Friday Follow Ups

Friday Follow Up....

Going to try and post this in between the electricity flashing on and off.  Excuse any inconsistencies in type, format. 

You know how I said Wednesday I wasn't worried about the snow forecast because it won't stick and it probably won't even happen? 

Ha! 

Twelve hours now that it has been snowing (okay, it did take a tiny break mid afternoon) and we probably have had at least 12 inches of snow. 

These were taken this morning.

 This rail was swept off about 7pm. 

This was taken at 9pm.

And tonight!

Briefly it rained and flattened some of the snow down. 

But there is at least 10" of snow on that rail.

And it is supposed to snow tomorrow. And maybe on Saturday. If not snow, at least rain. 

So I have been working on my little quilt commission. Triangles that make squares that make strips that will make a quilt top. A good project for a snowy day.

Crappy pic, sorry. In a hurry, racing the failing electricity.

Slowly but surely it will become a quilt.

Need to redistribute some of that red......

Happy weekend. 

Prom pics next week! Hopefully not a bunch of kids all dressed up standing in the snow. 

•••••••••••••••

And....the above was written Thursday night. 

Here I am finally at Friday morning. It was a loooonnng night. 

The electricity kept going off and on, so much so that I just unplugged the computer and printer and everything else expensive. Not sure I have that much faith in those Wal Mart surge protectors. 

And poor Carlos. For such a big dog with such a scary deep bark, he has some major anxiety issues. We knew thunder was a problem but it seldom thunders here. Apparently the electricity clicking is also VERY frightening. 

Bunny and I made the executive decision to sedate him about 11pm last night. That might have been a couple of hours too late. He paced. He tried hiding. He scratched on the door to go out. (He normally never scratches on the doors here. Ever. ) I let him out about 2 am and he wandered, but finally came back after some calling. At 4am he was so desperate to get out I thought he might be having some intestinal distress. Nope. He just RAN! I thought I was going to have to get in the car and go looking for him. Except that the drive would need to be plowed before I could leave.
O yea, it was also PITCH BLACK out.
No electricity in the country on a cloud filled night=total darkness. A shake of the food bowl got him to return.

Finally this is where he settled down.

                           

                                    Carlos! Where are you??

                           

                   There you are! Hiding amongst the shampoos.

             Poor baby. Voluntarily in the bathtub.

The electricity is still iffy. The snow is still coming down. 

This is my world this morning. 

                            

The back deck.

                               

Out the side window

                                                              

And out the front door.

Looks like it snowed all night. And it is still snowing.

My neighbor usually plows but he was over yesterday complaining about his back. And there is so much snow, I don't think he could plow anyways. Looks like we are S.T.U.C.K.  For a bit at least. 

Did I mention this cabin is all-electric?  No electricity, no heat. Fortunately the electricity doesn't stay off for long. I'm trying to get the house extra warm, just in case.

(And I'm thinking anybody on the East coast reading this is thinking "Wah, wah, wah! This is nothing compared to our winter." Which is true. We've had some lovely weather while the rest of the country suffered.  Looks as if we are having our winter in one 36 hour dump!)

So.

Spring has not sprung.

Or maybe Spring has sprung a leak......

                         

(This was finished up on my iPad which is just awful for centering, etc....so excuse the crazy pic placement.)    

                                 

   

Thursday on a Friday, Again

Thursday on a Friday, Again
or
What I've Been Doing While I'm NOT Working on My Challenges.


I'm at an impasse.

The rest of the challenges either have time specific, place specific or budget unavailable constraints.
So I'm just sitting on them for a bit.

In the meantime, I am kind of back to No. 8: Make Baby Quilts Again.
(A side note: The babies that I made those original quilts for turn two this week. Wow!)

At work one day a regular was asking whether we carried any baby gifts. We don't.
But I mentioned I make baby blankets and sell them on Etsy. (Ok, they are listed on Etsy. Occasionally they sell. I've been more than lazy about promoting them.)

And he brightened up and said "Perfect! Make me one for my great niece."

So I did.

In pictures it didn't look like much, but in person it was very sweet. White flannel on one side, tiny pink floral print on the other and quilted with large, randomly placed, stylized flowers.   I loved what my buyer said. He wanted one side of the quilt plain white so as to show off the baby. He wanted the baby to be the focus, not the blanket. Isn't that a lovely idea?

