Schedules, Lists, Plans and Disappointments

As anyone who has spoken to me in the last two months knows very well... I recently got into a holiday craft show. This is very exciting news. I’ve never done a show before and don’t have nearly enough inventory to do it well, which means that upon my acceptance I, in keeping with a behavior pattern which I blame entirely on my job, made lists and schedules and target goals regarding inventory at bi weekly intervals leading up to the date of the show. This level of organization and borderline obsessive crazyness is a recent development, but for once it was working for me. I mostly met my self imposed deadlines and was having a lot of fun trying out new styles and patterns to boot...

So, naturally, the show was cancelled. I don’t blame the venue or the organizer. It just didn’t work out.

Anyway.. now I once again find myself with lots of inventory which I don’t fell like posting on etsy. Le sigh.

One benefit of this is that I forced myself to branch out in terms of jewelry settings and I think the result as been pretty positive. Some of these settings are much smaller and more delicate that the huge pendant pieces which, while I like making them, I would never wear... that said, I don't really wear any jewelry so I'm a poor barometer.  

https://www.etsy.com/listing/104903039/blue-and-cream-embroidered-rose-pendant

https://www.etsy.com/listing/104902379/blue-and-red-beaded-embroidered-pendant

https://www.etsy.com/listing/106707787/purple-and-lavender-flower-embroidered

https://www.etsy.com/listing/106701700/purple-silk-ribbon-embroidered-rose

Let me know what you think!

Harry Potter Quilt - FINALLY DONE!!!

My Harry Potter Quilt is FINALLY done and it’s perfect. I really could not be happier with it. It looks like something that might be hanging in the Gryffindor common room, which, dorky as that is, makes me super happy. 

Here are some of my favorite photos, if you want to see more check out my flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/beantownembroidery/

Now the question is... what should the theme of my next quilt be? I’m taking suggestions!

PS - I think it bears mentioning that, as with basically all of my accomplishments in the last 26 years, this could not have been done without my saintly mother. In this case, I mailed my almost completed quilt across country to California and she attached the backing and binding... because she is wonderful and I am lazy. Thanks Mom. 

I love this. 

Things I'm never going to do again: free hand embroider deer.

Seriously.

this car is also on my "never again" list

although... that car might is probably the best thing I've ever done

Love this Etsy Shop

Quilting is my dirty little secret. I keep it under wraps because, once combined with the etsy shop and my two cats, it brings me into lunatic old lady territory. That said, I really do love it. I recently took an innocent unplanned detour into winmill fabrics (fantastic boston fabric store) and came out with this... 

It’s a problem.

Anyway, I make crazy quilts because I love doing the embroidery and embellishment. It’s a chance to practice my favorite art on a large canvas. It’s also totally customizable. You can make a personal quilt with elements from your life, or pick a different theme... Harry Potter for example... 

My least favorite part is actually putting the pieces together. It’s time consuming, boring and requires way too much contact with that epitome of all frustration: the sewing machine. That’s why I’m so excited about the etsy shop my mom just started. It’s brand new and still very much a work in progress, but what a great idea. She makes the blank squares, you do the embroidery. Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/StitchYourStory

I'm pretty terrible at life... Merry Christmas

It’s been said that if you want something done, give it to the busiest person in the office. This is the sort of cross stitch clique that I hate… but I have to admit it’s true. The first 6 months of my year were crazy busy at work; we’re talking lost weekends, long nights and one particularly memorable all nighter that just happened to coincide with my birthday. Humph. But then, thanks to the ebb and flow glory that is litigation, all of a sudden, my work disappeared and I was left with absolutely nothing to do. I mean, literally nothing. During the first week I kept busy by organizing my office. Then I started pestering my coworkers for projects. Now I just stare at my screens and count backwards from 480 minutes.

For the record, I am not complaining. Not at all. I greatly prefer this to trying to answer hundreds of emails, be in 5 places at once and just generally meet unrealistic expectations… but I marvel at how lazy being “not busy” has made me, and it’s not just at work. The lazy monster has infiltrated every aspect of my life. I know I’m capable of working a long week then coming home and accomplishing great things. Ok, great is probably a bit of a stretch, but I’m capable of coming home after a 14 hour day and doing dishes, going to the grocery store, making progress in whatever book I’m reading, maintaining my etsy site, etc.  But now that my work days have morphed in eight hour long sporkle binges, I seem to have lost the ability to do anything else. Honestly the only  things I’ve managed to do in the last three weeks are gain an unnatural obsession with the bachelorette and attract a cruel (but brief) stomach bug. That’s it. I don’t know where the time goes.

