At 23:45 17/08/2005 +1000, you wrote:

Sandie
What are you studying at TAFE?

Hi Wendy

Great to hear from you, sorry all your littles have been sick there is nothing worse than trying to work from home with sick children (maybe there is - sick husband too!)

Don't feel too down about your business, most businesses are suffering at the moment, take notice of when they talk about the larger Department stores suffering a loss in a quarter because you will usually find that a lot of other businesses are having the same problem. I know of a recent exhibition where items were sold but sales were down on previous years, one of the large stores had claimed a 30% decrease in sales over that period. They did the figures and guess what sales were down close to 30%. I think it is a reflection of our hip pockets at the moment and petrol is on of the big factors. If you are spending all your money on fuel then you don't have much left to spend on luxuries and lets face it although we all think differently craft is a luxury. I had to pay nearly $1.27 the other day for fuel!!That really hit the hip pocket especially when most weeks I travel a minimum of 120 km.

Sorry now I will get off my soapbox, I used to work in marketing so I tend to look at the big picture instead of just what my business is doing.

As for my TAFE course I am studying my Diploma in Art - Tapestry weaving. I actually studied Fine Art Full time in my teens but decided I needed a challenge and boy is it a challenge! Good fun too though, so in between felting and teaching I try to do my assignments!

Better go I need to get back to the loom today and I have sculptures to work on! Hope things look brighter for you.

Sandie :-)