Holiday Season is upon us!

Hello,
Busy at work trying to keep up with holiday orders. I love autumn with the cool breeze and the beautiful leaves! See my lovely home! Hopefully, this will be a busy season for all of us handcrafters, I have added a few new things and hope to get some new customers!

Busy with baby and wedding and sewing!!

These past 2 months have been crazy! Baby Aiden was born 2 weeks early on May 1st, Juliana was married on July 10th and my sales have been fantastic!! Yay! All good news. I have been working on dresses for a customer's wedding and sent them right before my daughter got married. Whew! They are up on my site now. It's hard to believe it is the middle of July already but now I am getting orders for Fall jackets so I guess some of us are looking ahead. I hope to have the time to really add some variation to my line, just finding the time is the trick. I have been so busy at my regular job, book buying for the county library, it has been crazy! I still find time to hug my cutie pie grandson everyday though! Here is a pic of him. I will post wedding pics soon.
My next project will be some kind of unusual christmas dresses and maybe something for boys too. Any suggestions?

Cutie Pie wears dress!

I love it when my customers send me pics of their special one wearing a dress/outfit I made for them. Check this out! This is Julia and she is on an Easter Egg hunt! Cutie Pie is right! Looks like a pretty day too. I am working on a box cushion for my husband's secretary and OH I really don't enjoy household sewing. It is a way to make money but I just find it tedious and boring:( I would rather be dreaming up a new and fabulous creation for my shop! Oh well, the cherry blossoms are blooming and the birds are singing so I can't complain too much! Happy Friday...

New customer and new ideas

I met another nice person on etsy and she has given me some new ideas for more merchandise. She requested an entire spring wardrobe for her family which consists of 2 little girls, a little boy, her husband and herself. She said she would like everything in the amazing Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow collection, so I am starting with a dress for her littlest 2 year old daughter. I will post a pic when it is finished. So fun! I love this fabric collection, check it out...

My friend from Etsy

I met the nicest person from my work on Etsy. Her name is Karen Beyer and she is a professional photographer. We met because she place an order for a dress for her daughter. She then sent me a bunch of beautiful pictures of her daughter in the dress which I have put on my website. She is also a talent graphic artist and she designed the banner for my etsy shop. Thank you Karen!
Her website is www.karenbeyerphotography.com
Here is one of the lovely pictures of her daughter in one of my dresses. I hope to do more work for Karen and her daughter in the future:)

Cool stitching!

I have never been big into embroidery but I found the coolest patterns ever when I was reading the ALA (American Library Assoc.) newsletter! Yes, I work as a librarian by day and while perusing the newsletter I came across this amazing article about a shop called "Sublime Stitching". She was featured in the article because she made some neat embroidery patterns of sexy librarians! Yes, we can be sexy!!! She has a spot on the Makers Market website if you would like to check her out. She also has patterns for medical supplies and meats! Awesome! Here is a cool pic of her librarians.

New seasons New designs

Time...don't we all wish we had more of it? I look at my to-do list and just shake my head. There is a baby on the way, due in May and a wedding to plan, July 10th. Wedding showers, baby showers, bridesmaids dresses, reception plans, a crib for my house Oh and also, I still have to work full time and try to keep my Etsy business running!! Life is great isn't it? Really, I am thankful I am so busy with these wonderful things and wonderful people, I just like to rant occasionally!
New designs, that is what I would really like to work on in my business. I made a new pillowcase style dress that is getting some interest and I really want to try a new style baby dress for Easter/Spring/Summer time. That is next on the agenda, in the meantime, check out a new Etsy shop YummieTummies.etsy.com run by my friend Dawn. So cute!

Snow Hill Maryland: this is where the SNOW really is!

My sewing studio is located in an 1890's farmhouse in Snow Hill. I live about 20 minutes from beautiful Assateague Island where the fabled wild ponies roam and the Atlantic Ocean gives us one of her best gifts...the Maryland Blue Crab. We love the crabs for the sake of our economy and also because they are so tasty. Cracking crabs is a regular activity here in Snow Hill and once you learn how to do it you will find there are few things more delicious than fresh crab meat! Stop by if you are ever "down to the shore"!

Green Violet Herb Farm

The pic below is from my sister Sharon's etsy site.http://www.etsy.com/shop/greenvioletherbfarm

The New Year!

