A Look Back at 2012

It’s January 2nd and the house is nice and quiet as both children are back at school. I’m very happy to say that last night they were both really excited to return to school to see their friends and teachers again.  We did have a nice Christmas break, though, and for Clark it was quite productive-he read 14 books, earned 5 Cub Scout belt loops, we all went ice skating, to a museum, and on a nature walk. And watched plenty of movies and episodes of Phineas & Ferb.

This is a big post that usually I look forward to doing and think about in my head around New Year’s Eve. I like to look back on the year and reflect and remember. I’ve struggled a bit with it this year, though, because so much of the end part of the year has been, frankly, not that great for our family.  In September, the day before school started, Paul lost his job when they unexpectedly eliminated his position.  He’s spent the fall diligently looking for a new job and while we’ve enjoyed having him around so much more, it’s definitely been a challenge for us.  From worrying about finances to struggling to adjust to both being at home it hasn’t always been easy.  On the plus side I think it’s been really great for Clark to have Paul waiting for him at home every day after school and that traditionally difficult time of day for us has been better.  Add on to that the general worries about the kids, frustrating stuff like stopping running and then being ready to run again but developing plantar fasciitis and being unable to, and then stuff that has made me worry about people and the world (my purse was stolen from my driveway, likely by a neighborhood young person; the elementary school shooting made me unbearably sad) and it all adds up to me really hoping that 2013 is a fresh start for us and a year filled with positive changes.

But let’s look back positively, shall we? In 2012 Clark finished 1st grade and started 2nd.  He really likes his 2nd grade teacher a lot, and so do we. He is successful in her class and this year his librarian genes revealed themselves and he took to reading a lot, staying up late in bed reading, and loving getting caught up in a book.  He also moved up in Cub Scout to the Wolf level and he’s really enjoying his friendships and activities in scouting.[This fall Paul became Assistant Cubmaster, too!] He and Paul went on their first camping trip together and in the fall we did a family camping trip with Scouts that had the very exciting ending of not being able to stay the night due to the pervasive presence of a mother bear and her 3 cubs who would not leave our site alone! He tried out some different sports this year, including soccer, which he loved (but I hated as I found it painful and stressful to watch when he didn’t do very well at it.) He also got glasses, which is a probably not high on his list of highlights of the year.

Tabby moved up to the 4 day class at her preschool, where she is doing much better with the more school like structure and routine of this class.  She is finally writing her name, but I worry that she can’t seem to remember what sounds the letters of the alphabet make.  She loves to sing and dance and is still outgoing and friendly and loving. I’m grateful for her late in the year birthday because we have lots of nice time together.  She is definitely more into that than Clark was with me.  She is also my child who likes to cook in the kitchen, which I love. We do hope that this year she will break her dreadful habit of prefacing every sentence with “I want to tell you something.” Then by the time she gets to actually saying her thing, she’s forgotten what she wanted to say! A big highlight for Tabby this year (and me!) was going on a girls’ weekend with me to visit my friend Joanna and attend Girl Scouting’s 100 year anniversary at the Rock the Mall event in Washington, D.C. She loved being part of this event with us, and it was very moving for Joanna and I to be there with our own girls celebrating the importance that Girl Scouting had in our lives.


It was a big year for me in terms of sewing and creativity.  In the summer I entered my first county fair and won 2 blue ribbons! Sure there weren’t a lot of entrants in the categories, but I’m confident my apron and quilt won on their own merits.

I made many aprons this year and loved them all.  In the fall my mom and I did our first craft fair.  While the craft fair itself was disappointing I followed it up with opening an Etsy shop and doing custom orders.  This year I will keep it stocked with things I think might sell and find a way to sell my notecards featuring my photography.  It was also a good photography year at the end–I finally did some paid family photography! I’m hoping to build on that and next year do more Christmas card sessions earlier in the season.

We had some wonderful outings and trips this year:  Grounds for Sculpture

the Adirondacks, Cape Cod, the Academy of Natural Sciences

and especially Duke Farms, which opened to the public in May and we’ve enjoyed so far in summer, fall, and winter.

