quiet but productive!

I'm sure all five of you were waiting with bated breath for my next post, right? Sorry to keep you waiting, I've been busy with work, birthdays, kids and SPRING (though I'm bracing for the inevitable big March/April snowstorm...). Here are my latest two books, 8 pages each and the best of boy stuff:

This one's a last name book to go with an already existing first name book. I love the science theme!:
:These were a lot of fun (and work!) and came out so well. I'm excited to send them off today! That R2-D2 just kills me, I'm definitely going to do a Star Wars alphabet.

And speaking of alphabets, here's something new in the shop:

I made these little individual upper/lower case letter quilts a while back and though people seemed to love them they didn't sell. A couple of people remarked that it would be cool to buy them all and use them as a border in a nursery or child's room. I thought this was brilliant and finally got around to stringing them all (in 3 individual strings for versatility in hanging). I kind of love them hanging on a wall in my in-construction studio so I won't be heartbroken if no one buys them! And I'd love to make a set of these for Tigerlily's school.

Off to the park with the boy; I hope it's as beautiful where you are as it is here!

something old, something new

completeAs my mom was recently wading through her overflowing sewing room and giving me as much as she can (much of it from my very talented Grandmother and Great Grandmother) she came across these two beauties:

These two Vogue magazines, from 1893 and 1894, were my Great Grandmother's. One of them even has some of her doodles.

My favorite parts are the advertisements. Pretty cool.

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I just finished up a blank book for a customer who plans to have her son use it to practice handsewing. Just another example of my ingenius customers who come up with the things that I'm too entrenched to think of. I think it will work really well. I also made little 4" x 4" patches to whip stitch onto the backs of any "through" work so that all of the pages can be used.

This was also a very useful exercise in evaluating the amount of time it takes to make the base of the book, giving me a really good sense of the value of the book itself. I'm struggling with pricing, not wanting to charge too much but realizing that in most cases I'm actually charging too little, but this has given me the idea of coming up with a sort of unit pricing scheme. Such as:

x amount for the blank book

x amount per image (with a higher price for very complicated images)

x amount per page of embroidery

Each x amount to be determined, but I think this could be a bit more fair. With the numbers I've been plugging in the amounts are fairly close to where they are now, but I will be increasing a bit, as well as giving options for more complicated work.

I want everyone who wants one to have a book. I'm not into making a ton of money, but I do need to help support my family. Useful/beautiful trades are always welcome!!

sunday stash #2

Wow, that week blew right by. The old man and I did some serious spring cleaning this weekend (though I'm kinda bummed we bowed out of our plans to see the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the Clark Institute). And now it's Sunday once again and time for a glimpse into my (copious) stash!

I love this fabric. I can't remember what it is or where I got it (it wasn't that long ago, either...) and I only got a fat quarter (what was I thinking?!?!?). I would buy many yards if I could only find it.


Does anyone know what it is? Please help!

100 sales, yo

100 Etsy sales (and many uncounted others, too!). It feels pretty awesome. It was only a year ago when I was hatching my little business, thinking about going to Renegade with my fairly new and inspiring friends Leah and Laura and still figuring out what I was going to make. I didn't have any great expectations and have accomplished more than I ever thought I would. Thanks so much to all of you for supporting me and helping make this happen. Though things are a little tough economically I'm making a go at really helping to support my family with my work, and I still love it. We're happier (though we're definitely still figuring things out). And a vital part of me that remained peripheral for a lot of my life is now really flourishing. Pretty sweet.

My current positive outlook was helped along greatly by the SPRING-like day we had today. Our whole little family spent the day together, getting muddy and a little wet, but SO happy to be outside!

et voilà

A sweet New York City-themed book for a little girl:

happy feelings

I'm working hard today, a big push to get a kind of complicated book done and shipped off, but I needed to take a stress-relief break, which often means watching this:



I keep coming back to it and it never ceases to make me smile.

hot off the press

I kinda love this one:

98 and counting

Just this morning I realized that I'm almost up to 100 sales in my Etsy shop! To celebrate I'm offering FREE SHIPPING until St. Patrick's Day (March 17) AND I will be giving a very special gift to the buyer of item #100. So if you've been thinking about buying or ordering a book, now's the time!!

they really like me!

Two words: studio organization. That's where I've been. And in birthday land (including a very special birthday for a very special friend)--all told I have 7 very important birthdays this month! But I had to take a break from the madness for a few moments to share some more exciting news: I was featured on Inhabitots today! This was an exciting one for me because I check this site out quite often and saw it before I got an email from the editor. Talk about a nice surprise!

Since I'm still incapable of importing a screen shot (or whatever the terminology might be) I'll share some pictures of life in these parts this week.filling our Bare Books, a collaborative effort

dancing (always)

letting it all hang out (often)

fabric collage

piggy back rides

Hope you're having as much fun as we are!

sunday stash #1

I joined the Sunday Stash blogroll! So here's numero uno:
My mom's been cleaning out her stash and handed down to me these two beautiful vintage calicos (1970's) among a bunch of other contemporary fabrics. They were instantly familiar to me and I felt like they had to be vintage, but I wanted to be sure so I asked my mom. Sure enough they're vintage and the reason they're so familiar to me is because she used them in the Dresden Plate quilt she started for me when I was a baby, the quilt that my daughter sleeps under most nights. I LOVE it and imagine little pinafores for any baby girls that might come into my life....

party time!

Well, it was a long night of trial and error, but I think I came up with a cute little gift for my littlest niece, Josie.

:One slightly bastardized and limb-free version of the Black Apple doll (I nixed the arms and legs when I nearly threw the whole mess across the room), one made-up skirt of uncertain sizing (I only had a 6/9month pair of pants and a 2T pair of shorts for reference) and a little gift bag to make a pretty present.

And while we're on the subject of gifts, here's the one I should've mailed a month ago for Josie's older sister's 7th birthday:

:My sister-in-law told me she's really into making books (a girl after my own heart!) so I'm giving her this awesome book, 4 of these awesome book blanks and an adorable little pencil case from The B Hive (to be filled with pencils on the way to the party...). The only thing I made is the gift bag (recognize that fabric, T?). I'm kind of amazed that I pulled this off, and with hours to spare!