DO I NEED INTERVENTION?

I desperately needed to re organize my fabric closet. My hubby made me a quick shelf and the rest is history. I cannot believe I have that much Fabric! I am definately addicted. My Studio is currently in the Master Bedroom and the little closet houses my fabric and the jetted tub in the ensuite holds pillow forms, mailing supplies, prepackaged batting. I cannot wait to move into my new Studio, hopefully this Fall.

THIS OLE HOUSE OF MINE & LIZ' VERANDAH PICS

This old House, oh boy, what an undertaking! We live on a beautiful peaceful acreage and behind our home is the old original homestead built circa 1940. It was a one room house, about 14' x 20' solid wood construction and woodchip insulated. I cannot imagine how drafty that must have been in the winter. My hubby and I thought it might make a great studio for me, get all my machines, fabric and dust out of our home. A place I can go and when done, close the door without having to worry about cleaning up. So this past week he started removing the boards one at the time as they are absolutely salvageable, good dry wood, that will make nice sheving for my fabrics and whatnots. It doesn't look pretty, but then what construction job does, especially in the removal stage, which is always the worst. I have decided to document the different stages and it will be interesting to see how it comes along. Plans have been drawn, windows and doors are bought, new rafters are coming soon, just need time and plenty of elbow grease.

A project we just completed was to put a roof over our deck which has a south exposure and gets so hot from morning till the sun goes down that we could not use it. My industrious constructonator built an awesome cover, complete with metal roof. We have breakfeast, lunch and supper outside now and lounge around whenever the fancy strikes us. Nice to be kind of semi retired! My friend Liz in Australia wanted to see what it looks like, so these pictures are for you Liz. Just imagine us sitting here in the middle of the day with our red bikinis on drinking fuzzy Navels. What a picture! If you look close you cans see my couch potatoe Phayzer laying on the back of the sofa thru the living room window.

RECESSION?

Times are tough, I hear it all the time. Money is tight, the consumer isn't spending, nobody is buying things like Quilt, that is a luxury item!

I have been absent from my blog because I am just about sold out of Quilts! As fast as I make them they sell! Quilts might be the next hot commodity the way they are disappearing from my store. I list one, an hour later it is sold. This is definately the year of QuiltLover!

I added a couple new Quilt pictures to my Customer Quilt Gallery on LUV2QUILT4YOU, forgot to take pictures of all the ones I quilted in the last 2 weeks, getting old I guess. I have, as of this date, 4 more to quilt, then I can concentrate on quilting for my store again.

I closed www.quiltlover.artfire.com . The views were pitiful and I just don't have the time to promote it anymore than I did. I try to concentrate my efforts on Etsy, it seems to want to pay the bills.

It is still pretty chilly in our part of the world, the flowers even seem to shrink into themselves when the north wind blows. But, we don't have hail, tornadoes, hurricans, floods or even excessive crime, so chilly is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

My hubby is home for the next month or so and has started tearing the old house apart. It will be my studio in good time and I must take pictures as the work progresses. It will be interesting to see if the old house, a one room shack built circa 1940, can be fixed.

TWO YEARS OF ONLINE COMMERCE

On May 14th, 2009 I celebrate my second anniversary of Online commerce. I opened shop on Etsy on the 14th and made my first sale 2 days later.

It has been a roller coaster of a ride. I learned so much, I lost some money on shipping, I gained several friends and a bunch of wonderful repeat customers. My feedback is impeccable, and compliments are received almost daily. As of this writing I count 1383 shop hearts. It was just before Christmas when I was sitting at 987 ande not really all that long ago when I had my first hearts and I was all excited. My darling husband still recalls that moment with a big smile on his face and a shake of the head. I have learned how to ship the most efficient way so that my customers get their Quilt quickly and at the most economical cost possible, Quilts are shipped overseas in space saver bags, all the air is sucked out and I can almost ship Express for half of what it would have cost to ship regular mail.

I have a friend in Australia who just bought the most gorgeous Quilt from me, and I know she will have a fright when she sees her package. It is rock hard and about 18" x 14" x 8" and contains a queen size Quilt. I would love to see her face when she opens it!

I have put together a slideshow of the Quilts I have sent all over Canada, The United States, Japan, Germany, Australia. It has been a wonderful 2 years and I look forward to continued business growth, making more friends, and amazing peoples all over the world with my quilting.

Thank you all for your confidence and trust in QuiltLover Quilts and other beautiful Things.

SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT

Friday May 8th, 2009 has been an awesome day. I woke this morning to find an e-mail from April Cornell, one of my favorite fabric designers for Moda, on my computer.

Quote:

Hi there,I'll introduce myself. I am April Cornell and you may realize that I designed the fabric you used in this beautiful quilt. I'm wondering if you'd allow me to post a shot of the quilt and a link to your Etsy store on my April Cornell Facebook fan page. I'd also like to Tweet to it and share the link. I enjoy showing what beautiful items talented artists are creating with the fabric line.Kindest regards,April Cornell

End of Quote.

I realize of course that I am not unique in getting this e-mail, but I am very flattered for the recognition. She was referring to http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24050299

and here is a picture

This Sunday is Mother's Day and I wish all Moms a wonderful, relaxing day. My Daughter sent me a card with the phrase " Bubbles or bath salts? May this be the toughest decision of your day.