And of course we had fun at our own house. We got a trampoline (thank you Al & Sandy) and spent many a happy hour bouncing like crazy.

The treehouse was, of course, lots of fun for everyone, too. Sadly…Hurricane Sandy was a huge event for everyone. We were pretty lucky-without power for 3 days, without tv/cable/internet/mostly cell service for 6 days, and our house was totally fine. Unfortunately, our beloved tree house demolished by a falling tree and it took out another tree as well. The silver lining is that Paul spent the next two months gathering wood and stacking wood and we’ll be able to use it all to heat our home next winter.

When I asked myself what some of my favorite memories of the year were, I noticed they all involved water. Cape Cod National Seashore

our own river

, Asbury Park waves with Clark,

the floating raft by our cottage and white water rafting in the Adirondacks. A visit by both of my brothers’ families was a big highlight of the year as it was a bit of a family reunion for us. We had a wonderful Memorial Day together barbecuing and swimming in the river, which reminded all of us when we were kids and would explore the river at my grandparents in Vermont.

The other even bigger highlight was our short but action and relaxation packed family vacation to the Adirondacks. We stayed in Lake Luzerne in a little cottage right on the water. We visited Lake George, took a steamship ride, went canoeing and kayaking, swimming, made smores, and loved our snug little cottage. My happiest moments of the year which I will cherish forever are these:

Last year I did this post with lots of favorites in categories, but this year all I can think of what was my favorite food/meal and what was my favorite things I sewed? My favorite sewing project was definitely my kimono. The pattern came from a book I got for my birthday, and I deliberated over the fabric for quite a long time.  The end result was just what I wanted-a beautiful, vibrant garment that I love to wear. (Here’s the whole set at a glance of my 2012 sewing projects.)

Favorite food/meal? I keep remember that tomato-corn pie made this summer with farm fresh ingredients.  The recipe sounded strange, but the end result was amazing. I can’t wait to make it next summer! Astonishingly I don’t have a photo of it! Here’s a runner up meal of ravioli with an amazingly sweet yellow heirloom tomato:

I was also very pleased with the birthday cakes this year (Kirby, chocolate layer, and ice cream cone.)Here’s a mouthwatering glance at everything I cooked or baked in 2012. I made good on my resolution to preserve more fresh foods, even if they didn’t come from my garden.  I received a wonderful book called Small Batch Preserves and tried out a few recipes from there that were wonderful.

The garden did pretty well this year, especially the tomatoes, which were all heirloom variety seedlings given to us by our friends. Thank you, Liz & Eleanor!

Favorite crafty thing? It’s got to be drawing and carving my own rubber stamp logo, for The Cornish Hen!


Paul scanned the stamp for me so I could have it be the new header on the blog, as well as my icon on Etsy, and I use the stamp to stamp big round stickers for my packages. It’s also on the back of the notecards.

Favorite books: Can be found over at my other blog, where I keep track of my reading. Here’s my look back at 2012 in books.

It was a pretty big year for us in terms of animal husbandry. One of the reasons I think it’s good to raise kids with animals is so they can see the cycle of life. And boy did our kids get that this year. In the spring we got 3 ducklings and raised them. They were adorable, flappy, and swimmy. Watching them swim in our pond was wonderful.


We were sad when they flew off at the end of the summer, but then happy to discover where they went!
Later in the spring we ordered 25 baby chicks from Murray McMurray hatchery. Two days before they arrived one of our own hens successfully hatched three of her own baby chicks!

It was a wonderful summer watching all these little creatures grow and change. And of course I discovered the fun of staging them with little props and taking their pictures. Throughout the year we did lose some chicks and older chickens, including witnessing the unfortunate killing of dear little Nancy by a hawk. The chicks have grown up into a variety of beautiful breeds and despite gaining some roosters, our egg production has skyrocketed.
Near the end of the summer we got two guinea pigs, Nibbles and Blackie.

To our surprise, it turned out Nibbles was a boy,which we realized around Thanksgiving when we discovered that Blackie was pregnant. We watched her grow larger and larger until December 27, when she gave birth to four babies.

One was stillborn, but the other three are just fine.

