Going Quietly Crazy, Continued

I have 4 pairs of mitts almost finished, and 5 about a third done. I seamed up a bunch of cool ties today (more left to do), but I'm not really stressing about those. I've got a lot in stock, so if they don't get done too bad, so sad.

I still need to work on the blankets, and I'd like to do some embroidery, but I doubt I'll have time for it. This week's schedule was great for getting my sewing done, but next week I work 6 days straight, mostly day shifts. This means I have to try to sew a little before work, then go back to the machine at night. I truly hate sewing at night -- I'm tired, and there's never enough light. Trying to do embroidery at night is even worse. I always do my worst work then. :o(

Tomorrow I'm off, so I think I'll take a little time to do a complete inventory of my finished stock -- no use wasting time on something I've already got plenty of.

Then it's back to being a regular sew-and-sew.

Wandering in Postal Limbo

A week ago I sent off 141 cool ties for a local marching band, having managed to turn, press, fill, and sew them all in a week. (Yes, one week!!!!) Along the way, I had to buy more fabric and remake 3 ties after they got damaged while trimming threads. My dad got them in the mail right before the post office closed, unaware that he was consigning them to . . . . . .

POSTAL LIMBO!

I finished the last ties late Saturday morning as my mother was trying to sort them by color and cram them into a large flat rate box. (And I do mean cram. My last order of 100 barely fit the same size box. This time around we ended up using rubber bands to compress the darn things so they'd all fit! These ties only weigh about half an ounce apiece, but it's amazing how heavy they can be en masse. According to the postal receipt, the whole package weighed almost 9 pounds!)

Since I had to go to work, my dad took the package to the post office for me. Sometime after I'd gone to work, my mother looked at the receipt and realized that it said the wrong destination. Turns out my customer mistyped her zip code when she gave me her address! She realized it and sent an email with the correct one, but I was in such a swivet about getting them out that day that I didn't check my email that morning. :o( I never knew about her note until I got home from work after 10 p.m., and by then it was too late. They were in . . . . . .

POSTAL LIMBO!

I spent five days emailing my customer and using track & confirm in an effort to find out where my package was. (Thank God I paid extra for delivery confirmation.) Most of the time it seemed to be floating in the postal ether for all I could tell. I don't know whether it was the form Dad filed down at the main post office, or whether somebody just bothered to LOOK and noticed that the zip and town didn't match, but they finally showed up on Thursday. She told me she bagged them up and handed them out that night. :o)

Moral of the story:

1) Always spring for delivery confirmation so you have some idea where your package has been. And most important of all,

2) No matter how rushed you are, recheck the address before you make the label. Otherwise your package may be the one wandering around in . . . . .

POSTAL LIMBO!

I pressed 70 ties today,

28 yesterday, and 43 on Thursday, and I think I'm about to die. I'm tired and my ankle is swollen from sitting too long at the ironing board. :o(

But I have found an easier way to do the first pressing. I've been using a mini crafter's iron to open the seam, then using my big steam iron to set the seam. This time I tried using our travel iron -- it's got steam and weight but it's a lot lighter than the big iron, and I only have to make one pass across each tie. It worked like a dream. Yay! The only drawback is the small water reservoir -- I had to refill it quite a few times, but the decrease in time, weight, and effort is worth it.

Now I've got my feet up (sort of) and have started turning the ties. I should probably get them done tonight, so tomorrow I will probably start doing the second pressing. Yippee-skippie.

I'm in cool tie purgatory

It's not quite hell yet. That comes next week as I try to finish quickly.

In the last week and a half I've cut out and seamed 141 more cool ties. I've done the first pressing on about half of them and gotten most of those turned in the last two days (when I wasn't typing up a newsletter for my dad). Still to come -- pressing and turning the other half, then doing the final pressing. Then I can finally start sewing and filling the ties.

I can say right now, if I never see another bright yellow, lime green, or red tie after this order, it will be much too soon.

Bye-bye carshow, hello marching band

Yesterday I sent off the cool ties for the carshow. Each tie weighs hardly anything, but it's amazing how heavy 100 of them are.

Monday I started sewing the ties for the high school band. So far I've gotten 98 seamed and ready for the first pressing. I'm making 141 altogether -- 123 for the band, 8 for the directors, and 10 more just for extras when kids forget to bring their own.

If the thought of sewing yet another tie doesn't make me run screaming into the night when I finish these, I might sew up the leftover fabric and send them to the band boosters who are buying these for the kids. But then again, by that time I might want to amuse myself by destroying all the evidence. LOL

97, 98, 99, . . . . 100!!!!

I finished sewing the last ties yesterday before work. Yay!!!!

I still have to trim threads on this batch, and then I have to print and attach the labels. But I should be able to get them in the mail early next week.


Next up: 137 or so ties for a local highschool marching band.

75 ties done, only 25 left!!

Today I finished the third batch of ties for my big order. All that's left is to trim the threads and fold them before they go into the box.

That just leaves 25 left to do. I just might get them done by Friday. :o)

Here's what they look like.

