Quilts to make!

Here is my finish for this friday... i think i missed a couple fridays... im not sure life has been so chaotic lately.

This little table topper is made from orphan hst's. I made a runner from the same hst's and it sold already.

I still need to finish the quilt, but i will, its for my husbands daughter.

I used some red and white striped fabric for the binding and it has a solid blue backing.

I quilted it with my "straight lines" lol i use the quote marks because as you can see... they aren't really straight at all! 

Ive linked to finish it up friday on crazy mom's quilt

But the good news is i have some commissioned work to do!!! I sold a king sized quilt that i have been working on. I really never expected to sell anything for that much money and i was so floored when she said yes! and i have a tshirt quilt for a friend. (it is the first of three) 

Something struck me about the price of quilts and what people can make making them. We live in an economically depressed area. I have recently considered getting a job but when i realized that by the time i paid for the gas to get there and the babysitter for the 2 yr. old grandchild and take taxes out, i would be spending over half of my check before i even made it. Add in we only have one vehicle and the sharing a ride when we worked in 2 different directions would be a nightmare. We decided with my etsy stores i am making almost half of what i would be bringing home and im enjoying that! With a little work i should be able to double what im making. So... i am going to build my etsy stores. Now... the same day i decided this someone asked me what i would charge for a king size quilt. I hesitantly gave her a price that is almost double what i would make a week at a job (Im talking gross pay, before i paid a babysitter and so forth) and she didn't bat an eye. I figure when im done it will be about 45 hrs of work. To me this was amazing. I get to make more money this week doing something i love than i would make doing a J-O-B.

Someone living in a less economically depressed area would say... my time is worth more than that because i am a skilled worker. and in areas other than this, skilled workers make a heck of alot more money than i charged. Great, so am I but when my choices are making quilts which i love, and working at the dollar store which is about the only place hiring within an hour commute (who cares if im skilled or have a degree... its the ONLY job).... id rather make quilts for twice that pay!  and i might even get to buy some fabric with what i make!!! 

Etsy is really a wonderful thing because i did search and look on there to see what others were charging. Since it was my first large sale, i did go for a little less than the middle of what others were charging! 

Pretty Patriotic Table Runner

I think this has become my latest favorite red and blue piece! I dont know what it is about the red and blue but it is by far my favorite!

Another orphan block table runner. Yes these are orphans from my finish last week!!!

I picked out the r4 happy red and blue ones, added some white corners

I

Quilted it with my favorite close straight line quilting... is this matchstick? I dont know what to call it... and put my favorite red and white striped binding on it (going to have to buy more im almost out!)

It was a really hard photo shoot to do with little sophie, she liked the new blankee and kept trying to steal it as i was photographing it! 

Update on family.....

Ralph is doing much better. He is able to resume some of his activities although were not letting him horseshoe yet. He gets tired easily and Im sure he needs to keep working to build up endurance again. (if you didn't see last weeks post, he had a heart attack friday night caused by stress, his children literally broke his heart!!) 

Buck seems to be doing better, he and his family have moved in with us. Caty has finally hired other people for zippys so Ralph and I shouldn't have to work as much for her. I think she realized that she cant work us to death anymore! 

I did open a 2nd etsy store. I had so many patterns and they didn't fit in with my vintage sheets and quilts so I decided to just do a store for them. I got several in over the weekend while at the hospital but they are selling so fast! Now that im not working so hard I should be able to keep up. I have over 150 sewing patterns to add!!!

www.etsy.com/uneedapattern

linking up with 

Finish it up Friday at crazy moms quilts 

Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict