Just in today. A beautiful handstitched handquilted ocean waves quilts in baby blues. It is absolutely gorgeous.
Category Archives: Etsy
The ice house
Stasherella’s first quilty item is up on etsy…a really unusually coloured schoolhouse block quilt. Probably late 1800′s early 1900′s, it’d be lovely in a white or pastel painted room. If you are interested please contact me with any questions. I’ve also put my basket top up. Both hard to relinquish. I hope they are loved.
All change
Did I mention I was busy? I’ve been feeling guilty about not posting on my blog. Sorry. But I’ve got to the point where every single evening I now have in my diary what I’m going to do. Is that mad? I don’t care. It works.
Tonight I had a night off because the weather stopped me from going to yoga. So I made elders birthday invitations. My phone is overloaded and so won’t take Pictures. I’ll try and get some tomorrow. Birthday season looms. God knows what kind of cake I’m going to make this time.
I’m also trying to get organised. The office is almost habitable again. Almost. Only this time I’m going through all my fabrics properly. It’s a mammoth task. There will be quite a few Stasherella Additions before I opened up shop properly I can tell you.
And the world of work has got more complicated. I have taken on another role (very part-time) which will be interesting if not massively financially rewarding. Good experience and I’m building my portfolio career.
Finally, the last piece in my new wall of Gainful activity is my creative work. I am still waiting for my Fabric. You will hear as soon as I do get them! I’ve been sketching away like a lunatic too. Not quite sure what to do with all the pictures yet. We’ll see.
So, there’s me. Sorry if I’ve been a little self-absorbed recently. That’s what January is like isn’t it? Resolutions and change. Well, that’s certainly the case this year.
Round to it
A pictorial summary – there’s quite a lot going on but I’ve had root canal work today so in not at my most vivacious. Photos will speak for me today.
Here we have:
An embryonic crochet snail
Some cakes for Elders French class (red, white and blue icing)
A prototype simple shift dress based on my flowery number
A cushion made from a block rescued from my schoolhouse cutter quilt.
I’ll tell more when they’re done but I’m planning block cushions for my etsy shop. Eek!
Home sweet home
As promised, here’s the second part of my quilty purchasing odyssey. This time from the wonderful Etsy. All my quilting life i have harboured a deep love of this block, the School House block. Isnt it lovely? I’ve always wanted to either have or make a quilt with it. I made a nursery school banner once for my sister with one in the centre but I have never got round to making my own ( and you’re not surprised by that, are you now?!)
Anyway, this cutter quilt top popped up on Etsy recently so I swooped with a vengeance and now I have a very tattered, raggedy but lovely quilt top which I am very carefully in picking at the moment so as to up cycle the blocks. The top itself is beyond redemption but I’m salvaging the hard work of the anonymous quilter who made the little houses.
Her are some initial shots. The fabric is brilliant. There’s even a Davy Crockett print, straight out of 1950′s Americana. And the florals are beautiful close up. Sorry the fabric is a bit rumpled but I took this pictures as soon as I unpacked it, I was so excited! I also sneaked in a vintage 50′s apron, all hand embroidered. Other Half clearly thinks I am a lunatic, but I don’t mind, I have my little houses. Enjoy!
Market research
As part of my plan for life I have been toying with the idea of selling stuff I have made, specifically the child’s drawing cushion shown on my make list page here. Customer emails in their picture and colour preferences, I do the rest, adding in names, dates etc as required. I’ve had positive feedback to the idea from the wonderful Mumsnet gang so I’m thinking it might be worth a go. What do you think?
So I’ve got to focus on my decluttering in order to create the temporal and actual space to do this. Ho hum, I wonder if Richard Branson had this problem at the start. Probably.
Decompression
Have you ever felt submerged by all the demands of life? I do, quite frequently if I’m honest. But then, I have quite a full plate, as do most working mothers I know. However, mix it up with the tendency towards insomnia that PD so kindly bestows upon the Chosen Few and you get an ungodly mix. I’m taking some time to catch up with myself as a result and so far it’s been helpful, to say the least.
The thing that gets me is the unending list of jobs to be done. They pop into my head and then pop out again. Which is a good thing until you realise you’ve forgotten to wash Elder’s footy kit and Little One has no trousers. Oops. So, I’ve started a Day Book. Look here it is.
Today is the first day so I’ve written down all, and I mean all, the jobs niggling me in the front of the book. Then I’m using the back of the book to divi them up into each day so I can make some progress. Where this has fallen down in the past is that I am a perfectionist to a certain degree and I end up giving up because I don’t get it ALL done. This time I’m being inspired by the FlyLady and her continual admonishments that you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to do SOMETHING. That has got to be better than giving up. So, here we go. I’ve spent an hour decluttering the playroom thus far. And I’ve emptied this amount of space….
Not Mount Everest I grant you, but better than nothing I think you agree? It’s a difficult balance, keeping the plates spinning. It is for everyone I know. PD just adds a little spice to the mix. I’m hoping my Day Book will skew the odds in my favour. If you’ve got any hints, tips or horror stories do let me know. It would be good to get some pointers.
I could sell that!
Let’s face it, the economy is absolutely buggered. ‘Scuse my French but really, it’s falling over big time. You don’t need an economics degree to understand that we’ll all be rummaging behind the sofa for pennies soon enough. I’m lucky in that I’ve got a good job I enjoy but you and I both know that Uncle Parkinson will put a dampner on that in due course (not for a good while longer I hope). So, in my highly sensible (?) way, I have been daydreaming while stitching on my interminable train journies.
World domination Stith This Stylee. Oh yes.
Rents are straospheric in my town so any thoughts of a lovely shop or cafe are not only a cliche, they are loss making, so out they go. A shame though. I’d love to run a Makery type affair). i have a firen dwho is considering something along these lines so I hope I’m wrong on my financial analysis. No doubt I am.
What about online? I’m rubbish at deadlines and getting to the Post Office so I can’t deal in anything tangible. Also, that means upfront expenditure which is a bit painful to consider. What would the moths in my wallet do if I asked them to shift up a bit? Unthinkable.
So patterns it is. I can have them in a little Etsy shop (set up already but not open yet) and offer them as PDF downloads. I’m quite excited. Don’t worry, I’lll remember you when I’m a millionaire. Ahem.
