Busy, busy, Busy Barn!

Lots of things have happened since my last post!  Big news is that the Busy Barn is up and running.  We still have a few things to install and some decorating to do, but it is fully functional and I've been able to do a little crafting.  I absolutely love my space and my wonderful husband who made this possible!  Check out our Facebook page for some great photos. https://www.facebook.com/Studio60

I've added a couple of things to the Etsy store and have lots of things brewing in my imagination that I want to show you in the near future. 

Last week was exciting.  While our son and daughter-in-love were on a mission trip to Thailand, Papa and I went to their home to help care for their 5 children - ages 8 to 1.  We stayed six days and three other families pitched in on the days we couldn't be there.  We had such a wonderful time!  I told my son that I knew one day he would "pay for his raising."  We discovered the bill has arrived (in the form of his 3-year-old son).  What a hoot he is!  He kept us in stitches while we were there.  Great memories that I wouldn't trade for anything! 

I hope as the holiday season is upon us, you take time to count your blessings and love on those special ones around you.  We'll be continuing to celebrate with lots of family and extended family with a little traveling thrown in, too.

Remember the true meaning of Christmas and have a merry one!

On the Job Training

We discovered a little problem with our Etsy shop so you'll notice some changes on our products.  Since most of our orders are "made to order," everything can be ordered by choosing the "Request Custom Order" link located below each product's picture and/or on our Home page below the picture of Amanda and Nancy.  We are continuing to upgrade our shop so in the near future you will see some pics of items that are "ready to ship."  With those items, there will be almost instant turnaround between purchase and shipping.  Happy shopping!

Whirlwind

Wow!  Haven't posted in a while - life has been a whirlwind!  Between getting busy with my full-time job since school has started, I've also had multiple orders for the sewing business.  My wonderful husband has been kicking it into high gear to get the "busy barn" finished for me.  Move-in looks to happen within about a month (hope, hope, hope)! 

And, now thinking about the fact that after today, there will only be 14 Saturdays left before Christmas arrives, I better kick everything into high gear to get ready for that.  But, of course, I have to get ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving first.

We are thinking about adding some holiday inventory to our Etsy shop.  What would you like to see?

Grand Opening!

A big thank you to a lot of my friends - you know who you are. Because of your encouragement, Amanda and I established our Etsy shop last week which is now open for business. We have already received and shipped our first order! Check us ...out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/eStudio60. This is a work in progress, so check back often to see if our inventory has changed. We love custom orders, too. So, if you don't see what you need, just contact us.  If you like what you see, tell your friends; if you don't, tell me!

 

Now, get to shopping!

Pass it on!

Spending time with my daughter this week, I told her one of my big plans for the Busy Barn is planning a time when I can bring her daughter and another granddaughter (ages 5 and 4) to my house for a few days of sewing lessons.  I can remember my mom initially teaching me how to embroider and later she and my grandmother helping me learn to sew and crochet.  My mother-in-law even helped with the crocheting instruction.  Those are very special memories for me!

That's a legacy I want to pass on to my family.  When my daughter was about 5 and my older son was about 3, they helped me with a large cross-stitch project for my mother for Christmas one year.  I had the project in a frame which they would sit beneath; I would put the needle in the top of the project, they would take turns pulling it through and sending it back to me through the appropriate hole on the back of the project.  It took forever!  It took much longer than if I had just done it by myself, but then I wouldn't have those memories and the project would not have been as precious.

I didn't learn to crochet until after our youngest was born.  Once I was fairly accomplished, the kids would take turns sitting on my lap, holding the crochet hook, while I moved their little hands through the yarn.  Again, wonderful memories!

Back in May I had the opportunity to do the same thing with a couple of my grandkids.  I just can't explain how it makes me feel.  Although I hopefully do not compare to the Grinch in any other way, I certainly can relate when his heart grew and grew and grew because of love!

Now, to get that Busy Barn finished.............!

Busy Barn

Between family vacation and a few extended days away with the hubby, I'm itching to get back to my sewing room.  By the way, my wonderful husband is actually building me a new sewing room which we call the Busy Barn - because he said I better stay very busy in that barn after all the time and effort he is putting into it.  I am excited to move into my new digs!  It should be soon - I hope!

I've got a lot of projects on the horizon - a T-shirt quilt, a poodle skirt, maybe a pint-sized Pink Ladies jacket and more baby stuff. My brain tends to kick into overdrive in the planning stages when I can't actually be sewing. 

My daughter and I are going to get together tomorrow.  Besides some quality girl time, we are going to work on setting up an Etsy shop, so look for more info on that in the near future.

In the meantime, remember if you can dream it up, we'll try to make it happen!

Success!!

I mentioned in a previous post about my sewing DNA.  I had found a pattern that I thought resulted in an ugly end-product and decided to try my hand at making my own pattern.  I told you I would let you know how it turned out.

Well, the soon-to-be-mom said the changing pad cover was perfect.  It fit just right and she loved it!  Whew!  Now, if I can just remember how I did that.........

Reflection

Back from vacation and all the laundry is finally done!  I wouldn't say that was "loads" of fun but at least it's finished.  Whew!

So, today, I'm back in the sewing room (albeit in my pajamas) trying to mend a few things from vacation.  A button here, repairing a rip there, etc.

I have managed to finish one project and now I'm having to rip out a hem and redo a project.  That's never fun but it always gives me time to think.  I think that is what I love about sewing - and crafting, in general.  It gives my mind a vacation.  It gives me a chance to be creative, yes, but also reflective and prayerful. 

