Crafty Resolutions for 2011

Happy New Year!

We saw the new year in very quietly - I was actually sitting on the sofa knitting when the clock hit twelve... start as you mean to go on, eh?

This time last year I made a New Year's Resolution to "maintain a balance between my crafty life and my crafty business" and I've worked really hard to keep it, though to be honest I've not always succeeded!

I'm going to be trying to keeping up that balance this year, and I'm also making two more crafty resolutions... to spend less time on the computer, and also to finish a couple of large crafty projects that have been languishing under the spare bed for years.

Running an online shop, with customers in different timezones it can sometimes be really hard to switch off the computer, or to leave those emails until tomorrow. The internet (wonderful as it is) is also full of time wasting distractions when I'm feeling lazy, and far far too many amazing talented people making amazing fantastic things when I'm feeling full of self-doubt.

Basically, I just need to turn off the computer more, and make things instead!

I've got a big to do list of things I want to make this year, but I'm also determined to make stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with work, and have a crafty project to help me relax like I did when this was just a hobby...

And lo, when I was tidying the spare room, what did I find? A box containing two small bags of blanket squares and one pile of little fabric squares cut out for a quilt many years ago. Perfect!

Two blankets to knit and a quilt to sew will keep me busy for ages (not least because I don't own a sewing machine so I'll be sewing the quilt by hand!). I'll take some photos soon so you can see what I'm working on :)

Have you made any crafty resolutions for this year?

Aaachoo!

Yup, you've guessed it: I've got a cold. It's not even autumn yet (though the weather's behaving like early October) and I've got an autumnal sniffle. It's making me feel all "ugh" and I've been putting off working and opting for snuggling up and chilling out instead. I have done a bit of a Folksy shop update, adding a few more brooches and I've been catching up on a few of my favourite blogs (and spotting some lovely features of my work - shout outs and thankyous tomorrow!) ... and I've finally got back into the sewing groove after these days of accounts and filing, so I'll be back tomorrow with crafty pictures (yay!).

Seeing Spots (365/276)

Last night was mostly taken up by a staff meeting for my "proper job". I did manage to squeeze in a bit of sewing after dinner though, decorating another pincushion top: this time hot pink circles on grey:
I love the bright colour on the more muted background. Sometime soon I shall have a binge of sewing and stuffing pincushions - I certainly have lots of felt scraps to fill them up with!

365 / 218 - The Return of The Beards

Yesterday was one of those days when you end up doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that and never really settling on one task or another. One of the projects I started and then put down again was this lot:
Beard disguises! Hurrah! I got two brown ones finished, but realised I still hadn't bought any black thread (so no black beards yet) or any white elastic (so no ginger or blond beards either) ... and moved on to sewing some other things. However, I've been out today and purchased both black thread and white elastic so I shall have no more excuses and there should be finished beards ready for the shop tomorrow.

It's very exciting to have the beards (almost) back, they are just too much fun, and I do so love confusing the staff at my local haberdashers who cannot figure out why I keep coming in and buying yet more elastic!

365 / 209 - Bits and Pieces

Oops, almost forgot to blog today. Tsk tsk. I have been busy doing lots of things, which is almost a good excuse but really I just forgot!

Lots of sewing yesterday:
Finished a batch of battenburg brooches (two slightly wonky ones, being listed at a reduced price cos they turned out a bit "homebaked" looking!) and another stripey ribbon brooch... and then got started on a few more batches of things. Lots of designs in need of restocking at the moment, and my wip box is full of pieces I've cut out and not yet sewn together. So: made a start on sewing some acorns, some tree stumps and some cute little red umbrellas. Fingers crossed that I get them finished soon and they don't just end up back in my wip box!

In non-crafty news today I've been doing some housework (quite out of character) and tending to my Dawanda shop. I'm gradually filling up my shop, and making a start on properly translating my listings into German. You can list in English, French and German on Dawanda and at the moment my French & German listings are a bit of a cheat - simple English with a couple of translated phrases like "Felt brooch" - which will not do at all in the long term. The German listings are getting a makeover first, and then I'll turn my attention to the French (definitely my weaker language!). I'm rather excitedly planning a couple of "Dawanda vocab" sheets full of categoriesed words and phrases for use in my future listings, because I am a NERD and I like that sort of thing :)

365 / 194 & 195 - Buttons and Brooch Backs

With my camera batteries now charged, here are some photos...

On day 194, I finished some more butterfly brooches:
Taking photos of them today I took a shot of all the finished butterflies (so far), I think they look rather lovely all together:
I have been cutting out lots of pieces for restocking various designs, and working my way through a big batch of little poppy pins. This is a dreadful (and dreadfully dull) photo but it does help to explain why I need to order some more brooch backs this afternoon...
PS the winner of the sweets challenge has been announced: check out the results here. Next month's theme is "technology", no idea yet what I might make for that one!