Easing Back In

     I had a nice break after TRXC. Just a doll work break, but a much needed, much appreciated break. I binge watched TV shows, while actually looking at the TV (who does these things???) I went to a craft/vendor fair, I read a lot. It was really nice. But I can't stop doll work forever. Monday, it was time to start easing back into things. I wanted to get some saddle bags made to bring to the swap meet on Saturday. 

     I posted a week or so ago on, my studio page, to see if people would be interested in empty bags. The response was overwhelmingly yes. 

     Somewhat surprisingly, purple was the most requested color. I have gone for long stretches of time where no one orders anything purple and when I make things in purple they sit and sit. But right now purple seems to be very in. It made sense to make the first bags in purple. I posted this photo on Instagram and my studio page on Facebook. I had another huge response to them. I don't know that I want to take any orders for saddle bags. It stresses me out to think about HAVING to make saddle bags. I like making them sometimes, and I like them much more now that I am not also making a bunch of things to go in them. But I don't know if I want to take any orders for them. I am still considering. 

     I have a handful of little projects that I needed to get to and Monday seemed like a good day to clear out some of the little things. I got this doll in last week for some new boots. I don't remember when I made her but it has been a very long time since I made a Breyer doll, did a custom printed silk shirt, or painted a doll's nails. It was kind of fun seeing her again. I'm also reminded that the Quinn and Gracie hands take paint well. It might be time to start doing doll manicures again.

      I got her new, slightly longer boots made and she is all set to keep on showing. It was cool seeing some things on a doll that I have not done in awhile. Also sort of inspires me to go old-school on some things in the near future. I have plans...

     I also had to get a pair of black mens chaps made to go with a couple of dolls that I sold recently. I was really happy to see that one of the two pairs of unfinished chaps I already had in the works was exactly the pair I needed. I was sort of bummed that I ran out of time before TRXC and didn't finish a few things. But this worked out nicely. Plus I was able to cross another little project off my list. 

     Since I didn't have school on Monday I had a bit more time to work on some saddle bags. So I made a few sets. After I posted the picture of the purple bags I had a lot of people that wanted purple bags. When I did my original post, asking if there was interest, I made a note of every color that people specified they wanted. If I go by the list I need several in purple, a couple in pink, a couple of teal, turquoise, black and blue. Obviously those aren't actual orders but it seems like a good place to start. I don't have any teal fabric at the moment but I can make all the other colors. I am hoping I can have at least one of each of the requested colors done by Friday. We'll see if I can make that happen or not. I need to work on these in stages, since there are a lot of steps to them and they are a bit tedious to make. I can start with cutting out all the pieces for several bags but then I need to iron all of the pieces in a ton of tiny, fiddly, easy-to-burn-myself ways. Then comes the gluing, the lining, make the water bottle holders, etc, etc, etc. Like I said, they are sort of tedious to make. I do love how they come out, but I have to want to make them. Right now I am really hoping I can get at least a set or two done each day this week. That would be great. 

      I have some actual dolls I need to make but I need to ease back into that. I have to rebuild a doll so I can make a show jumping doll and I have a youth doll to make, but I think I am going to cheat a bit on that one. More on that when I get to her, lol. It was good to get a bit of doll work done and good to get a couple of the smaller projects out of the way. It was a good Monday and good to be able to ease back in. My craziest crazy time of year is done, but I do want to get some more things done for the swap meet. I need to finish a couple of dolls and then... maybe I'll take another week off.