I Followed the Snail's Trail! PQ 12.4

Busy Day.  Quick post.  

 This week's Project Quilting challenge was to be inspired by the traditional quilting block called snail's trail.  It is a pretty challenging block that has been giving even experienced quilters some starts and fits.  

I decided to follow the snail's trail to see where it would lead.  And look what I found!  The snail.

 Over the past year I have been working on understanding pattern design,  It is a non-trivial process.  This is really the first three dimensional pattern I have drafted with which I am some what happy.  I think the issues I have with it are more in the realm of sewing rather than in the pattern design itself.  I am pretty sure that once I shrink it down and hand sew it he will be just fine.  

 As it is, this guy is just over 9 inches long about a bit more than that high.  He is made from quilting cotton and stuffed with polyfil.  Just to be sure he meets the letter of the requirements if not the spirit he has some patchwork appliqued on his shell. 

Castle Story

 This wee knight might be the hero of your story.  Or you might have the princess rescue the dragon from him.  The story changes every time you play.

Story starter stones are the newest addition to the Traveling Chicken and Monster Show.

The rest of the finger puppets that go along with this set include the wizard, king, dragon and princess.

These will be available at upcoming shows and in the shop soon.

Maker Life: Selling All the Things

It can be a double edged sword... 

You go to a show, a small show.  You don't have anything better to do that day but sit and sew.  The sewing you have to do is portable.  You might as well sew at the show where you can talk to people and maybe make a few bucks rather than stay home to work.

But then something happens.  You start selling things.  Lots of things.  You are sewing things up to replace what is on your table.  You sell some more.  You barely have time to sew.  You scour the bottom of the work bag for the popular items.  You discover you don't have any more.  It is a great day for sales.  One of the best ever. 

BUT...  the reason you have a giant work bag full of plushies to sew is that you have several big shows all coming up in short order and you need all the stock you can get for them.  Instead of getting work done in a pleasant location with happy people you burn through your stock and all the work you get done, gets sold immediately. 

And the panic really sets in.  Although past performance doesn't guarantee future results, the fact the customers seemed to have broken the no sales log jam may mean that you need to really kick out the product! 

EEP...  As we say around the WaggonsWest workroom.