Found the camera, right where it should be

I didn't look on the shelf on the closet where the camera should be, because the case was on the counter. So I was sure the camera couldn't possibly be in the box, where it's supposed to be. I finally looked in the box the day before yesterday, and there it was. Waiting to get to work taking pictures of finished projects and cute kids. But I wasn't ready. The cute kid pictures got taken, of course, but I've been working on some Christmas orders instead of things for the shop. Also, I suddenly realised that I was out of time for Christmas gifts of my own. So, I have to again, think of priorities, and shift them around to meet some deadlines. I also still have not finished my winter coat. I did, however, find the perfect buttons. Still moving into the sewing/play room. Here are pictures of the in-process move-they are terrible-sorry-but I'm not going to retake them, because the room now looks worse.

The closet-adding shelves is what really made a difference for the whole room


I've got to get through those bags
A view of the cutting/project table and sewing desk. The hanging baskets need to be moved closer to the wall. I think I'm going to put in some corner shelves there as well.
The sewing desk with all it's wonderful shelves, inspiration board, and things that need to find a home
The playroom side of the room. In January we'll finish up this side of the room-there is still stuff to move in, as well.
Even in this in-between state, it's easily my favorite room in the house, and it's fast becoming E and A's. Well, A just wants to be wherever E is. Happy Thoughts!

I can't find the camera!

I was so excited to share pictures of my getting-moved-into sewing room/playroom, but we'll have to settle for the getting new floors pictures for now.

Child Labor-I would say baby labor, but he really just wandered around putting things in his mouth and getting them taken away.

More Child Labor-e was a very active, talkative participant in the whole new-flooring event. Our contractor, my father, was really great about it.


Halfway there!

L's favorite part of it all; the 100-lb roller to push the laminate into the concrete and glue

DONE!

We put in shelves, moved the big furniture back in, and I've even been sewing in there, although I'm still moving slowly into the area. One of the reasons for the floors is that the carpet in our house is in truly terrible shape, and L's accident with the embroidery needle in his knee. Not only can you hear pins and needles hit the floor, but they are much easier to find.
I'm on the last sewing step of my custom order, it's a tent, so once the sewing is done, you drill holes in the pvc, put ribbon through the holes to tie the poles together, then you are done. I had thought this morning that once that was done I could do some personal sewing, but I have some things to finish up for the Etsy shop, and I have another custom order, this one for a Dorthy Wizard of Oz dress. Plenty of work to do, and I'm glad-not many people fall into a steady work at home job doing something they love. Happy Thoughts!

I..am...tired...

This weekend I moved out of and back into the sewing room/playroom for what should be the last time, for a long time. And how exciting it is! Pictures later, when my brain is working well enough to load them. Except that I've also been getting some other things ready-tomorrow morning probably about 7 am-ish, this will be listed in the shop-

Travel Set-Felt Backed Fabric Dinosaurs

There are 11 different dinosaurs, if you have young paleontologist, it's actually 10 dinosaurs, a flying reptile, and a water reptile. If they don't know any better, I'd say, don't worry about it. I think we need to make the mat bigger! And off to bed I go, so I can be up early to get to work finishing up my custom order(that right now seems never ending!), and getting the room in order(that I can't wait to work on again). Happy Thoughts!

The panic of the first Etsy sale

Something happened yesterday that made me sit down and list my priorities. At 6am, I listed this-

Travel Set, Fabric Paper Dolls

It's so much fun! My sister, the non-blogging half of LeeandLoren, made it. You've heard of her before, she's also known as The Quilter. After listing this, I made some some updates, worked on the polices and such, logged off. It was 7:10, and I realised I had forgotten to change some info, so I logged back on. I couldn't find the Travel Set. It wasn't listed as inactive, featured, I was starting to worry when I saw the note at the top of the page-

"Please leave feedback for Your transaction"

What? I hadn't bought anything! Then I looked closer-HOLY COW! The Travel Set had sold!

WTCrap?

I went into panic mode, I have to get to the post office, I have to call The Quilter, wait, do I have the postage amount correct? Where the heck was this going, anyway? I checked, and the first sale of Leeandloren.etsy is going to New South Wales, Australia. Momentary pause in panic-huh, not what I expected. Resume panic-Oh, no, I don't have any packages! I was waiting to stock up, because everything I've read says you don't get your first sale for at least 4-6 weeks. I was supposed to have more time, I'm still working out the store polices for crying out loud! During this, The Hubby had gotten up, the children had wanted to eat, change clothes, play in traffic, climb the walls, and so on. Which I didn't really notice, I was to busy panicing.

