Thread Treasures - Celtic Ribbon Snowflakes

I simply love designs that are inspired by Celtic knot work.  I believe that is why I design and digitize so many sets around that theme.

I thought some snowflakes with a Celtic influence would be different, thus I created my Celtic Ribbon Snowflake set.

Thread Treasures - Tropical Beauty

The longing for warmth and the beauty of flowers continues with my Tropical Beauty set of embroidery designs.

These designs are perfect to chase away the winter blues.  Think hot vibrant pinks to adorn the tropical quilt that you have always wanted to make.

Thread Treasures - Anticipating Spring

Winter hasn't officially began, but I find myself yearning for spring.  I am tired of the cold already, and the frozen precipitation has yet to even begin for the season.  Today was cold and rainy.

My mood was pointing me to flowers, so I digitized a set that I call Anticipating Spring today. Just a sneak peek.

The full set can be seen Here

Thread Treasures

Wow, it is already into November.  Christmas will be here before you know it.  I've had my first show of the season, and while I did just okay, others didn't even make their entry fee back.  It appears that the venue did not advertise at all.  I had put something out on Craig's list, but that is no guarantee of foot traffic coming in the door.  I will need to weigh my options next year before I commit to doing that show again.

All is not lost, because the Oak Park High School will be having their craft fair on Nov 20th.  I am stitching again to fill orders that I did get at the other show, as well as replace the items that I sold.

I am having an issue finding a specific placemat that I embroidered on and sold a set.  I will need to keep looking.  I have to keep my purchase price low enough so that when I embroider on them that I still make a profit.

I did manage to get a set completed that I had been working on for a while  Florid Ornaments.

Thread Treasures - Shows are almost here

Wow - I simply cannot believe how long it has been since I updated my blog.  A LOT LOT LOT has happened since I updated it last.

Thread Treasures seems to be doing well, at least as well as I had hoped during the first year.

The season is starting for Christmas shows, and I have been very busy getting ready.  I have a smaller show on Nov 6th, and then a larger show on Nov. 20th.  I am excited.  The show on the 20th will be my second year doing that show.  It was the very first show I ever participated in, and I was so green.

I will not say that I am a seasoned pro now, but I have participated in a few shows since that time.  I have been stitching and embroidering like mad.  I will have a larger selection of products this time around, as well as some of my old faithfuls.

I have been trying to digitize, but realize that I haven't made as many design packs as I have in the past.  Hopefully in about a month, I will be cranking them out again.  I do have a few that I will be posting in the next week, and I did post a new set this week as well.

Oh well, I am going to close this out for now.  I need to start making my shopping list as the Sewing and Quilting Expo is headed to town next week.  Thread Guy.... Here I come.  LOL

ThreadTreasures.com - Christmas in July/August

It is HOT and I mean HOT.  We have had heat advisories for the past couple of weeks.  It is hard to think about Christmas when it is so HOT outside.

None the less,  I have started production of Christmas items for some of the fairs later on this fall.  I have been so busy that I haven't had much chance to digitize much.  I will need to get some done for the coming week.  I have been working on some Christmas designs that are so cute, but they are not a full set and not fully tested as of this moment.

ThreadTreasures.com - SEO Submission

Well, I know that some of the big web crawlers are now hitting my site on a regular basis.  Only time will tell if everything has been done correctly and the site starts to rise in the rankings.  Of course, people searching for it helps as well.

I have just completed two new sets that have been made available.  One is an adorable little set called Ghastly Ghosts that are cute little redwork designs for Halloween.

The other set is 10 adorable Little Baby Boys which would look beautiful on a baby blanket.

ThreadTreasures.com - Sample Downloads

Just when you think that everything is going along great at the shop, I get up in the morning to find frantic emails saying that the Sample Designs were not working and that they couldn't be downloaded.

