Secret Holiday

The leaves are already changing colors

and my fabric palette is changing, too. The nights have been cooler - light sweater weather, and with that comes my desire to work with wools, and greys again. Though the yellow is nice and bright and beautiful against the wool. 

These two little ones will join the other two shown below in my Etsy shop today at 4:30pm EST. (It's going to be really hard to watch these ones go!)

Shop Post!

I'm still chugging along with my custom orders, and cranking animals out for Twist, but these two little ones will be posted in my Etsy shop on Friday, in search of a new home and family. Will you take them in and love them? Friday August 29th at 4:30pm EST. A couple others will be there as well, come back here to see their cute faces sometime before the post. 

For Stephanie

A patchwork fawn:

A peek into my new home:

Now that we have settled in a bit, I am ready to show a few pictures of our new apartment. This is our living room. We got this free couch off of Craigslist yesterday. It's a bit beat up, but comfy. Justin and I were going to save up to buy this pretty couch from Ikea, but decided to save a bit more and wait to buy a couch like one of these from GreenSofas.com. 

We're trying to slowly convert our whole apartment to being more environmentally friendly, and healthier for us. Ikea is really great because they have wonderful styles at affordable prices, but most of their products are made from particleboard, fiberboard, and polyurethane foam, all of which emit gases and are harmful to your health, and the environment. The couches at GreenSofas.com are all made with hardwoods, the cushions are made from soy-based foam, and the covers are made from linen, cotton, or hemp. (Click here from more in-depth info about their construction) 

We were planning on spending around $800-900 on a sofa with chaise lounge from Ikea, so we figured we should just spend a little more and get a couch we'll feel better about in the long run, and that we know will last and be safe for years and years to come.  

Okay, kind of went on a little tangent there, but this is what has been on my mind lately. Here's some more photos of our new home:

This is the other side of our living room. We painted the walls with No-VOC paint from Home Depot, Freshaire. It was really great to work with. I didn't feel like I was going to die while painting! Their color selection is small, which is too bad only because I think this keeps many people from even considering their paint, but it actually made choosing a color easier because there wasn't a million options. This color is Tranquil Pond, and I absolutely love it! The trim is called Distant Star. Obviously you can see in the photo that I have yet to finish painting up by the ceiling, and some of the trim by the floor is still the awful masking-tape yellow that all the doors were when we moved in. I knew immediately the first thing I wanted to do was paint everything white. 

The kitchen was the worst room of the apartment due to the awful cream paint. This whole pantry was cream and the shelves were still the natural particleboard, unpainted. It felt really campy. It all looked and felt so much cleaner once I painted it white. 

The pegboard behind the stove needed to be painted, too. It's so much better now! I wish I had been smart enough to take pictures of how it looked before. You have no idea. We still want to eventually do something about these ugly cabinets. But, one thing at a time. 

Finally, here's a photo of my new studio! It is so messy right now! But, in my defense, I am currently working on a million custom orders, preparing for a craft fair, and, we did just move in just a few weeks ago! Someday I will finish emptying boxes, and find a place for everything!

I won't even show you a picture of our bedroom right now!

But here's the view from our third floor balcony (off of the bedroom) - the leaves are beginning to change already!

Alright. I have to go back to sewing now. Happy weekend! I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather! Fall will be here before we know it.

All dressed up!

I added a little bow to the blue birdy so he would feel confident enough to join his ruffled lady-friend for dinner. They will both be in my Etsy shop today at 4:30pm EST!

Shop Post Tomorrow!

Hello! 

I have been sewing a lot lately, and away from my computer. I am still plugging away at my custom orders (seven down, fourteen to go! Yikes!), plus, I have been trying to prepare as best I can for an upcoming craft fair here in Northampton. I don't think I have taken the time to formally mention it on here yet, but it's called Twist, and is the first of its kind in the great Western Mass. I am really excited about it, especially because for once I can attend a craft fair and not travel... just walk five minutes down the street. I wish I had a hand truck so that I could easily walk everything down there and set up - not have to drive at all. We'll see, maybe I can get my hands on one for that weekend. 

Anyways, Twist begins Friday September 5th at 5pm and goes until 9 (with a DJ and snacks and beer!) and then continues all day Saturday from 10am to 8pm. I'm super excited about it. The vendor list looks like it is chock full of awesome crafters and artists (including my friends Carrie Bergman, Anna Slezak, and Egg-A-Go-Go), and I'm looking forward to meeting lots of locals. 

I don't have many animals set aside for the fair yet, but I think I can manage to make up a good little bunch in the next couple of weeks. Since I really miss having my weekly Etsy updates, I am finally posting some little ones in the shop tomorrow, Thursday August 21st, at 4:30pm EST. 

I think that I am going to be posting around four or five animals, and then on Monday, anything that is left in the shop is going to be taken down and set aside for Twist. Then next Friday I will do the same, post a few, and set any remaining animals aside for Twist.   

Well, I really need to get back to sewing. I spent far too long tonight in front of my computer making new banners for my blog and shop. Silly. I always find good ways to procrastinate when I need to be bulking up my inventory and working on custom orders! Have a good night!

For Susanne

For Teressa:

For Tiffany:

Hello! I'm back!

We are finally moved in! That seemed to take far too long, and I never want to move again. (Moving from a third floor apartment into another third floor apartment didn't help) But we absolutely love it here! We are definitely living amongst boxes and probably will be for some time, but it's been really nice to go for walks into town everyday, and to visit friends, and forget that I even have a car sitting in the driveway. 

So I have been working on my custom orders as much as possible between all the moving and cleaning, and they are all coming along nicely. It is taking me longer than I expected to finish them up because I received far more orders than I thought I would (thanks!!). It actually turns out that I didn't plan very well because I will be attending a new craft fair here in Northampton the first weekend in September, and am totally unprepared for it! So, I really need to finish up these orders quick and get started on some animals for the show! Yikes! Well, I have done it before, and will do it again. I have about three weeks to make forty or so (at least) animals!

Here's a photo I took of some of my custom order progress a couple days ago:

Do you see the beginnings of your animal in there? If not, the body pieces are probably in a separate pile, waiting to be sewn or stuffed. But, don't worry, I'm working on it! 

Well, I need to get going for now. Working at the UPS Store today. I'll be back very soon, though, and I'll post more pictures of finished orders, and some photos of my messy new apartment!