Please Read! Don't Want to Lose You

I'm making a few updates and changes.  I'm always re-decorating my house and now that's what I'm doing with my blogs.  I've had two blogs for almost a year now and I'm finding it too difficult to keep up with both.  I'm still going to show what I do, but I'm going to put everything under my main blog:  http://newagegrandma.blogspot.com/.  I won't take this site down because I have a lot of pictures on it that I don't want to lose.  But since knitting, sewing and crafts are such a part of who I, Grandma Nina, am about, there is no need to separate.  I'll still have a link to this on my  "Grandma Nina"  blog if you're interested in looking back at some of my things.
Now with the pages widget on blogs, I will have a page of My Charming Creations. Just mostly  pictures.  I also still have my Etsy shop: http://charmingbynina.etsy.com/ .   I hope you can also visit me there.  I really need to consolidate my blogs, and so also my life.
Thank you to all that have followed me here.  For those that did not also follow my other blog, I hope you will move over there.  Thank you for all your support and comments.  I'm not going away, just moving.

The Stuff I Love To Do

I know it's been a while.  I got so behind in everything since the Holidays.  Then my son and family moved, so we helped with the move and one or two days a week I've been going to their new home to help clean and decorate.  I just bought some cream shear polyester to make two door sidelight panels.  They are extra long and we can't find 80" lengths ready made. 
I have managed to get a couple of new items made for my Etsy shop.  My inventory, that wasn't that large to start with, got much smaller since the Holidays as I sold quite a bit and gave away a lot for Christmas.  That's good, though, right?
I finished this chunky creamy white neckwarmer a couple of nights ago and finally got it up on Etsy about 1/2 an hour ago.  It's knit from 100% Sherpa wool.  It's really warm and comfortable, but for someone that's bothered by wool I would suggest wearing it over a turtleneck.  I wore it myself around the house for a while and hated to take it off.

Last week I finished another mini tea cup pincushion.  These little mini ones are just so darn cute.  I almost hate parting with them.

I maybe showed this half apron before, I can't remember.  I was going to save it for myself, but instead decided to give it to my sister-in-law.  She's been taking care of her mother (my mother-in-law) who's very ill with cancer and she also just got married and re-modeled her darling kitchen.  I thought this apron would go so well with her kitchen and thought she might appreciate it.  These are old fashioned hats on the fabric. 

I need to make more aprons.  I have several ideas in my head as soon as I get a little more time.

The knitting project I'm working on now is a lace patterned scarf with a pastel mini mochi yarn.  It's very light and airy and feminine.  I've learned not to work on this pattern while tired late at night.  I keep making mistakes and have to rip out stitches.  Two steps forward, one step back.  Takes a long time to finish at this rate.

I didn't make dinner tonight since we took the grandson's to Pizza Hut for a late lunch, so I have an extra hour to work in my studio tonight.  Such a luxury!

Art Shows are Fun!

This is such a busy time of year and I love it.  As long as people leave me alone so I can do what I need to do!
Last Sunday, two of my very talented friends and I had an art show at the new local coffee shop.  We had a steady flow of people show up and a very good response.  This was just a show, no selling.

l-r - Anju, Alma and me

Anju does beautiful mosaics.  She designs them from start to finish.

Alma is a very talented painter.  She has been painting for about 20 years.

I displayed my miniature quilts.  Most of them are framed, a few aren't.

This one on the right is a piano counted cross stitch and then borders added and quilted.

This upcoming Sunday some other local artists, including myself, are having an Open House where we'll be selling our creations.  I'll include my smaller framed quilts, pincushions, and knits.  My mother is also going to be including the dog tag pendants that she's working on.  I think we're going to have a very large turnout for this event.  I'm looking forward to it and a little nervous.  This is my first show for selling.  Will people buy?  Do I have enough to show?  And if I do sell, my Etsy shop will look empty!  O.K., let it go and whatever happens, happens.

I have just finished knitting two neck warmers and listed them on Etsy.  I can make these fairly quick so they're good items to sell.  They are really warm and fashionable, too.  Isn't my model cute?  She's very cooperative!

This one is made from 100% Sherpa Wool.

