Still Playing "Catch Up"

We're back and I am now trying to get caught up with all the details that a week away from home bring! Sometime this week I'll post a few pictures and go more in-depth on what we did, but for right now I am concentrating on getting the house and my shop back in order. I also have alot of catching up to do with my family and friends. I hope everyone is happy, healthy and doing well!

Etsy Withdrawal

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”
~Abraham Maslow

We are leaving to visit with Gary's parents in Myrtle Beach on Sunday and I am going with mixed feelings. It will mean 6 days away with no access to a computer (Gary's parents don't have one and I, unfortunately, do not own a laptop...yet), 6 days of no sewing and 6 days of no Etsy (sigh of compliant resolve)! I will however, be taking my sketchpad and pencils with me in order to work on 3 or 4 new designs that have been rattling around in my head for quite some time now. It's difficult working on new designs when you are fulfilling orders and trying to keep up the housework, laundry and errands that need tending to. I'm hoping this time away may still prove to be a productive interval for me. I am deactivating the items in my shop until my return just in case someone misses my shop announcement and places an order then wonders why their items are not arriving.

Making sketches and putting down ideas comes quickly, but when you begin working out the pieces of the pattern, that takes time and patience, not to mention some mathematical proficiency. I feel very fortunate to be adept in math and enjoy it, too. Some people don't realize the considerable amount of math that is required when you are working out a design. Making sure that things add up and that everything is in proportion takes some skill and if you're "mathematically challenged" it can become very daunting work.

Arizona aka Zoni

Anyway...back to Myrtle Beach. We are taking Arizona with us. She's 7 now and very well behaved so she shouldn't be too much for Gary's parents to tolerate. They are both 80 years old and don't seem to have the patience they once had with children. When we go out to eat with them they tend to become annoyed very quickly with the children that are at the restaurant. They either cry to much, talk too loudly or don't sit still and mind. They also complain about the "loud" music in the restaurants. I wonder if as we age we lose the ability to ignore the background noises and going's on that most of us are able to tune out or ignore.

Before closing, I just wanted to add some pictures of my friend Angela's beadwork. The name of her shop is Bedfordbeadworks and she makes some really amazing lampwork beads. I have never been a big fan of lampwork beads because it can have such a sloppy look to it if not done well, but her craftsmanship is so precise and clean that she has turned me into a lampwork entusiast. You can visit her shop here. Let me just inform you that you may have to go through her sold items to see her work. She doesn't keep items in her shop very long because they sell so quickly.

I am now off to get the many things that have to be done before we leave taken care of. I hope everyone has a fab day!

More Neat Stuff

So, yesterday I mailed out my first sold Kirei wristlet. I wound up reimbursing the nice lady who purchased it part of her money in exchange for a little market research. I want to find out what she thinks of it as far as quality, style and value for her money. I think it was a fair exchange and the information that I will receive in return will be invaluable. I want to be sure that I price my items fairly, not just for myself but for my customers, too. I may do that with a few more of them, but I'm not sure yet.


Steph sold some more of her new pendants yesterday and listed a few more last night. One of my favorites is another "Green Eggs And Ham" one. She sold the first one she listed after just an hour and I hope this one does as well for her.

I came across a 2 great buttons that I think every "true" Etsian would love. The name of the shop is Allegrae and she has some really fun buttons as well as Alice in Wonderland items. Anyone that knows me knows that I am an Alice freak. The buttons are only $1.60 each and you can find them in this shop here.

Another great shop is called itsybitsyteenytees. It is run by Andrea who I have had the pleasure to meet through Etsy. She handpaints t-shirts and other items for your wee ones.

She also has a cute little tutu that would look adorable on any aspiring ballerina. You can visit her shop by clicking here.

Neat Stuff

This is a new illustration that my friend Cookie Sunshine (aka Donna Childree Gotlib) did called "Waitstaff Magic". When I saw it yesterday, I fell in love with it! I have purchased several of her illustrations that will be going up in my sewing room. Most of the one's that I have deal with sewing and fabric, but I just love what this one says about appreciating servers and all that they do to make your meal more enjoyable. If you get a chance, check out her blog here or visit her Etsy shop here.



And my step-daughter Steph has added some new items to her shop. She is now making pendants on bamboo tiles and I think that they are turning out quite well. You can visit her shop here. Following, you can see a few of her new pendants:

More New Items To Come

I have been so busy fulfilling orders that I haven't had time to work on new items. The past 2 weeks I have been able to get out some new fabrics and finally finished up with my Kirei wristlet, but I want to get out some of my Snappy Card Cases to go along with the slouch bags and wristlets. I haven't decided yet whether I like the straight front or the curved one. Maybe I'll make a few of both. Today I'll be working on 4 bags that have sold over the weekend.

I have been ordering new fabrics for the fall bags and I will be getting some of those out this week, (I hope). I can hardly wait...Autumnal colors are my favorites! There's a new designer that I have come across, Kaffe Fasset, and I LOVE his fabrics...the colors and designs. I want to make a few items using his fabrics and see how they go. The first one I will be trying is called "Turkish Delight" in the color "Mink".

TA-DA! FINALLY...KIREI IS HERE!

