Wow, what a wealth of information I'm getting here. THANK YOU for all of your responses! At this time, I'm in the brainstorming phase. We'd always planned that I would go back to work when our youngest was in 1st grade. That's 1 1/2 years from now so I'm beginning to think about what I might do. We don't have school bus service so I need to be available for transportation to and from school each day. I also want to be able to continue volunteering in the classrooms and leading Cub Scouts. I'm looking to generate supplemental income that will allow me the flexibility I need.
Etsy and ebay have been suggested by friends, but I'd rather not increase my computer time. I may keep that in mind for the future, but for now I'd like to enjoy the personal interaction that shows would provide.
If I do this, I'm thinking about focusing on baby things: quilts, bibs, burp cloths, etc. I could also do diaper bags, travel kits, onesies, and maybe venture into mother/daughter aprons and a few things for the toddler age like cloth books, dolls, etc. I think with baby quilts I could prepare more in less time. I could offer a wide variety of colors/styles. I could appeal to a wide price range by doing some that are tied, some machine quilted, and some handquilted.
I will begin researching shows locally and find out what I can about the market. I appreciate all of the tips on this.
A couple of questions:
Is a business license typically required?
Do you insure your inventory? Details on how to do that?
If my designs are originals, do I need to protect my ideas? How do I do that without copyrighting, or is copyrighting a necessary step?
Again, thank you all for your input. This is very helpful.