Halfway there

Yay!!! I have 50 ties completely finished.

After I did the 50th tie, I went ahead and seamed the other 50 in one looooooooong session, and after lunch I pressed and turned the next 25 ties. So I'm actually about 2/3 of the way through.

Cool ties are getting hot!

Since I started working on this big order of cool ties, I've had three cool ties sales on Etsy, each for 4 ties! I also may have the opportunity to do 100+ ties for a local high school marching band -- band camp starts in late July and it's always really hot.

If things keep on like this, my inventory might get down to the point I actually have to make some more ties. LOL

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Addendum: It was 14 ties, not 12 -- one customer added 2 more to her order. Not sure if I can't count, or I'm just losing my memory! LOL

25 down, 75 left to go

Last night I finished the first batch of 25 ties -- 5 of each print. Now I'm sitting here surfing the web and trimming all the threads before I fold them up. Tomorrow I plan to seam the next batch. Hopefully I'll have the next 25 done by next Friday. Then I'll have half of them done!

Making progress . . .

i finished 10 ties this morning, and got another 10 ready for filling. By this evening I'll have 1/4 of the ties finished!

5 down, only 95 to go

Today I got the first five ties finished. That's either 1/20 of the whole, or 1/5 of the first batch. I think I prefer the latter description . . . . .

I have 10 more ready for filling tomorrow. I'd do them tonight, but my back is sore from bending over the computer and sewing machine all day.

Instead, I'm going to trim threads from the finished ties while I surf the web. :o)

100 cool ties in a month !!!!!

This past week I got an order for 100 cool ties!!!!!

When Larry and Carol of Custom Shirts by Carol decided they couldn't fill a request, they referred the customer to me after seeing my shop on Etsy. We emailed back and forth, and Friday the deal was struck. Thanks, Larry and Carol.

Today I pressed 14+ yards of car-themed fabric and cut out all 100 ties. (Actually, I cut 102, but the rotary cutter got a little distracted on two of them. LOL) Now all I have to do is sew, press, turn, press, sew, fill, sew, sew, and sew some more in order to have them delivered by August 15.

When I get a few made up, I'll post them here.

Here we go again

Tomorrow we set up shop at another carnival. This time it's at my brother's former parish in Kaufman, St. Ann. I think this is the 5th year we've done it. So we know the people, we know where things are (like the all-important little crafter's room), we know the traffic patterns (most people have to pass the crafts at some point). :o) The downside is that since Joseph has been moved, we can't spend the night Friday and get our booth up as early as previously. :o( We'll have to drive 40 miles tomorrow morning (and evening) before we start. However, things start later than last week (and we know where we're going!), so that's an advantage.

I embroidered two more aprons this week and sewed another walker bag, and filled 3 black baddana cool ties --- I sold the only one in stock last week. :o) Mama's finishing a couple of aprons, and that should be it for restock. I'm thinking about sewing bias tape on a couple blanket pieces I have ready this afternoon, but I haven't decided yet.

Here's hoping it's nice and warm so my cool ties sell as well as usual --- one year I sold 23 of them!

Wish me luck.

Microwaves and Easy Riders

I just finished my newest creation -- microwave oven mitts! They've only been in production for at least 2 years. LOL They're an adaptation of a set we saw in a catalog, but bigger. The catalog set won't hold more than 3 fingers (only good for mugs), but mine fit your whole hand so you can pick up larger dishes. The pockets are different sizes, since your thumb is shorter.

Today I finally got some pix of my Easy Rider cool tie set. They're a bunch of baaad bandana fabrics, mixed with stars and eagles, perfect for your favorite biker boy or motorcycle mama.

Take a look at both and tell me what you think.

Cool tie crazy!

This past week I decided to cut out and seam about 2 dozen cool ties from some new fabrics. Not satisfied with that, I hauled out the drawer of already seamed ties and started ironing. And ironing and ironing . . . . .

So far I have ironed and turned 62 ties! About half are ready for filling, and the others need one last pass of the iron (NOT my favorite crafting activity). And there are about 30 more left to begin ironing on. :o(

Fate works in mysterious ways. I woke up today to a sale of four (!) cool ties on Etsy.com, all different. I had three in my inventory, and just luckily the fourth fabric is in the 75% done pile --- just needs filling and sewing and then all four are on their way.

She ordered the brown, the green frogs, the ladybugs on yellow, and the purple/blue swirl.

And if I hadn't been bored to the point of ironing, I probably wouldn't have gotten the sale. :o)

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Hold the wire!!!!! While I was blogging here, I got ANOTHER order that included the ladybugs and swirls. Now I have to dig out the fabrics, because I don't have another ladybug in the pipeline (I've got a swirl in process). That makes 7 ties sold today.

YIPPIE for multiple sales!!!!

Update: I found out that I don't have a purple tie in the pipeline, but I do have some more fabric. Whew!!! Thought I was going to have to get her to make another choice or refund her money for one tie (and I've never done a refund).