Advent Calendar Day 11 – Sparkly Ponderings

Today on 11 December the shop has had a delivery and I find myself wanting to write some text instead of offering an image-heavier post, so welcome to open a window to some behind the seams!

Where We Are Now

Sentti & Tuuma opened the webshop doors on 10 July at 10.07 and it’s been an adventure ever since. (Yes, that actually happened. And then customers started telling me about problems with one of the now former payment gateways…)

There’s so much to learn still and what surprises me is how many of the recent steps I’ve taken as owner of this endeavour could not have been predicted in spring as I bought the domain, visited Prym headquarters in Finland, signed a contract for a shop space, started building the website, and placed my first orders.

My dream to help people in Finland find the best quilting fabrics, embroidery patterns, etc. grew slowly from around 2015 or so. I pinned stuff to secret Pinterest boards, planned how things could look and some ideas have come to fruition, most haven’t.

I’d rather spend money on inventory than its storage honestly. This pragmatic approach took me by surprise in June when I had a bunch of furniture decisions to make. The white bookshelf in which I keep fabrics used to be brown and stood in my childhood home in the living room. And so on.

My grandmother’s cast-iron irons to heat on wood stoves decorate the shop as do some cross-stitch pieces in picture frames, made by women in my family. If I can squeeze in grandma’s spinning wheel I will, too, but her pedal-driven Singer won’t join them.

I suppose things matter to us and what sparkles today may not feel attractive tomorrow. Quiet, timeless beauty with just a touch of bling is what interests me in the end. Mindful sewing, or as Carolyn Friedlander named her book: ”Savor Each Stitch”.

Who is ”we” I keep referring to, by the way? My sister. We’re in this together both financially, strategically and tactically. She has her own job so the support is theoretical, but I couldn’t pull it off without her.

Then again we grew up hearing stories of the coffee roastery and café our maternal grandmother’s mother, Anna Viktoria Martin, was the proprietor of in Turku: Turun Kahvikauppa ja paahtimo (coffee shop and roastery).

The freedom (and hardship) of entrepreneurship runs in my blood. I can’t work for anyone else anymore. Too much has happened in my life, I need to set my own hours and make my own decisions, whether this ship sinks or swims.

Dialogues I have with customers are priceless. I’m not alone in building this company, but you’re with me in the grind. My loyal newsletter readers are fantastic in offering advice, giving input and generally sharing their joy with me.

I’m so grateful and would never have thought a year ago that this is where I’d be today. I was still physically and emotionally so broken after an accident that almost took my left lower arm, and left me with extensive neurological damage.

Next year I’ll need a second surgery and since there are no guarantees of the outcome, I might as well say that it scares me not knowing whether I’ll ever have normal wrist and hand function again.

Time will tell but know that all of you, who shop with me once and then come back for more, have participated in healing me a bit, helping my broken heart mend and giving me something good to focus on completely.

I enjoy researching for hours to find the best quality for you and the most kind-hearted manufacturers and designers out there: people who show up for others. Clever tools wow me and pretty, well-made supplies speak to my soul. I hope they do for you, too.

The Delivery

So what was the delivery? Ah, more stuff to list in the shop, haha. The photo is a teaser in that I’ll slowly add individual DMC threads to the selection, too, including the sparkly silvery thread.

24 Calendar Windows

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