A BIT OF HISTORY - 7/2/2008

The first few posts of this blog are from another blog which I no longer use and have deleted. That's why there are dates next to the titles of each post, the dates of the original posts.

I sew and craft. I love to go junkin'. And, lately I've become very interested in recycling, thanks to my teenage grandchildren. So what would be the best of all worlds? Combining those interests -- RE-creating. You know, the whole trash-to-treasure thing.

My first entrepreneural venture was CHIS, back in the late Eighties, with my sister. We did sweat shirt applique. I had the great and goofy ideas. She was the craftswoman. We didn't make any money as we spent everything and MORE on supplies. Then appliqued-everything became available in every store in the nation, so there you go. We had a lot of wonderful designs though, some of them quite intricate.

I continued with CHIS, with my sister's blessing. My next venture came in the Nineties when vests were the rage. I designed the VESTIVAL, which hinged around a reversible vest back and interchangeable vest fronts. I did the whole holiday and theme vest thing. I did publish two of my patterns, "HALLOWEDGE" and "STARS & STRIPS". I sold a few patterns and even conducted a couple of workshops at a local sewing machine store. It was fun.

I went through a long dry spell of not sewing or crafting. Life happens. But I'm at a place now where I'm gathering ideas and supplies. My current endeavor is YAYAMADE, and my main focus is RE-creating, using anything from plastic bags to junk mail and thrift shop finds to make purses and bags, booklets and more. I'm having a ball.