This one is brushed Baby Alpaca with a ruffle on the end.

I just started a pink one that I'm making very similar to this blue one with a ruffle. 

I would like to get a few more pincushions done by Sunday, too.

I'm also in the middle of putting up Christmas trees.  I put up about six of them in various sizes.  All with a different theme.  I'll be posting them on my other blog eventually.  I want to get them all done by this weekend because we're leaving the day after Thanksgiving for Spokane to visit my son, DIL and granddaughter.  Very excited!  Check my other blog for more details on this later, too.

I'll keep you posted on the Open House.

Teacups, quilts and headbands.

I am so loving my little teacup pincushions.  I love buying the antique tea cups and little shoes and little vases.  I love picking out the materials and colors to transform them.  I love putting all the pieces together.  Here's the one I finished last night.

I call it "Sand and Sea".  This turquoise color is so pretty and the cup itself is very delicate.

I also have another little quilt I need to get framed.  Maybe I'll get that done tonight.  I'd like to start on another quilt, too.  They are a little more time consuming, so I need to really be in the sewing/quilting mood.

I finally finished knitting my pastel rainbow headband last night.  What a pain this had become.  I thought I had it finished according to size a few nights ago.  I bound it off, sewed up the ends and it was too small.  Must be that my head is larger than I thought!  So I took it partially apart and made it longer.  I have to say that it turned out pretty good after all the frustration with it.

It goes with this scarf that I finished a while back.

I'm not putting these up for sale.  I'm keeping for myself.  I actually should give as a Christmas gift, but no - I'm keeping and wearing myself.  Way too much time involved to sell at a decent price.  And besides, I love the colors for me.

Now, I also have to mention my blog and Etsy friend, Cathy Strate of Tolentreasures http://tolentreasures.blogspot.com/ .  She had an Open House at her home on Saturday and since I realized we live fairly close and I was going to be down her way on Saturday, I looked her up and visited her at her open house.   She felt like an old friend, even though we met face to face for the first time.  We both have grandsons named Logan and granddaughters that were born on the same day.  She has a wonderful Etsy shop and is very creative and talented.  I think this world of blogging is so amazing.  You meet people that you have so much in common with and it is such a thrill if and when you get a chance to meet in person. 

So pay Cathy a visit.  She's  a very sweet, warm person with a great blog and shop.  I hope we get to see each other again soon.

My First Sale!!

Woo Hoo!!  Finally!  I'm so excited.  Last night I had the e-mail from Etsy saying I made a sale.  So now I have to get it wrapped, packaged and mailed.  I'll be doing that this morning.  Good customer service is just as important as the marketing and promoting. 
I sold the little yellow pincushion, Buttercup. (See it it my previous post)  It is darling.  I better get busy getting more things made.  I've had more e-mails from people possibly interested in Christmas presents.  And two of my very talented girl friends and I are having an art show next Sunday, in which I will be showcasing my mini quilts.  The following Saturday, another girlfriend is hosting a arts and crafts bazaar at her home and I'll be selling  all my things there.  I was given advice that I should put my Etsy shop on "vacation" mode that particular day so that I don't end up selling the same items to two different people at the same time.  That could get a little sticky. 
This is fun.  It's a lot of work, though.  At least now I feel it's a step in the direction of being worth it. 
My mother is now going to get on board.  She has been wanting to turn some of her creative ideas into the real tangible deal.  She saw this done by the daughter of a friend.  You take just plain, silver, dog tags and decorate in various ways, then cover with resin to make it shiny.  That's a very simplified description.  They turn out very unique and different.  Each of them One Of a Kind that invites many Oohs and Aahs and compliments. That's the goal, anyway.   I'm helping her with these to get started.  I also had the idea of making tiny little quilts to apply to the tag first as a base or background.  This is all still a work in progress and I'll show pictures once we get some finished pieces that we're happy with and ready to "take to market". 
Believe it or not, there is even research that we had to do on these tags.  We have found out that you don't want to go with nickel plated, but instead want to use silver plated.  Nickel can cause allergies and other problems with many people and is actually not allowed to be sold to or used in Europe.  Who knew?
I sure wish I had more time to spend on these fun hobbies of mine.  My family can be very time consuming and needy.  They are my priority, though, so I just wish I didn't have to sleep.  The middle of the night is the only time I have to myself. 

