Tag: sewing

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Overwhelmed?

I have been feeling overwhelmed lately. There just seems to be too much on my plate and not enough time. I remembered this email that my husband had forwarded to me and decided to take a look. It is from Michael Hyatt. He has experience and common sense. This year I decided that I needed to streamline my business and then I plunged into the 100 items in 100 days Challenge. I have been blogging and stressing about things to do ever since.

Here is Michael’s article: http://michaelhyatt.com/086-what-to-do-when-you-feel-overwhelmed-podcast.html

1. Decide that you need to make a change!

I do need to change some things. My schedule needs to be flexible and work with the ebb and flow of this retail business and my family life. I tend to get into ruts and many times say “No” when it should be “yes”. I have some natural built in things that keep me honest about energy and time usage. I need to say “Yes” to change!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/130328074/say-yes-printable-poster-digital-art

2. Eliminate

What can I cut out of my business or home life? What can I do to change up what I am doing? I am working on some new spins on old items in my shop and some new things altogether. Can I organize things within our family that will allow me to be better organized overall?

3. Automate

I need to automate some parts of my business so that I don’t have to make decisions about little time consuming details. I need to blog and create weeks or months in advance and then decide when I am going to release different  articles.

4. Delegate

I need to plan meals, cleaning and other activities that take me out of the house and away from studio productivity. My family helps all the time so delegating more to them is not possible.

5. Three high payoff activities

These three things save me the most time or pay me the most money for my time ; creating new items, writing crochet patterns, blogs and tutorials, planning everything from grocery lists and menus, to vacation days and business ideas.

6. Productivity Sinkholes

I know that these eat my productivity; leaving the house and studio disorganized, spending too much time on the internet or watching tv, not following through on a task, starting more than I can finish in one sitting when sewing, being afraid of success or failure.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/60981651/time-wasting-experiment-0029-52-minutes

 

7. Schedule important tasks

I need to plan when to sit down and sew for extended periods of time. Schedule it in on my calendar. I have already scheduled basic household maintenance things like changing the heat pump filters. It is helping me to remember to do the small things that save money.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/160798758/weekly-planner-to-do-list-weekly

8. Hire a virtual assistant….

I’m not really ready for a paid virtual assistant but I can work on using all the tools available on the computer and phone to help me keep track of expenses and mileage.

I hope all this thinking helps out. I have the beginnings of a plan and now I need to implement it one step at a time.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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#92-100 Finished At Last!

I finished up these pot holders and coffee press cozies this week. The pot holders have two layers of batting in the middle to keep your hands nice and cool. There is coordinating fabric on the back that I pulled from my supplies and the front is quilted from fabric I had as well.

Here is # 92

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#932014-04-03 07.55.21

#94 and 952014-04-03 07.55.14

They turned out really nice and I love the thick potholders. I also finished up these coffee cozies using the supplies I had on hand.

#96

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#97

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#98

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#99

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#100

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There we go 100 items in 100 days! I am so excited about being finished. I have a bunch of new items on the horizon. I did use up a bunch of supplies and it did stretch my creativity. I had fun and finished up a bunch of projects quickly as I was motivated to be able to buy some new fabric! I still have about four projects that are unfinished that I have started during the challenge time and I may continue counting them toward the challenge. I did have to breakdown and buy some new supplies towards the end of the challenge. If I hadn’t started the challenge I would not have been ready for the opportunity that came my way at Java Dave’s!  I have a ton of things cut out, ready and waiting for me to sew.

See you later!

Karen

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#77- 83 on the 100 Items in 100 Days Challenge!

Here are items 77- 83!

Two pillowcases in pink and purple. I love these as I was learning how to do French seams. They are great, but I think we will use them at home instead of putting them in the shop. I also made a  pillowcase in a brown stripe fabric but it has already been used. So these will be numbers 77, 78, 79

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I crocheted four pot holders with a fifth in the works.

2014-03-025The blue and yellow one and the blue, red and yellow stripe are both crocheted out of wool. The pink multicolor is crocheted out of acrylic yarn.

So these are numbers… 80, 81, 82, 83

There are only 17 items left to create. I have some more coffee press cozies in the works along with more quilted pot holders. These items all use stash fabrics so I can’t wait to show them to you and get them marked off the list.
I have been fighting a cold all week and the weekend looks really full so It may still be a week or two before I am finished with this challenge.

I have had some requests for crochet patterns, and help on some granny squares. I will see what I can do on those. It has been and will be an incredibly busy spring. We are preparing for a graduation and the college girl moving back home and probably back out as she heads off on a summer job.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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71- 76 of the 100 items in 100 days

Here are the other brooches that I have been working on.

Some Kandinsky inspired circle brooches. 2014-03-15 22.39.35

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And some Spring Tulips!

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This is #71 – 76.

They were fun to make and something new for the shop. I still have a ton of felt left, though the bead supply is getting low. I started the challenge with this.

