Answers

I am intending to answer all of the questions from last weekends giveaway in posts here on my blog. Some are going to be harder to answer than others, and I won't necessarily be answering them in order, but I really do plan to answer them all as I can.

Let's start with a one:

Thisn one seems appropriate for now, since I'm currently taking a lunchbreak from my day job:

Leah asked: Do you fantasise about quitting the dayjob, and going full time obsesssin instead?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer:  Yes, BUT!

Firstly, I do actually enjoy my day job and the people I work with. I love the mental stimulation and I can see real purpose in my job, and most of the time I enjoy the actual work. It's also extremely flexible for me; I couldn't ask for a better workplace. I dont really think I'd want to leave and not know my position was there to go back to - it also provides a lot of security.

Secondly, I'm fully conscious that the market for handmade quilts at a price that would afford a decent wage it minimal. I would like to do longarm quilting, but at the moment that would be a major investment on top of the machine, since I would need a new studio with enough space.

A more realistic dream is to get myself a longarm for personal use, and take on a greater number of quilting jobs. It's not really economically viable on my sewing machine, because of the time it takes, plus of course there are physical imitations of the machine. I'd certainly consider taking a year or so of unpaid leave to focus on quilting once I got  a longarm (I'm working on the assmption that it will actually happen here!) and reassess after that.

I currently work 3 days a week, and that seems to work reasonably, though I often feel as though I could do with extra time both a home and work. Inanother few years, both children will be at school, and that might change things, too. I don't ever want to go back to working my day job fve days a week, and it's really important to me to be home when the children finish school.