Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you :
I’m Carrie Fahl, the owner/designer/maker of CeeStitchery! I create hand-embroidered artwork that I sell in my etsy shop.
Your current job :
By day I am a school administrative assistant. My artwork is something I do in the rest of my time, if I could I would work on pieces for CeeStitchery day in and day out!
In which city are you located?
I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
A word to define what kind of worker you are :
Dedicated.
What tools are essential to your life (app, software, etc..)
The biggest ones would be Etsy and Instagram, these are the tools I use the most to share my work.
What does your office space look like?
My workspace is kind of just my home in general. I have an area where I keep supplies organized, another area where I keep/display finished work, and I basically work wherever I am comfortable at that moment! My work is fairly portable (needle, thread, scissors, fabric) which I love!
What kind of music do you listening when you are working ?
It varies but I love listening to my favorite band while working, they’re a Canadian band called Hey Ocean. I recently invested in a record player so I’ve been listening to a lot of my parent’s old records!
Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work ?
This is one of the toughest things for me I find, because I do already work a full time job. I often have ideas come to my while I’m at work so I make a point of jotting them down or sketching them quickly. I try to spend as much of as my evenings as possible actually embroidering, then later at night I’ll go back to those ideas and develop them a bit more if I think they’re worth keeping
.
What tips would you give to improve productivity ?
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. I’ve learned that the ideas and the work flows so much more smoothly when I’m not concerned about how much I’m producing, and how fast. For me it’s about being an artist above anything else, so putting the time and work in is more important to me than producing a ton at a time.
You’re better than your colleagues to :
With CeeStitchery it’s just me, so I need to do my best to be good at everything that’s involved with it!
What is the best advice anyone has given you ?
Don’t compare yourself and your work to others. Every artist has a different style, a different way of going about it, and a different story. It’s easy to compare your work and success to other people who are doing the same type of thing, and it’s easy to feel jealous when someone produces something amazing. We need to remember that as artists of such a specific medium we are a community and should support and encourage each other and not feel threatened by each other. I have to remind myself every day to just do my thing, don’t feel like you have to do what everyone else is doing.
What is your best tip for saving time ?
Organization! Always.
What is your routine start and end of the day ?
The other question about maximizing my work already kind of answered this one. I work at my day job all day, then work on embroidery in the evening – pretty simple!
Aside from your computer and your phone, what gadget can you not live without?
I’m gonna say my iPad… is that cheating because it’s sort of the same as my iPhone!? The things I really couldn’t go without would be my needles and thread but they aren’t really gadgets!
Carrie Fahl
shop: www.etsy.com/shop/ceestitchery
instagram: @ceestitchery
blog: dressedupinstitches.wordpress.com
twitter: @carrief3