New product in the making

I started working on headbands the other night - after cutting out about 100 of them

Boy did my hand hurt!


Moving on to pining - that took some time too. The second picture shows all of them pinned and ready for sewing.

Tada - here are about 1/4 of the finished headbands - coming soon to my Etsy shop!

Stop and smell the roses Sunday

Sometimes I forget to stop and take the time to smell the roses. I am normally going 50 different directions and someone always needs something. Even though I spend much of "my" time late night, my favorite time in the day has always been early morning before everyone else is up. I love sitting on my patio with my coffee and reading or working on new ideas.

Today I sat down and read Signatures Styles by Jenny Doh - it has AMAZING photos and highlights 20 stitchers and what makes them unique. I enjoyed reading and seeing how others find inspiration and organize their spaces.

Sunday is also time to spend with the sprouts and after a ton of rain all week, we had sun, it was an outside day! Today we painted with water.

Items needed - a bucket, paint brush (we use the foam craft brushes), driveway (or sidewalk) and a lot of imagination!

Best of all you can paint over and over - the sprouts LOVED it!






I really did take some time to smell roses (silk ones) - In a former craft life I made silk floral arrangements - today I revisited that life and worked on wedding flowers for a good friends daughter.

Treasury Tuesday

Today I felt like going on a Safari Vacation, so I created a treasury on etsy of fellow etsykids teammates to do just that.

A new focus

I attended the Midwest Craft Caucus this weekend and I realized from listening and talking to fellow crafters that I had lost sight of my voice and why am I doing what I am.  I have been questioning a lot lately why I am doing what I do and even considering giving up my quest for my creative outlet.  I have never been able to explain what I make now, it was a lot easier for me when I made pottery - I knew what my focus was and why I made my body of work.  With sewing it hasn't come as easy, I am trying to find what makes me unique - sewing late at night is one of those things.  At every craft show I have done someone has asked me "do you make everything here?" or commented that how do you find the time to do all of this.  At the caucus this weekend a presenter mentioned that they could tell if a applicant had made all of the things in their booth by the volume of work done - I took a look at my inventory - I make every single item myself and I wondered if they would think that of me.  I work all day, take care of my kids in the evenings, and when they fall asleep (my kids are night owls and go to sleep late) I get to sew.  Most nights I start sewing at 10:30pm, I sew until 12:30 or 1:00am on week nights and 2:00 - 3:00 on the weekends, I wake up for my day job at 6:15am.  Do I think I am the only one out there, no and I hope to find others out there like me.  For now, I have decided to focus on my late night escapades and changed my tag line to  "confessions of a late night sewing mama" - stay tuned, it should get interesting!