My third quilt

This time last year I was doing my last Mathilda's Market with Please Eloise. My lovely friend Corrie, also known as Retro Mummy, was there and when we had a chance to sneak away from our stalls we had a chat. Corrie confided that she was about 8 weeks pregnant, and then I surprised her by telling her that I was 7 weeks pregnant! After a bit of squealing, hugging and debating the pros and cons of different double prams, Corrie gave me a lovely little pack of charm squares, Good Fortune by Kate Spain for Moda.

It wasn't too long after that, my sister and I had a similar squealing session when she too discovered that she was pregnant. I decided that I'd use my charm squares to make my third quilt as a present for her baby - a little mat that you can throw in a bag with you wherever you go and baby will always have something lovely to lie on. It also makes a nice padded change mat.

Corrie also did a great post on a half square triangles, with a link to this video tutorial, and I decided that I'd give it a try. My quilt isn't perfect, but I'm really pleased with the results, especially seeing as it's the third quilt I've ever made. It was also my first attempt at 'stitch in the ditch' quilting, which was fairly quick and easy to achieve, and I think it gives the quilt a lovely padded look.

It would be remiss of me not to mention that I now have a lovely nephew, Lucas, to use the quilt. Here are Eloise and Ava, welcoming Lucas to the family. Love.

Moving on from Please Eloise

I've always loved craft, even as a child. I was just never particularly talented craft-wise. I had a short attention span and a lack of patience, but no lack of motivation to start a new project! Some things never change. I recall being sent out of my year 9 Textiles and Design class and told to 'go for a walk to cool down'. Damn sewing machines. My lack of crafting talent was a long running family joke. So, way back in November 2008, when I launched my handmade business, Please Eloise, my family were, fairly I'll admit, skeptical. I started out on Etsy where my store was quite successful, had good sales on an early incarnation of MadeIt and then moved on to busy markets and my own online store. It was a fantastic three years in business. I met some fantastic people and had a ball. You can read more about the Please Eloise journey here.

Please Eloise FluffyButt Tutus

I named Please Eloise after my eldest daughter Eloise. Since then, I've had two more gorgeous girls, if I do say so myself. Ava is one and Lauren is just shy of four months old. When I found out that I was pregnant with Lauren, I made the decision to fold Please Eloise. It was a bitter sweet decision. I'm lucky enough to be able to do consulting work mostly from home (my 'real' job) and with three children to care for, something had to give. I can't say I've regretted it. In fact, I've absolutely loved the time it has given me to work on my own projects, and my love of craft has grown wings. Even better, I seem to have much more patience and I'm finally finishing things!

My best creations yet... Ava, Eloise and Lauren x

I'm self taught. Self taught in the sense that I'm armed with beginners craft books and google is my crafting life saver. So I've decided to blog my way through my capricious crafting journey, so that I have some way of consolidating and remembering all the hard work I've done and how far I've come since that Textiles and Design class...

Sydney Morning Herald, November 2009