Spinning Wheel

.

Hand stitched greeting card at Pine Tree Designs, $5.00.

I have a Google Alert set up for Pine Tree Designs. Today, this is what it produced, from a role-playing site.

Drew pushed the last box into his studio-style apartment; number 371. The wooden floors were strewn with various boxes labeled "Clothes", "Dishes", "Misc", etc. He looked around, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. Ready for a brand new outlook, Drew couldn't help but have a positive attitude about the whole experience. He would be an intern at Pine Tree Designs, doing what he loved most; drawing.

.

Wicked

.

I saw Wicked last night with my friend Pam. It was perfect in every way!

,

2 New Designs

.

These are two new designs for Sticky Notes. The top one is quite similar to another one I did except this outside edge is circular, rather than scalloped. And it fits my standard Sticky Notes size. The older one requires a slightly larger Sticky Notes cover (the notes are still 3" square) but it's good for bigger center pieces - like flipflops.

The bottom one is the prototype. I then fixed the pattern to be centered. I really like this one!

~ ~ ~

For those interested, I added a Feedblitz button and a Bloglines button to the sidebar. I'm really liking Feedblitz, I have several subscriptions to blogs over there.

I've been using Bloglines for years to track the many blogs I want to keep track of. There's no way I could read them all every day but I like to check from time to time. Heck, I don't even have time to check in everyday with the bloggers I consider friends.

But I have a question for anyone about Bloglines. I see they have a notifier, but I'm not clear how it works. I downloaded the notifier, but it seems to just be a way to tell me if there are any unread items in my list. I was hoping it was a notifier to tell me a specific blog has updated. (I'm not sure I really want that though - that would be a ton of emails, which I'd filter into one or more folders, to remain unread, so what's the point of that for me?) I have the "monitored by notifier" box checked on the blogs I track.

Anyway, as rss feeds have become so commonplace around the 'net, I thought I'd switch my Yahoo Groups notify list over to Feedblitz. It's automated so one less thing for me to do. I definitely have mixed feelings - I hate to lose the human touch. I don't often say a lot in my notify messages, but the words are mine. But overall, I feel Feedblitz is easier and might attract more readers, which in turn might attract more customers. There you have it, I'm just a crass business woman at heart.

.

Every 3 Years

.

Venus (back) and Verona in a very rare moment of togetherness. Steve happened up on this scene yesterday and quietly called me in to see it. Venus is 7 and Verona is 3 or so. Venus is snuggled inside her cat case. Besides taking her to the vet in that case, we take her out on the deck with us, so she has way more pleasant memories than unpleasant ones of it. They are on top of Reggi's crate as you can probably tell. That's where we feed them so Reggi doesn't snarf up their food. (We leave the crate door open all the time so Reggi does still sleep in there from time to time. Had she been in the crate at this moment, it would have been the first time ever to get them all 3 in one photograph.)

From the moment Verona arrived, Venus turned into a growling drama queen whenever Verona is around. Verona does tease Venus once in a great while but really, all she has to do is come within 100 feet of Venus to get her growling.

This nonsense has caused Verona to every so often mark her territory around the house. Yes, she's been spayed for years. We've tried all sorts of things to prevent and treat the problem. (She did have crystals in her urine once upon a time.) We're so glad we rarely have company because we feel like we live in a kennel sometimes. I can't believe I'm writing about this on the Internet, it's such a big embarrassment to us. Verona mostly urinates around me and my things, like she's marking me as all hers. She's definitely my cat and Venus is Steve's cat. We didn't plan that, just worked out. Even Steve said the other day, other than occasionally peeing on things, Verona is really a model cat - very loving and snuggly.

In filing the top picture I found this other one of them together, dated January 2005. I think that's when we first got Verona (from Steve's brother & sister-in-law). She was formerly a barn cat. Even if this photo wasn't dated, I can tell by Verona's size that she's quite a bit younger. She's now a hefty cat whose body spills over the edges of that platform of our giant "kitty condo". It was such a monumental event, seeing them in such close proximity, even 3 years ago I found it photo-worthy!

Thanks for indulging me. We love Reggi and our cats.

.

Deck the Deck with Color

.

Saturday afternoon I went to Country Way, my garden center of choice, just a mile or so from my house. I am continuing to downsize my gardening ventures, largely because I pretty much spend every waking moment on my beloved Pine Tree Designs. Life changes.

