I know it's been more than a year....

I know.  It's been more than a year since I've posted anything.  I've been quite remiss, and I accept my failure.

It's been a busy year I guess.  Not to try to cover it all, just some highlights:

We sold our house and moved to a condo in late spring. We are in the process of designing a new house and once that's done, we will move again (ugh on the moving part).

I only did one show this year with the move and it was a great success.  It was a show I've done for several years and each year seems to get better.  I don't know if I will do it next yeat - kind of depends on the house building schedule.

My essential oil cases have taken off  - you can check them out in my Etsy shop - so that's pretty much all I've been making

I decided to take a class this fall at a local art college - it's on pattern making.  It's been quite fun so far - we all got measured and made a skirt sloper (base pattern) based on those measurements.  We are to the point of making a muslin and adjusting the pattern.  I haven't decided yet what my real skirt will be,

But my friend Jane (you can find her blog here) invited me to participate with along with her and some others on the Sew Maris Grainline Archer Sew-a-long.  You can find the blog here and there is a facebook group also.

So I think I will try to make a skirt that will go along with my new shirt.  I got three fabrics for shirts (because I couldn't decide on one) but I know which fabric I want to coordinate with, so I will have to see what I can find for the skirt.

I'm not busy at all (did I mention I was going on a girls week vacation this month?)

Happy Sewing!
Susan

End of Season Show

I did my last show for this year this past weekend.  This is the first time I've done a 'table space' event in a long time.  I started using the gridwall setup a few years ago, and so I had to do a little more prep work than normal for this show.

For one thing, I didn't have a table cloth that I liked for the table.  I personally hate when you get that bunch of fabric at the corners - it tends to get stepped on a lot.  So I bought an inexpensive table cloth and put in some fitted corners.

Second, I've said for a long time that I needed to make some sort of banner.  So I did that last week.  it's a little larger than I needed.  So maybe I'll make another one that's smaller - sometime.

Lastly, I had to decide what I was going to take to the show since I couldn't get everything that I normally do in a 10x10 tent space in a 6 ft table space....

I think it turned out pretty good.

Happy Sewing!

Susan

What a Blast!

This weekend is the Country Living Fair here in Columbus, Ohio.  Even though I live close, I've never been to the show, because I normally have been at a show out of town.  I decided to take a break from that show this year, so here I was, able to go to the Fair!

And the best news - Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom was going to be there again this year so I was finally going to meet her in person! 

I've been talking to Jen on Twitter for a while now, you may recall I did a giveaway a while back of a set of box pouches made from herGirls World Vibe line.

I think I could have just spent the day talking with Jen - we also went together to the Modern June booth, talked with Kelly (I bought her book Sewing With Oilcloth which she signed for me!) and Trish from Two Peas in a Pod.  What fun to meet everyone in person.

Jen did a presentation in the afternoon - talking about some of the great projects she has in both Girls World and Happy Home.  While talking with her, we met some other great people from all over the country.

I finally managed to drag myself away from Jen and check out the rest of the show.  Although looking at the map today, I'm pretty sure I didn't see everything!

Good thing I bought the weekend pass - I think I've convinced my husband to go back with me Sunday for a few hours!

Today - I'm sewing!

Susan

Produce and more....

Today is completely not about sewing.  I took a drive to the farm of my friend Kathy's brother.  It's tomato time!  There's nothing like a fresh garden tomato, and if you cook a lot, like I do, there's nothing like canned tomatoes that started with those garden fresh tomatoes!

So, today was the day (not that it was in my plan for this weekend, since I have a show tomorrow).  I left home a little after 9 am, picked loads of tomatoes, and he loaded me up with green beans, muskmelon, bell and hungarian peppers, some garlic, and a jar of popcorn.

So my kitchen is going to be canning central on Sunday - I hope the tomatoes are mostly still good - some of them were pretty ripe!

Here's a photo of just one of his gardens (he has three), and he has chickens, goats and calves with pigs coming in the future.

Susan

Hello? Anyone there?

I know, it's like I went missing.  It's not like I haven't been working on a lot of different things, but it's hard for me to sit down and write about it.

So here's what I haven't shared lately.

