A Million Different Directions

I'm supposed to be working on class samples right now, and I'm about to, but I am determined to get back to my regular blog posts.  I love blogging!  It is really frustrating me that I haven't been making/finding the time for it.

Instead, I've been knitting...

I was given 8 oz of reclaimed 100% cashmere, and wanted to make something fun and easy.  This Ruffled Scarf pattern lets me practice my short rows and wrap and turn, and the yarn is so soft to work with!

 and getting back into Block Lotto...

This month we are making 7"x14" purple (or gray or brown) and white chevron blocks

 and working on class samples for a Dresden Plate Possibilities class I want to teach.

This is the scrappy pieced block, obviously.  I'll also have a stack and whack/kaleidoscope version and a more traditional version.  We'll be making pillows while they learn how to use the ruler and piece the blocks. 

Oh, and I'm still learning how to run a business, trying to be the best and most present mom and wife I can be, and discovering the joys of Downton Abbey and Doc Martin!  I've been running in a million different directions at once, but boy, life is fun these days!

It's in the bag!

I'm embarrassed to say this, but I didn't give my twin sister a birthday present this year.  Bad twin, I know.  My intentions were good, but we all know about that road.  Here's what happened:

Back in September in the after school program at my shop, we were making small drawstring tote bags from denim and scrap fabric based on this Lunch Tote tutorial.  I really liked the one I made as a class sample, and was thinking that I'd give it to my sister as a project bag for her knitting for her birthday.  But then I noticed that one seam wasn't quite perfect, and it wasn't one that would be easy to just re-do.  In disgust with myself, I banished the bag to the armoire in my shop.  Every time I opened the cabinet door, though, I saw the bag - a constant reminder of my failure, a project that defeated me.

That just won't do.  Aren't you supposed to start the new year fresh?  I couldn't start the new year with that project hanging over my head. (ahem, ignore the 4,327 other UFOs I have going at present...)  So today, I pulled it out, made a fabric yo-yo, covered the yo-yo with a button I'd been holding onto for just the right occasion, and VOILA!

I love the bag all over again!  There is a drawstring top to keep her projects in,

but also to allow her to use the bag like a yarn bowl. (For those of you who don't knit or crochet, when you pull on your yarn, the ball of yarn likes to roll around, escape, if you will.  Think of that song, "On top of spaghetti" - but substitute the yarn ball for the meatball.  A yarn bowl keeps the yarn in one place, allowing you to pull the yarn as needed without having to chase the ball.)

I bought her a skein of hand-dyed yarn, a set of handmade stitch markers and two hat patterns to go in the bag, all from my shop.  I hope she likes it!  (yeah, I know Christmas is over, but she's spending the holidays in Puerto Rico, so she doesn't know that her gift hasn't arrived yet)

I hope your holidays have been merry and bright!

Erin

Holiday sewing

Ack!  Nearly another month has passed between posts!  When people say you work harder when you have your own business than when you work for someone else, they aren't lying!  But it is so rewarding, it is worth the extra time and effort.  What that means, however, is that I haven't had many opportunities to sew for me.  Most of what I've made these days are samples for classes at the shop.  But Christmas is coming, and while the business is doing well, money is tight, so I am extra motivated to make as many gifts as possible this year.  I know the holidays are right around the corner, but I'm doing pretty well so far.

I knit a face cloth/dish cloth for a friend.  I'm pairing it with some wonderful handmade Herbal Oatmeal Goat's Milk Soap from my shop.

I now know that a solid is a better choice when incorporating a design (can you see the Christmas Tree?) but this is all that I had on hand.  I don't have a yarn stash.  Yet.

I made some double potholders for a family member.

These were actually a sample for a class, but I love them so much, I'm giving them as a gift.

I made a set of two single potholders with hand pockets on the back for another family member.  The third one (without the hanging loop) is a gift for a sewing friend.  These three blocks were orphans that have been hanging out on my design wall for years now.  I'm glad they now have a purpose.