They are unbelievably adorable and it’s been really exciting to watch all this happen.

You know, when I read all this it really doesn’t sound like such a bad year after all. Maybe all it takes is taking the time every now and then to count the blessings that we do have. If you’ve stuck with reading this whole thing, thank you! Thank you to everyone who has left a comment this year–I truly do appreciate them. Goodbye, 2012!

A Flurry of Excitement

You know good things sometimes seem to happen all at once? Likewise bad things? We’ve had a run of not-so-great luck in our household lately, so yesterday and today have been banner days and some very nice positive feelings are overflowing.

First, Sunday night we enjoyed the Flemington Holiday Parade.  Evidently it’s an annual event but this was our first time attending, which we did because Clark’s Cub Scout pack was riding in a float.  There were lots of floats, the marching band, color guard, music, costumes, and all the Girl Scout troops marched dressed up like some sort of holiday item (gingerbread men, candy canes, gifts, etc.)  It was festive, fun, and adorable. I especially enjoyed the Mummers:

Then yesterday began with my first paid photography shoot. A friend recommended me to her friend and showed her the guinea pig and chick pictures I had done. The customer had 4 dogs that she wanted pictures of for her Christmas cards. The dogs were adorable and I got some great shots, and she was very pleased.

And then I promoted that on Facebook and lots of people were and interested and it was all very exciting. At the end of the summer one of my goals was to get started on a small sideline of photography-thinking very much of taking pictures of children for Christmas cards. I did one sample shoot, but life got in the way. I feel like this was an unexpected kick start and hope to do more now that I’ve put myself out there.
Then, late last night as I was on my way to bed, I discovered….I made my first Etsy sale! Now, I’ve got seven custom orders for the holidays that I’ve been working on (and finished two yesterday, which was very satisfying), but they are all for people who are, if not friends, at least acquaintances. It is extremely gratifying to have had a stranger admire and buy something I created. I know that selling my aprons is not going to be a lucrative sideline, but that’s ok. I love sewing and playing with fabrics and much like when you like to bake but can’t eat everything yourself so you keep bringing your stuff into work this allows me to continue sewing and at least not have the hobby cost me anything. So, I’m feeling pretty great about my Etsy shop, my blog, and my photos (hey, I even garnered some votes in a little guinea pig picture of the month contest!)
And last, but not least, I made a kick ass taco dinner last night and opened the first jar of the corn salsa I made this summer. It was tangy and delicious.

OLE!

p.s. haven’t found any little eggs for 3 days now. Where are they laying??? Two days in a row someone laid an egg in the bike trailer.

The Cornish Hen–Open for Business!

I finally did it-listed my items in my Etsy shop.  I’m shocked to discover that I actually signed up for the shop two years ago and only today listed anything in it. Stop on by and visit!

The Cornish Hen on Etsy.com

Craft Fair Summary

Well, my first craft fair has come and gone. I can’t say it was a very big success, but I’m not bitter about it because, frankly, it didn’t seem like anyone was doing a brisk business. There just didn’t seem to be that many shoppers. I have to give credit to the organizers, though and all the volunteers–this was super organized, ran smoothly, there were so many Immaculata students helping out, and it was really nicely put together.  Looking around at all the other tables I think our table displayed well and we had beautiful goods. People were admiring and complimentary about the aprons, and many people seemed to like looking through the photo notecards and were tickled by the baby chick pictures. The ones like these (the bottom one had the stamped caption, “How’s my hair?”:

People admired my moms dolls and animals, but she only sold three all day.

As for me, I only sold ONE apron (Merry Christmas, Hello Kitty) and it was to a friend of mine. In fact, out of the $167 I made today, all but $40 of was sold to friends. And not only that but three of the items sold haven’t been made yet because they are going to be custom aprons. You know, last year I had the idea of having a holiday open house for my friends and their friends where I’d have my wares out, but I thought it would be too weird to invite friends over to shop my things. But it turns out they all seem to like buying my stuff so perhaps I’ll just do that next year. And if they make things (Megan, I’m looking at you and your crocheting) I’ll encourage them to bring their things too.

