Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Wow!  My last post was February!  I didn't realize how long it had been until Nina asked me if I had posted recently.  I took a look at my last post and a few of the pictures have disappeared.  Arghhh!!  Since February I have finished quite a few quilts.

Maddie's quilt pic disappeared from my last post so here is her quilt.

 I also finished Meghan's Quilt

Here is my quilt for the challenge at the Maple Syrup Festival.  (I took first!)

And here is Ben with his quilt.  He was emphatic that the quilt had to have combines on it.

About a month ago, a friend approached me with a business proposition.  She and her business partner purchased a building in downtown Alma.  It was a former office building and they are renting out rooms to businesses to set up boutiques.

  

I was a bit nervous about committing to a monthly rent, but so far things are working out very well. This is so opportune because Anna is getting married in January and wants to back off from the business.  I have taken over her end of the operations and Kelli has been brought in to help make mixes.  Melisa will join us if time permits when school is out for the summer.  It has been a challenge to keep on top of inventory, labeling, stocking, etc, but once the learning curve is over, things should run more smoothly.  Where we used to concentrate on fall and spring, I am now trying to figure out product for the year round.  We will be cutting back on our craft shows, concentrating on the two shows in Shepherd.  I will do a couple of smaller ones with Kelli and Nicola. 

I have been subbing at St. Vincent de Paul in Shepherd.  They have a fantastic keyboard guy, but he needs a break every now and then, plus he teaches during the school year so I have been covering funerals.  It is just enough to keep my hand in and I am loving it.  Most Sundays will find me juggling a twin on my knee.  Life couldn't be better.  

I have been listening to some podcasts on organizing and those have really helped me focus.  I have better structure to my work week and I have limited myself to quilting on Sundays only (for the time being).  I am currently working on a retirement quilt for the administrator at St. Vincent who will be retiring in June.  

I am doing some repair work on one of Nina's quilts and then I will be only working on a quilt for Anna and Michael.  It is a double wedding ring quilt and I am doing the Eleanor Burns applique version.  

Eleanor Burns Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Today was a frantic product making day.  I usually work at the store on Wednesdays, but today I had a funeral which means I work tomorrow which is my usual product making day.  We did a batch of Potato Soup and 2 batches of brownie mix.  Yesterday and today I made 4 batches of jar candles, 1 batch of tart melts, and still have room spray to do plus the labeling of the mixes we made today.  All of this is to re-stock the shop - which is a good thing.