Josh and I have been super busy over here.

We’ve got lots of projects going on these days.

The renovation of our upstairs is moving along quickly.

Here are a couple recent photos:

Our new railing!  There used to be a wall there.

This loft space will now be my new studio area,

instead of a cramped, neglected guest bedroom.

And we have new tile in the bathroom.

Josh has been working on several freelance design projects.

My latest custom order was for a large sized needlebook.

I tried something new with the cover and scalloped the edges of the embroidery. My customer was very pleased and so am I.  I think I’ll be doing more decorative edges on my needlebooks from now on.

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I was thrilled to learn recently that I’d been featured over at Evergreen Moms.

Evergreen Moms is a great blog that features items made by Northwest artisans and small businesses. You can sign up for their newsletter and receive a short message about their latest finds!

Thank you Heather, for including my items on your fun blog!

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And just this past Monday one of my taskets was featured in a Plaid Happy Collection over at Indie Icing!

Check out Indie Icing for gorgeous photos of cool handmade items!

Thanks to Jessica for including my tasket! : )

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I think the carpenters have left early today, so the cats and I are going to enjoy the quiet and the afternoon sunshine. Have a great day!

Jenn : )

A shop update:

New tasket sets!

Pom Pom Fawn

(I only made one with this small pom pom trim.)

Our House.

Pretty Forest.

Dotty Birds.

Happy Thursday.

The weekend is almost here!

Jenn : )

Wow – this week seems to be flying by.  It’s already half over, tonight is a new Lost episode, and somebody will be leaving American Idol.  Whew!

Josh and I took a trip over to Bainbridge Island Wa this past weekend.  We lucked out and had a very sunny day.  We took the car over on the ferry and visited new friends at their beautiful home.  It was such a nice day trip – I’d like to go back again soon and visit all the little shops there.

I was so preoccupied with the gorgeous weather and our new friends that I forgot to take any photos while we were there.  But I did get this one of Josh on the ferry.  Can you tell we were having a great day? : )

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I want to send out a big thank you to Liz over at LavenderLizard for including my little orange needlebook in her latest blog post.  Thank you, Liz!  If you love great Etsy finds like I do – I hope you’ll take a gander at Liz’s fun collection.

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This morning I did a big shop update…well, big for me anyway. : )

I’ve got a brand new Project Tote.

And a matching needlebook.

And something a little different…

The other day I made up this tasket prototype.  This one is quite a bit bigger than my usual taskets.  I used linen (reinforced with fusible fleece) and this new Japanese canvas I just got from Superbuzzy.  Over all I’m very happy with how this new design turned out.  I think there’ll be some larger taskets in the shop soon.

This one does have some slight puckering of the lining at the back, but all-in-all it’s sturdy, roomy and cute.

Since it’s a prototype, I’m offering it at the same price as the smaller version, even though it’s quite a bit bigger.

So if you like a good sale and need a cute place to store some fabric bundles, knitting supplies etc… I hope you’ll give this tasket a home!

Sold – and on it’s way to NV.

Have a great day, everybody!

Jenn : )

I have so enjoyed reading about all of your childhood companions!

I am so glad that I did that post – it’s been fun reading all of your stories.

Ginny has just done a blog post about her childhood friends

and her very first sewing project. So sweet!

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I’ve titled this post “Jumping the gun” because I’ve been working on two new taskets and I’m so eager to share them with you, that I’m blogging about them before I even have them photographed for the shop.

My photographer is super busy at work,

so it may be a day or two before I can get these listed.

I made them using two super cute Japanese canvas fabrics.

This one has robots!

And this one has sweet little birds.

I just can’t believe that each little bird has an orangey dot on it’s face -

and here I had this fuzzy orange dot ribbon – they go perfectly together!

And I’m loving this blue/orange/white color combo!

This is one of those projects that just called out “Make me!” and I had to do it.

: )

Hope you have a great Monday!

Jenn : )

Jenn : )

Cheers -

Jenn : )

Cheers!

Jenn : )

Good morning! Hope you all had a great weekend.

I was in my studio all weekend sewing sewing sewing.

I’m happy to say that all the taskets that I started are now finished. I ended up with 11 – but I could probably make 1 or 2 more – after I take a break from them.

I want to say a big “Thank you!” to Lisa for her wonderful words of advice about craft fair goodies. She suggested that I make some smaller items to have on hand for “impulse buys”. Business card wallets were mentioned and it just so happens that about six months ago I had an Etsy customer request that I make her a business card wallet. So on Sunday I went through my sketch book and found my notes for that project, gathered together wool and felt and my precious special trims from Superbuzzy and got to work.

Here is what I have done so far (you can click on the photo to zoom). Four little doggie wallets and the rest say “Here You Are” with a little bee decoration. I still have to sew on the pockets – that will be one of today’s tasks. I’m quite pleased with them – Josh likes the doggie ones : )

There must have been something in the air this weekend – a hint of spring, maybe? – because I sold my last two Butterfly pincushion/sewing book sets. I’ll wrap these up and get them in the mail later this morning.

And one more thing I am super excited about: I have joined in on the Spring Fling Swap that I found over at Sweet Goodness Swaps! As I’ve been exploring lots of wonderful craft blogs I keep reading about all these swaps that people are doing…. and seeing all of the gorgeous goodies people are getting in their mailboxes… and I’m thinking “gosh that sounds like fun – how can I get in on the action!?” Somehow one day I found myself at Sweet Goodness Swaps and to my delight I hadn’t missed the deadline for the Spring Fling Swap : )

The color theme is pink and green (yummy). And I have a wonderful swap partner – Rebecca! She has a great blog called Thrifty Goodness – very fun and lots of photos. And from what she’s been blogging about she may soon be a fellow Etsyian – whoo hoo! I’ve almost finished making my first swap item, Rebecca – can’t wait for you to see it : )

Well – I’m off to the post office and then back to my studio. Nina is really getting a workout lately – I’m sure she’ll be happy to have Saturday off!

: ) Jenn

I looked over at my studio work table this morning and there were all of the fabric linings for my taskets. All the colors made me smile – so I thought I’d get a picture and share.

Progress on my craft fair goodies has been steady, but slower than I’d hoped – as I’ve managed to catch a pretty bad cold and I’ve been achy and tired.

Nevertheless, I’ve also gathered materials to make a batch of new sewing books to take to the fair.

I found these cute buttons at Pacific Fabrics – I think I might also use some rick-rack to decorate these. They will be very cheerful and spring-y : )

I’ve been so busy with craft fair preparations, that I haven’t been listing as much in my Etsy shop. But I did finish this polka dot sewing book and added it on Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post – I just love to hear what you’ve got to say!

Happy Friday to you!

P.S. For those of you who’ve had a rough week – take a peek at THIS and be sure to watch it all the way through : )

Jenn : )