Good ol' Rant.

So I'm in my motel room in Adelaide, and the design of the height and angle adjustable shower head here was almost good enough to be my favourite thing this week. Seriously, as a piece of industrial design, I'm kinda in love, and I want one at my house, since ours is old and decrepit.


But really, a shower fixture does not a favourite thing make. Instead, here goes.


I love long drives, singing, loudly and badly, and so intensely that your face starts to hurt. For mile after mile.


I love finding a pace car, and becoming really really attached to it, and having one-sided, long and emotive farewells when it turns off. For the first 100km today, my pace car was a swift, and that was even better, because it was like we were a gang. And then I did see a gang - The Finks were in Tintinara when I drove through and they overtook* me about 100km up the road. And I'm not sure why the government is going through all these hoops trying to outlaw them - in 5 minutes I saw about a dozen road traffic offenses EACH, and that's more demerit points than they have, and once you're out of demerit points, you can't ride your bike any more. Unless it's a push bike. Seriously, the government should hire me. Minister for Obviousness.


I love literally rolling into Adelaide. The last 5km is all downhill.


I love this motel, for its free wi-fi and the fact that the best satay chicken in the world is directly across the road. I could have gotten it twice tonight, but I told myself no. I also love this motel for its shower fixtures.


I love my GPS. It's about 5 years old now but its still great, especially since I only paid about $100 for it new. It's called a "travel companion" too, which fits in well with my habit of anthropomorphising things. I have taught it an epic, round-Adelaide route for tomorrow, so I have time to get everything in.


I love the fact that, with facebook, it's now quite easy to bad-mouth someone that no-one who's reading it has ever met without the incompetent shop assistant ever knowing. It saves embarrassment all round, while letting me get it off my chest. Though if anyone but a teenaged boy had just pushed the scissors along the fabric, shredding the edge in the process, I probably would have leaped over the table and stabbed them with their own scissors. And granted, by putting it on facebook instead of telling it to his face, he'll probably just do it again, but the other woman behind the counter looked like an absolute cow, and I didn't want her going and being all passive aggressive no-one-else-minds at me when she was the one who should have taught him to cut the fabric in the first place.


I, apparently, love ranting about things.


Finally, I love these.

*When I say overtook, I mean my pacetruck and I got surrounded, and they sort of wove in and out of us and the car behind me and the cars coming in the other direction, with about 30cm to spare, and after I had to break suddenly for the third time, I considered just running them down, and charging the government for services rendered.

Now with 67% less angst...

Spotlight didn't have any white. I threw my politest tantrum (breathing in and out through my nose a couple of times so my nostrils flare like an angry rhino's) and went home to sulk for a bit before work.

I spent a while tonight trying to work out something I liked with the half metre of white I have left, and gave up. Then I felt bad about not doing anything, so I made a bag.

 Even though it looks similar in design to the Angst bag, the construction is totally different. I'd say it was easier, but really, that's probably just because of the quilting (or lack thereof). The zip is set differently too, it's higher up and you need to thread the pull after it's been sewn, whereas for the the Angst bag the two sides of the zip never get separated. I could have recessed it, but I didn't cut the setting strips for the zip wide enough. Nevermind.

I used 2 rectangle rings to make an adjustable strap too. It's about 1m long at full length, but the bag is pretty floppy (I used a layer of quilt batting instead of any actual interfacing) so it curves around and makes it feel longer. The bag itself is about 30x40cm, and about 8cm thick.

Helen wanted me to have a go at some bookbags for kids, and I think this would be pretty okay.

And yet, I do actually like my job.

Now that we're properly into 4 week rolling contracts at Woolies, I only work one of every four Sundays. And while I miss the extra $50 or so that comes with the bonus half pay, those 3 weeks where I'm not doing anything on a Sunday, or more to the point not running around stressing like a crazy person (or bursting into tears like some of my co-workers) being passive aggressive towards some really genuinely lovely 16 year-old girls who are nonetheless faffing about and not getting anything done and making me cross but I can't yell at them because they're nice and sweet and it's bad enough that the people who are supposed to be in charge are out the back crying and I don't want the people I'm supposed to be having on register crying too and... I forgot what I was talking about.

