Secret Holiday

Small Shop Post!

These three new animals will be in my Etsy Shop momentarily (about 6pm EST). I wish I could have finished more, but I will have a bigger shop post next Friday. I was racing the sun today to complete the details (ears, tails, faces, antlers) on these little ones and photograph them before I lost the light. I just barely made it! (Though the pictures would have been better if I took them an hour ago!)

I am planning on setting aside some time this evening to make a decent blog post. We'll see how that goes after I finish uploading these animals to my shop.

Thanks to everyone who has left such wonderful positive comments about the Etsy Ad - I really appreciate it!

Ornaments are here!

I made up a few little pink seer sucker ornaments to list in my Shop and send to Oak Boston. They're like little peppermint animals!

I also made some of the little "head" ornaments again! Except they're better this year! I made their faces with recycled linen instead of felt because it looks much nicer and is more durable. (You may have noticed that I have begun making all the animals faces this way) They are also fully lined with muslin and, of course, stuffed with organic cotton. Nice and strong.

This year I am going to make sure I set some aside to put on my own tree! I have listed a set of four in my shop already, but I will also be offering these in pairs and singly. 

I love when the weather begins to change and you can smell the cold, and anticipate snow. I can't wait to hang paper snowflakes and carry a big green tree up to our little apartment and watch old holiday movies. It was exciting setting up my tinsel tree to take some photos! (Thanks again Margie! I love this tree!)

Good Magazine

Etsy Ad in Good Magazine. It's ten times bigger than I expected. So weird.

Organic beets and Blueberry Pancake

Happy Saturday! It is so beautiful in Northampton today; clear blue skies and bright orange, and red leaves everywhere. Justin and I walked to the Farmer's Market this morning and picked up some organic beets and lettuce. We also made the mistake of getting some fresh cut and french fries, mostly because it was cute that the woman was frying them in a teeny tiny vat. But fried potatoes at ten thirty is not really a good way to start your day! Oops. They were delicious though! 

This weekend is going to be filled with errands, chores, and some friends visiting. Every time Peter and Rhea come to visit it is absolutely beautiful outside. What luck! Then it seems like every time Bill and Jessica and Lincoln visit it rains. Which reminds me of the purpose of this post: to talk about my good friend Jessica and her amazing new creations: Blueberry Pancake!

Jessica and I went to college together and I was always in awe of her work, and she was always so modest and humble about it. She recently started creating some stuffed animals and I think they are so beautiful and unique and I want every one! I am really happy she will be selling them at the Boston Bazaar Bizarre this year! Please visit her blog (where you can see pictures of her beautiful family, too) and her Etsy shop and fall in love. 

big brother, little brother

These two new animals will be in my shop today, along with one hooded animal. I didn't get as much accomplished as I wanted to... I have a fawn and some ornament sets in the works, but not ready to post today. Oh well! 

I'm still trying to get back on track with my weekly posts, but am struggling a bit with prioritizing my time. I am getting a fairly good start on my Bazaar Bizarre prep though. I also have just two more over due custom orders to finish up, then I think I may start to accept a few holiday custom orders. I'll keep you posted on that. 

If you have emailed me recently and have yet to get a response - please bear with me! I am working through emails and responding in the order in which I received them. I'll try to get back to everyone by the end of the weekend. Thanks!! 

It's a cold rainy day...

and I'm at home trying to get some sewing done. But, really, I'm not accomplishing much. Today's my first full day at home since last Monday (!), after a weekend in New Hampshire visit family, and working other jobs all week. I will be finishing up some animals today, though, and making a small shop post tomorrow. 

This new Big Fern will be there, along with a fawn, a hooded animal, and maybe even some antlers and an ornament set. We'll see what I can get done. I am going to venture outside right now and walk to the library. I think if I can find a good book on tape, that will help me get to work. 

Hope you're all doing well! Time to turn on the heat to warm up my chilly sewing fingers!

So the image is ridiculous, yes.

But, some of the responses to this image on the Bust Blog are scary, disheartening and completely surprising. Women who read Bust are really McCain/Palin supporters?! How does that happen?

Read for yourself here.

Corn Maze Adventure

Sunday morning I awoke early with Amelia, and prepared for an eventful day. After breakfast Amelia and I went to the Olde Hadley Flea Market. It was okay. Definitely not even comparable to Todd Farm in Rowley (I think I miss that most about moving from the North Shore), but I was still able to get a little flea market fix. I picked up a couple pieces of fabric and a vintage stuffed cat doll. The view was amazing. One of my favorite things about living in the Pioneer Valley is being surrounded by tree covered mountains. From the market there was a beautiful view of a foggy morning mountain. I wish I had had my camera. 

My sister arrived at my house shortly after Amelia and I got back, and we set off to the corn maze. It was great! It was really amazing to be standing amongst tall tall corn stalks, and hearing the laughter and talking from families near by, but unable to see anyone most of the time. And when the breeze moved through the stalks... well... it was beautiful. 

I'll have to convince some friends to go back with me soon so we can play the game (there were clues to find throughout the maze) and try to finish it and win. I don't know what you win, it doesn't really matter. It was just fun trying to follow a map and find your way through. Beckah and I did pretty good at the game - we only needed to find four or five more clues, but Amelia got antsy (she wasn't having as much fun as we were!), so we found our way out and headed back home.  But not before Amelia picked out a little pumpkin to take home. 

It was really quiet in my house today without her here - I miss her little face already.

For Abby

A special house guest!

My little niece Amelia came to spend the weekend! Special bonding time. We have big plans for tomorrow... the farmers market in the morning, then hopefully some apple picking (I am craving fresh apple crisp and warm apple pie). My sister will be coming to pick Amelia up on Sunday. We're hoping she'll get here early so we can all venture into a corn maze together! There are only a few silly special things I want to do every fall, and some how time just slips away from me and before we know it, it's snowing. I am determined not to let that happen this year! I am going into a corn maze even if I have to go it alone! (I know this must sound really lame! Did you see that episode of Gilmore Girls when Taylor turned the whole town into a hay bale maze? I want that.) PS. I love the Gilmore Girls... the early years. 

Here's another cute picture for you! She's so cool! Hope you all have a great weekend!