Hello!
Before I get deep into today's post, let me first congratulate some recent winners of my blog giveaways. Remember I mentioned the winner of this giveaway never got in touch. So I finally used the random number generator to pick another winner. Let's all clap for Jacquie, the winner of the Super Summer Giveaway Quilting Edition bundle. Let me just say that I was so thrilled when I counted up to see Jacquie's name for one because I participated in a fabulous project with her and know that she is an avid quilter...so these goodies will surely be put to use. Secondly, Jacquie does alot of charity quilting and you all know I am a sucker for the giving type! So congrats Jacquie!!
Of course, right after I mailed the items off to Jacquie, the original winner, Beth, got in touch! I will have to hook Beth up with something...she is just getting in to sewing and quilting, so we have to keep her motivated, right! Maybe I'll snag some goodies at Quilt Market for her? We'll see...Beth, I won't forget about you!
Now, let's congratulate the winner of the Harmony Art Giveaway. Congrats to Katrina, our grand prize winner, Amanda, our second prize winner and Jennifer, our third prize winner. Ladies, I am sending off emails to you, but feel free to email me at sheree [at] shereesalchemy [dot] com.
Now for today's thoughts...2 more weeks and change!
In just over 2 weeks, I will be debuting my line of sewing patterns at the International Quilt Market here in Houston, Texas. Those of you that have been reading my blog for a while will remember in these two posts when I recapped a bit of my impressions of last year's Quilt Market how completed inspired I was. You see, I am a chemist by training, but I have been sewing since I was 12 years old (I am turning 38 in a little while!). I can remember as a little girl always wanting to make things. And my mom finally broke down and bought myself and my two sisters a sewing machine and gave us a little money to buy fabric. I can remember that summer spending hours teaching myself how to sew...getting completely frustrated with store bought sewing patterns and within a short time starting to just cut and sew from my own ideas. Many were bombs!lol But I ended up making some pretty cool stuff and always enjoyed wearing my handmade clothes to school. I was never one for trends and brand names. I love the quirky..the unusual....colorful..the comfortable! I was growing into my teenage body when I started sewing. My body started changing quite rapidly. I was a tall, flat chested, hippy little thing. I loved making clothes that fit my body properly and that flattered my body type. And I loved being able to make something in exactly the color I wanted. It never occurred to me to really pursue a career in design/sewing, etc.. I was the math/science girl. And sewing was really something I thought of as more of a hobby than something I could do for a living. I continued to sew for pleasure..the pleasure of having lovely things made from gorgeous fabrics for a fraction of the store costs...the pleasure of making somethng that I loved with my own two hands. Sewing was also always a way of relaxing for me. I loved (and still love) the hum of the sewing machine (and serger). I love that alone time. My mind would quiet and I'd get lots for hours and then in the end I had something lovely (usually!) that I could enjoy for years.
So with all this...my sewing history if you will...it was really only until attending Quilt Market last year that I really thought seriously that I could use my design abilities and my passion and love for sewing and creating and really try to carve out a business that centered around this. You all know I have been selling my hand made custom children's clothing for a few years and even sold wholesale to some boutiques in Saratoga, New York where we used to live. I also sold on Ebay for a couple years before we moved to Germany. Once in Germany, I really did not have much time to sew for customers. And shipping things back to the US was just expensive. So I set up my little Etsy shop to sell off some fabric. Then that turned into my online fabric shop, which I have been having fun running for the last 1.5 years. But now that I am back in the US, I really want to spend most of my time designing, sewing, creating with all this lovely fabric and not spending time cutting and shipping it off for others to use!
Because of all of this, I realized it is time (finally time) to change, once again. I have decided to close down the fabric shop. I have struggled with this decision for over a year now, but with all that is going on I really needed to let something go. And the obvious choice for me is the fabric shop.
Instead of spending time selling fabric, I want to be spending time designing patterns for Sheree's Alchemy Designs.....creating handmade clothing, accessories, home goods and art for Sheree's Atelier...sharing more about how I LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, CREATE here on Sheree's Alchemy Blog. Sheree's Alchemy.com will still exist. Ingrid is revamping things and I'll be revealing the new site after I get finished with Market and Festival.
I'll also be settling in to the new local shop that I am now selling my goods in called The Limited Edition. Here are a few pictures that I promised a couple weeks ago.
This back wall is my area.
I'll try to remember to take my camera with me next time I am in there so I can show you an after picture of my little area. I won't be fully stocking it until after Quilt Market and Festival, since I'll have alot of the things there with me.
Here are some other images of goodies in the shop. I have already bought some real treasures since joining the crew, including two vintage sewing machines!! I'll show pics of them after market is over. :)
The vintage vaseline glass just speaks to me...love the color!
The shop owner, Betsy(that's her above in the green shirt), is also a painter...this is some of her work. I keep telling her she needs to put some of this up on Etsy!
More vintage glass....so pretty!
Vintage wrought iron Betsy brought back from Paris.
Red and Aqua love....I bought that handmade table runner. I upcycled it....I'll show you what I did with it when I do my Market reveal!
This vintage typewriter almost came home with me...Leah fell in love with it (I love that she loves old things as much as I do).
Another change....I'll be moving into a new studio space in November. It is in the same artist co-op as the space I share currently. Now I'll be on my own lease and can really turn it into my own little shop! I'll also start to host Trunk shows there, offer classes and workshops and of course create in this space. Move in date is November 1st...so I'll be shooting pics and sharing after that. I can hardly wait to share images of the space. It is so cool, has its own entrance from outside, lovely natural light, high ceilings. There is a big art show coming up, Art Crawl, that I plan to participate in and then in Spring there is a big photography show that I hope to enter some pieces for. It is fun playing around and working to develop some of these other skills. Fabric is still my medium of choice, put the newness of playing with paint and the camera has me giddy!
Okay, I'd better run. I hope you all are well!!! I will be back again soon, maybe with some tiny sneak peeks of my new pattern collection. I have forced myself to hold off until after Market, because I do want that show to be the debut of the collection! Also, I think I'll freak myself out if I start putting things up here on the blog! :)
I also really need to do a summer review...my friends and family need to see some pics of the kids and what we did this summer! I thought I'd get them up here before Fall officially started, but that just did not happen!
Oh, before I go, I wanted to share pics of this little miniquilt I made for a swap. I called it 'Dancing Daisies" and it was completely improvisationally pieced. I selected the fabrics and then just sat down and cut and pieced and cut and pieced, just making it up as I went along. It was so much fun to do, and after starting my quilting life doing larger quilts, it was fun (and ridiculously fast) to quilt this little thing! It was my first quilt swap and my first mini quilt. I had fun making it and really hope the lady I sent it to will love it.
Signed...with stitches!
Back Detail
As an extra, I made her a little bag also. I just pieced together some of the scraps and stitched it on a pre-made organic cotton tote. Quick and fun and I hope she'll love it and use it often!
It was a secret swap, organized by Michele over at Quilting Gallery. Fun, fun. I look forward to participating in more swaps in the future and can't wait to see which quilt I'll get. You can go here to see pictures of what others made and received for this swap. I saw a few there that I am crossing my fingers to receive!!! :) I'll show you my quilt when it arrives and will let you know who I sent my quilt to after she gets it!
Okay, that's it for real!
Talk soon,
Sheree
