Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The Burp Cloth

I guess I have baby stuff on the mind. (Perhaps because our due date is this week!) A couple of weeks ago, I had the joy of making my first set of embellished burp cloths. I am really, really happy with how they turned out, and also with how I wrapped them up. I used flannel and terry cloth, and then I just zig-zagged hearts onto all of them. I love how these 3 fabrics go together.

These were a gift for friends of ours expecting a baby in October.

Some Fun Custom Orders

Recently, my Seat Of My Pants time has been occupied with the many custom requests I received over the summer. Here are a few of them!

* a super-funky mini-messenger bag made with some excellent Alexander Henry Pucci Circles. I love the contrast between the circles on the main fabric and the stripes on the inside and the accents.


* an adorable monster wallet, inspired by the custom request of a customer from the Summer Market. I love the monster on the outside, and I think the binding on the edges is a great improvement. She asked for a wrist strap, which was a great idea!

* another lovely mini-messenger made to match a zippy pouch. This bag turned out so fantastic, plus it's really photogenic, don't you think?

* a pair of medium-sized totes





Baby Shoes



This morning I made a pair of baby booties. They will be a gift for a friend of ours who is having a baby... probably right now! I am really excited to know how to make these little shoes. I do not think I will add them to my Etsy shop, but they will make great gifts.

I found a really simple pattern for them online the other day, and I tried it a couple different ways. I have never used a pattern for anything before, so I think the more shoes I make, the
more I'll be able to make it my own.

Anyhow, here are the shoes! (They match a diaper bag that was ordered as a gift for the new mommy! I'll post that when it's done!)


Thursday, August 21, 2008

Handbook to Handmade Volume 7


My hat is off to the talented Tim Adam of TimothyAdamDesigns, the driving force behind The Handbook to Handmade. I am so excited to see this book--I imagine it will be out soon! And guess what. Go ahead, guess. My purse Wild Wild is on the front cover! Yippee!

This book is great! Think of it. All of the artists' work will be seen wherever this book goes--to shows, to parties--everywhere! And what a lovely way to find out more about other artists, too. So I can't wait to see it!

Here's the link to Volume 7, and here you can find Tim's blog.

It Has Been a FULL Summer!

I can hardly believe that it is already back to school time! Our family has had a wonderfully full summer (and some of us are only growing more full by the moment--Baby #2 will be here within the next few weeks!).

Since the Open House, Seat Of My Pants has taken a little bit of a break... sort of. From the middle of July until the end of it, the Summer Residency at Ashland University was in full swing (en bon plein is the French cliche I remember learning for that phrase! Correct me if my memory is wrong!). The residency was completely wonderful. It really is like writer summer camp. In what other setting can you hang out with wildly successful poets and non-fiction writers and just soak it all in for 2 weeks, no other responsibilities? Nowhere!

On July 26th, I participated in
a wonderful, amazing craft show in Avon Lake, Ohio at the Folger Home. It was just so lovely, well-coordinated, and so nice to be back to the lake--I forgot how much I enjoy it! My sweet husband even came with me for the day, and the two of us just hanging around does not happen much anymore. I ended up moving right around 20 items or so, which was phenomenal for me. I am still catching up on the custom requests I got that day, but that is not necessarily a bad thing--people were pretty understanding about my current (enormous) circumstances
.
Things that went well at the Folger Home Summer Market:
I was pretty pleased with the set-up of my booth.
I got to meet a couple of fellow Etsians (Hooray Virtuallori and VintageBroochCo!)
The zipper pulls (see the photo with the blue dish below) were a big hit--a thanks-for-shopping gift for customers, and something to keep me busy throughout the day!
I brought along an inventory list that was hugely helpful (as opposed to trying to write down every item that sells, simply checking it off is so much easier).
I ran out of business cards!
It was a beautiful day.