Gearing up for the holidays already!

I know, it's only September, and already I'm talking about the holidays?  Well, this is when I switch gears, creatively.  Another Flagstaff Open Studios Tour is in the can (good  turnout, low sales but got some custom orders), so it is now time to start thinking about making gift items to put in the Arts Connection Gallery, because believe it or not, people are already starting to look for gifts to give during the holiday celebrations!  Some items I will be offering again this year are:

Covered Notepads

Covered Journals

 

Hand dyed Grocery Totes

Chiffon scarf using Permanent markers and alcohol

Drizzle dyed Habotai scarf

Silk/Rayon Devore Cutout Scarf, Bamboo Pattern

And of course, I will also have a good selection of tie-dye clothing and my coiled fabric bowls and vessels.  Fortunately, I have a pretty good supply of those items, so I can focus on adding to my gift inventory.  So that's what I will be doing over the next couple of months, and maybe I'll even get a minute or two to do some (dreaded!) housework!  Hope you are all having a good summer!

Off to a great start!

2015 already promises to be a fun year for me!  I have found a new niche product with my hand dyed grocery totes - already sold 36 this month to a friend, and didn't even have time to take pix of the newest ones.  I have an order in for Kona cotton, replenished my grosgrain ribbon for handles, and hope to have a new batch ready soon.  Meanwhile, here is a picture of some that I sold to my friend:

Next on my list of things to share with you is my upcoming studio remodel, slated to be done in late February.  My hubby currently has a workroom next to my studio, and we have decided to move him to the existing seldom-used "Guest" room across the hall so that I can have the wall knocked out between my studio and his old work room, giving me double the studio space!  I'm over the moon about this, as it will give me more room for storage and a central core where I can set up work tables and hopefully have some small classes for dyeing, batik, printing, etc. Here are some shots of my current studio, with most of my materials removed to the garage:

North and east walls

East and south walls

South and west walls

West and north walls

The north wall will be torn out, and the carpet in both rooms removed and replaced by laminate flooring.  And the closet will be retrofitted with sliding mirrored doors for easier access.  I did not take pix yet of the other room as it is filled to capacity right now.  I plan to get shots when the clutter is gone, promise!

On another front, I am getting ready to start offering some of my scarves and wall art at the Artists' Coalition of Flagstaff's new gallery location in Tam's Boutique, 117 N Beaver St. in Flagstaff.  We will have a grand opening of the gallery part at First Friday Art Walk in February, so I'm hoping all my friends in Flagstaff will come out!   Here is one of the pieces I plan to show next month, a fiber collage I created in 2013:

It is currently suspended from a different piece of Juniper, but I don't have a picture of it, so this will have to do.

Finally, my first show of the year will be in April which seems like a long time away, but I know the time will fly by so I must get back to work to replenish my inventory!   Happy New Year to you all!

Rainy day session

Today was another one of those 'putter' days... a little of this, a little of that. No pictures to show for it, but I got several little things completed or on their way. I re-dyed a tank that didn't come out right the first time... it's 'batching' until tomorrow; tie-dyed a 'do-rag' for a friend who is losing his hair due to chemo, even though he doesn't have cancer. Tomorrow I will dye a watch-cap for him as well; made a pillowcase as part of a community project for the Quilters' Guild (1 down, 2 to go); then I tackled a stack of unfinished grocery totes so I can have them ready for a craft show over Labor Day weekend. Oh, yes... I caught up with 4 months of paperwork for my biz! That was the biggie of the day. I used to be so anal about posting to the spreadsheet regularly, but this past year I have really slacked off.... time to get rid of that bad habit!
One nice thing about this kind of day is it allows my mind to meander. I am mentally working out some issues for a commissioned baby quilt that I NEED to get started on soon. I am also kicking around some ideas for designs to put on Grocery Totes to sell at our arboretum. Then there's the mental list I'm building of items I still want to complete for the upcoming Mountain Holiday Craft show in November. I also need to decide PDQ if I am going to sign up for 2 other smaller craft shows. One I have sold at for 5 years, and up until last year I did really well. Last year was a financial bust, so now I'm a little gun-shy. Especially after posting my revenue/expense for the year and realizing how much more money has gone out than come in! Yeesh! So I'll sleep on the 2 craft shows and decide tomorrow whether to go or not... now I think I'll take a break and enjoy the rain!

And yet another new project... sigh!

Well, I've done it again... veered off course to delve into something new (for me)... grocery tote bags! The pressure is on to reduce/eliminate our use of plastic bags, and I had one of those 'AHA' moments... opportunity to be a part of the solution by creating something I can sell! And so I am diving into my stash, scouring the fabric store remnant piles, taking donations from friends, to create as many 'low-cost' totes as I can find the time to make. Here is a sample of what I have done so far:

The fabric for this one isn't very exciting, but I loaded 9 pounds of groceries from my pantry into it! And I love the design... easy to make, rolls up conveniently for storage and transporting to the store. Now I just need to convince the baggers at the store that I want them to be used! I have a friend who is going to take a bunch with her to a 3-day craft fair over July 4th weekend, and we will see how they sell. I hope to become the premier bag lady of Flagstaff!