Thankful...

I have a great husband!  Plain and simple, he's just perfect for me!  Granted, we've had a lot of ups and downs in the 16+ years we've been married, but I think all that is necessary in order to fully appreciate a good great relationship.  I won't go into details as to why I think he's so perfect for me and list all the things we've been thru, both good and bad, I'll just tell you what he did for me today.

He brought me tea.
Yes, just a simple cup of green tea.  The gesture was sweetened because he brought it in my little corelleware teacup, with a spoon and a saucer, delivered directly to my sewing room where I was furiously sewing away on my quillows.  He's taken to doing this occasionally since we're both working at home the past few weeks and when he fixes himself a cup of russian tea, he'll usually bring me a cup of green tea - without being asked!  Sometimes I really am not in the mood for tea, but I'll never tell him that!  I would never want to discourage such a sweet gesture - EVER!

So, I am enjoying my tea while I write this, and thanking God for the gift of my husband!

Last night I baked the Earthquake Cake that Rae Ann shared on her blog.  My husband said that it registered a 10.0 on his Richter Scale!!!  It was delicious!  Thanks, Rae Ann!!  If you get a hankerin' for a good, gooey, surprise-filled chocolate cake, visit her blog and try it out!

Well, I'm headed back to my sewing room to work on some more custom quillows....the orders are piling up for the holidays...another thing for me to be thankful for!!

Sunrise...

Oh, what a beautiful morning!  I just had to share my sunrise with you...

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard."

~ Psalm 19:1-3

Craft Show Weekend

I was super excited to go to the craft show this past weekend in Orangeburg.  We went for the first time last year and came away from it then, excited to come back again as we had a great time and had a good profit.  The gal that runs the show is super nice and takes care of all her vendors very well.  She's good at what she does!  She's much better than I am with grumpy vendors wanting every inch of booth space they paid for...

The road trip on Friday morning was very pleasant....we started early and enjoyed the ride as the sun came up.  I tried to take pictures of the cotton fields we drove past and the bundles of cotton packed up and ready to send to the factories, but the motorhome was moving too fast for me to get good pictures.  No way, was I going to ask my husband to stop so I could take a picture of a cotton bale...he wouldn't go for that!  I'm thinking of investing in a new camera anyway, because I rely on it so heavily and this one just isn't meeting my needs in certain areas.

We parked the Bounder

and stopped for breakfast at one of our favorite spots.

It was warm and cozy and the cook and servers were super friendly!

We hit the road again for the last little leg of the trip which was about 6 miles.

Once we arrived, we started the set-up which usually takes us 1-½ to 2 hours to get it all perfected and ready for the crowd.  After that, Bill went down and hooked up the camper.  He called me to say that he was going to stay outside for a bit and "cash in" on a little bonus he saw next to the campsite....hmmm, I wondered...what could be more rewarding than selling a bunch of marshmallow shooters?

Turns out, the fairgrounds, where the show is located, is covered in pecan trees and we were welcomed to take as many of them as we could carry.  Bill filled a 5 gallon bucket and a few grocery bags full!  What a booty we got to take home with us!

We always enjoy meeting the other vendors and this show was no exception!

On Friday night, as all the other vendors were complaining about having to drive all the way home, we just closed down our shop, and walked down the hill to our cozy little camper, where we donned our comfy clothes and settled down to a homemade meal of lasagna (actually a Bertolli frozen meal) and salad.  We watched a little TV but soon realized we were more tired than we thought we'd be from just sittng around most of the day and ended up in bed shortly after 9:00!!  A good rest and a hearty homemade breakfast and we were ready for day 2.

All in all, we didn't do quite as well as the previous year with profit...well, I should say I didn't do as well, because my husband knocked my socks off in sales!  We like to "compete" in a sense, comparing who sold more than the other.  He sold 3 chairs and plenty of his other little products!  I only sold one quillow and a few other little things.  I guess what put me in a sour mood thru most of the show was that I had worked my buns off making all those little things that sold wonderfully last year at this show and then didn't sell a single one this year!  BUT, I remembered what was important and it's not the money....we had a wonderful time together, meeting people, selling our wares and having a mini camping adventure.

But the best part of the whole trip is this:  every year for Christmas, Bill's grandmother (94 years young) gives us a margarine tub full of shelled pecans that she picked from her yard, and this year, we're going to give her one!

Relia-Bear

Meet Relia-Bear. He is a true friend and I LOVE him! I mean, I really love him!

Why do I love him so? Well, for starters, he's been my companion for about 8 years or so.

I got him when I was working as a bookkeeper/office manager for a home construction company. I was the one who ordered office supplies and I ordered frequently from Reliable Office Supply Company.

