Sewing Weekend - Hey Buy Handmade!

 
Promoting myself has been on my mind lately and I have been itching to get back to creating and sewing.  I have so busy working on my bedroom remodel project that I have had no time to add new items to my shop.  I guess I should add that it's not just one shop, as I have two shops on Etsy, HM Mills & Haute Bridal.  In addition to Etsy, last year I also opened a shop on 1000 Markets and opened another shop at Zibbet.com in December.

All these shops in the past two weeks have resulted in four sales, two being the Brown Canvas Messenger Bag.  As I have been working on these bags, I have been thinking about the customers who chose to forgo the normal avenue by buying something that was mass produced and took a chance on an unknown.  Perhaps they know that a lot of pride and care will go into making their product.

So with that thought, I say support handmade and local artisans.

It's Thursday

Where has the week gone?

So much going on, I sold two items, another Brown Canvas Messenger Bag & the Charm Tag Necklace - Even Monkeys Fall from Trees in addition to a custom order charm tag necklace. 

The nice thing about the two charm orders is that they came from my 1000 Markets Shop, which I have to admit, I had sorta forgotten about...

Although, the bedroom has been quite an undertaking and time stealer, I have managed to start work on all three orders.  However, I am approaching the two week mark on their orders, so not what I would call the best customer service.  So that said, after work today, I plan on finishing the necklace and custom order and with luck will ship those out tomorrow.  The Messenger Bag will probably take part of Saturday to complete. My house is a mess as the contents of my closet and bathroom are in the dining room and kitchen. Our unusual cold winter has killed most of my landscaping and the weeds are overgrowing in the flower beds.  So much to do and I am itching to start other sewing projects, make a few bags with some fabric I have been dreaming about...

So what have I been dreaming about...Laura Gunn's newest line, the Poppy Collection...just dreamy.

Still Working on the Bedroom

A quick update on the bedroom...after several days of painting, I am exhausted.   Aside from some touch up painting can almost be crossed off the list:

• Finish Painting
• Pull up the protective paper from the floors
• Clean up
• Install toilet 
• Schedule an appointment for the Shower Door measurements 
• Install Shower Doors
• Find a counter top
• Find Sink 
• Find and buy a mattress
• Window Treatments
• Duvet Cover & Linens
• Lamps
• Ceiling Fan
• Purchase new TV
• Find some accents to make the room feel cozy

The bedroom furniture was delivered last week and this past weekend the mattress arrived. Although I don't the right size linen (I just ordered it from West Elm), DH and I decided not to wait and just threw down a flat sheet and some blankets.  That first night after several weeks of sleeping on a full/queen with a tall man, was like sleeping on a cloud...

Another busy weekend...

Yesterday I updated my Facebook status with, "Helen is still painting." 

 
I spent last weekend priming the bedroom and painting the ceiling.  There was a slow down in my progress because the two spots on the ceiling continued to bleed through even though we had applied Kils on them.  In the end, I won and it only took about a can and a half to finally defeat each spot.  Before the weekend was over, the ceiling was painted, the bathroom, the sink area and two of the bedroom walls were done. 

Most of this week was spent painting trim and doing some touch up painting in the bathroom. Although I primed the bathroom beforehand, the color just wouldn't set (for lack of a better word). DH took Friday off to work on attaching the trim along the floor and along the doorways.  I spent yesterday, painting touching up nail holes and painting the doors.  I was hoping to be done last night but DH has to sand down part of the bathroom doorway frame (which of course I have already painted), so I will have to repaint.  I still have to paint around the interior door frame and then do my touch up around the ceiling, but I am almost there.

Next on the list is installing the bathroom cabinet and the toilet then all I need to do is:

• Pull up the protective paper from the floors
• Clean up
• Schedule an appointment for the Shower Door measurements 
• Install Shower Doors
• Find a counter top and Sink 
• Find and buy a mattress
• Window Treatments
• Duvet Cover & Linens
• Lamps
• Ceiling Fan
• Purchase new TV
• Find some accents to make the room feel cozy

Piece of cake...

Progress So Far...

The Bedroom Construction has been moving slowly, but we have made some dramatic progress.

A few more Before Photos:

The best of course was the demolition:

 

Our friend, Martin came over and installed the wood floors (which had been sitting in the hallway for a couple of weeks).

Over the course of the weekend we installed new plumbing for the shower stall. I have to admit I started getting nervous when DH started soldering and the surrounding wall was burning...  :)   Martin came back the following week and started installing the tile in the bathroom.  I ended up making some last minute changes as he was installing it ( I changed the accent trim and the shelves and soap dish), so thank goodness he was a good sport about it.

 The lights in the bath/sink area and shower:

...next on the list was to install the interior french doors to separate the bedroom from the bath/sink area.

While I was away on business a friend from our Hockey group came over to plaster over all the dry wall as well as smooth down the old walls.

Next on the list for this weekend is some more sanding, priming and painting...