Oh yeah. I'd much rather spend my Sundays feeling shit cause I spent Saturday night drinking waaay too much alcohol and injuring my coccyx by falling off the stage than feeling like shit cause customers are swearing at me because there's a NATIONWIDE FAULT IN THE EFTPOS SYSTEM, and therefore THERE'S NOTHING I AN DO ABOUT IT. No, swearing at me doesn't help either. Trust me, I wish it was fixed waaaaay more than you do - this 3 minute wait you have to SUFFER THROUGH while we process your transaction is nothing compared to the 45 minutes I have to stay back tonight getting everything counted and balanced and put away. If you keep this up I will STAB YOU IN THE EYE WITH MY PEN, lady who wants a raincheck on the cat food we still have plenty of on shelf, even if it isn't still wrapped in plastic. GTFOI.

Nine hour shifts with a good deal of pent up anger followed by an hour at the gym waiting for the anger to be replaced by apathy have let me here, to my bed, with its lovely warm electric blanket. I'm going to go and dream sweet dreams of people paying for everything with cash, and of being able to ban customers simply for getting on my nerves.

Good stuff, cheap stuff and a short(ish) rant...

And now, in the interests of honesty, it's time for Favourite Things 4am Saturday morning. Not quite as catchy, but factual accuracy has always been a favourite thing, no matter the time or day.

I'm picking the salvos. Specifically, the one in the Mount, the one that's next to the back door of the OK Pie shop* - the one in Grantville Court isn't as good.

When I last went there I got a Bonds hoodie (six sizes too big, but six times more comfy) and two pairs of jeans (RM Williams and Just Jeans skinnies) for $16. And even though a lot of people say to me "oh, well of course you can find things in your size," obviously there's also some nice size 16 jumpers about, or, there were, but I bought them.

There were a couple of other girls my size there too, and, as usual, I got irrationally cross at the idea that they might get a hold of something I wanted for me. But then, I saw what they were looking at, and got rationally cross at them. See, they were buying an outfit for an "op-shop party" which for some inexplicable reason translates in their mind as "find the most horrible disgusting thing we wouldn't normally be seen dead in and buy that. It'll be a right old laugh"

This attitude makes me really cross. Probably half my wardrobe comes from the Salvos. It's cheap, it's better for the environment and it helps charity. But when they think op-shop, they think something shapeless in brown velour. They don't think $200 worth of clothes for $16. They're missing out.

Actually on second thought, maybe we should be encouraging this kind of stupid ignorance on the part of my contemporaries. It means more good stuff for me.


*Mini Sausage rolls, also a favourite thing.

Disrespect, man.

Warning: I'm dissing some fellow bloggers quite hard here. I know we're supposed to be respectful and nice, and coexist Kumbaya style, but you've caught me at a bad time of the month. Nonetheless, you have been warned.

I know this is quite a late entrance to the debate. I know the discussion has been going on for almost a month now, but what the hey. I only read about it today, and I suspect I got more offended than a lot of people. I'm gunna target most of what she said, and be obnoxious and offensive along the way, and I'm doing it for one simple reason. According to this post, I will never be anything more than a beginner because I cant sew a consistent quarter inch seam. Of course I bloody can't - I quilt in metric. In some parts of the world, measurements have moved on. Your way is not the only way. My way is the future*.

I'm talking about the (so called) Dumbing Down of Quilting. Google it. Have a read. There's lots of comments by now, so skim through them too.

Now that you've done that, I'm gunna get mean.

According to some bloggers (one in particular), the existence of modern quilts is creating a generation of quilters with their heads in the sand regarding traditional techniques, leaving them to live a miserable existence bereft of half square triangles, which, because they spend too much time on blogs which are all style and no substance, they think are far too complicated for anyone who can't do anything better than a wonky square in a square (or something like that). Simple modern quilts are the death of skilled craftsmanship, yada yada, we and our precise points and old fashioned quarter inch* seams are up here on our moral high ground while the proletariat are chilling down the hill with their slavish addiction to designer fabrics.

Okay, so maybe that's a bit meaner than I originally planned. I get that that's not what the lady meant, but it's very very easy to hear it that way. And while my love of the centimetre* may cement my place as an eternal beginner, I consider myself to be an expert at unnecessarily rude rebuttals.

The first part of rebutting is to concede a small point, and I'm going to say that I do feel that the obsessions with a particular fabric or designer (Denise Schmidt, Kaffe Fassett, cough cough) that sweep through the modern-quilting blogosphere from time to time can do a lot to curtail originality. That making a quilt using only the fabrics from one range is an easy alternative to having to pick and choose a selection from all the fabrics in all the world. But the thing about a fabric range is, it does go together. It's meant to - all those fabrics compliment one another nicely because they were designed and printed for that very purpose.

