Today, I visited the Original Sewing & Craft Expo @ Gwinnett Center for one reason only:  to look at sewing room furniture. I made two rounds of the Exhibit Floor and came away basically empty-handed. (Okay, so I purchased one small ruler!)  I did accomplish my mission however.   I was able to get my hands on the exact Horn rolling cart that matches my Quilter’s Dream cabinet.  My local dealer didn’t have one in stock – even in the “wrong” color.  I got excited when I read the sign that said all of the show samples were for sale.  Just my luck that the cart I wanted was already spoken for.  Not to worry, my local dealer had quoted a lower price than the show price, so I stopped by the shop on the way home to place my order.  Said #16 cabinet in oak with white trim will be arrive on Thursday or Friday.  The shop is close by work, so they’ll load it in my SUV and I’ll drive it home.  Hubs can help me unload it when he gets home.

UPDATE:  Cabinet arrived today (Thursday) and I helped the older ladies at the sewing shop load the cabinet in my SUV.  It must weigh 100+ pounds.  Hubs did help me unload and wanted us to carry the box down to my sewing room.  Nope!  I unpacked it in the garage and carried the drawers down first.  THEN, we carried the cabinet down.  Took a little more time, but it saved my back and having to haul packing materials upstairs again.

Pricing is a challenge for any business.  Period.  Quilters and fiber artists especially as we often undervalue what we do.

Today, we had a guest speaker at our quilt guild who talked about valuing quilts and quilted textiles. The most commonly used valuation is the “reconstruction” price, which essentially takes into account the cost of materials and the time it would take to make an exact replica of the subject quilt. The price she gave for the queen size pineapple quilt she had in her hand ($1800) blew me away. No one I know would pay that kind of money for a quilt, perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 of that amount…but regardless of how gorgeous the quilt was…it was way out of my budget.

It’s hard to compete when you can buy a “handmade” king size quilt at the local discount or linen store for $50.00. People are starting to valued handcrafted items more and are willing to pay for fine workmanship, but only to a certain point. Unfortunately, these folks are still the exception, rather than the rule.

I have a friend who would like to remake an existing item into something more useful and truly more her style. It doesn’t sound like a difficult task to accomplish, but it will probably take me 2-3 hours, plus the cost of materials. This is the second time she’s asked me about the project, so I know it’s something she really wants to do. I quoted a price range I thought was reasonable, but she’s not said anything more about it.  I know money’s tight for everyone, so I also offered to let her borrow a sewing machine and told her I was willing to coach her through the process. We’ll see what she does.

FWIW, people are willing to pay for kids’ instruction.  So far, I’ve only received one complaint about the cost of the kids’ sewing class (this from a super cheapskate coworker) and on the first day of registration, the class met my minimum enrollment to hold the class.  Hopefully, I hit the sweet spot on price/value because I labored over what to charge for a couple of weeks and in the end, charged what it would take to cover supplies, shop fees and what I needed to make per hour of instruction.

The third nine weeks of school is undoubtedly the hardest.  The Christmas holidays are past and the mid-winter funk sets in around President’s Day.  It’s still too cold to go outside for PE or recess and the natives, both big and small, are getting restless. Our spring break isn’t until the week before Easter, so like the groundhog, we still have another six weeks of school before our scheduled school break.  It doesn’t help when my friends in the surrounding counties (who are off this week) keep sending me pictures of their families vacationing in Florida and at Disney!  We were supposed to have this week off, but the school board changed our calendar right before school ended last year.

So, the dog and I spent some reflective time at Red Top Mountain earlier in the week walking along one of the trails that borders the lake. We met several families and their canine children who were of similar mind.  Boomer smiled just about the entire time.  I think this is the first time I’ve actually walked the trails with him.  He loved the lake!  I enjoy it up there this time of year, too – when there are only a few people visiting the park and you often feel like you have the entire park to yourself.   We took the scenic route back home through downtown Cartersville and out old Hwy 61 to Dallas.  It’s enough of a country feel that you forget that the edge of Atlanta proper is only 45 minutes away.

I needed the time out in nature to shake the blahs and improve my attitude. Lots of things are supposed to change at work in the coming months and the powers-that-be are keeping their cards very close to the vest – which leaves the staff unsettled and doesn’t help morale at all.  All I can do is wonder and wait.

And watch for the unmistakeable signs of spring.