Crossed

Again I must say how much I adore my repeat customers. Their support means so much to me and so does their uncanny ability to make requests when I really need the kick in the rear to tat. Yesterday I got another request for the tatted dream catcher earrings with a spider and a got them almost complete. They just need their spiders today and then I can send them off to their new home.

Before that request though I was cross stitching. Speaking of cross stitch, here are the ones I was
talking about over the weekend that got framed.I still don't know where to put them, but they will eventually get a permanent spot on a wall somewhere, because everyday is Halloween when it comes to our home decor.

Back to the other cross stitch though, here's a bit of that one. I'm almost finished with the border, just one color left to finish. I told you it was a simple one. After that color is done, then I need to graph the new saying for the center. The current one is a little cheesy for my tastes. I also plan on adding a few small details to it once that's done that should make it more, 'me'. It should be done sometime this week and hopefully that will be enough wasted time that I will feel compelled to design again.

Last One

The last thing I made for the last order I got was a custom pair of dream catcher earrings. It seems only fitting that since a spider spun the first dream catcher, that one day I would be asked to add a spider to the web. I first tried to find some spider charms to add, but I'm glad that I didn't find any. The small tatted spider is just right for it.

I finished these and got everything in this last order in the mail on Saturday morning and then the shop went dark again. Instead of tatting I spent the weekend on small craft projects. I got small laser cut frames for some Halloween cross stitches I made last year. I painted the frames black and got them all put together, but not on the walls yet.

Then when that was done, I dug through the bag of old craft kits I was gifted and pulled out a really simple cross stitch from the 1980's to work on. I'm going to rewrite the statement in the center of it, but otherwise, it's keeping me busy as is.

Oh, one more thing before I go, we went and saw The Boxtrolls over the weekend and it was brilliant. It's got nice, quirky, awkward British humor, but the most amazing part is during the credits where they show you just how much work goes into stop motion animation. Anyway, I just thought I'd recommend it, since we were so impressed.

Again, I start the week with no tatting projects in queue, so here's looking forward to some surprises and tasks to keep me busy.

Repeat

You know what I absolutely love? Repeat customers. I have just a handful of wonderful people who come back time and time again to have me make something for them. It is especially lovely when I'm in that, 'the shop is dead' mood and one of them pops by to get a few things. Really it just turns my mood right around as I get to work and I start to feel useful again. I think that that is the worst part about the slow shop really, the feeling of uselessness. That somehow your work is no longer needed in the world, so why bother. It's a good thing that I have an otherwise happy and stable life or that could really mess with my psyche.

So as you no doubt guessed, I got an order in yesterday with some pieces that needed making. This not only gave me something to do yesterday and likely today as well, it gave me things to take pictures of to share with you. This first one is a pair of my chanmaille earrings that I call The Twenty. I was asked to do a slightly different colorway for the ombré effect. I honestly like this one better than the golden orange one I had already made.

The second one here are my Pinwheel Swirl post earrings. I initially made these up in colors I thought would sell as is, but every pair I've sold since has been a unique combination that I would not have thought of making. These color choices are clearly Halloween hues and though I have no intention of adding them to the shop like this, the listing is already set up for customers to choose their own colors, but I might change the listing photos to include them.

I still have more work to do on this order and that makes me very happy. I should have it all done today since I have no other tasks to work on though. So here's to a lovely day with lots of tatting in it.

Twilled Again

Nothing new and interesting happened to break the monotony. No sales nor ideas and with the last embroidery kit done, I was at quite a loss for something to do with my sitting time. I would like to thank everyone for the lovely comments regarding my embroidery attempts and especially SWtrompeter for the idea of sewing it to an existing pillow, which is right up my lazy alley. As soon as I'm able to get a suitable one, that's most likely what I'll do.

I remembered late in the afternoon that I had quite a lot of scrap muslin and I decided to do some more twilling. I used a free PDF pattern from Urban Threads and made this little piece of nonsense. It's their logo, so that's why it's free, but it certainly looks like something I would make regardless. It's far from perfect, but it gave me something else to do with the time devoted to clearing off my DVR with the kids. 

I think I am going to buckle down and maybe try to get back to some designing today. I did a bit of tatting yesterday, but nothing of consequence and I really need to do something to jump start sales in the shop if I don't want this year's holidays to be ramen and i.o.u.'s. Hopefully the Muses will be kind.

Done With That

My day was a bit thrown off yesterday by one of the cats exhibiting the symptoms of a bladder infection. Not the kind that one can politely ignore either, the messy, obvious, take me to the vet now, kind. So that's what we did. As soon as the office was open we made an appointment that was right in the middle of schooling. This drew schooling out much longer and I didn't even really sit down until well after lunch. The cat seems fine by the way. A few shots and she seems right as rain.

Once I did get a chance to sit down and work I was finally able to finish stitching. Here it is in all it's unwashed, unpressed, straight off the hoop, glory. Of course I looked at the directions for turning it into a pillow and I'm afraid the concept seems far too fiddly for me to even bother. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it other wise though. I suppose I could frame it, but that seems silly somehow. I'll figure something out...eventually.

Well, that brings me to the end of my stalling project and leaves me with little to do. I think I said that I'll work on snowflakes until a sale finally distracts me, but hopefully I find something more interesting to do instead. At least I managed to learn something new while stalling this time.