Last year and this spring, I have given up two good sized garden beds. Last year we removed the timber borders around the back bed and Steve mowed it down (mostly weeds at that point). It was our first year with our riding lawn mower and I was watching him out my studio window. He was too far away to see clearly, but I swear there was glee in his eyes, pedal to the metal, running roughshod over this area instead of trying to maneuver around it. Cracked me up.

This spring I had Simon and his cousin move about 75 rocks from around the perennial bed in the front yard, over to Gretchen's house. That bed was in place when we bought the house 8 years ago so the front yard is really going to look different without it. Gretchen is going to come over and rescue a few plants, then Steve can have at this one too.

This year I also removed the double shepherd's hook from outside my studio window. Last year I hung a lush fern on one side and a thistle sock feeder on the other side. I really loved the way it looked but they were both a little bit of a pain to water and fill. Again, Steve's happy about having one less thing to mow around.

I usually have this plastic saucer on top of an overturned plastic terra cotta looking pot, serving as a bird bath. I had that outside my studio window too. But I used the pot for a cutting I planted to take to work where I'm trying to fill the top of a bank of filing cabinets with plants. And sticking with my new plan of situating every gardening-related thing on the deck, here's the new birdbath variation. (I saw a couple of beauuutiful tall, hand thrown pottery birdbaths at The Wizard of Clay on Saturday. $225 for a birdbath is a skosh out of my budget however.)

I bought 2 hanging baskets this year - down from 3. I love these combination pots that Country Way sells. That's sweet potato vine in this pot with the purple flowers above - always a good grower.

I usually have this kettle (with the now warped bottom) on the lower deck but I moved it up to the bigger deck area. For the last several years I've planted a spike with 2 sweet potato vines - one green, one purple. This year I planted one green sweet potato vine, a pink geranium, some purple thing I can't recall and a spike, for height.

I think I need more plants in here. I love the colors of this coleus with the light green sweet potato vine. (Sensing a theme here??) I had some cosmos do spectacularly here last year so I think I'll buy some of those again.

This is a heavy planter we bought last year specifically to sit on this board that has warped and keeps sticking up just enough to be a nuisance. No amount of nailing (should try screws, now that I think about it) would hold it down so we gave this a shot. It bugs me a tiny bit because it's kind of in an odd place, but it bugs me less than that stupid misbehaving board. Anyway, it's a cute rabbit and these little yellow flowers make me happy.

This is from last year. You can see the bird bath there and how I tried to build this little area around that bunny so it didn't look like it was out in the middle for no reason. This year - I just don't care so much how it looks. You can see the hummingbird feeder up there too, another thing I'm not doing this year. Love the hummers but you have to change the liquid fairly often so I hung the thistle sock feeder there this year.

I've applied to some pretty big craft shows this year so I really want to make every effort to do my very best. Downsizing the garden heads me in that direction.

.

My Saturday

.

Saturday morning my extended family met for breakfast at The Log Cabin Restaurant, to celebrate Mom's recent retirement and a belated Mother's Day too, I guess. We're a bunch of multi-taskers, even our holidays.

Then Mom and Gretchen and I set off on one of our famous Road Trips. It's a tradition started a few years ago for Mom's birthday. I sort of thought we did it for Mother's Day too sometimes but they tell me no. It's always Mom's choice where we go. For yesterday's trip she picked Naples, NY - a lovely, quaint town about an hour away.

She specifically wanted to go to Artizanns, the store that sells my Sticky Notes. I have only been there once, last fall when I wanted to scope it out before approaching the owner. The owner, Suzanne Farley, happened to be in the store that day so I did get to meet her, but only briefly. In the small world department, it turns out she's married to the brother of a guy I went to high school with - and I recently learned she's a good friend of my good friend, Nancy. My friend Linda knows her too. Pretty safe to say that everybody in Naples knows each other.

When we arrived in Naples, Artizanns wasn't open yet so we strolled the village a bit. I was just thinking, Naples is a small town but still, what are the odds that I would run into my aforementioned good friend, Linda. That thought barely left my head when I heard her calling my name! She was on her way to the library so I introduced her to Mom and Gretchen and we chatted a bit.

We headed back to Artizanns and I (re)introduced myself to Suzanne. She was so nice to me and complimentary about my work, it just made my day. This store is so beautiful, such a gallery, I want to do so well there. I'm proud to have any of my work in that store. After we left, I almost went all Sally Fields, "She likes me! She really really likes me!"