And then I stopped, logged off, and said, "Whoa."

Stop.

Breathe.

Sit.

Eat.

Think.

During the time that I've been preparing to open the Etsy store, I've battled keeping the right priorities. It's not fair to my family to immerse myself in business and neglect them-especially since this is supposed to be for their good. Little extra money, all my fabric gets used, kids get all sorts of toys to play with(they're my prototype testers)etc.

Okay.

Big breath, let's write it out-family first, then house, then business.

The Hubby being home makes that kind of hard, because he's a computer hog. You will not hear the end of that until I have a laptop with a wireless connection. The Hubby is going back to work next week. For this week, I'll get on the computer first thing in the morning, and get it out of the way; but next week we'll be attempting to go back to our old routine. I'll worry about how difficult that's going to be later. If I follow the list of priorities, I won't be on the computer until close to 10 am. This worried me at first, I want to get really good feedback of course, responds quickly and so on. But I reminded myself that as long as I checked twice a day, I would catch orders within a few hours of them being placed. I still have to get the rest of my To-Do list finished, which is just as overwhelming now as it was 3 months ago, but I just won't think about that.

Happy Thoughts!

It's been a week since my last post?!

Seriously? A week? I can understand how it has gone so quickly-learning to edit photos, make a light box-since the weather never seemed to cooperate and give me good lighting-and actually listing items has taken up much of my time. We have also had about 2 doctor visits each week for DH, and those seem to take an entire day.

I'm so very excited, all my dolls are listed,

and just this morning I listed two aprons, which were the big hits of the craft shows.

I've decided that the best investment for business is going to be a laptop. DH does not share the computer(he has admitted this)and I don't think I should be forced to rush through listing and blogging just because he wants to surf the net. But that's how it's been going, so, if you have any advice on finding and buying laptops, I'd appreciate it. I don't know that I would post more often, but having a computer that's more readily available might make it happen. I'd like to think that, at least. Now to eat breakfast! Happy Thoughts!

Pardon my absence, but

I've been busy.


Mostly working hard sewing, sticking myself with pins, designing, sticking myself with pins, sewing, and occasionally, sticking myself with pins. There were several big obstacles in the last month. Very few of them were from me. I don't know that it would have mattered had I written about them. I had been trying to get ready for two craft shows, a week apart. I'll just tell you the big ones. Three days before the first show, and one week after getting my sewing machine fixed, E poured fabric glue all over my machine. Most of the glue ran down the thread and onto the needle. It did not, however, go down into the bobbin. At that point, I sat down and cried. And I mean that literally. In the time in between the two craft shows, DH got hurt pretty badly at work, and is home until further notice. It could have been much worse, he could have needed surgery or a hospital stay, I'm thankful he's doing so well now.




I can't work in clutter and mess. Which is why I'm taking the time now to write this post. I have no-where to put all this until I get some shelves put up in the closet. I have to say, I've learned a lot about situations where this is waiting on that which is waiting on this, which is waiting on that. It's not fun, but I'm learning to deal.
I've moved in and out of my sewing room at least twice, in anticipation of the carpet leaving and the laminate hardwood arriving. However, we first had to have a crack in the foundation fixed. Then DH got hurt, and our flooring guy, my Dad, has to wait for him to be better before he can lay the new floors. Ugh.





Anyways, I'm now in preparation for Craft Show #3. Which I know is insane, and I have no explanation for it either. Show #1 went okay. It was well organised and set up, and there was a lot of traffic, but people weren't buying. Most everyone was rather slow(even with a door tally close to 1,000, so we got to talking, and not many people were able to cover their booth fee. Some people who had done this particular show before said it had never been like this before. I was able to cover my expenses but not much more than that. Show #2 was a great success for my Mom, and her paper crafts/scrap booking. A longtime friend, MiSpring, came and bought a few things from me, however, I consider her to be family, therefore, MiSpring love is the same as Mom love, it doesn't count. The upside is that I had no business cards left at the end of the day, and there was a lot of interest in my tent.


Which brings me to the most exciting news-



Lee & Loren Etsy shop is now Open For Business! I didn't know if I'd be ready, and in truth, I've still got so much work to do, but we're started. I have to find a banner, or someone to make a banner, and oh, so much more, but it's exciting to be started. Time to get back to working through the piles and getting to sticking myself with pins, aka sewing. Happy Thoughts!