Holiday sales with friends

My reversible winter into spring quilted table runner.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my Etsy shop, and everything is 15 percent off through Dec. 2: 

www.sherrielovescolor.etsy.com

Since the Saturday after Thanksgiving is when we traditionally support small businesses, I thought I'd introduce you to three fabulous friends who sell their homemade and vintage items online.

Another of my winter reversible table runners.

Gift bags/tarot bags/treasure bags in my shop.

A little table topper I made years ago.

My daughter, Julia

www.desertspringvintage.etsy.com

This is my daughter Julia's vintage shop. She scoops up vintage finds, including brass, glass, wicker, textiles, Mexican pottery and more. She started her shop three years ago and it has really taken off. I'm so proud of all the hard work she has put into it! It's basically a full-time second job for her.

Lynda Heines

www.lyndaheinesdesigns.etsy.com

I met Lynda, from Indiana, through her blog years ago and it feels like we're good friends even though we've only met through Zoom. She and I started our Etsy shops this month and hers is definitely worth taking a look if you love hand-dyed items. Above is a beautiful set of snowflake napkins that she dyed in green. Below is one of her luscious hand-dyed silk scarves.

Judy Sall

JudySallOriginals

Judy, from Flagstaff, AZ,  and I met through our blogs, but when I started going to Sedona every March to hike we got to meet in person. Every year we meet up for a quilt shop hop, lunch, and a lot of conversation. She is one of the main people who encouraged me to start an on-line shop. She does beautiful dyed scarves and clothing, fabric bowls, and wall hangings. If you're ever in Flagstaff, you can also find her work at the Arts Connection gallery in the Flagstaff Mall: www.artsconnectionaz.com

Have a colorful day

Being thankful

Alone but grateful this year.

This Thanksgiving, I think a lot of us are reflecting more than ever on what we have to be thankful for despite this pandemic that has turned our lives upside down.

Even though my divorce and move to a new state during the pandemic have left me celebrating this year's Thanksgiving alone -- for the first time in 64 years -- I'm exceedingly grateful for family, friends, food, shelter, sunsets, and humor.

My daughter and her five bunnies (my grand bunnies) are far away in Spokane ...

... and my son and his wife are in Madison, WI, but I'm grateful that we can see each other on FaceTime. My siblings and I (who are scattered across the country) will Zoom with our parents on Thanksgiving. I'm grateful they are still with us at almost age 90.

I'm grateful for friends, also scattered across the country, who I'm able to keep in touch with thanks to technology as well as snail mail.

I'm grateful for friends and my daughter who encouraged me to open an Etsy shop this month to sell my art. And I'm grateful to all of those who have bought my art so far, including this quilt below.

And since it's Thanksgiving, I'm also grateful for food! Here is a feast I made for myself earlier this year when I needed something to cheer me up the day the divorce was finalized. If I hadn't moved away from Gig Harbor I would have called an impromptu socially-distanced outdoor party with my friends to share it, but as it was I ate it all by myself.

I'm grateful that I was able to afford this home in Arizona. It was too expensive for me to stay in the Northwest, but since housing here is much more affordable and I crave the desert sunshine, the move to Tucson was a win-win.

The sunsets, sunrises, and scenery around my new home are priceless, and they boost my spirits all day every day!

I'm thankful for my yard guy, who has no idea that I took this picture. He patiently listened to  my panicked call this morning when I discovered a geyser coming up out of my yard that was creating a raging river and flooding the street. It was a break in the irrigation line, which he fixed. Then he showed me how to shut off the system if another leak springs up.

And finally, I'm grateful for humor and the ease with which technology delivers it. Every morning while drinking my coffee, I find humor on Facebook, Instagram and email. Then I get on with my day in a good mood.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

Sale at my Etsy shop!!!

She's jumping for joy because there's a 15% off everything CYBERSALE 2020 going on at

 www.sherrielovescolor.etsy.com !!! 

She's the naked-except-for-jewelry, bold and glitzy lady on my art quilt, "Too Much Fun!", which I just listed in the shop. She's been on exhibit in lots of venues, including the International Quilt Festival, and now she's ready to go to a new home to make someone else smile. 

On a tamer note, I also just made and listed four more gift bags, which started out as tarot deck bags but more people are buying them to use to hold treasures and gifts. The two holly berry bags and snowflake bag would be nice for Christmas giving, and the seashell bag would be fun to hold seashells or maybe a shell necklace. A lot of other bags are also in the shop.

And I made two reversible table runners from that really cute winter bird fabric. (I showed a bag from that fabric earlier, and it sold to a bird-loving friend.)

There are sayings such as, "The quiet of Winter is interrupted by the joyous chirping of anticipated Spring," and "Tis the finest of concertos when all the birds of the wood are singing as one!"

The back is a coordinating winter berry and pinecone print, and I also used that print to finish the short ends with prairie points. Prairie points are squares folded twice into triangles that are used on a lot of traditional quilts.

I'm so grateful to all of you who have supported my shop. Here's a closing thought and last night's sunset:

Have a colorful day

Shop, sell, sew, sunset

I spent more money yesterday at the Talavera pottery store, the Happy Saguaro. I took some of my Etsy earnings and bought colorful bathroom accessories!

The tray holds some of my earrings ...

... the soap dish perks me up in the morning ...

... and this hand soap dispenser is for the

guest bathroom.

I could afford them thanks to people like Chris, who bought my table runner and draped it over her bed to spice up the bedroom.

Today I made another little tarot/gift bag to put in the shop. It's a beautiful winter bird fabric with a silk ribbon drawstring that I painted to coordinate. My shop is:

www.sherrielovescolor.etsy.com

And I'm working on two table runners from the same bird fabric to list in my shop.

Nature continues to color my days, with this spectacular sunset viewed from my front courtyard yesterday.

Have a colorful day

Etsy is taking off!

I've made 10 sales so far on my Etsy shop and I want to thank all of my friends who have supported my art! So far all the sales are to people I know, so thank you, thank you, thank you!

My shop is www.sherrielovescolor.etsy.com. Here are just a few of the quilts that I'm selling. I plan to list more every few days.

The cheerful one above was snapped up by Dawn for $40 almost as soon as I posted a picture of it on Facebook. I'm trying to get used to promoting my shop on social media, even though it makes me feel mercenary. So far it's the only way I've made sales.

"Letting Go," above and below, hasn't been spoken for yet. I made it during a period when I was experimenting with stamping combined with beading. It's small, only 13 inches square. It could symbolize letting go of a loved one or a stage of life or even just a bad habit. It's mounted on mat board so it can just lean on a shelf or go into a frame. Also $40.

I'm starting with my smaller pieces, figuring they're more affordable and will sell easier. 

I haven't listed this next one, "Two Much Fun," but I will soon. My inclination is to put a higher price on it because it was exhibited in the International Quilt Festival in Houston and part of it was used in the show catalog, but I don't know if that really makes it worth any more.

This lushly layered painted one, called "Gateways on the Journey," is also almost ready to list. It's one of my favorite little quilts, but I think I'm ready to let it go.

In other news,  I hiked into the Catalina Mountains last week and this is part of the trail. I have a feeling those mountains are going to work their way into my quilts soon ...

... along with the fiery sunsets.

Have a colorful day