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10.25.2008

Fuses Are Overrated...

Apparently, if you try to run three lights, an iron, a sewing machine and a space heater on one side of the house-- you'll knock the power out. I'd say Dad has had his fill of the basement and the fusebox considering he's had to wander down there several times in the last few days to bring light back into Mom's sewing room.

It would help if she had carpet on the floor, but since she started her "Send the Kid to Greece" project, it hasn't really happened. Perhaps I should invest in some of those carpet squares we sell at work, maybe it'll help retain heat. Or maybe it'll just annoy the hell out of her, I don't know. I just know, from 18 years of experience living on the second floor of our house, that winter is the less desirable of the seasons to live upstairs during. She seems to be progressing fairly well. Only a few setbacks I'm aware of and the usual motherly perfection that might slow her down. But I suppose I'd rather her care what her products look like, then she just slap a few purses together and call it good. I can't expect any less from her even if I wanted to, she doesn't leave any stone unturned when it comes to these projects. She worries and second-guesses and goes above and beyond the necessary for making these. Plus, she's way more patient then me. I would have lost my mind a long time ago with these things, but at least I admit that I have no talent when it comes to crafty things.

I admit it.

Anyway, as I've said, she appears to be making decent progress, though I'm sure she'll disagree with me. If she ever actually blogs again ;0)

I wish I could come with her to this craft show, but alas-- as always, I'll be working. Typical anymore, since this lovely new college leaves me no free week days to work. So weekends are shot.

I will not miss working at the store. I'm sure I'll continue working, just hopefully not there so I can be more involved if she continues this little business of hers.

Well, time to go eat-- finally. We'll be back later, and hopefully Mom will blog herself this time.

~Jaina

10.17.2008

New Layout.

Well, it looks like Mom has another full evening of sewing, so I guess I'll update. I'm attempting to change the layout of the blog, but I'll need motherly approval before anything is set. I guess we'll have to see what she thinks of this one, though I have several others in line, just in case.

She is rather picky.

10.14.2008

I See a New Machine in your Future

So, sewing machines are the devil. Last night was a particular challenge seeing as Mom's lame machine decided to take a cigarette break right in the middle of her working on a purse. It started seizing up and no matter how long she pushed the foot pedal, the needle wouldn't go up or down. Just made a terrible "whirr-not-going-to-work-for-you-stop-pushing-the-pedal-whirr"sound. She had to wait until Dad got home to figure out how to pull the thing apart and oil it.

It ended up turning into a project, so she wasn't able to work much more on the purse she was sewing, but Dad started putting it back together when he got home from work today. Which of course, lead to the usual, two or three screws that had to come from somewhere, you just can't seem to find it now that you're trying to put it back together.

The most ridiculous part, is that when she pulled it apart, there really wasn't anything to clean out. It would have made some sense that it decided to stop working because it was being choked up by chenille bits, but it wasn't. Just decided it was done.

Lame.

So now it appears to be working again so Mom can continue toiling over these purses. I think she's completed three purses this weekend/week, though don't quote me on that. They're looking really good and I'm excited to see people's reactions, I'm not sure if I'll be there for the craft show, since I work every weekend, but I know they'll do well.

The way I see it, either she'll be surrounded by fellow crafty people and they'll understand how talented she is with these purses or she'll be surrounded by not-crafty people who sell those ridiculous marshmallow shooters, in which case anyone there will still see her talents and want to buy her purses anyway. Her purses are fabulous and everyone is going to want one.

I don't know how to make her feel better about it, but I understand why she's nervous. I feel the same way when I show anyone a story I've written or a film I've made. Nothing was more frightening then watching my Dad read a story I had written and it wasn't even an original work-- it was a fanfiction...

So I get it. But I still wish I could reassure her.

Well, I've got some other things to do, until then-- keep a lookout for more updates!

~Jaina

10.12.2008

Kids These Days...

So my daughter has the nerve to tell me that updating my profile is not blogging. My thought is that if it needs a password and a keyboard, it's blogging. She disagrees. So I guess it's my turn to "blog".


I've been spending most of my free time in the sewing room. David's been good about sliding food under the door. I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for this show! I'm notoriously slow when it comes to design and production on these purses. I tend to agonize over e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. And now I've committed to getting done 30 or so. yikes...


And when I leave David alone too long, he finds weird stuff. Like last night. He can't just drive off and get me that yummy Rocky Road ice cream I've been drooling for. Noooo. He has to bring a special friend into the house. A giant BUGGY eyed friend. With fangs. And claws. Apparently the giant Praying Mantis was lonely. He certainly must have begged to be stuffed in a empty fish bowl with a cellophane lid. I had to insist David place a rubber band on the bowl to keep the lid on. The last time we had one of these buggy visitors, it nearly ate us into bankruptcy with the amount of crickets we had to buy it for supper every week. OK, show of hands...how many of you think David is a child? Not so fast. He's an adult (but obviously not grown up!) Bugs stay outside.


So I hope I can count this as a blog. Hey, Jaina! Tag! You're it!!

10.07.2008

Scatter Joy Vintage Opens...

Hello and welcome to Scatter*Joy*Vintage's blog. Please forgive us as we get settled into our new routine, we're not used to writing about ourselves!

So, how about a story?

Once upon a time a mother sent her daughter to a nice college (excuse me, a very nice college). While there, her daughter was given the opportunity to travel to Greece for two weeks in order to better understand the foundations of education. Her daughter being an elementary education major, this seemed too wonderful to ignore and the mother agreed to send the daughter on her adventure. But how to pay for the plane tickets?

The daughter suggested selling her kidneys, which at the time, seemed to be as feasible as growing a money tree in the backyard. However, the mother was more practical and took the opportunity to put her love of vintage fabrics and her sewing skills to the test. And so, Scatter*Joy*Vintage was born (asterisks' and all) making beautiful vintage chenille purses available to all.

True story folks.

Beth, also known as Mom, is the creator of the pretty purses you'll soon be seeing in her shop on Etsy.com (her site can be found in the full profile). After discovering her love of chenille fabrics (eBay feeds addictions), Mom has devoted the majority of her sewing room to her auction winnings and treasure finds and is now putting them to use in her purses.

Jaina, also known as the kid, is a junior in college and is, unfortunately, the one making her mother go through all the trouble of sewing and selling these pretty purses. She's also in charge of anything computer oriented, since Mom insists she has no idea how to make this stuff work. She hopes to be a Kindergarten teacher one day and is grateful to her mom for putting so much work into all of this.


Both Beth and Jaina will update this blog when there appears to be something worthwhile to mention. Possibly craft show dates for those who live in the area or new purses available on Etsy.com. At the moment there are no purses listed in Beth's shop, but that's because she is focusing on her first craft show coming up soon. In the next few days, when Jaina isn't in class at the really nice college, she may upload a few photos of the purses Beth has already made for family and friends so you can all see how lovely they are.

So please, keep an eye out for the pretties and we'll be sure to let you know when they're available.

~Jaina