I almost had a heart attack I tell you.  I had worked so hard, and had seen them being downloaded by so many people.  What happened?  I mean, I go to get a couple hours sleep, only to wish that I had the coffee hooked up to an IV drip going straight into the blood stream.

So, I start the process of tech support to see if I can determine the issue.  I verify the files still exist, and that the permissions are correct on them.  I test, and BAM...403 error.  I am FORBIDDEN from getting my own samples.  What's a girl to do?

Of course I try the interactive technical support chat and get someone that can 'type' English, although I am sure that if I had been on the phone with him I would not have been able to understand a single word.  After an hour or so trying to get the support person to TRY to download the samples, he tries.  Lordie Lordie Lordie...  Can I please have my wisdom teeth removed while my contractions are coming 30 seconds apart please?

I had to finally open a email ticket, which usually means file 13... if you know what I mean.  I wasn't about to  let my business suffer at the hands of someone that still can't wipe their nose.    After another hour, I had pinpointed the issue and was putting into steps the resolution to the problem.  Needless to say, not 15 minutes AFTER I fixed my own issue, I receive the email saying that they do not experience the problem.  I replied that I had fixed the issue myself and proceeded to let them know what it was should another client of theirs experience the same issue.  I'm sure my return email probably ended up in someone's automatic wastebasket.  Oh well...

ThreadTreasures.com - Venitian Mask and Virtual Advertising

Yeah!!! I have my Venitian Mask set of embroidery designs complete and tested.  I think that they turned out pretty good.  They look better in real life than a simulated view.

The virtual advertising seems to be paying off, as I have had a steady stream of people in the store today.  Some are looking around while others are enjoying the Sample Designs that I have offered up.  Some have purchased designs.  Quite a few have signed up for the Newsletter that I will start sending out soon.

Overall, I'm happy with the progress thus far.

ThreadTreasures.com - Virtual Advertising

I have now switch part of my focus for Thread Treasures into advertising as the store front seems to be set up and working. I have joined various Yahoo groups in order to spread the word about my designs.

I guess I found one good group to advertise on, as I ran an intro ad that came out at 2:30 in the morning, and found 8 different clients on the store looking around.

Most have created accounts or used the test account to download the free sample designs that I have made available for people to get to see my embroidery.

I will need to spend some time reading some of the different types of ads that other digitizers use, or the services of an individual that writes ads for tons of places, and come up with a method that will hopefully produce successful copy for me.

Anyone know a marketing major that works for free?

ThreadTreasures.com - Blog overhaul

I thought that I would be a good person and come look at the blog before I started my day doing some digitizing and modification of some Venetian Mask designs that I am currently working on.

Low and behold, up pops a little message that the background that I had been using was going the way of the dodo on Friday. What a pain to try to get it removed and go back to some of the Blogger supplied backgrounds. But after 30 minutes or so, it is gone and I can continue with my day.

I'm feeling good as I have already walked over 2 miles this morning. Hopefully I will get the Venetian Masks completed and tested before the next round of storms hit. We lost power for a couple hours last evening, so I feel that I am a little behind.

I've started a new exclusive set for quilt blocks as well. At the moment, I'm not exactly sure how many designs I will include in the set, but it could be around 40 or so. I won't know until I'm finished with the entire thing.

ThreadTreasures.com - Facebook

Oh the joys of Facebook and everything else going on right now. I hear that a ton of the digitizers are using Facebook to show their designs at their stores, so I created a Facebook for ThreadTreasures that will show the designs at the .com. It is a learning curve for sure, and I am not faithful in writing on my blog or posting on Facebook.... yet anyways. I will need to try to take time each day to do a little bit of something I suppose.

I will say that I am really getting into the setting up of a store. I need to take the time to learn more of the CSS language and stylesheets so that I can make a ton of customizations that will give my site a bunch of bells and whistles that no other place has, but that will be a while. I still need to concentrate on making designs.

ThreadTreasures.com - SEO Submission

The past day was spent attempting to get the Sitemap for Thread Treasures to upload to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Ask and the like.

