Monday, March 1, 2010

Decisions.....

Hmmmmmm......I need some feedback from you all. I am debating not doing anymore commission work. In case you are wondering just what I do, the answer is pretty much anything, but mostly I quilt tops for people and make t-shirt quilts. And I earn a good amount of money at it.....enough to pay for my family's summer vacation and Christmas expenses so it is not an easy decision to make.

But here's my problem, the vast majority of the commission work I do is artistically not very interesting to me. I do it and I do it well but it's not what I would call fullfilling. I went back to work full time during the day so quilting time is more limited now.

And I am interested in expanding my workshop teaching beyond the local quilt shop circuit and start doing trunk shows and workshops at guilds......I really like teaching and my students have alot of fun. But I need more time to develop this before it would be a financially viable activity.

So what to do? Suggestions? I would love to hear your thoughts.......in the meantime, no posting is complete without a photo. Enjoy!



kathy

5 comments:

Crafty Maine Mom said...

My mother always told me "do what you enjoy and if your not rich at least your happy." Now I'm not sure that this is always a true statement but it doesn't sound like stopping the commission work would be a financial hardship.

I'd say go where your heart leads you.

Needled Mom said...

If you are not enjoying it and it isn't a necessity, I would pass on doing it. Life is too short.

9patchnurse said...

Wean yourself off it if that helps but definitely don't spend precious sewing time on 'unfulfilling' work. I know how hard it is to work full time and try to carve out time for your creative side, something has to be sacrificed (in my case it was cooking, lol). You are fabulously creative and prolific and you need to see where it can go. I bet you could make up some of the lost income by selling work that you enjoy making.

Darlee said...

My thoughts... would be to stop the commission work (as it isn't fulfulling to you) so your heart's desire could be realized! Perhaps, other people would like to know how to do commission work to fill that void.

Anonymous said...

Lost of us sludge along with work that is not "fulfilling" to pay the bills.. if you can pay them some other way... YOU GO, GIRL!! I would think you could selectively decrease the boring commission work and increase the fun work until you find a liveable balance.