9 Santa Sacs ready to shipping to Australia this week

Phew!  It’s sure been busy in the studio this last couple of weeks.  I am definitely in full Santa Sac production mode now.  Just like last year, I received a huge number of custom santa sac orders from Australia!  Due to the long shipping times that often hit parcels going across the Pacific, these Sacs had to be created first so that they could ship by mid November.

In fact, I had more overseas order requests this past week which I had to turn down as the shipping deadline for this year wouldn’t be achievable.  Well, I might have been able to make it if I didn’t have a huge stack of Canadian orders to make next.  Those have to ship by the end of this month, so things aren’t going to slow down any time soon around here.

If you’ve been following along on my Facebook page, you’ll have seen the string of production photos Michael snapped over the last few days.  For your entertainment and laughs, I’ve posted them here in this post.

Yes, Frostie is ever-watchful in her role as Quality Control Inspector…

Frostie conducting a routine Quality Control Inspection

Yesterday, my friend Cathy offered to come over to assist with assembly.  The day passes so much more quickly when working with a friend.  It was a huge help having Cathy here.  It meant that all the overseas sacs were finished up yesterday and are all set for shipping.  I couldn’t have got the job done yesterday without her help and since I’m teaching a machine quilting class today, I didn’t want to be under the pump to finish the sacs for my shipping deadline at the end of the week.  Thanks so much Cathy!

A Santa Sac Sewing Party! Yay!

I must say too, that the decision to purchase a conference room table as my sewing table was a fabulous decision.  Also love that the table height can be adjusted if there’s a lot of standing work to be done.

Around 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon, the first Santa Sac of 2012 was completed.  Yay!  Amazing that by 630 another nine sacs were completed.  The wonders and joys of batch production.  Do all the cutting, then all the appliqué, then all the assembly, then the ties, then the finishing.  Sometimes it feels like I’m getting nowhere, but then all of a sudden, a whole stack of Sacs are finished at once!

First Santa Sac of 2012 Completed

Here’s one more mid-production photo of this batch of Santa Sacs.  After all the appliqué has been sewn on, hundreds and hundreds of threads need to be pulled through to the back and tied off.  These sac fronts have all been appliquéd and await tying-off.

Santa Sac Fronts In Process

Until next time, happy quilting everyone!