Slightly Productive

I'm pretty proud of myself right now. I have 3 new bags to put in my shops on the web and on Etsy! Not bad. I think I'm going to give myself the afternoon off.

The only one I'm going to make a big deal of, is Jenny. It's a new design for my handbags section. Jenny is a roomy little messenger bag with loads of pockets and a really long strap. You can wear it over your shoulder or across your body. Pretty handy, huh? Anyway, I think it turned out pretty nice. There's only one on my website right now, but I've listed some other fabric options for it. More coming soon, including a version with a flap closure & no zipper.

As for the other new items, look over there on the left side & you can see them on my site. Only one of these newbies has been listed on Etsy so far, I have too many things for sale over there right now. I don't want to get into too many pages. Good news, I sold another one of my monkey cozies today, that made room for another item. Hooray. So long Burt, have a nice time in New Zealand, lucky monkey.

The Raspberry Bullet

Every day, I pretty much do the same thing. Get up, make breakfast, walk to the train station with Nick, come home, make coffee, go upstairs & get to work. I usually spend an hour or two on the computer, sometimes more, then get to the sewing machine. Pretty standard stuff, eh?
Well, it seems that I have developed a bad habit when it comes to my morning coffee. I can't seem to finish it, certainly not while it's still hot. I'm pathetic. I must run downstairs & heat up my coffee three times a day. I always end up throwing half of it away in the end.
So yesterday I decided to give my fancy Starbucks thermos (a velentine's Day gift from Nick) a try. It's really cool looking, kind of irridescent. Anyway, it's not the kind you drink out of, it's just to keep the coffee hot for a while. It has a great pouring spout with a button thingy, and it doesn't even leak. I pour a tiny cup of coffee, drink it down, pour another one, drink it down - still hot. Remarkable! So glad I decided to give an invention a shot at solving my problem, & thank you Starbucks for selling cool looking thermoses.


p.s. I posted another Etsy Treasury list today...check it out. It's all about polka dots.

Yet another

So I've just listed my 3rd Catie Diaper Bag today, both on Etsy and iSew.biz. I got a chance to use my long awaited Dick & Jane fabrics, and I still have enough left over to make a few bibs, hooray! I'm pretty happy with this bag, you can't say it's dull, it's really bright! A lot of mom's don't seem to want the baby pastel stuff these days. This one will appeal to them, it's downright loud. It'd be great for a baby shower gift for someone who doesn't know the sex of the baby yet too, it's pretty gender-neutral. I enjoy using lots of fabrics to make these bags, but it takes ages. The cutout time is way longer because of the multiple fabrics. It's a different look compared to most diaper bags so I think it's worth it.

In other news... I've been having a lot of trouble with my sewing machine lately. Well, let me rephrase that, it's been a real pain in the neck since I got it. I find this particularly disturbing because I've only had it a year, and it cost a fortune. It's a PFAFF 2144, a very nice machine. It does embroidery too, or it would if I could get the software to work for me. Don't get me started on that. Anyway, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I can't seem to get this machine to do a simple straight stitch sometimes. This is rediculous! Every time I go to topstitch something, or stitch up anything on the small side, I get all worked up because I know the machine may not do it. Sad, no? My old $89 Brother that I got in like 1989 was better than this. Even more frustrating, is the fact that I was absolutely in love with my last PFAFF. What the heck is the deal with this thing? I'm looking forward to going back to California so I can get it serviced. It's not like I can just go without a sewing machine, it's kinda what I do.

What I'm trying to say is this... I would have had another bag done today if I hadn't had to pull the topstitching out 4 times. I ended up taking part of the machine off & cleaning it out as much as I could (this includes a good swipe with the vacuum). It seems to have helped, but I'm still not impressed. Even a less AR (anal retentive, as my boyfriend calls it) person would not accept the stitching my PFAFF is doing these days. It's criminal what I paid for this machine, it should work properly.

A few things today

First of all, I got another Showcase on Etsy today. This one is all things game related. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but it doesn't seem to be getting a lot of views yet. That's okay though, it's fun to create the list. And hopefully, someone will sell something too. If you want to check it out, just click HERE. I happen to be in 2 Treasury lists myself as well, and proud of it. I think it's really cool, but one of the items sold last week. I hope it gets replaced with something else I made. He He

My second bit of business is that I finished off a nice quilt yesterday. I've had the top done for ages, but just haven't been working on quilts much lately. I like the way it turned out, the colors are great. I may be inspired to do another one next week, we'll see how the weekend goes. The main reason I haven't been working on any quilts lately, is that I want to offer an embroidery option for them. But once they're done, I can't embroider them or it will show through on the back side. Eugh, who'd want that? Once I figure out a good way to price embroidery, and Nick figures out a good way to add it to the site, maybe I will. For now, I'll just let people know if it's an option I guess. No one's bought any quilts from me yet, so I don't consider this a great and important issue.

And last but not least, I've got a spot in the Etsy Showcase tomorrow. It's my first time, I've never been able to get a spot before. I think I'm usually asleep when they go on sale! Anyway, I moved my featured items around in my shop, trying to figure out what would appeal to most people and get them to click in. I settled on one of my handbags that has a lot of views. I'm hoping it will attract enough attention that someone will click it, and then get inspired enough by the little thumbnails to actually go take a look in the shop...and of course, buy something. This is my only income right now, I need the money. If it weren't for Nick, I'd be homeless, and starving. I wouldn't have such a nice website either. So what I'm trying to say is, please check me out on the Etsy Showcase tomorrow (and next Saturday too).

One more thing, thanks to all who have actually read my blog and made comments, it makes me feel all warm inside.