What Was I Thinking?

I was barely awake this morning, my eyes still closed, and I layed there thinking about my Etsy shop and how I needed to re-do my pictures.  I read a tip from someone on an Etsy forum yesterday that said she uses the same background and lighting for all her pictures so that her shop looks more uniform with a similar theme.  After looking at her shop, I could see what she meant.  That was my goal today, and that is what I've been doing all day.
My style is very feminine and lacy, so I needed to make this more of a theme.  I'm using a lace background now for all my pictures.  Now I need to re-take the pictures of all the items on there.  It's going to take a while.  Today I re-did my banner from this

to this

I re-did my avatar from this

to this

And I'm now using the lace background, for example:  this

to this

When I started this Etsy thing, I thought I would just take a picture of what I made, put it on the computer, and people would be flocking to my site to buy.  What made me think that?  Not happening!  The more I get into it, the more I learn and realize it is much more complicated than that.  The pictures have to be of excellent quality, so I now edit all my photos through Picnik, which is a great tool, by the way.  Very user friendly, fun, and it does an excellent job.  This is time consuming, though.  Then you have to have good descriptions, and tag the items with the right words so people can search it, and then promote and market yourself.  This really could be a full time job.  That's not considering the time making the stuff you make.  Why did I think this would be easy? 
But you know what?  I'm having fun.  I've made no money.  I'm spending an awful lot of time with it.  But it's fun.  Right now, though, it's still a hobby.  And I know I can't be spending eight hours a day on a hobby.  So little by little I'll just keep playing with it, and if I start to sell things I'll up the time investment.

A little bit of encouragement came my way today by way of a fellow Etsian and Blogger, Julie, at http://juliesbits.blogspot.com/.  She posted one of my pincushions on her blog as one of her favorites Etsy finds.

 I was very  touched and excited by this.  Thank you Julie.

Making Progress

I've put myself on a semi-time schedule and it has helped me stay a little more organized and not feel so overwhelmed.  I actually wrote down a weekly schedule so I have particular things I need to get done each day.  Such as:  Monday is laundry and ironing day.  Tuesday is the day I send out mailers for my husband's business, etc.  Then I have a daily schedule where I give myself so many hours on the computer, so many hours updating my Etsy site, so much blogging time, etc., and I don't allow myself on the computer after 8 pm.  From 8 pm until I get tired I work in my sewing room on my projects while I watch TV.  Of course, this can all vary slightly when grandkids are here, or the phone rings, or someone shows up at the door.  Anyway, it's still helped me a lot. 
I got Riley's pink sweater done Monday night.  It turned out pretty good.

 I haven't seen it on her yet, but I think it will fit now.  Riley and Dee got here Tuesday and it is so nice to see them and to hold that beautiful little granddaughter again.

I listed my first pincushion on Etsy today.  I finished another one that I made out of a little antique china shoe.  It's so cute.  I know it's hard to tell from a picture, but this is only about 2" x 4".

I did make it to the flea market on Saturday and found several tea cups for more pincushions.  I got this little shoe there, too. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to knit tonight or make a tea cup pincushion.  Maybe a little of both.  First I have to look up the TV Guide and then get myself settled in.  My favorite time of the day.  Watch TV, get a snack, and do my thing.

To Be a Business, Or Not To Be

Time, time, time! I wish I had more of it. I just have so many projects I'm working on and then so many more in my head. I overwhelm myself. I really need to get myself better organized. I started this Etsy shop, but I don't feel like I'm being serious enough about it. I haven't sold anything yet, and now it's becoming a "why, what's wrong" type of thing. You know, just the principle of it. I don't need to support a family or even myself, for that matter, but I need to feel like it's worth my time. I just read a good blog by http://studiomme.blogspot.com and she gave some very good organizing tips. I did just have these cards made up. I designed it and had a local printer friend print them for me. I was happy with how they turned out. So I'll just keep sewing and knitting because I love to do it, but I am going to also become a little more business minded about the whole thing.

