Weekend Madness

Oh, it was another of those weekends. You know the ones where you initially thought you might relax a bit and then you somehow managed to over plan the whole thing to hell. On Friday I finished the ankle corsets I was working on only to come back after schooling to them sold. No, this is not a complaint. I went straight back to remaking them and almost forgot to list the new earrings with the boutonniere pattern. So I took a quick break and got those up. All those mighty plans to make more were set aside though.

The rest of the weekend I was dealing with custom order inquiries. Those would lead to me making masks and not much else. So today I still have another mask to make and a couple other pieces that need remaking. Again, this is not a complaint, but I think the holiday season feeling may be creeping up on me. No, that's not a good thing. I generally only happily enjoy the holidays the week of. The rest of it is just too much. Speaking of too much, I do have one task I completed over the weekend that I am ridiculously proud of. I finished holiday shopping. Well, save for picking up a few gift cards. All the children in our lives are taken care of and I can now avoid much of the retail world for the next month and a half. Can I get a Woo Hoo?

So, there is much making on my plate today and the rest of the week I imagine. Taking a deep breath now.

Ugh

What a day, what a day. Let me preface this story by saying that all involved turned out to be just fine. The husband called me early in the morning from work to tell me that he was headed to the Emergency room because he'd had a heart flutter. I took in this information, but did not process it quickly enough to ask pertinent questions before I was off the phone with him. This led to panic made worse by his obeying of signs to turn off his phone. So after a tense morning not knowing what was going on aside from random texts sent out between shutting his phone back off, he returns generally fine save for a soreness resulting from a brutal phlebotomist . Sure he panicked and I'm glad he went to the doctors to get checked out, but me and the girls were a bundle of nerves. In the future I hope I remember to ask more questions in situations like this because all that not knowing business just wound me up for hours.

Once I was relaxed I did manage to get back to work though. I made up a couple of these small boutonniere motifs that I'll get turned into earrings today and get listed. I might try a few more color combinations later if they are well received. Might even do a pendant too. Then I was ready to get back to some production work and I spent the rest of the evening working on remaking some ankle corsets. I'm still not done with those, so I'll be back to them this morning. After that I'm not certain which direction I will head, maybe back tot he simple boutonniere, but I do know I will try to stay busy.

Done With That

Let's see, I finished up the third piece born from messing with the hen and chicks pattern and I got all three listed. There reception has been lukewarm, but I needed to make some new things and I did. I was also thinking about making a slave bracelet as well, but given the lack of love for the design in general, I think it would be a mistake to toss yet another piece out so soon. Maybe as the holiday season gets underway and I need a creation break I'll get it created.

I was also lucky enough to get yet another etsy finds shout out. This time it was for Dia De Los Muertos. The link will take you to the web version of the email. Again, it was no great windfall of attention, but I'll take any I can get. After I ran my shop numbers for October I have to say that I am desperate for a fantastic November and December. October was absolutely dismal compared to last year.

I also got a custom request for my boutonniere in Christmas colors with matching earrings.  Since I took a picture of the prototype earring. I thought I'd share it here. I wasn't so sure it would work as an earring, but it seems to. I may get these made up for the shop, in more basic colors. No other great or interesting news for you and I think I've got a pretty good queue lined up of things that need tatting so I'll be busy today. Busy is good...busier, better.

Hen & Chicks

Again I avoided making the one thing I've said needed making for the last two days. I just wasn't feeling it. I needed to do something different, something that required I figure out something. So I started flipping through my antique pattern collection for inspiration. It didn't take long to get a hit on the perfect project. I got so much satisfaction out of working the last one shuttle medallion into a needle pattern that I thought I'd tackle another classic, the hen and chicks pattern. I mean it doesn't get any more classic and well known than that. Heck it's the only tatting pattern I know of with a name. I've worked it with cut thread before, but I hate all that extra thread, so a little zig-zag chain and it's loads more fun to work.

Of course I wasn't finished with the pattern as worked. I decided to add the dropped rings on the other side as well and it worked up into a bracelet rather well. Of course I now saw a few more projects hiding in this newly revisited classic. First up was a simple pendant design made using just one repeat of the pattern. I love the way it looks, but I still haven't decided which way to hang it. I'm leaning toward the way it is in the picture because it looks more interesting, but it looks more natural hanging from the larger ring.Or I might use chains and attach them to the top small side rings.

I found one more project in the pattern and I'll be working that up today. I'm going to do a choker with the hen and chicks not doubled and add the pendant bit at the center. I've done this before with the original version of the pattern, hanging actual pendants from the center, but I think this should have a nice unique look to it. I also finally have a couple of other pieces in queue to be remade and maybe I'll feel like a little production work now that I've got the creation bug out of my system. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

After

Yes, I am just as exhausted by yesterday as I thought I would be. The children had a fine time with their multiple trick-or-treat trips and I even dressed up at the last minute to go out with them and my sister's family. I, however have no pictures of this event as I left all that to the husband and I have yet to steal some from him. It was a long night. Maybe I'll snag some today for tomorrows post so you can see the girls at least.

As I feared I got zero tatting done. There were just too many other things that needed doing. Laundry, dishes, floors and of course costumes and decorations. To save the display from being kitty killed, we opted for small window display and didn't put it up until late in the afternoon. Never mind that the display is mostly culled from bits that are up in our house all the time. One day when the kids have lost their Halloween fear, we'll go big. But I digress, today I have to finish undoing all that and hopefully I'll have some time to get back to tatting. I still have that one mask to make and I want to get a few more snowflakes done.

I have had a few custom requests lately that haven't returned yet, so I could theoretically get busy at any moment. I did also have one I had to say no to because I felt it wouldn't work. It is so hard to say, 'No, I can't do that'. The reality is I maybe could, but it would stress me out and I must remember that it is okay to say no. One does not have to accept every request and challenge just because you are asked. Sometimes I forget that when I need sales and things are rough in the shop, but I remembered this time. Well, off to it then...the holiday season is upon us all.