The beginning

My dream is to work for myself, making quilts and rag dolls and handbags and anything I enjoy making and think (hope) someone might buy. I picture myself starting most days with a cycle ride or walk, stopping to take photos of flora and fauna and misty mornings in and around my home town of Bath. It’s a very nice place to take photos, and the countryside here abouts is wonderful.

I suspect that beneath my ‘Nice n Easy’ light auburn I have been turning grey, with my chicken and egg dilemmas: which comes first, the tax office or a business bank account? Do I set up an Etsy shop and then a web-site? I don’t know, so I have decided to start by just making stuff…for now. I am working out what to make and how to make it most efficiently, so that I stand a chance of reaping a profit down the road.

I have started a quilt with the idea that I will be able to use it to show the sort of things a customised quilt can include, and I am basing it on me - I have never made myself a quilt before; just gifts for friends and family.

I started by painting the Royal Crescent in Bath - well a representation of it really - in fabric paints and then quilting it.

I recently visited some very dear friends in Sweden and Annika introduced me to the joy of yo-yos! I am partial to flowers so my second square combines my new love of yo-yos and a long standing love affair with buttons. 

I am also developing a toy mouse design. It needs to be cute and quick to make but look professional. My first attempt at what I like to call the Ellen mouse ended up with bingo wings and some untidy seams. I refined my pattern and have tried using a white brushed cotton rather than the calico I used on version 1. It's cuddly, its limbs are more slender and mouse like, but it stretches...I think i will go back to calico for version 3.

Ellen mouse: version 1

Ellen mouse went with me to Sweden, where the real life Ellen took pity on the poor fat-armed rodent and has given her a good home. Ellen wanted to call the mouse Sue, so a very clever chap suggested the mouse should be called Sue-Ellen Mouse...which has stuck.

Ellen version 2 has been somewhat hindered by our cat, Rio. No, he has not eaten her! Poor Rio stopped eating last weekend and an injection of anti-biotics didn't put him right, so he had a few days with the lovely vets and nurses at Rosemary Lodge veterinary hospital. For a while it looked as though he had liver or gall-bladder problems, but it seems it was a bad infection. He is back home, eating well and purring loudly...and all for only £700!