I'm participating in Artizanns "Artists in Action, on the Front Porch" series this year. I'll be there 12:00-3:00 on Sunday, June 15. I'm pretty sure I'll be sending out a postcard mailing next week for this. I've been debating the mailing (because the store is an hour away from Rochester) but I think any opportunity to get my name in front of people is money well spent.

Mom and Gretchen and I then headed to an ice cream stand Suzanne recommended, as is also our tradition during these road trips. Then, not far from there, we stopped at The Wizard of Clay, an outstanding pottery store we've been going to for years. We don't go there often, but we have been going a long time. You just kind of want one of everything in there.

(Von, that's the place we went when you were up here.)

I spent some time working on the deck in the afternoon but I'll post those pictures tomorrow.

.

Catching Up

.

Sticky Notes, $4.50

Blogger has been unable to upload photos all week - at least for some of us. After a couple of days I checked other blogs, checked the Blogger Status page and looked for other posts in the Blogger Group section. Didn't see anything recent and pertinent so I posted my question with details. I signed up for email updates and almost immediately received 13 other "me too!" type emails. A Blogger employee did respond that they are working on it. One user had a work-around which I was going to use this morning but now it's working. Yay! I can't seem to bring myself to post an entry without a picture. I know, that's my silly self-imposed thing.

My point in telling you all of this is wondering why people think being abusive and immature in a quest for help is going to get them any further along. Do they think Blogger doesn't care if there product works properly?

~ ~ ~

In Monday's post, I showed the beautiful painted box made by Abrianna Adler. I emailed her that I had done this - thought she might get a kick out of it. I also suggested she look into setting up an Etsy shop if she hadn't already. First I got a nice reply from her mom, then I received a nice note from Abrianna. Not only did I make her day - it was on her 16th birthday. I had held that box for 1-1/2 weeks, kept meaning to post about it. I ended up doing it on her birthday! I love when the universe works like that.

It turns out her aunt has an Etsy shop so this weekend she's going to help Abrianna set up her own shop. I also offered to give Abrianna some craft show contacts if she's interested in participating in more shows. I haven't heard back yet but I suspect I will.

~ ~ ~

Remember when I posted the before and after pictures of Bruce Jenner? Then someone left a comment that his plastic surgery was due to a tragic house fire? Then I felt bad about poking fun so I researched it further and couldn't find any evidence of the fire story except in the sometimes unreliable Wikipedia.

Yesteday I received a comment from Summer that said:

I don't believe the fire rumor about bruce jenner, there are photos of him here. I also checked wikipedia and it appears that they changed his bio and it no longer contains the fire story.

That link even has a timeline of his face!

~ ~ ~

A couple of weeks ago I posted here and sent a couple of group emails to Internet friends and work friends about my sister Gretchen running the half marathon on behalf of Team Semper Fi, as a fundraiser. She completed the half marathon last Sunday - and hit 220% of her goal! So thanks to all my friends who donated. We both appreciate your generosity!

Her account of the run is in her blog.

In other good news, her son returned home from his second deployment to Iraq on Mother's Day. Best gift ever, huh?

.

Long Live Turquoise

.

This is the painted wood box I bought from Abrianna Adler at the Mercy High School craft show. I walked past her table, well almost walked by - it literally stopped me in my tracks, "Whoa!" I said. She had seen my work so we knew why I was attracted to hers! She's 15 years old and does pottery too. This is what her enclosure with the box said:

Life Box

I create these one-of-a-kind boxes to raise money to help refugee children. A portion of the proceeds goes to kids from war-torn countries. The volunteer program, Project Life, in Waterport, NY, raises money to bring the children to our country for a three month visit to help their health and to give them hope. It's opened my eyes and taught me about the need for peace and tolerance in the world.

Buying a Life Box helps these kids in need, and supports friendships around the world.

I love the extra touch of the silver charm inside - it is engraved with "Follow Your Heart". I didn't even notice until I got home that she also painted tiny silver dots inside - you can see them in the lid above. You know I loves me some teeny tiny.

I think Abrianna and her work are both pretty impressive.

.

Paint it Black

.

I bought this painted wood plate at the May 1 Casa Larga craft show. It's 8-1/2" in diameter. Isn't it gorgeous? I have it sitting in a plate stand on the mantle, next to another painted piece I bought at the Mercy High School craft sale. I'll show you that tomorrow.

