One never know when inspiration will strike. When it does, one should act on it ...right? Of Course! Yesterday I found a remnant of a really nice snowflake fabric so I decided to purchase it. Now it needed a couple of fabrics to so with it. I spied this really nice very deep teal fabric with metallic gold pinecones and spray of pine needle which set off the snowflake fabric in a particular way. I immediately thought "ah, hot pads!" I looked around a bit more and found a fat quarter of a light green but basically the same color way..
Someone (namely ME) is doing the happy dance, I finished ALL my holiday sewing this weekend. The last thing I wanted to get done was something to put in the holiday exhibit at the Shelburne Arts Co-op. My holiday sewing does not usually entail much ho, ho, ho, deck them halls and other over the top type Christmas fabrics, I go more for seasonal/winter themes. I dugout this indigo blue fabric from my winter stash. It has wonderful but subtle metallic gold stars and swirls and this tiny light blue dot that looks like snow. WOW, this would make a wonderful fabric basket!
This morning it was time to start fashioning some baskets and bowls out of all the strips I have cut. They were are is what I think of as a rats t so yesterday I laid them out in rows staring with the yellow and golds and working my way up to the wine colored red. I did this so I could see what I had so that I could start designing and picking what colors and fabric I would use in what order. My friend Margaret sent me a picture a few months back of what she calls her rainbow bowl. As I was looking upon the stripes I began to see that I really had a full spectrum of color there and so decided to try my hand at making a rainbow basket. Since I had so many wonder colors and textures to chose from, it was a lot of fun.
Last year a participated in a holiday /seconds sale shop at the Snow Farm which is about an hour and 1/4 from my house. Since my work did sell I decided to try it again this year in spite of the 40/60 consignment split. I look at it this way. at least it is going to a nonprofit that teachers all sort of wonder art classes. I added the fabric baskets to the items I took in this year. I wanted to have some holiday themed baskets so I make a holly basket to add to the mix. I delivered my merchandise to them yesterday afternoon.
It has been a very hectic week so far. We are planning a trip up to Maine for this weekend (tempting fate since that is where we were when the blizzard hit 2 years ago and we were without power for a week). It is mixing business with pleasure since I will be delivering inventory to Mainely Quilts in Kennebunk, ME. In fact, we are going to stay at the Inn which is run by the owners of the quilt shop. So far this week I have finished 8 mix and match blueberry place mats, 2 table runners and some balsam pillows and sachets.
I like having a blog since I can write about things that interest me like new sewing projects and also interesting things that happen to me related to my business. Here's a great example ..... A lady, Mary, bought 2 of my balsam sachets from one of the retail outlets that I consign with, the Leverett Village Co-op. She got my website address off of the label and went to my website and from there, e.mailed me. What she told me was that last Christmas her granddaughter gave her a balsam wreath and she saved it!
After the Herculean effort of my first 2 day out door festival. it was time to take a break so that is what I did last week...NO SEWING or sewing activities which includes updating my blog. Many things went undone while I was getting ready for the Garlic and Arts Festival so last week I played catch up and have also been doing that this week. Right before the festival a lovely lady by the name of Mary contacted me about some blueberry placemats she had purchased from Mainely Quilts and did I have more? Fortunately I had replenished their stock so she was able to contact them and cleaned out their stock. So, time to make more place mats.
My first experience being an exhibitor in an outdoor show, the annual North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival, is now in the rear view mirror. I met a lot of nice people, attendees and exhibitors alike, sold some of my work and overall, had a good time. My neighbor Marie and I headed up to the festival site around 8:00 Saturday morning. It was overcast and in the high 50's which pleased us to no end..no rain! Setting up the displays went VERY smoothly and by 9:30 we were ready to go.
All the weeks of preparation came to fruition today for the Garlic & Arts Festival...set up day. As the saying goes, it's all done now 'cept for the shouting. My DH had taken the afternoon off so he could help me set up. We here in the North Quabbin area have had a VERY dry late summer/early fall EXCEPT for this morning. The truly amazing thing is that by the time we had finished lunch, the rain had stopped and there were actually a few minutes of sun.
Several months ago I saw in the T.V. Guide that some afternoon talk shows where dealing with the topic of stay at home Mom's and pill popping. One of the segments was called "Momma's Little Helper." My little helper came in the form of a very well organized, hard working daughter who offered to visit on Sunday and pitch in to help me get ready for the Garlic and Arts Festival. I have been totally focused on getting items made since it would be a bad idea to do a show without enough stock. Most of the items still needed to be inventoried, tagged and priced. After breakfast on Sunday I took an inventory of all the items that would be on the two tables and decided what price I would charge everything. I then separated all the same priced items a put a sticky note on them and added them to the inventory. EVERYTHING had to be repriced to whole dollars since I did not want to deal with making change on every sale. Once all the various and sundry tags were printed, things were now ready for my daughter to come and and take over.
