Books, Music, Podcasts, tierneycreates

Getting Gritty (Coasting with the Coasters)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s blog on her SchnauzerSnips page for her latest musings…

Showing Some “Grit”

After posting on Saturday about having “Grit” (powerful motivation to achieve an objective) I figured I better get “Gritty” and work on getting my tierneycreates Etsy shop restocked.

So I had a “power crafting holiday weekend” and made 17 sets of vintage beer coasters.

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I was “coasting” with making coasters!
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Tied up with a beer ribbon and ready to gift to the craft beer enthusiast

They are now listed on my tierneycreates Etsy shop and I am very pleased and relieved.  Now onto the stack of other projects for the shop. Perhaps someday I can return to having 90+ items listed on my shop instead of my recent low of 25 items.

I have been working on better photography on my Etsy shop items. Below is an example from my “photo shoot” for the vintage beer coaster listing:

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Coasters in action!

Once I get some additional smaller items onto the shop, I would like to focus on building my collection of modern quilt table runner offerings.

I have decided to no longer try to sell quilts on my Etsy shop and instead focus on offering reasonably priced smaller items. I removed all the listings for quilts made by me or by “Terry the Quilting Husband” on the tierneycreates Etsy shop. We plan to show and offer those quilts at the 2016 Sisters Outdoor Show.

It is challenging to sell quilts online. If you are a quilter you know how much work goes into making a quilt – time, effort and financial investment. It is difficult (at least for me with my questionable photography skills) to show online how lovely a quilt is in person. A great example is I sold a quilt at the 2015 Sisters Outdoor Show that I struggled for a year to sell on my Etsy shop – which was listed for quite a lower price on the Etsy shop. In person the quilt was spectacular (based on feedback I received) but you cannot always capture the specialness of a quilt with an online photo.

Interestingly potentially customers have contacted me on an Etsy quilt listings to ask me if I am willing to negotiate on the price of a quilt. It appeared they were looking for mass produced department store prices on my quilts. 

Additionally, and this might be a topic for a future blog post, I am temporarily burned out on making lap and bed size quilts. I am interested in focusing on making table runners or small wall hanging size quilts instead.

Naturally I have more ideas in my mind that hours I have available to work on projects (don’t we all?) and I still have that pesky pay-the-bills full-time job in the healthcare industry (and they don’t let me quilt while working – ha!)

I continue to enjoy the audiobook Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth (2016) and I am finding lots of inspiration to keep moving forward on my goals!

POSTSCRIPT: VARIOUS RAMBLINGS 

When I ride my bike or go on a walk a million ideas seem to pop into my head of things I want to share on my blog. I thought I would do a mini “brain dump” in the “Postscript” section of this post:

  • In a previous post, Good Listens, I shared my favorite podcasts. Recently I have added several new favorites to my list:
    • While She Naps with Abby Glassensberg – a crafter and craft business focused podcast by blogger Abby Glassenberg who has a wonderful blog by the same name. I am currently listening to podcast episode #53 which features an excellent interview with Sherri Lynn Wood (author of my beloved The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters: A Guide to Creating, Quilting, and Living Courageously).  
    • Let’s Know Things – an engaging podcast by Colin Wright exploring and discussing different topics. He has a very relaxing voice and his topics are well researched and presented.
    • Chris Hogan’s Retire Inspired – I occasionally listen to Dave Ramsey’s podcasts on managing your finances and Chris Hogan is a protege of Dave Ramsey. Chris Hogan’s style is more appealing – he is warm and hysterically funny financial coach.

All of these podcasts are available for free on iTunes. I might discuss them in more depth in a future post.

  • You may wonder what become of my “Pilot Butte Walks” that I posted about in several posts in April and May. Well they are still on hold for now (first due to my knees, then due to hot days) but I am going bike riding several days a week now in the am before work. I bike ride in the back of an adjoining neighborhood where I discovered an empty block (new house construction that was halted) in which I can safely ride around and around the block listening to podcasts. I try to ride for at least the length of a 30 or 40 minutes podcast before heading home.
  • The Here and Now Habit by Hugh Byrne – I discussed this audiobook in several previous posts (see Listening and Reading and The Guest House). Well I felt that I got all I could get out of it and did not finish it. That of course is the beauty of free public library audiobook downloads. It grew repetitive after a while and I felt like it was time to move on.

I think that is enough “brain dump” for now. Thanks for reading my ramblings. It is time to go to bed and hope I continue to be infused with “Grit” to attack all the awaiting fiber projects!

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

13 thoughts on “Getting Gritty (Coasting with the Coasters)”

  1. I’ve heard it’s hard to sell anything that’s even close to expensive on Etsy. And you make great points as to why that’s so. I was thinking of opening a shop there but since my paintings are mostly small I’m thinking I may do ok because smaller means less expensive. Hard to believe people wanted you to come down on your prices. But as you say, the mass produced stuff is less (and not nearly what , oh you know what I mean, I’m preaching to the choir here). Glad you’re enjoying your book and I hope you do great with these smaller items. I hope you’ll keep us posted. Rock on!

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    1. Laura, it is fun to sell on Etsy and I have met some cool people – one former customer is now even a friend! If you decided you want to give it a whirl I can do that “refer a friend” thing through Etsy and give you like 20 (or is it 40) free listings to start. It is only 20 cents a listing but still it is a savings to get started. I do get a little buzz when something sells it is like: “yay something I made is going to someone’s house!” 🙂

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  2. Congrats on the restocking of your beer coasters. We are enjoying ours. You certainly are a very busy lady with all your projects and your audio books. How do you find time to do it all? Sorry to hear about your knees. My knees are what have put a wrench in my running career. Not sure they will ever heal enough to resume the activity. I hear you about the limiting of the project sizes you are willing to work on. Smaller items bring satisfaction much quicker. Don’t blame you for removing your quilts from your Etsy shop. Nobody should ever ask you to reduce your price in your art. Obviously they are looking in the wrong place if they want a bargain. Go to one of the “marts” for that kind of shopping. There I think I have added my ramblings to yours!

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    1. Thanks Cindy! I have given up hope for my Olympic gymnastics career – ha! But the biking is great for my knees and I am thinking of trying the steep Pilot Butte hike soon in the future. Terry the Quilting Husband helps with all the Etsy projects (I even list him in the About section of the shop) so that helps a lot. 🙂

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    1. You can always try Etsy nearly for free as I can give you a friend referral with a set of free listings and you could try it out. I know there are people successfully selling quilts on Etsy, so do not let my experience discourage you 🙂

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  4. Oh my God, I think we are subconsciously related hahahaha you just spoke my mind. What a coincidence that just last night I was rambling to my friend about making bed size quilts. It has taken over my creative life plus the fact that It’s ridiculously undercharged (people just don’t get it yet, they only know it’s unique). So many things I want to do but I just don’t have the time for and like you I still have a full time job to pay the bills or how else will I fund this obsession! A post is definitely in order, I know I’ll do one when I’m done with these quilts. I enjoyed your rambling😊

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  5. Tierney, I think you are spot on about not being able to capture the beauty of a quilt in just a few photographs! When you see a quilt in person, it is much easier to appreciate all the talent, time and energy that went into each creation. I love to make larger quilts but also find respite in smaller creations as the reward in seeing a project from beginning to end comes much quicker!

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    1. Thank you! I do realize non quilters do not realize how much of our soul (and time, energy, money, etc) go into a quilt. It would be like me not understanding how much went into a beautiful sculpture.

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