The best way to spend a birthday month

April is my birthday month, but at my age I don't make much of having a birthday! However, over the years, various members of the family have made sure it is a special time for me.

Once again this year, our younger daughter and her family were able to be with us, on and off for a week. To add to the delight, her in-laws also came to visit, plus her sister-in-law and family. We were all able to meet up and have a meal out together. It wasn't to celebrate my birthday, but it was just two days before the date, so was very much part of the joy of my special month. 

Hubby and I managed to squeeze in a restaurant meal together between all the comings and goings. A day or two later, our daughter-in-law and two grandsons came to visit. A meal together was followed by lots of games of "Sequence". Then on the weekend our younger son and his family joined us all for my birthday tea. Our 18 year-old grandson cooked the main course and 13 year-old granddaughter baked the cheesecakes. It was delicious and a wonderful effort, considering there were 14 of us to cook for! 

Next it was Easter. Our family had returned home by this, so it was a quiet weekend, but the Church services we attended were wonderful and very moving, and spending time there with our friends was nearly as good as having family around!

Then this past week we had a visit from some very good friends of ours. We have known them for 40 years and they are the type of people that you just pick up where you left off last time you saw them, as if it was just yesterday - special friends indeed!

So for someone who doesn't want to bother too much about special days, you can see that I have well and truly celebrated my birthday month!

And talking of birthdays and parties, I am now selling the pattern for my Tea Party Wall Quilt. It features the gorgeous Tilda Sunkiss range of fabric.

You can see some of the blocks scattered around this blog post. The quilt is hanging in our entrance and I love seeing it every time I walk past ... and I have received some nice comments about it.

The pattern is in my shop on the Quilt page here. 

If you are thinking it doesn't quite look what you expect Tilda Sunkiss to look like, it's because I am not an orange fan. Tilda calls it 'Ginger', but to me it is bright orange. I chose not to use that colour fabric and also left out some of the lime. What remained were colours and fabrics that suit my taste and that I therefore found pleasure in using.

I didn't waste the Ginger and Lime, but used it in my "Kiss of the Sun" wall quilt. 

Funny thing is, I really like that quilt too - just wouldn't put it on my walls!

Hope you have had a great month too!

Val

A slight change of direction

This week marked a slight change of direction for my designing life!

For many years, I had a ready outlet for my designs when eight magazines were regularly publishing my projects. By the end of last year, that had all gone pear-shaped, when seven magazines had disappeared, and the only one remaining reduced their issues to bi-monthly.

To add to the devastation, you will remember that Craftsy (now Bluprint) removed thousands of designer projects from their website. Instead of having my 200 patterns available, there are now just five paying patterns in my Craftsy Store.

Three months have passed since all those 'blows' and I have survived, even thrived! All my designs are now available from my website and I really appreciate the great support that people have shown in still purchasing my patterns. 

Then, on the recommendation of some of my readers, I started a small Etsy shop. The sales there have started to trickle in too, so I have much for which to be thankful. 

The other outlet that has closed for the moment is the opportunity I had to sell ready-made bits and pieces at craft stalls as I am not able to attend Craft Retreats and Shows for now.

With so few outlets for my original designs, I am not designing two or three projects a month as I used to, but I still LOVE stitching! This has given me the opportunity to make a quilt using someone else's design, which I never had time for before. It's also encouraged me to attend to some of my PASSES (Projects at a Stand Still) and make a start on seeing them through to completion. And it has led me to the decision to try selling some of my ready-made hand-crafted items on Etsy.

Like this little boy's Toy Quilt.

All the pieces are removable and it even comes with a Tool Apron. When play is over, it becomes an attractive wall-hanging again.

I've also put some of my hand-embroidered zippered pouches on Etsy. 

When I looked to see if people were selling things like that there, I discovered there were 250 pages of pouches (with 64 on each page)!!!  I don't like my chances of anyone actually finding mine amongst all those!

But, who knows what might happen!

So I am trying this slight change of direction and wait to see where it takes me!

So, all the hand-crafted projects you see in this post are available in my Etsy Store. Delivery is even free if you live in Australia!

I'm feeling that there is a happy balance now, with enough time for the volunteer work I do with the church, adequate stitching time, outlets for selling my patterns and the possibility of having a market for my ready-mades. God is good - He has rescued me as He promised!

Happy stitching! 

Val