Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Me and the Sewing Machine
I had this brilliant idea that I would buy a sewing machine. Right now all the sewing and embroidery I do is by hand and it takes hours, upon hours, to embroidery the simplest of designs. In high school I took Home Economics and was banned from the sewing machine and my teacher let me sew everything by hand because my well, I kept breaking her needles and sewing machines. I have to be the worst when it comes to figuring out how to work machines. I much rather do everything by hand. It's not that I'm unintelligent by any means I just have a hard time figuring out the basic operating procedures. It doesn't help that I HATE and mean HATE following directions. I always figure I can figure it out on my own and I always do except for when it comes to sewing machines. I have to mention that my mom and grandmother know how to sew so well they make they have made their own clothes and of course know how to work a sewing machine like a pro. So I of course do not research sewing machines but go to the store look around and get one that I think looks like it can do the job. It has a ton of attachments, stitches and even an LCD screen. It can't be THAT hard to figure out right? I get it home and take it out of the box because I'm super excited to start using it. The manual looks like war and peace so I put it aside and start putting everything together and I do look at the directions but I swear they are in Chinese and I can't read Chinese. Needless to say that I can't even figure out how to thread the dang thing. It's now sitting on my kitchen table looking sad and forlorn because it has not been used or even threaded yet. My husband has promised to help me figure it out. I will update you when I attempt to thread it with his help.
It's about time
Wow I didn't realize it's been so long since I've blogged here. Life has taken over and has taken up most of my time. We have done a lot in the last month and half! We have grown so much and I'm so excited and appreciative of all of our Facebook fans. We reached a huge milestone of 1500 fans and I've only been in business for 5 months. It amazes me how fast we've grown and expanded. I have so many things in the works but first I have to catch up on orders. I still have one or two from December that I have to finish. The holiday's and slow shipping of supplies has put me back greatly. It seems like I am forever apologizing about slow turn around times and I am going to continue to apologize until I get caught up. Since it has been so long since I've posted or updated I'm going to tell you all what has happened in the last few months.
December ~
First we have December which brought us Christmas, tons of orders, blizzards, New Years, the stomach flu, and delays in shipping across the country. As most of you know I have 6 kids. Up until this school year they all lived with us. I should explain further by saying we have a his, mine and ours family. Three girls and three boys. We are today's modern Brady Bunch to include all of our modern day problems. Two of "his" kids, I hate referring to them that way, are living back with their mom while one of them is still with us. That is an even longer story and I will not bore you with the details on that. But of course for the holidays they were all here, to include my ex husband. You can see where this is going already can't you? Our house was full to the brim with kids, people and plenty of awkward moments. This made it impossible to work though I did make valiant attempts to. What made it even more difficult is supply issues. At the time we did not have any place local to buy Tulle so I had to order everything on line. At the beginning of the month I made a huge order from the company I usually go through and the didn't bother to mention they were out of stock and the colors that I needed. That was a headache in itself. So I thought I would buy from another Boutique owner who was discontinuing Tutu's and was clearing out their stock. The tulle was beautiful and just what I needed. Unfortunetly the post office decided to loose the box in the back of their warehouse and did not find it for 3 weeks. This put orders so far behind that I am STILL trying to catch up on custom orders.
Jan
Welcome to the New Year! Our year started off with the flu. We all got it and it hasn't gone away since. I had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with an amazing photographer and fellow Military Wife Manda, from Mandolin productions. I can't say enough about this woman and her work. I feel honored and blessed that she found a way into my life. At our first meeting she took some truly awe inspiring pictures of our products. She made everything look so amazing and she was so much fun. she has also encouraged me on coming up with the some original designs and branching out to wedding dresses and my own line of unique Tutu's and Tutu dresses. I can't wait until I get caught up with orders and I can start making all these things floating around in my head. This month also brought us SERE, that is a survival training for all those non military folks. My husband decided a few years ago that he wanted go from commanding tanks to flying helicopters and that has brought us to Alabama and flight school. What survival training means for us is 3 weeks on our own without daddy and mommy trying to juggle everything by herself. I have not mentioned it before but I have a son who has Cerebral Palsy and a daughter who is Mentally Ill so when it's just me I feel like the director of a 3 ring circus. This of course means that getting any work done is near impossible. I thought it would bring me time work and finish up while everyone was sleeping but I was so exhausted and worn out that I could barely remove myself from the fetal position and straight jacket that the day had brought me. My children also decided it would be good for all of them to get the flu again and they thought they would be super sweet and give it to me. It's the end of February and we all still have it. High fevers, bronchitis, upper respiratory issues, and a pinch of throwing up.