Being a techie, I would have never thought that getting the module installed and configured would be so time consuming, since other modules were a matter of a few moments.

In the end, the site can now feed into the googlebot so that the rankings will improve when phrases are entered into the search engines.

I will be putting more and more designs on this page to reference.

ThreadTreasures.com - Online store learning curves

In trying to get Thread Treasures off the ground, I have learned a few things.

Trying to create a web presence for my product is almost a full time job. Since I started getting the store up, I have not had time to actually digitize designs.

Hopefully, now that everything is up, I'll have the time to create more new products. At the moment, I am not aware of anything that is pressing with the storefront so I can get back to digitizing.

I still have to learn more about SEO, but that will come in time. I'm just happy to have my items being sold at three different places now.

ThreadTreasures.com - Launch of the new site

Well, I finally started my own spot on the web. Thread Treasures is now official.

So, besides selling my designs at OPW and StitchNet.Org, I now have my own Place.

It is kind of nice, because I can offer things there and nowhere else. I plan on doing that with certain designs. In fact I have already got a Christmas Poinsettia that will be exclusive to my store.

I digitized the Poinsettia in 2009 and used it for napkins for my sister to go with a tablecloth that I embroidered for her.

Needless to say, I am very excited as my business continues to grow.

Northmen to the State Championship ... Again

Regional bowling action was held this past weekend, and the Northmen took first place and advance to the State Championships again this year.

Will the Northmen repeat? This mom hopes so. The tournament will be the last weekend in May.

Keep your fingers crossed that the Northmen will remain the State Champs!

Way to go Guys.

Thread Treasures - Purple Passion II

The exclusive Purple Passion line continues with the release later this week of Purple Passion II. Please enjoy a preview of the designs which will soon follow.



The Purple Passion II set became available for purchase on April 21st. If you would like to purchase these designs, simply click Here.

Thread Treasures - Quilt Blocks and Jimmy Buffett

Well, while I was working on getting this particular set all resized and the documents ready, I was listening to Jimmy Buffett. A state of mind not a music... but I digress.

What should have taken me an hour took 4. Jimmy distracts me. LOL



These unique quilt blocks are available Here.

Thread Treasures - Forgotten Gems

I simply love looking at some of my older designs, as I am never quite sure what I will find. This morning, while looking at some of the designs, I stumbled upon these long forgotten gems. One never knows what I might uncover as I dig deeper into my treasure chest.



This Kaleidoscope design set is available to be purchased simply by clicking Here.

Thread Treasures - Having a blast

I have been having a blast looking at what seems like zillions of designs that for lack of better classification I call quilt blocks. I see tons of uses for them, but I am just one person.

These designs are in the process of having final color selections placed on them. When I digitize, I usually select a color scheme that I want to work with for the day, but that doesn't mean that the designs will be grouped together. I pick what catches my eye for groupings with mostly no reason.

Thread Treasures - X Marks The Spot

Please enjoy a preview of my new set titled X Marks The Spot. The set became available on April 21st.



If you would like to purchase this design set, simply click Here.

Thread Treasures - Quilt Motif Blocks

Thread Treasures is very excited to bring you another set of exclusive funky embroidery designs suitable for quilt blocks or home decor.



To purchase this set, please click Here.

Thread Treasures - Quilt Motif Blocks

Thread Treasures is very excited to bring you another set of exclusive funky embroidery designs suitable for quilt blocks or home decor.



To purchase these designs, simply clickHERE.

Thread Treasures - Celtic Inspirations 5 Embroidery Designs

Thread Treasures is very pleased to provide another exclusive set inspired by Celtic knot work.


Thread Treasures is very pleased to provide another exclusive set inspired by Celtic knot work.

To purchase this design set, simply click HERE.

Thread Treasures - Ribbon Quilt Blocks

Thread Treasures is pleased to present to you another exclusive design set called Ribbon Quilt Blocks. The inspiration behind this set was some ribbon that had spilled onto the floor.



