Posts Tagged ‘custom order’

The Last Four Days…

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
Wow!

You guys are so cool!
I am so tickled by the response to my whoopie pie baking adventure!

Jessi and Karin even baked up a batch themselves!
Ah, cookie goodness all around : )


This is a photo that I took on our back porch on Saturday. We got enough snow that everything was covered…. for a little while. I had to take a photo to share with you – since we don’t see snow very often here. When it does snow, it becomes very quiet outside… until all the children in the neighborhood run outside to play.

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Over the weekend I finished the last of my custom orders. This one (a needle book) was especially fun because I was given the basic idea for the embroidery design and then I got to interpret it my own way. The criteria were: that the person it was for likes the color red, likes penguins and does upholstery (so there needed to be a chair involved somehow). Red, penguin and chair. Hmm…


This is what I made. For the chair I used a piece of patterned cotton fabric that I hand appliqued, then accented with embroidery.
The rest is wool/felt, with a red ribbon bow and two little beads for the eyes.
This little penguin is making herself a new pillow.

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I’ve been tagged by a nice fellow blogger Jenaveve (what a pretty name!)
to do a “7 Facts About Yourself” list.

To be honest I have done this list a couple of times now (you can see my lists here and here) so I think I’ll graciously pass on making another one. But I am so flattered that Jenaveve tagged me – and I hope you’ll check out her fun blog!

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I don’t know if I could concentrate long enough to make a good list today, anyway. Things have been a bit chaotic around here.

I went to bed last night with a to-do list written out for today and a clear plan in my head of how I was going to tackle all the things on my list. But, apparently Mother Nature had plans of her own…. it rained so hard last night that Josh and I woke up this morning to a partially flooded basement! Luckily we caught it in time so that the entertainment center and computer weren’t affected. But I have never seen water come in as quickly as it did today! Josh was mopping it up as quickly as he could, while I was running sopping wet towels to the washing machine/dryer and back. It was a two person bucket brigade in our basement all morning!
As I type this we have a fan and de-humidifier going full blast.

I am grateful that we were able to staunch the stream eventually….
but, needless to say, my to-do list went down the drain (quite literally!).

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If you are new to reading my blog you may have missed a post I did months ago about being “real”. I made a grand proclamation that this blog would be honest; that I do not spend my days whipping up perfect sewing projects and having tea parties in my back yard. I do own a seam ripper. I’ve used it many, many times. Sometimes many times on the same seam.

Here is what happened this past Friday when I tried to make Mexican hot cocoa. You simply warm up your milk, put it into a blender and mix with two wedges of the cocoa. Apparently, somehow I forgot how to use a blender…..
…..and this happened:

See? Nobody is perfect.

If you find yourself feeling stressed out or facing something that didn’t turn out the way you planned, I hope that you’ll clean it up, take a break from it and promise that you’ll try again later.

That’s what I did with the Mexican hot cocoa.

It was much better the second time around.

Jenn : )

Just Kinda Busy, Too.

Monday, November 26th, 2007
I by no means advocate copying someone else’s blog post title…
but in this case, iSew’s title “Just Kinda Busy” pretty much sums up life over here.


(I did try to make it my own by adding the “Too” there at the end – see how I did that?
It’s completely different!)


Yesterday I finished up three of my custom orders. Here is a quick photo I took of them this morning. I loved doing all that embroidery! A couple of these items I sold months ago – so I was reminded again why it’s so important to keep notes about what you make. I was so thankful that I had written down what color embroidery floss I used and how many threads for each part of the embroidery designs. I highly recommend keeping a notebook or sketch pad of how you make things.
You just never know when someone will ask you to duplicate something that you made months ago. ; )



These sets will soon be mailed to their new home in Arizona.


I have one more custom order in the works, but I’ve given myself the day off today. I’ve had a sore throat for the last couple days. It feels like I’m moving in slow motion.

If I don’t go to bed early tonight, I may work on this quick project. I volunteered to fix our friends Sam and David’s advent calendar. This morning I went over to Joann Fabrics and bought some metallic green floss.



Can you spot what needs to be fixed?
(You can click on the photo to zoom.)

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Here are two recent purchases of mine:

The first is this cute sheep fabric from Superbuzzy.


Don’t know what I’ll use it for yet. But how could I resist getting two yards of it?
I couldn’t!


And, looking over my small purse collection I noticed that I have several pretty springtime purses, about three different little black purses and a few tote bags. But no fall/winter handbag. So, when I saw Maia’s newest handbag, made of brown corduroy (oh, I love corduroy!)… I had to have it!

This bag is so nice! I love the loop and button on the front, and it’s one of those bags that you can just keep putting stuff in and it never seems to get too full. It has three pockets inside and still holds my wallet, misc stuff AND my umbrella. If you need a new bag or wallet – I highly recommend checking out Maia’s Etsy shop, Glass Beach. She is very nice and her craftsmanship is excellent : )

And last, but not least…

A few weeks ago I was reading Rebecca’s blog Thrifty Goodness, and spotted a book in one of her photos, that made me chuckle. Being a fabulous pal, Rebecca has sent me that very book! So I present to you: Lake Resort Nurse by Arlene Hale, (published in 1966 and retailing at $.40).

I am seriously considering sharing this book with you, my blog readers. There are 15 chapters total, so I’m thinking of offering a 2 chapter synopsis once a week, complete with my own observations and…. quite possibly, re-enactments of major plot points. I’m not sure if I’ll draw the characters, or re-create them in felt or just raid Josh’s action figure collection. That part remains to be seen.

What do you think?
Is anyone out there interested in the saucy tale of Reba the lake resort nurse?
Her rocky relationship with Skip, owner of a boat rental business?
Or Lee, the mysterious stranger who has recently come to town?
Sure you are….. ; )


Hope you are all doing well!


Cheers,

Jenn : )

Where Have I Been?

Thursday, November 15th, 2007
How are you guys? I’ve missed you!

Things were busy around here and then, in a span of twenty four hours I received
five custom order requests! Wow! Now I’m very busy.
I have alot of sewing to do and I’m super excited about that!


Just a couple things I’ve found in the few moments I’ve been able to blog read:

Over at Inside A Black Apple, I found this link to a wonderful article
by Jenny Hart (Sublime Stitching)
about getting into the indie craft business. It’s a very good read!


And Maia (Glass Beach) is trying to get the word out about The Mini Blog.
In a nutshell, the Mini Blog is a great resource for Etsy buyers and sellers.
It’s one way to see what items different shops have – at a glance.
Looking for a button or badge?
Simply click on that category and you’ll be shown a list of sellers who carry those items. The great thing is – you’ll also be shown four photo examples from each seller’s shop! Click on a photo that you like – and you’ll be taken right to the shop where you can purchase it.
(To find me, go to the “All Things Fiber” category, then click on “NeedleCraft”.)

This is an easy and fun way to find the handmade items you’re looking for on Etsy : )

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And now can I show you the newest addition to the Maruska household?

Ta-da! I found this little guy at Home Depot this past weekend.
He’s just 3″ tall and his little card says that he’s a “Moon Cactus”.

I think he needs a name.
Spike? Prickles? Bob?


Got any suggestions? I’d love to hear what you would name this little guy! : )


Have a good day!

Jenn : )


(P.S. Christina, rest up and feel better soon – I miss your wonderful emails!)