On My Desk - January 7, 2009

Hey! It's my first On My Desk post of the year...cool. Here's what's on my cutting table today...

I had a few bibs to make for orders. Too bad I can't sell the ones that are already made, haha. Perhaps if I get them listed in my shop, hmmm.


I made two new monkeys last night. Marsha and Sebastian. Marsha is monkey #550!!! Wow, and she's already been adopted. Goodbye Marsha.


(click this image to see how great the quilting is)
I've got some binding to do. Unfortunately, my shops are busy today so I'm going to have to get to this project tomorrow. The quilting was done at a shop with a long arm quilting machine. I wish I had one of those.

Aren't things supposed to be slow this time of year?

I've Been a Busy Girl

I won't bore you with the details tonight, just lots of pictures....

I'm working on lots of new zipper pouches.


I just finished a pile of new bibs. Check out my latest monkey fabric. Cool, huh?


Six new tissue cozies for the farmer's market basket. It's getting a bit low.

I listed Ginger and Salma today. I'm finally getting some new monkeys into the shop!

A new diaper bag made it online today too. I haven't made one of these in months. I've had this one cut out for quite some time. Chico likes it, I think.

Remember that new quilted backpack I've been talking about? Well, here it is, finally done. If you want to see the other side, click here. It's reversible.

And last but not least, the latest quilted tote. It's reversible too.

If I have time tomorrow, I'll show you what else is in the works. :)

On My Desk

This is what was on my desk on Monday morning. It's now been moved into the closet so I can get to work without being distracted by cuteness. I got these at Hart's Fabric (they sell online) in Santa Cruz this past weekend. What an amazing test of will power.


Here's what's really on my desk. A bomb blew up in my sewing room yesterday. I'm currently working on 3 different bags at the same time. A diaper bag, a quilted tote and a new backpack design. I've got a farmer's market on Sunday so I"m trying to stock up on some bigger stuff.

Here's how far I've gotten. They'll all be done this morning so I can get some bibs & zipper pouches made later. I'd love to finish my new table skirts too.

Memories and a Hippo

Jenn Maruska did a great post last week about her first purse so I thought it'd be a great time for me to tell you about my hippo. I've been meaning to tell you about her for a long time.


Although she's not my first ever sewing project, she's probably the beginning of regular sewing for me. I made her in my home economics class in 7th grade. I remember it being somewhat of a big deal that I chose to use stripes for my hippo. She sat in a display case in front of the school for about a month.


Unlike Jenn, I don't recall any purses from my childhood, but here are a few of my favorite friends. My bunny and my lamb. The lamb has a little music box inside and played Mary Had a Little Lamb. She moved her head too, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I can remember the day I got this bunny rabbit. I begged my mom to take it home, haha.


Here are Nick's closest friends. Gromit's not that old, but he's very special to us. He's the first gift Nick ever gave me, he even helped Nick propose. Pooh has been with Nick since he was a little boy.


And this is my blankie. I think it was given to my mom as a shower gift, but I could be totally wrong. Anyway, it's been well loved as you can see. (Can you tell I was a kid in the 70's? ha!) I actually found a piece of this fabric at a thrift store about 10 years ago. Maybe I'll make another one when I have kids.

And last but not least, here's me taking a big bite out of something as a child. I show you this because I wanted you to see the sweet dresser behind me. That dresser has been passed around the family a few times. It's been olive green, chocolate brown, blue and now pale blue (as seen in the picture above). I painted it when we moved into our current house. I wonder what color it will be next.

Knee Deep or Hip High

My business taxes are due next week so that's what I'm working on right now. I haven't been the best at paperwork lately which is weird for a supposedly organized person. I'm still blaming any lack of organization on leaving my job at Disneyland. Two years later, I'm still rebelling. (I miss it desperately. The park, not the job.)

Here's what's upstairs calling my name, pushing me to get my homework done.


A little Katie Jump Rope and Park Slope. Purchased from a new shop on Etsy called Sew Love Fabrics. I want this too. For some reason I'm remembering the linen closet of my youth, hmmm.


Here's my latest "use what you have" project. I'm working on a new reversible quilted backpack design. I have lots of this fabric left over from a custom quilt I did at Christmas time. It's all cut out and now being quilted. If I like it, I'll make more and add the design to my future pattern list.

Thank goodness for having kitties underfoot. Always inspirational. Now, I have to get to work. Have a great day!

On My Desk

So, I've decided to play along with a little blog game called "On My Desk", sponsored by Kootooyoo. I found myself inspired by this post. Who wouldn't be? Now, my desk or sewing room will never look like a picture from a magazine, but I thought it'd be fun anyway.