But to take it to the extent that she has, decrying modern quilting as a lesser alternative to the traditional variety, and saying that modern quilters are somehow inferior artists because of these foibles, is ridiculous. It's like a meat eater decrying a vegetarian's inability to cook a sausage, like a footballer saying that netball is an inferior game because it's players can't kick the ball... Actually no, what it is, is a soccer player decrying Aussie Rules as easy because the players can use their hands. Because the thing is, it doesn't matter. You are almost comparing oranges and apples. Despite the fact that they are both called football, it's a completely different thing.

Perhaps that's what it is. It's traditional quilters worried that, god forbid, after all that time spent learning how to make two bits of fabric join together in some special way, they're being lumped in with the modern "easy" stuff because the two different styles share a name. Well I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous too, since quilting is actually the process of layering fabric, batting and fabric, and then sewing through all three. Quilting has nothing to do with half square triangles, or blocks, wonky or straight. And it may just be that I'm going to the wrong kinds of blogs (you know, the ones with the pretty photos) but most of the modern quilts I've seen have been quilted by the piecer, while the more traditional quilts seem much more likely to get the professional treatment.

But the thing that made me laugh the most was the suggestion that modern quilting is about making "the same 7 quilts over and over" Well, yes, I've made quite a few of my quilts a second or third time, mainly so I could play with new colours or fabrics, but y'know, I've not yet copied a quilt off of any other blog, or book, or from history. I've never used a pattern I didn't do the maths* for myself. And if anything, aren't traditional quilts just copies of quilts from the last 200 years, made over and over again?

Here's another thing - simplicity is not the same as stupidity. For me, the best part of quilting is finding the most efficient way to get all my pieces from the fabric available. Yes, I posted a pattern for a square in a square quilt. Yes, there's already hundreds of them out there. But the goal of mine when I was coming up with it was to work out the simplest way to fit all the bits I needed into the uncut fabric. A way that uses just 2 yards of fabric to make the top, that can use directional fabrics without issue and has pretty much no waste whatsoever. By considering quilting to be purely a technical exercise, a "how accurate can I get this point" competition, you are missing out on half the fun - the fun of coming up with new and innovative ways to use fabrics that have been bought by thousands of other quilters in a way this is unique to you, the fun of turning a simple design into something that is aesthetically both pleasing and striking.

Modern quilting is more about design than technique, and while more advanced techniques can lead to more complex and potentially interesting designs, complexity does not impart superiority. Nor does simplicity though, it is context which imparts superiority. In the context of your point of view, modern, simpler quilts are getting an undeserved share of adulation. In the context of my point of view, you're acting like a jealous poo head, because the masses have spoken, with their fondness for pretty colours and more efficient methods. Yay for context!

Okay, so calling the opposition a poo head is generally regarded as the end to civilised argument. I think for a minute there I thought I was in a GNW Great Debate - Paul McDermott will probably pop out at any moment and sing a song, and there will be a confetti explosion. Nonetheless, I get that I've taken a post that wasn't meant to cause offence and got really really offended by it.

But when you knock my love of the centimetre, I take it personally.


*The USA is the only major country still using imperial measurements. And while I agree that it can make the math easier, this is only because a .5cm seam (as opposed to the .64cm that is easily stated in imperial as a quarter inch) is cutting it a little too fine to guarantee a secure seam, a problem that could be fixed with better quality fabrics which fray less. As it is, I can calculate fine by adding .75cm to my straight seams and 1cm to anything at a 45° angle, and my points are consistently correct to under 2mm, despite the fact that I press all my seams open. Pretty clever for a dumbed down beginner, no?

Disclaimer: Slightly political. Read at own risk.

If I ever think what I've written is even slightly preachy, I will delete it. Being preached at is one of my absolute least favourite things, and, since I'm all for the "what goes around comes around" theory of everything, I make a point of not doing it.

Today though, things are a bit different, I have myself a soapbox, and I'll be hopping up on now.

My name is Sara. 23 years ago I was born in a hospital at the top of a hill. With the exception of probably an accumulated 6 months or so on holidays, I've spent my whole life around that hill.

That hill is Mount Gambier. Obviously, it's only a very small mount. It barely deserves an ain at the end. But the city surrounding this little mountain is home to around 24 thousand people. Another eight thousand or so live in the surrounding towns, making it the largest regional centre in South Australia.