The loops came out kind of wonky, but I don't care.  I wish you could see how the machine quilting I did makes the stars pop!

I'm almost done knitting a hat for another family member.

Oops!  Left the double points at the shop, so I'll have to hold off on finishing this.

I've made a Union Jack block for a family member who asked for "anything British" for Christmas.  Now, I'm trying to decide what to make with it.  I was thinking another potholder since she likes to cook, but I'm thinking now maybe a bag or a composition book cover.  Right now it is just 9" square, so that's a bit small for a pillow, although I could frame it with some of the red and blue, I guess.  Any ideas out there?

Paper pieced, of course

I've got a couple more projects to knock out in the next couple of days.  What about you guys?  What are you making as gifts for the holidays?

SEW Cool Playdates!

Bad blogger!  How can I have let so much time go by between posts?  I think about you guys, my blogging friends, quite often, much more often than I post.  But I tell ya, this "starting a business" business will wear a body out!

So, quick recap of the last month and a half -

Business has been great - classes are almost all at capacity, I now have over 50 local artisans selling in my shop, I am able to pay all my bills, and I am having FUN!

Plus, I've had surprise company - Doreen from Treadlemusic stopped in around mid-October

And then Becky from Quilting Meme stopped in a few weeks later.  (Oops!  Forgot to take a photo!)  Meeting blogging friends in real life is so fun!

I continue to keep my shop closed on Sundays and Mondays - a gal needs a rest, you know.  Yesterday's rest, however, was prepping lesson plans and samples for my newest addition to the services at the shop - SEW Cool Playdates for kids.

For the 5 and up crowd who are just starting to lose their teeth, a 90 minute Tooth Fairy Pillow Workshop.  This has to be one of the easiest yet cutest things I've done in a while.

For the 8 and up crowd, a 3-hour Patchwork Doll Quilts Workshop.  I used gridded fusible to align the squares, so instead of sewing twosies, then four patches, and so on, there are just 17 total seams to make this quilt top.  Add some fusible fleece and backing, birth the quilt, add a bit of simple, straight line machine quilting and voila!

Today I want to time out a Rag Doll lesson plan as another option, plus tweak my t-shirt backpack design.  Winter is coming, and I want to give parents something fun for their kids to do outside the house, but also out of the cold.

What have you all been up to?  One goal for today is for me to find out - I haven't read any blogs for eons!  Be well!

Planning Ahead

The beginning of this week presented a couple of milestones to celebrate. One month of my shop being open - woot, woot! This week, it was downright busy in there! I have not spent more than 15 minutes alone in the shop all week. Twice this week, there were people waiting outside for me to open! The word is spreading! This harebrained idea of mine might actually work out!

Tuesday was my 42nd birthday. Well, mine and my twin sister's. We are at a stage where I don't think we look that much alike - our hair is different lengths right now. But can you tell, am I "Thing 1" or "Thing 2"?

Having a birthday in the shop was FABULOUS! It was Knit Together day, so there were knitters there from the time I opened (yep, someone was waiting outside for me when I arrived), until almost 6 PM. They brought flowers and cookies and chocolates and a doll made just for me. And when I opened my email, what did I find? I had won the Hawthorn Threads weekly giveaway! On my birthday! What are the chances?

They mailed it right away, and my goodies arrived already - I wanted to share photos of the Amy Butler goodness, but Blogger is fighting me about adding more photos and I just don't have any fight left in me today.

I haven't been doing too much sewing for myself lately. I taught one 3-session Quiltmaking 101 class, and started teaching the second 3-session class today. I taught rag rug making to an oversized class of 10 (my classes are supposed to be 3-6 students so everyone gets individual attention). I'm teaching that series again starting this Saturday. I can't believe how popular that has been.