I was definitely worried about our prices being too high but I sincerely feel that I could not sell my items at lower prices given the time and materials used. Also, when I look around at Etsy and other shoppes they seem comparable. So while they many not be inexpensive I think they are appropriately priced. I’m kind of annoyed I didn’t sell any of the jewelry rolls since last week I rushed to create them to have them.
As I’ve said all along it’s a good thing I like my stuff because I’m happy to keep or gift it. But also, I did set up an Etsy store a while ago and just not put anything in it. So I will likely get that going for real now. I wish I could find a local place willing to put out my notecards, but for now they can go in the shop as well. Oh, and out of the money I made I also spent money at a few tables myself.

I would feel discouraged for us, except that: Mom’s hairstylist wants to sell the dolls in her shop, a lady once bought Mom’s dolls out of her trunk, and I have had an Etsy shop for a while just waiting to be filled up with goods. I think our things were lovely, they just didn’t have a good audience today. And now I can relax and have fun sewing some things that I want to for myself-a Christmas bunting, some placemats, a couple of funky potholders, and a dress for Tabby.

So it was a mixed day-definitely disappointing, but not embarrassing.

Craft Fair Tomorrow!

I’m having a busy Saturday here as I try to finish up a few things for my first craft fair tomorrow.  I’ve just completed another children’s apron that is sweet and adorable:

as well as a “vendor apron” for me to wear and put my money in. Here’s my big container stuffed with an assortment of things.

And here’s a practice layout of my mom’s stuff and my stuff. My mom will be selling her handmade dolls, stuffed animals, and embroidered felt Christmas decorations.

If you’re in the area, stop on by! It’s at Immaculata High School in Somerville, NJ, Sunday, November 18 from 10am-4pm.  I’ll be selling my aprons,

notecards, jewelry rolls,


potholders,

and felt ornaments.

I’m excited (and a little bit nervous)about it and literally have no idea whether or not I’ll sell a little or a lot. If you’re there, stop by and say hello to me and my mom, The Cornish Hens.

A Week of Sewing (& Poultry Stories, too!)

While the power was out it was easy to while away time doing embroidery and finishing up my felt ornaments. Technically they are not actually finished as I have to back them, which I will do today.  But in the meantime here are 14 seasonal decorations for my craft fair table:

And some close-ups.

I’ve gotten busy with Christmas aprons, too.  Here’s an adorable Santa print one:

And I’m about to finish up another one that I’m exceptionally pleased with.  Check out the pleated trim I made for the hem:

As for the chickens, they have had an exciting week post-storm. They love all the cut up logs and pecking away at bugs under the bark.

The pullets have started laying for good so now we are getting 6 or 7 eggs a day.
And some of them are the little banties’, which means we now get tiny white eggs in addition to our big brown ones.

It’s a beautiful variety. And it seems that the flower pot in the garage is not just for tiny birds, as this Buff Orpington has managed to snugly fit herself into it, too.

Now, on to the best poultry news. As you know, we know longer have our ducks. The ladies left a while ago and Tom a few weeks ago. We were fairly certain he had left for greener pastures, not been eaten. I was worried that another flock of ducks wouldn’t accept a male, though. Well, the day after the hurricane we were cautiously driving around and at the little stream/river where the shaggy cars are who should we see but…

TOM! Jerry! Sally!! Now, it’s possible that these three are not them, but this stream is merely 1/4 mile as the crow (or duck, as the case may be) flies, so it makes sense that they would have found duck friends. And as for my worries about fitting in with other males..

There were many of them! We were so excited we pulled the car over and I got out and yelled Tom! Tom! and he looked up at us. Yes, I did scare them away and they flew off but that’s ok. On a sad day it made us all really happy to see our ducks had found a duck home.

Crafting Up a Storm

heh heh. See what I did there? Because I’ve been crafting and a hurricane is coming?  See?

