Big Changes in the Future

I know its been quiet around here for the last couple of months but I haven't been idle. Aside from working on whatever project caught my interest at the time, I've been mulling over ways to earn a little income from home. I spent a fair amount of time on Freelancer (I do not recommend them), browsing options on FlexJobs (currently they all demand more time than I have), taking a couple of Coursera classes to develop my skills, and letting my brain run circles around some ideas.

In the hopefully-near future this blog will be moving and under a different name as I attempt to launch a home sewing and pattern business. I am a bit concerned about a saturated market but I think I have a few ideas that I haven't seen out there quite yet. There are a plethora of things that must be done to do this right and make it stick, like establishing my own website, product research and development, learning about sales tax collection and reporting, and a near constant state of prayer that this is the right direction in which to focus my efforts and that we won't run out of money before I make it work. I'm utilizing tools like Wave, Trello, and OneNote to organize.

Part of the slowdown is that I have so many ideas and options its hard to determine which to pursue first. I'm going to have to narrow it down to make any progress.

In the meantime, I've been making slow progress on some old projects and a new one. I almost have another block done in my Mini Joy's Journey, I'm filling out the gaps my motif blanket, and I did a few more squares for Reflections on the Go. I also started using up some random skeins making "scarves." I'm not sure whether I'm going to border them and use them as a Mile-a-Minute afghan or just make a bunch of easy scarves.

 

I hope you are all having a wonderful September. As the temperatures finally cool off around here, Smidget and I are enjoying the occasional park day and walk around the block. Its the best time of the year to work on those warm projects like afghans and quilts.  Let me know what your plans are for this fall!

Sometime this spring, I stopped getting emails for comments, so I haven't been able to reply to my readers as I would like to. Due to Real Life, I wasn't able to look into it until now. Unfortunately it appears that all my settings are correct and so the mystery continues as I attempt to find a work-around. Please everyone, know that I read and appreciate every comment.

Since I couldn't respond directly to Justine (nice to hear from you as always and I agree that the Smidget is much more fascinating than my crafty projects!) I decided to respond in this post. First, here is a picture of the Smidget. I know I was overdue to show him off again.

He's a delightful happy little guy, very playful and snuggly. The reason I'm not sharing dozens of photos (I'm a proud mama and would happily do so) is that his father and I agreed that limiting his online exposure is in his best interests. We intentionally do not, and have requested that family members do not, publish photos of him on any social media platform. So I have had to exercise restraint and will unfortunately probably stop sharing photos all together when he gets a little older. It makes me so sad that this is where we are as a society, but I must adapt to what I cannot change.

Now for the boring stuff. I'm chugging away on the Amethyst Project Bags. Slow. Slow. Slow. With many mistakes and having to recut pieces. Its been an experience. I'm getting there though. They will be lovely when completed, or so I keep telling myself.

I have spent a bit of time on other projects here and there but mostly we were working on converting the family room to a baby safe area. Its mostly complete and now the Smidget can free range over most of the space, which he seems to enjoy. There are still a few things on our list to do and of course, he still finds things to get into but on a whole I'm pleased with how well it worked out.

Thank you all for your comments and I hope to resolve the email issue soon so I can easily get back to you directly.

A Plethora of Projects

A few days ago, the Smidget and I were outside playing and we happened to see a robin land rather close. I thought it was a great opportunity for a couple photos and much to my delight I discovered that he had caught a worm! I was really pleased to be able to capture this on camera. I know its the stereotypical robin thing to do but I never imagined I'd actually see it. 

I'm still working on the Amethyst Project Bags. It is slow going. This is my pile of project pieces. Everything is there, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I suspect this is the type of project that comes together all at once towards the end - right now it feels like I'm twiddling away at components.

My Mini Joy's Journey Afghan has the next three blocks stitched on. Six blocks down, fourteen to go!

Another thing I did was pull out The Castle. I'm trying to put a few stitches a day in this beautiful project. I really would love to finish a couple of cross stitch projects. I found another one that I am dying to purchase but I don't want to start it until I have a couple finished so I'm going to put a concerted effort into The Castle and Tiger Chilling Out.

The pattern I found is called Hogwarts in a Bottle and its sold on Etsy in the shop CutePatternsbyMaria. She has many absolutely beautiful patterns and I hope she will publish more bottle/snowglobe type patterns in the future. I've linked above to the pattern in her shop, please check it out if you are interested in cross stitch, she is a very talented designer.

I've had to descontruct my crafty corner in the family room as we are attempting to convert it into a child safe area for the Smidget to free range in now that he's learned to crawl, so I also mostly cleared off my desk in my sewing room and I'll be setting up my cross stitch projects there. By the way, this upcoming weekend is Hermit and Stitch weekend so consider pulling out a project and get rolling! Happy Stitching All!

Priorities

 

The dishes are dirty,

the house is a mess.

When the laundry gets folded

is anyone's guess.

My little one's small 

for only so long.

So I read him a book 

and I sing him a song.

We play with his toys

or go for a walk.

Sometimes we sit 

and do nothing but talk. 

Someday he'll be big

with a child of his own.

And then I'll think back

on how time has flown. 

The dishes, the laundry, 

the chores will all wait.

Snuggle those babies

before its too late. 

Amethyst Project Bag

My July project is the Amethyst Project Bag by Sew Sweetness. 

It took me almost two weeks to get the majority of it cut out and the interfacing fused. I don't think that I could have chosen a more complicated, involved, or expensive project for my foray into structured bag making. Please note that this is not the fault of the pattern author. The pattern is very well written and includes excellent pictures. Rather, it is a result of my over-ambitiousness and deciding to build three of the darn things instead of just one. 

Having said that, I would rate this project somewhere between intermediate and expert skill level. If I didn't have extensive sewing experience already, I'm sure it would have baffled me. By the time I am done with all three, I expect to be extremely comfortable with zippers and structured bags.

The exterior pieces of the Amethyst Project Bag

 Below are just the lining pieces that I cut out. I have a small mountain of exterior and foam interfacing pieces not even pictured.

I am slowly chiseling away at these bags and hope to have them done by the end of July (hahaha!)