I think the issue is that when I’m busy I plan my whole day with lists and calendar reminders which keep me focused and on task, but for precisely this reason, I REALLY resent lists and calendars, and when I’m not busy I forego them. Without structure and pressure I lose all motivation and forget that I have to pick up my dry cleaning/go to the grocery store/leave the house. As a result I find myself still in my PJs at 6pm on a Sunday, halfway through a veronica mars marathon and eating take out. It’s becoming a problem.

Anyway. This was all my roundabout way of explaining why I haven’t done any promotion for my Christmas in July sale. I got the idea in June (when I was still busy) but had lapsed into my vegetative state by July so I didn't follow through. Now July is almost over so this might be pointless... but here’s the deal, I’m offering 20% off any of my Christmas items (ornaments, stationary, jewelry) during the month of July (or until I remember to deactivate the coupon code, which will probably be around October). The code is Christmas. Swing by my etsy site and check it out!

In the meantime, I’m moving on to season 3 of V Mars.

Post Title To Be Decided On Later

Well, this should hardly come as a surprise, but I am a champion procrastinator. I’m pretty good about big things like bills or potentially life threatening maladies, but for anything less important than a LAST NOTICE cable bill or a truly alarming freckle I’m hopeless. I try to excuse my procrastination by pretending my time is super valuable and thus shouldn’t be wasted on things I don’t feel like doing... but no one falls for it. It’s laziness pure and simple and, when combined with my own unique set of neurosis, it yields some interesting results.  For example, on four separate occasions I have bought new sheets rather than wash the ones I own. This isn’t nearly as wasteful as it sounds because I almost always end up cannibalizing an extra (clean) sheet when I run out of base fabric for whatever project I’m working on, but it’s still pretty pathetic. 

Anyway, the point of all this is to explain why I haven’t listed anything new on etsy for quite some time. It’s not that I haven’t made anything... making things is fun... listing them is not. I therefore have QUITE the backlog. This is less than half of it... meh. 

Dogs, Dragons and my Harry Potter Quilt

I’ve gotten lots of great suggestions for my harry potter quilt, which I really appreciate. Two of the most common have been dragons (Norbert(a), Hungarian Horntail, etc.) and Fluffy the three headed dog. Unfortunately, if I cant draw it, I can’t embroider it... and after 5 months of trying, I’m finally ready to admit that I cannot draw a three headed dog. 

If I had a scanner and a little more confidence, I would show you some of my attempts. But I don’t have either so you’ll just have to take my word that I can’t draw a realistic, believable I mean, passable three headed dog. Unsurprisingly, the problem is the three heads. I can’t seem to fit them all in without making the dogs shoulders huge or the heads tiny... either way it's totally disproportionate. The only other option is to give the dog three long necks, which allow me to draw heads that match the size of the body... but then the necks are the problem. They make Fluffy look like greyhound from Chernobyl.

So my quilt won’t have a three headed dog... but it will have a dragon! 

Here are some updated photos. I’ve finally sewn the panels together, should be done soonish. 

There be dragon.

Those are supposed to be footprints... please tell me they look like footprints

All together now!

Cinco de Mayo... where procrastination meets Mothers Day sales

Happy Cinco de Mayo. One hundred and fiftyish years ago there was an improbable Mexican victory over the French... or something. Where I live this somewhat vague event is commemorated by half-off tequila shots and really bad margaritas.

Tequila and I have never been great friends, so I’m celebrating by doing laundry and cleaning the grout in my bathroom. Or, I should say, I’m celebrating by doing laundry, editing all of my Etsy listings to mention my Mothers Day sale and planning to clean the grout in my bathroom. Cause, really, the planning is the hard part right? Maybe I'll plan today and clean tomorrow... 

This is much more exciting than how I spent Cinco de Mayo last year. On May 5th 2011 I was working 20 hour days, looking back on two and a half months of suitcase living, prepping for a trial* and spontaneously busting into tears of frustration and overwork, so my lackluster plans for today are actually a huge improvement. 

That said... I’m still having trouble motivating myself to clean the grout. 

It really needs it... It’s practically sentient... Skynet would probably be really interested in my shower tiles... 

*sigh*

Anyway, 20% off storewide! http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeanTownEmbroidery?ref=pr_shop_more&view_type=list

* I should mention, I wasn’t on trial myself; I’m a paralegal.