To purchase this set simply click HERE.

Thread Treasures - Funky Quilt Blocks

Thread Treasures is excited to bring to you a set of quilt blocks that is out of the ordinary and quite funky. These designs are bright and bold.



You can purchase this funky design set HERE.

Thread Treasures - One Color Peacock Frame

I love Peacocks and if I could own them where I currently live, I would probably have a few. So, I digitized a Peacock Frame which could have a monogram inserted in the frame.

The frame comes in 3 sizes.



You can purchase this design HERE.

Thread Treasures - Victorian Papercut Ornaments

Thread Treasures is excited to bring you an exclusive set of Victorian Papercut Ornament embroidery designs.



If you would like to purchase the set or get a free 4x4" trial design, you can go Here.

Thread Treasures - One Color Ladies

Thread Treasures is excited to bring you 5 wonderful designs called One Color Ladies. Just because these designs have one color does not mean that they do not have that WOW factor. POP would be more like it.


Thread Treasures is excited to bring you 5 wonderful designs called One Color Ladies. Just because these designs have one color does not mean that they do not have that WOW factor. POP would be more like it.

You can purchase the designs from HERE.

Thread Treasures - Redwork Filigree

Thread Treasures is pleased to present a very intricate set of Filigree machine embroidery designs.



The designs can be purchased from HERE.

Thread Treasures - Celtic Inspirations 2 Embroidery Designs

Thread Treasures is excited to bring you another exclusive set of Celtic inspired embroidery designs.



If you would like to purchase these designs, you can from HERE.

Thread Treasures - Celtic Inspirations Embroidery Designs

Thread Treasures is excited to bring another exclusive set of Celtic machine embroidery designs to you. This is the initial set in the Celtic design line.



The bottom right design in the image is a freebie to download and test. If you would like to get the freebie or to purchase this set you can do it HERE.

Thread Treasures - Celtic Inspirations 4 Embroidery Designs

This collection is another exclusive to Thread Treasures set of Celtic inspired machine embroidery designs.



If you would like to purchase this set, you can go HERE.

Thread Treasures - Celtic Inspirations 3 Embroidery Designs

I love Celtic designs. The Celtic knot work is so delicate yet strong. I have always been inspired with Celtic designs, and thus have created some Celtic inspired embroidery sets. One set is pictured below.



If you would like to purchase this Celtic inspired embroidery design set, you can make the purchase HERE.

Thread Treasures - Purple Passion

When I was growing up, purple was always my favorite color in the world. It wasn't just purple to me but PURPLE. You know the in your face blind you type of purple.

Anyway, I created a Purple Passion design collection for my love of purple. While I am not so in your face with it nowdays, I do still love the color.

Enjoy a preview of these designs.







If you would like to purchase this set you can go to
HERE to make the transaction.

Thread Treasures: Designs are submitted

Well, on Friday afternoon, I submitted 11 different designs and associated jpeg files of actual stitchouts. I am excited, but the waiting is a nail biter.

Below see 4 of the 11 pictures that I sent to be considered.

Thread Treasures: Where will the wind blow

I am currently considering trying to get my designs accepted for sale at one of the large embroidery malls. I have been in contact with them and will be assembling everything required to submit for consideration.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Thread Treasures: The quest for test stitchers

Who would ever have thought that finding people to test stitch designs would be a piece of cake. I mean, what home embroider does not search the forums and online sites looking for freebies?

I suppose some sites are really worried about the competition if they do not want you to ask their people if they want free designs. I have been contributing to this specific place for a few years. Oh well...

To the sites that allow me to ask for test stitchers, THANK YOU. The people that frequent your stores are all the better.

Thread Treasures: It's Official

Thread Treasures Embroidery LLC was formed on Feb 9, 2010.

