Tethered Threads: September + October

Playing a little catch-up with the blogging of these blocks for my block party... Above are the blocks for September; Jen wanted more drunk-love-in-a-log-cabin blocks, but using Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks line. Many many props to her for cutting into her stash! I really love these blocks, and the colors in this line in general, and I'm sure the finished quilt will be spectacular!

Next are October's blocks. These are for Amanda's son, due to arrive in a couple of months. I was so inspired by these fabrics and the colors that I dove in right away! Amanda wanted us to mostly use the solids, with the prints as accents. I love how these blocks turned out, but I do worry that I used too much of the prints, especially that stripey one. I just loved it so much, it was hard to stay away! Almost done with the bee--wow! Where does the time go? And when am I actually going to finish putting together my quilt?!

Gifted: Tiny bird + nest

One thing that I've noticed post–craft show is that I'm really enjoying being able to craft what and when I want to. Of course, there are still deadlines for gifts, but I'm enjoying the variety and slower pace of crafting compared to those frenzied weeks right before the show. I guess that's one good thing that comes from failure...

A friend of mine just had a birthday, and as soon as I got the book Little Birds, I knew I had to make this project for her. (Side note: How great are these new little Stash books? What a lovely concept! I'm looking forward to more in this series.) So, back to the bird, which is TINY! Seriously--it's very very small. The eye? That's a black seed bead! The nest? That's about the size of a baseball!

I thoroughly enjoyed making this little guy. I followed the directions really closely, only veering a few times. I don't know how to knit in the round and didn't want to try to learn, so I crocheted the nest instead, just as I would start a hat. I used wool-blend felt for the bird, accented with some little scraps of voile left over from this quilt. I also tore the voile into strips and used that for the nest. I love the way it all looks together!

Craft show: FAIL

As I indicated in my last post, I did all of this work for naught. I'm not sure what it was that made people not buy my wares. In some ways, it was a perfect storm of no-sales: the weather was a gorgeous 81*, which kept people from thinking "fall! scarves! quilts!" and also sent a number of potential customers to the beach. We didn't have the best booth placement, but there weren't that many booths there, so I'm sure all interested parties made their way around to our space.

I ended up selling my scarves for $30 and my mini-quilts for $45 / $60 for the all-flannel ones. I sold two quilts and something like four scarves--all to people I knew! Seriously, why did I pay a booth fee to sell to co-workers or friends I see every week? It was a bit ridiculous. Hilary had an equally poor showing, and she usually makes a killing selling her sock critters, so we really have no idea why we got so few bites. Maybe we were just too funky for our own good?

I mean, seriously. How adorable is that sign?! We are not giving up--we're definitely exploring other avenues, but the deadlines for holiday shows passed long ago, so we may have to sit on our inventory for a while. Lovely.

So, could I interest you in some handmades??

Tethered Threads: August

(Yes, I know that it is now October!) Above are the blocks I made for Marty for August's block party assignment. The colors just did not photograph well for me--late night pictures. I hate that the sun is setting so early again! Marty gave us each mostly the same fabrics, with one different one for each of us, which she asked us to use in both blocks (mine is the red). I'm fairly pleased with these, though I wish they were more interesting. Still, I'm not sure what I would change, so guess that's a good thing?

In other block party news, I think I had a breakthrough on my block party quilt, which you may remember I wasn't loving. Two words: set diagonally. With sashing. I think that might be the trick! If I feel adventurous this weekend, I may play around. Lord knows I don't have to worry about this fiasco any more... More on that next week (it didn't go well).

Where have I been?

I have pretty much spent the entire month of September chained to my sewing machine, churning out crafts for my first real craft fair--this Saturday! Above is a picture of the piles of stuff I have (almost) done.

Here are some of the 12 quilted scarves I have finished. These are patchworked onto batting, backed with cozy flannel, and topstitched. I've had my own since last winter and I love it! So warm and comfy! Scarves finish around 6-1/2" x 60"--plenty long to wrap around your neck once or twice.

These are the mini-quilts I have completed--plus some I have nearly completed. As of this writing, I have 5 of the 13 of them completely done. Those that aren't finished just need me to hand-stitch the binding to the backing (easier said than done, though). The quilts all finish around 20" x 30", which is a perfect travel size for baby! They would also make great wall art. Most of them are backed with flannel, too! Soft AND cozy!

This is just a gratuitous shot of my favorite minis, all using Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels. These were a dream to work with, and are SO soft! Also, they're gorgeous, like all of her stuff!

Pricing is still a little in question for me. I think I have it figured out, but I'd like to pose the question to you, dear reader: If you were to buy one of my scarves, how much would you be willing to pay? Same with the mini-quilts; what do you think they're worth? Would you pay more for the Folksy Flannel ones? I've been pouring ALL of my energy into these for weeks, and I doubt I'll be able to make any kind of profit on them once I factor in my time, but I'm curious to know what other people think. I also think I'm overvaluing my work because I'm having a hard time letting go..

New(est) ink!

In my last post, I promised pictures of some "needlework" I had done. Here it is! My newest, most bad-assest tattoo! It's a line drawing of my grandmother's sewing machine, an old Necchi, on my inner left forearm, just below the elbow. I. Love. It!!

Here's a little before-and-after. The photo of the machine is the one I gave to Molly, my tattoo artist (at Witch City Ink, which I would highly recommend!), who drew up the tattoo from there. I love all of the detail she was able to keep--the knobs and levers, even the thread guides and, my favorite, the screw holes on the throat plate!

I got the tattoo in early August so I've had some time to adjust to it already, but I'm continually struck by how awesome it is. I love having this reminder of what I love (both sewing, and my grandmother) right where I can see it. All of the time.

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. I wear my sewing machine on my arm.

Even more baby gifts

I'm back...again...after some more unexpected silence. Gah! Can't keep up! Here is another set of baby gifts, gifted to my coworker James a while ago. His little boy was born just over a week ago and is a real cutie! Can't wait to see pictures of him wearing those little rockin' booties!

Per usual, the elephant pattern is from here and the booties are from here. I am so predictable.

I'm hoping to get my bloggy mojo back soon. I spent way too much time this morning setting up a Google reader of all the links to the right and then catching up on weeks' worth of other people's crafting. Yowza. I still can't show you much of what I've been working on, but I did finish a large commission job (my first! yay!) and am now embarking on another adventure: selling at a craft fair! It's in two weeks. Panic has not yet kicked in, but I need to be massively productive this weekend. So, stay tuned for some in-progress shots, as well as pictures of some, uh, needlework I had done....