|
December 9th, 2009
05:08 pm - ugh
I just changed the tarp covering on my tieing table today because I got some paint on it while working on my new banner. I guess I should have done it sooner because the tiny hole in it was bigger then I thought. The table was covered with white stuff. It looked pretty gross, but I'm guessing it was dye activator - in powder form and I scraped most of it into a trash can.
|
December 3rd, 2009
03:55 pm - 2010 Calendar Sale
Please do not use the shopping cart I set up on the web site. I don't have time right now to fix the pricing.
|
03:34 pm - 2009 Holiday Sale
Calendars are 1/3 off. Price: $10 each.
I'll mail them free if you buy 2 or more.
|
03:31 pm - Saturday vending is not looking too good!
Cloudy with a chance of rain or snow showers. Highs in the upper 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent
Seriously... Winds+Rain+Cold
Very low chance of me being there!
|
November 30th, 2009
01:31 pm - Reston Holiday Market!!!
Lake Anne Welcomes the Holidays
Santa Arrives by Barge!
Saturday, December 5
Free family fun with entertainment, a petting zoo, holiday market
Come early and buy some holiday gifts from the venders who will be returning to Lake Anne for one last Saturday before the holidays.
Schedule:
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.: Holiday Market – vendors of art, collectibles, jewelry and more
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Ornament Making for children, with artist Pat Macintyre. Free (Located on the plaza, or in Reston Art Gallery & Studios if inclement weather)
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Petting Zoo – meet some furry and feathered barnyard friends, plus Lake Anne’s Faux Bear, and live entertainment on the plaza.
12:00 p.m.: Santa arrives by barge to visit with children on the plaza
The event is free, presented by Lake Anne Merchants Association.
Directions
It's going to be cold, but it isn't supposed to be quite as bad as last year.
I WILL be having a sale, so please check my LJ again for details.
|
November 21st, 2009
06:21 am - Grump
I was going to dye some blue & purple crinkle shirts this weekend and am totally out of turquoise!! Guess I'll just do some blue & purple spirals or something else to use up the other dye I made. There would be no problem if I had actually gotten the phone call last Thursday when Dharma called me to ask me for the 3# code from my CC (I had forgot to put it on the fax). But I didn't get the call until late Friday and the box didn't ship until Monday. Grump.
Well, at least the other order of white stuff arrived quickly. Just boring T-shirts, but LOTS of them.
Anyway, I do plan to at least make an appearance at Darkover. Maybe I'll get a 1-day membership. I haven't finished cleaning my house (ha!) so, my van is still full of tie-dye if anyone wants to do any shopping. There will be a "black Friday" sale. Sign up for my FaceBook Group to receive details.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45773279827
|
October 29th, 2009
08:32 am - weather again
Last night I got very hopeful that vending at Reston would happen. On WTOP they said rain now rain Sunday morning instead of Saturday. I figured that would mess up my Sunday plans, but I can go to the dam some other time if it was too bad and I need the $. So today I woke up hopeful thinking about all the things I need to do before market day. The TV weather was on and I heard rain late Saturday - that's OK, I think.
BUT Wunderground has a 20% chance of rain at 8:00am (like they had last night) but all the other 20s are now 60s!! The "weather channel" says RAIN.
Current Mood: unsure
|
October 25th, 2009
11:09 am - oops
Somebody forgot she needed to order dye chemicals.
I used up most of two 25 lb boxes of dry chems before I went to Richmond but didn't want to order more right then because I wasn't sure I'd be home for delivery. Well, now I'm stuck not having enough! Just ordered more. Sigh. I would have known this if I had actually tried to dye stuff last weekend-but the weekend was mostly taken up with paperwork and research.
|
October 24th, 2009
01:39 pm - Reston
Well, I had been planning to vend until I saw the rain chance. 80%. Then 100% With winds of 15-20mph and afternoon T-storms. Reston is not a great place to vend if it's raining because you can't park right near your space. I have set up at places in the rain before and it's best to get your canopy up and the sides in place before unloading the rest.
I lucked at at the rainy Mayfair because it wasn't raining during unpacking time and packing up. Plus they had volunteers helping us load & unload so it went a lot quicker. Still, so much got muddy after and my canopy is stained from some tree's seeds. If it weren't for two big customers it wouldn't have been worth the cleanup time and damage.
But at Reston people don't want to shop outside in the rain for something they know they can just get next week, so sales would be WAY down. Plus I'm not committed to going. There's no wasted vending fee or empty spot. (At the Mayfair people pick spots when they arrive so at least there were no gaps, just a real short line of vendors.)
Anyway, I woke with a splitting headache and am watching the rain line on radar. There is a nice thick line moving northeast at almost the same angle it's tilted. So the same areas are getting hit over and over. Reston is in this line and they are getting socked real bad right now. (yellows & oranges on the radar) (Gaithersburg is in that line too.
