Shop News for the New Year

Hi Folks,

Well 2016 is off and running, most of the tax paperwork is done, final Military donation for the year was made and for the last quarter , with sales contributions of $69.90 from my military customers and I pitched in a final amount to get us to the $100 level. With the total donation for the year coming in at $598.00 my Military customers rocked the USO this year, hoping that 2016 we can do it again.

Looking at some different variations on what we are already carrying, with lanyard machine issues constantly cropping up I am forced to keep what we can make on the small side, so look for some new mini key fobs for the different branches with dual branch embroidery on both sides of the fob, I am going to see about making some small size quilts with coordinating fabric for the different branches and their logos and maybe if we have the time I can introduce personalized Christmas stockings this year.

We start this year off participating in a Team Event on Etsy, the Quiltsy Destash Party, please if you have the time and either sew or craft some real bargains can be had by shopping the stores participating, some are just cleaning their sewing rooms and others, like me, have had to down size to fit into smaller places when we moved over the past year.
Check it out here:

The Great Quiltsy Destash Party

Starting Date: January 15th, 2016

The party ends when its all gone!

Place: The Quiltsy Team Pages on Etsy

We are a team of quilting entrepreneurs dedicated to making quality products, advancing our love of quilting, and supporting each other. In 2016 we will be working to showcase new products and ideas, promoting our shops, and changing the way you think about quilting! All this creativity means we are opening our quilting studios up to you. Fabrics, Patterns, Quilt Books, and Kits are all available for the taking. We welcome you to start your shopping and browsing at any time by clicking on the links below.

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-quilt-books

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-patterns-and-kits

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-fabric

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/exciting-new-fabrics-patterns-and-tools

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/gifts-for-sewing-enthusiasts

Please also feel free to browse our handmade items as well at:

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam

Find us on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsyTeam

Thanks for stopping by and giving us a look. Happy Shopping!

Web Store

Well we finally did it, I managed to get into my blog LOL, Google has changed so much, what happen to just being able to compose a post for your blog and post it, all these additional steps to do something simple :(

I finally have a web site, it has product listed for sale as has made a few, but boy is it alot of work and of course google wants you to pay for everything in order to get it out into the web, so we are having to do everything the hard way.

Web Store

Added a bunch of new patterns, pre cut fabric charms and notions yesterday;

These are just some of the quilting supplies available, please stop by and browse more are being added as they arrive from the supplier.

Works in Progress

Had a very busy day today, in between doing the laundry, tending the garden and canning tomatoes, I managed to finish 4 Table Topper tops and got them pin basted and ready for machine quilting.

Now I've got to see when I can get another day off, I can't wait to start on these :)

General News

Well the this week has been a really busy one, I can't believe how fast the time is going, before we know it summer will be over. I know, nobody really wants to hear that, but I swear every time I blink it is speeding by faster and faster, funny thing is my daughter said the same thing to me the other day.

Lots of things going on, I made the decision to put some of my handmade items back up for sale, they are in the one shop now with the supplies, it is easier to promote that way. Having a handmade and a supply shop just didn't make any sense with my work schedule the way it is, we are gearing up for the upcoming craft fairs this fall, any free moment that I have I have been sewing up a storm. Some of it is already being posted in the shop, others have been set aside to go to the craft fairs. I have found keeping things separated works better for me, that way when the date comes around all I have to do it grab the bins for the craft fairs and we head out the door.

Well that is it for now, headed off to spend some quality time with my son, before he doesn't have time anymore. Enjoy the rest of your week and the hot weather that goes with it :)

The sights we see while in the country

These were seen wandering around the countryside on two separate days. Me and my husband while out doing our inspections came across these beauty's when we stopped to complete our paperwork, both were just wandering across the back parts of the property, it was almost like they were posing for the camera. They were not the least upset that we had stopped to take their pictures, the deer just continued to eat her lunch and the turkeys were on high alert, because if you look very carefully at the picture, you can see atleast 6 little chicks trailing along after the adults, but they just continued their stroll across the back into the woods just beyond. 

I really miss seeing sights like this on a daily basis, what I would do to go back in time when we were first looking for a home, and insist that we had looked in the country instead of only looking at homes in a city setting. 

I am really starting to envision a possible quilt project in my future where I take all these pictures I have been accumulating, print them out on fabric and make a really nice country living quilt. :)

General News

Well it has been awhile since I have had a chance to write, alot of things are going on some good, some not so good.

Good:
My son is now officially enlisted in the Air Force, he can be call anytime after June 20th to do his basic training and from there go to where ever they need him to. He has chosen to work on the big plane engines, doing what I haven't the foggest idea, but as long as he is happy, that's all that matters. My daughters boyfriend has been in Greenland working on their networking issues most of the week, then sometime this year he is suppose to go south for 6 months for more training in his particular Air Force training, so things are finally on track for that.

I have started the signing up progress to get into the fall craft fairs, biggest problem there is that I only just found the listings and most of them are already filled in my area, so I have been putting myself on the waiting lists for cancellations, but if nothing else I can back track through my email and possibly get the ball rolling on these in January of next year so that I can do them next year.

My husbands work is going full steam ahead, which is good, but the bad part is no time to QUILT. I have been trying to fit in time for hand sewing, but sometimes there is no time at the end of day for even that. Someday when things slow down, I will be ready to sew, then watch out :)

Bad:

We are still struggling with medical paperwork for health coverage for my son til he goes into the Air Force. I have filled the applications out three times, and each time they come back to be refilled out again, because they can't find out in what tier we fit. At this rate, I am thinking he will probably get called out to do basic and I will get the call the next day that they have found what tier we fit in and we won't need it anymore. Oh well, such is life.

