Sabbatical

Dear All,

I started Love in Idleness about two years ago and since then I have been overwhelmed by the support, the positivity and the admiration I have received for my work. I have met some amazing people both in the local craft world and via social media and I hope to keep those friends and contacts. However, what started as a hobby has turned in to an obsession of productivity, profit, publicity and all the other worries that come with trying to earn a living from a craft. With my mind swirling around all of these rather grown up subjects I have lost some of my original aims, I find myself flitting from one idea to the next in the hope of striking a chord with an audience group and making that financial break.

The truth is that I am a full time Mother who loves to embroider, I would love to turn this passion into a profitable business but when I have the time to focus on it. At this point I have 40 minutes in the morning when my daughter is in nursery and 40 minutes in the evening when the girls go to bed. In between those times I am running around like a blue arsed fly trying to run a busy home (which we are currently trying to sell). When I am with my children I am finding that my attention is elsewhere and that is unfair on them.

This is why I have decided to take a bit of a sabbatical, this does not mean I will be putting down my needle, oh no! I am hoping to return to some of my longer term projects and I will keep you updated. I am aiming to return in the Autumn, when both of my girls have started full time education, with a clearer idea of how I aim to go forward. 

I am hoping this does not prove to be business suicide. My Etsy and Folksy shops will stay open while they are stocked, in fact on Friday I will be announcing a little Etsy sale, I will be giving all of my lovely Twitter and Facebook followers a code to enter at the checkout that will give you a substantial discount on any purchases made. I will still be on Facebook and Twitter, I love seeing what everyone is up to, and I will post photos of anything that I am working on, but these posts will be as someone who loves embroidery not a business woman.

In the words of Simple Minds 'Don't you (Forget about me)'...