Custom Sewing Venture

 

Before

After

Hello again everyone. I just want you all to know that I am moving in a new direction in my life. It seems that my lower back issues are not healing the way that I had hoped, so I have had to make the difficult decision to end my residential cleaning services. The decision was a difficult one as I have been blessed with wonderful clients to serve, and I am truly going to miss them all but I need to look after myself so I was left with no other option but to end the cleaning service.

I have decided to go back to my custom sewing service. I have designed window treatments, cushions, slipcovers, duvet covers and pillow shams, kitchen accessories and much more over the years.

I have also developed quite a following of clients, distressing furniture and wood accents pieces so I will also take on that again also as much as my lower back issues will allow.

Before

After

If you have any questions about my service please feel free to contact by email at

info@harvesthouseprimitives.com or ahddecor@gmail.com

Below are more images of my work, both custom sewing and distressed furniture

Distressed Bench & Dresser

A Special Gift

I got an email from one of my brothers ( he is #3 of 5, all older than me and yes I am the only girl)yesterday saying that he has sent me a little gift to be delivered that day, but I need to be at home to sign for it. So I stayed home waiting impatiently for my surprise. All day I kept wondering what it was. Well the purolator truck came rolling in about 4pm and I was out the door like a shot, back injury and all!!!
The box was fairly large which made my imagination soar, what ever could it be.
When I finally got the signing done for the parcel and into the house I immediately grabbed the box cutter and started tearing at it. The box when opened was full of styrofoam popcorn pellets and items wrapped in bubble wrap. When I opened the first item I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a silver sugar bowl, the next piece was the creamer, then the teapot, then the coffee pot and finally on the bottom was the tray.
I was ecstatic, I just couldn't believe it. The set is just beautiful, something I would never in a million years buy for myself.

When I got to speak to him to thank him he told me that this was in place of my grandmothers set that I was supposed to get. Apparently her set was in such terrible condition that it really could not be brought back to even somewhat close to the original condition. So here I am with a beautiful silver tea and coffee set . A wonderful surprise and a very special gift from one of my brothers... I think I'll keep him!

Learning to Rest

As my followers can see I've made a few changes to the blog. Just background colour and font colours.
I find the taupe background a little easier on the eyes. I hope all who visit will like it too.

I've been laid up again. My back has put me out of working condition again.
It seems I went back to work too soon so now I am dealing with the consequences.
Why is it so hard for people just to rest? I suppose we are all conditioned to believe that if you are not quote "working" you are not contributing on any level. It is such a shame when I think about it, our self worth is is primarily based on our productivity. We live in an era and society that bases our personal value on our work ethics and productivity. Even our creative spirit can be squelched by such a negative belief system.
I do understand that taking time off from work is a matter of economics also. I cannot afford to take this time off. I will lose income. I am self employed. I provide a residential cleaning service as well as design
home decor, so I truly rely on this income. But I have had to gain some perspective. If I don't rest to heal my lower back I will not be able to clean anymore or maybe other forms of employment will not be available to me as a result of these health issues. Cleaning houses provides me with so many perks, flexibility of my time, choosing my clients (a big plus) no stress- my biggest concern is whether or not my clients house is clean when I leave and the answer is always "YES". Immediate gratification, I do the job well, I am proud of my work and every day my clients are happy and thanking me for a job well done!
It is also great physical activity  provided I learn how to do it correctly of course. I even have clients that allow me to bring my dog Major. I never got any of these perks working as a Department manager for Walmart.
So here I am, learning to rest to heal my back so I can go back to an occupation that is satisfying, stress free and chock full of perks that I am so grateful for. I truly have been blessed. In the meantime I can spend time designing, updating my website and blog. Tasks that don't require physical labour or my back!
Gaining a new perspective can be liberating. I am thankful that God has revealed this new perspective to me. In so doing He has freed me from the chains of a belief system that could've been detramental to my health.
I hope everyone has a great week, and take care!

New Category and Listings on our Website

We have just listed a few new items in the past two days under a new category.
This category is called   Kitchen Accessory Co-ordinates.

With this new category we will provide our customer several  items of the same fabric and details

for a complete kitchen ensemble.

