Quilts for Christmas, Babies and Just Fun!

We took a late-winter/early-spring vacation last week. It was so nice to get out of Snow Country for awhile. I was having so much fun golfing that I forgot to take pictures - oops.

But instead I will show you what I had been working on prior to vacation, and finishing up this week.

First, there is this Scrappy Christmas quilt which I have finished quilting - just needs binding:

Then I have a fun little baby quilt for those cute little boys who are hard to buy for.  This one has browns and blues and oranges and is pretty adorable!

I've also finished piecing this fun quilt with Ruby fabrics.  The backing is in, so it is ready to quilt, also.

So, the point of all this is, I have my desk work caught up after vacation (there is always, always a pile to catch up with), so now I can quilt and sew the rest of the week.  I'm a happy camper!

I've linked up to the Linky Party Tuesdays at Quilting by the River.  Why not hope on over there to see what everyone else has been up to this week?  We also have WIP Wednesday for the Idaho Etsy Team, and Quilt Story has their Fabric Tuesday.  It's all good!

           

Join the Pinterest Linky Party

Just when you thought you were already spending way too much time on the computer, along comes another great way to expand your horizons. It's a new Pinterest Linky Party for crafters.  You can join now by going to Flamingo Toes blog for all the simple instructions on how you can sign up.


This is a neat way to get a ton of new ideas. I'm going to go cruising now. Catch ya later!

A Great Giveaway!

It's always fun to enter a giveaway, not only for the chance to win some incredible prizes (i.e., fabric!) but to find blogs that open new doors!  If you haven't run across Fabric Envy yet, head on over here to check it out. Andrea has a great site that is very well set up, fast and easy to use, and has some great prices on fabrics.

And this week she is giving away fat quarters from the Hello Luscious and Freshcut lines. Check it out now, and tell her Barb sent you!
Hello Luscious and Freshcut Giveaway at Fabric Envy

Good luck!

Get Smart With Your Shop

With March roaring in like a lion, it's a great time to re-evaluate your product line.  Step back and look at your shop in the eyes of the customer, and remember that the customer has about 1.6 trillion items that she/he can potentially look at whilst on Etsy.  So basically you have a split second to capture someone's attention enough to click through to your item, and even then, click on to more items in your shop. 

A daunting task - just a split second to bring them into your shop!

I'm going to spend some time this month going over my shop with a fine tooth comb and ask myself questions like these:

1. Is my product something people want to buy? Or am I just having fun making it?
2. Are my photos in focus? Are they bright enough for people to actually see what they are buying? Do I  have a close up of the item so that you can really get up close and personal?
3. Are my products Arranged in a pleasing, logical order with the items I'd like to sell most placed in the top several spots in the shop?
4. Do my Shop Title and Shop Announcement contain the same words that reflect what people might put into a Google search bar when they are looking for your item? The search engines pick up on the first few words in the sentence, so if I say (like I did initially) "Welcome to my shop!", those search engines aren't going to send anybody my direction.
5. Are the product tags the ones most people would choose when Searching for a product on Etsy?
6. Spend some time looking around at other shops that carry similar product lines but focus on the shops that are making sells. What are people actually buying? And again, go back to Question 1 to see if you are selling anything people want to buy.

Remember, folks are only going to browse for a second or two. What can I do to entice them to stay longer?  All suggestions are welcomed!





Click on the Store Front Logo above to hop on over to Blue Bird Sews to who else has linked up this month and gather some more ideas to improve your business.