I took a Learn to Knit class here at my own shop and made a hat. Now I'm working on a matching scarf.  I took a Beginning Crochet class here at my own shop, and have had fun learning the different stitches. We've only met once so far, so I only know 3 stitches. Crocheting seems really easy to me.

And my after school program kids have made 3 projects so far - aprons upcycled from pillowcases, snap shut coin purses and fabric composition book covers.

Now I am turning my thoughts to October and Breast Cancer Awareness and what I can do in my shop to support the cause. Any ideas out there? Right now I am thinking of having the following:

1) Knit Sessions to make Chemo Caps.
2) Drop in sessions to make paper pieced Pink Ribbon Pins to wear.
3) Drop in sessions to make quilt blocks for a quilt to raise money for cancer research - but what pattern? And how to raise the money - by raffling the final quilt or by having folks make a donation to make a block or some other way?
4) Pink Ribbon fabric for sale either as Fat Quarters or yardage with the proceeds being donated for Breast Cancer Research.

What do you think? Do any or all sound viable? Do you have other ideas? I'm going to deck out the display windows with pink ribbon stuff, and might ask the vendors if they might agree to having part or all of their sales for a particular day to be donated. I welcome any suggestions from any of you!

Disappearing Act

I dropped off the face of the earth for a while, I know.  At first, it was because there was so much going on in my life that I couldn't seem to make the time.  But then, recently, I made the time, but couldn't access my account.  I was so frustrated, after having put years into this blog, to not be able to get back to it!  But for any who might not already know this, librarians are the most wonderful, generous, helpful, resourceful people on the planet, even when off-duty, and The Caffeinated and Quilted Librarian, Becki, got me back on track.  I've never even met Becki - we connected back after Superstorm Sandy during the relief quilt project (she was a HUGE help back then, too!).  She's just started blogging herself - go check her out!

So...I'm BAAACCCKKKK!!  Man, how I have missed all of you.  I haven't even managed to READ anyone else's blogs in months.  I have a lot of catching up to do.  Now, for the Cliff Notes version of my last few months.

I left my job of 10 years on June 23.  That very evening, we started driving north to spend two weeks with family and friends in New England.  We made wonderful memories while I finished up the shirt made from my MILs shirts.

See how I tied it with the buttons off her shirts? I never knew sewing buttons on by machine was so easy!

 

For three weeks in July, I taught quiltmaking and rag rug making at a summer arts camp here in town. The kids did a fabulous job!

My next rug will be multi-colored like hers - what fun!

We only had time to make quilt tops, not complete quilts

She didn't yet have her borders sewn on, but how I loved all the color in her quilt!  You can tell we used pizza boxes as project boxes to keep our stuff together.  Put a bit of batting in the bottom, and it serves as a portable design wall.

See that precision!  I hired her later in the summer to help me with Quilt Camp.  Great girl!

I also volunteered at another summer camp a couple times, teaching them all how to make yo-yos and sew buttons as we made rings for ourselves.

yo-yo + button + hair elastic = ring bling!

Somewhere in there, my brother got married in a beautiful little ceremony at his home, and I got to spend another magical three days with my family.

We were a bit fidgety while we waited.

Here they come!

My beautiful niece and my beautiful aunt

 

There are many "kids on tractors" photos in my family

Did you think that was me in the pink top?  I did, but then, how did I take the photo?  That's my twin sister with my hubby, my boys and my step-father, with her hubby and son kicking the ball in the background.

Once camp ended, we packed up and headed to the Outer Banks for a week in the sun and sand.

We went crabbing for the first time ever.  Fun!

 

 

 And the day I returned, I picked up the key to my new shop, The Stitchin' Post! I scrambled to get it painted and cleaned up in 8 days, and then I had a week of Quilt Camp with 12 kids from 8:15-4:45 each day. Fun, but exhausting! But look at some of the beauties they made!

Oops!  Upside down, but I'm short on time.  The half day campers made pillows using 4 embroidery stitches that I taught them and fusible.  I love this night landscape in the mountains with the firefly going to join his firefly friends in the distance.

