Oh thank goodness

Thank goodness....I am done!  All those teddies are on parade to their new home. while I love making them, it is a definite challenge to like them after stuffing 10 bear butts to the right firmness.  These babies wont need pilates anytime soon. 

Actually, I really do like making the custom bears. I feel blessed to be able to help save a memory for someone. So far all of the custom bears I have done have been in memorium of passed on loved ones. While some might find it a bit disturbing. I feel humbled and blessed that I am trusted to help be a memory keeper. 

Prolific or Proficient?

As I sit here assembling the teddy bear brigade. I will have them all done by tomorrow (oh my god....YAY!) I was thinking about being prolific vs proficient. I'm wondering now how that plays out with a small business.

I consider myself very proficient with my sewing, thanks to my mum. She started teaching me the rudiments of hand sewing when I was but a wee tot. (as if I was ever wee) By the time jr. high home ec rolled around I was well versed with machines, patterns, basic tailoring. While my eager classmates were trying to follow the dotted line on a piece of paper with the machines, I was working on dresses, blouses, and slacks with.....oh dear...the dreaded zipper. Ok so that one I put in the proficient column.

Later in a college art class I got another perspective. I enjoy painting. My preferred medium is oils. I love the smell, the feel as I brush the canvas, and the textures I can achieve. I lean towards an impressionistic style.  Once again, I was gleefully going all out. I produced 6 paintings that quarter. Some I was gloriously proud of and are still hanging in my home, some I painted over. (oh well , waste not want not) The professor told me I was very prolific! hmmm is that a compliment? or just an observation of my working style. 

So I decided to look closer at my chosen arts. I am both. When I find something I love doing I tend to focus so much on it that I am very prolific. Producing masses of said art, but it leads to proficiency. The more I work the better I get at it, the more I learn and want to expand my feeble knowledge. I believe business wise that it's a good blend to have. If you are in the business of selling your art you have to create a quality product, and if your art does sell ( as I learned this last Christmas ( thankfully) you have to be able to produce in quantity as well.  So what kind of artist are you? proficient, prolific? Does this affect your art or your business.

LOL ok Im done being philosophical.    

I'm not missing....promise

Actually Im buried under an avalanche of body parts.  I am grateful I got a wonderful order for 10 'memory bears'. The garments arrived Friday afternoon, so I have been deconstucting clothing to use for fabric in between my son's basketball games. (it's tournament time). I have actually managed to make very good progress. (contorting to pat myself on the back....dont look it's not pretty)

Almost all the parts are stitched, I still have 3 heads to sew. (eww that sounds a bit a gruesome), but I had to quit for the evening. I'm half blind, and evening light is not sufficient to sew with. Which I find a bit depressing, really. Not the blind part, the fact that I'm on a roll and I had to stop. I have very good sewing skills, but I dont want to rip out any wrong seams from trying to go by feel if I dont have too. I'm already a vision of loveliness in the mornings, no sense in adding to my morning aura with a bunch of blue language, and facial tics from ripping out seams. 

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I'm it!!!!!!

I got tagged today.....what fun! I had serious playground flashbacks when I found out. Playing hopscotch, four square, remembering warnings from mum not to play on the monkey bars in a dress. :)

 I got tagged by the lovely and sweet hearted Rose! http://roses7184.blogspot.com/

Rules of tagging:
1, Link to the person who tagged you
2, Post these Rules in your Blog
3, Write 7 Random things about yourself
4, Tag random people at the end of your post and link to them
5, Let each Person know they've been tagged

Some random things about me: (oh dear)

1. I like to sing all out when no one is home. I sing like a blue jay, but I'm going for it anyway.

2. Chocolate and potato chips are my big weaknesses, thankfully with everyone else in the house, they generally get to it first so I cant over indulge.

3. I can cuss like a sailor. Are librarians allowed to cuss? 

4. I have  tattoos, and want another one.

5. I drive the ugliest car in town, and am proud of it. In fact I think 'Humphry the Land Whale' needs dandelion decals. It's not hard to have the ugliest car in a very small town (pop. 600)

6. I make sure to greet all my friends, and the other women in town with a hi beautiful, or hey gorgeous, or Miss So and So dont you look lovely today....I think we all need  to hear that. I've noticed most wives and mothers dont get a lot of that at home.

7. I revel in weird simple pleasures...the first pee in the morning, the way kids smell when they've been playing in the sun, or going up on the upperdeck(large backyard) and taking a nap in the tall grass. Is that too weird?

Who's it next?

Imagine Art 7    

beedangledcreations  

green eyed gems

Driveby posting

Just a quick post for morning motivation. I got some wonderful new gemstone chips in the mail yesterday. (oh yay!) As I was putting them away I was already planning out projects, but alas I have discovered I am woefully low on wire! What's a girl to do?! Go shopping of course. Thankfully Rings n Things is just a 40 min drive.....I might even find some new pretty stones while I'm there. Whee!!!!!!!!

Mixed blessings

I'm just a titch off today, bordering on 'oh woe is me!' with all the appropriate swooning, smelling salts and vapors. I'm feeling a little weary. I love that word, weary. It's a woman's word. It's the weight a mother bears without sleep. It's the small jagged edges we stitch up. It's the woe behind the smile. I think weary applies. So for any other weary women today

It will be ok. You are pretty, especially around the eyes when you truly smile. You are oh so smart! Your heart is large enough for the world. You have a beautiful soul!

Blessings! 

Theresa