Here is how the little owl needlebooks turned out. I used tiny beads for the eyes. (You can click on the photo to zoom, and don’t mind the purple mark on the right… that’s just some disappearing ink that hasn’t disappeared yet. Sometimes that stuff fades in seconds and sometimes it hangs around for awhile.)

So yesterday I decided to put aside my to-do list and instead,
worked on some random things that I just felt like doing.

In the morning I made good use of some small fabric scraps I’ve been saving.
I cut them into 1 1/4″ squares. In the future these will be part of more little quilts.

And in the afternoon I tackled my first Japanese sewing pattern. This is a little bag that I fell in love with almost a year ago. So cute! I’ve been meaning to give the “pattern” a try ever since. I say “pattern” because not only are the instructions all in Japanese, but this pattern didn’t even have much in the way of measurements. Some Japanese patterns give the measurements in centimeters, which is very helpful. But this one didn’t. So I was basically winging it on this one.

All-in-all I’m pretty happy with how my first attempt came out.
It’s not perfect, but now that I’ve done it, I know what to change on the next one.

When Josh saw it he started describing how he’d go about photographing it for the shop….. so I guess I’ll be making some of these in the future (??) He thinks I should make a little carrot coin purse to go with it…. I’ll have to add that to the long list of things on that to-do list of mine.

: )


******************************************************************************

Now that I’m back to being “Frugal Jenn”,
I’ll show you a few things that I splurged on over the last couple weeks:

Isn’t this a lovely wrapping job?
What could be inside, little bird?

A button bouquet! From Lilfishstudios.
(She has a poppy bouquet in her shop right now - red and black, gorgeous!)

I bought this lovely necklace from deciduoussoul.
It is really pretty in person - the ribbon is such a nice touch.

And I bought “Lusty Lip Lush” from DressGreen and I love it!
I also got her grapefruit exfoliating scrub and it is wonderful.
It’s fun to use, smells great and really does leave my skin so soft.
I went back and got her moisturizer, too!

**********************************************************************

Today I’m working on business card wallets and monster bath mitts….

….or was that monster card wallets and business bath mitts?

; )

That is where I believe my interest in embroidery really took off. I had done embroidery before, but I think this is when I decided that I wanted to include it in some way in most everything in my shop.

The sale is run by a local clothing designer. She has twice yearly sales where she offers remnants of her fabrics and buttons and trims to the public, inorder to make room for her new supplies.

The second thing that changed Jenn Maruska Design was that I got on the mailing list for future sales.

When the next sale happened I went and found that this time she was destashing all of her winter wools (as well as more buttons). And this is where I first bought the beautiful high-end wool that I now use exclusively to make my needlebooks.
I will never use anything less.

This past friday was her winter sale - so she had mostly cotton fabrics, trims and buttons. There were a few pieces of wool though, and I brought some home with me:

I bought all of the little hedgehog buttons that she had left, which weren’t many. But now I’ll be able to make a few more hedgie sets in the future. I also got some little glass mouse buttons, too.

This is a vintage French trim that I got for $3.
I probably won’t ever work up the nerve to cut it!

While Josh was computing this weekend, I reorganized my wool supply. I found that there were some colors that I have quite a bit of. So I cut some 5″ x 5″ squares.

I think later this week I’m going to offer a couple of these bundles in my shop.
There will be 10 pieces in each. These are the exact same wools* that I make my needlebooks out of and use for applique. (* the white square is woolblend felt.)

But first…. ever since Ginny blogged about finding General Foods International instant coffee in Pumpkin Spice Flavor… I have been on the lookout for some. This past weekend I went to a grocery store that I never go to looking for it. But to no avail. So. I am offering one of my 10 piece wool stacks to anyone who will mail me a tin of said Pumpkin Spice Flavor GFIC. Unopened, of course. You pay for the coffee and shipping. And as soon as I receive it I’ll send you the wool (and some other little goodies!) and pay for shipping on that. You can see a photo of the tin HERE. If you’re interested in this swap - just go to my profile and send me an email.
: )

************************************************************************************

In Orchid Watch 2007 news: we have blossoms!

They have just started to open.
You can see that they are a dark red and pretty orange color.

**************************************************************

And last, but not least. I recently went over to BuyHandmade.org and pledged to buy as many handmade items for the holidays (instead of mass produced) as possible. We did pretty good last year - with about 50% of our Christmas gifts coming from Etsy and local artists. I’m hoping to exceed that % this year!