1. For my birthday last year (2011) I got this great Singer Steam Press.  The first time I used it, I had too many other things (mainly my regular iron) plugged in and I blew the breaker.  We had to have some electrical work done for something else, so they looked at the power into my sewing room, and told me 'deal with it'.  So I finally decided that I wanted to try it out.  I turned (most) everything else off and found that it was ok to use.  So I've been using it for fusing my interfacing and fusible fleece, AND I LOVE IT!

2. I've been making lots of box pouches - I make them in two sizes.  I think my most popular fabric is the cat faces, which is out of print, so once they are gone (and the one yard I have left), that's it.  I also sell several of the 'manly' fabrics - the houndstooth (available in several colors) - check out the new black and white - pretty cool, huh?  I made two sets this year for wedding parties.  I think they make pretty good groomsmen gifts.  I imagine they could be great for the bridesmaids too, but haven't had anyone request that.





3. I only had one show in August - it's usually such a hot month and miserable for shows - so of course this year, it was pretty pleasant since I didn't do any.  I have a pretty light schedule for the rest of this year - I have two in September and one in October and I'm done for the year.  I'm planning on concentrating on online sales during the fall and winter.

4. To that end, I've been working on pricing, shipping, description, tags, etc.  It's a lot of work when you have close to 400 listings.

So stay tuned and see what comes next!

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Tales of a 'Steamy' Festival (part 2)

I meant to get this written sooner - I've been a little busy since the show.

I wanted to share some of the interesting things that people say to me at shows.  I wish I got a dollar for each time I hear one of these!

Sew Darn Simple - there's nothing simple about it.
Sure - 'You' think it's simple.
I love everything here.

Your stuff is so cute.

Do you make ALL of this yourself?

Those are just a few of the fun things I hear.

After the show, I spent most of the first day getting my etsy shop back open - since I don't keep a separate inventory for shows and online, I have to go through and make sure I don't keep any items in my shop that I either don't have made, or especially, don't have more fabric for.

My niece and her family came later that week for this past weekend, so I had to organize my inventory and clean it off all the beds, so they had placed to sleep, go to the grocery and generally gear myself up for the visit.

While they were here, I made this cute skirt for my great-niece. She picked out the fabric because she liked the 'sparklies'.  Of course, you can't see that from this picture, but there is silver around the cats.

And my niece wanted some new throw pillows and a cover for her ottoman, so we went and found fabric for that.  Hope we got enough - had to guess, since we didn't have ottoman measurements.

I have a few other projects going on, so it's busy as usual.

Happy sewing!

Susan

Tales of a 'Steamy' Festival (part 1)

If you know anything about me, you know I'm not much on the great outdoors - especially when the weather is - well - anything except perfect.  So having a 3-day craft show in 95-100+ degree weather - not my most favorite activity.

I was accepted this year to the St Johns Medical Center Festival of the Arts in Westlake Ohio (more about this later).  It's a Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday show.  I'm usually not even a fan of the 2-day format, but a lot of them I set up Friday anyway, so I figured it wasn't that much more time involved.

You know we've been having a heat wave here in Ohio (and much of the rest of the US) - so boy, it was a fun weekend. (are you sensing the sarcasm?!?)

Luckily, my helper for the weekend was my husband - I'm pretty sure I would have given up about 5 minutes into unloading.

We were in a lovely park-like setting at the hospital - my booth was at the top of the hill, by the main road - and there was a little slope and some really uneven ground.  So the booth setup had to change to accommodate.

Believe it or not (it's true!) while I went to check in at the hotel, Jamie put all the product out and arranged it.  Really, he did a great job!

Stay tuned for some additional tales of the weekend!

Happy Sewing!
Susan

Shows and Sales

I've had two shows this month and both made me feel good about my show season, as they were successes.  Here is a photo of my booth from the Delaware Arts Festival which was May 19-20 in the downtown streets of Delaware Ohio.  The weather was great and loads of people were out and about.

My biggest sellers were the zippered cell phone cases, regular sized zipper wallets and my hipster purses.   

I've done the Delaware show for several years and it's fun to go there and have repeat customers come in and show you what they are still using from previous years and buy new items.

