Uh-Oh Monday

I spent most of yesterday leisurely sifting through instructions, proofing the math one more time and adding illustration options before send about a dozen pages for assorted projects to Emily in New York. By “leisurely” I mean that the better part of the afternoon was spent working on the laptop in front of HGTV while people gardened, bought houses and remodeled their kitchens to keep me company.

The NY office is strictly Monday through Friday. They put in their share of long hours when necessary, but weekends are not included. Owning a retail store gives you an entirely different perspective on the work week. A 24/7 perspective. Although the door may be locked, it is up to you to get the work done whenever you have the time. I would be willing to bet that Emily left her desk neat as a pin and was completely caught up when she left her desk on Friday. Now I’ve gone and filled her virtual inbox with what will amount to a weeks worth of work while she wasn’t looking. And I am not the only designer that does this to her. If I were Em, I would dread Mondays.

Speaking of other designers, for past Markets I have designed the Dimes project for Timeless. Dimes are 10 inch squares of batiks. They are given to shop owners that purchase a specific assortment of 30 bolts of batik fabrics so that they can make a sample. The project must use the 30 squares and you are limited to the 10 inch pre-cut blocks. For this market I designed this:

Timeless thought it wasn’t unique enough so they returned it to me and had Blue Underground design this:

All the work that went into my project is not a total loss because now I can publish the pattern under the TQC name. Not being limited to just the thirty 10 inch squares of fabric, I was able to write the instructions for several sizes and include all of them in the same pattern. It also means that I can make another sample using Moda’s “layer cakes” – which are 10 inch squares of their fabrics. Layer Cakes? Where did that name come from? “Short Stacks” seems more appropriate for a 3/4 inch stack of fabric squares. It stands to reason that if a 5 inch square is called a “nickel” a 10 inch square would be a “dime”! Moda needs to get with the program.

Now I have to: Quilt the Becky Kelly piece, write and print the May BOM handouts, design the ad for the new BOM that is due May 4th, design and print 250 schoolhouse handouts, finish quilting the train, snip those chenille channels, write the instructions for Union Squares, photo the BOM, answer 11 emails and send an E-Update for the shop……

No problem.