What I have been doing, and a freebie!

Been using my new fabrics (finally).

Shooing thirsty cats from my work table.

Trying to figure one thing out, and getting ideas for about 6 more in the process (how's that for a quality picture, eh?)

Getting around to making 'more' of things that sold out a few months ago. And as soon as this next week is over ( I have 3 big orders to fill) , I can really get cracking' on some sweet little things that I hope you guys will like.

And finally, since I have not done any sort of give-away thing on my blog since last year.

I am giving this super cute, and very useful Wall Pocket away!

Just leave a comment with your name and email, and by next Friday, I will have Mr.Wonderful pick a winner, Easy-Peasy!

Been working on (a few) new things. Not so new things. Sewing room things. House things. And even more house things. Mom & her Hubby are coming up for a visit in September. Which means that I am starting to prepare the little house now.Their house is just gorgeous, which makes me realize that I should be putting more effort into the rest of the house, and not just my little sewing room, so besides the little bit I did today (tweeted), I am finally going to unpack the 2 boxes of kitchen stuff I have in the garage, and re-do the tops of my cabinets with all the old vintage and crusty things I have collected over the years. I actually like how they look like with dust on them. Is that weird?

In shop news, I have started to plan out a few wallets. And by the end of next month, I will have another 'Clearance Only' event. As soon as I have figured out the exact date, I will have a little link or doo-dad here on the side bar.

Not much of an exciting post, I know. I really just wrote this as a way of sort of checking in. I have so much on my mind right now. Too many things to get done, and I usually choose my little shop over anything else, but for the last few days, I have been feeling sort of 'eh...I really don't feel like it', which is very not me.

I don't get it.

Items lost in the mail.
Not my fault.

I remake, and resend them out...without charging.
And I still get a neutral rating?

wow.

just wow.

This really sucks. More so when it is not like I kill myself to buy random crap, go out drinking, or just to make some pocket money.

No.

this is how I pay my bills, put a roof over my head, and just survive.

so when I go above and beyond, to make a customer happy, it makes it that much worse to be rated in such a horrible way.

this makes me so sad.

Monday

Hi!

Portland was fun (like always) my Sister and family really liked the city, now if only I can convince them to move up here. I think I have Mele 1/2 way convinced .We got alot done in a few days that we had with them, which was exhausting but so worth it. I finally got to taste a bacon/maple log from Voodoo doughnuts, and it is really really good. But most of all, just being able to spend a few days with my loved ones was the best part of the trip.

I found some really great fabrics at the Depot as well as Bolt. And I also found me a new camera!I need to get used to the bulk and weight of it. I have already started snapping a few pictures, and reading thru the manual, but I really think I may have to get a book on it, to get the full use of all the stuff it is capable of. This also gives me a good excuse to expand the camera bag selection, to one with room for lenses.

That is not all that I have planned for the shop. I am working on a pretty big tote update (yes already have a few done!) as well as bringing back a few passport holders, and more smaller camera bags. I want to get all this done, so I have it in the announcement that I am not taking custom order requests until mid-July. I just need a few weeks to get this things done, and then I will start on the list of custom items I have been making for the last few weeks (I promise).

Our little animals did will in our absence. Ziggy stayed all those days with Mele's boss. He loved it! I was a bit worried, but he apparently is more fearless (and social) than I gave him credit for, and he spent those days running around their property, playing with the other dogs, even running into the horse stalls (glad I did not see that) . The three of us walked the 2 blocks to the beach yesterday afternoon. I really want to go back, and enjoy these beautiful days we are having, but we may have to wait till the wind dies down, poor Ziggy, almost went flying.

So that is it for now. Be sure to check the little shop this week for new tote bags!

This weekend

I sewed over 100 things. And I am completely exhausted! I am so glad my sewing machine and iron hung in there. And today, I have a box and bag full of things that are being mailed out, and I can officially say that EVERYTHING paid for (psst...hey u 3 people out there that have not paid me yet! Don't make me cancel the transactions on you!) and purchased during these last 2 weeks of Sale craziness are now off into the world. I did some counting, and I sold almost 500 things in 2 weeks. Holy cow. No wonder I am so frekin' tired. That is really amazing and wonderful of course. Not sure if I should have another event like this in the future. Mele told me that I was nuts if I ever considered it. He has been so good these last 2 weeks. He helped me out alot (ironing, cutting, label printing, verifying payments and addresses, paper tag attaching, trips to go get more Pelon and lining fabrics and almost losing a finger in a freak fabric cutting incident) if not for him, I think I would still have a few more days worth of work to do.

I got in the rest of my Spoonflower fabrics last week. And I managed to sneak in a few sewn things in the shop. Some already sold (thank you!) but I made a few more this morning, and will be listing them in a bit. I really, really wish that the camera fabric would have come out exactly like the submitted design. I am not a really big orange fan, and truth is the original background was a pretty cherry red. But I have noticed that their reds tend to look a bit orange. Meh! I have a few other camera ones I want printed out, but I may just do them in a plain white background. How about the smiley cloud! What was his name, Mr.Puff? This one came out pretty cute as well, and I am toying with the idea of having it done with other color backgrounds, maybe a soft pink, or perhaps yellow (since I have alot of pink fabrics already)?

And this here is what I originally had ordered. They where kind enough to replace the grey scale fabrics, and sent me these. I love my little houses! This print is so bright and colorful. The smaller scale one is really sweet as well. I have another doodle on my mind, that I am going to get printed out as well. And I have not forgotten about the one I want to have printed out in linen.

And since I do not have enough stuff in my tiny sewing room. I picked this fixture up this weekend. The 'Hallmark' store in our local (and only--pa-the-tic!) "mall" *snort* since it is closing down, so I put a bid on this and won. I was thinking that it may come in handy if I decide to not be such a chicken, and try and get into a few craft shows (Christmas ones) this year. I am also toying with the idea of a post card rack. I figure the small pouches should fit in the slots, but how many, I have no idea. If at least 3 or 4 fit per slot, then yes. But if only 1, it may be kind of pointless. I dunno. I started looking into some already, and it is so worth looking on a few dozen sites before buying one. There are some MAJOR price and shipping differences out there. In San Diego,there are a few used store fixture stores that I used to visit on a regular basis , but here in Oregon, I am not even sure if there are any around. A can of spray paint will turn this ugly looking one into something presentable.

I have my little shop on vacation, because my Sister, Nephew and favourite Brother-in-law are here in OREGON! They got in yesterday, and Mele and I are meeting up with them in Portland. 1 visit to my dinky little town was enough for them (hell..I can't say that I blame them in the slightest) so we will be spending some quality time up in Portland with them. Yipee!

I hope you guys have a great week, and I'll be back soon.