After waiting for some time to pass, I made the determination to file all of the paperwork. It feels fantastic in a way, and in other ways.... it scares me.

The coming days will be devoted to finding a web hosting site and building the site out. Additionally, I will be establishing wholesale accounts at some of the wonderful suppliers that I have come to know over the past couple of years.

I spent most of the day yesterday digitizing designs, and even put a set up for free on two of the embroidery forums that I frequent. I now will need to make sure that I continue to digitize designs and must make it a top priority on my daily To-Do list.

Tons and Tons of things

Well, I have been keeping myself rather busy trying to get ready for a show that is coming up in April. I have been busy making towels for the kitchen, and believe that one of my favorites is a rooster design (purchased from Embroidery Library) and have made a few in different color combinations.



In some strange way, I believe that pillows will be a great item as well and I have started making pillow covers. Here is one of my own designs that was stitched out on a cream colored silk dupioni. I hope I have enough of the dupioni on hand to make a match for this pillow.



I also love very ornate almost Victorian embroideries. I find myself both digitizing and stitching Victorian designs over and over. However, there is one person that makes wonderful designs, Jenny Haskins. I have utilized a couple of her designs to stitch this stunning piece out...



A good portion of the day yesterday was spent tearing up my studio to rearrange and put the pieces back together. I believe that the functional space has been increased now, and I do like the layout. I just need to spend most of the day completing the catalog of inventory and supplies and finish determining how I want that all set up.

More pictures at a later date.

Another year is almost complete

And another Christmas is just behind us. I hope that each and every one had a wonderful Christmas, filled with love and hope.

Since Christmas is now past, I can post a couple of pictures of a project that I undertook for the Holidays. They say that the 'third time's the charm', well it must ring true for me. My third attempt, I was finally able to complete a tablecloth.




Along with the tablecloth, napkins were embroidered to attempt to compliment the beautiful design on the tablecloth.



Together I think that they look good.




I can say that I have the remains of attempt number 1 on my dining room table at the moment. The hoop had fallen off when I was stitching either the 4th or 5th design on the second side. Being very rushed for time, I did not have the luxury of picking out 19000 stitches to continue on. I used the 'goof' on my table with the bad side where it could not be seen. Thanks to my wonderful husband, those stitches are now completely removed and I can finish so that I will have a tablecloth just like my sisters.

WOW

WOW is all that I can say for the moment.

It seems like if you tell someone that you do embroidery, that they want to place an order. Good news for me.

I just hope that I can get everything completed and delivered as quickly as possible. I have a huge project that I am working on at the moment, and cannot stop this process as shipping must be accounted in for the delivery.

The local orders can wait, and should not take long to produce.

Hopefully, pictures will be forthcoming soon.

Where has time gone

It seems like just yesterday that my new life started, although I know that it has been about a month. I seriously question where time has gone so quickly. I have been busy, yet happy.

I did a craft fair the weekend before Thanksgiving, as well as one on Dec 5th. All in all, I think things went well with both of them. I sold items, and I took a few orders. Tonight, I got a surprise call with a lady from the show before Thanksgiving, giving me an order that she wants filled before Christmas. Looking at what I currently have to do, I believe that I will be able to squeeze it in.

That being said, there is a bit of sadness that I must express. My wonderful sister had requested an embroidered tablecloth as her Christmas gift. I was determined to give her a tablecloth that she would be proud to display in her new home. After 13 hours of solid stitching, I had the major OOPS.... The bottom of the hoop came off. I stopped the machine within a few seconds, but the damage had been done.

So, at the current point in time, I am just a couple hours into recreating the beauty for the table for my sister. I just wish that I could see the expression on her face when she opens the box. Maybe I'll be able to get someone that will be there to take pictures so that I can see her expression.