He was one of those prizes you get when you order $150 or more of supplies and he came with a steady supply of those yummy little chocolate chip cookies in a tin that are SO hard to stop eating!! He stood watch on my desk daily, with a belly full of cookies - my desk was the favorite stopping spot for everyone in the office because of this.

One day, the cleaning lady knocked him over and he broke. Fortunately, he was fixable and I glued him back together and he resumed his duties as faithful cookie keeper. He still bears those awful scars....*choke*

When I left the "working world" a couple of years ago, Relia-Bear came with me.

Now he lives on my desk here at home.

I love him because he has always been there, watching over me when I'm stuck at my desk, but there's another reason why I love him even more.

Need I say more?

I love you, Relia-Bear! You are so reliable!!!

Finding a Groove

Guess what?....I sold my 99th quillow today! And that's just for this year!

Me so happy!

For as long as I can remember, whenever I do a lot of sewing, I prefer to do just one task per day. What I mean is, instead of cutting fabric and then sewing it together and then adding finishing touches all in one time span, I like to spend one day doing bunches of cutting and then maybe the next day or two spend my time doing all the sewing part of it ~ kind of like getting in a groove and staying there ~ it always makes me feel like I've accomplished more.
Back when I used to make clothing for myself and my kids, I would always begin, naturally, by laying out the pattern and cutting it out....by the time that was done, I just wasn't in the mood to start sewing, so I would grab the next item and stay on my cutting highway! Then, when I had time to get back into a new groove, I'd do all the sewing parts. I've noticed that this method works for me even today when I'm making quillows. I like to start out with a day of designing and cutting out the quillows and grouping the parts together, tying them with selvage scraps.

Then, the next day I'll be able to chain sew all the parts together, working on several quillows at a time.

Finally, I'll carve out a day or a couple of evenings and just work on marking and tying the quillows, although that part definitely gets hard on my fingertips after several quillows. I'm gearing up for just such a day.
I've got my stack of movies to watch while tying

These came from my local library...all except the cartoon on the bottom...that came from my kids' stash ~ I enjoy watching those occasionally - brings back memories of when my kids were little! :)
Here's a stack of quillows waiting to be tied.

Since it's getting close to the holidays, the Christmas orders are coming in more often and soon I'll be very busy mailing them out! It's really nice when the order is for something already made and not a custom order. I love to do custom quillows, but at this time of year, tracking down special fabric and getting the quillow together and in the mail on time can be more trouble than it's worth. The hard thing for me is that sometimes I hate saying "no" because I don't want to lose a sale!

What's really great is that tonight is "leftover night" and I don't have to cook! (that's been the Wednesday night tradition in this household for as long as I can remember)
This frig needs a good cleaning out every week!

So, bring on the quillows! I'm ready!

Wholesale...to do or not to do?

It’s interesting how we can be strolling along in our daily life, with all our plans laid out, not thinking too much of anything other than what’s in front of us at the time.
Also interesting how just a phone call can make us take a different look at our “daily” lives and pay attention to something we previously hadn’t given too much thought to, if any. I was approached by two different companies this week who were both interested in buying my products wholesale or working as a drop shipment producer. I have to be honest - before Tuesday, I didn’t even know what the words “drop shipment” meant! I know, I know, where has this girl been hiding for the past 40 years - under a rock? Anyway, when I received the first call, I was sure it was some sort of scam or hoax. Since launching my website a year and a half ago, I’ve received several hokey email requests, and after determining they were of the dangerous sort, I deleted them immediately. I was actually a bit rude at first with this phone call because I was sure he was wasting my precious time. But, I soon learned he had a genuine company and he truly wanted to talk about a purchasing agreement of some sort. So, once I gleaned from him what it was he was interested in and I asked for a reference I could contact, I told him to give me a call the next day, once I had a chance to talk with my husband, think this through and call the reference, who happens to be one of his current suppliers.
Long story short, the reference gave a glowing report and my husband and I could see no way in which entering into an agreement with this company could be unsafe or financially risky, BUT, and it’s a big “but”, it could bring on plenty of pressure and extra stress and I wasn’t sure I wanted that. That actually didn’t bother me too much at first and I was ready for him to call me back so we could get started on our little business adventure. Skepticism morphed into anticipation as I ran thru my mind the ideas and plans for this new adventure. Right before I went to bed that night, something just kinda clicked in my mind….I can’t even remember what triggered it, but I started thinking a little more about the details this kind of agreement entails. One thing that would happen is that all my labels would have to come off my products. I like my labels, and I like putting my name on my product. I also realized that I liked contact with my customers, talking with them, getting to know them and for most of them, creating for them a custom product ~ a one-of-a-kind item, made just for their purposes. Growing up as a young sewist, I was always in a hurry to finish the item I was working on and my mother would constantly chide me that I needed to slow down because my quality suffered when I was in a hurry. Well, that rule still applies today! It’s one thing to be able to churn out a mass number of items in a short period of time, but it’s another to produce carefully made, quality items for your customers and not be afraid of them finding the hurried mistakes in it. I have strived over the past two years to do just that, and I knew that taking on mass production in ANY level was going to challenge me in that area. I had to remind myself of this by posting a note to myself on the door of my sewing room.

