10.15.06
East Bridgewater – Sachem Rock Farm
I just got back from a wonderful day at Sachem Rock Farm in East Bridgewater, MA. The weather was gorgeous – though a bit cold early on. I thoroughly enjoyed this fair. It was wonderful meeting people – especially the kids. I loved the 3 kids belonging to my friend Dina that had to sit with their fried dough just outside the booth at their mother’s request. The babies that gifted me with a smile were just the best. Chatting with people and hearing compliments on my and my mother’s work was a great boost.
For anyone contemplating going to this fair next year, the kids seemed to be having a blast. There were plenty of food items, pony rides, music playing, an incredibly talented balloon sculpture artists and of course – a great craft fair! 
10.10.06
Lucy’s Birthday Party – Preschool Party Ideas
Woohoo! The birthday party is over! We had a wonderful time and Lucy had a blast running from spot to spot playing with her friends and doing the different activities. It was a LOT of work to put everything together. Most of the work to be honest came with trying to get my house “company ready” and though I tried, it wasn’t completely ready. Oh well – a few closed doors and we were all set.
Some of the activities we did were:
My friends were joking that they could tell I used to be a First Grade Teacher! The kids all had a blast and Lucy enjoyed it more than anyone.
10.06.06
Housekeeping
UGH. I hate housework. I mean, I REALLY hate it. I want everything to be neat and clean. I just want someone else to do it! I’ve spent the last 2 days trying desperately to bring my house into some sort of reasonably “company ready” order in preparation for the big 3-year old’s birthday party. I really should have been doing it all along. I even signed up for Flylady so I could get on track. I get and delete the emails. *sigh* There just seem to be so many other pressing matters – Lucy, quilting, computer, emails from my groups, reading, etc. I will find any excuse to get out of the housework. I really should go buy a lottery ticket so I can hire someone to do all this. Back to the grind. One of the cats had an accident on the bedding. This is why I have a cheap store-bought quilt on the bed and my own quilts up on the wall!
10.05.06
T-Shirt Quilt Summary
I am often asked by people exactly what a T-shirt quilt is. They think I had to scan and reproduce the shirt logos in order to get them into a quilt. I’ll try to clarify here a little bit about the process. More can be found in the T-shirt quilt section at Beth Sullivan Designs. When I make a T-shirt quilt for a customer they usually come to my home or send me their shirts. We decide upon a plan for the quilt including how big it will be, how big each block must be and where we need to modify the design to include more shirts or s-t-r-e-t-c-h existing shirts to make a bigger quilt. The fabric choices are also made. I then wash all the shirts and fuse them to an interfacing to make them have less stretch. From there, the blocks are cut and modified as needed. Once the blocks are “quilt ready” with any extra patches, borders, etc., the quilt top is assembled. I no longer quilt these large quilts on my home machine. Instead, I bring them to a friend’s house and rent her Gammill long-arm quilting machine. Once quilted, the blocks are machine tacked with my Bernina domestic sewing machine over the surface of each of the blocks about every 2 inches. Finally, the binding is added first by machine and then sewn by hand. An average T-shirt quilt takes me about 15-20 hours to complete from start to finish.
Novelty Party Items
I know lots of people order items from Oriental Trading and similar catalogs when they need little “stuff” for parties and things. I used to order from them all the time when I was a teacher. In the last few years I have found a company that I like sooooo much better – Rhode Island Novelty. I just ordered a whole bunch of “trinkets” for Lucy’s party. Plastic maracas, harmonicas, sunglasses, little stuffed teddy bears, etc. The prices were very reasonable and the products were much nicer than those I’ve found other places. Certainly they were much cheaper than buying things at the party store. Last year I placed a huge order and sent all the little things to Iraq for the soldiers to distribute to the children. My husband’s cousin Ryan was stationed there and he said the soldiers always needed items they could keep in their vehicles for the kids. They loved them. And the plastic blow-up arm leopard-print arm chair I sent the soldiers for them was a huge hit.