Here's what's on my "desk" at this very moment. I'm halfway through a new girly quilt. I made a new messenger and zipper pouch out of the cutest fabric that's been in the closet for 2 years (I believe I bought it the last time I was in Charlottetown, PEI. So, June '06!). And, last night my hands let me make 4 new monkeys!!! Oh, and in the corner there's a new quilted backpack in the works. If I play along correctly, I'll do an "On My Desk" post every Wednesday. Yeah, I already got it wrong and did it a day late. sigh

Some New Things

I am slowly trying to get things made and listed in my shop though my hands haven't improved at all. I can still sew as long as I don't do any one task for too long. Mass amounts of rotary cutting have proven very painful. Anyway, I've managed to get a few things made from that cool monkey fabric I picked up last week.


I'm pleased with each of the monkey bags and hope to come up with some more later in the week. I've got some custom items to get made first.



I also started listing my new mini wallets. I hope to add the pattern for this design to the shop at some point too. And if you're wondering about the shopper tote pattern, it's coming along slowly. It takes quite a long time to get a sewing pattern laid out and written, and my hands don't enjoy spending much time on the computer. I'll get there, some day. It's amazing how little you can do when your hands are out of commission. It's very hard for me, being one of those people who can't sit still.

I'm just going to go watch my morning dose of Little House while coveting my new fabrics. I can dream, can't I?

Oh! And remember to stop by Jenn's blog today and wish her a Happy Birthday! She's 29 again and giving something away too.

The Long Weekend is My Friend

Though I didn't get as much sewing done as I'd have liked, I was able to make a few things over the 3-day weekend. I've added a new shopper tote to iSew.

I put together a little quilted case for our new camera using all scraps & leftovers.

We went on a couple mini road trips. First to Healdsburg for a walk and a yummy breakfast. We visited a great shop called the Olive Leaf. There were so many great things to see in this place. Nick was hesitant to go in, but in the end I was waiting for him to leave. ;)

Nick spotted these vintage pages of a French child's schoolwork. Check out that penmanship!

Love the tins. I think I saw some like that in France.

We also took a drive down to Alameda, a small island across the bay from San Francisco. We just took a stroll and had some lunch. I found a great vintage feed sack and also got a few things at JoAnn's while we were out. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed just kicking around with Nick. Now I must get my pattern instructions finished so I can get it tested and into the shop!

Market Report

After 41/2 months off, I finally returned to the Farmer's Market scene yesterday. I had a few new things to offer, but I'm still pretty low on stock. The bounce house guys didn't show up so the traffic down the artisan aisle was very slow. We need those bounce houses! haha Anyway, I did alright (I sold one of the new bags I made last week - the blue & yellow one) and it was nice to get outside for a while. Thankfully it wasn't 100 degrees! The weather has definitely cooled down. My next official market date is the 29th, so I have some time to sew.


I'm hoping to make some new table skirts before the next market. I've been racking my brain about what color to make them so they don't scream "baby stuff" but still go with my logo and graphics. Then it came to me on Saturday morning. . . linen! Think of all of those great Japanese crafts everyone's always talking about. That nice, clean look. That's it! I'm not going to use linen, way too wrinkly, but I know I can get some nice clean looking natural fabric at JoAnn Fabrics and it won't cost me $12 a yard. I might add a little patchwork strip toward the bottom, that'll help weight them down & add a bit of color. What do you think? I've added this project to my To Do List.
After a market, I'm generally useless for the rest of the day, but it's not uncommon for me to run into my sewing room and whip up a little project before bed. Last night, after we had yummy ice cream and went shopping, I made myself a little passport sleeve. I made a muslin first, which I've only just started doing (I know, I know, go ahead and scold me), and then I made a for realz one out of some of my favorite scraps.

I think it turned out just right (here's the inside). If I make them for my shop and/or the market, I'll add a snap closure or something. Now I need to get to work, the morning is flying past me.

Feels Like Monday

Just a cool piccie I took at the Farmer's Market on Sunday.

Well, we dropped off the last of the visiting relatives yesterday. The house is very quiet and I'm ready to jump right back into my work. I keep thinking it's Monday today, but that's not really a bad thing. Now that the wedding is really over I can get back to it with a fresh start. I've got a ton of new things I want to make for my shops and the market and I'm not quite sure where to start. My list of things to do is growing daily, but first I need to take a walk. I'm terrible at getting exercise and I plan to really try to make it a habit. I'm going to start by walking to Michael's this morning for some monkey yarn.
When I get home, I'm going to spend some quality time with my sewing machine. I'll let you know what comes out of that tomorrow. Have a great day everyone!

Even More New Things

Yesterday I finished an ongoing custom order I've been working on for several months, so now I can really get back to my shops.


Perhaps I can start utilizing my embroidery machine more in the coming months. So far I've only really used it for a few custom quilts. Any ideas?

I also finished a custom monkey. How do you like the stripes? I've been a little hesitant to do stripes because they aren't very stripey when crocheted. Bow that I've made this little guy, I kinda like it. You may be seeing stripes in the Monkey Travel Club soon. So many ideas, so little time.