When our oldest child moved away to college, I immediately overtook her room and changed it into what I called my "funroom" because it had all the fun stuff in it...the computer, my TV, my sewing stuff, etc...Since then, another child has moved out and I overtook her room, too, because I had simply outgrown the first room and needed to separate the computer stuff from the sewing stuff (can't wait for the last to move out and then I'll have my kingdom complete....bwah-ha-ha-ha). Anyway, it's called the "funroom" because I have fun in there....tell me now, why would I want to change that by making sewing un-fun?
I think what really un-sealed the deal was when I remembered a recently-read Scripture verse and applied it to the situation

Proverbs 30:7-9...here's just a snippet:

...give me neither poverty nor riches,

but give me only my daily bread...

Reading that again just helped drive it all home. What is even cooler is that my son posted a verse on facebook that was totally similar in meaning - Luke 12:15. I commented back to him, sharing my verse and how unique that we had stumbled upon similar verses and were being challenged in the same way at the same time. To add to that, my oldest daughter saw both our posts and added her own that just a day or two before she had read I Timothy 6:6-10 and it had impressed her in the same way. When God spoke to me on this one, He spoke in threefold!!

I’m just one child shy of being an empty-nester and she’s trying with all her might to get out of the house, much more so - out of the country (more on that story at a later time). But just because I have more time on my hands than a young mother with young children at her feet, doesn’t mean I’m ready to dive into a stressful, mass production business adventure just to make more profit. We’ve been blessed to not have a mortgage or any car payments so our cost of living is actually quite low and God consistently proves that He takes care of us and always provides what we truly need, and occasionally treating us by satisfying a “want”. I always knew that if my sewing became more of a “have to” than a “want to” I would begin to dread it and I never wanted that…I still don’t.

I am truly content and that means everything to me.

So, when the second business proposal arrived today, it was easy to shrug it off and keep my feet on the path.

OK, enough of the deep stuff…on a lighter note, the lazy susan that lives in the middle of our dining room table is on it’s last rollers. She has been replaced by (get this) a brand new double decker turntable.

Wow!! – we are totally upper crust bonetown rednecks now, buddy!



Thanks to everyone visiting and lending an ear to my thoughts on wholesale. I feel better now!

P.S. Did you see that awesome fish “quilt” on Survivor? It was a puzzle the contestants had to put together but instantly upon seeing it, you can’t help but think “Oooh…that would make a neat QUILT!”

More Rainy Days...

Can't remember the last time we had plenty of sunshine....its been overcast and occasionally rainy for so many days, which really doesn't bother me as I'm nice and cozy inside with nowhere to go. It kind of fits my mood, too....quiet, cloudy, moody....perfect weather for holeing up in my sewing room and plugging away at quillows.

Here's a completed stack ready for tags and storage in my craft show boxes. I really enjoy working with these fun novelty fabrics!

I searched high and low for the right size boxes to transport my quillows to and from craft shows and finally ended up with the best deal at U-haul. The price was great so we bought about 8 of them and it looks like I'll need all 8 of them for the big craft show in Myrtle Beach this December.

I've also been working on these little guys in addition to some checkbook covers from the same fabric.

This idea came from my youngest daughter when she suggested I design a pouch similar to what she and her friends carry around on college campus. The zipper pocket is for their money, the clear pocket on back is for their school ID and the keyring holds their dorm key. So glad she suggested that because I sell so many of these at craft shows and they are a lot of fun to make.

After reading Dana's blog this morning, Old Red Barn Co, I think I might find some time to work on my computer chair today!

What a great solution, Dana ~ thanks!

I've finally completed my Stepping Stones quilt! I think I started it back in March...can't quite remember. Anyway, I still haven't been able to get some good pictures because the sun won't cooperate, but I wanted to at least get something so I could get my quilt listed in my shop, so these will have to do for now.

Now, one of my tasks today is to get something ready for hand quilting so I'll have a project to work on tonight while watching Biggest Loser.