Workin on Wednesday - carpool lane crochet

As we have moved to a new community, new school, new state, we are discovering a lot of things we miss about our old community.  I could begin to list them all but won't at this point.  The one major thing we are missing right now is our son's school.  There are so many reasons why we are missing his school (academics being part of it) but one major change for me is the afternoon pick up.  At his old school, parents were encouraged to park, come into the school, mingle with other parents, discuss difficulties and successes, talk about up coming community events, pick up fliers for community activities, meet and greet your child and their friends, and sometimes get a chance to talk briefly with the teacher.  At this school, parents are told (at least we were & it appears it's schoolwide) that they are to stay in their cars and drive through and pick up the kids - like a conveyor belt or drive-through restaurant.  Very different and quite isolating to a new family.  I also must arrive about 10-15 minutes early or I have to sit in my car out on a busy highway waiting for all the cars to pull forward so it can be my turn in the parking lot drive-up lane - yikes!  So as we've been adjusting to it, I've been fidgeting in the car waiting for my turn in line to pull up and summon my kid.  I didn't do that for more than one day.  Boring.  So now I bring along my crochet bag.  I didn't have a lot of yarn out of boxes since we are still in move-in mode but I did have a couple skeins so I went to work making something to brighten my day.  I expect as the school year goes on, I'll be sharing several "carpool lane crochet" items.  These are fun sunny doilies or washcloths.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet as my son does not want to use them in his shower. :)  Happy Wednesday!

Lights! Camera! Action!

I was trying to catch up on my blog reading as well as catch up with friends from the Seattle area recently.  I discovered a product I am so jealous about (not to mention how she has it stored).  I'll hold that thought and give you the backstory. 

I struggle with getting good photos - I think that is one of the hardest things about having an online store.  The lighting, the background, the camera, the size of the object, etc all factor in to making a great product look even better online.  Yes, I have Photoshop and know how to use it well.  I even have a husband who spends all day every day making things look good on the computer (he's an art director and artist for a game company) who is willing to assist me.  However, to coordinate all these items and get the product listed in a timely manner just doesn't happen.  Most retail professionals have full studios for photographing items - not realistic for me as we are living in a much smaller place now than we were a few months ago - there is barely room for me to sew, let alone have a photography studio.    Many people make their own by following the multitude of tutorials out there with directions.  Others hire photographers (or barter with them) to take the photos.  There are also great resources for taking photographs such as Marlo at small object photography.   Great for small items - I'm struggling with both small items and big items.   I'm envious because a friend found the coolest light studio that is also compact.  It's from BestLight Studio and folds up nicely.  You can read on her blog all about how Heidi at Haute Goat uses it and stores it.   For now, I'm using my plethora of boxes as my studio until I can afford to get this awesome light tent.  Snap!

Workin on Wednesday -pink millipede

So the New Year has renewed my desire for accomplishing something other than dealing with boxes and I'm ready to get back at it with Workin on Wednesday.  This week I am trying to trudge through my custom order list that piled on with the move.  Today I'm finishing up the custom order for a little girl who loves pink and purple and was caught between my millipede lap pad and my bunny lap pad.  They chose a pink millipede with pink and purple fidget legs.  It's 1 1/2 pounds for light weight for her lap or around her neck.   I will be working on better pictures this afternoon but here he is: 

Have you missed me?

Hi all, I have felt so out of the loop lately with the whole move and transitions happening in our life.  I finally have a few hours alone while the boys are off to see Tron so I decided to use the time to reconnect with my old life rather than continue tackling the mega-box-thon I've been dealing with since September.  We are here in our new apartment thousands of miles away from friends and family buried in boxes -

