Etsy and a boy on the way!

Ok, like many other things that I try to do and fail at, my other blog was a complete washout. I did ok for a little while, but when I couldn't get any followers I got discouraged, then I finally got one and it was some guy, so I got creeped out and quit writing it. lol
Anyway, it is almost fall so I am getting out the sewing supplies anyway. So I will come back here and write my quilty news. Hopefully more regularly and with more photos than of late.

My first bit of news is about my new venture. I have decided to open an Etsy shop. I am not jumping into it right away however, I will try to get a few products ready to sell first before signing up. I haven't made up my mind what to stock at first, I want to do some small projects, not just because they take less time to plan and create, but I also need to use some of the fabrics in my stash and I think it is easier to sell small quirky gift items than utilitarian quilts. I have known several bloggers who have Etsy shops and I really have been studying other people's shops this week as I consider what to do. My chosen proffession is Graphic Design and there are many things I can create other than hand-sewn items also. I will be considering those options too.
The reason I have never opened this type of shope before is that I am not a salesperson and I don't like trying to convince people to buy something. I have very little faith in my salesmanship abilities. But the plain truth about it is that I need to bring in some extra income. If we have ever needed every extra dime we can get it is now, so I figured I'd better try to do something. I will use the fabrics I have in my stash, which won't get me far, but as for buying supplies, I really won't be able to. This should be interesting!

In other news, we are 17 weeks along and I am over the nausea!!! Yay! Another reason I can finally think and plan things again. I was debilitated with morning sickness all this time! Also, we found out last week that we are expecting a boy! My son (3 1/2) is very excited about that. My daughter (15 months) has no idea what she is in for. lol I also found out that I am doing extremely well weight-wise... extreme nausea will do that for you I guess, I have been eating healthier than I ever have in my life. The baby is doing great and is measuring exactly right for this far along, despite the ultrasound a couple of months ago where he was a week behind.

Well, that is enough for now, I need to get back to my great stash organization that I started this week and which has scraps scattered all over my dining room.
Bye all!

Finally quilting again... almost.

Well, the nausea has been keeping me down alot. The funny thing is that laying in bed at night groaning about being sick would be a perfect time to do some hand sewing, but first I have to plan a project and cut the fabric. I have finally decided to do that. I am planning out my black and white challenge quilt. Our local guild issued this challenge at the Christmas party last year and it is due at the next Christmas party. I may not make it to any other meetings this year, but I will at least try to make it to that one, because I love the challenge. We were each given a paper bag with one fabric in it and have to use that color along with the black and white fabrics. I got a nice light teal color and even found more of it later.
I collected up my black and whites back at the beginning of the year and they are just sitting there waiting for me to make up my mind. First I had planned to do a Wonky Log Cabin block, then I changed to a Whirligiggle, and now I am finally landing on the tried and true method I have used many times before. It involves all triangles and squares and playing until I get a medallion design of my own that I like.

I like scanning in my fabrics and doing some layouts with my graphics program to get an idea of where to start. But usually I change things after I get the squares and triangles laid out in front of me. The big delimna then however is where to keep the laid out quilt until I can get the sections sewn together. I really need a design wall, but I don't have any felt to hang that would be large enough. Wherever I put this thing is liable to be hit by one of the two small tornadoes that live here. I may have to close off my husband's computer room and set up a table in there just for this.

I have often wanted to bind together a book of sorts that is pretty large and has hard backed felt pages that could have blocks laid out on them then I could just flip it to the next block and assemble and it wouldn't take up much room in the meantimes. Maybe that project will get done one day.

It really is a crime for me to do any quilting right now accept baby quilts, I have so many pregnant friends and even friends whose babies have arrived already. But my excuse is that I have to work with the fabric I have already bought, no more shopping for a while... and I only have so much baby fabric in the stash. I do have enough for two or three, but I can't decide who should get them! So I am avoiding that decision alltogether, and working on a non complicated project.

