DH was featured in a treasury!

I just figured out how to do this screen shot thing. I wish I had learned it earlier because I missed quite a few treasuries we were both in. But for better or worse, I guess I gotta start from somewhere! This is actually the second treasury that has featured this same bowl. Hmmm, wonder why no one will buy it?


Here is the link to the actual listing...it looks better than in the screen shot.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8860257

Busy, busy, busy

I'm excited, I got an order for 30 small vinyl pouches, with a loop. Which spawned me thinking in many different directions. Why just organizers?

Why not badge holders and business card holders and stethoscope covers? Why not? (hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm)

That is the sound of my brain going a million miles a minute. I wish I had more days in my week to get all the stuff I want accomplished.

But first, the 30 pouches, then the world!

D'oh!

Have you ever been so intent on finishing something, but not really paying enough attention to it that you screwed it up royally?

I was trying to get the binding on my new wall hanging done and being impatient and focusing on too many things at once caused me to miter two out of the four corners backwards. Which I subsequently did not notice until I was stitching the binding on by hand and could only go one quarter of the way around before realizing what an idiot I am.

Which leads me to believe it just wasn't meant to be completed today since I have NEVER in the 13 years I've been quilting and the unknown number of quilts I've created (70?, 80?, 100?) EVER done that.

I have sewn blocks in going the wrong way, put wrong sides facing together more times than I can count, measured and cut the wrong amount of fabric oodles of times, but I've never mitered my corners wrong.

D'oh! and I was all psyched about getting it photographed today too.

Blog Overhaul and Purses

I am overhauling this blog and turning it into a journal of my crafting exploits. Or a motivator to keep me producing things to sell in my Etsy shop. I'm going to post pictures of the things I'm working on and hopefully it will force me to keep going on several projects I have in various stages.

To start off, here are some purses I've been working on. It's a Burda Pattern that I altered because I didn't like the fact that the purse was unlined. I wouldn't want an unlined purse so I figured no one else would either. Unfortunately It makes the bag twice as hard to construct and really adds to production time too.

Because I added a lining to the bags, I realized I didn't purchase enough fabric to complete each bag, which turned out to be o.k. because it's been giving me a chance to destash my vast box o' fabric. (Which is really just an excuse to buy more, right?)

I used Pellon Decor Bond as a fusable stiffener to give the bags body, because while cotton has many fantastic attributes, rigidity is not one of them...

Autism and Art

Over the years I have had several students with autism to varying degrees, many of whom have become very dear to my heart. This piece really made me happy to see that how the arts can affect kids positively, and not just ones with "disabilities". At the end of the movie I almost cried when I saw the little girl reach out and touch her mom's face in joy. Anyone who has worked with an autistic child knows that those moments of connecting can be few and far between. Please check this out, it's worth watching.

Sioban's Art Work

Happy Thanksgiving

Give a turkey a break...eat more sweet potatoes this Thanksgiving!

Quit Your Job (if it's killing you)

Chad and I did this about 7 years ago, and I am so glad we did. We both had great paying jobs that were killing us, and our relationship. Had we stayed, we would have gotten divorced, I'm sure of it. After taking the initial leap and fearing that we would starve, we both ended up doing what we love. I teach, he builds.

Chad started his own business knowing he couldn't do shoddy work for cheap bosses and now has more business than he can keep up with. I ended up teaching piano and music education to kids that I truly care about and it makes me happy. Supremely, deeply and unequivocally happy.

How many of you can say that about your jobs? I know that we could have more material goods, and eat out all the time, and not buy generic if I had chosen to stay at the worst job in the world. But you know what? We don't need more stuff, and eating out is a pain with small children, and generic tastes just the same as name brand, especially when you put it into a Tupperware container and there are no colorful cartoons to distract you anyways.

And believe it or not, hard work is good for your soul.