2008

I hope you had a relaxed and merry holiday season. I have been enjoying the post holiday calm immensely. The new year was quietly rung in while watching movies, in bed with some new yarn and fabrics. Perfect.

I've added the first batch of new goodies to the shop. There is much more to come as I sort through the craft sale leftovers and work on new projects, like hand sewn wool and linen mushrooms.



Today was spent deconstructing our Christmas wonderland. I'm sad to see it go but I know that it will hardly seem like a year has gone by when we bring it all out again. The house looks so magical and festive with the decorations up. It takes me a few days to adjust to the "plainness" of our everyday decor.

The Finish Line

Craft Wonderland is today!
I'll be there so stop by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood.
111 NE 11th

After today, I'm all yours. I'll try to post regularly and get those
house photos up and I'll even do another shop update. Yippee!

Oh and the winning commenter numbers are 3 and 8. Kim and Jessica send me your addresses and I'll get your treats off in the mail this week.

Happy 9 days until Christmas!

Shop Update

Nearing the Finish

Of the insane work season, that is. We have been utterly consumed with the filling of wholesale orders for Robot Candy. I haven't had any time for the crafting that I love, the sewing, knitting and crochet. I am very much looking forward to January and the relaxed creative time it holds. I did find time to get these little penguin friends sewn up. They are made with the 100% wool felt I love so much. I've got a shop update planned for Monday at 12 noon, it will be small but there will be some penguins for sure.

We did manage to get a tree and all the decorations up. There has been non stop Christmas music playing and we even put together two volumes of a Christmas music mix for our friends and family. It's a good one, too. In fact, I think it's time for and definitely the season for another fun giveaway...leave me a comment with your most and least favorite thing about the holidays. My favorite thing is decorating and my least favorite is probably the god forsaken traffic. I'll include a Christmas cd and some other holiday lovelies for two lucky winners.

I was tagged by Jessica for 10 weird or little known things about me. Here goes:
1:: I love hippos and always have. I really like that they will eat people who venture too close.
2:: I grew up in a cult-like church called the World Wide Church of God, we didn't celebrate Christmas, Halloween or celebrate birthdays. Pretty. Awesome.
3:: I will not mix types of pasta. Which makes it inconvenient for using up those last bits
4:: I have never seen Star Wars and dislike all things sci-fi
5:: I don't like any of the Peanuts holiday specials, I know, it's very unAmerican
6:: I think Justin Timberlake is super cute
7:: I hate Sushi and most seafood. The cult-church also forbade the eating of pork and shellfish but I do like pork
8:: I'm 1/4 Mexican
9:: I have a scar on my chin from where I hit it on the edge of the counter trying to get to the cookie jar when I was 3
10:: I hate to fly, and don't really like to travel in general.

I'm going to sprint to the coaster finish line, we've got 7 orders to go, I think I can do it.
Next post will be a tour of the Christmas decor, hooray!

Happy Holidays!

I can't believe I haven't posted since the 9th. I started the month out strong, but it's so busy this time of year. I think we'll try the daily posts again post holidays.
Here's a little preview of some holiday goodies coming soon. I'm going to try to do 2 shop updates this holiday season.

Are you all ready for Thanksgiving? We're leaving town so I'm frantically trying to get orders shipped and on their way. I do not like traveling during the holidays. In fact, I hate it. We're driving which means possibly treacherous road conditions. But it also means getting to see family and friends and eat turkey. Mmmm...turkey.

Have a safe and yummy Thanksgiving.

A New Toy

I now own one of these. I love it, it's amazing and so very thin.

I am a Sewing Nerd

Tonight, I waited in line with lots of other crafty Portlanders to have Amy sign my book! It was very nice to meet her, she is super sweet in person.

I've never gotten a book signed by the author before. Is that weird?

Good Things Indeed

Three more reasons to continue following our fearless leader...

a string of lights made from bouquet holders

mini. gingerbread. houses. yes, please.

And the best idea ever! I am making these. Cupcakes baked in sugar cones
then removed from cones and piped with frosting and sprinkled with sanding
sugar. Brilliant.

47

These are some pot holders for an order going to a cute little gourmet food and kitchen store called Plenty in Canada.

Wow November 6th. Just 47 days until Christmas. Are you ready? I'm not.

Go. Now.

And buy some of this.

This is absolutely the smoothest, creamiest, most delicious ice cream. ever.

Fleece

I've become quite the fabric snob. I find myself recoiling, often in disgust, at the feel of synthetic fabrics while out shopping. I know many of you can relate. I feel like I can spot an acrylic sweater from a mile away and am always drawn to natural fibers. Wool and linen are my favorites, but I make an exception for super soft fleece. It's great for hand sewing sweet little softies perfect for snuggling.

On that note, this is Miss Snowy Chloe. She's ready for a wintry day of snow and frost.