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One never know when inspiration will strike. When it does, one should act on it ...right? Of Course! Yesterday I found a remnant of a really nice snowflake fabric so I decided to purchase it. Now it needed a couple of fabrics to so with it. I spied this really nice very deep teal fabric with metallic gold pinecones and spray of pine needle which set off the snowflake fabric in a particular way. I immediately thought "ah, hot pads!" I looked around a bit more and found a fat quarter of a light green but basically the same color way.. 
Someone (namely ME) is doing the happy dance, I finished ALL my holiday sewing this weekend. The last thing I wanted to get 
done was something to put in the holiday exhibit at the Shelburne Arts Co-op. My holiday sewing does not usually entail much ho, ho, ho, deck them halls and other over the top type Christmas fabrics, I go more for seasonal/winter themes. I dugout this indigo blue fabric from my winter stash. It has wonderful but subtle metallic gold stars and swirls and this tiny light blue dot that looks like snow. WOW, this would make a wonderful fabric basket! .JPG)
This morning it was time to start fashioning some baskets and bowls out of all the strips I have cut. They were are is what I think of as a rats t so yesterday I laid them out in rows staring with the yellow and golds and working my way up to the wine colored red. I did this so I could see what I had so that I could start designing and picking what colors and fabric I would use in what order. My friend Margaret sent me a picture a few months back of what she calls her rainbow bowl. As I was looking upon the stripes I began to see that I really had a full spectrum of color there and so decided to try my hand at making a rainbow basket. Since I had so many wonder colors and textures to chose from, it was a lot of fun. 
Last year a participated in a holiday /seconds sale shop at the Snow Farm which is about an hour and 1/4 from my house. Since my work did sell I decided to try it again this year in spite of the 40/60 consignment split. I look at it this way. at least it is going to a nonprofit that teachers all sort of wonder art classes. I added the fabric baskets to the items I took in this year. I wanted to have some holiday themed baskets so I make a holly basket to add to the mix. I delivered my merchandise to them yesterday afternoon. 
It has been a very hectic week so far. We are planning a trip up to Maine for this weekend (tempting fate since that is where we were when the blizzard hit 2 years ago and we were without power for a week). It is mixing business with pleasure since I will be delivering inventory to Mainely Quilts in Kennebunk, ME. In fact, we are going to stay at the Inn which is run by the owners of the quilt shop. So far this week I have finished 8 mix and match blueberry place mats, 2 table runners and some balsam pillows and sachets.
I like having a blog since I can write about things that interest me like new sewing projects and also interesting things that happen to me related to my business. Here's a great example ..... A lady, Mary, bought 2 of my balsam sachets from one of the retail outlets that I consign with, the Leverett Village Co-op. She got my website address off of the label and went to my website and from there, e.mailed me. What she told me was that last Christmas her granddaughter gave her a balsam wreath and she saved it! 
After the Herculean effort of my first 2 day out door festival. it was time to take a break so that is what I did last week...NO SEWING or sewing activities which includes updating my blog. Many things went undone while I was getting ready for the Garlic and Arts Festival so last week I played catch up and have also been doing that this week. Right before the festival a lovely lady by the name of Mary contacted me about some blueberry placemats she had purchased from Mainely Quilts and did I have more? Fortunately I had replenished their stock so she was able to contact them and cleaned out their stock. So, time to make more place mats. 
My first experience being an exhibitor in an outdoor show, the annual North Quabbin
Garlic & Arts Festival, is now in the rear view mirror. I met a lot of nice people, attendees and exhibitors alike, sold some of my work and overall, had a good time. My neighbor Marie and I headed up to the festival site around 8:00 Saturday morning. It was overcast and in the high 50's which pleased us to no end..no rain! Setting up the displays went VERY smoothly and by 9:30 we were ready to go.
All the weeks of preparation came to fruition today for the Garlic & Arts Festival...set up day. As the
saying goes, it's all done now 'cept for the shouting. My DH had taken the afternoon off so he could help me set up. We here in the North Quabbin area have had a VERY dry late summer/early fall EXCEPT for this morning. The truly amazing thing is that by the time we had finished lunch, the rain had stopped and there were actually a few minutes of sun..JPG)
Several months ago I saw in the T.V. Guide that some afternoon talk shows where dealing with the topic of stay at home Mom's and pill popping. One of the segments was called "Momma's Little Helper." My little helper came in the form of a very well organized, hard working daughter who offered to visit on Sunday and pitch in to help me get ready for the Garlic and Arts Festival. I have been totally focused on getting items made since it would be a bad idea to do a show without enough stock. Most of the items still needed to be inventoried, tagged and priced. After breakfast on Sunday I took an inventory of all the items that would be on the two tables and decided what price I would charge everything. I then separated all the same priced items a put a sticky note on them and added them to the inventory. EVERYTHING had to be repriced to whole dollars since I did not want to deal with making change on every sale. Once all the various and sundry tags were printed, things were now ready for my daughter to come and and take over.