Another Week

Another week has passed and I have yet to finish any projects.  Partly because I my routine is messed up partly because I am tired.  Add to that my wonderful $1.00 Deseret Industries task lamp for my work area gave up the ghost last weekend.  I need a new lamp.  I've had that one for 6 years and it was awesome.  It was the type that they used to use on drafting tables.  It clamped onto the edge of my desk and was adjustable.  I could put it up high or bring it down low.  I didn't even see new ones in the stores.  I'll have to try an office supply store.  I haven't seen any at Good Will lately. 

So Tatianna, my 19yr old, has decided to take the 4" squares I got off line and make a quilt.  She will be laying it out some time this next week and then start sewing it on next weekend.  She is still taking care of our friends/adopted grandparents so she isn't at home.  I took her sewing machine to her.

TaKayren my 14yr old has decided that she is going to deep clean the house this week.  Perigrine (12 yr old) is being drafted to help.  I am working weird shifts so I doubt I'll get much accomplished.  I am totally lacking in inspiration right now.  What can I do to spark my artistic side and get me moving?  All I want to do is sleep.  of course the 100+ degree weather and humidity is probably having something to do with that.

Millenial Projects / Perpetual Projects

A few years back, okay probably 10 years back, my friend Kerri Lynn expressed an interest in a project that was being taught in our Relief Society that month.  I offered to pay for her kit so she could learn and she turned me down.  It wasn't money keeping her from doing it.  It was the fact that she didn't need another "millennial" project.  A Millennial Project is one that you start and may finish in a "millennium"  or 1000 years.  I now call them Perpetual Projects, Because I do eventually finish them but by the time I do I have 10 more waiting.   I seem to start things very easily but finishing them up is another matter.  The Past two years I vowed to finish up some of these unfinished projects.  Well that has worked a little bit.  I still have created more though.  So I am trying a new tack.  I will not start a new project until I finish an old project.  Plus I can't start on another old project until I finish the new project.  One old project before a new one and both finished before moving on. That way I am not digging in any deeper.  So First up is finishing the baby rag quilt, then binding the 3 baby quilts and one full size quilt.  That will empty a bin and get some space for the new projects.  I have my 19 yr old daughter on board pushing me to do this as well so hopefully I can stay on track.  It is going to be hard since I am working full time and trying to get this jewelry business off the ground.  But I am sure it will be well worth it.  So everyone start pulling for me.  Today we start Finishing things.

Craft Booth Dilema

I am in a quandary.  There are all sorts of little festivals around this area.  I am debating setting up a craft booth at some of them.  The concern is will I make back my booth fee.  They range from $50 to $100 a show.  I am thinking that I could make some nice earrings with the right priced beads for about a $1.00 a pair.  If I am able to sell 100 pairs @ $2.00 a pair, I would make back the booth fee.  Any other sales would be profit (after materials of course) These festivals are right before Christmas as well so that also could play in my favor.  So the question is to do a booth or not do a booth.  Price points are tricky.  I want to make a profit and still be able to sell.  Also I totally understand the tight budgets.    I thinking that maybe we make little gift boxes to put them in when we sell them.  Just little folded card stock boxes in red and green.

Ideas just keep coming.  I think I am beginning to talk myself into it.

Sewing with Teens/Tweens

This last weekend I had the privilege to help 3 young women sew pajama pants.  Okay 2 were my daughters and they've done it before.  Still I really enjoyed it.  The girls were really proud of what they had accomplished and I had a part in that. 

I had forgotten how much fun it is to work with tweens and teens.  3-4 years ago I worked with the 4-H program in Delta Utah.  It worked out well for me in that I planned monthly classes, made up kits and went down to the 4-H office and taught the class.  Whether it was sewing, making jewelry, making paper, tole painting or rubber stamping it was an opportunity to teach 8-18 yr old something I enjoyed.  I wish I had a similar set up here in Georgia.  Unfortunately I work full time here and have to commute and hour each way.  Plus I don't have room at home to teach so a weekend club is out of the question.

Another aspect of 4-H that I miss is leader mete and master sewing training.  It was awesome to get together with other volunteers and learn and craft.  There is a sort of commonality among crafters.  We love to hear tips and ideas and share them as well.  We ponder over each other's failures and try to figure out what went wrong.  We celebrate each others success as if it was our own.  Crafters are an interesting people.

Back to the girls.  We started @ 10:00 am on Saturday morning and @ 1:30pm we had 3 pairs of pajama pants.  The girls sewed these to wear at their girls camp the week after next.  One of the adult leaders has taken home a pattern and is going to sew a pair for her little girl.  I will post a picture of the girls

Kunihimo / beads / vision

I am addicted to beads. I love the colors the textures and finishes. They draw me in. I especially love when I pick up a hank of seed beads and envision what it will look like in Kumihimo. I just finished weaving the kumihimo part of a necklace/bracelet set. The beads are what I dubbed a Mardi Gras mix. Metallic green, blues, & purples + gold, silver, copper. The resulting rope/cord is awesome. It came out beautifully and is very elegant and rich looking. I will finish it off with gold findings and make earrings before I put it on Etsy.

Kumihimo

I've been playing around with Kumihimo for the past 7-8 months. I really do love it. Fiber makes such wonderful cords for focal points. Beads make the most awesome necklaces and breacelets. So much fun to do and yet the results are elegant. I encourage anyone who loves to work with beads to try this fun technique. I'll post pictures of some of my favorites.