Shop Update!

In defiance of the snow and cold, I'm thinking warmer weather and hoping you are too! I've listed a couple of cutlery rolls in my shop, and I'm looking forward to sending them out with dreams of picnics with lots of yummy food and sunny days....


And for fighting off the cold now or for the chilly spring days coming up, Safiya gamely modeled some of the new legwarmers/leggings for me, trying to sneak her favourites away in between :-)

Enjoy!

The Shop Is On Vacation

I'm closing up my etsy drawers until April. There are a few craft shows coming up on the radar, which I'll announce on the sidebar here. If you're in Toronto, come on by and say hi!

peace

marnie

Taking Her Seriously

(The Spring Thing craft fair - a couple of vendors brought their kids, and you can see Shannon Gerard's cacti there - this is relevant, i promise ;-)

A lot has changed in a year. Whereas last year felt like I was juggling all the time, and trying to "integrate" having a child with my creative life and head-space (which sometimes felt like dodecahedron pegs in round holes), now, with Safiya all grown up at 3 and 3/4 years old, it seems a bit easier. Of course, there are other struggles, but now things just are, and there's not so much trying anymore. Maybe we're just both getting the hang of things. Or, I'm just more tired :-)

For instance, the last craft fair. Whereas preparing for a craft fair before could feel, well, a little bit traumatic (in a fun way, you know) now, while I'm preparing, sometimes Safiya also makes things for the craft fair. "Mama, I need a needle", "and some felt", "and thread". And off she goes, to shortly return with, "This is for the craft fair, Mama". I've never suggested this to her, it's something she does. There are now various soft sculptures and fabric pictures all over the house, and it didn't click until that last craft fair. I had just been saying and thinking "isn't that cute - oh, aren't they lovely, dear". Good grief, how patronising.


Like all kids, she likes to be involved (wants, needs, deserves? substitute your own verb, if you want). During the actual fair, she was making some of her sculptures, when I finally asked her if she wanted to put some of them up for sale. You should have seen her face! She was so excited! We discussed how much she thought people should pay for them, I made a sign, and stepped back (all right - not entirely - I asked my friend Becky to be her first customer because I know how impatient kids are and the sign was kind of small, and she looked so forlorn with no customers ;-) Actually, I didn't even need to step back - Safiya pushed me away! Very seriously, she took command, "Mama, you're in - my - space! I'm selling my sculptures!" (giving me a nudge each time). Awesome - anybody who thinks attachment parenting is going to create anything but independent minded kids hasn't met Safiya.


The sweet topping was her understanding that one way to obtain the cool crocheted cactus that she wanted to buy at the fair was to sell some of her sculptures and save the pennies. This is cool. I admit I'm clueless in the matter of kids and commerce (my own upbringing and experience having been dismally misguided in this area) so Mr. S. and I are just hashing it out as we go, but this is a good start, I think.

Wendy Priesnitz wrote a great article entitled "Children are People Too", which articulates very well something I hold as essential to being a person (just scroll down a bit on the page, it's her post from May 2). Not a parent, not a mother; a person. I guess the short version would be "we belong together" - and by that I mean people, not just parents and kids - in all areas, in commerce, in restaurants, in everyday life. Not just around the dinner table at the end of the day. We would do better to benefit from everyone in our society, children included, eh?

And as a p.s., for fun check out Toronto Life's article "Baby Wars" That's not sensationalist titling at all. Mr. S. and I just laughed at it and kept going about our business.....

Evidence and a Little Excitement

Just to show you that I did actually do what I said I was going to....although not from the couch that day. I started to try hand-sewing the patches, which promptly reaffirmed that it's just not my thing. Somehow embroidering yes, hand-sewing....not so much. Now I'm looking at that first pair and wondering about the wisdom of such a light colour on the knees, but seriously, those birds are super-cute, (and I'm not doing them over again), so the birds must stay! In other pants love, I saw a tutorial for easy kids' pants, which I'll try to squeeze inbetween other things coming up.

And speaking of, I've been working all day preparing my little on-line "table" for.....POPPYTALK! (Sorry, didn't mean to get soooo excited....but, actually, I am :-) I'm tickled pink to be hosted by them on their market starting tomorrow (there's a link on my sidebar too), and am looking forward to seeing how things go.
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Update: here's my table!
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There was other fun stuff going on today in the sun:


Be still my heart - she came in all excited afterwards: "Mama, I was going super-fast!" It aches a little, that going super-fast, that growing up super-fast....

Up the Walls

It's gorgeous, if cold, outside today; a sunny blessing in the middle of a rainy stretch of weather. So I've spent it taking "inventory" photos and updating the shop. Safiya has gamely been relegated to television company, which (my pride forces me to note) we haven't indulged in for many months. However, business takes time, takes it and sucks it up, spitting out keystrokes and hurrying footsteps up and down stairs before the light shifts. I am glad to have most of my things listed, all neat and orderly and accounted for.

And a very important thing that I've learned after one or two past time investment mornings like this: the rest of the day is my darling's. My eyes and hers, holding hands, running down sidewalks and kicking leaves. To make up for my distraction and a long morning in t.v. land.

Struggling with Commerce, Part the First

"Isn't there an easier way to do that?"

So said the concerned Mr. S. one night as I toiled away at the embroidery on one of the blankets. I'm beginning to rather like the rhythm of the embroidery, and it's all freehand, so it doesn't feel restrictive or repetitive. But back to the question, "is there an easier way?"

Well, yes. Invest in a machine to do it for me. Of course, the effect is not same. And nevermind cost, I'm wondering if by the time I'd get the darn thing set up and programmed if it really would save me time. Well, maybe...the embroidery on each of the blankets takes about 4 hours. I think I'm just really slow, but I don't really know anyone else who embroiders, so I don't have any yardstick - is there an embroidery olympics?

Regardless, the effect is not the same. A friend suggested maybe silkscreening the words......meh. Silkscreening can be lovely, however, I like the feel of embroidery, the dimension, the solidity (is that a word?)


It just brings me back to why would I be trying to save time? Ah yes, because these blankets are a product. Products have prices. Bah humbug I say. My brother-in-law, who is almost done law school, just roles his eyes every time he gets my response to how I figure out what to charge for my wares. "But you're not accounting for your time! You should pay yourself, say, twenty dollars an hour, and add your costs for materials, and..." and then his voice turns into the teacher from Charlie Brown "whanh whanh whanh..." I love him dearly, and he has my best interests at heart, but...it just seems so calculated.

So, maybe I'm wearing my craft on my sleeve, but how do I balance these desires? The desire to do something I love, the desire to bring home some meaningful income to help my family, and the desire to see a broad range of people enjoy what I make. All the while keeping in mind the very sage advice from my friend Johanna, who emphatically stated the last time we chatted, "Marnie, you are not your own client". I think it's really not a matter of money, but of valuing what I do.

sigh...it's all a work in progress...

P.S.

The shop update is slowly and steadily underway...