focus on the now....

 bit of a so much to do time.....can end up running around in circles like an old chook with out a head....
walked with the sunrise.
this morning painted some cloth needed for bags, check, done...
fed the goldfish- silly things were waiting and jumping out of the water where I used to feed them...been feeding in a new place for 2 weeks and they forgot where.
tortoises acting weird making a big huddle and pushing each other to get the best spot????? why
Mogra jasmine blooming- delicious....

 checked emails, started the day....working out lists to fit orders into work schedule and try an keep everyone happy,
got a pile of new handlooms to check over an add to inventory...when I piece comes in marked 20 metres you can bet they used a yard tape measure [so you loose 3" or 7.5 cm per yard/ metre] and no use explaining difference. everyone says yes and does their own thing.
the only thing we can do so we have accurate costings when using the fabric to make items. is open it all up measure it exactly. cut a metre, wash it and see how much it shrinks and then work out the per metre cost ....whew......anal I know but if we don't them we end up loosing money because there is invariably less than we thought.

OOhhh joy.
So since we got back from trade fairs and had good reports on orders we have been onto many of our suppliers....in preparation we talked to everyone, confirm your prices, confirm availability...all those things to be reliable suppliers.
Well Gaffer who weaves this lovely heavy hand spun hand loom cotton - which we already use lots of and featured in a lot of our home wares says....we ringing up to report and order a mountain of it..."oh I have decided to discontinue that line."
Can you imagine how loud my "WHAT!!!!!" was.
We have talked to him- we order enough to keep at least 2 men employed full tie- so put them on and we will have a minimum monthly order.???????? some day you have to wonder.
The sari guy wants to hike prices by more than 30% and we only saw him 3 weeks ago.....
Our stitching ladies are doing well but they need to work at full capacity and although they say that when we are not busy I can see it is hard for them when it is a reality....
new ones are training and coming on rather well, it leaves me with a small anxiety of keeping up enough work for all of them.....
OOHH and today our lovely Mrs Manju, who does tea and lunch has been doing more and more handstitch and it has become good quality so we have been looking for another woman to do kitchen and she can improve her income becoming a full time stitching person and assistant. We introduced a woman the other day who says ohh I can only make tea for Madame and Sir not workers and I can not wash a cup used by workers....what an attitude...well that charming woman has gone to Manju's mum and said why is she working there all those men and few women. Manju's Mum has stopped her working for us.
Just scrambling around trying to get her back- she is happy here and doing so well. Bugger!!
Ohhh the head aches of India.
Need more men as well and usually have droves asking - now we have work they are all busy....in another month the other workshops will slow down and we will have a choice but at the moment we are all pulling mountains of over time.

 Anyway putting headaches aside,
just took 5 minutes to stitch and help Papu-ji who is working on one of our quilts.
Simple hand stitching puts things in perspective.....

This is the handloom cloth I was mentioning....hand quilting.....
back to it....trying not to gnash teeth.