I really hope I can do next week because it'll be the last one.
I think they'll be open Dec 5th too and I may do that - it's a special day with Santa and a petting zoo, but sales weren't too great.
|
October 13th, 2009
10:11 am
If I do events that are that busy again I'm going to invest in a better way to take credit cards. I've got so many to follow up on. They are so hard to read and I'm sure it's all my fault. At least there was only one new one from the Sunday ones and that one was near the beginning of the day. I was really trying to be extra careful - even if it took a little bit more time. 36 credit card sales. 5 problems. Plus one I still need to call from last week and one REAL OLD ONE i still need to successfully follow-up on!! Very few checks.
I'm still not planning on doing many (if any) indoor craft events.
Plan is to do Reston Oct 24 and 31. A local event on Nov 14th (I need to call about it!). Maybe go to Darkover and see if I can sell some items to friends (I'll be in town now, so I can go.) and work on taxes and spring event applications.
And I need to push the calendars now that I spent $ on the stock. And clean up a bit around here so potential customers can set foot in this house.
This week is mostly still travel and emergency stuff. Anything that can wait a week will have to.
|
September 17th, 2009
06:48 pm - Weather
Sunny & plesant for both Saturday and Sunday. WOOT!!
Reston and Gaithersburg.
If I bring photos to either I probably won't bring hanging ones. I don't want to carry the gridwall at Reston and don't think it's worth the bother at G'burgh 'cause I haven't sold many photos (if any) there. The location is a bit better this year - we're back on Summit Avenue. But we're still on the other side of the railroad track. And it looks like we're in the block even further away from the tracks then I've been a couple of the years I've done this event. Not great.
Taste of Gaithersburg is where the crafters were last year. There's NO TRAFFIC FLOW PAST THE CRAFTERS ON THAT BOTTOM BLOCK OF SUMMIT AVENUE. OK. I take it back. This spot SUCKS. (Until I REALLY looked at the map I didn't realize we were below the post office. I must find somewhere else to vend next year.
|
September 14th, 2009
08:33 am - This is what I've dyed since my surgery in July:
T-Shirts:
Child: 37
Adult: 44
Long Sleeve Ts
Infant: 3
Adult: 20
Child pants: 2
Child dresses: 23
2 piece baby outfits: 3
infant pants: 1
1Z: 6
Baby bunting: 1
Scrunchies: 14
pairs of booties: 2
Hats: Lots. (Lost count - probably over 20)
Bandanas: Probably a couple dozen
And things that I will NEVER DYE AGAIN
2 pairs of shorts (made of jean material
1 pair of Jeans
And I made probably a hundred photo cards, matted a bunch and even framed one (it's hard to frame anything in my dusty house!)
|
September 13th, 2009
11:34 pm - The weather
Was great today. Warm, but not TOO hot.
NOTE: for next year. Put the canopy on the west side of the two spaces so it provides some shade in the afternoon!
Next weekend:
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. Highs in the lower 70s.
Sunday
Partly sunny. Highs in the lower 70s.
I've got Gaithersberg on Sunday and hope to make it to Reston on Saturday. I might only bring the tie dye. (OMG I've got a LOT of stuff!!! Even after today I still had 12 full containers of tie dye (and, of course, that doesn't include the 4 smaller containers or the bag of hats)
|
September 12th, 2009
03:24 pm - Costco photo Center
Don't presume you're smarter then me. Auto Correct was off. I purposely chose not to crop the photo even though it was saying I should.
The document was size 12 X 16 to match the stupid frames I got (OK, that day I WAS stupid... I had meant to order 12 X 18 frames.) Today I meant for you to print my 12 X 16 print on a 12 X 18 piece of photo paper. I hoped there would be a place to put a comment in there so that you'd do it correctly, but there wasn't. And you didn't.
I remembered to check when I picked the photos up and was told I should have Auto Correct off. I claimed I did. (just checked - I DID. I ALWAYS do.) With the cropping the photo was useless to me so I got my $ back but I won't have the photo framed for tomorrow. I guess I could, but I really don't want to go back to Costco twice more today!! Sigh. Now I have to hope my backup is good enough to enter tomorrow. (yes, I'm actually going to have an item judged tomorrow.)
|
01:30 pm - First event of the season
I was hoping I could do Reston today, but my leg bone has been hurting more this week and I'm really not up to carrying things. I can lift things when I can do so with most of the weight on my right leg, but I can't carry things. I had been limiting myself to things under 10 lbs and I've only recently started carrying my cat! Unlike some events, I can't just pull up to Reston, unload and set up. Nope. I've got to drag everything across the courtyard which is rough on the leg bones.