Feb
This month has brought tax returns! The most wonderful thing about having so many kids is tax time. We struggle and budget the rest of the year to make ends meet and at tax time we get a huge return. With my husband gone and no contact allowed this puts me in charge of the money. I of course had a spending limit but honestly I really feel it was more of a guideline. So much so that I spent about $5,000 on supplies. You herd that right I went spending crazy. The great news about this is I now have everything I could ever possibly need to make anything that is ordered. I have a ton of ideas for new products, designs, and I will be coming out with a Spring line. Stay Tuned for great and wonderful things to come.
December ~
First we have December which brought us Christmas, tons of orders, blizzards, New Years, the stomach flu, and delays in shipping across the country. As most of you know I have 6 kids. Up until this school year they all lived with us. I should explain further by saying we have a his, mine and ours family. Three girls and three boys. We are today's modern Brady Bunch to include all of our modern day problems. Two of "his" kids, I hate referring to them that way, are living back with their mom while one of them is still with us. That is an even longer story and I will not bore you with the details on that. But of course for the holidays they were all here, to include my ex husband. You can see where this is going already can't you? Our house was full to the brim with kids, people and plenty of awkward moments. This made it impossible to work though I did make valiant attempts to. What made it even more difficult is supply issues. At the time we did not have any place local to buy Tulle so I had to order everything on line. At the beginning of the month I made a huge order from the company I usually go through and the didn't bother to mention they were out of stock and the colors that I needed. That was a headache in itself. So I thought I would buy from another Boutique owner who was discontinuing Tutu's and was clearing out their stock. The tulle was beautiful and just what I needed. Unfortunetly the post office decided to loose the box in the back of their warehouse and did not find it for 3 weeks. This put orders so far behind that I am STILL trying to catch up on custom orders.
Jan
Welcome to the New Year! Our year started off with the flu. We all got it and it hasn't gone away since. I had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with an amazing photographer and fellow Military Wife Manda, from Mandolin productions. I can't say enough about this woman and her work. I feel honored and blessed that she found a way into my life. At our first meeting she took some truly awe inspiring pictures of our products. She made everything look so amazing and she was so much fun. she has also encouraged me on coming up with the some original designs and branching out to wedding dresses and my own line of unique Tutu's and Tutu dresses. I can't wait until I get caught up with orders and I can start making all these things floating around in my head. This month also brought us SERE, that is a survival training for all those non military folks. My husband decided a few years ago that he wanted go from commanding tanks to flying helicopters and that has brought us to Alabama and flight school. What survival training means for us is 3 weeks on our own without daddy and mommy trying to juggle everything by herself. I have not mentioned it before but I have a son who has Cerebral Palsy and a daughter who is Mentally Ill so when it's just me I feel like the director of a 3 ring circus. This of course means that getting any work done is near impossible. I thought it would bring me time work and finish up while everyone was sleeping but I was so exhausted and worn out that I could barely remove myself from the fetal position and straight jacket that the day had brought me. My children also decided it would be good for all of them to get the flu again and they thought they would be super sweet and give it to me. It's the end of February and we all still have it. High fevers, bronchitis, upper respiratory issues, and a pinch of throwing up.
Feb
This month has brought tax returns! The most wonderful thing about having so many kids is tax time. We struggle and budget the rest of the year to make ends meet and at tax time we get a huge return. With my husband gone and no contact allowed this puts me in charge of the money. I of course had a spending limit but honestly I really feel it was more of a guideline. So much so that I spent about $5,000 on supplies. You herd that right I went spending crazy. The great news about this is I now have everything I could ever possibly need to make anything that is ordered. I have a ton of ideas for new products, designs, and I will be coming out with a Spring line. Stay Tuned for great and wonderful things to come.
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