According to wikipedia, the Mount's major industries "are agriculture, forestry, trucking and tourism." Wikipedia is wrong about a lot of stuff, but they're right on this count. We have lots and lots of farms with plants and cows too. Mount Gambier has more truck licenses and truck registrations per capita than anywhere else in Australia. We also have two of the big three trucking companies (K&S and Scott's). Last night it seemed like every second customer I put through was a tourist. And nearly 5000 people's jobs are tied to the local forests, which all on their own make up about 40% of the local economy.

This map doesn't have all the place names that the other one does.

But you see all those dark green bits? They're pine plantations. There's one about a kilometre from my house. You can't really come to the area without passing through them. That's how you know you're home - the asphalt on the road turns from red to blue, it gets colder and there's pine forests everywhere. Hayfever is really bad but pinetrees, growing them, cutting them down, turning them into woodchips, and board, and toilet paper at the local mills and factories, are so very much a part of this area.

The State Government owns these pines through Forestry SA. But they have decided that in order to fund election promises and keep the state's AAA credit rating, they may sell these forests to investors. Currently, Forestry SA has deals in place with the local mills and the toilet paper factory toward Millicent to supply them with wood. Most of what is grown in this area, having been planted some 37 years before by local people, cut down by local people and trucked by local people to local factories is then processed by local people. The value of the local pines themselves is only half their potential value, and that value could be lost if the pines are sold to foreign investors, who then simply take the logs overseas, where they can be processed in their own countries at lower cost for greater profit. With no cheap local logs to source, even more mills would close down, even more jobs would be lost.

A lot of the people I went to school with have moved away to the city. I was going to be one of them. But luckily for me, before I did, I realised, this is my home. I am far too local to leave. I find it sad enough that people who want to move away do so, but the prospect of locals who want to stay having to move away, because the jobs aren't here for them, the money isn't here for them, the services aren't here for them, it breaks my heart a little bit.

I go about my business in the Mount with the most powerful sense of this is where I am supposed to be. This is my town. This is my home.

If the politicians think they can sell it out from under me, they have another thing coming. Because there's another 20 thousand people who feel the same way. My home is not only my favourite thing. It's a favourite thing of most of my family, and so many of my friends.

Cold weather, blue roads and pine trees. I don't know that someone from the outside would even notice them. But that's how I know I'm home.

And there is no feeling nicer than being at home.

Grrr Bloddy Grrr.

I'm very glad I didn't do a post about how much I'm liking the new charger for my laptop, since it just exploded. Flash, bang, scorch marks on the bed and everything. Casey says there's burning smell but that can't be personally verified.

Laptop fortunately is fine, and since I only unplugged the other charger yesterday, I still knew where it was.

I'm pissed off though. 25 hours of usage, and it blows up. This is why I don't leave feedback as soon as an item arrives.

The other thing that I find weird is how they say "we will refund your money if you still give us positive feedback" when clearly, it hasn't been a positive experience. There's a black smudge on my quilt cover. It's not one of my actual quilts, but I'm still miffed. Even though I can't actually smell the smoke (have I mentioned I have no sense of smell? The official word, for those of you playing at home, is anosmic) I can kinda sense it. It's annoying me. So I have said I'm willing to not leave any feedback, positive or negative, and that's my best offer.

If it had happened when I wasn't here, if it had happened in a different spot, it could have burned my house down. I think I'm being pretty damn reasonable.

Damn.

Don't you hate it when you find a truly wonderful seller online, who not only has ridiculously good prices, but also responds quickly, packs your items in the cheapest way possible, charges you the same for postage as what the post office has charged them, and posts super super quickly?

No, you probably don't, because when you find a seller like that, you're all "woohoo! this seller is awesome! maybe they don't have a huge range, but I don't care. What they have is so nice, and so cheap, that I'll take two of every bundle they have. Hell, some of them I'll take 3. It would almost be a crime not to stock up on such nice, pretty, well priced fabrics!"

I on the other hand, don't get to buy anything new for probably the next 4 weeks, which is about how long its going to take to earn enough money to get my car fixed, as well as how long I have to wait till it can actually get into the mechanic. Which is fortunate I suppose, since part two cant happen without part one. But still, no more fabric buying for me.

At least I have stuff still arriving, including these today, from the aforementioned seller.

Robert Kaufman, "Mingle" in "Newspaper"

Robert Kaufman, Nautical Stash Stack

Robert Kaufman, Cherry Cordial Stack Stash

The thing about all these bundles is that, in order for the postage to be so cheap, the seller has to take them all apart and refold them nicely so they'll fit into a flat rate envelope. And that takes work. It's the kind of thing that the people at fabric.com, for instance, cant be bothered doing, which is why their international shipping is so freaking high. Of course it means that at the other end I have to reassemble the bundles, but that's worth the $15 or so it's saved me in postage. I'm actually quite good at it.