So, Hurricane Sandy is headed our way and we are as prepared as we can be. I find it disheartening that the authorities are saying we will definitely lose power.  We’ll just have to wait and see for how long.  It’s very strange because out and about yesterday there were long gas lines and it seemed rather end of world panicky. And yet…the weather is still fine enough to play outside-just grey and cloudy. It seems most likely that the school Halloween parties and parades and school itself will be cancelled on Tuesday and/or Wednesday and probably no one will go trick or treating on Wednesday. And yet….I still have to finish making our costumes because we can’t not be ready. It’s a very strange waiting feeling.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing a good job of being more sewing productive.  I made TWO kitschy barbecue aprons in one day this week, although they still need straps.  Then I whipped up a little apron for Tabby.  I may try to make a couple more child size aprons like this to offer at the craft fair.

I’ve also really been enjoying working on the felt ornaments.

I branched out and did a couple that do not have birds.  A tree on a heart with gold metallic thread decorating it, and a simple peace, which I think looks really nice as all the letters are daintily stitched on.

In the chicken coop it turns out that we have way too many roosters. Both Mystery Chick and Big Silk have revealed themselves to be boys. So now we’ve got Mother Hen’s two boys, the little Mille Fleur, Big Silk, Mystery, plus our original Rainbow Rooster and the head honcho guy-the black and white one. One of the Buff Orpington’s injured her leg, though we’re not sure how. She way lying down to eat, unable to bear weight on one leg, had a droopy tail and did not look good. I could not see a wound or break or anything and there didn’t seem to be a lot to do for her (except carry her in to the coop and hand feed her.) I’m happy to report that although she is still limping quite a bit, her tail is perkier and she is moving around the yard with the others. I’m sure a predator could still get her, but am hopeful she’ll recover. Also, Quicksilver has now laid 3 eggs! They look so tiny when you pick them up, but when I cracked it next to a regular size egg the difference didn’t seem so great.

Halloween might be on its way to being ruined, but that hasn’t stopped us from decorating. I made a new Frankenstein tea light jar.

And tested out a recipe that I planned on making for Tabby’s class party (now likely not to happen.) I hesitate to say that I saw this on Pinterest, in fact to even make this, because I feel like Pinterest is the lazy man’s Google and that people are marveling at stuff like it didn’t exist before when it most certainly did-it’s just that you never bothered to search around on the internet and read blogs for crafty and cooking ideas. So that’s my little Pinterest rant. This is still a very cute idea;

A Teeny Tiny Egg

We’ve had our eyes peeled for the pullets to start laying this fall and it seems like one of them has been contributing to the daily eggs. A slightly smaller brown egg, pretty standard, has been showing up in the egg boxes. But today we had the excitement of the first egg from one of our tiny speciality birds-Quicksilver! She is the tiniest of our chickens and is a Silver Sebright Bantam. Since she is a bird she will lay eggs, but she is not a breed that regularly lays a lot. Today I was startled to discover her in a flower pot in the corner of the garage. And not just in the pot, but basically underneath a pile of garden netting. She peered out at me from super secret nest and I quickly retreated. She was in there a pretty long time but eventually an extremely noisy ruckus called me back in. She was out of the pot and two of the big birds were near her and she was squawking like crazy. They all left, I peeped in the pot and there was a tiny white pointy egg. Oh how I wish I had a picture. But I don’t. Because I lost my camera’s battery charger and both batteries were dead and it simply couldn’t be found for the past few weeks. And then the other camera was missing. And then Tabby broke the egg. (In happier news she found the battery recharger under the couch and was able to claim the $3 reward I had offered for it.) So that’s a long egg story with no egg picture. But here is Quicksilver posing next to a big hen who kindly hopped up to offer perspective.

They are perched in the remains of our apple tree. It was very old and used to be lovely, but has clearly been dead for a while now, so Paul chopped it down today in an extremely manly display.
In other news I’ve been sewing a lot. I finally made up a much anticipated teapot apron,

and I’ve also whipped up a few potholders.

Personally I don’t care if my potholders have loops because I keep them in a drawer, not on a hook. But do you think people will be expecting loops?? I’m also making headway on my felt ornaments and I’ve packaged up my photo notecards.

It’s not even Halloween yet but I’m already dipping in to the freezer to enjoy summer’s bounty. Tonight-corn from the cob and a peach ginger cake made from our peach picking excursion. mmmmm!

Autumn Ahoy!