I have been working on my Kirei wristlet/clutch pattern for quite some time and I have finally got it to where I'm satisfied enough to list a few in my Etsy shop and see how they go. Kirei is Japanese for beautiful and/or clean. I think that is the perfect name for this little cutie. I might still make them a bit bigger, but the size I have it now works out perfect on a 44"-45" fabric. It also works perfectly on a fat quarter. I try to make my patterns "work" well into the fabric size so that there isn't so much waste. I may also use a lighter batting since I have been spending so much time cutting the batting from the seams to reduce the bulk. Very tedious and timestaking work, not to mention boring. I would also like to explore a different shape for the flap. I think I may have it follow the body of the clutch and flare out a bit on the sides. Check back later for updates.

Sales have been steady, I'm averaging at least 1 sale a day. Last weekend I sold 6 bags and spent the better part of this week fulfilling those orders. Trying to work in new patterns is tough when all your time is spent fulfilling sales, but I was able to complete 2 Kirei bags yesterday and another one today. I used Amy Butler's Nouveau Trees for the first one. I had purchased that fabric several months ago but felt that the color and pattern were "too much" for a large slouch bag. I think it worked very well in the Kirei size bag.

I also made the Hedgehog bag yesterday and the Russian Nesting Dolls one today.

Room To Grow?

I've been feeling very cramped in my sewing room. I have one large table that I use for cutting and pressing, but I find myself constantly having to move things around to accomodate my next step. Tomorrow I'm going to bring another large table in there and have one soley for cutting and one for pressing.

I wound up purchasing an entire bolt of batting this time. I was getting 5 yards at a time, but I've been going through that in two weeks time. This saves me some time, money and lots of frutstration. I spent almost 2 weeks looking for the batting and everyone was out of stock. I had orders I had to fulfill and it was making me very nervous. I finally found some at a Loveland store. The only dilemma now is that it is so large and bulky that cutting it is an issue. I used to cut each time I made a new purse, but I think I'm going to invest an afternoon and cut it all at once, saving me time and the hassle of always having to roll that elephant of a bolt out.

Oh, and the boys have been back from LA...they wound up doing 5 tracks for the movie...2 with Beverly D'Angelo, 1 with Brittany Snow and 2 with Mick Jones, the guitar player from The Clash. So far, only one song has been chosen for the movie and it is going to be played during the rolling credits. We don't know if any more songs will be in the movie, but they will be on the soundtrack for the movie. The name of the movie is "Black Water Transit" and Laurence Fishburne has the starring role. You can read about the movie here: BlackWaterTransit

More Sales Yesterday

Made two more sales yesterday that I didn't find out about until this morning. I'm super pleased! I just purchased some smaller swivel hooks so my wristlets will be more up-to-date as far as functionality goes. I'm always looking for ways to improve my products. I'm looking into making wallets and card cases now. I've been working on the designs for those but still have some tweaking to do.

The boys called from their layover in Denver this afternoon. They sounded excited but tired. They should be in Hollywood by now, but we haven't heard anything yet. I hope everything works out for them. They miss Stevie not being there, I know they're disappointed.

I've been up since 5:30 this morning, Zoe (my dog) was sick and I had to clean up after her. Not a pleasant morning, but she seems better now, so that's a relief.

More tomorrow........

Busy Day

So, today I finished two new purses and sold two purses on Etsy. The first two are the ones I sold today, the second two are the ones I finished. I just ordered twelve new fabrics and I'm excited and looking forward to working with them.

It's been a crazy day with all that is going on. The LA thing got moved to tomorrow for a departure day and Stevie won't be able to make it since Passover starts on Monday and they won't be back until Wednesday. He couldn't have left tomorrow anyhow since it's Sabbath. He is still recovering from the surgery he had on Tuesday and I'm glad that he'll be home mending rather than doing too much, too soon. His brothers still don't understand his commitment to his religion, but I'm hoping that they will one day.

That's all for today, gotta run.... :)

Hello World

It's my first day here and I'm still trying to find my way around. I'm used to navigating around MySpace and it's going to take some time for me to familiarize myself with this. Nothing like a new program to make you feel like you're behind the times.

I'm not sure what I'll be writing about yet...maybe my daily life, maybe special occasions, maybe just blowing off some steam. We'll see where this leads...

I'm the mother of four young men...Erik 27, Stevie 22, Jake 21 and Zack 18. They are a musical and comical pack. I call them "The Mockley Crew" as they are always imitating or mocking someone. Tomorrow the 3 youngest ones are leaving Cincinnati for LA to do the soundtrack of a new movie. I'm happy and excited for them, but also nervous, anxious, tense...all the emotions a mother feels when her kids are going far away. I can't imagine what a mother goes through when she has to say goodbye to her children that are going off to fight in the war. I don't know that I would be able to handle that. I guess it's one of those things that you deal with as it comes.

My day has been a choppy one. Can't seem to focus on things and find myself flitting from one thing to another. Once the boys have landed I know that I'll be able to settle down a little and find center. I haven't flown since I was 12 years old and just the thought of them being in a plane makes my stomach turn...can you tell I don't like flying?

Anyhow, that's all for now...maybe I'll add more later tonight...maybe not. Until next time...

Oh, and by the way, Multiple Pursonalities is not the name of my condition, it's the name of my online Etsy shop...more on that another time. Hope you all have a happy one :)