WHAT a day

So, last Tuesday evening, my husband and I needed to run to WalMart for something quick. I can't remember what it was right now, I just know that it wasn't much. After we finished there, we went across the street to the HyVee (local grocery chain) to buy some groceries. Anyway, on the way in the door, I saw that the high school where my son attends was having their 'annual' craft fair this weekend (Nov 21st). I thought to myself "Hey self... I'll give em a call to see if by chance I can get in and do a show..."

Well, I got a call back on Wednesday evening saying that it was full but if there were any no-shows that they would call me. Thursday evening was another call saying that they were full. I had started on Wednesday making things just in case. I did do even a few things on Friday, thinking that I might try to catch a show in a couple of weeks if at all possible since this one was full.

Well... low and behold I get a call at 7:30 am on the 21st saying that they had room to fit me in. YIKES! I knew that the show opened at 9:00, but was told it would be okay if I was late. YIKES!!!! I flew out of bed and started the coffee while I started up the embroidery machine. I knew I could get a couple more things done before I walked out the door. I managed to get 2 more rolls of TP embroidered and one kitchen tea towel.

Shower and then eat while I was getting dressed and drying the hair. I didn't have much stock, but I was determined I was gonna sell. This apparently is a fairly large craft fair for a school, as there were about 150 booths set up. There were a few thousand people.

I had a BALL today. The TP was the HOT ticket item. As soon as I got my little table set up, a lady came over and purchased 3 rolls. YIKES!!! She purchased a full THIRD of the TP that I had. The others sold as well. Why didn't I have more?
I sold lace ornaments and tea towels. I have a couple of orders that I am working on to fill right now. WOW... what a day.

It all came about so quickly that I didn't have time to take pictures. I will next time for sure.

Tomorrow is the day

The big day for me. WOW. It's kind of like when my husband was getting to retire from the Navy and it was XX days and a wake up.

All I have now is the wake up.

I am excited beyond belief. I must admit, I am a tad bit scared. I am so full of ideas.

WOW.... JUST WOW!

I simply cannot wait until next week. WOW!

Can you tell that I am EXCITED?

And the name is.....

After much discussion and research, the name has been selected. Thread Treasures Embroidery.

The amount of work which must occur in such short order is almost over powering. I am taking the approach of baby steps. Well, the first MAJOR step has been taken. Now it is just baby steps.

Breathe just breathe.

Contemplating a name change

So, Saturday evening should be a time of relaxation, especially since my vacation days were winding down. I was still stoked from the Sewing Expo, and the fact that I had talked my wonderful husband to attend the vendor floor with me on Saturday. He became excited as well, and was wishing that we could snap pictures of the various booths to give him ideas.

Anyway, as we came home we began discussing the business. Serious discussions. He is not sold on Thread Treasures as a name for the business. We knocked heads until at least 1:30 in the morning coming up with ideas for a name. Every outstanding idea that we had only pointed us to at least one business somewhere with the name. I want my/our business to have a unique name. We now have the list down to four serious possibilities. Heck, I even embroidered one on a shirt to see how it would look. (Yes I know, jumping the gun just a little bit...) We have to stew on this naming thing for a bit. I however am chomping at the bit to get started. To me, every day that is not doing business is a day wasted.

My husband came up with an invention that solved an issue of mine.... Stay tuned.

Sewing and Quilting Expo 2009 has come and gone

And boy am I beat! I'm still trying to recover, but have to return to work tomorrow.

I had a wonderful surprise when I hit the vendor floor, as Thread Guy was there. When I had checked and rechecked the vendors, he was not listed. I am so happy that he was there again this year. I did get my Marathon Thread fix. They have some new metallic threads, which I just had to have. One was the huge 5000M cone, and is the white pearl iridescent. The others were iridescent as well, but the white pearl has always been a favorite color of mine. Don't you know I spent the first bit of this morning stitching out a freestanding snowflake of it? Sorry for the bad scan, but hopefully you can tell which one is with the metallic thread.