10.03.06
Balancing Act
How do other people do it? Balancing home, family, business and personal activities is making me nuts. I missed an appointment that I had on the calendar today. Completely blanked. Luckily they were understanding. My head is just so full of craft fairs, potty training, preschool, planning a birthday party for Lucy, all the things that need to get done, etc. that I missed it completely. I’ve tried FlyLady to help with my organization but it doesn’t appear to be motivating for me. I get the emails and delete them. If anyone reading this has any suggestions on how to balance areas of life, I’d very much appreciate them! I’m thinking lottery tickets right now. Maybe I can win enough to hire a cleaning lady, secretary and bookkeeper!
Dream Dinners
Just over a year and a half ago, my local MOMS Club had a “Moms Night Out” at Dream Dinners in Milford, MA. It was such a wonderful concept. You go, assemble a variety of different meals for your family, bring them home, put them in the freezer and you have meals for a month. Great food – great convenience and waaaaay cheaper than take-out. So I signed on as a customer and was instantly hooked. A couple months after starting, we hit a “rough patch” financially. My business was just starting – but slowly and a few huge bills hit at once. My friend suggested I go to work at Dream Dinners one night a week. I’ve never regretted it. The owners of my franchise are so nice and the food discount is a wonderful thing. I’ll refer to Dream Dinners a lot in my Blog. We eat Dream Dinners meals at least twice a week if not more. This month is the “Best of the Best” where people voted on their favorite meals and the menu is compiled of “tried and true” favorites. It’s a great menu with some of my all-time favorites including the Pesto Ravioli with Chicken, Arroz Con Pollo and Steak Gorgonzola. OMG – Amazingly good!!!
10.01.06
Online Support Groups
I am a member of 22 different online groups. 22!!! Not all of them are very active though some have 100+ messages a day sometimes. At various points in the past 5 years, many of these groups have literally saved me. The advice the wonderful people on these lists have given to each other and to me have been valuable in ways they may never realize. This blog is as a result of one of those groups. My groups cover a variety of topics: quilting businesses, designing, infertility, children, weight loss, moms groups, quilt guilds, etc. 22 different online support groups for most areas of my life! I highly recommend to anyone who feels they need any sort of support to join a group. My site of choice for groups is Yahoogroups.
09.29.06
Potty Training
There is something going on in our house that takes far higher importance than my quilting business – far higher than almost anything! Lucy is finally opening up to the idea of potty training. She’ll be 3 years old in a week and a half and up to this point has been very sporatic in what she’ll actually try. FINALLY, after being spurred on by a visit to my in-laws in Connecticut last weekend, Lucy has decided that it might be OK. Well, she’s picking and choosing her timing and I’m spending LOTS more time on this task. What my life has become… Hopefully she’ll catch on pretty quickly and we’ll be able to move on to other tasks. In the meantime, I have stationed adult chairs in each of the bathrooms and am spending waaaaay too much time thinking, talking about and trying to prompt bodily functions.
09.28.06
Craft Fairs
Autumn… A time of changing leaves, sweaters, Halloween and craft fairs! I began doing craft fairs 2 years ago and am at the start of my third season on “the circuit” I do around 10 craft fairs a year, mostly in the autumn months. This Saturday (9/30/06) I’ll be at Stoney Brook Wildlife Sanctuary for their annual Fall Festival. Today and tomorrow I’ll be busy taking inventory of my craft fair items, gathering things in one spot in my house and sewing a few last minute things. I have to make sure that this time I remember to bring masking tape. Nothing like being in the middle of a field without a crucial item! Despite the work – and often the cash box disappointment, I do love doing the fairs. I like talking with new people, setting up the booth, making sales and gaining customers. My mailing list is always out so people can sign up for my newsletter.
It’s a tough season for the crafters. We are trying to make a living selling “non-essentials” and there doesn’t seem to be as much money around to buy things. There are lots and lots of “lookers.” People are really cutting back. At the same time, the fees are going up on the tables and booth spaces. This year more than any other, I’ve noticed that there are fewer crafters around. More and more are talking about getting out of the business completely. Not an easy way to make a living! I make more money per hour working at Dream Dinners one night a week to be honest. BUT… There’s nothing quite like a verbal compliment on my work or even better, someone complimenting me with their hard earned money. I hope eventually to be able to do just a few fairs a year and really cut back. But for now, I plan to keep plugging along and watching the weather forecast every weekend! Here’s a list of my upcoming fairs… Go to Beth Sullivan Designs and click on “Upcoming Craft Fairs and Quilt Shows.”