Hopefully there will be pics of something soon! Hope everyone is having a good summer. I am just wanting the heat wave to end!

Thanks for the Congrats!

Hey guys. Thank you for still reading this rarely posted blog! I thought I might let you know that I have another blog I am posting to almost daily now called Good,Better,Best.
it is brand new, but will be all about family and homemaking stuff. I will have lots of posts about the pregnancy and my other two little ones, plus recipes, the fun of trying to turn myself into an organized/scheduled home-maker. Hopefully it will be lots of fun. I don't have any readers yet, so ya'll are more than welcome!!!!

Don't worry though, anytime I have a quilt related photo or update, I will be right back on this blog!

Thanks!
Misty

Currently working on... a baby!

10 weeks along on baby #3!

Don't know about finishing all of those projects, but will definitely be working on at least one baby quilt this fall- wonder if I get to buy feminine or masculine fabrics?

I'm back!

Well, Last week I uncovered the sewing machine and got back to quilting! I know I said I wouldn't want to sew until fall again, but suprise, suprise. Three things set me going again. One being all the babies being born and a desire to send them something homemade and cozy, another being the fact that the festering Louisiana heat has actually let up a bit and it was gorgeously cool outside for several days. Today was nasty as usual, but don't worry- I am planning to keep up the good work for a little while longer. Maybe I can actually keep it up permanantly this time with a few breaks of course.

I have about 5 girl baby quilts to work on and I am going to try to make most of them from one large set of fabric that I just aquired. It is from the Objects of Affection line. I will post photos soon. Just wanted to go ahead and say that I did something! yay!

Hope you are all good too.
Misty

My Drawing Blog... where the other half lives.

Stopped back by to invite you all to see my sketches and babbling at:

www.drawmommy.blogspot.com

This is where I will be for a while. lol

The Other Side of Me!

Hi all. Maybe I should admit something that I should have remembered even before I started this blog back in December. I have a split personality!! And the even stranger part is that the one side of me comes out in the Spring/Summer and the other comes back in the Fall/Winter.
Yes, it is true. About September I get an uncontrolable urge to Quilt and it runs like a high fever non-stop until about a month or two after Christmas. Then, it is gone. Gone I tell you!!! All the fabric is collected, all the projects stand at the ready. The to-do list is complete, all of the sewing has been keeping the sewing machine busy and it sits at the ready. Then...nothing. The other funny thing is that I keep thinking this year will be different and I go on thinking that I will continue to be obsessed all year long, but it is March now and I haven't sewed in a month already! My poor sewing machine has dust on it already and there are two babies being born in a couple of weeks that still do not have baby blankets sewn for them! ahhh.

So what do I do with all that wasted Hobby energy? Well, for one thing, my house is clean and it keeps staying that way! yay! That alone is almost worth not doing any hobby at all. I am simply enjoying the fact that I feel like a functional housekeeper and that people could stop by my house and find it decently in order. I also like having clean dishes and clothes on a daily basis. This is nice. I could get used to this, and my husband could too. As I get more into the habit of keeping things clean instead of having to catch up after piling up... I turn to my summer/spring personality- the comic strip writer. That is what I am working on now, I hope to get back into the swing of things and do more work than I did last year. (last year I was in pregnancy mode and in that mode I only do crossword puzzles and lie around like a beached whale and cry about wetting myself when I sneeze)

I am debating doing a blog about that hobby and linking to it from here each time I post. Though I am not sure what I can share about it since I am hoping to have it published someday and don't want any of it getting out. It certainly would be nice to have some support and encouragement there though, and you girls are so good at that. Maybe I will do something like that. Anyone want to read about a fledgling cartoonist?

Regardless, I am still lurking on ya'lls blogs regularly. I will get to my quilting projects when the fall weather comes again at the end of the agonizingly long hot louisiana summer. Hopefully I will eek out a baby quilt or two before then. Good luck on all your projects all you wonderfully focused people! I will try to continue posting here about whatever I am doing. Laters!