A New Venture

About a year ago,
I got hooked on making my own feed tote grocery bags.
The intention at first was to provide our family with sturdy, unique bags
to use for our weekly shopping trip.
Then my friend Lynn came up with the idea of selling them at the farmers' market.
Long story short, 
there is now a vendor at the market who sells my daisy totes
at her booth.
Over the holidays, over 70 orders were filled.
Needless to say, I've been busy.

Tonight I will be selling for the first time at a community street fair.
Our town is having a "vintage flea market/food truck" event.
There are supposed to be over 100 vendors, food, music and lots of folks milling.

Back in April, I brought home Maxine,
my vintage Singer 301 sewing machine.
We are bonded for life.
I've gotten into a wonderful groove of daily sewing,
trying to get my inventory back up.
It's a multiple-step process, beginning with fetching the bags,
washing them, cutting to size, sewing, tagging and finally selling them.
I feel so blessed to be able to do something I adore,
while helping the environment,
and bringing a little money in for our family.
It's been an enjoyable evolution and I feel good about where we're headed with the project.

We are creating handmade products that are upcycled,
so they don't end up in the landfill.
They are practical enough for everyday use,
are easy to clean, and come in a wide variety of patterns and colors.
This isn't a commercial, 
I'm just so psyched at what God had in store for me!
Sometimes the stars line up just right, ya know?

Constructing them has been the easy part.

For me, the most difficult challenge will be in the selling.

I'm an introvert,

so this event will really take me out of my comfort zone.

I'm hoping for the best,
and even if I only sell a few daisy totes, that'll be fine.
I think it's important to challenge myself
so that I continue to grow into the person I am meant to be.

I'm looking into other local events as well,
to see how far we can take this new venture.
Some folks have suggested Etsy,
and we may enter that arena at some point,
but for now, we're goin' local.

Wish me luck!
I'll let you know how it goes!
Here's an update.




"Challenges are what make life interesting; 
overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
-Joshua J. Marine