May 13, 2007--Getting into the quilting business

I have decided to take the plunge and go into the quilting business. Yeah, I know, I've already been doing some of that through made-to-order quilts and Ebay, but I'm going to get a booth in a craft gallery. This is a bit scarier for me, because I have to invest money in renting the booth, but I think I can do it. I'm teaming up with several of my sisters and sisters-in-law and also my mother-in-law, in hopes that between all of us we can come up with enough items to stock a booth. I'm planning on going and visiting the gallery this next Thursday. I've talked with the lady on the phone already, and she said that she doesn't have any quilters at the moment and she has two booths available. Hopefully they'll still be available! I'm wanting to shoot for the beginning of June to get ours up and running. I'm teaming up with my sister Emily to get some quilts done--I'm doing the piecing and she's doing the quilting. I whipped up a fairly simple lap quilt last weekend and got that to her to quilt, and while she's working on that one I'm working on a harder crib sized quilt with about four times as many pieces. It's an Amish Friendship Star, and each star is made from a different material. I had a lot of old vintage fabric scraps from my grandmother and some from my husband's great-grandmother, and I'm using a lot of them. Some of them I had barely enough even to get one star out of! They are really neat fabrics, the kinds you can't get anymore. Some were from the flour and sugar sacks during the Depression. One in particular I know is from a sack sack, because it's still got the stitching up the side of the cloth. The printing is even on the stitching. It's an orange and blue paisly print. I'm enjoying the different patterns in the quilt. My mother-in-law is going to be making some old fashioned dolls and I have one sister-in-law that made some teddy bears she's going to try and sell. She's also working on a crocheted afghan to put in it. She's a SAHM too, and wants to be able to help her husband out, too. There are so many scams out there that prey on SAHM's who desire to make money from home, and surely there has got to be a legitmate way to do it without getting caught in something that would take our money without any return. I think this could be it. This gallery has been in place for 16 years. Surely if they have been around that long they have the customer base and the experience to make this a worthwhile effort.