Mixing it up with the Public + My Etsy Reader

Staying at home as a retiree and sewing up stuff all day and trying to support the habit with an Etsy shop makes for a lot of alone time.  Hubby is constantly being asked for his opinion on all sorts of things that he is no expert on but he is also retired and nearby.

So yesterday was one of my few outings into the real, non-cyber world at a crafts fair.  Christmas-by-the-Lake was held at my old alma mater, Avon Lake High School.  It was a scholarship fund-raiser sponsored by the PTA so I felt good about supporting them and the most fun was meeting up with old friends and neighbors.

The front of ALHS as I knew it - pic from the web

For me, it was a good, even fantastic,  show since the one I did in October was a money LOSER!  I was pretty busy most of the day and if hubby hadn't come to assist I would not have survived the set-up and take-down on my own.  We even stayed overnight at a nearby hotel to avoid the long drive in the AM when the weather might have been iffy.  Disclaimer: The expense did not cut into my profits since I used my Hilton Honors points for a free night. I also got out of having to cook dinner for two nights straight :)  Cooking is definitely not my thing.

New Main entrance which is really at the back - low res pic from ALHS page

I was so busy talking, walking and selling I completely forgot to take pictures to put on this post. My selling space did look pretty spiffy and was quite generous. There was extra space around the allotted 10' x 10' so my hanging racks for bags and aprons could angle outward and made lots of room for shoppers to see and finger the wares.

Since I have nothing else to  dress up the post with, here are some items I sold.

               This wool purse was snapped up right away. 

I had just completed it days before.  My favorite part of this is the ruffle made from the selvage.  

The fabric is a herringbone that has been hand dyed by RubyMountainDyeworks. I was trying to match another purple solid to make this style:

                                       However, it was too red. I wanted it for the side pockets.

This gray bag also went to the show with me and was admired often and sold for my full asking price even when the buyer tried to get me to come down.  This little baby got more "favorites" in the shortest time on my Etsy shop than anything I have ever made. Now I am really determined to get just the right coordinating fabrics to go with that nice thick coat weight royal purple.  I have enough for at least two bags, so in the mean time, perhaps solid purple with a stitching detail?

                                                                Aprons went pretty well, too.

 This one had matching potholders that have a sort of bra-like look in this photo.

At right is the apron I wear at shows.  The two giant pockets hold my cash and other necessities.  This was my first show where my phone was one of those necessities.

Etsy has made available a credit card reader, the Etsy Reader , that works like Square and some other similar things but this one connects directly to your Etsy shop so that items are removed from your online shop as you sell them directly.  You can even use it for sales that are not Etsy items and it worked smoothly and efficiently and helped me make more sales. It emails you a record of each sale, adds up your totals, helps you make change and will email a receipt to your customer. Thanks, Etsy!

Oh, and those little cuties I put in my previous teaser post are still with me. I sold ONE but they were all handled fondly by lots of hands.  They will see another show day. Too small and fiddly to list and ship on Etsy.

Final NYC post...for now

 The quilt is done. The first one I have made since the 70's when all quilting was done by hand. My previous post shows my start and how I just wanted to jump in and make these fun blocks, but then...

 I had no idea how I was going to put them together. Originally I thought that using the yellow taxis on black fabric would make great sashing but after some discussion with a quilter friend and others I settled on a more subtle arrangement with gray. I did include one little taxi on the front. Can you find it?

 Mimic-ing streets, I quilted two lines of gray quilting and a yellow line down the centers. I'm not happy with the rippling, but considering my lack of foresight the thing is not (IMHO) horrible.

Here is the back where I included more of the rushing taxis and the I (heart) NY logo.

My favorite thing is the binding.  I didn't have enough of any one fabric so I pieced a bunch into narrow strips and then cut them on the diagonal to create bias. 

 But I still had some bits and pieces left so...

A pillow pair (front)

                                                        Back of smaller pillow

                                        Closeup of snap detail on back of larger pillow
                                                 These are now in my Etsy shop

Now I am getting really busy sewing up all kinds of things for a little craft fair in August.  This stair rail is right outside my sewing room and this is how it looked in January.
I have now started using the blue bag myself but the enormous dot bag is still there buried under some of the many others I have made.

Sometimes I am asked what I make when people hear that I sew.  Pretty much anything. I have a low boredom threshold.

Craft Show Upgrade

Last year I wrote a post about my first craft show HERE. Yesterday was the new improved version of the same show. This time it was in a better location with better publicity and better all around organization. And I did better but it helped that my space was free due to participating in last year's debacle.

