Party in the garden...

I have been in love with Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party fabric for an age. First there was this quilt that I couldn't stop staring at and then this one by Megan of Lucy & Norman fame. I loved the boldness of the Garden Party prints and the vibrancy of the saturated colours. And from each of these quilt's points of view, the BIG patchwork choices. I started collecting my fabric years ago...the range was well and truly finished by the time I discovered it and then in typical style it lay folded in my cupboard. Occasionally I would bring it out and worship its brightness and then argue with myself as to what I was going to do with it.
Then back in September I decided that the best course of action was to use it to make a quilt for my sister for Christmas. How clever and organised was I?
I cut the fabric into the biggest squares I could out of my mostly fat 1/4 collection. I then joined them into giant sized 9 patches and sliced them up to create a quilt top of very large disappearing 9 patches. And there it sat, pushed to the end of the line due to all the other sewing activity that surfaced. Then as Christmas rolled around I talked myself out of finishing it until I couldn't decide what to buy her as an alternative. So with 4 days to go I made a dash for Spotlight with my VIP 15% discount card for backing, binding and pins (due to the fact that all of my basting pins are currently sitting in other quilts ready for quilting but that's another story!).
Quilters will know how the rest of this story goes, moving all the lounge furniture to baste....not easy with a thumping big Christmas tree in the way!.....quilt through the night so you can hardly move the next day after the wrestling of  the 'anaconda' through the machine and to top it off......hand sewing on binding throughout a 35 degree day! But having said all that....we do it because we love it and we love an appreciative reaction even more! Merry Christmas!

Selling out....

Earlier this year, Clare and I participated in a twilight guerrilla craft market. We'd spent a few months whipping up baby quilts and getting ourselves organised. Our strategy was that baby quilts were quicker to produce and cheaper to sell. We were excited and our little spot looked lovely on the banks of a row boat lake in the parklands.
But guerrilla markets are based on the 'pop up' theory and rely on very fast word of mouth to drive the buyers. Sadly, the evening timeslot was an experiment and the people just didn't arrive. And this was further compounded with Adelaide's Mad March of events, so there was just too much competition for everyone's dollar and time. So after 2 hours of just one sale to Clare we packed up and spent our float money at the artists bar at the Fringe Festival.
Over the months some of my quilts had been given away for fundraisers or given to friends and family in need of a quick baby present. But most of the stock remained.
Then Clare was invited back to the next market but this time there was no secret location and lots of effort was put in by the organisers to promote the affair. I loved the idea because the location was right at the end of my street!
Clare and I decided to use the opportunity to quit the stock we had but I supplemented mine with these little Scandinavian birdies by Syko.

I spent two weeks rifling through the scrap bin determined to use only scraps of fabric and stuffing and ribbon from the stash. I ended up with 48 little birdies and as many butterflies in my stomach, worried we'd be rejected like the last market.

But I needn't have worried....(that's hindsight for you!). Those little birdies flew off the branches and all but two of my quilts remain. Clare did alright too with all of her quilts selling on the day. Admittedly we put very reasonable prices on them and were prepared to drop them a little further to secure a sale but all round, we're happy.

What did we learn? Timing is good. Pre-Christmas and buyers are looking for gifts. So this is the one to participate in. Promotion is good. Little is good. Small things go well. Bundling is very good. Offer a price for 1 and then a discounted price for four. Buyers love value for money! I did this with my birds and every sale was a batch of four.
So where am I at now? Well I anticipated that I'd have some birds left over for the kids friend's Christmas gifts....but I don't. So I'm back in the scrap bin and at the machine to turn out a few more. 'Tis the season!

Birdies....

Little bird decorations made for a forthcoming market....and maybe some gifting for friends and teachers!
Lovely inspiration here and how to link here.

A farewell....

I'm often asked why I don't have a cleaner. My response is always the same.
"I don't have a cleaner....because I have a speech therapist."
At the age of two, our son was diagnosed with a severe language disorder. Now 11 years old, his diagnoses has subsequently been altered to 'mild-moderate autism'. Never-the-less, and whatever the label, his struggle with language is ongoing and impacts day-to-day through his interaction with and understanding of the world. His need for speech therapy and supported learning is currently on-going without too much of a glimmer on the horizon of that changing in the short term. Let's just say, we're a 'speechie's' sure thing.
We've been very lucky that L's school allows a consulting speech therapist to work with him (and the numerous other boys!) during the school day. From my point of view, that saves one more 'run around mum job'. The other plus is the stability that that brings. His first 'in-school' therapist worked with him from reception through to grade 3 until her work load became too great and she had to expand her consultancy (or build a massive extension to her home...one or the other!). She handed the reigns over to her assistant and she has worked with L for the past two years. But she's leaving. She's young and decided to follow her dreams interstate. Wednesday is her last day, and whilst I've told L it's his last speech session for the year ("yay!" was the response), I haven't told him it's a big goodbye.

