Still Playing Catch-up

 Still playing catch-up.  I wrapped and trimmed most of these ornaments this week, except the white tree and the orange with gold. I still have 1 more to finish with a new print of Blues and silver, to replace the other popular navy and silver that has been discontinued. And I have one that is finished pinning and just needs trim. I really like the pink lady the best from this batch.  

Tonight I am focusing on a stain kanzashi batch I have yet to finish, but only becasue I have been waiting on a new glue gun to arrive in the mail.  My last one started leaking all over the place.  Plus I hated it. But I have one week to finish them and I will be done with all my orders for this year. 

Ornaments

Ornaments seems to be the theme of the season, this year.  Kanzashi demands too much uninterrupted time I just don't have.  With ornaments I can pick them up and put them down, carry my supplies in a bag and do them in the school car line. 

Besides I still have over 20 foam balls left to work on.

I still have another two not pictured here that are completely finished, trim and all, but I just haven't photographed them yet.

I also get my new fine tip glue gun in today.  Which means I can finally finish the 4 satin kanzashi I still have left to make.   And THAT will wrap up the last custom order for the year. 

I am also closing the shop the week of Christmas as I will be traveling away from home, and inventory, to see my extended family. 

I hope the new year treats you all well.  Hopefully I will be back in action by then. I am going to have a lot of free time this weekend to work, so look for more listings soon!

Life Changes

It is a sad realiziation when you realize that you have overstepped your limits as a single individual. 

I had to close the custom orders and made to orders.  I couldn't do them anymore.  Believe it or not, this was a very difficult decsion to make, even to just close it for one month.  But it is indefinite right now.  I do not know if I will be able to open it back up in January as I had hoped.

I don't usually go into my personal life, but it is definitely interfering with my craft time. I have two children, one is ADHD, and the younger one is severely autistic.  We have always struggled with him, but now he is at the point I have to keep him home and take care of him, with the constant need for therapy, I am always watching him, taking him for whatever appointment that day, he is a huge burden, though I love him dearly. 

I also took on too many orders this year.  October nearly killed me.  November got worse at home.  We are doing major work on my house to keep my son from hurting himself on the furniture or climbing the walls (no really, he does that) on a constant basis.  I have no time for housecleaning except for at night, when all I want to do is relax and sleep.  So work is few and far between, ornaents I can at least work on from time to time in the car line picking up the older girl from school.  But I can generaly only manage 2 balls a week, when before I was working 2 a day.  But kanzashi is a time consuming sit down and focus craft.  It is not a put it down and come back to it craft.  It requires time and dedication, of which I just don't have much of any more. 

I'm worn thin, and believe me when I tell you that my children are not the least of my worries.  I am still recovering/dealing with several severe medical conditions. I am not realy going to go into that, because it is nothing I am going to die from.....immediately.  But it does wear me out and until I can get that part of my life under control again, I am just going to have to lessen my work load. 

I am still wondering about a site change over.  that may not happen.  I cant get my web developer person to fix what i need fixed and I think he has gone MIA.  So until i have the time to sit down and figure it out (yeah right) or find a new web developer (more likely), the change over isnt happening any time soon.

I will sign off with a picture of the last three ornaments I made for my last custom order.

She's a wonderful customer, and I am glad I could get her work done, even though I was late on it.  She asked me to do this set to match one she bought previously.  It ended up being three since I can't find this pattern satin brocade fabric anymore.  I managed to find something of similar color but diferent pattern.  Just going to have to see how it works out. 

Meanwhile I am still making ornaments, but right now I have a huge about of new fabrics to process (that means cut and organize).  I will try to keep everyone updated on my status, but so far I am still in recovery mode. 

My body strikes again!

So I am having some major health issues. Had a CT scan and some xrays done of my abdomen, but the results have not come in yet. Needless to say, I am reconsidering my custom work avalibility this holiday season. 

New Ornaments!

Sold

So these are the ornaments I finished this weekend and uploaded, except one of them sold the next day! She's a regular of mine, and I was very happy to see she liked one of the latest batch.  Though the Holly and Poinsettia are really my favorites.

I still have the orange finished and needs to be photographed.

I have managed to finish the purple grouping of 7 blossoms for the hydrangea bridge.  Slowly puttering along...

I have to say this has been a stressful month and I am glad to see it over, though the work is no where near complete. I still have a custom order to finish before Christmas, and a lot of satin kanzashi to make.  Should be interesting to see if I can get it completed in time, and up to my own standards.

Hydrangea Bridge Coming

As if I haven't had enough on my plate lately, with custom orders rolling in for the Halloween Costume season, I have begun a new project.  And now seemed like a good time since it always takes me MONTHS to get one of these truly finished.

Its a Hydrangea bridge, of green, purple, blue, and green (in that order), with leaves.  I planning a grouping of seven flowers each, except that I am not sure how many I will need for a proper grouping size, so its still a guess. 

The centers I have decided to change from my old style with the bell cap and pearl to a flower stamen grouping, a little more realistic.  And since some of the new brand of bell caps I have purchased have been RUSTING in storage, I either coat the heck out of them in glue to seal the metal, or just use something else, in this case, a pearl flower stamen.

Also I am still working ornaments, and have several I just haven't taken pictures of yet.  I am still waiting to get another 2 - 3 done before I wrap the ribbons on this batch and probably photograph and list them all at once. 

I still have a few custom orders in the background, and some family projects I do every year I have to complete.  And with my son home with me now most of the day time to work has been whittled down to a few minutes a day.

And the Wisteria is still sitting on my work desk, crying to be finished.  All it really needs is a nice butterfly and the hair fork attachment.  And a final thread wrapping once everything's attached.  *sigh. 

Too Busy!

Dark Lover's Quilted Ornaments

My first custom order for ornaments this season came through, and it took forever to complete them. I've been crazy busy, as you can see in the pictures below, most of this work was done in the last two weeks.  

The Butterflies are made with cherry party in blue, with shades of light and dark wisteria and light and dark denim blue. I had to do FOUR SETS, which means 8 butterflies in total.  I just got them glued to their bobby pins over the weekend, and they turned out really well.

Kiku with Leaf

 The kiku finally managed to get its leaf attached.  It is almost complete, I just have to attach the alligator clip.

Bright Pink and New Grass Green

The pink and green piece was another order I had roll through in the made to order listings.


New Events on the Docket:  Have to finish this huge custom order, including several satin pieces I need to remake. 

I also need to take an inventory of what colors I have in supply and re-do the made to order color selections.  I never added printed fabrics, and there are very few examples of what the colors actually are.  I also want to re-work my pricing guide. 

Look for new clearance items coming soon for the holiday season!