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!)

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.

Open House

Yesterday, I held my very first Seat Of My Pants Open House.  I'd say about 20 people came, which is about what I was expecting (you know, because of that old saying: 1/3 of the people you invite will show up).  It was blazing hot of course, about 90 out, but it seemed like my guests had a nice time.

I made zipper pulls as a thanks for coming gift, and gave away pocket mirrors as a thanks for purchasing gift.  (ChristineRenee's Etsy shop is full of great stuff like that.)  And for fall hostesses, I have a really sweet thank you gift that includes a zippy pouch, a mirror, lotion, and lip balm--all Etsy artists--as well as a coupon for 10% of their party total off their purchase.  (Ivaart makes the lip balm, and StinkyDs makes the lotion--both are phenomenal!)

One thing I was extremely pleased about was the number of already-made items I was able to sell.  I love custom work--I always learn something new when I do it--but I am really kind of running out of time to make stuff this summer!  Not complaining--just stating the facts!  It was also really reassuring to see some of my creations find homes.  It made me think that maybe my taste in fabrics is not as strange as I was starting to think it must be!  Yippee!

Speaking of running low on time: today is the first day of my MFA Summer Residency at Ashland University.  8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for 2 weeks.  It's sort of like a vacation... sort of!  It'll be challenging because I am not in the school mindset yet!  But it will also be really good to get into that mindset once again.

What's New at Seat Of My Pants

Lots has been happening here at Seat Of My Pants since the last time I loved my blog.   Here's the short and sweet of it:

* Home bag parties--so far they're a hit!  I'm pleased to have had five successful bag parties so far.  It's a lot of fun, and I am slowly figuring out the rhythm of how they should go.  Packing is the hardest part, because my workshop is in the attic and the car of course is in the driveway.   I can get everything down in 5 trips, and none of it is heavy at all (although the relative weight will seem much less after I am walking around for one again!)  And in a couple of weeks, I'm having my first Seat Of My Pants Open House.  Slightly less moving involved with this one.  I'm really looking forward to all the froofy, girly food I'm gonna have at that event.

* Updated Diaper Bag design--It's a great big messenger bag with a very sexy front-flap zipper, binding, and super duper pleated pockets.  It has a few Katie Straps (which I call that because my friend Katie suggested that I add them), which are straps with snaps on them for hanging pacifiers or other things with hooks, a magnetic snap closure and a top snap flap to keep things under control at the top of the bag.  

* The Folger Home Summer Market in Avon Lake, Ohio--Oh, I can't tell you how excited I am about this event.  It's an invitation-only event--invitation only, can you believe it??  Erin the coordinator ran across my shop on Etsy.  It's July 26, right at Rt 83 and Lake Rd. in Avon.  There should be a lot of great stuff to see and do.  I will be about 8 months pregnant then, so that'll be interesting.  But I am so excited!  Click here to see their website.

* Friday With The Artist at Tower City in Cleveland--This is such an awesome venue because it is really busy with people walking.  Lisa the coordinator says there's a week of advertising for

 the shops all included.  And no jeans--very fancy!  I'm really looking forward to this one--it is on Aug. 1.  Click here for information about Friday With The Artist and other events at Tower City.

* The Handbook to Handmade--an awesome collection of Etsy artisans put together by Tim Adam.  The next book is volume 7.  It's a beautiful book--Tim does a really terrific job.  Each artist has about 4 pictures and the address of their Etsy shop included.  The back of the book features little advertising spots for other artists.  I think this is such a wonderful idea.  Every time we take the books around to various events, each of the artists is supporting everyone who is in the book.  How cool is that?  For more on the Handbook, check out the blog or the the forum thread.

Just Beachy

So excited about a new, inexpensive, easy design I came up with last night!  It's a beach bag.  Nothing's more beachy than a bag made of towel!  They are turning out super-cute and they are not terribly time-consuming to make.  I think they will be my bag party special.

Another bag party special--I tried my hand at earrings.  I only got enough stuff to make a couple pairs of them, but I think they're cute.  "Bones and Stones" is what I'll call them, because I used these awesome, light-weight bone beads and some pretty stones.  My mom thinks they are cute. 

Seat Of My Pants Land: Preparing For a Bag Party!

I haven't posted anything new to Etsy in several days, but I have been busy, busy, busy making new bags for the bag party coming up this week.  The hostess told me that the guests were "big bag ladies," so I have made a couple larger totes that I'm pretty happy with (one of which I want to keep of course!).  I also revisited a design I thought I'd retire, but it turned out pretty well too, so I think I'll keep it around.