As many of you already know, during the months of Feb & March I ran a campaign through the crowd-funding website Fund It. The campaign is called a little old, a little new, and it was the platform for me to raise the much needed funds to start my own collection of textiles.

I’ve been making quilts, bed covers, cushions, bunting and other house bits and pieces for some time now, but desperately needed to move up a gear in terms of the equipment I’m using. My trusty old Singer is a wonderful machine but not equipped for the kinds of techniques I want to work with for quilting in particular. In addition to this, most of the money I can make from textiles are commissions, and it’s usually someone’s particular request, which leaves little room for my own style. After speaking with the very encouraging Fund It team, I decided to go ahead and try to raise the funds to create my first collection in my own style – a contemporary (or in the quilting world art-quilt) take on traditional methods and fabrics.

I was quite nervous running the campaign, although I had no need to be. Even though I am mostly known for my work in music and event management, the amount of support and encouragement I received from family and friends while I ran the campaign was truly overwhelming. For those of you who don’t know it, the idea behind Fund It is that an individual or a group propose a cultural project. If it fits within the scope of Fund It’s structures you are offered a platform to run the project though their website. You post a description of the project and a list of rewards that you can offer in return for their financial support. In my case, the rewards took the form of cushions and quilts.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who supported and encouraged me before, and during the campaign. It was my wonderful friend Niamh who pushed me to push the “Submit Project” button with her ‘JUST DO IT!’ message over g-chat! And my incredible fianceé who put up with me constant checking the pledge amount and bouncing around the apartment every time anyone pledged! Thanks to my Mum and family (and my new in-laws-to-be!) who spread the word around for me to make sure everyone and anyone knew what I was up to!

And a huge thank you to the Fund It project team who encouraged me to go for the campaign and for providing the platform. I strongly urge everyone to go to the website and browse through the list of projects looking for support. You might see something that will catch your eye and you have no idea the difference it makes to project managers to see the pledge total go up. I do! Also, there are many articles written on the subject of crowd-funding (I’m hoping to find time to write one myself shortly!) and I encourage everyone to read up on the opportunities and new ideas for supporting the arts and culture.

But mostly, I can’t get over the amount of goodwill, love and support is out there for someone who is just trying to make her dreams come true. Every €5 pledged showed me that there was another person out there who wants to see me succeed at what I do. In a time when there is much talk about begrudgery and ill-feeling towards others, this is a clear demonstration that there are people who care enough for each other to give them a hand on the road. Thank you so so much to all my funders (in alphabetical order!):

Included in this list are three pledges that arrived to my door from people who don’t use the internet a lot but who wanted to support the project, including my Nan! Not included are those who wished to remain anonymous but I thank you too from the bottom of my heart!

a x