Superbowl Bound!

It's no secret that I love football. I have loved the Seahawks for as long as I can remember. I have pictures of my kids with blue and green paint smeared on their cheeks on a Sunday afternoon, settled in to watch the game.

These pictures are from a few years ago. We were excited to watch those guys play even when they were losing. We are beside ourselves with excitement now that we actually get to watch them play in the Superbowl!!!

I had some Seahawks fabric in my stash and a friend of mine asked me to make her a custom iPad sleeve with it. I did, and I really like how it turned out. I made another one and listed it in my newly opened Etsy Shop, along with a few other non-football related products.

I don't know who you're rooting for this Sunday, or if you're even watching the big game. The Broncos are a great team too, and I do really love Peyton Manning (although John Elway was always my favorite). I will be sad if the Hawks don't win, but I can't think of a better team I'd rather have them lose to. And I'm just happy we finally get the opportunity to have OUR team in the game! No matter what happens, I am proud of our guys. Regardless of how they are portrayed by the media, they are amazing and caring men who do so much for their community. GO HAWKS!!!

Craft Fair

Yesterday I participated in my first craft fair. I'm not sure what I expected, but I can tell you I was a little disappointed. I found out later that the fair was not promoted at all AND it was on the same day that a huge craft fair happens every year just a couple towns over. I sold two latte cozies, and 3 of my crocheted washcloths for a grand total of $19... I paid $20 for my table. I suppose craft fairs are pretty hit and miss. You never know if you'll sell or not. It seemed that most of the folks who did come were only there to browse. It probably didn't help that I was selling quilts, bags, and other more expensive items while being sandwiched between a lady selling $2 hair bows and another lady selling $6 fleece scarves.

I have also been rather discouraged by Etsy lately. Lizze and I have not had a sale in the shop for months. Yes, months. Since I'm still having to pay fees even though nothing is being sold, I decided to try opening a shop on Zibbet.com. They don't charge any fees if you stick with their basic seller program. I listed all the things I took to the craft fair including my newest creation, iPad sleeves. I have made a couple of these as custom orders already for devices other than iPads. They can be made for any tablet, laptop, or eReader out there. All I need to know are the measurements and your fabric choices.

Click the button below for a link to the new shop. I'd appreciate your feedback!

A Revelation

I got a very welcome, yet totally unexpected convo from Etsy last night. You may remember my quilts I dropped off at the fair last week. I don't know how you could forget since I've been blabbing about them non-stop... I'm so annoying. Anyway, a lady in Alabama found my quilts listed for sale (Lizze and I have many others on the website and she just happened to choose these two) and wanted to buy both of them. That's right, BOTH. The only quilts neither one of us has in our possession at the moment. They are at the fair until the end of the month. No interest whatsoever in the 6 months they've been listed and them BAM! As soon as I send them out they're flying off the shelves. What in the world? We should enter quilts into the fair more often apparently.

Thankfully, she is willing to wait for them to be returned to me and she is buying them for her husbands grandmother. How sweet is that? I am so excited. After having not sold a thing in months, this is a wonderful turn of events. I was getting ready to start boiling shoes for dinner.

I will be kind of sad to see them go if they win any ribbons, but I'll make sure to take lots of pictures of them hanging up in the Hobby Hall next week.

This whole experience has made me see that other people love and value handmade items. Lately I have been feeling a bit, well, unsure of how to price some of things I make. Yes, I spend a lot on quality fabric to make my quilts. And I spend a great deal of time cutting, piecing, quilting, and binding (by hand). My sister commented on a picture of one of my quilts recently asking how much it was. My palms started to sweat and I began having heart palpitations. I was ashamed to tell her how much I wanted for it. I feel like people don't understand what goes into making something like this. When all is said and done, after factoring in my time and costs, I'm making much less than minimum wage. But still, when a person can buy a "quilt" at a big box store for less than fifty dollars, they don't understand what is so special about mine. At least that's what I thought until last night.

There are people that get it. There are people that see the difference between a good quality handmade quilt, and one you might find perusing the clearance aisles at Target. There are people who understand the value in supporting the handmade culture, and supporting artists in the country in which they live. I will no longer be ashamed to tell someone the price of my quilts, or bags, or anything else. The people I want to buy my things are the ones who "get" it. The saying "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. I'm certain that my quilts will still be around for my great grandchildren to snuggle up in someday and that makes me smile.

Wandering Stars Etsy Shop

Starting Fresh

I've had this blog for a long time and I decided to start over. I have another blog that has been given my full attention for about a year now. My friend, Lizze and I opened a shop on Etsy last spring and we have been slowly building on that business using the other blog. If you care to visit, that blog can be found at http://wanderingstarsonetsy.wordpress.com

I want to have this blog for the purpose of showing things I have made, tutorials, and also showing a bit about my everyday family life as well. I'll talk about sewing, cooking, kids, and probably my dog too.

Here's the princess now. This is Bijou. Be prepared to hear much about this puppy as she is pretty darn special in this house.

Here are three of my heathens, er, I mean kids. We were on a camping trip up at Moses Lake here in the lovely state of Washington. My other daughter was not present in this photo because she was here:

Nothing like sleeping in when you're on vacation. And she is a bear if you wake her up before she's ready. Trust this.

No sewing news in this post. I just wanted to reintroduce myself. Next time I'll have some sew sweet goodness for you. I'm participating in a mug rug swap AND a doll quilt swap, so I'll have a lot to show off in the next couple of days.

Selina