An overdue post about Christmas gifts

Hi lovely readers.

I’ve been sitting on this half done post since Christmas, and have finally managed to take a ‘tadah’ photo of the finished item for you.

Some time ago, mid last year we took the girls to the Flinders Ranges for a holiday.  Amazingly, in a town of 200 people we managed to find a quilt show.

Considering there were only 200 people in this tiny town, it was a very nice little show which had more than a few lovely quilts and a very large trading table.  I’m assuming you ladies who live overseas have trading tables?  Everyone makes stuff and sells it in the hope of raising funds for your local groups who need them?

We used to have them outside our local supermarket (Eudunda Farmers – remember them?) and I remember as a little girl just loving them.  You could always get some truly excellent cakes from them.  They’ve fallen by the wayside in the larger community now, all the councils are too tied up with red tape and public liability.

But I remember them!

Anyway, eldest daughter took a real shine to one particular quilt on display.  I took a photo and promptly forgot about it until a few months later when I found it on my camera.

Now, I don’t know about you but as children get older, they get very difficult to buy for.  Our kids are very lucky, they have a big family who spoil them rotten (and truth be told, I think their mother might spoil them too) and they literally want for nothing.  Short of buying my daughter an Iphone for Christmas (the one thing she truly wants with all her little heart), I could think of nothing at all to give her.  And over my cold dead body is she getting an Iphone any time soon.  

When I found this quilt picture on my phone, I knew straight away that it would make a great gift.  As much as I love the fairy quilt in her bedroom, she keeps reminding me ‘that she’s twelve now, mother’ and would like the fairy quilt removed from the wall.

So that’s what I did.  I worked my butt off, and worked so far out of my comfort zone, but I made her a lovely quilt for Christmas.

It was so far out of my comfort zone it wasn’t funny.  The colours are not my choice (she LOVES them).  The design is so far left of anything I’d ever do myself I found it really difficult (nothing is balanced!  Things have different measurements!  It’s not symmetrical!!!!)

Once I finished it, I gave it to my mother to quilt and she’s done a very lovely job.

So sitting up till very late once my daughter had gone to bed and stitching down the binding was one of the last jobs I did before Christmas day (don’t we all do that at some time or other??).  I am very pleased with it, especially as an exercise of working with patterns that don’t follow your particular likes or comfort. 

She says ‘it’s a nice quilt, mum’ – which wasn’t quite the reaction I was hoping for but since Christmas she has been asking when I can put it on her wall, so I guess in ‘tween’ speak that means she likes it.  Who knows?  They are a mystery to me, these children of mine!

(and to be fair, it’s like giving coal to coalmen – my girls have so many quilts).

So there you go.  The story of one Christmas Quilt.  I’ll show you the other one tomorrow (and that one was WAY in my comfort zone and I loved every minute of making it!)

Have a happy quilting day!