Getting stuff wrong

I am a firm believer that getting stuff wrong is part of the long and winding and often diverting path to getting stuff right. That’s not to say I enjoy getting stuff wrong but I am getting better at accepting (through gritted teeth) that my ideas of wrong often make little or no sense and they may add days or weeks or months to certain projects but they will not be ignored. It’s just better to go with it.

Before I went to Portland I was working on a project but simply ran out of time to get it off to the testers and finalised.

and that's a good thing because when I got home it just didn’t look right. This girls eyes were too big (This is her second head transplant by the way).

She needed new hair, but her body was alright so off to the transplant clinic for her…

but her friend looked funny…so it was of with her head as well.

I remade them both and dressed them and accessorised them and………………blah.

They are fine but I can’t show them here because you will all tell me they are fine or you might even tell me they are great. But ‘fine” is just not quite right enough is it? This morning I am starting again from scratch. I have thrown all the pattern pieces away, I have a cake in the oven and I’m thinking it will end up OK.

I’ll keep you posted.

Ingrid, and Donna and Jodie and Mary (all the people of the internets)

Today is the first of May and in 13 sleeps I will be heading to the Spring Quilt Market in Portland Oregon.

In 13 sleeps I will be going on my very first overseas adventure.

I can’t believe that this is actually happening

In case I don’t get a chance before I go, I just want to say thanks;

For hanging around and being awesome and saying nice stuff and having far more faith in me than I deserve.

(Of course if it all goes horribly wrong, I’ll be blaming each and every one of you)

With apologies

I've been smiling like an idiot all afternoon.

As of today, you can pop over to Creative Abundance and peruse my bio, and check out my patterns !

Yep its all really truly bonafide actually happening....

Can you believe it ?
So if you are a shop, online or in real life and you are interested in stocking my patterns - you can contact the team at Creative Abundance and they will organise things toot-sweet. If you are not a shop, You could always ask you local shop to stock my patterns (nudge nudge wink wink) or drop me an email and I'll steer you in the right direction.

( and I have to apologise to Nel and Jacques, for the sudden crazy spike in their website stats - its just me popping back every ten minutes to see if I am still there...... sad but true.)

Anal

So I love this idea, little circles of fabric in behind other fabric.... BUT I hate that you can see the clippy clippy bits around the circle on the white fabric.

and then I like the wonky 3 layered idea

So with two layers ? No more clippy clippy look, but to me this is just inviting disaster.

I'm lucky enough to sew one layer to another in a straight fashion..... and in the right light you can still see it a bit....

See what I mean by the clippy clippy bit - even with batting and backing it's still obvious.

Not so bad with coloured fabric but IF this was to become a quilt, all this red would make my eyes bleed...

A white on white print is better..........but do you remember when I made a white quilt before?

I didn't love it and gave it away.

How does grey grab you ?

its growing......

My last post got me thinking about Stitches and Craft last year and how much fun it was. I remember Eleanor dancing in the restaurant at a dinner that Sooz organised. (I met half the blog nation at that dinner)

I remember being so intimidated by the Ink and Spindle team that I didn't speak to them until about day three and I broke the ice by feeding them muesli bars and cheesey dippers. (and yes I was a total dickhead - they are awesome!)

This year I am going to catch up with Kristen, she was my neighbour last year and is a super favourite friend.

- her screen prints are delicious ! and she is one of the most unflappable people I think I have ever met.

I'm also keen to grab me goodies from Lisa who I met at Sydney Stitches last year.

have you seen anything cuter?

My own spending might just re-boost the whole economy...

and you know that think that I thunk this morning at 3.27am.... well obviously , the answer is darts !!!

I'll keep you posted.

The thinks you can think...........

I have been thinking this morning. The house is quiet and I have been wandering the past Christmases of my blog and thinking about all that has happened this year.

Did you know that around this time last year I was invited to join in the Stitches and Craft show in Melbourne. That invitation pushed me to have a go at pattern writing. I needed to get and ABN, which means I am actually a business - ooops !

I have been thinking how funny it is that I just fell into this whole "business" thing with no plan , no desire and absolutely no bloody idea what I am doing. As a business ? well lets say I am still working at the day job. I wonder if this business could ever be self-sustaining or if I even want it to be? Do I have the energy needed to take up all those opportunities? Do I want to push ? Do I want to hand over some of the responsibility to someone else, join a distributor or do I want to sit at the kitchen bench folding patterns and popping them into plastic bags in my pyjamas ?

I got to go to Sydney and step waaaaay outside my comfort zone by talking to a room full of people about blogging. I was really really surprised by how much I enjoyed this... I had an absolute blast! I would happily do more of this - all those school report cards were spot on - I can talk !! A LOT !!!

I have met, in real life some of the best people EVER. That whole meeting bloggers thing, at craft group or markets or get-togethers blows me away every time. This meeting and joining and sharing I want to do more of for sure! (and I want to win lotto so I can go and meet all my international friends - a bloggy world tour perhaps ? )

I have amazing friends who are so supportive of this crazy craft adventure and so many of you I have never met. You visit here, and provide a massive cheer-squad, you test my patterns for me and you share awesome stuff all the time. I owe so many thank you's.

I seem to have morphed into a person who makes toys, and I know this disapoints lots of people (and thanks for the emails telling me just how disappointed you are) and maybe it is a strange thing for a 40 year old woman to do - but I love it ! If I had the time and the skill I would make every single toy in my sketchbook....... It seems to make perfect sense in hindsight, I have toys in almost every room of my house. I wonder if this is some deep dark childhood piece of weirdness.....

BUT I also love to make "not-toys" like the robots at the bus stop. I can't explain how much I enjoyed that little project this year.....I really want to get better at that "not-toy" making stuff and better at taking photos .....so much to learn there ...

I think perhaps I am finished with selvedges for now. I'm sorry but that was not really a marriage as it turned out , just a brief but very passionate affair.

I had a market stall which I loved. I had such fun doing that market but I can't see it ever becoming a permanent fixture for me. I sew too slowly to ever have a great amount of stock and to be honest I don't want to make 20 or 30 robots or 40 elephants. I might want to make 6 or 7 but then I want to make something new. (and I suck at selling, really suck. I suck at putting a monetary value on something I have made. I suck at making sensible choices and adding costs and all that stuff and I give discounts to anyone who seems like a nice person - This was a bit of a revelation for me, I am quite uncomfortable standing behind the stall selling stuff, but I love to be at the front of the stall chatting and buying stuff from others. I suck)

I want to give a bit more....Does that sound weird? This year particularly I feel like this blog has opened up so many opportunities for me. I feel like I get so much from this blog and I am thinking of ways to maybe balance things out a bit .

If someone told me about all this "stuff" that would come about primarily because of my blog, when I started my blog I would have thought they were bonkers.......
I apologise if this all sounds a bit self indulgent ...basically it is me saying "far out ! what a year" and indulging in a bit of a one sided conversation with myself.

(one of the photos that I didn't send to a posh magazine when they asked me for a pic)

So I guess I'll be heading off into 2010, running a small business, folding patterns in my pyjamas, making toys and Not-toys, fondly thinking of selvedges but not sewing them, meeting bloggers, sharing stuff, talking, more talking, hopefully some giving, and saying thanks .

Yep that sounds like a plan , its as clear as mud !