Tomorrow ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) chilady is going to be helping me and with luck I can do Reston next Saturday after another week of healing.
I've got a lot of stuff to do today to get ready for tomorrow. The one thing I'm really not looking forward to is getting my gridwalls in the van. I'm hoping the pickup while stationary, move a tiny bit, put down and then take a step method of "not carrying" works.
|
July 26th, 2009
09:08 pm - Surgery update
I just realized I never posted anything here after my post-op appt. The surgery went well and I've got my staples out. BUT I'm not supposed to put any weight on the leg for four more weeks! My next appt is August 18th. I might be able to dye something next weekemd because it doesn't hurt too bad to have the leg down anymore.
That will be a challenge though - I've got this rolling knee walker thing, but I also have a 2 story house. My bedroom, workroom and shower are upstairs - and so far I've only been going up there to shower. Being up there longer will require me to drag this heavy roll-a-bout upstairs and do some picking up in my office so I can actually get around. (I ran out of time pre-surgery). And once I'm up there getting food will be a challenge. I've got crutches, but other injuries make using them very difficult and I've fallen more then once trying them.
And if anyone wants to buy something - well, it's all in my van. Another challenge. At least I packed up in an orderly fashion so finding stuff shouldn't be too hard.
|
July 24th, 2009
12:21 pm - Wish me luck!
Richmond Folk Festival. Oct 9-11
Application aquired. HUGE event. $25 app fee. $300 space fee.
Boss out of the country from Oct 5-14
Red pandas to visit. :)
And Lion Cubs!!
I'm going to check into camping to save $
Won't need tables or canopy, so I'll have room for tent, air mattress & suitcase.
|
July 19th, 2009
07:50 pm - Events
Why do events feel like they can keep raising their fees in these bad financial times? And raising them, and raising them? Kentlands Oktoberfest jumped from $45 for non-residents in 2008 to $65!! It's still worth doing it, but WHY?!! I feel like they are trying to screw the little guys and succeeding.
Because of my health I cannot get another full-time job and I need some income from this business or I'll never make ends meet. The ends are so far away from each other it isn't funny. OK, so, what is another $20? This isn't the only event that has increased it's vending fee this year. Some jumped from $180 to $250!! It really adds up when you do as many events as I do!
(and yeah, it's killing me right now that I can't vend. Two absolutly lovely July Saturdays and where am I? At home recovering from surgery. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow just how long I'll need to keep off it. I know it'll be quite a while yet before I'll be up to all the carrying involved, but the pain is getting less enough that I might be able to dye some stuff by the end of the month.)
|
July 12th, 2009
09:09 am - Is this July?! In DC?
Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 80s
Now, that's a week away and I'm sure it'll change BUT for that to even be a possibility on July 18th in Washington DC is amazing.
Of course I can't actually vend anyway. The Dr. said my surgery went well, but I don't know yet what that means. I don't see him again until the 20th. Hopefully then I'll know how long I need to keep off my leg. I'm going to try to keep other muscles in shape as much as possible so I'm up to lifting and carrying for fall vending events.
September 3rd will be 8 weeks after the surgery. Catonsville is September 13th. I'm going to assume that I'll be mobile (and really mobile) by then. This week I'm going to work on adding other events to my calendar for the fall. I know I should have done it months ago, but I also know why I didn't. A newish symptom started in March '09 really took a lot out of me. I've been busy and going through the motions, but lacking real motivation. The pain right now is pretty darn bad... BUT an area that started hurting above my little toes in March doesn't hurt anymore!! I'd suspected that this had something to do with blood flow and it was around the same time I started having trouble sleeping. It was a bad combo. I really wasn't motivated to make any future plans. I hope my motivation is really back. If you know of any good events that still have space for the fall please let me know. I'm willing to travel a bit if it's to a location I can combine with a photo taking trip.
|
July 3rd, 2009
09:39 pm - Not doing Reston this weekend
My leg hurts and I've got to get some stuff done before surgery next week. Right now I don't know how long I'll be incapacitated for. According to my research I may need to keep weight off the leg for 4-8 weeks. I was told to rent a mobility device for 6 weeks. I've got crutches too. This is not going to be fun, but I can't keep living with the pain - it's gotten so bad I can't sleep unless I take a Vicoden or Ambian at night. So, I'm having surgery on July 9th and will not be vending at least until September. After that it all depends on how quickly I heal. It's not enough to be good enough to walk without aide, I have to be good enough to carry stuff without aide.
I may be looking for help to do events in the fall. Or at least help for set up and tear down. If anyone's interested in earning some $ or tie dye for a bit of work please let me know and we can discuss dates and details.
Instead of vending I'll be dyeing some stuff I meant to dye last week.
Have a good Fourth.
|
|
|
|