Table Runner

Well, I finally broke down to stitch something for the house that will be used. I purchased a clearance table runner at WalMart as a test to see how a specific design would stitch out on something for the home. My husband picked the color, and was more than satisfied with the results. I will purchase, or make, a better quality runner as I do plan to keep this as an item on my formal dining room table.

Name on Stocking

Due to the fantastic price of the patches, I was told that they would spread my name far and wide for embroidery. True to word, I got a call on Tuesday after delivering the patches on Thursday about doing a name on a special Christmas Stocking. I received the stocking on Friday, and embroidered the name that evening. The name looks a tad crooked, but depending on where you measure from it is straight (as measured from the top of the stocking).

Patches

I had an order for some patches from a local Aikido school. I had never made patches before, but they were in a serious need as they had a huge seminar the following weekend. People from about 6 different states were in town to attend the seminar, and they needed patches. I went home and produced a sample of what I thought I could produce. The patch was accepted and we came to an agreement on price. Less than a week later, I provided the patches and now have a client that will continue to come to me for their patches. Best part, they have sister schools in various states which now know the quality of my work. I did not keep a picture of a final patch, as I did not have enough time to take pictures after they were completed, but here is one of the sample which I provided.

Babies are so cute

I love babies. I'm not sure if it is due to age, and thoughts about being a grandmother. I have years to go before I am an actual grandmother, but I still have grandmotherly feelings for babies.

Anyway, one of my coworkers has a new son. His wife and son are doing wonderfully. I did embroidery a few items for them.

Another one bites the dust

And another one done and another one done... another one bites the dust. Yes! I have finally finished another quilt top. I've had the bits and pieces spread out on my cutting table for what seems like forever. It was to the point that I couldn't dump more fabric onto the table. I am so bad. I was afraid if I had a cutting table that I would use it as a general dumping ground for my sewing room. On Sunday, after I got more fabric and didn't have a place to dump it, I thought I better clean it up. Now, the table is clear of fabric except for the remainder of fabrics that I had used for the quilt top. I have room to actually cut out something. Of course the closet that had held my quilting cottons is overflowing onto the floor, but that will wait until another time to attempt to organize.

With Labor Day weekend approaching, I am trying to set some specific goals for myself as to what I think I can realistically accomplish sewing wise over the three day weekend. Since I will be on call, I won't be traveling this weekend. My son would rather keep himself occupied than hang out with the old mom. That should leave me some quality sewing time. I want to sew 1 jacket. I will be happy with that, and even proud if I accomplish more than the one jacket. But my goal is 1 jacket.

Of course I have goals for housework as well, but I won't let that drag me down. I will be doing some embroidery as well as I have quite a bit that I need to get done.

Sorry, no pictures to post today, but my husband has the camera currently.

Starting a business - is the time right?

I had purchased my PR620 with dreams of starting a business. While this dream has not faded, and I utilize this time to further my education, I must question the timing of starting a business now.

My dream was to open up a small venture to offer up my embroidery designs, as well as do custom embroidery work. The ultimate goal was to use this new business as a way to earn money so that I could retire from my 24x7 'normal' work duties.

I have spent the last couple of years developing designs that I want to offer to sell, but realize that digitizing designs for retail is ever changing and evolving. I have been in a continual learning experience since this realization and have been spending my scarce free time with learning all that I can on my new focus in life. Additionally, I plan to offer up services to actually stitch out custom designs such as corporate items. I have secured my first client in New York City, and will go above and beyond to insure that they remain happy with the delivered end product. Client satisfaction is the ultimate goal of my venture.

Right now, I am at a cross roads so to speak. The economy isn't anywhere near what it was a year ago, and personally I do not see any glimmer of hope in the immediate future to the return of what it once was. (Another topic for a possible different blog all together...) Anyways, I have spent the past few years developing the initial offerings of embroidery designs for the home embroider. Today, I look at sites which I had previously purchased from, only to find that they are now offering lay-away for designs. I cannot imaging having to do a lay-away on a 15.00 design set. Please realize that I know that this hobby is expensive, but I personally feel that I should save my money internally to be able to afford a purchase of a design pack (which is NOT that expensive) than to signal that I need to purchase the items on lay-away.

