It's been ages since I last blogged! A lot has happened in the last few months and it has provoked a few small changes in my business. Before I talk about the changes I'll give you some background.....
Before I had my daughter in 2011 I just ran the cross stitch side of my business alongside my day job at a building society. When my daughter was born the cross stitch side took a bit of a back seat, I didn't release any new designs for around three years and I re-discovered my love for crochet and it unexpectedly turned into a successful business in its own right. The cross stitch side ticked along in the background and I released a handful of designs over a long period of time but I didn't give it much focus and it all got a bit neglected!
Anyways a couple of years ago I was contacted by Cross Stitcher magazine to do some commission work for them. It was a dream come true! I'd actually written to several Cross Stitch mags sending them my portfolio almost twenty years ago however I was politely rejected (see one of my rejection letters below!) so being contacted all these years later was a real result for me!
Working for the magazine has ignited my love of designing again and it has forced me to push my ideas and release designs more often. This in turn has resulted in an increased exposure and interest in my design work and has meant that after 6 years working every spare hour of every day crocheting to pay the bills I have finally been able to take my foot off the pedal a bit and get my evenings and weekends back (mostly!)
What this also means is that my crochet productivity has slowly decreased, you've probably noticed that if you follow me on social media. Fear not though! I'm not stopping crochet completely, I love it too much! However it will be more on my terms...…..making ten unicorns one after the other all the same colour can be tedious work for even the most disciplined of people, so I have needed to take a step back and figure out a way I can still do custom orders but perhaps not to the level I was, I didn't want it to become tedious and I was scared it might eventually cost me my crojo if I carried on making the same things over and over.
So you will notice a few changes in the way I work over the coming months. I'll still take on a small handful of custom orders but perhaps not as frequently and in such volume as before. I'm going to try and work more on a ready made basis going forward so look out for shopping events the first one being on November 16th at 8pm.....several wreaths available!
Finally I want to thank all those who have ordered from me, cross stitch and crochet, and all those who follow me on social media, without you I wouldn't have a business at all and I am extremely grateful!
Faye