birthdate embroidery

now in my shop, custom embroidery! i loved doing the wedding pieces for my newly-married friends this year, and thought a birth announcement embroidery would be just as sweet! i can't remember where i happened upon this cute fabric -goodwill or estate sale, but the little boy and girl figures begged for it! plus, it gives one the very real excuse of needing all the details before finishing up that baby gift.

i made this one shortly after our friends, the fortneys, welcomed graham into their lives. finn's birthday was not that long after, so i thought making matching birthday boys would be appropriate.

the pictures were taken before i had secured the fabric around the edge with stitches. i am also so very pleased that all the materials are reclaimed, recycled, or, as they say, 'upcycled'. there are a limited supply of these available since the fabric is also rescued, but there are plenty of little boys and girls now.

always, if you have an idea for a special birth embroidery or otherwise, don't hesitate to contact me at byhandathome (at) gmail.com. i especially love making things with the recipient in mind, so custom orders are a real pleasure for me. hope you enjoy these!

lessons learned

the new year is a time a lot of us take stock of things, and think about the future. so what have i learned?

for starters, seam allowance. well not just seam allowance, but being a bit more liberal with my fabric. i have the great goal of conservation and re-use always in mind. thus, i tend to scrimp as much as possible. i've found this to be a point of contention again and again. as i continue to craft, i vow to be more daring. i will go ahead and cut into beautiful sweaters that i have imagined into fifteen different projects. i will not fret when they do not turn out as i have envisioned. if you have read the artist's way, you may remember one of the tenets that goes a little something like this: i am in charge of quantity, i leave quality up to the divine (god, goddess, luck, pure inspiration, whatever you believe). i intend to remind myself of this as often as possible, and just keep on truckin'. i will, of course, do my best on quality too. or re-do it fifteen times.

papa's gift from namasteworks.etsy.com at sunnyside craft fair.

here's another inspirational link, to elizabeth gilbert's talk on creativity and genius. or why we need to talk to fairies. i just loved it (thanks maesie and h2m!). our wishes and dreams for 2010 include: prosperity, creativity, and levity. the same and all the best to you!

mice in the house

i've been working out those last kinks in mousing, and i'm now proud to have a few for sale in my shop! their ears have been secured with extra hand-stitching (though future ears may be meeting the machine first!), and they smell like sweet lavender. each uniquely adorable.

i am planning for a local elementary school craft fair (dec. 5) and working extra hard to have many mice and other offerings. but, i thought it would be seriously unfair of me to offer these locally without giving everyone everywhere the opportunity for a mouse (or other) friend! seastars with jingle bells on their way too! enjoy!

a peek

so here is what i made for anne. she had sent me a link to some pretty sweater scarves and confessed that it almost made her run out to the goodwill and get some sweaters to piece together. well, heck, i've got plenty, i thought... though it turns out not so much. when looking to piece, i couldn't find enough that looked good together in pretty colors, and then i also realized i had no nice lining fabric. then it hit me - i already had the perfect scarf base, it just needed a little something. i trimmed off the edge and added another sweater's snowflakes as perfect pockets. yay! here's a peek of me wearing it before it got into the mail!

i sent her a couple of mice for the kitties too. one was version 2 (never shown here) stuffed with catnip, plus one of the lavender/rice numbers. meanwhile, i have been sooo enjoying dipping leaves in beeswax. we gave over the mini crockpot (came with the regular crockpot) to beeswax, so it is easy peasy. here's just a peek (i've done tons!).

and now for a peek at the sewing room. i may just be a peeks-only kind of poster anyways. the other half of this room looks like a giant trash heap. but i did make something to show for it! it still needs finishing of course... now if you can't tell, these shelves are actually organized, with boxes and labels on the right. the computer and printer are hooked up and the scanner is on its way. art is hung. i like to think of the big chunks of wool on the top shelves as 'happy little clouds'.

a view from the door. see my cute chalkboard and boy stacking printer ink cartridge boxes? and lola. not sure what she is looking at!?

check out my sidebar

i've taken the plunge. i keep telling myself i can always change it to make it better (that perfectionism preventing me from sallying forth), but really, there's little to risk! oh, and i'm open to feedback, as long as it is positive.

quota

i brought a big bunch of yarn with me on our trip last week, so that i could really get a whole bunch of mitts ready to sell on etsy. (as soon as i get that all tidied up!) i actually asked marc to give me a goal that i could meet; how many pairs? he said 20, but i talked him down to 12. i'm supposed to make up the difference though, before the end of the month. should be well within my means. though the driving from chicago to iowa and back did help me out with this bundle.

