Growing Up

Part of having a small business is being able to produce goods. I really try to make products that really appeal to me and I think would do well in the market. Often the case for people like me is that you make a product you absolutely love and think "Oh everyone will buy these" then they don't sell. Then you make some random item, and suddenly you can't make enough of it. All you can think is "These? Really?"
That's happened to me recently.
But I feel I made a major step in the right direction today at the Hobby Lobby. One of my favorite yarns was on sale, and I never buy it because it's so dang expensive. So I immediately grabbed the color that I like personally. After a brief moment of thought I put "my" color back and picked out several skeins of colors I've never used and am not sure if I would use for personal projects. But, I know this will help me appeal to a wider client base in my business. I feel like I've made a very grown up decision and hope that it pays off in the future.
Unfortunately that means I'm a step closer to being a "Grown Up" Ugh.

Babies, Ogden Nature Center, New Windows, and a Dress

So, I've had an eventful week. Then, when doing paperwork I realized that nobody was seeing my blog, and that I hadn't posted in awhile. Something makes me think that these may be connected. Hmmmm....

Well, last week was Spring Break. I was able to get in contact with the owners of  childrensneeds.com who had gotten a little swamped with orders. They were looking for some sewers to help them catch up. I've been able to get some baby slings made for them, and they in turn have paid me. Which is always nice. You should check out their website: childrensneeds.comThey have lots of good stuff for new mothers.

My cousin Jenny, who we refer to as Cousin Jenny to keep straight which Jenny is being referred to (our family knows a whole lot of Jennys), works at the Ogden Nature Center in Ogden (duh) here's their websited too: http://www.ogdennaturecenter.org/  I've been able to enjoy several activities there in the past year including the 5k Fly with the Flock, and the Halloween carnival Creatures of the Night. Well, anyway, Cousin Jenny called to let me know that she saw my recycled grocery bags bag on my Etsy site and that I should make an appointment with their Gift Shop lady to get some of those bags in the shop before Earth Day on April 17.  On the left is the picture of this bag. So I'm working hard to collect grocery bags from family and friends, and making up some of these bags in varying sizes before heading down there to my success (or doom).

This week we also got new windows in the house. Yay! They're ceritified "Green" and are supposed to insulate the house a bit better than our old school windows. Which for me means the Sewing Lair won't be as cold as it always is. It also means I had to take down my feather boas, and am yet to put them back up. Sigh. I'll get around to it eventually. Interestingly all of the windows in the house got replaced except for one. The one in my bedroom. Apparantly it's illegal to have a window that small in a bedroom and we had the option to get some construction people in here to cut a bigger hole and install a bigger windowell so the window would be legal. Great. Then the guy said, "But in houses this old there is a Grandfather clause that protects these windows." They just can't legally replace one with out enlarging it. So my room will still be cold. Oh well, I only sleep in there and I did get an electric blanket for my birthday.

Since we had window people here the past couple of days, I've gotten some work done. But not as much as I know I can get done. I have gotten pretty far on the pink Paris Original dress that was shown in an earlier post. It's super cute and I want one! But I purposely made it not my size so I can sell it and not just keep it in my closet. I hardly ever wear dresses and it would probably just sit in there next to the polka dot dress that I can't remember the last time I wore.

So that's me!

The Unfinished Projects Box

I was brave the other day and opened the Unfinished Projects Box. Well, let's be honest I open it a lot to put finished sale items in it, but not to get out a UFP and finish it. But I was brave and decided to go for it. And I did it! I pulled out this quilt, for some odd reason dubbed the Sno Cone Quilt. It's taken me over a year to get this thing done.  It also happened to be the largest item in the UFP Box. A long time ago I cut out the squares. Awhile later I sewed them together. Quite awhile after that I cut the batting and sewed the back. Then eventually I tied it. Finally, last night and this morning, I sewed the binding. And it's beautiful:) It's a full size quilt with double batting, so it's kind of thick and heavy. I'm so happy to finally have this quilt completed. Hopefully I'll sell it via Etsy or at the Market (if I get a booth).

I also tackled some of the scrap pile. I occassionally go through it and cut out blocks, triangles, strips, etc. for quilts and whatnot. So I have this pile of quilt pieces with the good intentions of making a bunch of quilts one day. Well, I got out some of the big blocks and made a quilt front Monday night. I thinks it's quite fun. A lot of these fabrics came from other projects that I made. Of course there's orange and purple blocks from the Sno Cone Quilt. In the center is a block of denim from my jeans. Harlequin diamonds from a jacket I made ages ago. Some lavalava fabric, some high school musical fabric. And, most memorable of all, some pink fabric left over from a dress I made for a guy named Adam. Yes a dress for a guy named Adam. Good times at the Opera.

Problem is, I'm still undecided the color for the back and if I should do binding or not. Should I tie it or quilt it? Maybe this is why the Sno Cone Quilt took so long.

Congrats PD and Gwen!

Two of my favorite people got married this weekend... to each other! I'm super happy for them and just thought I'd let the world know.
I made them some wonderful kitchen items for their wedding present and decided to add them to the blog in case anyone out there would like similiar items. Let me know what you think!

I do take custom orders! Just tell me how many and what colors!

New Stuff

Alright folks. Here's a pictures of the latest batch of creations that will be up for sale soon on Etsy. Let me know what you think, or if you want something. If you catch me before I post it, I might cut you a deal :)

The First one is a  Springtime Flower Scarf. Admittedly they are new per se, but they are a great spring accessory! (the second one is at the end of the post)

Next is the Dye Experiment Pillows. They're big, fluffy, and one of a kind. The fronts were made as part of a dye experiment that I did a couple weeks ago. It didn't turn out like I expected, but that's the fun of dyeing! They still look great:)

 

Now the next is the IKEA dress, so named because the fabric used for it was found at IKEA. It's a one of a kind dress that I patterned myself. You might be able to find similiar dresses, but not this exact one. It's super small maybe a size 0?

So these are some washcloths I knitted with my extra yarn. The pink one is the actual pattern I found in a book, the other two are me messing around with the pattern. One is a seed stitch, great for scrubbing, the other an inset of stockinette stitch. I will take color requests on these.

Finally comes the Skull Potholders. I've seen these around on Etsy, but none in these colors. These are hard core.

I've had people requesting them already, and this is the first time I've posted an actual picture of them! The skulls are on both sides of the potholders and they're nice and thick. They even have a hanging loop for those of you that like to hang your potholders on a hook instead of keeping them in a drawer.

Thanks all! Until next time...