A Sewing Lesson

Northern Michigan has given us some "Snow Days" lately - a day off from school because the weather is too bad to be out on the roads.  Today was one of those days.  A good amount of snow fell overnight and with more to come.  I was lucky enough to have had one of our grandchildren spend the night, so she was here to spend the day with me since she didn't have to go to school.

Snow Days can be fun to just stay in your pajamas all day, watch TV and maybe even bake some goodies.  Well today we didn't stay in our pajamas, we didn't watch much TV and we didn't do any baking, BUT WE DID SEW...

Yep, today was sewing lesson time for my ten year old granddaughter.  She was a bit nervous about it at first but then ended up being quite the crafter alongside her grandma.

A friend had given me a stack of kitchen towel and napkin samples - little swatches about 6" x 8" of lots of fun colors and patterns.  I cut them down to 5" squares and some flannel squares the same size and we made "Hot/Cold Packs" - each one lined with the flannel, filled with rice and ready to  warm some hands in this winter weather by popping them in the microwave for a few seconds, or placing them in the freezer to pull out when a little one bumps their head.

Tiffani practiced on some scrap fabric and in no time became a pro.  I was able to pin the stacks of fabric together and hand them off to her to stitch.  As she handed them back I'd turn them right side out, fill with rice, and pin the opening shut to be ready for some more stitching...........we had a great time together and now have a few sets of Hot/Cold Packs to sell at the craft show I'm doing on February 9 - we are bundling them in pairs and tying them together with some pretty ribbon.

What a great day it was to pass on my love of sewing to Tiffani and to be able to work on a project together with her....memories being made.  :)

Oh My........

It's been a long time since I've been on here (thank you for the reminder Britney). Much has happened between posts - a VERY busy fall and Christmas season.  Oh my, where to start......

 

My last post was about the Car Trash Bags I had started making.  I'm still amazed at how that little bag took off and sold like crazy (still selling).  I thought I'd have to put a clearance price on them just to sell them at the craft shows, but not the case.  People were excited about them. They also came up with new uses them for. Some would even put in requests for different fabrics or call and place an order for one or two more for people on their Christmas list that they thought would love one.
 IT   WAS   A   CRAZY   BUSY   TIME   BUT   OH   SO   EXCITING!!!!!!!!

Those Car Trash Bags are now "Not Your Ordinary Trash Bag", because people are using them to hang on the edge of crafting tables  so they will have a place to toss their snips of thread or scrapbooking paper.  Bedside tables and lockers have become a new home for some of them.  I even had a special order for a couple of them to use for portable oxygen tanks (I wish I would have thought of that while my mother was still living.  It would have been so nice to give her a pretty bag to carry her portable tank in).   Oh yes, and most people are still using them for their cars and I don't know what else. 

I was actually caught off guard by how well the bags were received and how fast they sold.  It made for some busy sewing days, for sure, but I enjoyed every minute of it.  It caught me so off guard that I wasn't very well organized for the big production line that I had going on here so I can't even tell you for sure how many I've made - my blogging and accounting time was not the priority when there was such a demand for something that would turn into cash for the Christmas season.  :)  It's safe to say that it's well over 200 and probably closer to 300 as I sit here and tally it up in my head - I still find it hard to believe.

And aprons - another thing that caught me off guard...I did the "Little Black Holiday Apron" and sold a couple of them at The Red Dresser where I also have the trash bags.  Then it was very exciting - let me say that again - VERY  EXCITING to have Hillary of Chick's Picks agree to sell some at her Holiday Event out east and she sold six of them.

It's pretty safe to say that the reason I haven't been blogging is because I've been sewing - before Christmas it was a night and day job to keep up with demand, keep the stock up at The Red Dresser and be prepared for multiple craft shows - a tiring but exciting time.  I'm feeling very blessed at how well received the bags and the aprons were and am gearing up for another great year. 

I just stopped down to The Red Dresser a couple of days ago and restocked the bags with some new fabrics and new stenciled designs, as well as a new apron for Lily.......

 

Remember Lily?  She's my vintage dress form that is currently living at the store.  I think that each season she should have a new apron to wear, so this past week I dressed her in a new, "Won't You Be My Valentine Apron".

 

In this new year I hope to be better at balancing all of this new stuff that's going on in my life.  I know I  need to take the time to share what I'm doing since I have this blog - to slide my chair away from the sewing table and report to all of you how blessed I am feeling to have all of this fun stuff going on in my life.

 

Now I have two weeks of "power crafting" before a February 9th Craft Show at Central High School, sponsored by Third Level, that I'm signed up to do - bags to sew, aprons to make and whatever else I come up with.......it's good that I work well under pressure.  I'll try to remember to take a breath and BLOG............