Anyway, here's an open letter to anyone selling fabrics internationally on the internet. Be considerate. Think about what you're doing. If it's something nice for the person who's buying it, they might really like you and buy more from you, or tell everyone who's reading it to go and buy some stuff from you*, because you are so awesome.

On the other hand, you can be like fabric.com, and have a massive range and fabrics at $3 per yard, so that I put up with the fact that postage costs me more and it takes your packages a month to get to me. But the thing is, I wont be saying nice things about you. Your staff are rude and your postage pricing scheme unfair to international buyers.

I much rather buying things from and supporting the small-scale fabric sellers on eBay and etsy. This week though I have to support my local small-scale mechanic, because the big dealership service centre didn't even notice that my catalytic converter had disintegrated...

Still, 2 more packages of fabric, plus more rotary cutter blades, and the next set of custom necklaces, including Kelsey's slightly late birthday present, are on their way.

If only I could get to the post office to get them.

Damn.

*but seriously everyone, don't buy it all, because I want for there to be some left when I have money again, so that then I can buy lots more, mainly of the Autumn Nutmeg and the Mingle in the Blue/Brown/Orange I used for the wonky quilt, so that I can make a bed sized version of it....

Attempeted Indignation Workaround...

So last night I did a heap of googling of the various American mail forwarding services and I've decided to try out shipito.com. They just have an $8.50 flat rate, and seem to realise that flatrate priority boxes are the way to go, just like most ebay sellers have. So I've bought 13yards, mostly $2.49 per yard stuff and mostly in half yard cuts, because I figure they can't possibly be making money on that when you combine it with the free US postage thing.

When I was working at Spotlight there was a program that told you the cost price of any item, so that you didn't reduce it to so far that they were losing money. At first it was very interesting, but almost immediately, it became very depressing. The gist of it is, they could reduce prices on most of the quilting fabrics by 75% and still make a profit. Not enough, but some, and I figure that's the precipice that fabric.com are on.

If this shipito thing can get it to me for $35, then that's $6 per yard, and that's the current full clearance price at spotlight. If it costs $55 then that's $8 per yard, and that's the first clearance price they go to, and equals out at $2 a fat quarter, which is a 33% saving on my normal limit.

So not only am I getting fabric on the cheap, one can only hope that fabric.com are losing money on every transaction I get forwarded, and that it will only take a few more shops till i recoup what they overcharged me on for the first one.

In other news, the dollar has gotten better too, which always makes me happy, as does the fact that the taxman is going to send me a bit over a grand in the next fortnight. Thankyou taxman.

Cold, again...

Good day today, no work, 3 parcels at the post office, and a big to do crossed off my list.

Honeycat and Babycat had their first trip to the vet today. $114 later, and Babycat is a girl after all, Honeycat got an injection and a pill down her throat and it turns out that a 3-course of flea killer stuff is fifty freaking bucks...

But its okay cause I love them.

In other news the Make Life Bundle got here, and I picked out 12 of the 23 to make into a quilt that, owing to its genderneutralness (new word) may or may not be suitable for Helen's baby. Depending on how much I like it. Helen, being a fellow maker of stuff, will understand, and I've found that newborns don't really care where their warmth comes from, so long as they get it.


I've also started work on the blue green quilt, cause Casey said to not be in a hurry about Mama Jan's quilt. Possibly a bit of a foolhardy move, but it's on her shoulders, after having only in my wallet thus far.

I added 4 of the Make Life fabrics, because they seem like an okay fit, and that gives me 16 to work with, which is more than enough.

Still at the 21*cm squares stage, and I'm not sure where it's going to go from here; I'm kindof a bit over the stars now, especially when it comes to the annoying around and around quilting, but I'm considering doing the same sort of design with right angles/squares. Dunno yet.


The best bit about doing the 21cm squares is that you get a nice big pile of scrappies and selvages. Helen showed me her tickertape quilt today and it's muchly cute, if a bit small, and I'd quite like to try one, if I can do it without handsewing, or having to use one of my dwindling supply of battings. I'm thinking two layers of flannelet, possibly cut from a discounted sheet set, and I can use little squares of iron-on to hold them in place, and maybe just back and forth scribble sew over them. I'm not sure, but at least I know I wont have to buy any fabric for the little bits.


