completely off-topic ..... Wanna feed my fish?!

I couldn't resist.

Click on the tank to drop them a bit of food....


... I'm so tempted to name them, is that sad?

getting organised!

Its been a while since I updated, and a while that has brought many changes as far as both Katsai and the rest of my life are concerned. Unfortunately this has meant that i've been really busy with things other than making new items for the shop, but hopefully now I have a much better organised base to work from, making the most of my now more limited time and enjoying the whole process so much more!

To start with i organised my work space, classifying fabrics, notions, paperwork, the ever growing collection of notebooks, original patterns, threads, etc. A BIG job but extremely satisfying to have a bit of order around me as I work :)

In this mosaic you can meet "the ladies"! (my loyal aged industrial machine, the Singer tabletop sat next to her, and my hardworking serger).
I also couldn't resist showing-off a quick storage system for some of the cones of thread I made one afternoon out of plastic water bottles and good ol' celotape... not perfect (next time i'll cut them slightly slanted, so the "pockets" are tilted holding in the cones better)... but it does a wonderful job for now ;P



I also took time out to get my "data" organised and set-up a new database collection in my beloved Filemaker.
Now i can easily keep track of production, pieces, materials, listings, time and contact management etc. and in just a short time this proving to be extremely useful and much more practical than relying on the My SHop section of Etsy for tracking many of these things...







What else? Ah yes!!!
My first ever interview was published just this last weekend on the superb Spanish design and craft orientated web page Handmadecrafts/Todo Artesanias.

A big BIG thankyou to Myrna and IxcheL for all the encouragement and enthusiasm and helping to get the word out about Katsai in the Spanish speaking world!! Besos guapas!!!

(click on the link above to read the whole article.... and be sure to check out the rest of the web too, these girls do an excellent job!)