my oma (grandmother) was born during the 1930s in the netherlands. she emigrated here to australia in the 1950s, right after she was married to my grandfather. she didn’t speak a word of english, and she did what most women did back then: kept house for her husband and started having children. i can only imagine how difficult those years must have been. she was isolated from her family and friends by a massive distance, and she was isolated from the people around her by a frustrating language-barrier. i admire the strength and courage it must have taken her just to get up each morning and go about the business of her life.

one thing i have noticed as an english teacher, and as someone who spends a reasonable amount of time around people for whom english is a second language, is that picking up a language is tough, but picking up the little sayings and proverbs that are culturally specific to the speakers of that language is even harder. i think my oma took this on as a kind of challenge. she loves little poems and sayings, aphorisms and proverbs, she keeps them in her mind like a little catalogue.

so when i was sitting around with her and my mother the other day and we were talking about all the crafty projects i was in the midst of my oma said to me: ‘you know what they say, ‘jack of all trades, master of none.’

this is my oma, giving my mum a hug.

i got to thinking about all the different crafty things i do - i love to quilt, sew, draw, paint, embroider - the list is endless really. give me some kind of fiber or material and i’ll try to make something out of it. it’s almost a compulsion. and do you know what? i want everything i make to be beautiful. i want to master every technique i learn. and i want to prove that particular proverb wrong. i doubt that’ll stop my oma from using it, but i also doubt she’ll stop being impressed by everything i make from potato prints to quilts.

ah! some floss! what shall i make with it…?

i’ve been feeling a little nervous about making this particular post - it seems like such a momentous thing to me, but i know that in the grand scheme of life, the universe and whatever it’s just a small achievement….

here goes: i’ve finished my first quilt!
i feel so very accomplished and clever, because quilting is such an involved, time-consuming and many-faceted process.

you may have read about the early stages of this quilt’s gestation, because i was very keen to ramble excitedly about this new hobby (see ‘a new adventure parts one, two, and three), but as the process has absorbed me and i’ve found what i am feeling about quilting becoming more akin to a passion or even an obsession, i’ve found it harder to articulate just how much enjoyment i’ve been getting out of some bits of fabric and a needle and thread!

i think alicia paulson of posie gets cozy expresses that sense of satisfaction and pleasure really well when she says:
“…finishing a quilt doesn’t feel like anything else. i don’t really know how to describe it. … no matter how you slice it (literally) — it’s a big, big project. when i see really fancy quilts on the blogs or at the fabric store or at the fair, i literally stand pigeon-toed and in complete awe, because if you’ve ever finished one, you know that, well . . . they don’t make themselves.” (see the full post about her gorgeous lemoncello quilt here.)

so, would you like to see how the story ends?

i added a double border to the assembled patches, then hand quilted around every one of the 120 squares as well as once around the border. this was probably the most time consuming part of the whole process, and having the quilt over my legs has kept me cosy as i’ve whiled away many a cold and grey afternoon sewing on the couch. i even took to toting the quilt along with me in a little suitcase when i went up to my mum’s house, or over to a friend’s place, so it’s already a well travelled little thing!

here i am, in the process of hand quilting.

once i’d finished the quilting process i made a looooooong strip of binding out of fabric from the original patchworking process. i hand sewed the binding on, and voilà! the quilt was complete!

my first quilt

this photo shows the backing i chose and my binding.

this has been such a wonderfully fulfilling experience. i love having big projects to really sink my teeth into, and a quilt definitely falls into that category. if you would like to make one like mine, the pattern is called rebekah amy’s quilt, and it was designed by rosalie quinlan. it was really easy to understand, straightforward to construct, and easy to modify (for example, the original pattern is for 10 x 10 squares, but i wanted mine to be bigger and it was very easy both to add two extra rows of squares, and then put a border on it). if you would like to get your hands on a copy of the pattern you can find a list of distributors on rosalie’s blog.

i suppose it won’t surprise you to hear that i’m already in the process of cutting the fabric for my next quilt - this one is going to be a present for someone special…

’til next time!
essie xoxo

for me, the idea of being a crafter is inextricably linked with being part of a community. there are so many ways in which this plays out - some of us are part of an etsy network, some of us have built broad and diverse collections of fellow bloggers around us, others are part of craft circles or knitting groups, and still others like to get out to a good old fashioned market. and some of us do all of the above!

today my partner and i went to have a look around at sisters’ market, which is right in the heart of my little community, being just around the corner from where i live.
i wasn’t sure what to expect, having never heard of it before this week, and i was very pleasantly surprised by the bright, busy & bustly little community of crafters i found gathered there. there were so many pretty, clever, cute, striking, innovative, and fun ideas there - never has the old cliche ‘kid in a candy store’ been more appropriately applied to me!

i brought my camera along, shall i show you a few of my favourites?

♥ i absolutely loved the adorable buttons and badges that pollipop had for sale. she’d displayed them so prettily on vintage saucers, and they were all made of such cool fabric:

(see the pair in the top corner - the front and back halves of a doggie? so cute!)

♥ grace was very cleverly sharing a store with her friend carol, of pinky pig who makes so many adorable things, mainly out of the cutest japanese fabric in the entire universe. she had pouches and bags as well as hair ties and clips, but my favourite were these little brooches:

♥ i’m not a mum yet, but i have a few friends with babies, and the sheer amount of stuff they have to carry around to tend to their littl’uns is incredible. that’s why i was so impressed by the change mate, by rachel sharrock and emma hindhaugh. it’s compact, practical, and pretty. i think they’d make a really useful gift for an expectant mum, and i’ll be visiting their website next time a mate gets knocked up!

♥ sophie of mistress of the upper fifth was selling the most beautiful necklaces (wasps, butterflies, little scotty dogs), funky wallets made out of old dress patterns, and more!

♥ i’m a sucker for any kind of textile art, so when my partner pointed kirsten zdraveski’s store, indigo rose, i fell instantly in love. she makes stunning jewelry incorporating her sister’s intricate crochet. there was one piece i simply couldn’t leave behind - ivory coloured crochet, rose quartz and pearl beads - so gorgeous!

♥ i was lucky enough to meet the lovely michelle harvey of kids with crayons, who takes the precious one off drawings of little people, and does beautiful things with them! you can have your kids’ masterpieces made into pendants, brooches, screen printed onto bags, or even made into key rings. she had lots of examples on display and they were so pretty and clever.

♥ a lot of you will know that i love felt - making it, making things out of it, and looking at all of the cool things other people make out of it. i’m also a teacher, and a psychologist-in-training, and that’s why the stunning creations of kim and donna of the friendship tree. they had gorgeous toys designed to stimulate children’s imaginations and encourage creative play. my favourite creations were these little guys:

♥ i really love the creations at the button tree, particularly the cards and badges made from vintage children’s books - i couldn’t resist taking these two creations home:

i am aglow with glee at the creativity of the people in my community, and i’ll definitely be going to the next one!?maybe you should find out what’s going on on the market circuit in your own community, and be inspired by the cleverness and creativity of the people around you!

til next time,?
essie xoxo