Working for My Habit

I work, and occasionally teach, at a local quilt shop.

One of the running jokes amongst the employees and customers is "we work for our habit". Our habit being: quilting, sewing, and wool work. And for those who knit and/or cross-stitch.

It's an all encompassing passion for many of us. We eat, sleep, and BREATHE our choice of craft.

We spend hours agonizing over fabric choices...patterns...fabrics to go with patterns...handiwork...You name it and we're probably stressing about it.

But none of us would give it up for anything in the world. I know for me, it's WHO I am. A quilter. I do wool work and cross-stitching. I have even recently branched out into making purses and the like. But I am still a quilter at heart.

About this time every year, I take a break, for about a month or so, from quilting. Well, piecing large projects. I do a lot of quick things that make me FEEL like I'm accomplishing something.

See, every Xmas I become "temporarily" insane. I always ended up deciding that I just HAVE to make 1/2 a dozen quilts for Xmas gifts. Then, inevitably, I end up taking on the unexpected (and last minute) commission quilts.

Why??? Who knows...like I said, I become crazy. Then by January, I'm so burnt out that I don't even want to THINK about choosing/making a quilt.

So, I'm making purses and various accessories; tablerunners; and back to wool-work.

But back to the shop...it's nice to see that I'm not the only lunatic out there. To be able to share my love of quilting and various crafts with like-minded women (and the occasional man) is a joy.

If anyone out there can relate and DOES "work for their habit", I'd love to hear from you. We addicts need to stick together! Strength in numbers. :)

Confessions of an Etsy Addict...

I heard about etsy on CNN in early January 2009.

Being an avid quilter and crafter, this intrigued me. I went to the site and surfed it for a bit and was soon hooked. The rest is "history" as they say.

I'm now an addict.

I find myself surfing for ideas and materials that might interest potential customers. Instead of sewing for myself all day...I'm sewing items to sell.

I find that my fingers just ITCH to get back online and refresh my shop page (which I, of course, keep opened and minimized all day) to see if viewings, favorites, etc. have increased. And to see if anything's sold. This ITCH is almost impossible to ignore on days that I'm in a showcase.

I find that I'm always tweaking...shop features, showcase listings, item descriptions...pretty much everything.

It nice to see that there's a venue for me to express myself creatively. I'd be making, most of these things anyway, and now there's the chance of selling some.

I've recently began surfing for other etsy addicts and (not surprisingly) I'm not alone.

So, if you an addict or know an addict drop a line.

Feel free to give a shout out for your own shop (if you have one) and please pass mine along.

Everything's word of mouth (or blog, in this case) when you're trying to sell anything (especially on the net).

Stop by browse my shop and if you could take the time to answer a poll, it'd be greatly appreciated. Let me know (pros and cons) what you think of the shop and the things I've made.