~ ~ ~

Meanwhile I used my light box for the first time and took photos of new product to put in my Etsy shop. And I photographed every existing piece in the shop, except for the framed art. That's next but I have to take the glass out so it will be quite a project. I've been wanting to do this for so long. I hope it will help my sales. Based on the number of views I get, I would think my sales would be higher. I think these photos from different angles will give a better idea about the product than the flat scan does. I still need a little more practice. I think I need different paper on my light box. In some cases, because the lighting is so soft, I think the product looks blurry. Oh well, it's my first effort. Practice makes perfect.

~ ~ ~

We took Reggi for two long walks this weekend. Saturday we went to Ellison Park, where Steve and I both remarked it has been decades since either of us had been there. It's such a beautiful park, we'll surely return there regularly.

Sunday, we walked along the canal from Schoen Place, not towards Fairport, the other way. (I don't know what to call that direction.) They've done a very nice job of improving that area - wide sidewalks, landscaping. Reggi's back is so totally healed, we had forgotten about it. Her allergies are really acting up so she does a lot of what the vet calls "inverted sneezing". Sounds like she's coughing to death. We give her Benedryl twice a day during allergy season, which we're thick in the middle of here. I told Steve if I was "coughing" like she was, I'd be curled up in a ball in bed. Reggi just keeps coughing and keeps walking. Poor thing. But she's been a very happy dog this weekend, spending time with her peeps in the car and walking outside.

I got my studio cleaned up pretty good. I swear, this time, I'm going to keep it this way. :-)

.

Santa Fe

.

Sticky Notes - Santa Fe


.

True Colors

.

(istockphoto.com)

I don't own this particular spool of thread but I wish I did. Look at those colors!

~ ~ ~

My lower back always feels pretty tight after I finish a craft show. I try to go in the hot tub that night but sometimes I'm even too tired to do that. But I did, after last Saturday's show. It helped but not completely. So I scheduled a massage but couldn't get an appointment until yesterday. I got "yelled at" for waiting so long between massages. Mary has explained to me that muscles remember how to relax. Mine must have forgotten. She beat me up good. I'm going again next week to make sure this is all worked out of me. I'm not going back to going every week, but maybe I'll try to go on a more regular basis than as needed.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

I saw this in Money magazine. Oh my. I tried to tell myself that making a living is nothing to be ashamed of. Working your assets, building on your hard-built reputation, none of that is a bad thing. Rockers have sold their music to commercials on TV. Admittedly, that was a little weird for me at first, but I got used to it.

But this! This is a cheesy ad - it's ridiculous! I went on their website to try to grab the image, to save myself time scanning it - and found Davy Jones has done a series of print ads - and this is the best of the lot! In the other ones he's hugging a giant gorilla. (That is, a person in a gorilla suit, not a real gorilla.) I was as big a Monkees fan as anyone back in the day, but even I think it's a considerable stretch to call Davy Jones an "entertainer extraordinaire". (Mickey was my favorite, if I had to pick one.)

I'm sorry you had to see this but I thought if I shared the above photo, it would lessen the burning in my retinas somehow.

.

Little Golden Books That Never Made It

.
1. You Are Different and That's Bad
2. The Boy Who Died From Eating All His Vegetables
3. Dad's New Wife Robert
4. Fun four-letter Words to Know and Share
5. Hammers, Screwdrivers and Scissors: An I-Can-Do-It Book
6. The Kids' Guide to Hitchhiking
7. Kathy Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her
8. Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence
9. All Cats Go to Hell
10. The Little Sissy Who Snitched
11. Some Kittens Can Fly
12. That's it, I'm Putting You Up for Adoption
14. The Magic World Inside the Abandoned Refrigerator
15. Garfield Gets Feline Leukemia
16. The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy
17. Strangers Have the Best Candy
18. Whining, Kicking and Crying to Get Your Way
19. You Were an Accident
20. Things Rich Kids Have, But You Never Will
21. Pop! Goes The Hamster...And Other Great Microwave Games
22. The Man in the Moon Is Actually Satan
23. Your Nightmares Are Real
25. Eggs, Toilet Paper, and Your School
26. Why Can't Mr. Fork and Ms. Electrical Outlet Be Friends?
27. Places Where Mommy and Daddy Hide Neat Things
28. Daddy Drinks Because You Cry

.

Craft Show Review

.

The craft show at Mercy High School yesterday was okay. Since I haven't done it before I have no basis for comparison but safe to assume it most likely would have been down 30% from the previous year, which has been the average for the few shows I've done in 2008. As I said to Steve, my philosophy is to ride out the poor economy by becoming known as a successful vendor to as many (indoor) shows as I can. Then I'll really be in position to kick butt in subsequent years. Then I'll eventually tackle outdoor shows when I feel I'm ready.

