Between 31.5 and 32 I want to...

Today I am 31 and 1/2 years old...six months from 32.
In the next 6 months before I turn 32, I want to:

Learn the words to the song "I'll Fly Away" by heart
Learn to knit
Get my seeds started in the greenhouse and in the ground on time
Plant even more sunflowers than last summer
Keep my home neat and organized
Read six books (or more!)
Find (or possibly start) a local book club
Continue to work out 5 out of 7 days each week.Continue to weigh myself on Monday mornings and watch that number go down!
Master a really good creme brulee recipe (now that I've gotton my "creme brulee toes" wet!)
Make bread from scratch (at least) twice a week
Sign up on time to be a vendor for one really busy farmer's market
Try one new recipe every other week (at least)
Continue to sell my handmade items in local shops
Make 2 new friends

By the way, this is my 200th post...wow! That went fast! I am thinking that after New Years I'll have a celebratory give-a-way...stay tuned for that! For now I'm still up to my eyeballs in preparations and gift-making for Christmas. We are heading down to California tomorrow morning in fact for a short but sweet visit to my family. I still have a few more things I am working on for that - yikes! Hope your week is treating you well so far!

New Items Made Last Week

This post will have to be photo-heavy and word light. I am spending this week catching up on house chores and getting ready to go away for a few days to Whistler BC with the husband and stepson. I may get a little sewing in this week, I have some ideas for new pillows that I'd like to try. I also need to fire off a few more onesies for a farmers market I'm doing this next Sunday.

The pictures in this post are some of the projects I worked on last week as I prepared for the fair...it was a very full week! I did accomplish more than I would have thought I could, a nice feeling, but it was exhausting! I have to point out though that I had a little help with the garden signs - the husband did the constructing then I did the painting, a nice joint effort!

The rest and relaxation I plan to have in Whistler will be a nice balance. I may have a few post scheduled before I go, and I definately look forward to sharing pictures of our trip when I return!

First Custom Order

I made this recently for a gal who I met at a farmers market. I plan on making a similar one to use as a sample in my booth...I think having a visual will be good.

I hit the fabric jackpot tonight!

I went up to Bellingham with the husband for a burger at Fiamma - their burgers are all natural, made with local ingredients, and yummy! But before we went there we stopped at my favorite place to buy fabric. I was soooo excited to find out that they are clearing out their home decor weight fabrics - the gorgeous stuff that normally goes for $17.50 a yard was being sold for $7 a yard!!! I had walked into the store with a $10 limit, but that changed quickly when I found out about the sale. They were going to close soon, so in about 7 minutes I picked out four of my favorites! It was a good night! There were other good things about tonight, we made a stop at Trader Joe's after dinner to pick up some groceries (a treat because there isn't a Trader Joe's super close by), and when we made a stop at the farm supply store for chicken feed we found that they were clearing out vegetable starts, 4 for $1, so I picked out 4 pepper plants that are different from those I've already planted. I have room in the raised beds since I picked some more cabbage today. It will be fun to have peppers to spice up our food.

Earlier today I spent several hours completing the washing, cutting and freezing/storing of our carrots - after everything was said and done, there were 12 pounds of edible carrots. Including the carrot greens and inedible pieces, it was much more. All of the excess ended up in the compost pile and the chickens have been picking away at it, they are growing bigger and bigger by the day. Posts about the chickens and the carrots are to come in the next few days...Here is a little peak at what I've been doing in my sewing room lately, getting ready for this weekend's farmers market....AND another fun bit of news is that I'm going to have a vendor booth at the Stanwood-Camano Fair at the end of this month. I've been feeling a lot of self-induced pressure to get ready for that, it lasts 3 days, so I will need to have lots of items made and ready to sell. The next few weeks will be busy but good. I may not get around to posting a lot, but I'll do my best to squeeze it in with everything.

Farmers Market on Independance Day

First of all, Happy 4th of July! I am resting at home after doing my 2nd farmers market today. This past week I found out that the town I live in, Stanwood, just started to do their own farmers market. While the one I participated in last week was okay, I really want to be a part of the market in my own town. It is brand new this year, today was the third week. There were about 10 vendors there, and the market is in a shopping center parking lot on a pretty busy road. The market is in Stanwood, but Camano Island residents drive through Stanwood to get on the island, so they are able to come to the market easily as well.

I had a good day, it was sunny and beautiful, I put up the sides on my tent to keep from getting too baked in the sun, last week I got a slight sunburn. I earned about twice what I earned last week, which is exciting! Another vendor that sells jewelry was saying that it seemed slow to her this week, so maybe next week will be even better. I acquired another table this week at Costco, so now I have the original two 4' tables and a new 6' table. I tried to keep a list of what I sold so I can have an idea of what is popular.

I did not have a ton of time this last week to sew, we were pretty busy with Amber and the kids. (I'll post more on that fun visit in the next day or two, we really had a blast!) But for the next two weeks I don't have much planned, so I'll be able to focus on getting stocked up on more things to sell. I've got more space to display now with the third table.

I also ordered business cards this past week. Several people last week had asked if I had one. This prompted me to set up an email specifically for business puposes: DeetlesBird@yahoo.com as well as finally opening up an Etsy store (though there is currently no products posted, I hope to change that this coming week): www.deetles.etsy.com For today I made up a quick card with my information, I was suprised at how many people took them, I printed up 3 sheets of 12 and probably had about half of them taken by the end of the day.

I have a mental list of things I want to make before my next market day...that mental list needs to make it onto paper in the next day so I have some specific goals for the week. Right now I'm just tired and need to take the night off. The husband came out to help me set up the tent this morning, then he had to leave for a post-hole digging job way out in the mountains, someone wanting to put in a horse pasture hired him. Lately he's been doing everything he can to keep things going financially for us. I can't imagine being with someone else right now, the stress we feel with the economy changing and my lack of a job is more than unusual. I feel lucky that it has brought us closer, I know that in many marriages that isn't always the case.

Farmer's Market First

I've been super busy lately...We're talking up until 1 or 2 am working at my sewing machine... I found out on Monday that I was going to sell from a farmer's market booth Saturday (today)...

Then I had an old friend in town until Wednesday...

But even with the time crunch I was still able to pull it off (with a ton of help from the husband of course!)

All in all, it was a slow day, I sold a fair amount of items. Mostly though, it was a good experience because I tried something that I've wanted to do for months. I feel like I took the first steps to starting my own business. I put up a booth filled with things that created, as vulnerable as that made me feel. I also learned that even on a slow day I can connect with people. Actually many people asked if I had a business card, so that's something that I'll be working on soon.

I am also thinking that it would be helpful to be at a venue that gets more traffic, even one where the focus is arts and crafts. It seemed like many people who came to the farmer's market already had in mind what they wanted to buy in the way of fruits and vegetables, they weren't really in a browsing/shopping mode.

Next weekend is the 4th of July, there will be a parade on the street adjacent to the farmer's market, so I will give that location another try, hopefully there'll be more people.

I will spend some time sewing up more items, but the really late nights shouldn't be necessary.

It has been a great, albeit exhausting, experience. I am looking forward to the next time and to growing my business over time.

Farmer's Market Projects

Here's a little taste of what I'm working on...hopefully to sell this summer at a local farmer's market.And here is what the husband so effortlessly created, without a pattern, in "about an hour". He says the next round will be easier. Now that my job has finished up (my last day is tomorrow, it's a half day), it will be easier to have a clear head to focus on being creative. It feels like I have been on a windy down hill road full of pot holes and I just hit a nice, flat, freshly paved, straightaway. Free!