19 November 2008

A community of love


I've been feeling intermittently crafty. I always feel like I want to make something, but when I have the time, I'm not sure what to make. I've been working on a new project, which is going well. Hopefully I'll have some photos to post tonight at least. I've also started (finally) on Christmas gifts, which is a good thing.

I'm distracted because the world lost a wonderful person this past weekend. A friend and colleauge, Karen suffered a series of strokes and was unable to recover. Young, vibrant, colourful (and colour coded) and an embodiment of the school's spirit, we're all missing her very much. Knowing that she never wanted to see anyone unhappy or upset, we are trying to take strength in growing through this together and keeping her spirit alive. She was always so proud of my projects, I'm sure I'll think of something good soon. You should have seen that rainbow this weekend. It was a triple decker and the brightest I've ever seen.

11 November 2008

Shop updated... finally!


Yep, it's true. After all of this time, I have finally added new goodies to the shop. Go over and check it out. Speaking of shop(ping), T and I have been working on our Holiday Wishlists, as requested. This year, we are both creating Wists (Wish + List = Wist) over at wists.com. You can see photos of my "wists" scrolling in the side bar over on the left of the page. You should start a Wist - it's quite easy. Let me know if you need help.

In other news, my sewing machine is back in the shop. This time it's in for a good cleaning. So I'll be working on cutting and carving again this week. I'll be able to pick it up on Thursday, but there will be photos of my other adventures until then!

If you're wondering, that's a Hot and Cold Apple up there. I made them Friday night before the fair, and am I glad I did! They were a huge hit. I only have one left. They are cute and compassionate too. You can store them in the freezer for use on bumps and bruises or you can heat them up in the microwave to warm your fingers and soothe sore muscles. I'll be working on a pear pattern once I get my machine back.

10 November 2008

Not bad

This weekend was not bad. It wasn't great, but not much to complain about. My craft fair on Saturday was alright. There wasn't a particularly good flow of shoppers, but that meant that I had time to do other things. I finished up some animals and got to walk around and actually talk with the other vendors. It was a mix of vendors and crafters; probably about 70% to 30%. So I made a point of stopping at the other crafters' tables. I met AggieBag, WoosWoodLG and another lovely lady who has a long arm quilter. In the end, I still ended up reaching my goal profit which is more than enough to pay for my sewing machine getting its much overdue tune up.

After the fair, T suggested that we could stop at my favourite quilt shop, since we were nearby. The place was hoppin'! Turns out that they were part of a quilt shop hop so people were there spending money to collect a unique quilt patch from each store. If you visited all 12 stores in the hop, you were then entered into a drawing for some quite nice prizes. Apparently, few people get to all 12 stores (not many significant others are willing to spend a whole weekend perusing quilt shops I assume) so the chances of winning are high. Even so, I wasn't about to go running around DC, Maryland and Virginia to get a chance to enter into the contest. But I did have fun picking out some more new fabrics! Plus, I think I can cross another person off of my Christmas list.

Sunday, we went to the Green Festival with Madre. We spent several hours perusing and gathering the latest on what's going on the environmentally friendly community. I made a point of only collecting information (handouts, business cards, etc.) from people I genuinely think I might find useful. Now I just have to go through the bag and organise all that info!


T and I enjoyed a nice dinner at La Madeleine and then went for a walk around Reston Town Center. It must have dropped about 10 degrees over the course of our walk and I started to get pretty cold. Fortunately, there's a new Anthropologie there (next door to Paper Source!). I am liking that store more and more every time I visit. I still don't feel brave enough to wear most of the things they sell, but I can almost always find something I must have. This time, I found 2 things; a little birdie on a grapefruit sugar bowl, complete with a little blue spoon, and a toasty, pink wool coat - which was even on sale! See? Not too bad. :)

05 November 2008

Carving away my time

My sewing machine is sad. It's been doing such a lovely job helping me with all my crazy projects. But all of a sudden yesterday, the top thread tension got all out of whack. No matter what stitch I use or which way I turn the tension dial, the top thread is always too tight. As a result, my trusty friend is going to the shop this afternoon, for the first time ever. Fortunately, wonderful Tran has already called the shop to explain that I have a craft fair this Saturday, so I need my machine back as soon as possible. He explained the problem and it seems we should be able to drop it off this afternoon and pick it up tomorrow! How swell!

So, since my friendly machine is out of commission, I needed something else to occupy myself last night. I recently ordered some new Japanese crafting books. One of them is full of hand carved stamp designs. I love those sorts of books for the inspiration! So I spent the evening last night carving some stamps. I carved a happy cloud, an envelope (sealed with love), the little penguin above and a Silver Lining return address stamp. I did the three little ones first to practice and get myself "in the groove." The return address stamp is pretty awesome also, if I do say so myself. But the penguin one saved me money. I saw this little guy on Etsy a while ago, but decided to wait to buy it. Of course, it sold. So last night, when I was feeling like carving, I knew I had to make him.

03 November 2008

Wishing I could take a nap

Phewf! What a weekend. T and I felt like quite the social butterflies with a social engagement each day. It's hard to believe we were ever more social in college! It was wonderful to be able to spend time with friends and re-connect with people we hadn't had a chance to see for a while. Now if we could only get up to NYC...

In other news, I have had some lovely feedback about the goodies I made (with help from T and Sneetch, of course) for the babies. A couple very nice emails and comments in the hallway. How nice it is to know that your hard work is truly appreciated. Here's a picture of the owl bags which caused much glee and excitement on Friday:


Elsewhere in the blogosphere, See Katie Sew is having a fantastic fabric give away. Even though I'm sure very few people are reading this, I said I'd post about it to spread the word and get myself entered in the contest for an extra 5 entries. :D