A Finished Project - and a Lot of Stitching

What do you think I have been doing all this time, ever since my last post? That's correct - stitching! Stitching cross stitch projects and embroidery projects, stitching small projects and big projects... Sometimes, in between stitching, I would come up "for air" to talk to my friends and family, or answer emails, or check social media, and then - more stitching! 

Most projects in progress I can't really post pictures of - I am not sure it would be right. But, here is one finished project - design by Nancy Turner of Victorian Sampler Motto Shoppe - that I am pretty certain I can share. In addition, it describes me to the "t." To the tea? I like tea... Especially Lipton and English Breakfast... Some cookies or crumpets or turnovers would not be a bad idea either... Darn, now I am hungry! Where was I again?

Anyway, back from the abyss of my wandering thoughts... It's a finish!

"Needle and Thread"
by Nancy Turner

What can I say about working on this motto? I loved every minute of it. I loved the smell of linen - I keep wondering if it's handwoven or store bought... The more I worked on it, the more it felt like home made fabric. The font reminded me a bit about Harry Potter series, but maybe it's just me. 

Thank you for reading my (short-ish) rambling... and now - guess what? Back to stitching! 

Blankets and Biscornus

Happy Sunday to all! And not just a Sunday - a Hermit Stitching Sunday Weekend, as I found out from Chris't post. Makes me think of hot tea and sweet pastries... and stitching, of course!

As for stitching - I have been doing a lot of it lately, and even selling some, thanks to online auctions. Here's the new biscornu I stitched just the other day.

Starting a business (if what I am doing can even be called that) proves interesting, but very different from what they show in movies or even teach in business classes. When they talk of "business" in class, I imagine an office with computers, printers, and office workers. Business plans, advertisements, lawyers...

I think, though, this idea is based on the experience of an employee, someone who comes to work at already established place. Any new business starts with you knowing how to make something. Then, after making it for a while, you say, "I can make it really well! I wonder if I can do it for ____ (insert anything of value, essentially - not for free)". Then you try to find some people that might buy the thing you make- through social outlets, web sites, acquaintances, friends, family... anyone and anything that is available.

Advertisement campaign is just a fancy name for a person going from one place to another - be it physical or virtual - asking: "Want to buy what I made?" So, that's what I do now. Thanks to Internet, I don't actually have to go door to door, but just post my pictures online, and thanks to online auctions, occasionally I make a little money. Is that how other business people start? I think so, although I do not have any definite proof. Well, maybe I do - there's a story I heard on the radio about a man who had to borrow $25 a week from his secretary and who was always broke - until his idea became famous and popular. Once it did, he made his dreams come true and married that secretary, and they lived happily ever after. His name was Walt Disney.

One day my dreams will come true. In a way, they already are - I am making something real, something that will leave a memory of me. That brings comfort to my heart.

Speaking of comfort.... 

Nothing brings comfort like a crochet blanket.