one shabby chick

Craft Fair Displays

Here in Hawaii most craft fairs are outdoors. You can choose to have a space in the grass or sometimes there are covered pavilions and you can have a table there.

I always get a 10' x 10' space in the grass and bring my own pop-up tent. You have to bring all your own tables and display things too.

I have found the perfect thing to use for my display. I saw this picture on Pinterest and then went on a search for ....

A crib! I know - weird right?! I found mine on Craigslist (and ended up meeting this lovely lady).

I have plans for all of it too.

The springs are going to be zip-tied to one side of the tent (sideways...like this) and I think I'll tie some bibs and hang little bags from it.

The rails will be used as a quilt display - I already set-up one side in my house.

That leaves the two end pieces. I think I'll turn one into a chalkboard for my daughters.

The other is getting these cute little knobs (got them on Ebay years ago) and will be used at the craft fair for more display area.

Who knew you could use a crib in so many different ways?!

Skirts and destashing

Yesterday I started sewing up some little skirts for the craft fair.

I saw these skirts on Flickr and wanted to do something similar so I added a contrasting color on the waistband for a little fun touch.

As I was pulling fabrics for the skirts I realized I just have way too much fabric. I am never going to use it all!

So that led to a late night sorting and adding fabric to a growing pile to de-stash.

I'm slowly uploading things today in the shop. I have some bundles, scrap bags, jelly rolls and lots of yardage. I'm pricing it to sell and you can save an additional 10% with the coupon code Destash10.

I am happy to combine shipping so if you want to buy things and wait for a combined shipping total that is fine. Or I'll just refund you the difference.

OK off to spend my day with Etsy :-)

Pillows

I love lists...mostly I like crossing things off when I've finished them :-)

Crossed this one off today.

But you don't get to see the front yet...just sneak peeks until it gets to its new home.

And here's what I got in return:

So cute!

I started on a pillow cover for a good friend of ours yesterday.

We are having a bridal shower for her on Saturday. I got her some Victoria Secret and Lush goodies but thought a pillow would be fun too.

I saw this print on Pinterest and this is the result:

Still wondering if I should add any sort of wording on it. What do you think? Any suggestions?

A few orders

Thanks so much for all the comments on the last post. I really appreciate it and glad to hear we are all on the same page with our thoughts :-)

I got an email last week asking if I could make a couple minky blankets and some burp cloths. I had sold her some things at the local craft fair last November.

She had some fabric that she wanted to use so I just added some coordinating fabrics for the other burp cloths.

And one of my customers (that just sounds weird - can I say friends instead?) in Australia (hi Ashlea!) saw this tote and ordered another one for her friend.

I love this fabric - and it looks like it's sold out most places! Hopefully it will get re-stocked soon! Purl still has it.

OK I have a bunch of aprons to make and some skirts to sew up! And a pillow for Heather {insert evil laugh}. And maybe a pillow for a bridal shower on Saturday? I have a fun idea I want to try out.

Guess I better get going!

Blogging

I was catching up on my blog reading this afternoon and came across this post which led me here. She followed it up with this post. And then linked to this post which is so uplifting and encouraging.

I read through a lot of the comments.

I understand there are lots of frustrations with blogs and people don't like certain fabric lines and all but if I was a fabric designer, I'd probably be pretty hurt by people saying they hated my line.

Which is probably why I'm not a fabric designer :-) (well that and the fact that I have no artistic ability!)

I did agree with a few things and a few other things made me think. Isn't that what discussions are all about - helping us think? We may not always agree with everything people say but everyone has a right to their opinions.

Here's my take on it:

* I always just have you leave a comment when I do a giveaway because I hate jumping through hoops for giveaways, so why would I make you all do that?

* I look at blogs that have a bunch of comments and wonder why I don't - this is purely selfish and jealousy rearing it's ugly head, but hey...it's the truth.

That being said: I am EXTREMELY thankful for all of you that tune into this tiny corner and even more thankful when you email me or leave comments - it's great :-)

* I am not superwoman or supermom and I am so sorry if it comes off that way in my posts. My kids watch too much tv while I sew (not all the time but frequently enough). I am NEVER caught up on laundry. I spend too much time sewing (and reading sewing blogs or on Flickr) and not enough with my kids (quality time - I am with them pretty much 24/7). I spend too much money on fabric and then stress about it - this is a frequent occurrence too.

* Sometimes I want to have sponsors to pay for some of that fabric but then I don't want to have the added pressure, plus, if I have sponsors, I will feel like I can only buy fabric from them and I don't want that either.

* Mostly I just love sewing and creating and it's nice to be able to share it with friends and people I know online - even if I just know you from your name in the comments.

Whew...nice to get things off your chest every now and then...

Pillows and totes

I have a few more things to add to the over-flowing pile of craft fair goodies.

