Sunday, August 24, 2008

bizarre bazaar

well...the "bazaar" was a bust! you know matter and anti-matter? it was the anti-bazaar of bazaars. i arrived a little before ten to set up and there ended up being only one other artist with a few watercolors she'd done in the past few weeks after learning how to paint from internet tutorials. she was pretty good, but only had a few paintings. i set up my table, expecting more artists and crafters to show up...but no. i had my nice green-with-fruit tablecloth and laid out all my bags, nicely arranged so you could see the contrasting lining and whatnot. and my little bundles of notecards, my plate of gorgeous soaps, and some business cards i'd made up in case people wanted to order custom bags or more soap or whatever. the bazaar was at the Church of the Brethren/Fair Trade on Main...the pastor bought 2 bars of soap. several hours later this lady came over and admired the soaps and the notecards, but bought nothing...then came back to buy one bar of soap. i was starving. i'd been told there would be "food booths" so imagined a variety...i figured there'd be something i could choose from to avoid the gluten, but there was just some bbq-er set up, selling hamburgers and hotdogs. yeah, i could have pulled the meat off the bun and washed it off...but yuck. and i didn't really want to spend any money when i'd only made EIGHT DOLLARS! finally i decided to give up at 3:00--an hour early, but i was hot, tired, missed jubal, milk-laden, poor, and starving and i didn't imagine another hour would be much different. so i told the coordinator and then she came out and thank the heavens bought a bag and a few soaps. i made 36 dollars. i spent at least 60 dollars in materials, trims, cards...etc. in preparation for this event. so. but i've still got all the stock, so i can theoretically sell it somewhere. my goal, which i thought to be modest and reasonable, of making 100 dollars seems like such a joke now. but i usually sell tons of soap any time it's out! if people thought the bags overpriced (most of them $18, which pays me for about and hour and a half of the four hours i spend on them), they could have bought the soaps and still left the bazaar with money in their wallets and something pretty to take home. it was bizarre. and i'm still broke.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

summer school

so, we revised our proposal for a charter renewal to the board, they said no no no no, again...and the next step is appealing to ODE, then back to the board (if ODE is in our favor), then the board says no no no no again (most likely) then, maybe we go to court...if there's enough money and energy. in the meantime the school will still open and be funded through all the appeals and courts and whatnot. so much for relaxing, eh?

it occurred to me this morning as i ate my smoothie that a group of us may have to rally together and create a new school to propose to the board. some not-exactly-democratic amalgam of academics and freedom. that's what you do when you need something and it's not available, right? you create it. it's an option.

i've been thinking and wondering and working the grain mills of my brain to figure out what to do with the kids if we don't manage to save the school. i don't mind homeschooling, but i was looking forward to them having somewhere to be for the next three years so i can go back to school myself next year. i could sacrifice that desire, but rodney recommends that i don't...it's a chance for me to do what i love and to make a career out of it--a chance for us all to actually HAVE SOME MONEY SOMETIME!!!

so it's all up in the air, and it's all exhausting, and it's all a bit unsatisfying at the moment.


Saturday, August 16, 2008

hot mama

it's so painfully hot these days. whew. the yard tub is seeing lots of action, my friends.

so...i sewed 8 tote bags (well, one's a shoulder-ish bag) from SCRATCH!!! and now i'm off them, it's enough for people to pick over and hopefully buy a few. i've made two sets of notecards, one is of a little fat bird and it says "hello" (called "hello birdie), and one is of this abstract geometric weird, dog-god thing i can't possibly describe called "all hail geometrix"...that one has several colors and lots of connecting lines and was quite a fiddly gocco experience. gocco works best with thick lines and lots of space between the colors, but it was such a great time this morning, just sitting down to draw anything random and figure out how to gocco it. it was about seven million times more fun than battling the tote bag sewing monster. plus, the note card sets look so cute all bundled together with their matching envelopes, all secured with bean twine or ribbons. i think i'll make one more design in time for the bazaar...then i'll have to buy more screens and bulbs, and i'm super eager to get more ink colors. so fun. i have several blank, already made canvas grocery totes--i embellished one for dad that i really love--different fabrics sewn on to be peas, a carrot, and a tomato...i may try to do some more of those...they are a bit fiddly as well, as the bags are already made and it can be tricky to sew things onto them without sewing the bag to itself, but certainly no more time consuming than sewing the bags themselves (yes, i've found another thing i can craft and can't possibly charge enough for!)...but i also have those big letter stamps (the ones i bought before my lunch date with sam elliot) and they are awesome for doing tee shirts and whatnot ( i made rodney a "megan's best one" tee shirt for our second anniversary--cotton is the traditional gift for that one--he gave me a bright yellow apron with red chili peppers on it that he got from Past 45, this old lady crafters store in downtown cottage grove that we love....but i digress) so i want to stamp some witty baggish phrases on them and hopefully can sell some of those, as they'll be cheaper than the made-from-scratch-with-blood-and-tears ones. i'm going to do a couple that say "bagism" (remember that?! john and yoko in bed...), and maybe potato stamp a couple, as well. should be fun and A LOT easier than the other ones (dear god, please let at least two of those bags sell!)

well, it's late and it's hot and rodney and i are supposed to have a movie date watching The Postman tonight, so i'm off to melt in front of the fan.

i'm grateful for:
rodney
opportunities to learn
my kick-ass sewing machine
the yard tub
creative energy
AND my pig pills, they higher dose of which is helping some

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

bipolar tote-bag disorder

dad asked me if i wanted to do a table at an upcoming Fair Trade on Main craft bazaar and i foolishly said yes...so i've been madly (as in insanely) trying to create a stock of goods--which didn't exist AT ALL. sewing my own tote bags from scratch. it goes like this: swift, beautiful, perfect, delightful tote bag...crap, horrible, awful, painfully slow and problematic tote bag which i hate and don't want to give up on because i've already devoted HOURS to making it...then beautiful, heavenly bag, then demon bag from the pits of hell...i feel adept and hopeful, i feel inadequate and ridiculous and bumbling and STOOOOOOOPID...etcetera, lalala.

i need a break and don't have time for a break and i'm exhausted and i can't fall asleep at night. then i feel on top of the world--a design diva of the finest order, i'm amazingly fast at picking up this sewing thing, yippee! then crap, then wonderful. you get it.

now the baby needs me, then i have to sew some more. see you in a couple of weeks! if i survive.