The Days of Triangulation!

Guess what is in house?

YES!

We have the Essential Triangle Tools IN HOUSE!

And I knew it would happen….they would arrive at the Yellow Freight depot the same day I flew out to Florida for our Caribbean cruise.

Isn't that just the way that everything goes?  It's been just like the time we remodeled our kitchen. "Oh yes, no problem! We'll have it done long before Christmas" they said!

And we ended up Christmas with no running water, and no stove to cook with so we had to improvise.

Manufacturing is just like this.  NOTHING is done exactly on time.

I got word while at dinner Friday night that they had indeed called, and bless The Hubster – he headed over to pick up a whole pallet:

Oh goodness!

He had to undo part of the pallet to get it to fit in the back of his pickup.  It was raining, but luckily the back of the pick up is covered, and he put the remainder inside the extended cab.

First glimpse!

I was begging for photos, but you know how guys are.  They don’t think to take photos, and I had to do some arm twisting just to get these to hold me off until I got home on Saturday night.

We hit the ground running yesterday, assembling orders, stuffing envelopes and boxes and doing everything we can to get these out to you.

I have been fielding emails every day, so many that it is taking the “order filling” time to stop and answer those, so my thought is that I would write this post, and the next emails that come in are going to get a link to this post so they know just where we are.

And that maybe I will share a bit of my space with you so you can see what goes on behind the scenes here.

The Order Fulfillment Center!

There is a room off of the “bonus” room that we use as an office that contained a built in hot tub INSIDE the house when we bought it.  I’m not sure if someone used it for therapy or what, but it was never useable for us, and the hot tub room became my warehouse by putting plywood flooring on TOP of the sunken hot tub, adding shelves, and everything else I need to pull orders and get them ready for shipping.

Boxes and boxes, oh my!

My house is not large by any means, so the addition of this weird little room has worked really well. It’s like a large walk in closet kind of stock room.  It suits its purpose.

Books on one side, rulers, tools and notions on this side.

I pull stacks, each order with it’s own invoice, and begin to fill.

The laptop is set up so I can mark each order “shipped” as soon as the stamp is on and it is ready to be taken to the post office.

Peel the label, stick it to the envelope.  Find the invoice number on the screen, click it shipped.  Sign the books, stuff the envelope, peel the tab, stick it closed.  Affix postage.  Set it aside and start the next one.

If you have NOT received a "SHIPPED" email from me, then we haven't gotten to your invoice number yet, but are working towards it in order!

Yesterday, the two of us worked tirelessly – and it’s the only day I have for him to help me as he left this morning at 4:30am to catch a flight to Boston where he will be working this week.  From here on out until he gets back I am solo.

Yesterday’s production.  This is the back of my van.

Back seat of van!

Odd weight and international items waiting for postage.

7 boxes of full invoices ready to be pulled and fulfilled.

This box is now EMPTY!

This much was accomplished yesterday.  Invoice numbers 4336 to 4731 will be dropped at the post office this morning first thing, because the van is full and I can’t add anymore to it.  My post office is a mile away, and this much mail is too big for any mail truck to handle in one run.  I’ll drop them off and get working on the next batch.

Besides, the post office is my social life and they are as excited about book/ruler release time as I am.  My biggest local cheer leaders!

There is a lot to go through!

And this is where I’m asking for your patience.  First things first.  We are not BEHIND.  We are right on time. Items are in pre-order status until all have gone out.  And that means that anyone who orders today, also is in pre-order status as things are being sent by invoice number in the order in which orders came in.

I am home until Oct 27th when I go to Quilt Market – so these will all be out by then.

And it’s a good thing, because look at this notice I got yesterday:

YIKES!!!!

Which brings me to another issue.  I have 500 more on back order with C&T.  I’m going to order what I can from Checker as well.  I have a feeling that we won’t have enough.  We need more. 

More are in production, but it will take a few more weeks to get those done and to me.  Nothing I can do about it.

So patience, patience, patience is what I am asking for.

And with that I am off to the post office – they open in 6 minutes so I can drop off load #1 and come back and spend the day doing what I can do, happily and with gratitude!  Orders are going out! YEAH!

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Vintage trips around the world quilt found in Maryland.

Did you ever notice how this happens? What you look for in life is what you will find. What is your focus?

***UPDATE!***

How can I forget which Monday it is? It's COLUMBUS DAY!

There are fifteen tubs full of mail in my van including International orders and I can't ship them until tomorrow! Not only that, I am completely out of empty tubs for today's order filling! Time to grab the laundry baskets!

Have a happy Monday, everyone!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!
Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!