It’s pumpkin time! Summer’s gone and fall is definitely here.  This weekend we took a short trip to the Scranton, PA area to visit good friends and spend the afternoon at one of those autumn farm fun type places (corn mazes, pig races, pumpkin picking, hay rides, etc.) You know, I don’t recall anything like this when I was a kid, but they are all over the place now and seem to be de rigeur for fall family fun.  Is it because farms needed to turn to agri-tourism to make a living? Whatever, it’s good fun.

The skies were intensely threatening with a heavy blanket of dark grey clouds.

I did manage one cute blue sky photo of Tabby

All in all we had a wonderful time with our friends and the foliage and views on the drive out were just beautiful.

In the meantime I’ve been a flurry of domesticity.  I baked cinnamon swirl bread on Friday to give to our neighbors and to bring to our friends.

Can you resist the smell of homemade cinnamon yeast bread fresh from the oven? Well, we couldn’t and we had to eat up a loaf.  So then I made two loaves of pumpkin quick bread.

So autumnal!  I’ve also been working on aprons and made up a quick skirt for Tabby.  A big fabric sort came across a very large piece of this gorgeous owl corduroy fabric.  It came with one selvedge edge hemmed/serged, so it was a very simply matter of just a side seam and then an elastic waist.  It thrilled me to use this:

Mint in package 29 cents elastic from Woolworth.  Mint in package no more! I opened it right up and was thrilled with this nice wide waistband it gave her.  A couple of pockets with pink piping make it extra cute.  It’s unfortunately a little too loose and a little too long, so it might need some adjusting.

I also finally completed a project that started in the spring-placemats. Honestly, there should be nothing easier than cutting out 8 same sized rectangles, sandwiching them with batting, quilting some lines, and binding them. In reality when I quilted them the fabric moved and I ended up with four different sized placemats (as I had to cut down to wear there were three layers.) Also, the “simple machine quilting” took longer than you’d think. I did a different pattern on each as I searched for the fastest one: free form squiggles (pain in the ass), diagonal lines, diagonal grid, and big lines radiating out from squares.

By the time I was in Jo-Ann’s last week I just picked up packages of binding because I was not going to make my own binding it for anymore. For all that it was a pain, I love the fabric and enjoyed looking at it while I ate my breakfast this morning.

And that’s what’s new here!

 

Where do you get your fabric?

Friends have asked me that from time to time and, at Anne’s suggestion, I decided to do a post about it. Timely as yesterday I had a bit of a fabric shopping spree. Your two basic choices are online and in person. Although I know many people worry about buying fabric online because the color might not be what they were expecting and they can’t touch it I have only ever had two experiences where something didn’t turn out quite right and one of those times I hadn’t bought the fabric (both times involved the color red, so maybe that’s difficult to match?) Here are the sites I favor:
Hawthorne Threads: I like this site because it is a beautifully made site. They carry all the chi chi and in vogue fabric designers and pretty much everything is $9.95 a yard. They have a great weekly newsletter that makes you drool over what’s new in the shop (and every week I enter the giveaway and have yet to win.) Two things I especially like about them: 1. the color grid. Want to browse some chartreuse fabric? Click on the color grid and there are all the fabrics they have in that palette. It makes online browsing and coveting a dream. I use pinterest to pin fabrics I like. This is how I chose the fabric for my kimono bathrobe. 2. for each fabric they show pictures/links to handmade items using the fabric. So theoretically I could post my kimono to go with the fabric. It really does give you a good idea of how a fabric will look when made up into something. Also, I have purchased “mystery bags” (I forget what they are really called) from here-a collection of remnants and scraps for a reasonable amount. A total surprise what you might get, but I’ve gotten some very fun bits and pieces this way and since I do like to use scraps in things, a useful way to add to my stash (and some of the remnants were quite large.)