You may have also seem me mention that I'm putting some of my items for consignmnet in a local shop.  The shop officially opened on May 15 and I've stopped by a couple of times to see how things are going.  A few of my items sold this week, so along with show inventory, I also need to get some new items made and added there.  Below is the ad that ran in the local paper for the shop!  It's pretty exciting!

I have one show in June (back to the North Market on June 3) and three in July, so I'll be busy the next few weeks getting inventory built up for this and my Etsy shop.

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Happy New Year! 2012

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here we are at the beginning of a new year and I'm one of those obsessed people who likes to (pretend to) make goals and objectives for the upcoming year. 

I'm going to admit that I didn't stay up last night to ring in the new year - I was sound asleep before then - although I did stir briefly for the neighborhood fireworks that went off at midnight.

As you may now, I'm cutting back my day job work hours to 20/week, so I have some big plans for Sew Darn Simple this year. 

To start out, I'm going to get back to organizing this room.  I started this project last year - and I did get some new storage and am using it, although not as effectively as I'd like to!  If you follw me on twitter, then you know I started doing some of the organization this weekend - on Friday, I finally got my box of zippers put away.  And yesterday, I cleaned off my cutting table.  Today I'm going to work on my filing - my new shelving has a filing drawer, and I'm going to finally use it!

I'm going to write down sales and financial goals for this year - since I will be working less hours, I plan to use those to increase my advertising and therefore (hopefully) my sales. 

I'm working on identifying potentially new art/craft shows that I want to apply to this year.  I've already applied to one new show, and I have at least two more new ones that I plan to apply to, and hope to get in!

I plan to work on some new products and expand my inventory on some of my best sellers, and I'm in the process of working on patterns that will soon be available in my etsy shop.

Also, I want to expand my blogging - and I'd love some suggestions on what you might like to hear about this year.  I may do some tutorials, always write about my latest projects, maybe some guests??!?!!

Here's to a successful 2012!

Susan

Change

For anyone who does art / craft shows, you know that all kinds of things can effect how well you do - meaning how much you sell. Weather, economic situation, type of show, etc., all impact the bottom line.

But have you ever thought about change? I mean money change.

I always try to make sure that I have enough change when I go to a show.  At my show in July, however, it was a big bill day for some reason.  I was close to running out of $1 bills a couple of times, and sent Jamie out to get some - luckily there was a water vendor who seemed to be collecting more than I was handing out!  I think I came home with six $1 bills.

So, heading to my show last weekend, I made sure I had lots of $1 in case it turned into the same kind of day.  Strangely enough, most people had change, so I came home with more $1 than I'd taken. 

Just saves me from getting more change for my next show.

Susan

Vacation Purse

Sorry it's been so long since I've written - it was a busy summer. We just got back today from a week or so in Maine - we drove, so that's why I say 'or so'.

I thought I needed a new purse for vacation. I was still using the one I made last fall and it was too big to start with, so in my opinion, way to big for vacation.

I picked out a brown patterned print, and made a small purse with an adjustable strap, a small zippered pouch and a new wallet from the fabric.

I wanted to use the purse myself to see if it was a size/style that I would want to make and sell at shows and from my etsy shop. Overall, I liked the purse. I think the strap needs to be a little sturdier, and perhaps attach from the top rather than the sides.

I liked the wallet too - it was basic with a zipper area for change, a slot for cash, and several slots for credit cards, etc.

A few modifications and you may see these start to appear in my shop!

Until next time,

Susan

Backwards Weekend?

Just a short recap of my weekend show. I was in Chagrin Falls OH, for Art by the Falls. It's a lovely town with a real artsy feel. I did this show several years ago and it was an awesome show for me then.

Of course, I kept checking the weather forecast (as if that's ever right!) for the few days before the show. Scattered thunderstorms for Friday (setup) and Saturday - the first day of the show. Cooler and sunny on Sunday.

Most of the times, shows are busier on Saturday, than Sunday. Not so with this show this year - Saturday the crowds were much sparcer than I recalled or expected - I thought maybe that 'scattered thunderstorms' prediction was keeping them away. Sunday was a much larger crowd, at least early in the day.

