Forward Focus

It's been a while and a lot has happened. Two days after my last post my mom passed away. It's been a long road, and at times it feels like it was yesterday, and sometimes it feels like it's been a year. I will likely write more about that later, but right now I want to focus on the future while still remembering the past.

But first, let's talk about these dresses. I went to Joanns after I got back from the funeral and decided I needed to work on getting a final dress done. So I chose some awesome fabric. I REALLY love this combo.

The purple fabric on the right is a super nice feeling satin. That would be one side of the dress with an appliqué of some kind (fox, fox face, etc?) with the fox fabric. Then the other side of the dress would be the fox fabric with the orange dot fabric as the appliqué. Then I would mirror the appliqué in the cutout on the back. The orange/pink/white ribbon is the loop closure for the awesome orange button. LOVE IT! Now, I just have to work on it. ;) I think Liv is going to look super cute in it. I can't wait!

But let me tell you a story....

So I was showing this fabric to some friends the day that I bought it. I was trying to convince one of them to go into business with me. She could be the business side (marketing, accounting, paperwork) and I could be the sewing/designing side. Because it's been hard trying to do both. Basically everything moves at a snails pace. So as I was telling her she should do this with me, I also told her about another business idea I had. And as I was explaining it, I realized the other idea is what I really wanted to pursue.

I love these little dresses. I love that I made them up, and I love the color combos that could happen. But I was passionate about this other idea. I feel like it could make a difference for someone. And I don't think a little girls dress can do that as well. There's a difference between loving something, and being passionate about something else. There's a "why" behind the passionate idea, which is to help other people remember those who are important to them.

There's also a difference between my market audience. My business idea I am passionate about is a more narrow market. And the product is much more expensive, so that also narrows things a bit. So it may be a hard go - but that's ok with me. I have never seen anything like this, so I feel like I may have a niche.

But I'm going to go backward in time a bit before I tell you. I was talking with one of my other friends from Nebraska months and months ago. I knew I wanted to start a sewing business of some kind, I just didn't have an idea. I told her I loved to quilt, but it's hard to sell quilts because they are so expensive. Most people don't want to pay the price for a custom quilt -- mostly when they can get a soft blanket at Costco or Target for $20. So I kind of gave up on the idea.... At the time, we were going through the roller coaster of my mom's declining health and I wanted a way to bridge the gap between quilting and genealogy - or remembering the people who have touched our lives. I just really didn't know if it was possible to connect quilts and genealogy.

So after pinning a ton of quilt ideas off Pintrest, I found the idea. So while I hesitate to put this picture up on my blog, because it wasn't my original idea, but I can't find the original source from Pintrest. It just leads to an image without a webpage. Here goes....

And I'm sure once I make this quilt (one for me remembering my mom) I will work in my originalities, so it won't be a knock off this particular quilt. I just hope this quilt can be a jumping off place for my quilts.

So I'm planning on getting some of my mom's clothes (or something fabric and memorable) and (with my dad's permission!) cutting them up to appliqué them as the hearts on the top.  Then at the bottom I think it would be great to embroider  my dad, and maybe my whole family. And this girl is holding a coffee mug or something, but that's not really what I'm going for. So I will figure out something else. Also, if it looks good I can embroider names and dates of people on the quilt too.

I'm just excited - I feel like this is perfect. My mom had such a passion for quilting. I watched her, and I learned so much. Now I feel like I can use what she taught me to carry on her memory through quilting, and also through a quilt depicting that love her, miss her, and remember her.

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So for my short terms goals, I'm writing out a business plan. How fun is that going to be? Wish me luck!

And please someone business oriented speak up and join in my business venture! ;) It will be fun....