All the vendors were in the gym and the spaces were quite generous. I believe all the $50 booths were along the perimeter of the gym while the $40 booths were in the middle. Just an assumption on my part. I like being against a wall so I'm really glad I made the $50 investment. The spaces weren't taped off so I was able to really spread out, taking care not to encroach on my neighbor.

I did get 2 custom orders and lots of good reaction and made some new vendor friends. But it was slow. The show ran until 4:00. One vendor left at 2:00. Several more left by 3:00. I told Steve I may be sitting in the gym by myself, but I'm staying until 4:00. The vast majority stayed until 4:00 - the professionals. I'm going to reread the contract to see if it says one must stay set up until 4:00. Most applications do state that, for obvious reasons. And I'm going to email the coordinator something about it, not sure what. I would hope their policy is to not invite those offending vendors back. It makes us all look bad - why can't they see that?? Because they are hobbyists. They aren't looking at the big picture, which is, should customers come to the show and find empty booths, it will leave the taste in their mouth, "This show sucks, I'll never come here again."

I'm glad I didn't go nuts finishing all the blue quilt cards I'd started - I only sold two. (Thanks Mom!) I gave one away as the free drawing (enticement to gather names for my mailing list). But the adorable flip flop pins that I worked so hard on Friday night and finished up Saturday morning? I sold one. People loved them. Just weren't buying today.

I bought some natural soap because I'm hooked on the stuff and my bar in the shower is close to being at sliver status. I was hoping my friend Sarah would be at today's show so I could buy from her but she was probably selling at the Lilac Festival this weekend. So I bought a bar from another vendor - and a lilac candle too. And I bought a gorgeous painted box from a 15 year old artist who was raising money to eradicate world hunger or something. I'll take a photo sometime and post it, along with a photo of the painted piece I bought at Casa Larga last weekend. I love supporting emerging artists. Now I need to find a place to display this stuff. Probably in my new gallery - since most of the pieces I like by other artists are in a similar vein to my designs, but in other mediums.

I did make one fatal mistake though. Steve and I drive 2 vehicles back from the show, of course, so normally I stop and pick up dinner somewhere. S-l-o-w-l-y. Then I drive home. S-l-o-w-l-y. Might have to circle the block a time or two but if I time it right, Steve has the Explorer unloaded and all the heavy lifting done. Not today. Since the show ended at 4:00, we both came home before deciding what to do for dinner. Sucks to be me.

Overall, I had slightly higher hopes for today's show, being the day before Mother's Day. But I have more money in my Pine Tree Designs account than I did yesterday. I would do the show again next year if the opportunity arose.

Happy Mother's Day!

.

Variation on Blue Quilt

.

These are so labor intensive, I only finished 5 for today's show. I have 15 almost done. I made 8 similarly themed Sticky Notes. And I still have to put the finishing touches on 40 flip flop pins which I don't have time to scan this morning. Lots more of those to come. And I'll be posting all this in my shop soon.

And I'm off to today's show. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, May 10, 10:00-4:00

3rd Annual Art Show & Craft Sale
Our Lady of Mercy High School
1437 Blossom Road
Rochester, NY 14610
,

More Danny Federici

.

I think I've posted this before but it's what I'm working on now, so there it is. It's a 3" square gift tag to enclose with a gift - or a small notecard if you don't have much to say. (It can be mailed inside another envelope.)

Inside a vellum envelope. I love these things - must buy more.

For my fellow Bruce fans, I highly recommend you read the eulogy Bruce gave at Danny Federici's funeral last month. It's outstanding. Also, two videos - the tribute to Danny and Danny's last performance with the band. Take hankies.

Saturday, May 10, 10:00-4:00

3rd Annual Art Show & Craft Sale
Our Lady of Mercy High School
1437 Blossom Road
Rochester, NY 14610

.

Team Semper Fi

.

Read my sister Gretchen's blog today. I'm so proud of her!

My nephew, Gretchen's son, is finishing up his second tour overseas. There's not a living soul that doesn't "support the troops". Here's a way to actively do just that.

~ ~ ~

Saturday, May 10, 10:00-4:00

3rd Annual Art Show & Craft Sale
Our Lady of Mercy High School
1437 Blossom Road
Rochester, NY 14610

.

Spinning

.