Happy New Year! It looks as if it will be a busy 2010! Emily is expecting a baby boy in May and Juliana is getting married in July. A baby and a wedding! Fun! The Christmas season was extremely busy and gave me hope that I would be able to quit my full time job within the year. Unfortunately, business has slowed and I am looking at reality now. I am hoping to open a second shop soon and plan on being busier from that. My children's line should expand this year too and include more boy clothing. There's a boy coming for heaven's sake! Etsy has been great and I am looking to expand my advertising a little even though I don't have a lot of time or money to do that. Etsy forums really help with suggestions for marketing.
Hey! My sister finally opened a shop on Etsy and it is awesome! It is Green Violet Herb Farm and she sells items she makes from her own home grown organic herbs and flowers. Check it out!

I am not good at this!

Check out Birdies Place for photos: birdiesplace.etsy.com. This is Julie's shop and she needs views and feedback.
Emaleigh's cupboard is working hard and trying to figure out how to be more profitable. Prices may have to go up because I don't want to skimp on material by going with the cheapo stuff. Maybe look into wholesale?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BirdiesPlace?ga_search_query=birdiesplace&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

Cool etsy people!

I meet the neatest people on Etsy! One person I met this week is Blair from Mountainavenbaby.etsy.com I am making her daughter a dress and I didn't have enough fabric and AMAZINGLY she had the exact fabric I needed. She is sending it to me and I am making the dress for her!

Next I met Carleen from creationsbycarleen.etsy.com and we are trading a skirt (I made) for jewelry (she made). Cool. Here is something I bought from her:

It's Friday!!

I love Fridays. And the best thing is you know no matter how long the week seems that good old Friday is waiting for you at the end of that week! Yeah! I work my full time job at the library all week so on the weekend I get happy because I can sew! Saturday I will make a trip to the fabric store to get some fabric for my latest order, a skirt, and maybe do a little shopping with my daughters. Fun!!
I talked to my sister this week and she is thinking of opening a shop on Etsy. She is a Botanical Healer and she makes cool herbal products from her homegrown organic herbs. Cute Hamster!

Kendall is a model!

My neighbor Kendall modeled a couple of items from my shop and she did a great job! She was so well behaved and seemed to enjoy herself! I have posted the pics on my etsy website. Here is one!
Also, I sent a customer her order of the red kyoko dress and now she would like a tie for her 2 year old son to match the dress. I got a pattern for that from this link:http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/2009/3/3/mollys-sketchbook-little-boys-tie.html
We'll see how it turns out. Today is the first day of fall, I love it! The only problem is having to get up in the dark :(

It's Friday!

It's September 11th, thoughts to all how lost someone in the 9/11 tragedy 8 years ago.
It is really starting to get chilly here in Maryland! Time to start working on Fall clothes in earnest. Maybe going to football tonight, unless it rains. I may have a little model for the jacket I made and I hope to take the pictures this weekend. In the meantime I am finishing a kimono dress and curtains for teacher Kim.
I will also be watching the US Open....go Rafa!

What's up?!

Wow! Busy times! I have 2 daughters and they both had big news! One is getting married (July 2010) and one is expecting her first child (April 2010). Exciting!
I have gotten a few more sales on Etsy and some more sewing work through contacts in my local area (slipcovers and curtains). I am expecting some pictures from a patron of my store. She is sending me pics of her daughter wearing one of my dresses. Can't wait! Went camping this weekend and did a little sewing. Dogs love camping!

Busy sooooo busy!

When I start a sewing project, inevitably I find that I learn something new. Even during the short time that I have had my Etsy shop, I have learned so much! I think that seeing people's reaction to my collection and what items they order is so interesting and I really enjoy trying to follow up with what my customers seem to like and add more things that they might be interested in. I am doing a little bit of "home decor" sewing which is not my favorite, but is still enjoyable. I am altering the dress I made for Emelia (too big) which is really a challenge! I also made a pretty dress for a little girl in Texas and her mom is going to send me pictures of her in it. I will post them when I get them. I am also asking a friend of mine if I can use her daughter as a model for some of my clothing. She is 2 and very cute!

Widget?

Emelia's dress will begin shortly!

Emelia has chosen the Amy Butler Belle Chrysanthemum fabric for her dress so now I can start making plans to make the dress. I looked up elastic smocking on the internet and found great advice for doing this since it is a new technique for me. Here is the link: www.thriftyfun.com/tf67395276.tip.html
I also looked up boning because this dress has this also. Hopefully I can find all the supplies! Anyway, I'll keep you up to date with my progress. Slow but steady!