Tiny Tapper

This week end I went to the theatre for my daughter’s annual school variety show. It is an amazing production. Students audition with songs, skits and dances that they would like to be in the production. Those that are accepted then rehearse and prepare themselves, only coming together to polish the final extravaganza for three days prior to the first performance. Most of the skits are written by the students and many of the songs performed are original compositions. The breadth of talent is astounding when you consider that these are thirteen to seventeen year old kids!

My daughter has been involved in many productions at the theatre since she was just five. I think that she is about eight in this photo. She was lead tapper on the Good Ship Lollipop.

 When I watched her on stage this week end I was in awe of her. In the first number she danced to this song. I saw the thousands of dollars and thousands of hours worth of danicng lessons really pay off. She looked loose and natural, she looked like she was having a ball!

Later she was involved in a skit which she wrote with her friends about surviving year twelve. She had the main speaking part; she held her head high, she met the eye of the audience, she articulated clearly and  looked stunning. It almost made me cry.

In the car on the way home her friend said to her, “That’s the last time we’ll ever get to do anything like that.” This phrase has been going through my mind quite a lot lately as we draw ever closer to that time when she flies off to France.

The true hero of the entire performance was the guy in year 12 who played the lead guitar solo in this song. Every one loved him! I bet he was king of the school today!

Warmth

The BEST thing about living in North Queensland is the brevity of winter. I cannot abide the cold, I may have ranted to that effect before. Generally our winter lasts a week, maybe two, with warm days and chilly nights. By the time it’s chilly I am inside my house with the windows closed.

This year has been different. We had twenty consecutive days with a minimum of less than 12 degrees (celcius) and many days of actual cold during the day. This is most unusual.

The last week and half have been glorious. I love to wake up and feel the humidity, to not need the warm cocoon that I created with my blanket during the night. These days have made our garden wake. There is new growth on the swamp bloodwoods. (see that sky, no wonder!)

The lillypillies have colourful new shoots.

The euodia is even considering flowering.

On these days I feel invigorated and my thoughts turn to freshening up our lives and spring cleaning.

These are the days when we question whether five metre celings really were a good idea.

Construction

My boy may be a teenager, but that doesn’t mean he’s too old to sit on the kitchen bench wearing pyjamas that are two sizes too small and build something with construction materials.

With steely concentration he built a crank with a solar panel that really moves in the sun.

These days are going to be gone soon. Sigh….

It’s in the Name

As I reported weeks ago, my Pete is painting our house. He hasn’t finished yet. He has been going for five weeks. When you are a perfectionist you cannot rush. He has reached the last and most time consuming part…the rafters around the verandah.

This is how it looked pre-painting:

It looks kind of grubby even though it has been washed with a high pressure cleaner.

This is how it looks once painted:

This colour is called hot ginger. Recently Meggie was bemoaning her burnt orange kitchen benches. Burnt orange? Hot ginger? It’s all in the name!

National C

Tonight my daughter was graded on her umpiring skills at netball.

Dressed in white, she ran up and down the court for four twelve minute quarters. She only plays juniors, but was umpiring for seniors with a team of three ladies watching and assessing her. Afterwards one lady told her that they had a sheet of comments for her to review. She felt sure that meant that she had not passed. After several tense minutes they called her aside to tell her that she would be awarded the national c badge.

She might not look very big out there, but don’t mess with her…she’s got a whistle.

PS I took my life into my own hands tonight. More than once she hissed at me to stop taking photos. I just looked innocently and said ‘But I love you…’

Market Report

Doesn’t that title sound like I know stuff about something important? NAH I don’t.

Yesterday was the Christmas in July market (see previous post). It began at 8:30am and, at 10:00am, when I went to eat chocolate cake with the ever delightful Kirsty I was feeling quite despondent. We had sold NO quilts. So many people had stopped to give us really positve feedback. They loved our quilts, they were beautiful quilts, how clever and talented we were, how reasonable our prices were….yet not one sale. We also had many comments to the effect of  ‘I wish that I had a baby in my life so I could buy one of your quilts’.

This quilt in particular brought many ooohs and aaaahs – it was adored by many, many people.

By the end of the day we had sold five of our quilts. I had handed out MANY business cards and had many people telling me that I would hear from them soon. Some people asked us if we would return to the next market in November because they would look for us then.  All things considered this was a good result – we just took a while to get warmed up.

An experience like this leaves lots of room for reflection. What did this market show us?

1. We have a good product – people like the quilts we are making. We were called ‘new and refreshing’ etc The quilting itself drew many comments.

2. We have a product aimed at a very specific group of people – babies and those who buy for babies. People do like to spend money on babies, but are those people the same ones who visit a craft market. Where can we best reach those people?

3 How do we price for quality rather than for sales? We think that we should try to cultivate a ’boutique’ image. Our full range of quilts shown all together looked spectacular! Really colourful and bright, very stimulating. Can you maintain that image at a market when the lady beside you is selling crochet topped fridge towels?

If you have any advice or input on these topics please share.

The money that we made from this market should allow us to take our quilts in a slightly new direction. Flo and I are in busy discussions right now. Watch this space!

by the way the beautiful cupcake quilt did not sell, even though it drew the most adoration.

PS I’m so pretty! Look what my immensely talented photoshopping genius of a sister made for me…a new header. So fancy.

To Market, to Market

Tomorrow is the Christmas in July craft market. Flo and I have taken a stall to sell our Peek-a-Boo baby quilts. I have worked incredibly hard over the past two weeks to get them all quilted.

Today we headed off to the Palmetum to take some photos of our finished quilts. When I see these photos it makes all the hard work worthwhile!

It is very satisfying to see a pile of completed quilts. I hope that we sell at least some. I flip flop between the thought that we will sell out before the market is over…and that we will sell none….. Either way, I’ll know by tomorrow afternoon.

Scribbly Butterflies

These scribbly butterflies are on one of our quilts. Flo drew them and cut them out of our hand-dyed fabric. I stitched them freehand with my quilting machine.

I love them!

One More July Birthday

Today is my Pete’s birthday.

I have never been a risk taker. This is due to a mixture of childhood influences and over-riding personality. Yet I married this guy at the age of 20 while we were both at university.

To me he represents no risk at all. I knew that when we were 18. He provides challenge, but never risk. He is always my champion. He is the best father to our children. He will do anything for them. He balances me, which is not always easy! He cleans up after I have made yet another mess – again, not always easy.

Tonight we will celebrate with dinner and a cultural evening. The Bell Shakespeare Company is performing Macbeth at the theatre. You won’t find us there…we’ll be at the opening night of the Simpsons Movie! MMMMMM popcorn.

A song for my Pete. Happy birthday beautiful man.

PS just in case you think that is ‘our song’, it isn’t. My Pete says that our song is Tojo by the Hoodoo Gurus. Play it and listen to the first verse. Wicked, wicked man!

In Print

Yesterday this magazine came in the post:

 

Here is my quilt on pages 56-59

The quality of magazine photography is just magnificent. I can almost see every stitch!

When I saw the magnificent quilt on the front cover I couldn’t help but feel that mine was a little inadequate! WOW!

While I’m being quilty, have a look at these hand-dyed fabrics that Flo did this weekend. They almost look edibble.

I can’t wait to use them.