I literally have bags of these. Even after Helen went through them for hers, I probably enough to do a full size quilt top already.

Tragically, however, as it's freaking cold, I'm calling it a night. I didn't get home till it was dark and noone had lit the fire, so its 17°C in here, which, while compared to say, the north pole, is not that cold, is still cold enough to make my toes go numb, and pretty much prevent me from functioning. So, now that the washing and ironing and first bit of cutting is done, its ziplock bag time.


The bad part of the day (other than the big-arse vet bill), is than the camera I was bidding on the other night arrived today, and also appears to not be functioning. I've reset all the settings to factory state and checked the lens for dust and everything, but it's still fuzzy. Not just when it takes the photos either, but always; just looking through the viewfinder is fuzzy. I'm gunna have another go tomorrow, though I'm not holding up high hopes, and if I cant get any improvement, I'll email the lady and ask for a refund. The listing said it was working fine, so if she wont agree to a refund then I should be able to reclaim it through paypal.

Bit of a bummer, that, but $115 is a bit much to pay for a small, pointless lump of plastic. That's half of what I paid for my 27 yards from the slightly rude lady at fabric.com. All I asked was if there was a problem with their postage calculator, as it was overcharging me by $35 when I tried to order more than 4 1/2 yards of fabric (I've had ebay sellers fit me 8yards in a flat rate envelope) and I got this in reply...

"Please note that we are a growing company and process about a thousand orders each day. We are unable to pause the workflow of cutting fabrics and preparing orders for shipment to check to see what may or may not go into a priority envelope."

You don't need to check. They can fit 8. I'd settle for 7, that's what most sellers list as their official limit. Even I could write the code for a shipping calculator. I'm not sure what programming language they would be using, but it would go something like this, give or take a bit of formatting:

If [quilting weight fabric] is >7 yards
then
postage = $15.95

There. done. How fucking easy was that? I understand that some other types of fabric weigh more, thus the [quilting weight fabric] bit. They probably have some code that I don't know, that's why it's in brackets. But seriously, if they did that, I would buy a pouch a week. Maybe two.

Maybe I need to get one of those US mailing address forwarding things. Anyone know of a good one?

*this just seems to be the biggest an American fat quarter will cut into 4 of.

Semi-completed...

Stayed up till 3.30 getting the top of the retro quilt finished and basted - I changed my mind about the backing and went for the back of a quilt cover I bought to chop up the front of, so the back (and borders, since I'm feeling lazy) are a bright white, at least compared to the front which is ivory, and really bought out as such by the bamboo batting.

This quilt is a departure for me in a few ways. It's the first time I've used a neutral - over half of the top is one colour - and not even a colour, just an old-looking white. And also, so many of the prints are from the one range. The more solid coloured green and the yellow with the little spots are the only ones not from the range.


Usually, I'm very opposed to just making a quilt with fabrics from one range. It's too easy. It's only one step away from a pattern, and that's one step away from a kit. Kits are for people who really should just buy a readymade blanket, because kits get you out of the most important (and to my mind, hardest) part of making a quilt.

Quilt Maths.

I'm fairly sure there are other quilts similar to mine out there. The 4 pointed star design is both simple and obvious. But, because I worked it out myself, with a calculator, a piece of paper and a paint document (actually, 4 paint documents - this one took a while to sort the colours), I'm fairly sure that the similarities wont get closer than that they share coloured and white star blocks. I picked my size, my layout, my angles. If I had used a pattern, there would be others with the same shapes, and even though the layout would be in different colours, if I ever saw one, it would be the same in my mind as showing up at a party in the same outfit as someone else. Worse. It would be like I had told everyone I was making my own dress, but someone showed up in the same thing. Making a quilt from a kit, and saying it's all you're own work, it's like being caught in a lie.

Quilting a top, to my mind, takes very little skill. Patience, yes. accurate cutting is important, and so is the ability to consistently sew a straight line a certain width from the edge of your fabric. Finally, there is ironing. So very much ironing in fact, that I'm getting a little callus under my pinkie finger.

But once the fabric and the design are sorted, you're just churning though it - it's no different to fixing a hem and ironing your clothes. Sure, more hard stuff comes when it gets to the quilting point, but it seems the thing to do is send it off to someone with a machine that takes up half a room, and pay them to do it for you.

The most difficult part of a quilt is working out the pattern, and choosing the fabrics. And I'm not gunna hand that task over to someone else, when it's also the part that has the most to do with my pride in the final result.