July 31, 2008

One thing leads to Another


It all started with another custom pillow... this time in the shape of a book with a tea-related theme. As with most of what I design, I rack my brain for a few days trying to give myself a rough idea of how I might construct it. I then draw a few sketches and if I find it very tricky I may even make a muslin prototype.

I went through several failed attempts before I came up with a way to make a pillow that actually looked like a book. I was happy with the final product but I still needed to make the page part and cover separately and then hand-sew the cover to the pages. I need to find a faster & easier way!



I was making my prototypes at a much smaller scale. I found that if I left the front page loose and added ribbon to tie the book closed it would make a very cute sewing caddy! Thread and scissors can be stored in the slot at the book's binding, needles can be attached to the inside of the cover, and pins in the pincushion page unit. I am playing with the idea of sewing part of a story into the top of the pincushion part to make it look like a real first page...




July 23, 2008

Crafting Tea Party


I had a great day today! Jocelan of Cutesypoo came over for a Crafting Tea Party! Crafting was only one of the many activities we enjoyed... We had a delicious lunch of strawberry spinach walnut salad made by Jocelan, and sandwiches made with freshly baked bread! After lunch, we iced and ate chocolate cupcakes. Claire had fun icing her own cupcake... could she have added anymore sprinkles before licking off all that icing?! Then we baked more bread as a short intro to 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day' tutorial. We drank LOTS of tea throughout the day, and even squeezed in some crafting!



Jocelan and I traded MOO cards and she also made this awesome gocco-printed mushroom aroma pincushion for me! Thanks Jocelan!


July 21, 2008

Things I Love


Today I spent time doing things I love. Claire & I made our daily visit to the sunflowers that we planted together. They are much taller than her now! I whipped up a sweet little cupcake pincushion which is now available in my shop. NO, I didn't make twenty... I only made one while I waited for my bread to rise. We ate the whole loaf for dinner with spiced gouda and hungarian salami... I wish I had pear slices too because that's my favourite combination, but it was still delicious with cucumber!



After Claire went to bed, I planted some new plants I bought yesterday... antique pink chrysanthemum & pansies, a wonderful Rose of Sharon and some delicate white Bellflowers!


I hope you all spend the day doing things you love.

July 18, 2008

Production Lines


I have kept myself busy the last few days with my little production lines. I have been reading a wonderful book called Craft Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business. It mentions somewhere in the book to always make more than one item at a time. I am queen of One-at-a-Time land especially when it comes to larger projects like handbags and quilts. I have always had my little production lines of pouches, tape measures and tags but have recently increased the size threefold.

The most fun was choosing the tiny buttons for the doorknobs on the little house tapemeasures. I also had a blast carving my own stamps for the Tea Time tags inspired by the ever-so-talented Craft Pudding!



I also made a cute little Teacup pillow... but I only made one...


I REALLY should have made more because someone purchased the CUSTOM order from my shop...

July 7, 2008

Teapot Pillows


For the past couple months I have been taking a much-needed break from custom orders. I have been enjoying my time to design new things and to focus on making patterns. However, I never say no to a custom order that challenges me to design something new especially if it has anything to do with tea! How could I have possibly said "no" to Teapot Pillows! This cute Japanese cross-stitch fabric was perfect for the country tea kettle...


I was very pleased with how the fancy teapot turned out...


I used an elegant Japanese linen and I even had the perfect polka-dot wood bead stashed away waiting for the perfect project. I think I need to make one of these for myself! And they would look great with these Teacup pillows I made a while back! :o)

Don't you think some of these photos would make great cards?


July 1, 2008

I'm a Designer!


Last week I received my copies of Pretty Little Potholders that I ordered directly from Sterling Publishing. I had been waiting since May 6th to scoop up a copy at my local bookstore but had no luck. As a contributor to the book, they are sending me a free copy in the mail but the suspense was killing me so I ordered 7 copies thinking that some family & friends might enjoy it as a gift. I was thrilled to see that my butterfly potholder also made it onto the chapter page AND the introduction (which is not in this photo)!!!

I figured if I had extras, I could sell them in my Etsy Shop but why would someone buy it from me and pay shipping when they could buy it from their local bookstore? Maybe I could sign my patterns in the book?

There seems to be some slight changes to the patterns that the editor made to simplify it so I really need to go through and read them again in case anyone gets stuck and asks me about certain steps!

I became ecstatic when I noticed that the word "Designer" accompanied my name for each pattern! I never thought that I would ever become a pattern designer or ever be published in a book!