Market Prep, Part 2.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

You guys said you wanted to follow me behind the scenes as I prepare for Quilt Market. Well, ask and you shall receive... but just be warned that it's not all wine & roses around here. There are some, shall we say, less glamorous tasks that I feel I need to show in order for you to get the full scope of it.

I wish all I had to do was make pretty pillows and floral arrangements... that would definitely fall into "THE GOOD" category. But sadly that's not the case.

I've spent the past couple of days working on my Andalucia bookmarks (giveaways for the show) and the greeting cards. If I had unlimited funds I would've paid a company to do all this for me, but alas I don't so here's what I've been doing:



1. I had my bookmarks cut down to size at Jon's company.
2. I used a corner rounder to punch out those lovely rounded edges.
3. I used an 1/8" hole punch to drill the tiny hole at the top.
4. I attached metal grommet with my grommet tool.
5. I inserted and tied the ribbon.

And yes, of course, I did this in steps... all the rounding first, then all the hole-punching next, and so on and so forth. I had to do this to 200 bookmarks, so that means I punched out 800 corners by hand... OUCH! And the worst part is that this is just half the order, I have another 200 coming my way in a couple of days... different Andalucia design on the front... kill me now!



In between bookmark assembly steps I gave my fingers a bit of a rest by switching gears and working on my greeting card assembly. This one is not as hard on the fingers... just monotonous as heck! The steps on this one are just:

1. Fold greeting card in half (they come pre-scored so it's a breeze!)
2. Match up with colored envelope
3. Insert in cello sleeve
4. Put in stack with same-style cards



That's just a small fraction of the cards in that picture. I still need to assemble about 200 more. eeek! I plan to offer these at Quilt Market... retail & wholesale. So, if you are coming to the show look me up!


By the way, if you can't make it to Quilt Market, the bookmarks and greeting cards are available in my Etsy store and everything is 10% off the advertised price for a limited time. Just write the discount code "Go Andalucia!" at check-out and I will refund you 10% off your total order via PayPal after payment receipt. :)

So there you have it...

THE BAD: having to punch out hundreds of corners and holes with my bare hands.
THE UGLY: the way my bare hands looked after punching out hundreds of corners and holes.

I actually had to soak my fingers in ice cold water to alleviate the redness & swelling... yep, not a pretty sight!

Needless to say, I was in no shape or mood to cook dinner last night , so Jon picked up food from our favorite Chinese restaurant (mmmm... they have the best egg drop soup and pork egg foo young I've ever tasted!)

This was my fortune:



I think I need to take this as leeway to get my manicure and pedicure once this is all done and over.

Or maybe I just need to finally take a shower.