I run my shop out of our small but adequate home, and that is the way I like it. I am a homebody, and feel most comfortable here. Sure, I have had jobs in retail and in banking, but those were just interludes in my life long desire to be deep into home and family.
If you ask my husband he would probably say that instead of having my shop in our home, that we live within my shop. I have to admit that it is hard at times to keep the two in balance, but we do alright. The main words in our vocabulary to make this work are love and compromise.
We are truly a family business. I am the maker, my husband is the photographer-bookkeeper-business-manager-handyman. Our daughter joins me in creating a unique quilting design for each quilt and then stitches that pattern onto the quilt using her long-arm quilting machine. She also uses her skill and her machine to support other quilters in finishing their quilting projects.
ETSY is a lifesaver for me
In the past when I created beautiful and useful things for the home environment I sold them at fairs and craft shows across the upper Mid-West United States. Now, at our age, that is out of the question for me and my husband. In late 2019 we experimented with a one-day Christmas Marketplace less than five miles from home, and found even that to be physically taxing. Selling online seems to be the only thing that will work for me now. I will definitely miss the physical contact with customers, but maybe I will be able to replace some of that with things like email, Facebook, video chats, etc.
Feel free to contact me any time.