Everything else is going along, summer is coming, hopefully time lounging in a lawn chair looking out over a lake is in the future.
Til then, everybody have a gorgeous spring :)

Happy National Quilting Day !

I just love this, and I am always kindly reminding my husband of this when I want to stop at the nearest quilt shop on our daily travels, and he rolls his eyes at me :)

I received a Award

A Big Thank You to Mountain Quiltworks for this;

My job now is to share 7 things with you all, that you may or may not know about me,  and then find 15 other bloggers who also deserve this award and pass it on to them.   Finding deserving bloggers isn't hard, but coming up with seven things? 

#1 - I have a full time job during the day and I am balancing running 3 shops around that.

#2 - I have been quilting for 14 years now, and am beginning to take the plunge into long arm quilting with a new frame that my husband bought me two years ago.

#3 - My favorite type of quilting is hand work, I am particularly addicted to English paper pieced hexagons.

#4 - I like a challenge, but I am very nervous with new things

#5 - I will soon have a empty nest, my son is in the home stretch on plans for enrolling in the Air Force, and my daughter is planning on following her boyfriend to a possible job deployment in Florida.

#6 - I will be starting a new venture this year with my business, we are going to be doing Craft Fairs in our area in the hopes of getting my name out there for prospective customers.

#7 - I have dreams of someday owning my own brick and mortar quilt shop.

The blogs I am passing the torch to are ones that I follow, and each offer their own perspective on these very addicting crafts that we do and love.

http://anitadeansews.blogspot.com 

http://www.cluckclucksew.com/ 

http://kwansquilt.blogspot.com 

http://monashandcraftedgiftsquilts.blogspot.com 

http://sylviesdesigns.blogspot.com 

http://rooeesconfetti.blogspot.com 

http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com 

http://petitehermine.blogspot.com 

http://dianesdangles.blogspot.com 

http://vroomansquilts.blogspot.com 

http://vivianperry.blogspot.com 

http://susietenzer.blogspot.com 

http://dlitesbydorene.blogspot.com 

http://calliopecreations.blogspot.com 

http://lostlemonade101.blogspot.com 

A Very Good Day

Well today turned out to be a very good day, I had to make a investment in a new phone in order to do credit card sales at what I was hoping were confirmed dates for craft fairs.

The craft fairs are finally confirmed, and the phone proved itself worth its weight in gold, I was able to get my email and converse with the customers enough to be able to get two possible sales today through my supply shop. Then tonight, it is BNR night at Promofrenzy team, I made a sale through my handmade shop, probably not enough to warrant keeping the shop open, but we shall see. I have already moved most of the handmade items into the bins for craft fair, and the embroidery blanks will be moved into the supply shop when they expire.

Everything I need for the craft fairs are on their way and will hopefully be here in time for the first one, it has been awhile since I have done a craft fair, 25 years to be exact, so I am alittle nervous, but I am sure not that much could have possibly changed.

I still have a few more items to finish up, get my son set up for some of his college appointments, get our taxes done, and my father heads in for surgery on the 20th of this month, so we are off and running for the third month of the year. Which is good, but alittle nerve wracking sometimes :)

2012 Tasks for Business

Well, we can cross another to do off the list for 2012, I signed up for my first of many craft fairs that I want to do this year. It is not going to be easy to fit them in between my husbands busy work schedule, but if I don't, I run the risk of not getting my name out there and no business.

He was able to give me the last three days off, so I put them to good use, I have a good stock of items in which to set up a pretty decent display of items, and hopefully a good enough mix to be able to attract some perspective buyers.

I also was able to finally get the graphics in my front window, after observing for the last three days the volume  of people who think my house is a actual Quilt Shop, I wish. The city unfortunately would frown deeply on that, seeing as I live in a residential area with business down the end of the street but none directly on it :) We had lettering made up to announce that I do online sales only. Free local delivery,in case anybody wants to order in the immediate area, and my addition, Like me on Facebook. I was figuring with that last addition that it would be a good way of collecting people that I can keep updated on what craft fair I will be vending at or any new product that I am in the process of doing that can be bought or customized before it is listed.

Quilt Top Done

Customer that ordered a custom Queen size quilt will be up in the middle of the month to give his go ahead, and drop off a deposit. I am waiting til he looks at it to go any further with it, not that I am worried that he won't like it, I just like them to be able to see what they are buying.
We attempted to send him a picture, but his phone won't except picture mail, and he has no online access where he lives :) I can't see be able to live without a computer, but he seems to do okay without one;

Quilt Repair

Gentleman who bought the last quilt I sold had a surprise for me last weekend. He brought over a quilt that had been his from when he was a child. His mom was moving out of the family homestead and was dividing up the possessions and came across this quilt, so of course she asked him if he wanted it.
He brought it over Saturday to see if it could be repaired, in the process of him using it, he caught it on the edge of the bed and some of the stars had started to come loose.
I don't usually want to take on this kind of job, and the big reason being, they are usually family heirlooms, and I am afraid of lessening the value of the quilt by doing modern repairs to a obvious antique quilt, but he really wants to put it back on his bed. So we are doing a quilt repair, all by hand, which is not that big of a deal, I Love doing hand work, which if anybody really knows me, knows that I particularly love English Paper Pieced Hexagons. I promise to load a finish photo when this beauty is finished. I am just about half way done with it at this point.
Then we move on to another quilt order for a queen size quilt with wolves, which will be placed in a Adirondack summer home up near Saranac Lake.

Thanks

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTE0NDQwMjd8MTExMTEzMzc1MQ/the-most-wonderful-day-of-the-year

Thanks to Dee Blakeslee for the inclusion in this great christmas treasury, it features my christmas pot holders :)