt and have a long and happy marriage.

Yarn Bombing the Port

A sunny day spent op shopping in Port Adelaide with Marya and we came across some yarn bombing which matched my new $5 coat. Sweet....