Life happens...plans or no plans

Funny how so much can change in so little time. When I last wrote I optimistically stated my goal to have my Etsy site up and running by almost two weeks ago. I had gone away for a few days in the beginning of July and gave notice at the thrift store the day I returned. I decided to take the leap of creation on a full time basis. I had one full week of 'retirement' and spent long hours getting ready for a show I am doing the end of August. (More on that below...) Then ten days ago my dear friend, mentor, landlord and priest died suddenly of a heart attack. Today my good friend and neighbor was taken away in an ambulance in the final stages of liver cancer. He only found out he had it two weeks ago. It is hard to create with a heavy heart! I have found having a deadline helps me though. I am not functioning with peak enthusiasm, but am getting the job done bit by bit while I wait for the sadness to subside.

As promised I have included pictures of some of my work. My landlady, a lovely woman, (and now a grieving widow, sigh) had invited me to do a show with her. She works mostly in fabric and makes, among other things, wonderful rugs. See some of her work at ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/NeedlesInTheNest ). She had signed up for a show at Harts Fabrics and had planned to demonstrate her rug making. My daughter is making fabric purses to sell at the same show, and I am to have sewing related items. As it turns out, I will be setting up and running the booth while my friend takes advantage of a little traveling with her son and his family...a much needed diversion for her right now...my daughter will help, but by then she will be eight and a half months pregnant. We will do fine and it all will turn out as it should. You just never know how plans will change.

For the show I made some Altoid Box sewing kits, some project journals, two boxes and a mobile. I use mostly vintage items to embellish. Here are the sewing kits...they turned out pretty fun. I may just make some more for Etsy...

I have always been a saver of things, so working at the thrift store was like a dream come true when it came to access to cool things. Alot of what I acquired would have been tossed. Old magazines and papers of all types...buttons, beads and baubles. I will probably spend the next couple of years (Lord willing!) using the supplies I was able to stockpile. My banner picture on this site is taken of just a few of the bits and pieces I have accumulated to glue on things.

My friend will have a book for sale at this show detailing how to make her wonderful rugs. She told me that in it she encourages her 'students' to keep a project journal- a place where they note what they are working on and any ideas for future creations. So I collected some of the many journals donated (boy I am going to miss that place!) and covered them to theme them. They turned out kind of cute...

I have made some really cool mobiles. I have a couple ready to list on Etsy also, but am finding out they are really hard to photograph. It is a shame they don't translate well on line. I have great fun making them and want to make more...maybe I will figure it out...here is the sewing related one I just finished for the show.

 

 My background doesn't help in these pictures either, but you get the idea. We had received a donation of a bag of homemade pincushions at the thrift store, and I already had bottles of buttons, etc. My daughter was playing with the old folding rule the day I brought it home from work and shaped it into a star and the idea for this mobile was born! It really turned out cuter than I anticipated. There are six pincushions and a variety of other cool stuff.

Below are a couple of boxes I had actually made before I found out about the show. Boxes are my thing. I have been decorating boxes for as long as I can remember. I had intended on listing these on Etsy (and still will if they don't sell at the show)

This one has some great war time advertising. I love the Greyhound ad on the front...This can happen to You!  A greyhound vacation. What more could a person want? On the inside I sacrificed a wonderfully intact Happy Home needle package. It is attached to the bottom, but open and functional. The bottons and other embellishments are fixed under many layers of glue and going no where...

The buttons and bone crochet hook, pins and thread are all a part of the bottom of the box now. These boxes can be used to keep things in, or displayed as conversation pieces. I am hoping to get one more done before the show, but time will tell. Me thinks this is enough for tonight! I want to get this loaded before I have a computer glitch and lose it...(thats the kind of day its been...) So long for now...an happy crafting!