I had two patterns to test back to back at the end of last year, and one of them was the new Calista Wallet from The Styled Magnolia. The wallet was actually really fast to make, and came together so nice! I think if I had used a cutting machine, it would have been even faster...but digging out the machine and finding room to set it up in my disaster of a sewing studio would have taken longer than it took me to hand cut!
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| Sometimes you just need a fun vinyl print, with bright colors! |
The end of the year is always a void time, where I forget what day it is, where I need to be, or when I showered last (If you live on the couch and read books, do you NEED to shower??). Mostly kidding on the showering. I was able to take off almost 3 weeks from the day job and it was amazing! My goals were to organize my sewing studio and my walk in closet that also holds extra craft supplies, plus do some fun sewing, and catch up on orders. I did some organizing, some fun sewing, and some orders...but I think I need to keep the organizing goal for the whole month at least. Maybe just do one area of the room per month, it's a LOT of stuff.
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| She's so pretty! |
My final craft show of the year is this Saturday, and I'm running both my embroidery machines to try to stock up after having a great last show! I originally wasn't going to make any more peeker hoods, but then I got in a few requests for Kpop Demon Hunter characters, and then suddenly I was in the groove! I have 20 hoods to attach to the towels before the show, and 3 of them are for orders. Hopefully they bring in some interest and I can also clear out the older ones! I'd love to get down to just one tote of towels...and have an excuse to make new ones with my towel stash!
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| 20 hoods there - waiting for final trimming and then attaching! |
The newest pattern from ChrisW Designs is the Whisper Crossbody bag, and it's so fun! There is also an extra add on pack that gives you a recessed zipper and some fun corner accents. The main pattern has a flap that secures both the back phone pocket and the top, but I need a zipper closure for total security! You could add on the flap to the zipper version, but I think it looks really nice even without it.
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| My new couch makes for a nice background! |
Less than one week until my big show, and I've got PLENTY of time to do all the things, right?? Well, maybe not. I guess I need to figure out what is going to be the highest priority and go with that. First up will be packaging all the doodles (after they are all stuffed/sewn or trimmed), then I need to add buttons to the cowls and tags for them, stitch out more hand towels and blankets, and attach the 6 or so hoods I stitched out this summer to towels...plus I should stitch up more notebook covers and maybe sew up some crayon rolls or Moondance notepad holders....all in the next 3 nights after work. I can do it...right? (stop laughing at my optimism, please!!)
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| I think there are about 67 in that bag... |
This fun Summit Sling was made with a customer provided fabric, with their school's mascot! I'm not sure where they had it printed, but the quality was good and the fabric was a canvas that gave it a little more structure.
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| This sling bag has a great shape! |
Time to queue the holiday panic mode, somehow it's already November! I'm trying to get everything ready for the craft shows I signed up for, plus add some new stuff to the boutique, and let's not forget Thanksgiving! I'm pretty on track for the blanket goal, but that is tying up the machine so my doodles, notebooks, and wall art are not getting restocked yet. I'm hoping that by stitching up a few more blankets, I can clear the space to set up the spare machine, but it will probably require me to stitch up more than my planned 40... I really need to work on organizing and de-stashing after my last show this year!
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| The unicorn is fluffy! |