Currently, I find myself at the cross roads of what to do.... Should I throw caution to the wind and go ahead with my venture... or should I continue to develop my offerings to a time when I feel that the economy will allow me to offer my goods and services as I had originally intended? The answers I must do some deep soul searching.

Who knows at the current time? I have my first client, and will work to fulfill the orders that they place.

Realize that these are rambling from a person that is thinking of leaving the secure world to delve into the possibility of what if's. I'm thinking of striking out on my own, but just questioning the timing of it all. Ultimate decision is mine... but dang it is a very hard decision to make.

Educational Opportunities

The educational opportunities are great for the next couple of months. I will be attending a Digitizing Retreat here in Kansas City by John Deer which was organized by Missouri Sewing Machine Company.

I am looking forward to the two day event and will try to soak in as much knowledge as possible during those days. Hopefully my fingers will be working correctly and I will be able to take blazing fast notes of everything he has to say.

Then, October brings the Sewing and Quilting Expo here to Kansas City. This will be my third year to attend. I plan on taking more classes than I have in the past years. Right now, I'm planning on taking 9 possibly 10 or 11 classes. The shopping at this event is wonderful, and allows me the opportunity to purchase things that I don't normally find in my usual haunts around town.

See ya there!

Quilting on an embroidery machine

Well, I had put together another lap quilt top that was sort of based on the Stack-N-Whack, except it is a 4 piece block, and every other block was a solid color. Just a way to try to see if I could cut the fabric close enough to possibly attempt a stack-n-whack. For the most part, the cutting out of the actual fabric turned out pretty good. My attempts to cut my blocks the exact same size was another failure.



But the actual quilting that I did on the PR620 turned out pretty good. I will need to play around with templates and learn how to get the designs closer together, but overall for my first attempt, I am fairly happy.




Overall, I am happy with this little lap quilt. Just bindings remain and I will have another one completed to donate. Oh yeah, this was my first attempt at using the basting spray to attach the pieces to one another for the quilting process. Not sure if I am going to give up my pins yet or not, but I do believe that the results which I received make the quilt look more used instead of being a fresh brand new quilt.

Having some time on my hands

and determined that today I would finish a little lap quilt I had started months ago. The embroidered blocks I had stitched out a few months ago, and are from Ace Points. I had purchased the solid moss green, with the coordinating strip fabric and didn't quite know what I was going to make out of them, but I knew I loved the colors. Looking at some of my embroidery designs, I determined that I would just stitch out this Ace Points set (AP 564 - Dainty Rose Quilt) and go from there.

Well, the blocks sat for months due to work. On Wednesday of this past week, I managed to get the stripped fabric cut and the top pieced together. Thursday night I had a few minutes to find a backing. After pinning everything together and getting it 'quilted', I took it up to Hancocks to find the binding that I wanted to use. I couldn't determine if I wanted the pink, green, or cream. I selected the pink and think it finishes off the quilt quite nicely. Anyway, here it is...

One Proud Mom

Yeah, I'm one proud Mom right now.

If you want to read the entire story, you can go to http://www.mousbc.org to read in all the shining glory.

But, on Memorial Day weekend, my son competed in the first ever organized and sponsored bowling tournament for high school teams in the state of Missouri. The Northmen of Oak Park came home as the state's 1st CHAMPIONS!



Not bad for a group of kids that love to bowl that put together a club for school about 6-8 weeks ago. Who knew that they would get a chance to even compete at state, let alone WIN STATE! All of this, and the school would not even recognize them and allow them to acutally use "Oak Park" in their name. So while the web site has them as Oak Park Northmen, they went there as Northmen of oak park.

Hats off to Gladstone Bowl for being such a great facility with a love for the kids and the sport!