I always worry I won't have enough things to fill the stall and then of course, I always have plenty!

These are some totes - perfect for books, market days, beach, pretty much anytime you need a tote bag.

I did a few with words too.

And a few messenger bags (this is the only one I've finished so far):

And I keep seeing so many great quotes/phrases on Pinterest that I had to do a few more pillows.

I have a special one I need to make for this lady - we are doing a swap. I'm very excited!

Hubby has a soccer game tonight and tomorrow I need to go to the store and actually get some Easter basket goodies - I know, I'm horrible!

I didn't even make the girls' Easter dresses! Maybe I can find something cute at Target...

Oh, and I almost forgot - started this quilt last night.

I was going to make it a big log cabin block like Malka's but since I'm lazy I don't have a ruler that long, I'm wimping out and doing 4 big blocks to make a baby quilt.

Each block is about 21" big. I just had to use some of Denyse's new line....that's a good reason to start a quilt at 8:30 p.m. right?!

Checking things off

My to-do list is getting smaller and smaller (for the craft fair at least).

I'm accumulating a little selection of things.

These little bags were finally finished today...

and I finally got the snaps on these pouches...

I also sewed up some burp cloths since they seem to sell well and are always great for having on hand as quick baby gifts.

I also got some very fun mail today.

I'm not sure if any of you saw the excitement on Flickr last week when it was discovered that Denyse Schmidt has a new fabric line out at Joann's.

Let's just say - fabric frenzy.

Well, seeing as how there are no Joann's here and it wasn't online yet (it is now), I bribed asked two Flickr friends to buy some for me and send it.

And they were so sweet and did (and yes, I did pay them)!!

I also picked up a fat quarter set here (they are really well-priced here...watch out though, a few people are selling FQ's for ridiculous amounts on Etsy).

Not sure what I'm going to make with it yet - another quilt like this sounds like a perfect plan. Or one like this - I'm smitten with that one!

Another week

Can't believe it's almost been a week since I posted anything - and in truth, I haven't done much sewing this week.

I had a soccer game this morning - it was SO hot and no subs plus lots of sprinting...I am exhausted {and a little dehydrated too}.

Last night we went to a wedding of a friend of ours. It was a big wedding and by the time we went to sit down all the tables where our friends were sitting were full. So we sat down with a couple we knew and another couple with a little boy.

Turns out this was who we sat next to. I had no idea..we were talking and I thought he had an accent so I asked him if he was Australian. He said yes and then later I mentioned to his wife that he didn't seem to have a very thick accent and she said it was from years in front of the camera and told me he is on General Hospital.

Too funny - he looked familiar but I thought he was someone's brother or something...

{dropping the kids off at my sister's before the wedding}

Made myself a little purse for the wedding:

And I have a few more for the craft fair cut out and half-sewn up. This is the only one I have done so far.

I used the snaps instead of velcro {it was what I had on hand}. I use size 16 snaps - a few people had asked about it when I posted the scrappy pouch tutorial.

OK - need to get busy sewing in the next few weeks...totes, aprons, another quilt or two.

Trims

We are feeling a little better. I think we all just keep passing it to each other and it didn't help that I kept kissing Baby Girl last week while she had a fever {oh well...}

Fooling around with Picnik today.

Some lace and cotton trims that a friend of mine gave to me.

These are shirred with elastic thread so I thought I could use them to make the girls dresses or tops:

And look at these:

{they aren't stretchy but aren't they cute?}

I finished these clutches up yesterday:

{I put in magnetic snaps instead of using velcro}

And now I have ink so I can try out this one!

And Hubby {and our eldest} got a new toy - I think I can get them to make a video tutorial of the spiral quilting too...

Words

Lately I've been so inspired by all the word posters on Pinterest.

So I though I'd make a couple into pillows for the craft fair.

I used Cosmo Cricket's Alphabet fabric for most of the letters - a few I drew free-hand.

Then I fused them on to the pillow front, got out some black thread and traced around each letter.

The other words I drew using a washable fabric marker and then free-motion quilted them using a tiny zig-zag stitch.

I used Happier by Deena Rutter on the backs and the woodgrain fabric on the front is by Kyla May.

I made up a couple totes too - after I was done I wished I had put the words onto a white background and then attached them to the tote..oh well!

Jess keeps showing all these awesome little pouches and bags in her Flickr stream so last night I bought a few patterns and made up my own little clutch.

Now I want to make a million more! These patterns are so cute and the author lets you sell things from her patterns which is even better (and she has a sale until 4/20 so all patterns are only $5.00).

Only problem was my printer ran out of ink so I have to wait to try out the other patterns.

The girls and I have been sick (me - sore throat, Baby Girl - fever and cough, Bela - stomach flu) so we didn't do much yesterday besides watch movies (and I sewed).

Looks like more of the same today....