Happy Mother's Day to all.

RAIN FALL DOWN

I love that song from the Rolling Stones "Bigger Bang" Album. I am a big fan and I think "Rain Fall Down" has to be my most favorite song!

It is raining here this morning, and that is good. Everything is still brown and dingy outside and we need a good rain and some hot sun to make the trees and grass come to live with lush color. Spend the last week with my partner putting a roof over our 12ft x 36ft deck. We have a very open south exposure and that sun gets so unbearably hot we just can't use the deck. Now we will have some shade, cover from the rain, and protection from the humongous amounts of snow we have to shovel off the deck every winter.

I am feverishly working to stock my http://www.quiltlover.etsy/ Store after record March and April Sales. May 14th will mark my second anniversary on Etsy and online sellling. Considering that very vew items I have sold are less than $100.00 and quite a few are over the $400.00 mark, 108 sales is a great accomplisment. I am proud to say that I have Quilts in many corners of the World and Harvest Spice, a real beauty, is leaving for Australia shortly. The Lady that bought it is a repeat buyer and has become a dear friend over the past 2 years. We correspond regularly, and if we catch eachother on the internet at the right time, we chat and enjoy a glass of Mint Baileys while we talk. How awesome is that?

I have had a Storefront on iCraft, which I closed. No sales, low views, Ecrater which had some sales but I found I couldn't keep up with long haul trucking and maintaing 2 online Venues, so I closed it down too.

Currently I operate my http://www.quiltlover.artfire/ store, but it might get closed too, the views are very low, just not worth the time and effort. But.....I might stock it with lower priced items such as bags and table decor and we will see if that will have a market.

I recently made my Quilt Run" and picked up a gazoodel Quilts to finish, that will keep me busy for a week or so. You can see the completed Quilts at http://luv2quilt4you.blogspot.com/ or just click on the link at the right side of this Blog.

I ventured into another medium for promoting my Quilts......YouTube! Check out this Video of the Quilts I have for Sale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN_xY_o-eq0 It has had 175 visitors/viewers since I created it on May 2, 2009. That is awesome!

IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT AGAIN!

How did it happen? Where does time go? I swear the older I get the faster time flies.

I have had a very productive week. Received 2 custom Quilt orders for king size Quilts with pillow Shams and Accent Cushions, one of which is almost finished. I made and listed 3 Quilts, Crazy Dayz, Tropicana and Darla Darling. My Sales this month are up as well as are my expenses. Fabric and supplies are getting more and more expensive and I can see having to raise the prices on my Quilts.

My longarm trainng DVD's arrived these last couple of days, and I have to make an effort and schedule "ppp" time. My Circle Lord should be arriving early next week, so exciting! I received a call today from a Customer who wants me to quilt a "Show" Quilt for her, so who knows, tis writer might be able to put "Award winning Longarm Quilter" on her business card yet.

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE

Yes, I think it has arrived. The Pussy Willows are budding, the Geese are honking once more, the Snow is finally melting, and our gravel roads are getting soft again. The sun has power again and I love it so.

I spent the last couple of days cleaning up the Studio, organizing my fabric closet and making a couple of smaller Quilts. One has been listed on http://www.quiltlover.etsy.com/ and is called The Cazy Dayz of Summer. Beautiful fabrics from the Anna Maria Horner "Good Folks" collection make for a bright and breezy, funky and fresh Quilt. I just finished another one tonight, I will put the binding on tomorrow and list it. Not sure about the name yet, I hope it will come to me in my sleep.

I finished all my Customer Quilts and so far they (the Customers) are very pleased with what they see.

It is raining right now and I have 3 wet dogs coming in the house, yuck!

WHAT IS A CIRCLE LORD?

This is the Circle Lord

I just bought one. It is an attachement for my longarm machine allowing me to do Squircles, Circles, Feathers, Wreaths, and all kinds of Watchamacallits. It will take my longarm quilting to a new level.

What does it do? Check this out, these are just a couple of samples borrowed from the Circle Lord website

I can't wait to get going on it. Stay tuned, I will have to come up for air sometime, and I will try to post once in a while.

BARGELLO HEART in PURPLE

I have to show this beauty. I finished quilting it today for a first time Client. I know she will be pleased. Pictures posted with Permission.

ANOTHER WEEK HAS COME AND GONE

Where is the time going? I think as I get older, the days, weeks, months and years go so much faster. Is it just me or do you feel the same way? Spring is officially here, but now where I live! Woke up to snow yesterday, but, the sun is getting warmer and slowly but surely the white stuff is melting. Little Miss Molly just loves the outside and explores every puddle. I have to be really "fast" as she comes in the door or she'll track mud all over and she comes in like a bullet! She has grown into a beautiful little dog, well shaped, gorgeous eyes and she loves her people.

I have nothing new to show you this week as I have been busy longarming for my Customers. I decided to open a Blog and dedicate it solely to my longarm quilting, be it for customers or work I do for Sale. http://luv2quilt4you.blogspot.com/

I hope to have something new to post here this coming week. Please check back often and leave a comment with your thoughts.