Fabric.Com: a very comprehensive and large site. They have frequent and terrific sales. I once bought some pricey delicate voile and it arrived with a rip in the fabric. The customer service when I called about it could not have been better and the fabric was immediately replaced. My very first online fabric purchase was here and there was a slight mix up in my order which was also immediately resolved in a friendly manner. I think of fabric.com as being a combination of Hawthorne Threads + Jo-Ann Fabric-they pretty much have everything. They also have a design wall feature which is nice and allows you to see lots of different things together and then order from the wall. I have found that occasionally their online colors are not as true as Hawthorne Threads’ are, but overall I’ve been very pleased with purchases from here. Free shipping over $35.

Fat Quarter Shop: They also have a nice selection of trendy lovely fabrics, with an emphasis on “jelly rolls” and “charm packs”-fabric collections pre-cut into squares or strips. Sometimes they have yardage. I have bought a few charm packs from here-I think they’re fun, a good way to sample a collection, and not a bad value. In fact, I have a Christmas one waiting for me to do something with it!

Sew Mama Sew: They have a great blog and also an online shop. They have patterns (I won one once!) and fabrics. I’ve only purchased a couple of times from here, but the packaging was lovely and I was pleased with what I got.

I’ve also ordered once or twice from random other sites, including The Fabric Fairy (their site has changed since I used it, but I believe it still has an emphasis on knit fabrics and has a huge selection of them) and Hart’s Fabrics (who had amazing customer service on the phone-helping me select a fabric by looking at the stuff for me in person.)

Now, as for in person.  Wherever you live you are probably lucky enough to have a Jo-Ann’s near you. Alas, that is not the case here. The nearest one is 35-40 minutes away.  Which is a real drag because it would be so convenient to have it nearby.  As it is I end up keeping a list of notions I might need and fabrics I might need and then doing a gigantic expensive all at once trip, as I did yesterday.  I can’t just say “Oh I wish I had a half yard of some green fabric to finish off this apron” because it’s a big trip.  I do really like Jo-Ann’s-especially the big rainbow wall of calicos and the extensive trims section.  I would go there every day if I could.  Also in my radius:

Walmart. I shudder to even write that, but the fact is that if I need thread or a button or zipper, that’s where I have to go.  There is never anyone there to cut the fabric, but I have occasionally bought fabric there.  A further away Walmart (30 min.) used to have a pretty good selection, but the one closest to me has a very wee selection.

FabricLand. The name is super, it’s the fabric store of my youth. My bridal veil comes from there. My mother bought many yards of fabric to make me clothes there.  They have a nice apparel collection as well as specialty bridal stuff, but they no longer seem to carry quilting cotton in any great supply, so even though it’s closest to me (30 min.) I rarely go there.  They do have a smashing button and trims selection, though.

PQW (Pennington Quilt Works). A fancy and somewhat expensive quilt shop about 30 min. away that carries basically the stuff Hawthorne Threads does.  I have bought many lovely fabrics here and the customer service is delightful.  It’s probably good that it’s not closer because I’d spend a fortune there.

Other resources: once I got a bolt of navy blue fabric off of Freecycle! And I never say no when anyone offers to give me stuff from their stash.  All this has led to me having a pretty large stash of my own.  And while I do make things out of smaller pieces-jewelry rolls, scrap things, embellishments, zippered bags-the fact is I do need to buy yardage to make aprons.  And that’s what I’m mostly making now and trying to gear up to get a good inventory going for this craft fair in November (and if it doesn’t sell there, well then into an Etsy shop.) Since it’s in November I have to have some Christmas items:

And I had some leftover cupcake fabric, but needed to get something to go with it. I chose a pink polka dot, but as I laid out all these fabrics discovered that the tiny brown pindot fabric would also look good:

In fact, I found several lovely things that went together that I hadn’t necessarily intended:

I chose this green to go with the apples and pears, but when I put it on the floor I noticed it also looked with the teapots!

I had to buy a full two yards of this cherry print because who wouldn’t want an apron made out of it? Especially with the red gingham ruffle?

Planning the aprons putting fabrics together and then the trims, is really my favorite part of sewing. I love choosing colors and prints that are fun and pretty together.

I’m feeling excited about making and selling these wares, though I am super aware of how much I spent on fabric and how I need to earn that back!  I’ll also be selling some notecards and I’m pretty excited by the logo that I made for myself:

I drew and carved the rubber stamp for the hen myself!