- ritasracques@gmail.com
Lesson Learned
It's been awhile since I posted. I finally have a few minutes to put my thoughts togther.
I vended at Festival in Houston which is one of my favorite shows. Lots of people found us and we received lots of orders. I tried something new this show and did not bring product with us. We made the decision to mail all of the orders when we returned. I didn't think this decision through very well.
It is never easy to learn a lesson and this was one of the harder lessons I have learned.
First, we had a great reception for our racks and they sold like crazy, thank you!
Second, I was dumb enough to tell people they would have their products by Friday of the week we returned. Not a smart move.
Third, Dennis got sick and had to go to Urgent Care, four-and-a-half hours later he was fine but I had lost six hours of working.
Because he was sick he spent the week in bed. Which meant I was responsible to prepare and ship 300 orders within three days.
And last, we had the bright idea to do free shipping from the show which ended up in a very large shipping bill. What was I thinking?
Picture me frantically preparing and sending out 300 boxes. Our mailman was shocked when I opened the garage door. I should have taken a picture. My house looks like it exploded. (What I wouldn't do for a cleaning person.) I did get all orders out by Thursday which meant some orders were a day or two late.
So I now have a bit of time to talk about the thing I love most, sewing.
I am a machine quilter. I started out on my domestic machine and later graduated to a longarm. Early on I found Sharon Schamber. Her quilting is amazing and her tips and tricks are something I follow regularly. I started using the Magic Bobbin Genies which are small disks of Teflon that fit into a bobbin. The disks make a huge difference when machine quilting. They come in the bobbin size you need. Notice these are size M. I was at a show and grabbed the wrong size. I now have a free gift for one of my followers. At any rate, these really work well. You should also check out Sharon's site. It is filled with inspiration, vides and great tips. https://sharonschamber.com
Lately it seems that everyone has a kingsize quilt. It makes sense but they are sometimes challenging. I am working on a 120" square quilt. This means that not only back needs to be pieced but the batting as well. I have sewn batting together many times and I always find it difficult if it is a large piece. It stretches as I push it through the sewing machine. Someone handed me a roll of 2" Heat Press Batting Together tape. It changed my life! Alright, maybe that's going a bit far but I really liked it.
Need your batting to grow? You can use this fusible tape on any type of batting to join pieces or reinforce. This soft tape fuses directly to the batting and can even be used on batting while its on a long arm. I found it on sale at Connecting Threads for $4.00.
I read a great article on creativity this week. It explained how limiting ourselves can make us much more creative. It reminded me of a Ted Talk that I found inspiring and changed the way I think. I think you might be inspired as well. Embrace The Shake
That's it for this week. I give you my Irish goodbye.
Rita
Christmas is coming and you might want to leave some hints for the things you want. If you are looking for an easy way to add light to your sewing area check out the Sewlites that we have added to our website. The lights are really amazing, easily placed on your machines, great as task lighting and the Neck light makes a huge difference while hand sewing.
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Potato Bake
We could never make enough of this at the restaurant.
1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese tsp. onion powder
1/2 large can of Cream of Chicken tsp.garlic powder
soup 1 stick butter, melted
1 c. sour cream
Combine has brown, cheese, soup , sour cream, seasonings and butter. Place in baking dish and bake at 350° for one hour.