My only excuse is that it's an extremely busy week!

I love clutch bags and need to make many more!

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted yesterday. Client meetings. Writing ads (three). Sewing. Yes, it's a busy week.

Today I worked in my studio for six hours before moving on. This evening I was at Bayou City Art Festival at 5 p.m. writing, then attended the Judges' orientation before moving on to dinner with last year's auction committee from the Houston Heights Association, a consultation meeting about a TV interview, and finally a few minutes with Mr. B. Yes, it is a VERY busy week!

Today I'm creating four aprons and two clutch bags in my studio. I told myself that I needed to focus on what I need to do between now at Sunday at 5 p.m. It worked!

Nice fall weather

New to this year's Bayou City Art Festival Downtown: the
unLIMITed Stage featuring10 terrific local and regional bands.

The long awaited cool front arrived in Houston. I'm hoping that the beautiful fall weather will continue for the next seven days through the downtown Bayou City Art Festival. Oh please, let us have good weather through the festival!

Last night when Mr. B and I were out, I had on a pair of tin earrings I made. I was stopped by people I didn't know, asking where I got the earrings. It was very exciting to talk to people about one of my crafts and send them to the two Houston stores that sell them.

Today I'm creating bags. I made three more today, plus Mr. B worked on my wooden crate. I wanted him to put a bar inside the crate so I could hang necklaces from it. Perfecto! Also, I bought a small wrought-iron table that needed cleaning, which he did. The little table will sit on my table and give some height to my display. The how-to books say to use vertical space, as well as the horizontal table. My display items are coming together. I just need to keep sewing and making jewelry.

Bags, bags and more bags!

Argh! I need a pirate costume for next Saturday's
Art Heist: Treasures of the New World.

After a morning of being lazy, I went upstairs to my studio and made three great bags. I still don't know how many I should have for the Santa Fe Recycle Art Festival, so I just keep making bags and totes. The three I made today are like messenger bags. I didn't take photos of them, but will do so tomorrow.

This evening Mr. B and I had a date. First we went to G Gallery and Redbud Gallery. The art was good and it was great to see people we haven't seen in some time. Next we went to the biannual art opening at Winter Street Studios. There wasn't anything there that I couldn't live without although I think Mr. B would have purchased a collage if I had given the go ahead. I liked the piece, but we already have artwork in the Houston house and in the casita in Santa Fe that aren't hanging. So much art. So little wall space.

Today I'm creating a design template for committees and subcommittees to use. There's an established brand that shouldn't be diluted by committees and subcommittees having their own logo designs. Apparently others didn't learn this principle in Marketing 101, 201, 301, 401, etc. It's OK.

A better day

My fabrics. There's still another wall, but they're organized!

I've gotten support for identifying and talking about the elephant in the room earlier in the week. For example, longtime friend and former office mate Kay commented that if what I said brings about a positive change, then what I did was good. I appreciate that! I also appreciate Stacey – I'm not sure she follows my blogs – who called to say she respected the courage it took to speak about what I did. Today has been a much better day for me because of the support from friends and knowing that I've empowered improvements.

After lunch with good friend Sandy, I came home to a house without electricity. The power was out all over the Houston Heights. There was no sewing today, but I did go to the fabric store to get more trim that I use for straps.

Today I'm creating a logo that all committees can use. I don't want to dilute the organization's brand, so let's not have separate logos for every committee. Instead, I figured out a way to use the current logo, but modify it to include the committee name. That's why, in my mind, I'm a creative marketing genius.

Control

Cute little bag I reworked yesterday. I'm proud that I was
able to get the stripes to match in this vintage fabric.

I'm disappointed in myself that I've let the events of last night impact my mood today. My thoughts have been all over the place when I need to be focused on what's important and my current commitments. But telling myself to "snap out of it" doesn't seem to be working.

The "mom" who is inside my head and controls my guilty feelings is slapping me around, telling me that bringing up an unpleasant topic last night was hurtful to others and I should be ashamed. But the adult woman who resides in another part of my head tells me to be proud that I brought to light an issue that needed to be addressed. Who do I believe? Why can't there be a happy medium?

Today I'm creating a bag, I think. I haven't been upstairs to my studio yet and have an event that begins in three hours. So although I still have time to sew, I'd rather curl up in a ball and fret. What to do. Since the most productive thing to do would be to go upstairs and sew for two hours, I'm hoping I choose that alternative.

It didn't go as I thought it would, but what did I expect?

Reworked totes are much better than where they started.

I went up to my studio this afternoon and had a great time. Just Rose and me. I had a couple of tote bags that I had started about a year ago, but didn't like the direction so I set them aside. Today I picked them up, tore them apart, and started fresh. The result (see the pic of the day) are two really cute totes. This was the good part of my day.

Tonight I was invited to a meeting for open conversation about the Houston Heights Spring Home & Garden Tour and surrounding events. I wonder if I went there with a bad attitude because once the dialogue began, I didn't feel it was really an open conversation at all. I got the feeling that decisions had already been made. If this was the case, I was wasting my time! I brought up some not so positive elements of last year's tour, and really ruffled some feathers, even though that was not my intent. But how can you have an open conversation without the positive and the negative? It wasn't my intent to hurt anyone's feelings, but that is certainly what happened. As of now, I'm sure that Mr. B is still welcome in the neighborhood, but I'm not sure about me.

Today I'm creating a bio. I was struggling with what was sent to me. I struggled with trying to keep what someone else had written, but really wasn't happy with it. Dr. Mc reviewed it and gave me some direction. I walked away from it for a couple of hours and when I went back to it, everything fell into place. This is exactly what happened with the tote bags. I wasn't happy at first, but after time everything fell into place with them. I think that's what I need to do with the events of this evening's meeting. Just walk away, think about what happened, and get back to it when my mind is clearer.

Crazy, busy day

Saw this rocker today and thought it matched
a Stickley chair at the house, but no.

Oh. My. Gosh. If there isn't already enough on my October calendar, my Tuesday client added several new events to my calendar. I love the work, but also enjoy sleeping every once in awhile. Right now I'm resting until after dinner when I'm going to go upstairs and sew. When I was organizing my studio, I found several bags that I started, but didn't complete. Those are my projects for this afternoon.

While searching for a mirror for my client's office, I found another vintage suitcase. Great price and size. The outside is classic and weathered, and the inside is damn near perfect. I also found a couple of crates that I'm going to have Mr. B alter just a bit for me. One is sturdy, but the other needs to be stabilized. Then I'm going to ask him to put a small wooden dowel in the inside at the top so I can hook necklaces. Should be a cute display.

Today I'm creating mailers, ads and an e-blast. Tomorrow I should have some pics
to post.