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

More "Special" Projects

Not that I really needed new valances in our bedroom, but hey, I got the fabric 50% off original price, then an additional 20% off that - so why not?

Not that I have fabric to make new valances and sheers for the dining room windows that I've had for something like 10 years (actually I think it's more like 6), and I still just have it - not completed valances and sheers.

But I do think they turned out pretty cute!

The color in the photo is a little off - the walls are a sage green.  The valance is purple flowers on a tannish background with green leaves.  It's an upholstery weight fabric, and I dug in my trim box and found a matchiing purple and tan cording.

Of course, now I need a new dust ruffle....

Happy Sewing!
Susan

Extra time - Say What?

I have one show left this year, and because I sewed up a storm this summer, I don't really need to make any inventory for it.  I'll probably have an open house again too, and I need to get that scheduled.

Since I have extra time - SAY WHAT?!? - I've been doing some sewing other than for my shows and etsy shop. 

I started with new dresses for my great-nieces.  I made them some the beginning of the summer, but I had one fabric left that I bought specifically to make - so I finally got it done!

I think it's an adorable pattern - it has a v-neck, zipper back, and that little ribbon at the bottom.

I made a white fleece shrug-like jacket also, so she can wear it all seasons.  Of course, she could also always put a long sleeve shirt under it.

The dress for the other great-niece is the same fabric, but a different pattern.  I still have to make her jacket.

This dress along with some birthday presents for her older brother will be heading out with the mail later this week.

For the other great niece, I'm now also making a Snow White costume for her for Halloween.  And her little brother doesn't like when I send her something and there's nothing in the box for him, so I'll be sure and take care of that.

If I'm lucky, my nieces will send me photos of the kids in their outfits!

Until next time!

Susan

Etsy Team Craft Night

A local etsy team that I belong to (Owl & Elephant) had a team crafting night at Igloo Letterpress in Worthington last night.  We are a very casual team - we connect mostly using a google group and once in a while we see each other out and about town! 

One of our members Grace Hester (GraceHesterDesigns and GraceHesterPapers) set up this great craft night for us.

We started out our evening with everyone introducing themselves, talking about their etsy shop or craft, and what their alter-ego day job was!

Allison then talked about her business, explaining the presses, and process to us.  Each person then got to select something and print it.

I thought the spider was a little creepy, but how great it this for Halloween?

Other team members and their shops who were at the event:

ArtsiBitsi (home of the
BeckySeymourDesigns
Tsurubride (currently on sabbatical)
DaisyMaeDesigns
Cram
AdoreJules

I know I missed a couple, at my age, I'm lucky to remember anything!

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

March On!

February was one of those months where there was something going on every weekend. I looked at my March calendar and nothing special was scheduled other than yesterday where I got together with a group of friends to celebrate my birthday (it was in February).


So I started out this past week thinking I was going to get all kinds of things done.

Alas, it was not to be. Somehow my week just disappeared and I didn't spend any quality time sewing.

The one thing I did finish was the February angel project that I'm doing for Dee (twitter). You can see her blog where she posts each month's project and final results!


Here's my February angel:

I sure hope the rest of March is kinder to my sewing time than this week was - I've scheduled two craft shows in April!

Until next time,

Susan

One Yard Challenge - Cutting

So, I think now that I'm trying to decide what all to make from this yard of fabric, why I started buying two yards when I'm not sure what I'm going to do with a piece.

I can't get everything that I want to from a single yard. Here are the ten items I did get cut from this yard:

Lanyard

Large Cell phone case with flap

Large Cell phone case with zipper

Wrap Around zipper gadget case

Regular Box pouch

Small Box Pouch

Zipper wallet/change purse

Mini pack purse (hipster)

Round top flat bottom wristlet

Small Flat Bottom zipper case

Here is what's left:

Not much that's usable. I have containers of scraps like this - anyone interested?

Next time I'll show the selection of finished items.

Susan

One yard challenge

I make a variety of items for my etsy shop and for craft shows. Often when I work with a fabric, I make several items from that fabric. Depending on how much fabric there is, what the pattern is, how I feel that day, and what Mimi cat thinks (ok, that part isn't really true) I may get from 5-10 of my smaller items from it.

So today I am challenging myself to see how many items I can get from a one yard cut with as little waste as possible.

I'll make a list of the items that I've been making, and work on some cutting layouts and then go from there. Should be fun!

Just to clarify, the one yard will be the exterior fabric only, I will use a coordinating fabric for linings.

Here is the fabric I selected to work with.

Check back later this week to see how it worked out.

Susan

Supplies - Organized!

Most of my 'supply' items have now been organized. By supplies, I mean metal and plastic rings, slides, hooks, snaps, clips and buttons, to name a few. It also includes thread, trim, and beads.

The top half of the middle section is where I have these items organized. I purchased some inexpensive plastic stacking baskets from Big Lots and separated each item or category of items into these, along with some regular lidded plastic containers.

The bottom of this section will eventually have two drawers (the drawer fronts were out of stock when I bought the shelving) and hopefully there will be enough room in those drawers for the zippers and ribbon. Above the drawers and below the supplies, I've moved some of my pattern and other reference books.

I still have one section of shelving left to get organized, then it's on to the other side of the room and, most importantly, under the cutting table!

Stay tuned!

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

Thoughts beginning.....

For a while now I've been mulling around that my sewing room is out of control and I need to reorganize it. So here we are the end of a year, and as seems to happen, the new year brings the need for changes to the forefront.

I'm privileged enough to have a fairly good sized room for my sewing, and yet, I also have managed to take over space in both of the upstairs bedrooms as well. So whenever we have company, I'm scrambling to move things out.

It's time to get organized and I'm going to really do it this time!

I have two 8-ft tables side by side in the center of the room that are inteded for cutting space. When I work with decorator fabrics, I want to be able to put them out. However, as table space does, it's turned into a dumping ground for stuff, and then I still have to move things around when I need to cut larger items.

I also have this old entertainment center, and a pretty big tv, and yes, I'm going to admit it - a fairly large vinyl album collection taking up valuable space.

Also, when I got my serger (ok, that's been almost two years ago) I never really organized a space, so it sits on my cutting area too.

Here are a couple of pictures of what I'm dealing with.



So over the next few weeks, I'm going to get organized, get rid of stuff that I'm never going to use, and take back my spare bedrooms and recreate my space to be more functional and organized!

Of course, Christmas is this weekend, so don't expect too much until next week!

Stay tuned,
Susan