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So, I am using up my bead supply with these pins. It is hard to imagine that I am only 24 items from being finished with the challenge. I started on January 17 and it is only March 17 now.  So if you count the days;15 days in January, 28 days in February, and 16 days in March, for a total of 59 days! I am super motivated as I really need to buy some critical supplies for the shop! : )

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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Felt Brooches in the Works

I had so much fun sewing the felt brooches that I thought I would show you a bit of the process. I just love all of these pretty wooden beads. They came from my stash of beads left over from my daughters’ jewelry making.

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I cut out the felt and decided on the design.2014-03-14 14.12.37

Then the stitching and beading began. It was so much fun to create something from start to finish in one day! I have some more in the works and I hope to show them to you later this week.

This is all that I have left of these particular beads, though there is a bunch of felt left!

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See you later,

Karen

Karen

 

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70 of 100 Items!

70 items out of 100 in the 100 items in 100 days Challenge! Whew, I never realized that it would be this easy. Yes, easy to create 70 items out of supplies I already have on hand. I almost hit a road block yesterday when I ran out of pins for the felt brooches. I found a bunch more this morning and I am started on some different style of brooches using different beads. I can’t wait to show them to you. Here they all are in random order. There are some items that I am not thrilled about but I promised to show you the good, the bad and the ugly.

I’m off to sew and bead some more!

See you later,

Karen

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Flannel Blankets

I love flannel blankets for babies. They are so warm, cuddly and comforting. These three were made for baby boys with their bright colors and woven plaids.

My favorite a Stewart plaid. #612014-03-01 13.30.15

This beautiful blue, black and white plaid. #622014-03-01 13.32.39

#63

2014-03-01 13.31.57I love the black in this plaid. These are pre-washed for softness and hemmed for durability. They are woven with the different colors so both sides are exactly the same print.  The shop has bibs to match and would make a great baby shower gift set.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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60 Items and Counting

I never thought that I would reach this number quite so quickly. I wondered if I would be able to create even 50 items. Here I am sitting at 60. Here is a quick look at them all.

I am glad that I challenged myself to the 100 items in 100 days Challenge. I have used quite a few supplies. I am also a little staggered at how much I still have. While I have run out of a few key elements like the batting I use in the coffee cozies, pot holders, and cup sleeves. I have used up three spools of white thread and quite a few buttons. I have given to a teacher friend my rubber stamps, stamp pads and card stock for use in her classroom. I removed several vintage tea towels to use in my kitchen. I still have an excess of supplies sitting in my studio. I am wondering if I could continue the challenge to use up even more supplies in my shop. I would need to buy the batting I need though, I would NOT need to buy any yarn for quite awhile. I have enough yarn to last until June, August or even October, barring any flights of creativity.

I have been challenged to think outside the box and to use what I already have rather than rush out the store when I am low on creativity. While, I do pin ideas to my Pinterest boards, I try to use those ideas as a spring board for my own creativity. I have three or four  several things in the works for the next couple of weeks.

  • I still need to baste and quilt the quilt top
  • I have at least two or three crochet blankets in the works
  • I have three or four crochet patterns that I need to write up and publish
  • I have the supplies to create another weekender bag and the pattern free from the internet
  • I can crochet a ton of fingerless gloves, scarves and maybe hats! I am not fond of hats as everyone’s head is a very different size.
  • I have some small sewing ideas floating around in my head as well.

We will see what happens as I will have a full house next week as it is Spring Break for the college girl and she is bringing her room mates home for the week. The other kids also have Spring break at the same time so it will be a  busy week full of food, fun and laughter. I hope the weather cooperates as a hot dog roast/marshmallow toasting are in the works, along with some trips to museums in the area and of course bargain shopping! May you have a great week! It is icy and snowing here today as I write this, but by the time you read this it should be warm and sunny.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Scarves, scarves, scarves!

When cleaning out the studio last week, I ran across a bunch of lovely silky fabric. It wasn’t anything that I would sew as it tends to spit out the pins as you sew. It is way above my comfort level to sew with and was given to me by both my Mother in Law and my Mom. I had been on a recent shopping trip with my teenage daughter and noticed that infinity scarves and scarves in general were the latest thing. (They have probably been the latest thing for quite awhile.)  I had enough to create a variety of different scarves. Some are infinity and some are not. I am counting these for the challenge.

I made an infinity scarf out of the beautiful green, black and blue optical print.

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I made two of these long rectangular scarves with this lovely black fringe from my supplies. They came out quite nice.

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I also made an infinity scarf out of the same fabric. It reminds me of storm clouds.2014-03-01 13.40.48

This is a beautiful silky feel window pane plaid of purple, green and red on a blue background. While I was taking the photos I found an alternate way to wear it. A simple pull through knot.

2014-03-01 13.41.44So five scarves would be numbers #56, 57, 58, 59, 60! I haven’t decided if these will be in listed in the shop or for personal use. We will see!

talk to you later,

Karen