5" x 5" Card, $7.00

This is the only one of these I've assembled so far but I have pieces cut for 9 more. This is for an order I'm shipping today, along with 2 purple ones.

~ ~ ~

My head is spinning so fast I don't know where to start.

At last Thursday's craft show I learned of a craft show at Mercy High School on May 10. It was highly recommended by some very successful vendors that I respect. So I found a contact online Friday morning and emailed her, asking if there was any availability. She emailed me an application, which I have to return with my check by today. I was so busy this weekend I didn't get it mailed so I think I'll drop it off today on my lunch hour.

Last week I heard from a store owner in Corning, who had purchased one of my Sticky Notes at Artizanns in Naples. She asked if I wanted another wholesale account. So I'm shipping her first order today.

The very next day I heard from a store owner in Florida, asking for my wholesale pricing. She was asking for pricing on cards which I didn't have worked up yet because no one has ever asked for that. So I added cards to my wholesale price list and sent that off to her. I haven't heard back but I'll be following up with her today.

On Friday, my friend at work, Jen, asked me if I ever considered out-sourcing some of my work. I said, "Yes! Who - you?" She nodded. "I've been waiting for you to ask! I didn't want to ask you, for fear you'd feel obligated. I know you have a full life of your own, especially with 3 grandkids now." The funny thing was the work I'd brought with me to work on during my lunch hour that day, was exactly the kind of work she wanted to do - assembly. So I showed her what I needed done with that. I'm paying her hourly. (Mom? Want a raise?)

Here's what I think is funny about people helping me. Mom, who has done cross stitch and crochets up a storm, does some stitching for me. She's always preferred machine sewing so it surprised me a little that she loves doing this. My friends Pam and Jen, who both are quilters and have cross stitched I'm quite sure - don't want to do any of the hand stitching.

This further confirms that I needn't have much fear that people will copy my work. I was a little nervous putting my work on the Internet, here on my blog, especially on Flickr and Etsy. It's a common fear among artists. But I've learned from my customers at craft shows that most people definitely appreciate how much work goes into this. But they don't want to do it themselves. I always keep a sharp eye out for similar work but I've yet to see it. :::knocks on wood:::

In addition to this, I'm trying to get into work early today to finish up something I wanted to have done Friday. I'm taking this Friday off to tie up loose ends before Saturday's craft show.

Saturday, May 10, 10:00-4:00

3rd Annual Art Show & Craft Sale
Our Lady of Mercy High School
1437 Blossom Road
Rochester, NY 14610

.

Craft Show Wrap Up

.

I sold out of these Sticky Notes - and the same style greeting card, so I'm definitely on the right track with these. Plus another vendor is going to send me vendor information to participate in the Genesee Valley Quilt Show, which is exactly one of the directions I want to go. This club has been in existence since 1936. I looked into joining, back in my quilting days but I was pretty young then and wasn't sure I'd fit in. Anyway, this is for their June 2009 show, which would be perfect for me since I don't do any summer shows because I haven't ventured into outdoor shows yet. This vendor told me I could bring all my stuff, not just my paper quilts, so that would be cool. I know my other stuff appeals to quilters too, they tell me that all the time.

Another vendor is involved in the Junior League of Rochester, who is holding their first Holiday Market fundraiser, in October. I haven't dug out their brochure from my boxes yet but it looks high-end. The brochure is high quality and it's relatively expensive to participate so sounds like a winner to me. I'm going to send my application in this weekend.

A customer is going to put me in touch with a show at Oak Hill Country Club, so you know those people can spend some bucks!

I've been doing my best to Pay it Forward to a couple of vendor/friends who are just starting out - passing along information, etc. I feel right in the middle. Not a novice but not ready for the big outdoor shows. A highly successful vendor/friend told me yesterday, "You'll get there." I know it's all a process.

Sales? Eh. Off 29% from this same show 2 years ago. (She didn't hold it last year.) So far this year the 3 shows I've done have been down for me: 30%, 51%, 29%. I can't wait for the economy to turn around. Anyone have a date for me as to when that's going to happen?

I have more good news but I'll post that tomorrow. I slept in today (5:30 -woo-hoo!) so I still need to pack my lunch and stamp out some more quilt blocks to cut out at lunch today. I've already emailed my massage therapist to see if she has availability today. I'm not specifically sore, just overall achy. These shows at the winery are always on Thursdays and always run until 7:00. I start setting up around 7:00 am so it's one long-ass day. The good news is it makes other weekend shows that end at 4:00 or 5:00 seem like a breeze!

.