These things are fun to do and indoors is definitely less taxing on the back and the nerves due to weather concerns. I set up and took down the whole thing all by myself. Well, some nice high school boy who is required to do some community service to graduate was there in the AM to help me drag some of it in.
You can see Francine on the left wearing a recently finished item. Francine enjoyed all the attention and compliments she drew on her first venture out of the house, but unfortunately no one chose to buy her apparel and undress her so her apron will probably be showing up on Etsy real soon. I was in a hallway and couldn't get in the whole set up. I use a portable baby crib/play yard for all my loose pillows. It was on the lower right out of sight. 
I sold more of the wine gift bags here than at the last show I did at a winery. I only made them up because of that show. I cannot figure out what motivates people to part with their money...or not. Luckily, I am not dependent on them for my survival, just for feeding my creative habit.

 

I thought my location was good because every one entering the show had to pass by on there way in or out. However, on entering they seemed anxious to get into see it all and then on the way out they had spent all their cash.

This is one of two large
areas of displays.


One especially attractive display  was this jewelry table with little baby Francines. I am also attracted to the turquoise and chevron. Being on my own all day, I had no time to shop the show which probably helped my bottom line but not the economy of all assembled here.

Being a very talkative person who can't sit still for too long, I'm afraid I drove the nice "bow girls" next to me nuts. In return for their tolerance here is a blatant plug for their infinite variety of hair ribbons for every occasion and whim.

 

 As, I said, I am too antsy to sit  still at these things, therefore, I do

not sit behind a table. You can see that my space had the table pushed back to the wall so that I could use the front and sides for display. This  leaves me nowhere to stash the cash. My solution is an apron that displays my

work AND serves to hold the change and incoming money in the two pockets.

Images on apron courtesy of THE GRAPHICS FAIRY

Needless to say, by the end of a day I am a bit worn down but I count that as my weight-bearing exercise!



A Day at the Winery

 



And I didn't drink a drop!

Yesterday was spent all day at an outdoor arts & craft show in the town I grew up in. Avon Lake, Ohio  is right along the shores of Lake Erie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken during some brief moments of sunshine throughout the day that was heavily mixed with gray clouds and occasional rain showers that were thankfully brief , but added to the humidity. All day I was wet from either sweat, rain, or both.

 

Here are some of the vendors setting up. It looks a bit gloomy.

 

 

 













A tasteful and attractive booth with local appeal on the left and below some items similar to mine.



Now this is my little emporium for the day. You will notice that I am a bit more "scattered" than the above examples.  My "adult attention deficit disorder" means that I like a variety of projects. There are fabric collages, aprons, zip bags, clutch bags/wallets, pot holders, towels, table runners, bibs, pillows and wine bottle bags  all in this one space. All the items are fabric and sewn so that is the theme to keep it from looking like a garage sale.

The yellow jug in the lower left is filled with water. It is duct-taped to the canopy support for stability. There is one at each corner. Luckily it didn't get wind tested.



Financially I did pretty good and now have more money to buy more fabric and on and on we go.

 

And it is true...not a drop to drink. I was too busy and actually I don't like wine much, but those grapes in the first picture look and smell divine. I might have tasted if I knew that they weren't sprayed with insecticide.

 

Credits to Jen Kopf who organized VineArts and to John Christ Winery and may we all meet again next year.

A Day on the Street

Yesterday was a sunny day that you could sing about.
This summer has had some pretty bad weekends and a lot of rain overall, but I got lucky and The Seville Art Walk was on this day.  This is a small town three miles from me that is becoming a great little hub of antiques and cool little shops.  Last year was the first for the event and it fell on the ONLY day it rained all summer. It was so awful I didn't even mention it on my then new blog. 
I stepped it up this year to a canopy and a fun pennant banner for a sign.

 Here is the setting up. The banner letters are courtesy of THE GRAPHICS FAIRY. The ladder goes from being a set up helper to a display piece later.

I was permitted to span the sidewalk and everyone had to pass through. It made all the men duck a little though!

 











The ladder as display. I splatter painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and call it my Monet ladder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The vendor next to me displayed her glass flower garden ornaments in the flowery patch we both enjoyed. These are so cool and they have "stems" that allow you to turn the glass horizontally to make a bird bath.

 

Around the corner and all over the main intersection were other cool vendors and shops who I had little opportunity to visit. Too bad, but over all I did pretty well for such a small event which may grow each year.  Visit Seville HERE. And  thanks to Michelle at Funky Junk Boutique on Facebook or HERE

 

Challenge: How many Graphics Fairy images can you find in these photos?