7/10/2017

Finished the second quarter USO donation tally and sent the check out in todays mail.

Aprils total- $18.30
Mays total- $9.50
and June- $14.20

Total check amount $42.00

Sales were down for Military as well as for everything else in the shop, Etsy has been ramming through some very massive changes to how the customers put items into their carts to how they view our items, which now show our competitors items when a person is viewing our item that they might have followed back from a link or social media site.

A lot of shops have closed down and moved off site, but there are always new ones opening so I don't think etsy is going to go anywhere anytime soon. In order to bump sales I have even found it necessary myself to move off site. I still have both shops on Etsy with items in both but have found it necessary to "spread" the wealth to other sites to see if we can bump up sales.

My primary web site which has the links to each of the separate selling shops that I operate:
www.GabbysQuilts.com

Etsy custom military shop with sewing and craft supplies:
www.GabbysQuiltsNSupply.etsy.com

Etsy handmade shop with military baby , crochet and lanyards:
www.GabbysQuilts.etsy.com

Ebay with precut cotton fabrics for quilting sewing and craft uses:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/gabbysquilts518/m.html

Artyah with my husbands handmade wood items and the rest of my handmade items that I make as time allows:
https://www.artyah.com/seller/gabbysquilts

We are also getting ready for Craft Fair season and listings for the local sites we are vending can be found on my web site under the tab craft fairs 2017, my husband will be bringing his new wood items to display as well. Hoping for a good season this year as we have added a few new venues that we haven't participated in before so we shall see.

I'll leave you with this cute pattern I found for those of you into sewing :)

http://www.handmadiya.com/2015/09/zipper-wallet-diy-tutorial.html

Til next time have a good summer and I will be back soon with any new updates.

First Quarter Shop News

January and February donation tallys have been done, yes you read that right, both months, this is how far behind I am falling as I try and juggle the two Etsy shops and a part time job :)

January total was $11.50
February was $29.10

Numbers are lower then last year but still respectable given the economy.

New inventory is arriving to be loaded into the etsy shops and the craft fairs have begun for the year so we are making items for them as well. The ones that have sent confirmation have been loaded to the web site under the tab labeled Craft Fairs 2017, www.GabbysQuilts.com, we have a bunch of new ones coming up but no confirmation on them yet so they have not been listed, yet :)

Eagerly awaiting spring and some warm weather so that we can start turning the garden and got a phone call from my son the other day that he is attempting to come home for a visit soon so that is something we are very much looking forward to, it has been another 18 month separation other then the trip we took to the airport when he came home from the last deployment and between lack of sleep and jet lag the poor kid slept the whole visit :)

I will leave you with some pictures of some of the new patterns coming to the shop soon and will hopefully be back next month with the first quarter donation total to be sent to the USO.

I did it !!!

I have slowly started getting back into crochet and knitting, well I found this pattern on the internet for a basic crocheted dishcloth, which was fine and dandy, and I went a made a few. My problem was that even though I was using some really cute cotton yarns they were just well rather hum drum, I was looking for something that would pop, a repeated search on the internet was NOT bringing up anything that I thought had some POP to it, so after much undoing and repeated doing over I finally came up with something, I think, a little different then just regular crocheted dish clothes. It took some doing in finding the right number of rows necessary to do the scallop edge correctly, and the hardest part was getting the number of scallops to work out evenly all the way around the edges. I am sure it isn't the biggest accomplishment in the world but given it has been 25 years since I have crocheted or knitted anything, quilting kind of butt it's head in, I am pretty proud of my accomplishment. Now a experienced crocheter can probably look at these and redo them in a heart beat but I am hoping that I can continue on and come up with some other different variations on these, and they are a really good project to do in front of the TV at night when the work day is over with, like that is ever a possibility when you own your own business :)

I have also just placed a restock order with the supplier for Wash a day Clothepin bag pattern from Darlene Zimmerman and the Look Who's Sleeping in my Bed baby quilt pattern by Susie C Shore designs, which will be reloaded into my supply shop, they are scheduled to arrive sometime next week and those on the waiting list will get their notification that they have arrived for purchase as soon as I verify them in the shipping box. I also have a few new items that the supplier loaded onto the web site since the last time I checked, but I won't say yet til I make sure that they are actually going to send them to me. I will update on here when they do arrive :)
Well off to get ready for a new work day, hope everyone has a good day and you can bet I will be making some more of these for the upcoming craft fairs this season, they just might be a good seller :) Til next time

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 :)

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 :)

Craft Fairs

Well we have another Craft Fair coming up this Saturday, May 5th. I am truly hoping this one turns out better then the last one. I know I haven't done these in over 20 years and things change, but it just doesn't seem like these events get very much foot traffic anymore.

Truly, doesn't anybody like handmade items anymore ? I truly think Walmart has cheapened what we do, when I do get people to look in my booth the expression I hear the most is, Why so expensive ? It is a total waste to try and explain to them that the materials are expensive and when you include the labor it just adds to the cost. I was told by a person at the last event, well I can go to Walmart and pay 29.99 for a whole quilt set, and I was polite and did not tell her what I really thought, which was, be my guest, but remember you will be replacing that 29.99 set in a few years because the workmanship is not there.

I am left wondering how people can actually quit their day jobs and do this. I love what I do, but I truly do not ever see it supporting me. My husband finds these events to be a nice diversion from what our full time jobs are, and so we will continue to participate, but I am not getting my hopes up that anything will come out of doing them, other then meeting other crafters and drooling over the gorgeous items that they make :)

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.