Planning for a new year

Well, 2007 is on its way out the door as we speak. I've been thinking a lot lately about some things I want to work on for '08, mainly related to my business of course. Here's a part of the list I've made: Believe it or not, I've already completed most of the first item on the list. I'll be picking away at this list for some time I'm sure. I hope you all have a wonderful new year and I wish you luck for 2008!
Tomorrow I'll be announcing something I've had on my to do list since February! ha! Happy New Year!

Happy Christmas

Hopefully none of you are sitting at your computers on Christmas day, but if you are...Merry Christmas! Nick & I are having a lovely and quiet Christmas together with the kitties. I'm off to remove the ugliest apple pie in history from the oven. Cheers!

Holidays getting you down?

I received this cartoon from a good friend a few weeks ago. I just thought it might be a little inspiration for those of you who are cranking out the crafts right now. Take your time kids.

(click the image to see it a little bigger, don't want to strain those eyes of yours)

Thank Bob!

Nearly There

Finally, I'm seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. This quilt is now in the hands of my friends at FedEx...
This one is being worked on for hand delivery tomorrow...
That's my cool Christmas Tree in a Box that you may have seen on my Flickr page too. Also seen in this photo is my little monkey snowman made by my friend Sue a couple years ago. . .
I finally finished all of my custom monkeys too, here's what I sent to Sue this morning...along with a Santa Monkey purse! In the new year, Nick & I will redesign her website (I built the current one).

Next on my list is restocking for the Farmer's Market on Sunday. I will make some zipper pouches from these cool fat eighths, along with a lot of other things...I hope.

A Visit to the City

Being a new Bay Area resident, I'm still trying to find all of my fabric resources (not that I need any more fabric). Friday I took the afternoon off and rode the ferry into San Francisco to locate a shop called Peapod Fabrics. I also met up with Nick & a coworker, Amanda, for some drinks & dinner. I haven't made it into the city much since we've been here so it's kind of an adventure for me.
They've set up an ice rink at the Embarcadero, right across from the ferry building. Oh how I love to skate. I might just take a run over there again after Christmas, hehe. I'm a sucker for an ice rink! You gotta love an ice rink with palm trees around it.

The fabric shop was just lovely. It's very small, but I described it to Nick as exactly what it would look like if I owned a fabric store. Very neatly organized, sock monkey on a shelf by the door, polka dots around the cutting table. It was very me and stocked with my type of fabric. Take a look at the website for some great photos of the shop. I'd love to sign up for a class there some day. The owner is super nice, she actually came by my booth at the market a while back. Of course I had to get something, so I picked out these 3 little remnant pieces to add to my collection. I see zipper pouches in my future.
After my trip to Peapod, I headed back downtown to meet Nick. I had some time to spare so I ran in to Urban Outfitters to see what kind of bedspreads they've got these days. Those Birdie ones I got a few months ago made great totes, and they sold like crazy. I'm not especially hip, so Urban Outfitters is a great place for me to go to see what's cool. I got two bedspreads in teal and green. The colors are great! Owls and birds seem to be all the rage right now, so we'll see what the shoppers think when I can get some new totes made and into my shop.
Today I'm trying to make some progress on a custom quilt. I'd love to get it to FedEx by Wednesday morning. Wish me luck!

Mass Production

I had this theory that I should make some more zipper bags for the market today. I thought it would be good to have more inexpensive items on the table for the Christmas shoppers. Turns out that I was right. I made four little makeup size bags yesterday and I sold two of them before I ever got to take any pictures. Here are the other two...

It's very exciting when I feel like I had a good enough day at the market that Nick & I can afford to go out to dinner. hehe Wonder what I'll make tomorrow.....

Thank Heaven for little Monkeys!

I can't believe I did it again. It's been a whole week since I blogged. Anyone still here? I finally finished a good portion of my custom orders so I can take a few minutes to check in & say hi. I reached a huge milestone this week on Etsy, I made my 200th sale! WOW! I'm so amazed. If it wasn't for my little monkey friends I'd have never done it. Thanks to everyone who's helped me along the way.
Now that I've finished my custom handbag orders, I can get to work on the two lap quilts. I went out shopping on Sunday for some fabrics for one of the quilts I'm working on. The customer just asked for mostly pink with a little purple. He'd like his niece to be able to grow with it a little, so no teddy bears and baby toys. I think these are perfect!

I also picked up a few odds & ends for baby booties & bibs. Check out the cool cowgirl print on top. It's going to be adorable with the blue polka dots. Don't you think?

And the best part about that fabric is Ginny! How often do I see something with my name on it? Looks just like me too, uhh, sort of.

I've got a date with some monkeys and Harry Potter so I'll speak to y'all later. If you want to see some of my latest creations, look here and here. And for something fantastic that came in the mail this week, look here.

Happiness is a Warm Kitty

My little Jody is a sucker for the fireplace. He can lay in front of it all night. He gets so hot & toasty, I don't know how he can stand it.
I've taken my own advice and canceled both of my farmer's markets this week. I feel so free now. I spent the whole morning unpacking Christmas decorations. Maybe we can get a tree soon. I love the way a Christmas tree smells, mmmmm.
Now that I'm a woman of leisure, haha, I can get to work on my custom orders. I've got 3 handbags & a tote to get done for Christmas. It's still relaxing not having to worry about stocking for the markets, even if I'm still busy sewing. Really.

Fabric Addict

I was going to go into this long story today about selling at the market and a tutorial I had planned, but nothing's sounding good to me today. Instead, I'll tell you about some new fabric I came across today at the Fat Quarter Shop. I'm not usually a heart person, not at all, but Flirtations is just so cute. It's meant for Valentine's Day, but I think some of it would be great for Christmas. I seem to fall for every fabric line that Sandy Gervais designs for Moda. I just love her work. She needs to just stop. I cannot buy any more fabric! This is where I get my ideas though, so I shouldn't complain. Take a look at Moda's site, there are a lot of great things coming from them in the next couple months.
I'm a huge fan of April Cornell too, maybe because there are a lot of her shops up in Canada. I just finished a quilt using her Sunshine line (pretty much sold out everywhere now, it took me a while). How great are these colors? I used Warm & Natural cotton batting for this little guy and I really love the way it got all wrinkly after I washed it. It's kind of heavy too. It's got a great vintage look to it.
I think I could just shop for fabric all day, every day if I had time. And speaking of that, I need to rework my daily schedule. I decided to stop doing so many farmer's markets. Even when I have a pretty good day, it doesn't seem to be worth the stress. I spend every Saturday & Wednesday locked in my room from about 7am-11pm. I'm positive that the return is not worth the effort. I plan to take it easy a bit and work on custom orders & fun stuff too. I want to enjoy Christmas, not work myself to death. I have to thank Jenn for reminding me that there is a world outside of my sewing business. I would never take the time to bake something, or make something for myself. That's got to change. Please don't get too wrapped up in what you think you have to do, take some time for yourself. It's a lesson I've needed to learn for a long time, I'll keep you posted on how well I do, if I have time. ;)