…peas in a pod…

There’s something quite fabulous, about seeing a long-percolating project come to life. Even better when you rope your crafty offsider into it, and along the way, not only do you create something cool, but it also brings moments both unexpected and magical.

I think that’s the best way to sum up our podcasting adventure – unexpected, and magical. An on-a-whim comment in April 2019, add in a pandemic, two cancelled quilt camps, and then a resurgence in the idea in August 2021, in the middle of our second lockdown (we’ve been quite lucky, here in in rural Australia, really), and the idea started growing wings. The final push when name inspiration struck, and within two weeks we had a website, an instagram, a season outline, season two ideas, and our very first episode went live.

“A weekly podcast on creativity, connection, community and collaboration”. It’s not lost on me that our podcast, with this as our tagline/mission statement, was dreamt up, and also brought to life, in two moments I was desperately craving connection of my own. 2019 was a big one. When I first came up with the idea, we had had two deaths in the family already, our home was on the market, I was busy homeschooling and juggling inspections, and planning a house build. All those things also meant that this new creative project that I was keen to sink my teeth into had to take a back seat. And 2021 goes without saying, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t need community & connection at the minute.

It was interesting, as we recorded our final episode, that that idea came up. Would we have actually followed through, had there not been a pandemic. Maybe we would have? But both of us are inclined to think the fact we haven’t seen each other for two whole years, combined with seven lockdowns for Car, two for me, and all the unsettledness that comes with living through a once-in-a-century pandemic, had a huge bearing on the decision to give it a crack. We kept it low key. It wasn’t until the week of launch, that we were 100% certain we actually were going to launch. We kept it simple. Just one season of 10, 20 minute episodes. We kept our expectations low. I refused to check stats after the first weekend, and were chuffed to crack over 100 instagram followers.

In the end, we were completely and utterly blown away by the response to our little podcast. I said to Car at the beginning, if we get X listeners, I will call it a raging success. We ended up getting two and a half times that, on Spotify alone. We debuted at number 16 on the leisure charts (shout out to all the sticky beaks who popped over from my personal Facebook to see what the heck I was up to now, that made that possible!!). On the day our final episode aired, I received an email informing us that we were number one in Australia for craft podcasts. I was at the hairdressers at the time, getting my colour washed out, and promptly lost my mind. Car was very inconveniently off having a life, so I had to settle for blowing up her phone with 4000 messages.

Outside of the fun numbers, the growth and connection the podcast gave us is also a big part of why, for us personally, it was a successful project. Before going into this, neither of us were big fans of video calls. Quite infamously, we once had a video call where I made everyone look at my ceiling for the whole time! After two months of calls, though, it’s become quite an important part of our friendship. There was a week we weren’t able to record, and after cancelling recording, my week went to pot pretty epically. On the Friday morning, Car messaged and asked if I wanted to zoom, just to chat and hang out, even if we couldn’t record. Before podcasting, the very idea would have been unthinkable. Now, we plan to zoom and art each week, when we can. Today, it wasn’t going to work, and I even sent a message, saying how it had been a hot minute since we’d videoed and it felt wrong to not be zooming on a Friday morning. If nothing else, the new dimension in how we connect with each other, even in a busy season, is such a gift.

It has been an absolute blast. I have enjoyed podcasting even more than I thought I would. I have several moments, while recording and then editing our final episode. We have loved it so much we are already planning season two, plus a mini summer series in between.To everyone who listened, subscribed, shared, commented on our insta, or even just popped along once for a sticky beak, THANK YOU. I honestly have no words for how touched I am by all the support, and I think I can safely say that Car would agree with me. It’s been one heck of a ride, and we couldn’t do it without our fabulous listeners. THANK YOU.