Seller update

I achieved my first $200 week in sales. If I can maintain that, I will be closer to reaching my goal of $1,000 a month in sales. Currently, I have 2,300 active listings. 

I culled out the Christmas sweaters I had listed on eBay for at least a couple of years. I will get a few dollars at the clothing reseller. 

Etsy suggested I supplement my tiki bar quilt with a video. Good thing I checked the listing because one of the images did not load correctly and wasn't showing. 

https://tikitamiproducts.etsy.com/listing/1609248955

I hadn't used iMovie in awhile. It took some doing to figure out how to edit the music track. 

I discovered this YouTuber who analyzed Etsy trends. One of those trends is Wall Art. So what did I do? I added that hashtag to my Etsy listing.

Here's to lots of sales into the New Year!

Catsville quilt completed

The food bank raffle quilt top is now completed. My first creation utilizing all new Catsville fabric. When I began patchwork piecing, I used secondhand fabric. It is a good thing I did because it is a deceptively complex craft. It takes a lot of practice, and a dose of patience. If you buy fabric at retail prices, it can get pricey. I spent approx. $150 in fabric to create the last two quilt tops. 

This one didn't go as well as planned. In retrospect, I realized I used blocks I made from the previous project but had rejected because they were cut short. This caused all sorts of trauma when I got to the quilting part. 

I bought a beautiful orange/golden thread that went well with the top and backing. My son's quilt is queued up to bind, my daughter's quilt will be created from the Lava Lamp pattern. Here is the first fabric pull. 

I have sooo many cute sewing patterns to list - but first up has to be yarn! 🧶

50 percent off at thrift the day after Thanksgiving meant I gained a lot more sewing patterns. They were all of the specialty ones. My best finds are when the items are just rolled onto the floor or in the bins. It truly makes me happy. 😀

Hello to new visitors to this blog. I had another rush of a few thousand visitors over this holiday weekend. 

Ending the post with the best of the trail cam. The year date is off, it was taken in 2023.

Happy Thanksgiving

Jello molds used to be a big thing way back when. Treating you to these images from a 1941 Knox Gelatin publication.

I process through a lot of sewing patterns, and I have seen all kinds of quilt designs. When I saw this one, I knew it was a keeper. I have just the right type of remnant fabrics for this type of project. 

As might be expected, my interests on YouTube tend toward sewing pattern sellers. I first discovered Stephanie Canada through a now-intermittent-posting Thrifting podcaster. I think she is a delight. 

The backing and all of the blocks have been completed for the donation quilt to the Sacramento Food Bank gift basket raffle. This weekend will be spent completing this project.

I had considered buying an electric rotary cutter for fabric but me + machinery = 💀

I opted for a manual rotary cutter but angled so it is easier on the hands and wrists. 

Don't forget to visit daily in December for my Countdown to Christmas posts!

Hawaiian shirt quilt completed

Commission quilt completed with first Tiki Tami Products Label! 💥🌠🎉

These king-sized quilts are behemoths! Even though I didn't have to quilt it, I decided on hand sewn French binding. Total time spent just binding the quilt? 10 hours. I plan on machine binding all of my upcoming quilts. 

Links to my previous posts about the process. 
Part-1
Part-2
Part-3
Part-4
Part-5

Here I am proudly displaying the quilt with the mini-quilt behind me.

My tiki bar quilt listed on Etsy is the only one of its kind. I am curious to see if it will sell - with best chances coming in December with gift purchases. 

eBay seller update: Yarn has been moving in sales these past couple of weeks. It only makes sense, if someone has a project or has requested a certain color or certain yarn. These sales make room for my church rummage sale yarn haul. Still in tubs and bags, they have to be the first listing session in my queue. 

I utilize a catering box as my yarn storage area. 

I always have sewing patterns to list. Here are those waiting their turn. 

Thanksgiving weekend is fast approaching. I opted for a lunch reservation with a few of the kin at a local restaurant. I added up the cost of hosting the dinner at the house, and it would have cost MORE in money and effort. The effort cost being cleaning and decorating the house, setting the table, preparing the meal, serving the meal, cleaning up after everyone. 

This weekend, the focus will be to work on the food bank donation quilt. The backing is nearly complete and many of the pieces are cut for the blocks. 