Thank you, God, for the brief moments of quiet and solitude.

Post vacation post

From mountain vacation to mountains of laundry - just a reminder of the great times we shared on vacation!  We did have a great time.  And, as posted earlier we did do crafts (although not as many as I planned) and we did have a tea party.  I really planned it for the granddaughters because the 5-year-old heard her brother say a few weeks ago, that he was looking forward to his team (baseball) party and she mistook that for "tea" party.  She was so disappointed, I planned the tea party in the woods.  As it turned out, older brother loved it and called it "Epic!"  It may have had something to do with his top hat and handmade necktie.  :)

The girls had boas and tiaras; they all had ring pops; we decorated cookies and made a special punch that I thought was supposed to layer in colors (a Pinterest flop). Oh well, it was tasty!

We had a great time and made some wonderful memories.  I guess I need to go count my blessings along with the loads of laundry!  Hope everyone takes time to make memories and count your blessings, too.

Vacation!

Well, as much as I hate to do it, my sewing machine is put away for a couple of weeks.  We are headed out on a much-needed vacation.  Our family likes to go camping, so an electric sewing machine is out of the question.  But, that doesn't mean creativity and crafting comes to a temporary halt!

Some of our grandkids are going with us.  Oh, yeah, their parents are tagging along, too.  At any rate, I've got some surprises for the kids.  We are making bags from bandanas, tie dye t-shirts, and having a tea party, complete with tiaras and top hats! We may even throw in a little Duck Dynasty celebration.

There will be lots of cooking, campfires, hiking and playing.  I'll probably need a vacation when we back from vacation! 

Don't forget to make time for yourself and your families.  Of all the many things I remember from my childhood, vacations with my family stand in the forefront.  My own children reminisce about our family vacations.  So, we're off for a vacation adventure to make some memories!  If you see us, stop by for some smores.  We'll have plenty!

Sewing Gene?

Is there such a thing as a sewing gene?  Well, I think my family has one.  My grandmother was a fantastic seamstress.  She taught herself to sew on her own mother’s treadle sewing machine when she was about five years old.  She was actually supposed to be taking care of her 3-year-old brother while her mother worked in the fields.  Well, she watched Virgil.  She made him sit under the sewing machine and push the treadle with his hands while she sat on her knees in a chair to sew.  She could also see through the window and knew if my great grandmother was on her way home.  She would quickly clean up her sewing stuff and thought her mother never knew!

As she got older, she learned to make her own patterns.  There was never any extra money to buy ready-made patterns so this was necessity not creativity.  Although as her sewing advanced, so did her creativity.  When she was 75 years old, she made my wedding dress without a pattern.  She had a newspaper drawing of the dress I liked and that was all she needed.  She could do the same thing with crocheting, quilting – you name it – Granny could replicate it!

Between my daughter and me, there are 60+ years of sewing experience.  I used to panic when I would buy a pattern and piece of fabric for Amanda.  She would start altering the pattern as she cut it out!  I could barely afford to buy the one piece of fabric.  I certainly couldn’t afford to replace it if she messed it up.  But, she never did! 

One thing Granny taught me a long time ago was that there was no excuse for the inside of a finished item to not look as good as the outside, whether it was sewing or embroidery.  This week I pulled a pattern out of my cache to make a changing pad cover for a custom nursery.  Out of habit, I skimmed through the instructions and when I saw the underside of the final product, I thought, “Yuk!  That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen.”  It was so bad, I even showed it to my husband who can’t tell a French seam from a serged edge.  So, you know what?  I put on my thinking cap, tapped into my sewing DNA and got busy.  And I think I came up with a very good alternative.  We’ll see what my customer thinks when she gets it.  I’ll let you know!

Wow!  A lot accomplished this weekend.  Started loading the travel trailer for vacation.  Not quite done.  Fell out of the travel trailer.  (Didn't break anything!  Just some scrapes and bruises.)  Made two covers for nursery changing tables.  Made two fleece jackets for my four-legged babies.  Almost done.  (Ran out of bias tape on one of them.  Need to get to the fabric store today!)  Great time of worship at the retirement center chapel and then again at our church.  Cooked a great Sunday lunch for the hubby.  Made a chocolate meringue pie. And even read part of my new book.

But, now it's back to work at my regular job.  Oh, well, another weekend is coming up soon!  Until then, I'll just have to work on my to-do list!

Have I told you lately that I love to sew?  Well, I do!  For me, sewing is a stress reliever.  I know some of you will vehemently disagree, and I feel sorry for you.  Nothing makes me feel more satisfied than taking a flat piece of fabric and creating it into a useful item.  I love to think that some of the things I create are actually  masterpieces.  I may never be internationally renowned, but for now, I'm happy making others happy when they give me a chance to sew for them.

Some new items are posted on our Products page today.  We are so eager to work with you!  Our customers make us who we are.  We would not be in business at all, if it weren't for you. We continue to work on current orders and hope to be filling new ones soon. 

No time like the present!  We are launching the blog so that you can get better acquainted with us.  We've been on Facebook and Twitter for a couple of years but realized a lot of people just don't use the social medias.  We're hoping our business will show up when you do an internet search looking for handmade clothing, gifts and more!

We offer great quality and competitive pricing on a wide variety of things you might need for your wedding, home, nursery, or yourself.  If the blog goes well, you may be seeing us on Etsy next!