Saturday Shenanigans - 26.04.2014

This week has been a week of decisions. The first decision was to give up on my studies. Trying to keep up with housework and looking after Sue while studying just didn't seem to be working. I was getting too far behind on my studies and the housework wasn't getting done either. It is yet to be seen if the housework actually gets done now but at least there is one less thing demanding my time.

The second decision involved our online shop. I decided that I needed a Facebook page for it to see if that gets it any more attention. On that page I will be highlighting different products that we sell and showing off the newer items that I am adding each week. We will have to wait and see how that goes but I did get at least one like on the first day that I had it up.

Today we went for a little drive down to Wangaratta to check out the Wang Woolly Day. There was quite a bit there that I would have bought if we didn't have so much already on hand or had a specific project for but we didn't buy anything. In some ways it was a little disappointing as there wasn't as much there as I thought there might be but I did see a couple of ladies doing things that I hadn't tried yet, broomstick lace and hairpin lace. I don't know if I will ever try either but at least I have now seen first hand how it's done.

It being close to the end of the month and with good sales at recent markets I figured it was about time I reviewed my to-do list. This is what it looks like today.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Bottle Cosies in more team colours

Teapot Cosies

bag holders

Hanging Towels

Small Bunny

Jacket, Pants and Hat set in blue (need a couple of other colours also)

Sunhat and Bootees in white

Fans Bookmark

Current Work In Progress:

Toddlers Jacket
Trauma Teddies

Tartan Blanket – taken over from Sue

Tunisian Lace Wrap

Doily from an old pattern book I bought

Woollen Baby Blanket using Motifs from Ellen's book

Frida Fish

Matinee Jacket

Bootees

Hanging Towels

Things I'm itching to get started on:

Crochenit Knee Rug (same as Cot Blanket and will also use up some of my stash of 8ply)
Crocheted Slocks
Banner for Stall

Table Runners for each Australian state and territory (currently trying to design the ACT one).

Tunisian Crochet Intarsia Table Runner

Dinosaurs (bought the patterns from PlanetJune)

There is plenty there for me to work on but if someone commissions something from me I will happily take it on (I know, I'm a sucker for punishment).

That's it from me for this week. I hope you all had a good one.

Richard.

Saturday Shenanigans - 19.04.2014

The last couple of weeks have had me thinking about my priorities and my future. I am now quite a bit behind with my college work and am finding study very hard to concentrate as there are so many distractions like housework, Sue and my crafting. I didn't get assessment 4 in on time, I'm going to be over a week late with assessment 5 and there is little chance that I will be able to do 6 and 7 on time ( 6 is due tomorrow night). It all just seems too hard and I'm considering giving up on this diploma. Do I really need it? Will it really help me in the future? I'm not sure about either of those questions.

On a more positive note, I went to Beechworth today for the Easter Market and had a really good day. I only had 5 sales but those 5 sales added up to one of the best days I have ever had at markets. While it does seem like a lot of hard work for just $76 profit and I now have a number of items to add to the to-do list I think it was worth it. I will now also have to check my Madeit store to make sure that nothing I sold today is still listed there as it would be embarrassing to sell it twice.

There seems to be quite a bit of interest in selling through Facebook these days and I might look into it for myself. I may not actually sell on the Facebook page but instead use it to direct people to my Madeit store and try to get some extra sales that way. I could also use the Facebook page for custom orders as I'm not sure that Madeit is really set up for that sort of thing. I will definitely have to look into this as soon as I decide what I'm going to do about my study.

With this being Easter weekend there is quite a bit going on. We had our Good Friday service yesterday morning followed by the Stations of the Cross and tomorrow we need to get up very early for the dawn service. We're expecting a few people from other churches to be there to help celebrate the rising of our Lord.

That's been my week this week. I hope you all had a good one.

Richard.