one shabby chick

busy, busy

Sewing away for craft fairs.

First fair of the season was yesterday and I did ok considering there were flash flood warnings all weekend! I was seriously thinking of just showing up to get my deposit and going home.

But it ended up being a nice day (with a few bouts of rain sprinkled in). Total miracle! It poured rain the entire day at our house!

I did add some of the goodies I've been working on to the shop tonight:

My to-do list is pretty long this week too! But I'll be sure to check back in here soon!

Snapshots

What I've been up to lately:

rainbow watching

big wave watching

coolest market I've ever sold at - in an old warehouse - December 2012 - plus I was right next to Andy South from Project Runway!!

hanging my amazing Christmas present from my brother-in-law!

working on a (now overdue) 1st birthday present for my nephew

low volume blocks for the Scrappy trip quilt-a-long

knife cases for my dad (Mayo knives)

celebrating a certain 7-year-old's birthday

making ipad mini/kindle fire cases

Honolulu Night Market

I know I said I was done with craft fairs for the season but I have a chance to be in an amazing market on Saturday.

I've been sewing a few new things for it and working on three custom quilts that I need to deliver next Saturday.

Plus there's still regular life, school, cookie parties, ice skating (tomorrow) and as always, laundry :-)

Yep, I am regretting piling so much on my plate this year - but I'm getting it done and trying to enjoy the season as I do it!

And I have great helpers - my two oldest baked all those cookies and are vacuuming the house as I type this.

And my wonderful hubby - dang I love him.

I got home from the last craft fair to this:

(he said that stands for Head Over Heels For You)

I have been wanting one of those new coffee makers from Starbucks and he bought me one :-)

Now I can have my own lattes at home whenever I want (and yes, so far I love it - just wish they sold the pods at Costco).

ok I'm off to sew.........I'll post the Lunden Designs winners on Monday!

Updates

 

* The craft fair was amazing!! Thanks to everyone for your well wishes and to my wonderful customers who came out!

* I put a few goodies into the shop today - pillow covers, zip pouches and a baby boy quilt.

*Finished this little quilt at the craft fair and gifted it to the mom-to-be on Sunday. She loved it.

But I didn't get a finished picture!!

* Been gathering Christmas goodies - look at these cute pouches I bought from Krista for my girls!

and I bought a cute tote from Amanda (she's having a sale right now too)!!

One more craft fair this Saturday!

And of course I'm making a few more things - camera straps, guitar straps, fold over clutches and a couple more goodies!

I have a great giveaway coming up on Friday so stay tuned!!

Sewing Marathon

Feels like I've sewn a few marathons lately.

I'm in full power-out mode as I have a craft fair this weekend and one next weekend plus custom orders (yes, I am in way over my head!!)

I will be doing a shop update on the 10th with all the goodies that are remaining (hopefully there won't be too many)!

I'm off to bind a few quilts  - I'm crazy I know - but wanted to post a little note just to let you know I'm still here (I'm on Instagram constantly if you want to follow me there).

Local peeps - here's the craft fair info for this Saturday:

OK - Have a great weekend everyone!

lots to share

Happy New Year to everyone first of all....

We had a great New Year's Eve....and welcomed a new baby to the family too. My nephew Parker was born around 8 pm on the 31st.

We visited them at the hospital but can't wait to spend lots of time getting my baby fix.

And a not-so-quick re-cap of the past couple weeks....

Christmas Eve:

{our church puts on a Christmas Eve program called Bethlehem Village - we have shops filled with crafts and food - all free - and then have a short message after - this year we read the Nativity story and had some elementary-age kids act out the story}

our own little Mary:

my Roman soldier:

We all dress up and have our tents/shops decorated...it's fun and the kids love it. We had a perfume shop, candle shop, I had a carpenter's shop where we made crafts, bakery with lots of breads, market with fresh fruits, fried fish at the fish shop.....and a few more.

Apparently I did not take any pictures on Christmas day but we got Bela a camera for Christmas and she took a bunch - I have also told her she's our official vacation photographer.....still deciding whether I'm going to take my camera or not...

I did a little bit of sewing after Christmas. Two new bags for me:

241 tote by Noodlehead:

Used Loulouthi velveteen for both the inside and outside. Next time I think I'll use regular cotton for the lining.

And Liesl and Co. Day in the Park Backpack tote....sorry to say this pattern is out of print.

I've had the pattern for a long time and finally made it - I love it!! If you can find one, it is such a great pattern...very well-written. Clear instructions and such a beautiful bag....

And a few more snapshots from my week:

clean sewing area:

new fabrics:

start of a new project {Maple Leaf Rag from Material Obsession 2}:

Last day of vacation around here...poor Hubby is sick and is sleeping. I'm making tortilla soup for him and cleaning the house - exciting stuff!

Snapshots

No sewing happening around these parts.

{little succulent garden in our kitchen window}

Maybe tomorrow? But probably not.

{velvet pumkins I made last year}

Lots of goodie-making though.

Candied orange peels

Dipped in dark chocolate

Caramels

Vanilla fudge

with pecans from my Grandpa's yard (sad to think we will eventually use the last of them and never get more...)

most delicious cookies ever (well, the dough is so far....it's chilling in the fridge now - seriously...SO good!)

Got some gorgeous fabric in the mail - new Velveteen from Anna Maria Horner:

Dying to make something out of it for the trip...passbort book? messenger bag? something!

No nephew yet but it's any day now - forcing myself not to start a new quilt until I finish his.

Most of all I wanted to drop in and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend filled with family and friends, laughter and cheer!

Busy weekend

We had a busy weekend filled with lots of fun parties and Christmas-y things.

Friday night was our town's annual parade...waiting for my friend to email me some pictures from that as I totally forgot my camera.

Saturday we had Hubby's work party at a bowling alley.

(the drive)

The kids had a blast.

And Sunday was a cookie exchange party I help host every year.

(I made these)

My house has gotten too small for it so we have it at a friend's house and it's a lot of fun.

I make prizes and we all vote on our top favorites in a couple categories.

We were supposed to go to our Homeschool Christmas party last night but Baby Girl came down with the stomach flu....ugh!

She seems to be on the mend now and I'm washing a ton of blankets and cleaning their rooms out today in the hopes of killing any lingering virus....I really, really hate the stomach flu.

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

weird

Feels weird to not have a big 'ol to-do list.

I do have a few orders/things to work on.

The first was some custom totes but those are done and ready to be mailed off...

I made another one too but it's all Lush deer and I didn't take a pic of it.

I joined a little Secret Santa swap on Twitter and sent this off yesterday to my partner - hope they like it all.

And last night, I pulled out these blocks and started working on this quilt some more.

So fun using tiny bits of favorite fabrics....

Pillow pockets

First of all, when Nova emailed me to test her pattern, I was beyond flattered.

She's amazing!

And her pattern is so cute!

I decided to try out the Petal Pocket Pillow (say that 10x fast!) first.

I was going to make a pillow for my daughter but then I saw all this fun Munki flannel in my stash and decided a Christmas pillow was in order.

Her pattern is so easy to follow - loads of photos and instructions. And there are so many variations you can use.

I quilted the back of my pillow but decided not to quilt the front.

And I just serged the edges closed instead of using binding - see, variations :-)

And the best part is one of you get to own a copy of this fun pattern!

Nova is generously giving away a copy to one of you.

So, how about you tell me what your favorite Christmas movie is....

My kiddos are in the other room watching Elf - a definite favorite.

Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner on Friday! 

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