Also, I’d like more people to recognize that a business is just that – a business. Businesses need plans. They need markets. They need forethought. They require financial strategy. But most of all – businesses based on arts & crafts need just that – ARTS & CRAFTS.

As I mentioned, I’d love to do this sort of thing for a living, but until I have something solid to base a business on, until I have something that is important to me to make and which I feel I’m skilled at, I won’t do it. I don’t want to be some other person selling the Same Old Stuff. And I don’t think that’s sustainable income.

For the time being, I craft because I do like the process. Even when I’m swearing at a joint that doesn’t work, or figuring out how to sew piping (crappily!) for the first time, I do it because I enjoy doing it. I like my uneven quilt corners and my wonky crocheted rabbit – handmade is inherently imperfect, and in your imperfections there is a story of the making and there is personality. Take pride in your imperfections.

Sometimes I catch myself getting impatient, concentrating on the end result. And then I stop and think – if I’m not enjoying it, I should stop. The purpose of this is not what happens later, not end results, not the outcomes. I do that all day, and this is my alternative life. This is about being here now, it’s about watching things unfold as they will, about skill and effort. The doing is the reward, and ultimately, it doesn’t matter what I make.

Anyway, people are so rude nowadays in general. They have so little respect for people’s feelings or experiences, and they confuse honesty with cruelty. Have a little more tact, people! And appreciate a person’s art, and just the person, period. (OK, off my soapbox).