Day 6 found us at the PA Renaissance Faire. Awesome. (Day 6 left me so exhausted I didn't post on this blog. Day 7 was so busy I'm posting 2 entries on Day 8 to make up for it.) We were there with our kids my sister and I didn't get to do a lot of shopping. The kids wanted to do stuff and eat stuff and not sit in the sun or near bees (which were EVERYWHERE! I love nature and all but come on! We didn't see that many bees at Longwood Gardens or the Hershey Gardens). One thing that surprised me was the amount of mass produced material for sale by some of the vendors. There were hand crafted items of course but if I want to drop a wad of cash at the Faire I want something handcrafted that I can't get out of a costume catalogue. I once bought hand blown glass at the faire. It is a raspberry-stamped roamer(sp?). Glass blowers of yore stamped blobs of glass around the outsides of the vessel to provide a better grip to greasy, meaty hands. Pretty cool. I actually use it as a flower vase.
But it made me think about my own business. What direction do I want it to go so that I am distinguished from the rest. For those of you who don't know me well, I do many things but I am trying to make a go at a hand-made line of spa products, made without preservatives or dyes, using only fresh, natural ingredients and essential oils. Brown sugar body scrubs, hand & foot salt scrubs, foot bath powders, lip balm, body spray, coffee scrubs, and cocoa scrub all grace my 'menu'. I even hand make paper to wrap around the bars of soap. I use juice pouches to make purses and wallets. I want to expand the paper making to include handmade, hand bound journals. I also recycle old clothes into quilts and costumes. I have a lot of hobbies. The question is: how do I include all of those things into a well defined business that carries not only the mark of a real heritage crafter but is also professional enough to be marketable. Let's face it, hand made, artisan quality products won't carry a Wal-mart price tag.
Thinking about Artisan crafts made me think about gifts and gift baskets. That made me think about Christmas. I love Christmas and part of the fun of Christmas is watching someone open a gift you chose for them. As I was thinking about this I happened upon one of my favorite shows: Little House on the Prairie. That made me think about the Christmas episode...the first Christmas the family spent on the banks of Plum Creek. If you've never seen it get it from Netflix. It has a Gift of the Magi theme. But in the story they are all making one another gifts. Of course they did, who had the money to drop a wad of hard earned sustenance on store bought-en items back then, beside the Olsens? They were lucky not to eat rocks and twigs for breakfast. That inspired me. I am on a mission to make hand-crafted Christmas gifts for my family and friends using materials I already have on hand here in the house. Now, for me that really isn't too much of a stretch because I am not only a jack of all trades, I'm also a hoarder. That bag of soda can tabs has a very real purpose and you better NOT throw away those juice pouches. I have boxes and boxes of fabric and jeans that people have given me to sew with that I have never been able to work through in all these years. I have stacks and stacks of scrap paper and junk mail that is either a brilliant project in waiting or a serious fire hazard in waiting.
The only problem is...how do I tell YOU fine readers about it without giving away the surprise to my family (especially since it's probably ONLY my family and friends reading this!) And since no one responded to my question regarding whether or not a separate instructional blog is wanted I'm not sure what I want to do. What I will do for now is provide a link to some of the projects I am thinking of doing. I need a plan to get my act in order, to make sure I have enough time to get everything done.
My first major project is a sewing project. Tons of scrap fabric + cold whether + people turning their heat back to save money + unemployed Sara = Rag Quilts! Here's a few links for anyone who would like to research this and maybe give it a try. I made a rag quilt for my son out of some licensed flannel we got on sale at the fabric store and some old pjs and jeans that I cut into squares. Check these out:
http://quilting.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_make_a_rag_quilt
http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/rag_quilt.htm
http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/denim_quilts.htm
My goal is to multi-task cutting squares while watching TV at night. I figured out that cutting 30 squares a night for the next 90 days will give me more than enough squares to make half a dozen blankets or more. That will give me another few weeks to assemble and snip those squares into blanket form. What fabrics I am using and what patterns I employ will not be shown until after Christmas so that I don't spoil the surprise. That won't be enough blankets for everyone in the family so not everyone will know what they are getting! I am looking forward to it. I love sewing in the cooler months. Doing hand sewing gives me and excuse to watch an Anne of Green Gables marathon on VHS! Yeah, my life is a whirl wind.
Happy Sewing, my friends!
Sara Smile
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