Boutique is Over and I Have a Life Again!

Sorry about my long absence - it is the longest period I have ever gone without blogging, and I have so much to share.  But don’t worry, I will spread it out over the next several posts so I don’t put you to sleep, LOL!!

Somebody tell me WHY I am doing boutiques (she said as she banged her head against the wall).  Seriously, I do know why, and it’s complicated.

I feel the need to create, and have my creations validated.  Does that make sense?  When we’ve made as many (insert anything here: quilts, dolls, purses, aprons, etc) that we could ever use ourselves and also given them away to countless friends and family members, what are we supposed to do? Stop creating? No, of course not!  We continue to do our thing, perhaps trying to sell a few to maybe make some pocket change to go out and buy more Stuff.

Big Boho; lace is 1/3 of tablecloth border. 

Well, I did make some pocket change.  And that’s about it.  I forgot the three important things you need to consider when getting back into boutiques (like buying a house):  location, location, location.  In this case (in the Salt Lake Valley) location = clientele.  My purses and aprons and crazy quilting are eclectic, traditional with a touch of bohemian/vintage.

Boho Tote.  No CQ, but some great lace. And a rose and some cool bling.

This boutique was held in Mormon Mommy Suburbia.  A new area, middle class and up. Mommies are all stay-at-home, well coiffed and manicured, skinny, in heels, with 2-3 kids along PLUS pushing a stroller. That sums up 90% of the show attendees. Honest.  They were buying petti-rompers and hair things for their little girls.  And headbands and slinky clothes and gaudy jewelry.   I had never heard of a petti-romper until the boutique.  They are hideous, slinky one-piece things of tricot and cheap nylon lace that are probably assembled in China by people who make 3c per hour and work 6 days per week.   

Honestly, I am not bitter; I just am trying to be humorous about the whole thing and have chalked it all  up to a learning experience.  I need to get into a Salt Lake City proper boutique/market where the people are of varied backgrounds, more individual, eclectic - more of my market. Not young mothers, but mature women who do their own thing.  :-)

I only got a couple pictures of the boutique, and since I was a newcomer, my area was with other newbies in the back, unlit corner.  I did install lights in my booth by the second day, so it wasn’t all that bad.  But the pictures were all dark.

So, here is how I did my Crazy by Design sign.  My blog header, Etsy banner and business cards (in other words, the colors of my brand) are tan and brown with maroon and dark rose. I searched high and low for a polka dot fabric that would work, and this one, described as tan with brown, was the closest I could get.  It looks more yellow than tan.

I covered a piece of foam core with a thin batting (glued down with Fabri-Tac).  Then I covered that with my cotton fabric and stapled it on the reverse side.  (See below)

Next, I printed out my business name, making the C R A Z Y quite large (one letter per page) in my chosen font (HarbaraHand, which I found online and have used on Etsy and my cards).  Then I cut out the letters.  I chose a brown suedecloth for the letters, and fused some Misty Fuse (or the equivalent) to the back.  Then I traced the letters backwards on the fused back.  I cut them out, then fused them to the fabric.  I printed the “by Design” on a piece of muslin, then fused that on in an oval.   

The finishing was just hot-glueing on some cording around the oval and hand stitching on some of my own dyed lace around the outside.    

  

I plan to add a rolled silk rose or two somewhere on it for the future, but this was a rush job.  :-)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

So now I am back to work this week at the Farm (well, M,W, F mornings). My tasks this week are to clean up my studio (it looks like someone set off a bomb in it) and get it organized.  My friend Diane Matheson arrives from Canada on Friday evening for a visit.  We will hang around, shop, visit the Farm and the Humanitarian Center (fabric hunt!) and stitch and pack for the Retreat.  We will leave on Wednesday and stay until Monday of the following week.   But I will fill you in on that more later in the week and early next week.

In the meantime, it is PEACH season here in Utah, and we bought a case of them at the Farmers Market this weekend.  They were ripe enough to work with today, so the first thing I did was bake a pie.  And it looks as nice as it tastes, even if I do say so myself!   I also put up a few quarts of peaches.  Tomorrow evening (after DGD London goes home) I will do a couple batches of jam.  The rest will be for eating.  Peaches are my favorite fruit, so I can’t get enough of them!  :-)

When I heated up the oven for the pie, it started smoking once the temperature got hot.  Bruce had cooked Breakfast For Dinner the other night and had left some pancakes on a tray in the oven (where we hold them to stay warm after they are cooked).  He had forgotten them after dinner and they had been there for days.  They were hard as rocks, and now burned.

So when I took a picture of my pie, he insisted take a picture of one of his pancakes to share with you (equal opportunity).  Gee, aren’t you glad? LOL

Do not try this at home!

Take care and I’ll be back tomorrow.

Hugs,

More Boho Bags Done

There’s no getting around it: I am letting too many things distract me from sewing as much as I should be to complete my purses.  Silly things, unimportant things….. like sleep, Bruce (just kidding!), eating, my job, laundry and watching The Tudors on Showtime (Wow, the costumes/clothing and jewelry for that show are amazing!)  But I digress…

I have finished two more purses (actually I have a few inches of trim to finish sewing down on one, but I can do that in a few minutes).  They are definitely fancier, more Bohemian than the one I did last week.