Oops!  Upside down again!  We're not supposed to have favorites, but this turtle was mine!

I guess it is just going to be an upside down day.  You can see here some of the projects the all day quilters did - a QAYG strip pieced quilt, a pillow, a fabric tissue cover, fabric bookmarks and patchwork bingo cards.  They also did the yo-yo rings.

Everyone got a ribbon for something on the last day when I had a judge (ie woman from my quilt guild) come in for the quilt show.  And yes, I stayed up WAY too late one night making those out of denim, ribbon, and yo-yos.  Would you believe I never made a yo-yo before July?

Once camp was over, I had 6 days to get the shop ready for opening. The day before opening, I arrived to discover I had been YARNBOMBED!!! What a great feeling!

I've been open 2 weeks now, and things are going great!  Lots of company all day.  Sales.  Classes that have filled to capacity.  I am having so much fun!  I want to do better about chronicling my adventures here, but I encourage you to check out the shop's website, www.stitchinpostva.com (which will eventually have a blog) and follow on Facebook if you want to know what's going on.  And by all means, if you are ever passing through SW Virginia on I-81 or I-64, some sit and visit with me for a while!

OK, gotta go!  I'm supposed to open in 39 minutes and I haven't even taken a shower yet!

My colleagues, my friends - Part Two

Do you ever make assumptions about people based on their appearance?  C'mon now, be honest.  As much as I hate to admit it, I do.  Luckily, however, I am always open to changing my opinions based on actual knowledge, rather than impressions.

Ten years ago, my first impression of Jonathan, the second-in-command here in the Admissions Office, was of a stuffed shirt.  Here I was, motorcycle-driving, mixed-race, archaeology-major, child of activists who grew up in a log cabin in Maine, and on day one at W&L, I met Jonathan, probably wearing a pastel-colored oxford shirt with a bow tie and scholarly glasses, clean cut all-American-looking Tennessee native with formal mannerisms, and I was thinking, "sheesh, we are going to have NOTHING in common."

Shame on me.  Behind the proper speech of this English major who uses words like verklempt in daily conversation and expects people to understand his meaning (verklempt = Yiddish word that means overcome with emotion - yeah, I had to look it up!), is a really nice guy with a killer dry wit and an ability to laugh with me when I am laughing at him (true confession time - laughing at him is one of my favorite pastimes).  Upon getting to know him better, we have much more in common than I originally thought.

And then, there is something to be said for working with someone for a decade.  There is regular turnover in the professional staff of any admissions office.  That is normal.  Most of the people I work with are here for 2-3 years and then move on.  The camaraderie and shared experiences take on new meaning when you are the two left behind as others cycle through. What a blessing he has been to be a sounding board when I wanted to talk with someone who "understood" where I was coming from - we are contemporaries, but let me state for the record that he is a good 4 or 5 months OLDER than I am.  I remind him of that every chance I get.  But that means he understands better than some of my younger colleagues the challenges of parenting, of finding balance between your home life and your work life, of home ownership, of aging parents, of so many shared life experiences, and I have really appreciated his open door and his listening ear.

Something else that Jonathan does well is provide feedback for a job well done.  Sometimes that goes unnoticed or unsaid in the workplace, but Jonathan has consistently boosted my self-esteem by letting me know when a program I have planned or a project I have completed was successful.  I am forever thankful for that.

When I opened my gift box from my colleagues, Jonathan's block was on top, the first one I saw.  It took my breath away.  I was immediately reminded of the fibers and weavings and whatnot from my yearly trips to Latin America - both the colors and the patterns.  Those trips were my favorite every year, so I'm touched that he choose to bring that into his block for me, and I'll be honest, folks - I never figured Jonathan for being all that creative.  He has many strengths and talents, but I never guessed that this would be one.  Isn't it gorgeous?

Thank you, Jonathan!