Appraised!

Got the appraisal back.  You ready?  Replacement value for the coat is $9,900 and the dress is $16,800.  (The actual value, of course, is “priceless”.)  That’s time and materials only, no retail markup.  In this particular case there is no retail equivalent, so T&M made sense.  Total value, $26,700.  That’s as much as my CAR cost!!!

The other good news is that this is automatically covered under my renter’s insurance, without the need for a separate rider.  I bumped up my coverage to $50,000, so I’ll be fine if (heaven forbid) anything happens to it.

Meanwhile, I have not been idle.  I spent four or five hours creating a photo book about the dress, showing interim stages from start to finish.  Did you know you can now create a custom photo book, have it printed, and pick it up within an hour, for only $30?  Just google “photo book” and one of the places that has a retail outlet (I did mine with Ritz Camera).

At any rate, the book came out beautifully.  It’s for the exhibit, and I intended it to be short enough for someone to flip idly through while browsing the galleries.  It’s very heavy on photos, with short and simple text, and you can read the entire thing in 5-10 minutes.  (It’s only 20 pages long.)  I’m glad I spent so much time blogging about the dress, though ““ I have a lot of great photos of the dress-in-progress, so there was plenty to select from when I made the book.  I wish I could share it with y’all, because it’s a great little book, but unfortunately there’s no option for viewing it online.  I ordered four copies ““ one for me, one for Sharon, and one each for my mom and future-mother-in-law.  I may order a fifth, for my sister-in-law, who I’m sure would love to have it.

I also got together with some wonderful friends who are visiting from India.  They brought me a beautiful silk sari (with the instructions that I should cut it up and make something beautiful from it, and not feel guilty about it!) and some lovely 3/15 nm silk yarn, which I will have to use in a special project.  We spent hours chatting and I wound up getting home quite late, so I will have to catch up on sleep tonight!

Anyway, I sold my spinning wheel to them, because they needed one and I hadn’t used mine in years (except for skeining yarn).  With the money from that, I just ordered a Triple Electric Skeinwinder from Crazy Monkey Creations!  I debated long and hard about whether to order the 1.5-yard or 2-yard version, and finally decided that I needed space much more than I needed 2-yard skeins.  So I bought the 1.5-yard winder.  I am breathlessly awaiting its delivery ““ they are custom made so it will probably be about 3 weeks before it arrives.  Can’t wait!!  I suspect it can also be used as a vertical swift, which I’ve also wanted, so this will be very interesting indeed.  If it does work out that way I will probably sell my Goko swift, which is a vertical Japanese-style swift.

Now it’s just about time to finalize my display for CNCH, so I should scurry off and work on it.  I’m going to have a table with the book, a set of short flyers with a summary of the project, and a business card holder with my business cards, in case people are interested in my website.  The book and the business cards I’ve got.  The one-pager, though, I still have to write, along with the text for the announcer at the Fashion Show.  I also have to select music to go with the ensemble at the Fashion Show, probably some harp music from the harpist we’re hiring for the wedding.  And, I need to put together a list of the many things I’m taking with me to the Fashion Show setup tonight.  I’ll be leaving work a bit early to put all this together.

The Fashion Show will be Friday evening.  Don’t be late!!  I’m the first number.  They’re rolling out the red carpet for me, complete with scattered rosepetals, so it’ll be quite the deal.  If you’re going to be at CNCH, come and see it!

(But if you miss it for some reason, the dress will be on display in the galleries, 10-6 on Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday.)

That’s it!!  I been busy.  Sometime after CNCH is over I’ll drop into bed and sleep for a week!