Credit card sales - do most other people experience this? Normally, my Saturday credit cards runs 20-30% of the total sales, and on Sunday it can creep up closer to 50%. I'm not sure what was going on this weekend - but my Saturday credit cards were 60% of my total - crazy! Sunday was about 30%.

So - as I say - it was a backwards weekend!

By the way, the storms on Saturday never happened where we were. It sprinkled just as we were closing down for the day. And Sunday - well, the sun didn't appear until we were leaving - and cooler - you bet - I don't think it got above 62 or 63 degrees. Glad I took a pair of jeans and a jacket along!



Until next time!
Susan

It's show time!

I had my first show of the season this past weekend (ok, I did a couple of small shows in April), and overall it was a pretty good weekend. This is the fourth year that I've done the Delaware Arts Festival, and it's been a good show for me the last couple of years.

The weather was a little crazy this year - 80 on Saturday, a short (1/2 hour or so) thunderstorm with some pretty heavy rain, and 50 on Sunday, pretty much a drizzle and more all day, with a few dry spells.

Here is a picture of my booth on Sunday morning - I see my orange price signs are pretty visible!

Given the crazy weather, I was really happy with my sales for the weekend.

Next show is Art by the Falls in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, June 11 & 12. I'd better get sewing!

Susan

Weekend Wrap-Up

I had a show this weekend (Friday evening and Saturday) in Athens, Ohio at the Dairy Barn. I spent four years in Athens attending Ohio University, so I was a little excited to go back and spend the weekend.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the show. The Dairy Barn is a wonderful venue for setting up, tearing down, and amount of space per booth. I thought the selection of vendors was excellent - all had very nice items, and many of them have done the shows at the Dairy Barn many times.

My sales weren't too great, though, so I doubt if I will go back.

Since it's about a 90 mile drive (each way) to Athens, and Friday night wasn't over until 8pm, I decided I didn't really want to drive back and forth. It was Mom's weekend at OU, though, so there weren't any rooms left by the time I decided that I wanted to try this show. We ended up deciding to make a weekend of it and got a cabin in Hocking Hills. The cabin was nice, the hot tub was awesome - what a way to relax after a day at a show!

For those of you who have heard me tell about Mimi cat, you know she's pretty needy for a cat. We really were only going to be gone for 2 nights - the Husband came home after work on Friday and made sure she had enough food for the weekend - and we got back home just before noon today (Sunday). You would think we could leave her alone for such a short time.

Apparently not. At some point, she threw up IN her food bowl - so I'm not sure how long she was without food - but she acted like she was starved when we got home.

Poor Mimi cat.

The car is all unloaded and my inventory put away. My book keeping is done for the event, and so now I have the rest of the day to work on - something!

Until next time.

Susan

Of all the things I should be doing.....

Making a purse for myself usually isn't too close to the top of the list.

I have signed up for more craft shows this year, so I should be building inventory. I have a several room project for a good friend of mine, that I need to get done. Just today I got a call from another friend looking to have some home decor stuff done.

So last night, rather than doing what I needed to do, I made a new purse for myself. I'm carrying an oversized patchwork purse that I made last fall. I just thought it was time for something else.



It's short and wide - I'm not going to make any comparisons....

Love the colorful print!

Susan

New Year

So here we are on the first day of a new year, and like many others I like to spend some time planning things I want to get done this year.

If you follow me on twitter then you know for the last week or so, I've been talking about doing some cleanup and organization of my sewing room. I have a decent sized space, but with the lack of cohesive storage, I feel like it's out of control more often than not. So one thing that I'm going to work on, and plan to get completed in January, is to replace some of this mismatched and disorganized storage and replace it with something that is more functional and allows me better organization.

While I'm working on that, I'm going to collect some of the many things in the room that I know I'm never going to use, and either sell it or give it away.

In January I also have to work on craft show applications and pictures, so I'll be working on that pretty quickly, as the first one is due January 15!

Today already, I've created my new annual spreadsheets, updated my website with the show information that I already know about, changed all my calendars and been to the New Year's Day sale at Quilt Trends (one of our local quilt shops). Oh wait, that doesn't have anything to do with being organized!