Until next time,

Tami

Tiki Bar Quilt test product

The tiki bar quilt has now been listed on Etsy. This is not really my style, as I prefer low volume and shy away from bright fabrics. I envision a tiki bar as dimly lit, so bright fabrics and bold graphics were needed. 

https://tikitamiproducts.etsy.com/listing/1609248955

It measures 34-1/2 x 40-1/2. The quilt was bound with the backing. The tikis and cocktails were raw edge appliqued. There are remnants from men's Hawaiian shirts and some batik fabric.

I had to talk myself out of keeping it. My eye is on the prize of creating a tiki-themed competition quilt for the county fair. 

A quilt currently in progress is for the raffle basket donation to the Sacramento Food Bank. I stumbled on this clearance kitty print fabric at Wally World. A yard and a half for $3.50. Here is the planned backing. Those character-heavy fabrics are tough to match up with a companion fabric. 

This is going to be the piece de resistance in our work team's gift basket. Last year, I made a larger-than-lapsized quilt with a funky cat print fabric. Here is a corner of last year's donated quilt. Our basket received the highest bid - around $200. 

I don't pay much attention to Pinterest, and I should. Seems the numbers for that site are up☝ CNBC reported an 11% increase in sales on that site pinterest-pins-q3-earnings-report-2023  I have been posting images to that site for over 10 years. www.pinterest.com/thriftshpcomndo/ Most of my boards are for my own amusement, some of them link to cute sewing patterns I have listed for sale. There are the Countdowns to Christmas beginning in 2013 to the present. 

When you post a pin, you receive a message "Warming up the Pin Machine," which I think is amusing. 

My next few quilts will be giveaways for friends and family. I hope to have the donation quilt finished by month's end. 

Tiki Bar Quilt Top Completed

This tiki quilt top came together quickly, after I figured out how to place the tikis. Nearly all of the border fabric was precut from my two previous tiki quilt projects.  

This was the first iteration and was about to cut down those side borders until I decided to applique the mixed drinks detail. I was looking for fabric with liquor bottles but I think there might some licensing issue with using those brands in a quilt. 

I rarely label the quilts I give to friends and family.  For this specialty line of quilts, I have purchased fabric labels - Handmade by Tiki Tami Products with my logo. 

I may add borders and am trying to decide on the binding and how to price it. It is one of a kind and the fabrics I used were one offs. It will be "lightly" quilted, just enough to keep it together. 

If I wasn't swimming in fabric before, I am now. I drug the $9.99 thrifted plastic tub to my truck and heaved it up onto the seat. One third of the fabric was batiks! Just the type of fabric I need for my projects. I kept another third and then thrifted back the last third. 

I doubled my donation this year through Our Promise for state workers. I continue to contribute to the Sacramento Food Bank and added a refugee aid organization. I do believe that when you give, you receive many blessings in return. 

Ending the post on a totally different subject - The newest technology wrinkle. A person with malicious intent can merely stand close to you to obtain your credit card information. I bought RFDI sleeves to place over our credit cards that block that kind of activity. Better safe than sorry. 

Here We Are In November

Last month, I picked up a couple of bags of fishing items at thrift. I can't resist these retro lures. In one bag was a 1960s Shakespeare Criterion fishing reel. The Mr. seemed pleased with it. 

Seller update: I continue to cull my non-performing listings on eBay. This time my attention turned to CDs. The one problem with deleting listings is sometime a random one will come through that I have to cancel. It has also happened with a sewing pattern I was sure I sold earlier, then it sold again. I could not find the pattern anywhere, and had to cancel that. 

Back to my CD culling. I kept CDs on the board that were (1) relatively rare, and (2) priced above $15. The ones under $15, of which there were many, were priced at least $10 above my competitors. It was actually embarrassing. No wonder my CDs weren't moving. One of the best features of an eBay listing is the "Pricing" section. There one can find the Average Sold Price, if there is one. 

Clothes were 1/2 off at hospice thrift. A dress rang up as a child's piece of clothing was actually a women's size 9 Jessica McClintock. A delightful gown. My Ugly Christmas Sweater posts on my Countdown to Christmas are being replaced by the Simply Delightful Thrifted Ball Gown. If I can't ever wear it anywhere, I might as well highlight it on this blog.

Also at that thrift shop visit I gained a 99 cent Barbie plastic boat. That will have to be decorated for a Christmas photo shoot before I list that plastic wonder for sale. 

Next month, we will be having a White Elephant Gift Exchange at work. I was delighted to find a fishing reel toilet paper holder $2.99 at thrift. Most definitely White Elephant. 

This cutie pattern was snapped up last month by a buyer. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186115047180

Countdown to Christmas begins on December 1. Be sure to visit each day for fun and unique holiday posts.