I still need to fit in the grandson babysitting for two weeks starting this Sunday evening, helping My Bob with his business, cleaning, cooking, laundry, and decorating the house here and there (which is also another hobby I enjoy), and the travelling we enjoy doing when possible. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining one little bit. I have a great life and very much appreciate that I can do all these things that I love to do. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Trying to be a perfectionist in all that I do takes extra time, but it's the only way I know how to do things.

I just finished this little pumpkin pillow for Halloween. I posted it on Etsy yesterday. I don't personally do much decorating for Halloween and I don't do orange, but I know a lot of people do. I prefer to decorate more in a Fall/Harvest type theme in golds, greens, and burgundys. Anyway, this little pumpkin was fun to make. The pillow is about 9" square and the pumpkin itself is about 4" square with approx. 37 pieces of fabric in that 4" square. I trimmed in black lace.

Here is the back of the pillow. I have a velcro closure on it and stuffed with Poly Fil.

I have Fall/Autumn pillow ideas in my head right now so that is probably my next project.

I'm also working on a knitted black sweater for oldest son, Austin. This was a special request from him and I'm just thrilled that he would wear something made by his mother. He's 28 years old. I guess I shouldn't get too excited yet. It's not done and there's no guarantee he'll like it or wear it. Oh well, at least he made the request.

Fixing and Adjusting

I tried to get the business cards I designed printed at a local print shop and that didn't work either. I guess I'll have to pay an outside source to get these made correctly. I'm just giving up for now.

I'm also loving the Piknik picture editing site. Free at http://www.piknik.com/ It's so much easier to use than Paint.Net. My pictures on my Etsy site are getting better. Fun but, again, very time consuming.

I posted another item on Etsy today. This is a mini quilt pillow.

I need to be knitting or sewing during my evening TV time, though, instead of blogging. I was trying to schedule myself to blog during the day. There doesn't seem to be time during the day, either. I need to organize my time a little better, I guess. I have too many things I try to do, want to do, need to do, like to do, every day. I just don't understand people that complain of being bored. This never happens to me.

New Stuff

I put another mini framed quilt on Etsy today. I'm getting the hang of this Etsy thing, but it's taking a lot of my time. I know I'll get a better understanding of it as I go. Pictures are a major part of it. I just downloaded a free photo editing site called Piknik and have played around with it a little bit. It seems to be a little friendlier to use than Paint.Net, which I've been using.

I also tried to design and print my own business cards today and I got the design part done and they look really cute, but my printer (HP Inkjet) wouldn't feed the business card stock correctly and I wasted several sheets of that. I think tomorrow I'll go into Staples and see if they can print them for me. I get frustrated because this computer stuff is slow moving for me. And I know I'm not going to make a tremendous amount of money, but I'm really enjoying it. My Bob, though, is going to start to get impatient with me because I know I'm sort of ignoring other things. Don't you just wish that you could do your thing all day with no one bothering you? Not going to happen! That's why I stay up late at night. Bob not happy about that either.

I've also started knitting another Market Bag with a thicker wool yarn for fall/winter. I'm thinking of making it into a knit project carry bag. You know, to carry your yarn, needles, etc. I will put a fabric pouch inside for small items so they don't fall through the holes. But I'm running out of yarn so I hope my yarn shop has more of it.

The brighter colors showing is the bottom. We'll see what I end up with. Sometimes it's not always what I start out with in my head.

Etsy is Up and Running

Finally! I did it! I've been thinking about it and talking about it and making things for quite a while now. Then I procrastinated on actually doing it. Getting an Etsy site. For any of you that don't know what this is, it's a site to buy and sell anything handmade. There are some amazing things on this site for sale and some very talented people. I think that's why I hesitated so long. Everything on there looks so nice and professional, I hope mine measures up. So I decided to take the leap and we'll see what happens. It's been fun, even if I don't sell anything.
I've put up a link on the sidebar of both my blog sites if you would like to check it out. I hope to have more items on there this week. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I figure I just needed to jump in and learn and improve as I go. In addition to my mini quilts, I plan on putting up some knitted items and probably aprons. The aprons I question because some of the other sites showing aprons are selling them for so little that I don't know if it's worth it if I keep my prices the same as some of these other ones. I'll have to think on this.