The Sewing Mom

My sisters, mom and I are looking into renting a booth at a craft fair to show and sell all of our handmade goods. Considering that we all live in different states, agreeing on a date and location will be no small feat!

One of the best areas for selling hand crafted goods of any type, seems to be Tennessee, where my nephew and his crafting wife live. It’s a beautiful part of the country and it seems to have a number of craft shows to choose from, as well as flea markets and what they call, Mile Long Yard Sales. We could really choose from any of them.

No matter what we do, I’m pretty sure that I will be traveling the farthest and whether I fly or drive, will need a hotel. I don’t know what we used to do to find hotels before the internet! I love that you can go online to sites like HotelsCombined.com and find hotels. Not only can you find them, but you can compare them, see pictures, find rates and reserve rooms.

Once we decide when exactly we’re going to do this “event”, I’ll be making my reservations. If it’s after school lets out for the summer, which I’m hoping it is, my daughter can come along and I will probably drive. That would be so much easier and I would be able to take more stock with me. If I fly, I’ll be limited as to how much I can bring with me.

I’m really getting excited about this prospect. I have stocked up on fabric, especially over the last week, so I will be sewing a lot over the next couple of months. Not to mention, I am so looking forward to spending time with my family.

Tags: craft show, fabric, handmade goods, hotels

This is just a reminder, I currently have two of my fabric bags for sale in my auction widget in the right sidebar.  If you are at all interested and would like more information, please leave me a comment.  Also, if you prefer not to bid but are interested in purchasing, leave me a comment and I will send you an email.

I’ve purchased quite a bit more fabric over the last week, including today and will be busy making more bags.  If you see one you like, let me know, no two are ever alike!

Tags: auction, fabric bags

I just returned from the local quilt shop where they are having their annual Fat Tuesday Fat Quarter sale. This was such a huge sale that I actually had it marked on my calendar to go, almost as important to me as a doctor or dentist appointment would be. Truthfully, perhaps even more important!

Anyone who has ever visited my site before knows that I am a sewer. I don’t quilt, but I love the quality fabrics that are sold at quilt shops and use them to make my fabric bags, including the ones I currently have up for auction. The only downside of buying quilt fabric is the price, it can run almost twice the price per yard of the fabrics you will find in other fabric stores. The quality is quite noticeable, particularly when sewing it, and it is well worth the money.

I try to not go to the quilt shop unless I absolutely need fabric or a specialized item that only they carry. However, last week, I was there for a bag sewing class which cost me $25 plus the cost of all of the supplies to make the bag, approx. $50 (I can make two bags from that supply). Following the class, I did purchase more yardage for other bags I plan to make, spending another $50. Today’s shopping trip was specifically to purchase fat quarters, pre-cut pieces of fabric measuring 18″ x 22″. These are not on sale too often, so it was a stock up spree for me. I purchased 42 various fat quarters at a cost of $1.75 each, regularly $2.50 each. I also decided to join a Block-of-the-month club for making a Beattitudes quilt. The blocks themselves are very reasonable, $12 each. I had to buy both January and February’s blocks for a total of $24. I also had to purchase the instruction book, a one-time purchase of $16. If you were to add up all of those numbers, you would come up with a number totaling almost $140.

Needless to say, I’ve spent quite a bit over the last month on fabrics. I use my money that I earn online and from selling my bags to purchase all of my fabrics and notions. I feel this is fair to not take money from our household budget to support my fabric and sewing addictions. I pay for all of it using a debit card attached to my own personal account, I never have to feel guilty about what I’m spending. This is how I deal with debt management for my sewing business. By using a debit card rather than a credit card, I don’t have to contend with credit card debt management which can be stressful if not handled correctly. I want to enjoy my sewing, not have to worry about how I’m going to pay the bill when it comes in the mail.

So, I have now built up my fabric stash to a level that I should be able to make quite a few fabric bags in several different varieties. I’m looking forward to making each and every one, they are all as individual as we are!

Tags: credit card debt management, debt management, fabric, money, quilt shop, sewing

I spent the last week gearing up to not only clean up my blog, but also to begin selling my fabric bags. My Tackle It Tuesday is exactly that, a cleaned up blog and my first bag is up for sale.I week or so ago I upgraded this site to WP2.3.2. This was definitely not what I would call a smooth process. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I had a wonderful support team to help me, I probably would’ve walked away from my computer, never to return! The upgrade was finally completed though, but some very strange things happened along the way.

The site itself seemed to be working properly, but there were things in places that they shouldn’t be. Search boxes on top of feed buttons, text trailing across my calendar and a blogroll that has all but disappeared. I have to send a huge shoutout and thanks to my sister Karen at The Pond for diligently sticking with me yesterday and helping me get things back where they belonged. Somehow, code had been shifted all throughout my WP php, it was as if a tornado had gone through and just moved everything arbitrarily. She managed to get things put back where they belong.

Just when we thought everything was good, my comments all disappeared, plus, there was a period of time last night, when my readers couldn’t leave a comment. Very frustrating. After more persistence on my sister’s part, it was fixed. I must apologize to anyone who was here during that time, I’m sorry I missed you.

While all of that was going on yesterday, I was busy adding items to this site. One thing is the Sticky Plugin that allows me to have an announcement remain at the top of my page. Of course, I wanted that in order to be able to announce the other major item I added yesterday, and that is my WP Auctions Plugin that has allowed me to begin selling my fabric bags, right here on my own site.

I am very excited about the Auction plug in. Afterall, my only New Year’s Resolution this year was to get my sewing business up and running and begin selling my bags. I feel that after yesterday, I have begun the process. I am continuing to consider selling via Etsy.com. I have registered, but have not yet set up my shop, it’s a bit intimidating and I haven’t had a lot of time to spend on it yet.

While all of the above was going on yesterday, I also managed to finish this bag and it is the very first item that I listed on the auction. I love this bag and have started a second one. So, here is the photo before with all of the supplies I needed to make the bag, and then of course, the finished product. I am feeling somewhat proud of myself! I do however still have the issue of my missing blogroll. The links are all still in my WP dashboard, they just don’t seem to be appearing on my right sidebar where it says “Blogroll”. Not sure what’s going on there, I’m still working on it!

Have a great Tuesday!

Tags: sewing, tackle it Tuesday, wordpress, WP Auction