Year End Review

Here we are at that cusp - getting ready to go from the old year to the new year - and all the crazy thoughts that seems to bring.

I thought I'd take a look at how 2012 has been for Sew Darn Simple.

I organized (and reorganized) my sewing space throughout the year.  Here we are and it's still a mess.

I wrote my first patterns and sold them both in my etsy shop and I also opened a Craftsy pattern shop.

I did two patterns in 2012 - the zipper wallet and the patchwork purse.  Hopefully I will do at least two in 2013 - although I'm not sure what they will be yet.

I spent a lot of time perfecting a zip around case for the kindle fire - and I did sell a few.  The issue I have with making cases for these items is that each one is a different size and every new one that comes out is different which means that the cases aren't always interchangeable.  So I'm not sure if I will continue down this path in 2013.  With a 'regular' job, I don't feel like I have time to commit to making a huge number of custom items.

Jennifer Paganelli from Sis Boom has become one of my great friends - she sent me a great bundle of fabrics from her Girls World Vibe line - I in turn made some items that I did a giveaway for.  I had the opportunity to meet her at the Country Living Fair in Columbus this fall - what a great weekend that was!

I did several craft shows this year - with varied success - we had such crazy weather this year - and that always plays into the show turnout.

As I reach the end of this year, I'm trying to determine where I want to take this business in 2013 - I have some craft show applications that I need to complete in January - so I need to get some new photos and potentially some new products in the works.

Stay tuned to see where 2013 takes us!

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

Re-organization lost

You may recall that I got on a reorganization project the beginning of the year. You also may recall that it seemed to stall out - I got about half of what I wanted to get done - or maybe not even half.

One of the problems I had was the the shelving I bought from IKEA had a couple of items out of stock when I originally purchased it. So the parts that I needed finally came in, and I got the drawers put together.

And here they are:

I did manage to get a "few" files into the filing cabinet, but most of them are still in a box across the hall.

This may be the only thing in the drawers for a while:

I won't even talk about the stuff under my cutting table....

Until next time,

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

Organization - Yes it continues on!

I know you probably thought that I just gave up on the organization since I hadn't posted any new pictures or status in over a week - but it is still progressing!

I'll start with the right section, since that's the one that's done. This is a 6 shelf section a little over 5 feet tall (like me!) and I'm almost embarrassed to say that it's just fabric overflow.

Yes, I said overflow. I have a closet (a pretty large one at that) clear full, and what I put on this section was partly in one of the smaller shelving units that I plan to reuse somewhere else in the house, and partly stacked on the cutting table, floor, etc.

I like to organize fabric like such: themed fabrics, so cat, dog, animal, then by color if it doesn't fit a theme, so black and white, browns, etc.

I will admit that I have fabric under my cutting table that I haven't gone through yet. Other than my holiday fabric, I believe most of it is home decor leftovers and other remnants, but I guess I'll find out for sure when I venture under the table.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

Susan

Organization Step 2

The space is empty no longer!

My wonderful husband spent most of Sunday afternoon putting the new shelving together. The only thing he didn't get completed was the drawer in the middle bottom - they didn't have the front in stock, so that means another trip to Ikea sometime in the future.

Mimi cat wasn't too enthused with the process - it was too noisy for her with the vacuum and drill running on and off all afternoon. But she was willing to do a final inspection, as you can see from this picture!

I also didn't get drawer/door pulls, so the towels are in place so we can get those sections open to finish putting the handles on.

Stay tuned for loading of the shelves!

Susan

Organization Step 1

If you follow me on twitter you know that right before Christmas I started to have designs on reorganizing my sewing room. Of course, I wasn't able to do anything about it then.

Here is a before picture of the section of the room that I am tackling first. As you can see, I have an old entertainment center and pretty large tv in the room - just taking up space that I could use in better ways. I have a mishmash of shelves also.

Yesterday, we went to Ikea in Cincinnati, and started with some new shelving and are putting it together today. Here is the same space as above with the entertainment center and tv removed.

Stay tuned to see the finished shelving section and a synopsis of the space once I get things moved back in!

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