Michael's Blows

Here's a little story about why I hate Michael's and yet continue to shop there. I purchased one of the new Martha Stewart rotary cutting rulers about a week ago because I broke my old one and liked the colors of the MS one. The tag says it's easily visible on either light or dark fabric, a claim that I strongly dispute, I found it was barely visible on any fabric. So...with receipt in hand, I head to Michael's to return said ruler. To my utter dismay, the bastards refused to return it EVEN WITH A RECEIPT because I didn't have the label EVEN THOUGH I HAD A RECEIPT. So...after making a moderately large scene and asking for the manager and then ultimately his boss, I left sans refund but with a great deal of rage. Of all the places that I regularly shop, Michael's has some of the worst customer service. The employees are rude, argumentative and reluctant to help, which leads me to believe that Michael's isn't the greatest company to work for. I shouldn't be surprised really that my refund was refused. Lucky for me I came home and after some ransacking, found the label and now plan to march back in for my refund. Aholes. So, Jenn, why do you continue to shop at Michael's if the customer service is as awful as you claim, you ask. Well I'll tell you why, better yet, I'll show you...

Because the Leader has put out a line of craft supplies that beats all other craft supplies. Because there are scallops and wood grain and ribbons and glitter and red with aqua packaging and polka dots and cupcake papers and wrapping paper and picture frames and twill tape and so so much more. This is possibly my favorite of all...a kit to make divided treat boxes with scallops and polka dotted parchment!!!

Oh how I love Christmas. I love love love it. I love the sparkles and the colors the lights and the real feeling of magic and sweetness. Christmas makes even Michael's less horrible.

A Special Friend

Every now and then I make a softie that is very hard to part with.
This is one. I hope she goes to a special home...

There have been a few times when I have wanted to refuse adoption of certain stuffies to certain people. I was doing a craft fair some time ago and a very bratty, very spoiled little girl snottily pointed to one of my favorite softies and whined "I want that one". Luckily her mother said "ok, well let's look around some more and then come back" they never did. :)

Weather Friends

Happy November! Sheesh, can you believe it? I've got to get working on my Christmas gifts, merchandise and cards. I always start to feel the Holiday panic setting in around this time.

These little friends will join the shop very soon...
Happy sad weather friends, each one is reversible:


I'm going to try to post more regularly, both here and in the shop.

Happy Halloween

I didn't mean to be gone for so long there. I wish I had more crafting to report but alas, not much crafting has been going on, at least not the Chet and Dot kind. I've made 3.8 million coasters though for Robot Candy. Ok maybe it's not in the millions but it sure feels like it. This time of year is so hard because Robot Candy demands so much of my time, but I really just want to sew.

We did have our annual cupcake decorating party last weekend, which was loads of fun. We kept it to a rather small group due to last year's complete lack of space and huge mess, but it was fun nonetheless. It's great to see what people come up with when seating in front of a tray of candies and frosting. I'm always impressed! Look at Kevin's Gene Simmons Kiss cupcake. This is about as much as I get into Halloween. I didn't celebrate it as a kid so it's never been a big deal, now Christmas, that's a big deal.

I did find a lovely melon colored wool blanket while thrifting last weekend which is what this little sweetie was made from.
So soft and melon-y!

Have a fun and safe Halloween and don't eat too much candy!

Autumn Happenings

My ghostly boo garland was featured on the Decor8 blog last week and I've been selling one after another since. They're fun and relaxing to make and it gives me a chance to do some hand sewing, which is always nice.

I'm working on a some trick or treat bags for the little ones. I hope to have them in the shop this weekend.

I'm still working my way through all of the apples and pears from the farms two weeks ago. So far, I've made apple butter, pear butter, and a dutch apple pie. There are still several pounds left and I'm really not sure what to make next. I thought about canning some apple pie filling, but I don't think I can can (ha!) one more jar. I might make apple dumplings, but that won't use up very many apples. Any ideas? I may need to turn to the leader for help.

Uh Oh

This morning I was contacted by a reader and loyal customer who let me know that someone seems to be copying my sweater softies. I always tend to give people the benefit of the doubt but when I saw this, my heart sank. I do appreciate that people like my creatures and in some cases believe that imitation is flattery, but not when the items are being sold on etsy nonetheless, the same venue I use to sell my own softies.

Imitation Owl Softie
The thing that really gets me with this is that the face is almost identical to my owls, right down to how I make the beak. Not to mention the use of ribbon. It's all so very frustrating as someone who makes their living from selling hand made goods. This is how I support my family. I have spoken to my lawyer friend who agrees that there is enough similarity to pursue some legal action. All of my work is under copyright and is therefore protected against blatant copying.

Genuine Owl Softie
For future reference, in case anyone is wondering, all of my items are original designs and are protected by all applicable copyrights.

On a more positive note, I made a couple more not so spooky ghosts for the shop.