The brown, gold and red fabric in this purse was the one I really wanted to get my hands on and work with.  I almost hope this purse doesn’t sell, because I love the warm, rich colors so much.    I used the same pattern as the last (black and tan) one.   

This time I crazy pieced the flap and used the focal fabric intact for the front body.  These pictures don’t do it justice; the colors are so rich and vibrant (and the fabric so luxurious) in person.  And that shiny gold patch on the flap only looks that way in the photo - in real life it recedes and behaves itself.

On this one I added some of my dyed lace from my Etsy shop in addition to some really wide lace that I found at a yard sale.  The lace was from an old tablecloth.  I used exactly one third of it (5 scallops) on this purse, and have enough to use on two more purses.

The front faux “buckle” is really part of an earring (meaning I have one more to use elsewhere) with a touch of gathered silk velvet inside.   Gerry sent me the delicious red trim that I put around the purse edge.  I also auditioned it on the flap, but it was toooo much red.

I had no problems with layering or thicknesses this time.  The lining fabric was a bit more substantial, and the back fabric didn’t need interfacing.

Next I wanted to do a pink and green one.  On this one, the fabric for the strap and the bullion fringe came from a thrift store valance I bought last week for $2.50.  I have enough fabric to do two more straps and enough fringe to do one more purse.  I should’ve bought all three valance pieces; I bet it won’t still be there when I go back tomorrow.

The embroidered roses came from a bit of a valance that Gerry shared with me when I visited with her last February.  That faux clasp is another…. you guessed it… earring.

I did lots more trims and layering this time, which is easy with invisible thread (even though it took me awhile to get the hang of managing it in my sewing machine).

This (below) is the back.  I bought the tapestry fabric years ago from a local interior design store. They had a sale once where they were selling remnants for $5/yard.  They’ve never repeated it.  And they have been “going out of business” for 18 months now.  I stop by periodically to see if they have any unwanted fabric sample books or any remnants to sell, but I am always turned away.   But I can wait … someday they really will be closing those doors….    muahahahaha…..

This purse is larger; a basic slouch style with no flap.  Instead, I thought this heavy embroidered piece would make an interesting “flap”.   Half is sewn to the back (see above) and the other half, weighted with the earring, folds over the front.   Lazy woman’s purse flap!  ;-)

One of the things I did this weekend was to go through all my home dec fabrics - particularly those that are to be focal fabrics for upcoming purses.  I sorted them and added supporting fabrics and trims so I could make sure to get the most mileage out of what I have.   I have them stacked, and now that I have three purses under my belt (so to speak) in two different sizes and styles, I think I am ready to assembly line them. The size and style of the purse will be dependent on the size of the fabric sample or piece I have for the focal part.  Or it may depend on my mood, hehehe.  Whatever.

I am really loving these two particular groupings, but sometimes they come together totally different than I expect.

I am trying to concentrate more on the darker, brighter colors for autumn. I will save the lighter colors for the, uh, “Spring Show” (wink).

In the meantime, I have also been making zipper flowers, which I will make into little brooches to pin on the aprons (or sell individually) at the boutique.    And later this week I will put it ALL down and work on a crazy quilt block for Cathy L - her English Garden block.  More about that next time.

Hugs,

African Block #6 & Ramblings

It was over 100 degrees here in the Salt Lake Valley.  Usually,  the heat doesn’t bother me because normally we are very dry here.   But under canopies at a boutique held at a farm (and near a rushing creek and active irrigation ditches that meander through the lawns), it was HUMID and miserable.

To top it off, half the valley was up in Salt Lake attending the FREE “Days of ’47” weekend events.  “Days of ’47” is another name for the events in Utah that take place over a week or so, culminating on July 24th (“Pioneer Day”), the day at the (Mormon) pioneers discovered Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Besides the Children’s Parade (today), there are festivals and rodeos and parades and even a re-enactment of the cross-country trek (albeit modified) with handcarts that the Mormons did.  Personally, I think anyone willing to dress up in full vintage garb (and ladies, we all know that means long sleeves and long dresses) in this heat while pulling a handcart.... well, they need their head examined.  Oh, and then there are the fireworks.  O.M.G.  This state treats July 24 with more enthusiasm and energy than the 4th of July.   IMHO, they have it all Bass Ackwards.    So...... thank you - if you’ve gotten this far - for letting me get this off my chest!  LOL.

Having said all that, I did OK at the boutique, even with little traffic.  I’m not retiring soon from the proceeds, but I had more sales than any of my neighboring booths (six sales).   And I learned a lot about local crafting venues, met a lot of great people, and am well on my way to refining what I offer and how I present it.  My booth looked killer good (not just my opinion, but told to me several times).  DH forgot the camera, but if I can ever figure out how to upload pix from my cell phone, I’ll share.

So here is Block 6 of the Images of Africa quilt.    The drum art picture was printed onto silk then basted to the frayed canvas before being appliqued onto the block.  Again, embellishments are more African “in feel” than actually African.  And another lady was fussy-cut from fabric and fused on.  If you haven’t noticed, I’ve used those images alot - I LOVE that fabric.

I’ve got pictures to share in the next couple days of some of the aprons and sachets I’ve made.  And CQ Art Nouveau block for a round robin.  After I unload and put away my boutique things tomorrow (DEFINITELY NOT TONIGHT),  I’ll snap some pictures.

Right now, I think I’ll go grab a glass of wine and do a Sudoku, then read.  INDOORS.

Hugs,