Getting Close

Pattyfair is coming up quickly -- in three days! I still have lots to do before Saturday, including a completing a custom messenger bag order and two scarves. But, most else of what I need to do is already done. Including:

:: printing this 3' x 4' poster for Patty's door ::

:: printing this sign for my booth ::

:: making these custom price tags ::

:: sewing this pocket apron to hold my cash during the event ::

As a bonus, I was really productive over the holiday weekend and completed these items:

:: two denim totes ::

:: two gray totes ::

:: two brown totes ::

:: ten zipper clutches ::

I decided that I liked the zipper clutches so much that I cut out 16 more sets last night -- thinking that I should have one to match each of the bags I've completed. Big mistake. I'm a little burned out on the sewing, and I don't know how many of those additional zips I'll have completed by Saturday.

I'm not going to stress out about it. I already have 46 items completed, which I think will be more than enough.

I'm really looking forward to the event. There are a lot of talented people involved, including my friends Beth and Robyn, who have both been busy getting all their stuff ready.

So, if you're in Columbus Ohio this weekend and would like to swing by Pattyfair, post a comment here and I'll send you the directions.

Happy Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. Mostly because of our unorthodox family tradition. We don't go anywhere. We don't have anyone come over. We don't participate in Black Friday. We do cook the feast, down to every last side dish. And talk about what we're thankful for over dinner. But it's just the four of us. Usually, still in our PJs. The rest of the weekend we spend together by the fire. Watching moveis, playing games. Relaxing. It's a great break before the crazy Christmas season starts.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Perfect Crafting Weekend

Ahhh. What a weekend! What a perfect crafting weekend. Friday evening Kevin went out with some friends, so I was able to catch up on some things around the house and cut some tote fabric for sewing later.

Then, on Saturday, I met the lovely and talented Amy Butler at her trunk show at a local fabric store. She was really warm and friendly, and started the conversation off by asking me what *I* was working on.

I asked her about her new lines coming out, (pay attention in January and July) and then cheesed it up enough to ask for an auto and a photo. She complied with both. Of course, I bought more fabric, which I really should have resisted, and have started working on more totes.

If you haven't done so already, you need to check out Amy's new book
Midwest Modern which is really amazing. Great photography, great inspiration.

Then, if that wasn't enough, there was a great indie craft show Tiny Canary that I attended on Sunday. There were 40 or so really talented crafters there and I was able to meet several local artist that I really admire. Including, yumi yumi who remembered what I bought from her on Etsy four months ago. Wow, impressive. She's a lovely and talented lady who was nice enough to let me snap a quick photo of her in her booth. Which was swamped with people almost the enitre time I was at the show.

I also picked up this amazing fox print for Quinn from the tugboat printshop

And a set of these lovely owl ornaments from Craftpaca


Nice.

Post Every Day?

So, who thought that this 'post every day in November' thing was a good idea? Um... not me. It's not that I don't have things to post about. Mainly, the problem is the sunlight. All my photos look terrible. I'd be up for a post-every-day-July. But November? Ugh.

Enough whining. It's actually been a great week. I decided on Monday that work was just going to be tough for a while, and I needed to find a way to have enough energy at night to turn the sewing machine on anyhow. And voila - after my little pep talk, I managed to turn out six totes for Pattyfair.

Then, on Thursday, I went to the CSCA Creative Best awards. Lots of fun inspiration there. My favorite piece in the show was this poster:

I just love how non-digital it is. It's hard to see from the photo, but there is a great reflection on the type. It makes me miss print design.

So, the photos are far from great, but here's the totes I turned out this week. Bringing my total for Pattyfair up to 25. All of them are reversable, and have cute little tags on both sides to attach an o-ring for a keyclip. A couple of them have keyclips too.

:: girls and bunnies ::


:: elefantastic - with two pockets ::


:: more bad ass skulls ::


:: fun japanese winter scene ::


:: the last of my fun mod neutral fabric ::


:: more of the joel dewberry birds ::

Sneak Peak

I've been working a little on the family Christmas card this weekend. I've decided to give my home printer a break and have it professionally printed this year. Which opens up sizing possibilities, but also means that I'll have to finish up the design soon if I want to send them out on the first of December like I had planned. This year I'm going with a 17 x 5.5 quad fold. Here's a sneak peak of the front cover. It will probably change seventeen times before I'm finished with it.

blogging break

It looks like I have just returned from an unplanned blogging Break. Xander turned five last week (I still don't believe it) and I had to prepare for a party with 14 five year olds. Not to mention the family party on Sunday. Not to mention the crazy project at work that is taking up all of my time.

So, I haven't gotten much crafting done. But, I did put together this invitation for Pattyfair, which Patty has been distributing far and wide. I think she's going to have a good turn out.

I also threw together a super simple tote pattern that I plan to sew this week. I hope to get ten totes done by Sunday. Probably impossible. But I like to aim high.

Oh, and did I mention that I've recently become addicted to facebook? Or that I did an illustration for Kevin to use as his profile pic? I'm working on one for myself but I'm having a hard time, either because I have hair, or I am vain.