Jenn Maruska Design » kitten

I love Books! Do you?

Jenn — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:53:53 +0000

Hello everyone!

I’ve had a busy time over here – getting out Issue #1 of my newsletter, shopping for birthday gifts for friends and family over the weekend (now I’ve got to box them up to take to the post office tomorrow) and yesterday I made cupcakes for Josh to take to work with him (Carrot Cake Cupcakes from Ina’s “The Barefoot Contessa Parties!”)

All this time I’ve been working on a secret embroidery project. I’ve been so excited to share it with you, but I’ve been waiting until I had them all finished. So, without further ado, here is my latest project: hand embroidered bookmarks!

Ginger Kitten,

Cinnamon Kitten,

Sugar Kitten,

Pepper Kitten,

& Nutmeg Kitten.

Word-Bot,

Page-Bot,

Type-Bot,

Ink-Bot,

& Chapter-Bot.

I’ve just finished a *huge shop update* – you can check them out in more detail there.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a terrific day!

Best, Jenn : )

Sew-Sew Monday!

Jenn — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:21:00 +0000

Last week I was working on prototypes for a carry-all that I wanted to make.
Almost like one of my taskets – with deep pockets all around,
for carrying supplies when you’re working on a project.

(Prototype #1: Nope.)

(Prototype #2: Getting there, but no.)

(Prototype #3: Eureka!)

And here are the final versions!

Sew-Sew Monkey and Sew-Sew Kitty.

I am so pleased with how they came together!
I am really excited about these bags.

I hand embroidered the little monkey and kitty on the fronts. Each bag is fully lined, with four pockets around the outside that are also fully lined. There is a layer of fleece between the lining and twill and the bottom is reinforced, so they will stand up by themselves (but they aren’t stiff – they are super soft.)

I had envisioned these as carry-alls for sewing supplies,
but they would also be perfect for knitters and crocheters, too!

I’ll be adding these to my shop this morning – I hope you all have a great day!

(* Sew-Sew Monkey and Sew-Sew Kitty are in the shop.
You can see detailed photos of them here.)

Jenn : )

Murray It Is!

Jenn — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:57:00 +0000

Good morning : )

By popular vote, I introduce “Murray”, looking even tinier in his new home:

Thanks for all the name suggestions!

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Josh and I worked ALL weekend….
except for last night when we went out for dinner and then to the
Paramount theater to see Kathy Griffin!!!
(It was like we were on a real date!)

I purchased tickets for the show months ago – but the timing was absolutely perfect. We are both busy and kind of tired, and it was wonderful to sit back and laugh for two whole hours with Kathy. She was so funny! And I love how much energy she has… This was the second time we’ve seen her, and I always leave wanting more.

Unfortunately we had a heckler in the audience. It was unfortunate because I was so happy to see her and I didn’t want some jerk giving her a hard time. But it also allowed us to have a candid moment, where she stopped her performance and just talked to us. Kathy doesn’t have any one-line comebacks for hecklers – so she shared some of her favorites that her other comedian friends use. They were hilarious!!! But alittle too crude for me to repeat here ; )

Sorry this photo is a bit blurry, but there she is!

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And now I’ll show you a bit of what I’ve been working on lately. I had two very nice customers ask me to remake several items that I had sold in my Etsy shop.
(That’s one of the great features of Etsy – customers can look through a shops sold items and, if they see something they like, they can ask the seller if they would make another.)

Yesterday I finished up this Scottie Dog pincushion and needlebook set.

And next I’ll be finishing up this Puppy Set that I originally made back in May for my pal, Rebecca. It includes a needlebook, pincushion and tasket.

As I was starting the Puppy set, I thought maybe I should make some more sets to put in the shop. One of the designs I’m working on is with a Kitty theme.

I still need to do the embroidery on the needlebook. I’m thinking it will have a kitten and a ball of yarn. So far I have the pincushions and taskets done – I’ll have three of these sets when I’m finished. : )

So – that’s keeping me out of trouble these days.

What are you guys working on? I’d love to hear about your latest projects!

Have a good day -

Jenn : )

Snowy Thursday

Jenn — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:40:00 +0000

We got snow yesterday! Everything is white outside – so pretty. It’s funny that I get so excited about it. I grew up in New York, so I’ve seen plenty of snow in my lifetime – but it is so rare here in Seattle that now I get all excited, esp. when it stays around for awhile.

I have this great reproduction fabric that I’m making my kitten pincushion/sewing book sets with – today I’ll be embroidering the sewing books and hopefully will get the final set photographed so that I can get them in the shop Friday am.

I haven’t begun my plush kitten/bag project yet. Doesn’t it always happen that you set aside some time to work on a project and something else rushes in to take over? Not that I’m complaining – I had a custom order to do this week and some unexpected work to do for consignment. Busy , busy!

Here is a beautiful little quilt that I bought on Etsy, from a fantastic Australian artist – her Etsy shop name is tummyache and I love her work:

One of these days I will get it framed and then hang it in my studio.

Now it’s off to work for me!

: ) Jenn

WIP Wednesday

Jenn — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 00:39:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

Thanks for the great comments you’ve left for me – I love to read your thoughts and ideas – they’re wonderful motivation for me to keep up with my sewing and sketching : )

Sorry for this fuzzy photo – our sunshine here is sporadic and it seems to be either blinding or grey outside. This is a picture of my sketch for the hedgehog sewing book/pincushion set and one of the adorable little buttons I’ve found to go on the book. I’m not sure why the button has a hedgehog AND an apple on it – but by total coincidence I had a Japanese fabric that has hedgehogs and little apples on it – how did that happen?

So it looks like hedgehogs and butterflies will be the next sets that I finish up (and then kittens and finally Scotty dogs and dragonflies).

I couldn’t resist getting a photo of the fabric and ribbon I have for my first plush animal and bag.
This is what I’ve gathered for the Little Kitten plush & bag. I’m going to use the fuzzy orange/brown fabric on the far left for the kitten. The corduroy on the right will be part of the bag and the two middle fabrics will be part of the outside of the bag and then the lining.

I plan on making some prototypes of the kitten and bag out of muslin – so that everything is the way I want it before I cut into these gorgeous fabrics. I’ll post some of my attempts so you can see how they’re coming along : )

Now I’ve got to make dinner and then get back to my sewing while I watch Top Chef on Bravo!

Nite all!