All About me – Page 3 – a hippie with a minivan

Back in the sewing room…

When we decided to sell the house last february and had a few visitors come see the house, my sewing was put on the back burner. My sewing room became a storage room for things that I was wanting to sell and I thought that I would need to start packing up sooner then later, so I didn’t want to start on any new projects anyway. The longer things dragged on, the more things accumulated and the task of clearing the space and getting back into sewing was a bit depressing and overwhelming. A few weeks ago though, I finally decided that I was going to do it. One day, luckily on the “oversized items” garbage day, I decided that the old oversized TV unit that was holding my fabric quite messily was going to go. I emptied it onto the floor and I asked Simon to help me take it to the curb.

What was left in my sewing room was a total mess. I should have taken a picture but even i didn’t want to see it. That is when I emptied two of my shelves on my bookcase which prompted my post on stuff, as the shelves that I emptied was full of magazines that I was having trouble letting go of. I was able to place all of my fabric on those two shelves but was still a bit overwhelmed by the rest of the mess.

Over the next two weeks I did a little at a time and then yesterday, I finally pushed through the last bit of e mess and am now so happy of the space. Though the space was not yet done last week, just the potential of it already had my creative juices flowing, and I decided a few days ago that I was going to finish the quilt I had started making for Wilhelmina last year so that I can give it to her for either Xmas or her birthday. I can’t believe that it has been sitting there waiting for me for nearly a year and half. I started on it when Willa was just over a year old and then with her being a toddler and into everything I slowed down, and then her health issues last year and everything else, I just never went back to it…

Now that I started sewing again, it feels so good! I love being at the machine! I just go into my own little world and it is so relaxing.

I am also thanking myself for what i had already done. I might have let the sewing room get out of control but I didn’t let my things get out of order. My plan was still on the wall where I had easy access to it, all of my fabrics were together and prepared, I had pre-cut most of my fabrics and stitched together my dresden flowers so that I wouldn’t lose any of the pieces. (actually, I did that a few months ago because I didn’t want to lose any pieces if we moved) and basically, I proved to myself that I can actually be very organized.

Yesterday, I finished piecing together the squares that will be around the center… I had already done three of them but finished the 7 that were left… These are the images from last year, but they still look the same except that I have also quilted the sash between the blocks.

Today, I finished one of my dresden flowers that will be one of the four corners. The flower itself was already sewn, I just needed to cut the fabric it would be on, cut the backing, make a “sandwich” with the batting, press it, pin it, sew it, make the center and quilt it..

I have three more to go but if I can do a bit each night I could hopefully be done my major components by the end of the week. After that I need to decide how I am going to quilt it. Another thing that I did today was make a few scrap “quilt sandwiches” which I practiced my freehand quilting on. I am still not at all comfortable doing it but I do love that even though I make mistakes, with the pattern that I am practicing, you cannot see the mistakes unless you really look for them. But of course, doing a practice run and actually putting the foot down on my hard work are two very different things.

Greeting Cards

Just a quick post…

I made my first batch of greeting cards this evening and they turned out so well! I love the way they look when they are all put together!

I can’t wait for my first orders to see what people will choose…

Here are all the choices!

My new website is up and running…

My lights arrived yesterday and my website is ready to share….

Here it is!

(The above image that links to the new site is my new business card)

I am quite happy with the way that it turned out, especially that I can not only showcase and sell photos that I already have directly from the site, but I will be able to easily make password protected galleries for clients and they will be able to order pictures on their own at any time.

Yay!

I would love to have your opinion!

Photography…

I love it. So why not do it?

While I was looking for ideas on ways I could make a bit of money for our dream project, I kept going back to my love of photography. So, I am going to do it. I love working with people, I love taking portraits, I think I am pretty good at it and it really makes me happy. I already have a decent camera and lenses. I ordered a set of lights and backgrounds so that I can bring a studio if needed to someones house. I would rather work with natural light and natural background but the days are getting shorter and there really isn’t much natural light to work with at times and have the option of extra lighting is something that I need if I want to do this seriously. Having the backgrounds, and especially the stand, will also make things much easier and will be much more professional. I should get them next week and play with them a bit. I think I am going to start having flashbacks back to me portrait photography days back in the day! Not only do I believe that this is going to work, but I also think that there is a certain amount of portability involved for when we will be on the move.

Also… I am going to start selling greeting cards with some of my favourite landscapes, flowers and other nature photos. I already have some blanks and now I just need to narrow down the choices of photos that I think will be best to sell locally. I am also working on a website from which I could sell directly, and be able to give the choice to customers.

So once I get this Website up and running I will start advertising and see how it goes!!

Stay tuned!!!

Feeling Defeated

This kind of feeling is usually something that would make me stop writing for a while but not this time. I think I just need to be honest and put myself out there. A few years ago we were struggling financially. We make a good enough salary but we were still living pay check to pay check even though we were living modestly. We had large student loans and a line of credit for initial home repairs and “welcome taxes” when we had bought the house, and a few other odds and ends that had been added to that. We were paying minimums and using one credit product to pay for another and vice versa and we we couldn’t see an end in sight. The wake up call was getting a statement outlining my student loans and realizing that I had been paying nearly interest without even touching much of the capital over nearly a decade. If were to keep on the same path, we would be in the same place 20 years down the line. We finally went to see a financial counsellor for advice and we were told that we could not do a consolidation which we were originally wanting to do, and that instead we should try a consumer proposal. Then, when meeting with a trustee we were told that our best option would be bankruptcy. Yeah… bankruptcy.

I never talked about it, because bankruptcy has this stigma around it, and we were afraid of what people would think. But, after weighing all of the options and trying our best to find another solution, it really was the best solution for us. The process was easy enough and because we owned an old car and had no equity on the house and didn’t own anything really of value, we didn’t lose anything except for dept and were discharged 9 months later around the time Wilhelmina was born.

So there it is, the cat is out of the bag. I know that people will judge us, and though I feel somewhat ashamed that we had to make that decision, I don’t feel guilty. We didn’t plan for it, we didn’t buy extravagant things, we were living modestly and just couldn’t keep on going like that. It was truly the best decision for us. We have been working on rebuilding our credit since then but the mark on our credit will be there for another few years.

So why I am saying this now? Well, on Monday I called the bank for information on a Loan for the bus and was told that we shouldn’t have a problem getting a car loan (we got one last year for the car we currently have) especially with the amount that the bus costs which is half the amount of our car. Yesterday, I called the bank back for an appointment and was basically told to not waste our time. The bus is a 92 and for a car loan it would have to be only 6 years old or less. The other option would be a personal loan, but even though we would qualify easily, the bankruptcy is our downfall. He didn’t actually put the demand though which is good because it would hurt us more in the long run. We could try other banks too but I have a feeling that it will be the same everywhere.

So now we are stuck. We have money saved that we could use as a down payment and If we were to get a loan we would have had no problem paying it and when we sell the house we could have easily paid off the remainder. We don’t have family to turn to financially so that is out of the question.

I would love to find a part time job but there is not much in a city that basically closes down after 5pm and on Sundays. I would also rather find something I can do on the internet and that I can bring with us when we leave, or sell crafts or things I make on Etsy but I have tried that before and I guess I was not making what people want/need.

Another idea is that we could get back to selling the house and try to find a place that would let us have the bus around so that we could work on it but I am not sure we could find a place for that.

We could give up on the dream, but of course I don’t want to do that either.

We are not ready to give up. We want this… actually for our sanity we need this.