Some actual Turkey Talk

My older daughter & I have participated in two crafts shows this year. Can I just tell you that we found out in a very literal way that it's all about LOCATION?!?! Oy vey... the first craft show was out in the middle of cow country. Waaaayyyy off the beaten path, and apparently there were 8 other craft shows going on in & around York that same day. We were in a small church within one of their classrooms. 

All day we sold 1 item. In the picture below (which also includes my beautiful older daughter) hanging on the front rack is a purple fleece blanket. Some grandma bought it for her granddaughter & it was the cutest transaction -- to see that little girl's smile lighting up that room! But I digress...  at the end of the day, after figuring in my space fee, accounting for the goodies we bought & ate there, and for the single sold item, we'd made $11 in profit for the day. 

On the upside, my parents were in the room with us selling their items, which made the day fun just being able to all hang out blabbing. We three girls had brought a variety of stitch work. Maegan cross stitched, I quilted & my Mom was crocheting. My Dad is more the social butterfly & spent time getting to know the other vendors.

Below is a picture of part of my parent's set up. They have such a variety they offer: wood scroll Jesus crosses, crocheted hats & scarves, paintings, prints, cards, etc. Check out their website Van Wicklen's Creations to see what they offer!

I forgot to take pictures at our second craft show. It was equally small, but at least we sold several things that day. Our profits were slightly more than our first show but still didn't amount to much. The stand behind us seemed to be creating the most traffic as they were selling all kinds of baked goods & canned items.

 Now for the actual Turkey Talk. Below is a wall hanging I resized to fit my mini quilt hanger which I'd originally seen on the blog Zlaty Sews. Zlaty had shown one on her blog & she hooked me up via her mom-in-law who owns a shop & was able to sell me one! It's soo cute, I bought two!! 

I love my little turkey quilt, but it's still needing a few adjustments. For one thing, I need to upgrade the poor turkey's eyes. I couldn't find tiny enough buttons at my local shop, and Thanksgiving was upon me, so I improvised for the time being & did a few french knots for each eyeball. The eyes are too beady-tiny, and I'll have to order some buttons to give him proper eyes. There was also some discussion over Thanksgiving turkey about whether I should've omitted his beak. Sigh.... the quilt is only 12"x12", so the beak was going to be really tiny, but I've been told he looks weird without it. Not sure how I'll do that one yet....

And last but not least, is the turkey coaster below. Isn't that soooo cute?!? My Mom made a set of them for me for Thanksgiving! Love them!!

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving filled with peaceful times & surrounded by loved ones.

(Is that pie in the sky?? Sometimes vacations can be stressful with irritating family members we'd rather not deal with, holiday shopping on Black Friday to include grown women having a slap fest over some boots, and then cleaning up after all the extra people??? LOL -- those aren't necessarily MY experiences this year but rather some "shout outs" to some of my peeps ;-P )

The Gifts, The Graphic, and The Gross

Have been itching to share what I've been working on this week! 

These were such a cinch to make & caused hardly any tears or cursing as I tried to make up my own pattern. They're mini bags or gift card bags. Aren't they cute??? They have small cardboard rectangles in their bottoms to lend sturdiness, and a bit of tissue paper to hide the goodies inside; but since I'm taking these to a craft show to sell, they're only stuffed with my business cards. 

I also made these...

... which are gift card holders for the holidays. These are to sell, too, which is why you can spy my business card within again.

Some of this was spurned by the need to find something else perhaps a little more economical to sell at the upcoming craft sale. I was feeling pretty much like a loser after spending the entire day at my stand last weekend only to sell ONE ITEM..... and that's all day.

The craft sale venue is a new one to me, and thus I was prepared for some sort of learning curve to occur. But when next to nothing sells, well..... then to me that says my items are either really bad or priced wrong, and then again, maybe it's just that we were off the beaten path & apparently there were 8 other craft shows in better locations then us????? 

No excuses, I found myself trying to brainstorm smaller (aka cheaper) items that may move faster with people in general having less to spend on ancillary items. I saw these bags & envelopes somewhere & thought I'd try my hand at making some.

In between all this furious stitching, I've had lots of company from Smokey the badly behaved boy. He likes to dig his big head into my sewing room garbage can. Knowing this, I don't put anything sharp in there (not that I can think of the last sharp thing I've stuck into a plastic garbage bag???) But he's disgusting about finding random tissues, food wrappers, and lately, even more gross, are the used Q-tips he digs out & chomps upon happily. 

Why the Q-tips in my sewing room?? I've never been so obsessed with my earholes in my entire life. Two summers ago I began symptoms which seemed to be swimmers ear. But then it seemed like more of an ear infection. Over the years of having kids I've been through the "we always medicate for ear infections" time period and the "we don't medicate for ear infections" time period. Not having health insurance for myself, I was loath to spend $80 to have a doc look in my ear, proclaim it an ear infection & send me home with instructions to "keep it as dry as possible". So I decided to self medicate. Man, maybe I shouldn't have started this... this is convoluted. Okay... long story short... it never went away, and the ears would be wet & oozy, then dry, then itchy enough to wake me at night, sore, and then they'd do it all over again. Finally this fall I got a specialist appointment. After several appointments, several new & improved medications & several hundred dollars, my ears are STILL doing all these lovely symptoms. 

All that to say I'm often preoccupied with wet, itchy ears & have thus begun carrying Q-tips as if they're akin to chapstick, tampax & my wallet --they go everywhere with me. Sometimes I forget it's not quite a socially acceptable behavior & I'll find myself digging in my ears with a Q-tip sitting at stop lights. I've even resorted to an occasional dig in there, mid-aisle, at the supermarket, like some kind of addict hiding her bad habit unable to wait to get her fix-- sometimes I swear it feels like I could itch them till I ended up hitting bone or brain or whatever one hits when one pierces their eardrum & keeps going. The itch is amazing & maddening!!

I think I went off on a tangent... started somewhere some time ago talking about how Smokey the big bad boy digs in my garbage. Most recently he'd found some extra fleece, dug it up, rolled around with it & then slept in it. And that was actually kinda cute (once I got past thinking how that fleece might have been very cozy with multiple used Q-tips and/or tissues....)

This is what I've been up to....

My oldest daughter & I are getting ready to participate in our first craft show. I with a variety of stitched items, such as aprons, purses, grocery sacks, and quilted wall-hangings & blankets, and she with her beautifully cross-stitched, framed pieces.


Truth be told, we're a little nervous about this venture & hope we're not wasting our time. Part of me thinks I'll hate people pawing through our things "judging" them, and part of me thinks hanging out together & chatting with the people coming through will be fun. Time will tell, and then I'll tell you!

These purses are what I've worked on this week... the Autumn purse below is mine & filled with all my junk, thus the shape of the bag is a little bulgy-looking. The Poinsettia purses are to sell. There are two different sizes & two different trims on the pockets. They're so cute. If there's one that doesn't sell, guess who's keeping it??

Yesterday was a soccer & sewing kinda day. Today I'm taking a Slow Sunday. I started my day with a brisk doggie walk by the river, did my devotions & talked with God, then made a yummy potato/egg glop for brunch for the girls, the hubby, and me, cleaned it all up, and now I'm gearing up to work on some small pillows. They're to be sold too. I'll post pics once they're done.

Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend!
Denise