 Some randomly drawn on flowers- waiting for the disappearing ink to disappear.

Sweet little blanket-waiting for a baby. 

And while I haven't heard whether the baby loved the blanket, my buyer did. So much so that he had another idea. 

He has some old flannel shirts. Loved and worn. Frayed collars. 

Could I make a quilt for the toddler brother of the newborn great niece, using his old shirts?

Why yes, I could.
And so I am.

It will be simple, squares. Probably four rows by six of  7" squares.   At least that's what it's looking like at this point.  The squares will be made of two triangles.

A couple of the triangles will still have pockets. A toddler should like that- a place to hide things. 

It's a nice little project to keep me busy.

And soon I will be back to my list.

No. 10: Start a Business That Makes Money

No.10: Start a Business... and Here It Is!

Voilá!

A business.

My friend Cherrilla and I have been plotting this for a bit.

She makes gorgeous contemporary crazy quilts that are for forever.
I make fun little baby/toddler blankets that are just perfect for everyday use.

Together we have started  Cherry Creek Co.

Everyday Blankets

We are starting slow and small but the basics are in place.
World domination is our end goal.

There is a website:  www.CherryCreekCompany.com
Please be impressed with the fact that I built this website all by myself.  The hardest part was coming up with a domain name and therefore coming up with a company name.  While we are doing our sales from Etsy to start out with, we felt it was important to have a website ready. You know, for when we take over the world.

Have you ever tried to get a domain name?   It seems every name is taken. I'm still not sure how we managed to get the one we did.  
And how did we come up with this name? Well, I'm sure you have heard "Necessity is the mother of invention".
Desperation must be the father.
Endless emails, phone calls, thesaurus consultations, dictionary consultations, map consultations, more emails, more phone calls and EVERY name we came up with already had the domain name taken.
And then we turned on Cherry Creek Drive.


There is even a Facebook page. Go "like" us and make my day.

Right now there are only the Everyday Blankets available.

The Contemporary Crazy Quilts will be online soon. They are worth the wait.

And to make the launch even more fab, my wonderful nieces are having blanket give-aways on their blogs on Friday.

Want to win a blanket?

Visit these two blogs on this Friday:
Meet the Joiners
The Blogivers
Then follow their instructions.

If you just want to be bold and buy a blanket for your favorite little one, go to our Etsy site.

www.Etsy.com/shop/CherryCreekCo

More blankets will be online by the end of the weekend and we do take requests. 

No. 10: Begun.

No. 10: Start a business that makes money

No. 10: Start a business that makes money- even if it's only $10.00

OK. I confess.   My expectations are small.

Sort of.

My friend Cherrilla and I have been plotting on this for  a bit.

Cherrilla, when she visited in October.

We were talking today and she said her goal was to have our product in a glossy magazine or associated with some celebrity.   I said my goal was world domination.
At least we are on the same page.

I have been doing some research and all I can say is I totally admire anyone and everyone that has ever started any business more complicated than a lemonade stand.

This has been on my bedside table the last week or so:

Excellent reading if you want to fall asleep promptly.

Pretty much I have determined that starting a small business online invites jail time if you don't follow about a gazillion rules.  It's pretty intimidating.

Forty years ago the two of us attended the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and majored in art. And crafts. And Mexican boys. We learned all important lessons like how to spin our own wool and weave tapestries and how to make pornographic pillows using turpentine transfers.  O! And we learned a little Spanish along the way.  So we have some history. 

Cherrilla 40 years ago.

Hasn't changed a bit, just like me.  

And we both love to sew and have a bit of a creative bent. 

Here's a sneak peak at my part of the new biz.

Lots of fun fabrics!

Cherrilla's part of the business will look much the same only more fabrics in smaller cuts. 

And at least Cherrilla has some experience with this small business stuff.

She's been making By the Sea Salt for the last 15 or so years and selling it.   It's great stuff, fabulous for mixing with a little parmesan and olive oil to make the BEST bread dip. You should try it. 

Yum.

Click here to order.

So stay tuned.  We are still fine tuning exactly how we are going to start. And we need a name for this venture.  

But No. 10 will happen, sooner or later. 

And if any of you readers have suggestions, ideas, warnings, whatever re: starting an online business, please feel free to share.  Thanks!