Woolen Love Affair

I didn't think it was possible for me to love wool anymore than I already did but this past week I've fallen for it all over again. I picked up needle felting. I've been sick, and needle felting is the perfect craft for laying around in bed, watching tv. A couple of years ago I bought the supplies for it but didn't really get into it, until now.

I rely greatly upon subtlety in my creations. I prefer to use small bits of Japanese fabrics and pair them with rich, classic fabrics like linen and wool. I think it highlights the cuteness of the fabrics in a way that you don't get when you use them on their own. I feel that I do the same with my animals. I'm often amazed that it's possible to take a rectangle, tweak it a little bit and have it become an owl. It's the same with the needle felting. It's also surprising how quick needle felting is even though you are just poking wool with a small needle.

First Week

So remember how like an hour ago I was posting about it being the first week of September? Yeah, well somehow it's now a full month later.

We spent Sunday afternoon in Hood River picking apples and pears. We found a farm that was selling several varieties of apples and pears for 30 cents per pound! Considering you can't find an apple for under $1.50 per pound in Portland, those prices seem ludicrous. We got huge apples and tiny apples, red and green apples, apples for pies and apples for eating. Oh and the pears. This pear amazes me every time I look at it. I had no idea there was such a thing as a striped pear. It's huge too, quite possibly the largest pear I've ever seen.

I'll be doing some major canning this week. I love the idea of stocking up for the year and then going back to the farms and starting again. I always thought that canning was a huge undertaking. Mostly thanks to my mom, she makes it seem like digging trenches would be a picnic compared to canning. I don't know where she gets that. It takes some time, but it's definitely worth it and fun too. Plus, when you can your own foods, you always have a gift on hand.

We also visited an alpaca farm yesterday. I had no idea alpacas were so very soft. The fiber is amazing and spins the softest yarn. It was like cashmere. I fed this guy some alpaca pellets which he seemed to enjoy.

Here is a preview of the Halloween treat I referred to previously, a wooly Boo garland!
I'll be adding a couple to the shop this week. There are some crocheted acorns in the shop too.

Boo!

This wooly little ghost is one of a few that will be haunting my shop very soon. Along with some other spooky treats.

A couple of you have inquired about tomatillos. Well, they are sort of like tomatoes with a paper husk on the outside. They are mostly used for salsa verde which is what I'll be using them for. They have a really good flavor and are a little bit sticky when you peel off the husk.
They can be a bit hard to find but should be in any Mexican food market or tienda.

Thanks to those of you who voted in my poll. I have listed some prints without the frames since that's what the people want.

I'm off to IKEA. Yes, thank you, maybe I will move there.

Harvest

Hey everyone, look! My tomatillos are ripe. I really couldn't be more excited about these. They are not only delicious but beautiful.

I'm still getting tons of cherry tomatoes and a few regular tomatoes. And even a few strawberries. These berries are amazing. The plants produce fruit from June through October and are some of the best I've had. Big, perfectly shaped red berries perfect for munching on while picking walnuts off the ground. So. Many. Walnuts.

Here is a rather crummy picture of yesterday's walnut harvest

Happy October 1st

I found some lovely fabrics while out thrifting the other day. The one on top is some really nice wool that I think will become bunny stuffies. The bottom is about 2 yards of nice, grey linen that has already made it's way into all sorts of projects.
These messenger bags are some of those projects. I love the way the charcoal grey pairs with the brighter colors in the patchwork strips.

These are in the shop.

On another note, I'm pretty sure I will die if I don't get these and these. Have you seen the Martha Stewart (also referred to by me as the Leader), line at Macy's? It's all so beautiful. Better than that cheap garbage at Kmart. Just kidding, I have a lot of the Kmart stuff and I still like it. But Macy's now that's a real classy joint. I've had my eye on these sprinkles for a couple of months now, but just couldn't justify spending $20 on sanding sugar even if it is the most beautiful sanding sugar on earth. I see that they are on sale. I wonder if I should hold out for the Christmas baking delights that will surely not disappoint. I wonder why it took the Leader so long to start selling us craft supplies and cake sprinkles.

Ok, that's a good glimpse into the insanity I live with daily, happy October friends!

To Frame or Not to Frame

I've added a new print to the shop. It's called Picnic in Polka Dot Forest.


I'm a little bit unsure about something so I thought I'd poll you, dear readers. Are you more likely to buy art if it's unframed and less expensive or would you prefer the framing be done for you? I'm totally undecided on this. I personally like to buy prints that aren't framed because I have all sorts of frames laying around that I can use. This may just be an excuse to use the poll feature on blogger, by the way. I'm having some trouble getting the poll to show up in this post, so...it's on the sidebar for now.

I found some acorns yesterday in a parking lot and later learned something about myself. I am VERY skilled at matching acorns with tops. I don't mean to brag but it's true. See...


Early Autumn is the best.