this is also dependent on me not giving them away before then. whoops. this pair went to venessa, whom we were fortunate enough to get to spend a few hours with in chicago. i'm sure she'll be drawing tons of business my way though.

and this one went to julie, when i learned that it was her birthday yesterday (via h2m's blog!)! only one button here (i'm going for two usually), but it was an irresistible one.

the rest are awaiting sewing ends in, buttons, photos, and all that. or maybe you'd like them?

party!

fingers crossed that this posts properly! i'm pre-writing and showing off my wedding gift for ben & lindsay, who just happen to be getting married on my *birthday*! best party ever? oh yeah. and i'll never forget their anniversary. luckily, with typing this up in advance, i can't get too sentimental. that and seeing as we leave for the airport at 4 am in a few hours - words fail me.

they made their invites with their silhouettes and the chicago skyline - i just traced it and embroidered it as best i could. i love you guys!!!

west coast rosie cozy crafty pod

one of my primary motivations in going to this lecture was to give susan some buttons that i knew she would appreciate a thousand times more than i. it was lovely to hear the experience of these women, and they were all extremely, incredibly gracious. i felt surprisingly shy when i approached them after the talk with more button gifts - attached to a homemade card. especially because my only pink vintage buttons for alicia were an incomplete card, and diane promised to visit my blog. so kind. she is absolutely a god(dess)-send in crafty portland.

marc was working, so i had colden with me, and it was kind of challenging to be aware of how much noise was too much. i asked the woman facilitating to let me know if we were getting too disruptive, but she was so nice as well! i think she let us slide quite a few times. we were lucky enough to get a little play in with another babe - and we shared a little handmade love too.

here's a snapshot of the event from someone who was paying a bit more attention: wendy at build/make/craft/bake (and i only found this post courtesy of diane - again, such a blessing!).

i also made it out to the skating with scissors event that wendy mentions and talked with a lot of lovely crafters. many of whom i met at crafty wonderland earlier this month. i'd like to feature some of their work on here too... maybe a sidebar to come? hmmm.

p.s. sadly, i didn't make it into oct.'s crafty wonderland show, but i'm hopeful for the future.

not-so-secret summer saling

i've just signed up for vintageswaps, and thought i'd better share here, just in case any of my vast audience of immediate family and longtime friends are interested. all you have to do to participate is e-mail heather {at} shivayanaturals.com with the following info:

Name

Mailing Address

email

blog/website (if you don't have one, no worries :))

Craft of choice (sewing, needlepoint, knitting, quilting, etc.)

If you are willing to ship internationally

i'm excited! i also have to confess that i've been finding some fabulous finds this summer, including the above linens and buttons and tins and more! i intend to share them by and by, especially if they make their way into, or onto? projects. for instance, buttons can be seen on byhandathome, gracing fingerless mitts and arm warmers. and all of my embroidery hoops have been coming from the estate sales. today i scored a whole slew of them for a dollar, and came away with a pretty little box i intended to put my needles in. however, colden fell for it too, so we may have to share. he liked the idea of putting needles in there, of course.

for the love of handwork

september is a wonderful month, isn't it? so many celebrations! this project was for one of my greatest handwork teachers thus far. i worked alongside her as an assistant and learned lots of essentials i didn't know before. pattern-reading, altering, creating, lots of handsewing stitches, how to really crochet shapes and hats, and how to teach these things too!

in other words, a tall order. she is expecting a baby girl (any day now they say), and red is her favorite color. this luxuriously soft cashmere sweater was destined for baby-wear, and i sewed the sleeves into pants in short order. i've kinda got that process down, but the sweater jacket was a little more challenging. i added some flowery vintage trim (25 cents at an estate sale) to cover my rough edges, and some sparkly buttons (also estate vintage) that looked similar to other things on ms. gloriana's wishlist.

i think it will probably fit a lot better at a year and a half than 0-3 m., but isn't it sweet? i intended to make a hat too, but ran out of time. i've had a lot of crafty deadlines lately, including an application for crafty wonderland (due today!), which we attended for the first(!) time on sunday. i can't believe i'd never gone. it was spectacular!!! and i'd love to share more about that too - but for now, i'll leave a little link to the things i submitted as part of my app, here at: byhandathome.com if you see something you like, let me know. i'm working on re-tooling my etsy shop and getting some things up there too. i'm happy to make things specifically to your liking, especially if you are a dear friend, which you probably are if you're reading this! and thank you for doing so, i appreciate it!