Son's bedroom when the mover's left

as you can see from the pictures.  It has been difficult assembling a 4 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom apartment but my first goal was getting my son's room together so he could occupy his time there while I tackled the rest of the apartment.   Unfortunately it's slow going.  My original plan was to have all the boxes in the area they were designated for (yes they were color coded with regions in the house - orange for master bedroom, blue for son's bedroom, pink for my studio, green for long term storage, etc) however on moving day we quickly discovered that all the boxes would not fit into the space so that plan was abandoned.  Blue and orange still made it up the2 flights of stairs to the bedrooms - for the most part but all the studio and kitchen items did not make it up the stairs to inhabit the living/dining/kitchen area as that was filled with furniture and boxes quickly.  So I have been slowly and gradually tackling each box in the area determining if we have room to have it in the house or if it needs to go to the garage or eventually to an off-site storage facility (that is if I can find a reasonable one out here - they are pricey compared to WA and CO).  With the holiday rapidly approaching I felt it most important to put up our Christmas decorations or I would completely feel void of the holiday spirit this year and that would not be good for the entire family.  Now that the tree is up I'm really itching to get started on the multiple orders I have pending.

This was early in the day after the first of 3 loads arrived.

Unfortunately the fabric, sewing supplies, etc are scattered all over.  Some boxes made it to the dining room but others are downstairs and I am not able to carry the heavy stuff upstairs - yes I'm having lots of pain in the back and neck with the change (so many stairs are not helping).  So my goal before Christmas is to find my sewing machine and begin the custom orders so I can get them mailed.  Naturally all that has to wait for Christmas shopping to be completed.  I hope family understands receiving gifts late this year - it's been that kind of year.  As for holiday letters and cards, I'm thinking those will go out in the New Year - I hope.  For now, I'm just glad to have a few hours of quiet solitude (and perhaps sewing machine searching) before the crazy boys return and life returns to chaos.  I wish for you all a wonderful holiday season with lots of quiet wonderfuls in the midst of chaotic life.

See you in the New Year! 

Exhausted!

So I have resigned myself to this move and now want it to be over with.  I am exhausted, tired, beat, whipped, overwhelmed, and over it.  This last week my husband and I got tons done - we got a storage POD parked in our front lawn to make it possible to see where we have and haven't packed, sold some of the furniture we don't have room for there, sold hubby's truck, we got all the library, art studio, and storage room packed up and even managed to throw our little guy an early birthday party with his friends (he'll turn 8 right after we arrive in our new apartment and new state).  We had several days of wonderful weather so we also got the roof cleaned off, gutters cleaned and some yard work done.  I guess the rest will be up to me so let's hope the weather holds.  I'm just ready to be done with this.  Another huge reason I'm ready to get settled again is that I have been getting tons of emails about custom work that I am having to postpone until I arrive in the South.  I just hope they will all wait a month or so.  I would love to crank out some custom work right now - the creativity would aid my mind but it's won't happen since my sewing machine and all my fabric is packed, sealed tight and awaiting transportation.  Won't be much longer - the end of this month and we're headed to warm land - (boo hiss & zzzzzzzs ).

Wordless Wednesday - Fall is wonderful!

Fall Harvest festival at Camp Corey - gorgeous!

pumpkin carving party

Trick or treating with son's best friends (aka Luke & Anakin)

Halloween quickly approaches

Wow, I can't believe we are nearing Halloween.  Just a short time after that we'll (I'll) be all packed up and moving to a new place, a new state, a new chaos.  As we approach Halloween I am saddened though.  Every year I pride myself on taking the costume desires of my son and creating them for him.  This year he opted for a store purchased costume rather than me making one. I'm sad.  While it is a cool costume (and befits him greatly) I am sad that I didn't have the time to create this for him.  Each year has been so special with him drawing out his design, discussions about how we can make it, shopping for the fabric, designing it and sewing it.  This year all that fun has slipped away.  Yes we had fun searching all the Halloween shops for something that fit his idea but it just wasn't the same.  As you can see from the pictures surrounding, each year has been a challenge.  This year not so.  Unfortunately my challenge right now is packing, planning an early birthday celebration (here with his friends as his birthday will be shortly after we move), finishing our remodel, and packing.  Not the creative bliss I was hoping for as Halloween approaches but there's always next year.  Happy Costume making!