So at the very least a little gift is in order. I've made a notebook cover out of scraps and used the quilt as you go method to use up some batting bits. I'll get L to draw one of his very special little illustrations in the front.

X-ing and +-ing....

I've been in love with the Japanese x and + quilts, inspired by Setsuko Inagawa floating around the blogasphere of late. Most recently Ara Jane's of 'You know what I love?' and this one by Leila from 'Where the Orchids Grow' which has been on my pinterest board for an age.
For a great tutorial on how to lay out and piece the block go to Amy Gunson's badskirt site for a good explanation of the block construction. But....be warned, the sizes quoted aren't quite right. Now Amy was the first to admit in her tutorial that the blocks she designed were loose and about having fun so I'm not pointing an accuracy finger at all. It's just that when I decided to use scraps for my quilt and realised I had an abundance of 2 1/2" squares and strips, I thought that I'd prefer to use them as a whole rather than cut them down to Amy's measurement of 2". When I tried to enlarge her units for her 7.5"/8" block, the square 3.5" piece didn't come out at a 'regular' size, in fact it was something like 4.32"! The pure fact that I couldn't work out what that could possibly look like on an inch ruler called for a halt in cutting proceedings!
Then I found this post by Occasional Piece-Quilt who'd discovered the same calculation problem but had worked it out based on 2 1/2" units using a quilt block computer program....salvation!
So I've worked with her measurements:
Centre cross = 1 x 6.5"x2.5", 2 x 2 1/2" square
Edges of the cross = 4 x 2.5" square
Background triangles = 8 x 2.5" square
Branches of the x = 4 x 4.5" square
These measurements yield a 10" block which is a great size.
I've spent the last few days on these blocks. I had an initial oops and should have re-read Amy's tutorial where she specifically explains the mixing of colours for the 'branches of the x'. I didn't do this for the first three and matched mine. I swore, abandoned ship and slept on it, deciding after another look not to pull them apart.

I'm so glad I didn't pull them apart because in the mix of the now scrappier blocks, it's hard to tell which ones they are. I find it hard to contrast my fabrics and scrappy is just as hard for me but as I'm working through these blocks and the fabric choices are diminishing, I'm getting better...and as Amy suggested....having fun!

Does this match the picture?

I was recently gifted a pile of 'foodie' magazines from a friend of my sister's who has moved to Perth to pursue her career. I have gradually removed them from M-M's house, taking the last pile last Friday night. Whilst I haven't had a chance to really sit down and read them, the Delicious magazine on the top of Friday night's pile from August 2007 caught my eye. I found myself thumbing through it at breakfast on Saturday morning determining that we pretty much had the ingredients for the front cover featured recipe....'Winter pavlova with quince and cinnamon cream'.

Now I know it's not winter here...in fact the last few days have delivered hot 30+ degree days (I'm talking celcius), so we are on the trajectory for a very hot summer....but....I have a beautiful quince tree that's now about 5 years old. As my tree has matured, it's delivered more and more quince bounty. I have found that Stephanie Alexander's poached quinces freeze really well and I happened to still have some in the freezer. I also happened to have some frozen egg whites which also freeze exceptionally well and if treated carefully in the de-frost make spectacular pavlova. Game on.....!
I was making something else on Sunday that required yolks only so I had two fresh whites and a batch* of gradually defrosted whites. *I can never remember how many are in the frozen container so I use them all!
Here's my version of the Quince Pavlova. I didn't have any praline so I used a smashed up 'Cadbury Crunchy' bar! We all thought it was pretty alright.

I'm linking up with A Quilters Table, Tuesday at Table. Deb wants us to share a seasonal recipe. Whilst mine's seasonal....it's kind of a stashed season and the result of a wonderful gifted treasure.

Something for baby....

If I've said it once, I'm sure I've said it ten times. I love making baby quilts and I love giving them away just as much.
But there aren't too many babies in my immediate circle....we're currently the 'parents of teens looking for part time jobs gang'. So you can imagine my absolute delight when I learnt that there was a baby in the family! Whoo hoo!
Joe's nephew has announced their second is on the way and due in March. Well done Matt and Sylvia, you've given me purpose.
Now that side of the family seems to be a bit boy centric...they already have one beautiful boy, his brother has a boy and their girl cousins have all delivered...you guessed it...boys! Not one girl amongst them.
Not that I'm requesting a girl but I wanted to work with some lovely prints I'd purchased recently. (Selfish....I know...) So given that the gender hasn't been announced and the likelihood that it could quite more than probably be a boy...but I'm also a statistician by day....the odds as they say, might be in their favour ....so I've used pink....and some blue, red and green.

Let's not get too hung up on girl or boy for now....I'm seeing brand new baby here!
My inspiration is the very lovely Nana Company, very similar, but different!
And oh my goodness....this is my 300th post. How delightful! Thanks for visiting, reading and commenting.