On a personal note, I'm going to work harder at getting just a little exercise most days (I already did the Wii Fit for 1/2 hour today), and I want to read more books.

Happy New Year!

Susan

There's always something good....

This past weekend I tried out a new show (for me) in an area where I've not done a show before. It was a large show, lots of vendors, but ended up not being a good fit for the items I make. On top of everything else, the weather was unbelievably crappy. It went from being in the 80's last week to a high of about 52 on Saturday and rain to top that off. On Sunday, it was even colder, and, although it didn't rain on Sunday, the wind was about 30 mph, so it was CHILLY!

My wonderful husband kept me company this weekend (he loves to help!) and we discovered that our neighbors were the nicest couple ever. In their 70's - he did woodworking items - like pumpkins and Santa heads with lights, and a really cute Rudolph. She made snow people from fabric - all handmade, and just wonderful work.

They had this beautiful wooden cash register, and after commenting on it, discovered that he had an extra one that he had made for the next neighbor who coveted it. So on Sunday, I purchased one from him - just beautiful!




The cash drawer has coin and bill dividers, and the middle section will be great for my scissors and stapler and extra sales books, etc. The top also opens and will make a nice storage spot for something. Each side has a place for business cards, there are three places where pens will rest, and there is a spot for staging the payment.




So, although the show itself didn't end up being a profitable venture, the fun of being next to these lovely people and then great cash register made it worth it.

Susan

Weather....

Yesterday, we headed to the quaint town of Yellow Springs, Ohio for Art on the Lawn, sponsored by the Village Artisans. I had done this show several years ago, but then it conflicted with another show the next few years, so I hadn't been back.





It's a nice setting for a show, on the lawn of a school, especially in mid-August when the temperature and humidity can be, well, let's say 'unbearable'. We had a spot under the edge of a tree's umbrella, so started off with a little shade.


I had tweeted on Friday where I would be, and for those of you who have experienced this, it's always fun to meet someone that you know from twitter. Linda (Croneandbearit) stopped by to say hello and it was fun to meet her and her husband.


Unfortunately, about 3:30 or so, the weather took a turn for the worse, with some serious rain, thunder and lightenting, so some hurried packing occurred, and no worse for the wear (ok, I may have rusted a little from the drenching) we headed home a little early.

Craft Show Preparation

I've been doing craft shows for a few years now and I think I finally have a routine down for the week before a show.

After each show, I evaluate what I sold so I know what to make between shows, and I try to work on those items on a daily basis. A couple of my big sellers are the zipper wallets (now in two sizes), what I call the 'mini pack purse' which is a small hipster style purse.

We pack up the car the night before the show with the following:

1. tent and weights when it's an outdoor show
2. grid wall, hardware and shelves
3. chairs
4. bags
5. inventory

The morning of the show, we load the cooler with the needed refreshments to keep us through the day, and of course, the cash box for change.

Now - what did I forget?

Last Day of the month

It's been a busy month I guess!

My etsy sales were up a little over last month (yes, today is still this month, so there's a chance for more sales!). I had one show which ended up not being so great - it was a 2 day show which I did excellent at last year, but it rained ALL DAY on Saturday, and when I went back to the room to check out Sunday's forcast, they were calling for the winds of Ike to hit. So I decided to forgo Sunday. And while it may have been ok in the morning, I'm pretty sure it was horrible in the afternoon - and the drive home would have been awful. So I'm glad that I didn't stay.

I'm finally going to finish my great-nephew's quilt that I started more than a year ago. I actually quilted it this weekend, so I just have to trim it down and bind it. That's easy! His fourth birthday is in October, and I'm only getting it done a year later than I said I would!

Today I made some small items and listed them on Etsy. The cell phone case and double zippered case that I'm adding here are a couple of those items.

I'm off to a conference on Sunday for four days, so I hope to get quite a bit done before I leave. Then the next weekend, I have another show on Sunday. I hope it is successful. One never knows!

Thanks for stopping by to say hi!

Talk to you again sometime (I'd say soon, but it would probably be a lie!)

Susan