yacoba

\o/ we finally have some snow!

I know most people don't like snow and I'm sure if it was keeping me from getting somewhere I needed I'd dislike it too. But for now I'm just enjoying how it makes everything look and feel more Christmassy to me. Unfortunately since the snow stopped falling we've been getting some rain which is making everything look rather slushy but there might be enough snow for it to hold out against the rain.

I feel very out of focus today, I've been cross-stitching but I'm feeling like I'm not getting anything done. This feeling doesn't have anything to do with the patterns, its just the way my brain is choosing to process my day.

Here have some pictures my sister took with my camera this morning of our kitties enjoying her old comforter which she most certainly did not put in the dryer for 20 minutes to make it all nice and toasty warm for said kitties. Nope! Definitely not!



In this picture you can see Dodger is pretending to be a blanket for Romeo

I'm actually quite happy with this arrangement, it means for the vast majority of the day the kitties happily sleep. However this isn't so good for my sister as she takes both Romeo and Dodger into her room at night and Romeo can be very energetic at night ^_~

I'm really wishing I lived closer to a Micheal's or if not that, that I actually had a craft store with a decent supply of thread. The only one in my immediate area is in Cobourg and they charge .79 cents for their floss while I can get it at Micheal's for .49

I'm always really disappointed at how little selection of colors the one in Cobourg has, and its like that every time I go in there. The woman who owns the business keeps telling me that she's waiting on a shipment but for how long? I'm not all that pleased with how that business is run anyways. I have asked to be called with an order I put in comes, but I haven't heard back. I went in there to ask if they could order in patterns for me [I was hoping to avoid having to go all the way to Peterborough] the owner wasn't in so the girl took down my name and number and told me she'd have the owner call me. Never happened. The point is mute now as I have my Pattern Maker.

Merry Christmas

I've made some little progress on my new project. [I've had a hard time getting into it but since I have a deadline looming over my head I can't be all that lazy about it. Not that I ever was with my other projects]

As you can see this looks remarkably like a hippo in water or perhaps a car up on a lift. I'd bet money you'd never actually guess that it is in fact a wolf. [I'll let that sink in for a moment]


You see it now right?

No?

Clearly you lack imagination!

Since finishing Romeo for my mum I've been told by a lot of people that I should start selling my finished patterns. Legally I don't know if store bought pattern could be sold. I believe the woman who runs the cross-stitching store in Peterborough sells them, and for a pretty penny too. Personally I prefer to work on my own pictures which I don't have to worry about copy rights or what have you.

I know this isn't something I could do to live off of, not unless I was charging people $10 bucks an hour for the work. For Romeo that would have worked out to $1000+ as it took me 17 days and several of those days were close to if not over 16 hours. As it stand with all the patterns people would like for me to do [this doesn't include pictures I'm making as gifts] I've asked that they at least pay for the supplies which isn't a lot and it keeps me from going broke trying to do something I love.

Wendy suggested selling them [obviously depending on size and what not] for $200 like she said no matter what I charged I would be up. I really have no idea how this would work out for me. I know my sister's boss has already offered to let me sell my work in her clothing store. But I have no idea what sort of market there is in the area for buying this sort of thing. As I've always seen it people prefer to make these themselves rather than buy them completed [although I'll be the first to admit my view is incredibly limited]

I'm eager to see what sort of interest my work might catch at the local Christmas teas and bazaars next year. That might give me a better idea of whether or not this is something I could actually make some money on as a hobby. I figure so long as I have the spare time I might as well make the most of it.

And I'll put this out here, though I'm not expecting too much interest [but feel free to surprise me!]

Announcement

If you have a photo you'd like to have made into a cross-stitch [whether a pattern you'd like to make yourself or something you'd like me to do] Please feel free to contact me.

At minimum I'd ask you to pay for the supplies, this includes fabric [which you'd have your choice of] and thread. Depending on the fabric you want the price could vary a lot [linen costs more than the Aida. example: Romeo is on linen, Kiba on 18ct Aida] but I'd tentatively say the price would be in the $40 range. Though of course I'd certainly know better once I had the pattern made.

My program allows for a lot of various sizes and the number of colors I use. I won't have time to do anything before Christmas as I'm working on Kiba for Makenna and I'll soon be starting Whiskers for Shuffles [these are the two patterns with real deadlines] I'm pretty sure once I'm not worried about meeting a deadline I shouldn't have any problem at all working on a few patterns at once [but I guess I'll have to wait and see]

Merry Christmas!