Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

These tops are really complicated and time-consuming to stitch. In their honor I’ve developed a new shop motto for myself: Stop Whining and Do It.

Sometimes I miscalculate when I’m cutting out dozens of small pieces. This poor little flower is the extra, unneeded one.

It’s taken me a while to get all of the pieces cut and skived for this pair of boot tops. Putting them all together was complicated too, but stitching should be the easy part.

I figured out how to test fuses with my voltage meter, changed fuses on my air conditioning unit outside, and it came on! Today is the first day I’ve turned on the air and whenever it won’t come on I’m always convinced it’s broken forever. I went from dejected to very happy in the space of a few minutes.

This morning I did some of the less exciting tasks of owning a business. I cleaned off my desk, paid bills, and balanced my checkbook. I’d forgotten to enter a couple of deposits so there was actually more money in my checking account than I thought. It was an auspicious start to my day!

Today I’ve been cutting, skiving, and putting together lots of delicate little leather pieces. Soon this will be a boot top.

I’m working on patriotic themed boots today.

The leather wrapped cord that finishes an edge is called beading. The emotion I’m feeling now that it’s done is called happiness.