At this time we are making just a few of each design to test our market. Depending on the demand more will be produced. There might be slight changes in detailing fabrics ( fabric used for binding and applique) but the colour schemes will remain similar.

This group we are introducing are made with a black and taupe check 100% cotton homespun fabric.

We will be introducing other colour schemes of navy and taupe and burgundy and taupe

We are producing these items for both retail and wholesale purchase. If you are a retailer interested in these items please visit our website at http://www.harvesthouseprimitives.com/ and follow the link on the left hand side panel to our Wholesale Information for more details.

For more information please contact me by email at

info@harvesthouseprimitives.com

Talk to you again soon Colleen Walker

Change in Our Shipping Policy

ACTUAL COST SHIPPING FEES ONLY

We will be charging ACTUAL SHIPPING COST FEES ONLY with a nominal $2.00 fee for shipping materials and other expenses .

We have decided that trying to determine the shipping fees by flat rate and other means is just too confusing and usually ends up costing the consumer more or us by lost revenue from shipping fees that are too low. This is what we have decided. When an order is placed, your invoice for the items will come to you first and payment at that time will be appreciated. We will then process the items ordered and prepare them to be shipped. We have a postal scale here at our studio and we will calculate the shipping fees based on volume and weight through the Canada Postal Service online tools. We will gather the the fee information for several options available for our customer to choose their preferrance.
That information will be emailed to you and you can notify us by email with the method you prefer. Then a PayPal invoice for the shipping fees will be sent to you. When shipping fee is paid item(s) will be shipped.

If you would like an estimate of your shipping fees before ordering we will be happy to do this. Please remember it is an estimate and slight fluctuations in fees may occur upon actual orderd shipment.

I understand that this may seem like a few more steps in the process but it seems like the only way to ensure that all parties involved are handled fairly and honestly.

I hope you find this helpful if you have any questions please feel free to contact me at
info@harvesthouseprimitives.com

Thanks so much and take care.

There has been a delay and other news....

I had great plans this weekend passed to begin design work on wood products and to continue to set up and merchandise the studio for our Easter weekend opening. Well not so much!:( I pulled muscles in my lower back and was, well how do I put it out of commission for the weekend and for the next two weeks at least according to my doctor. I can't lay down for long periods of time or I will seize up. I am to alternate between walking around at home, sitting, and standing. I am not able to lift anything heavy (please explain? how is that determined? I'll just have to wing it, I guess if it hurts to pick it up it's too heavy!) I'm also not supposed to do any housework either, no vacuming, no sweeping, no washing of floors etc., which would be a dream come true if I didn't supplement my design work by providing a cleaning service to several clients. This is truly my ERMA BOMBECK MOMMEMT!!!!
I'm taking muscle relaxants and those are a treat! Enough said...
Oh well suck it up Colleen and use this time as best you can. So this is what I can do while I'm somewhat indisposed. I am standing in my office with my laptop on a platform to a height that is comfortable for me to work on typing this blog while my desktop computer is downloading one of my favorite programs,(I'm a huge Ugly Betty  and The Good Wife Fan) I just LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!!! well and my husband because he is my techi guy and keeps me in good technical running order, what would I do without him? I shudder to think.
Now on to other news. We now have a link from our website to this blog, (finally figured that one out), and we have changed our shipping policy on the website. There is more information on our updated shipping policy on the next post arriving shortly! Will sign off now and move on to the shipping policy post, see you soon.

A Quick Update

I have been a way for a while. I have not spent anytime blogging, working on designs or my website.
I have been painting and reorganizing my studio. I am getting it ready to open it up again on the weekends starting Easter weekend. It has been alot of work but it is starting to shape up and I am really quite pleased with the outcome so far. I have a large industrial sewing machine that I am going to sell because I really don't use it and it takes up so much space. Once that is out of the studio it will make a big difference.
I have also been getting my income tax stuff together to send off to our bookkeeper. Every year I promise myself to keep things in better order, I'm really not too bad but there is always room for improvement.
Hopefully I will finish that off tomorrow and get it emailed to the bookkeeper.
Well that's about it for now. I hope I can get caught up on things soon so I can start designing again.
Talk to you later.!