Organization

I don't know what hit me late last week, but I am suddenly in a huge organizational kick right now.  This past weekend I organized my office closet where I keep most of my product.  It could still use some work, like more shelving and bins for storage, but it's much better than it was previously.  I have a better idea what I want done, it's just a matter of executing the plan at this point to completely uber organize it, perhaps a trip to the Container Store is in order.  

It also motivated me to finally put up the artwork that had been sitting in that closet for over a year now.  While I was putting up the photographs, I finally narrowed down some decorating ideas of putting some other artwork on our living and dining room walls.  Artwork is expense and can be so impersonal so I always wanted something that was very personal for our family.  To Pinterest I went...

Pinterest really should be illegal at times, I find to many ideas and not enough time or space for all the ideas I come across.  I think the winning idea to try to experiment with creating my own prints on canvas.  The biggest problem will be finding the right photo(s) to print.  I think I know what my tasks in the coming days. 

Busy Bee

Again I must apologize for drastic change in posting frequency.  Right now I have a very good excuse, at least that's what I'm claiming.  I have been super busy with orders! 

Yeah, that's right, this lady has had order out the wazoo recently.  It's been mostly nap blankets for daycare kids, but that's OK.  I have my own design that I feel I have perfected at this point so my speed of production has greatly increased.  (The new mom energy has not yet, but that's a whole different issue!)

Aesthetic Nest Chenille Blanket Tutorial

In addition to the orders I have several projects I want to work on for my son to include a new nap blanket and his chenille blanket similar to the one on the right. 

The nap blanket won't take me long, but man oh man is this chenille blanket taking me forever to finish.  I think this is one of the reasons I am not a quilter!  I grossly underestimate the time it will take me to do something, not to mention how tedious it is.  Don't get me wrong, I am really enjoying this process.  It's teaching me to be a much better seamstress/sewer.  I've never been very good at sewing in a straight line, or cutting in a straight line for that matter, so this has been a great exercise in this as well as marking my fabric for sewing.  Most of the things I do I can pretty much freehand.  I've never really done super intricate work that is so precise before.  As a result this blanket is not one of my finer works, but it's a labor of love and I know my oldest will love it when it's finished, crooked stitches and all. 

And for the record, my New Year's resolution is to increase my posting frequency.  Do you have one?  (Yes I realize were are at the end of January so by definition I am not doing too well in that regard.)

I'm Back...I think

Wow, where has the time gone!  I blinked and I'm now back to work and deep into the Christmas craft season.  Since coming back to work it has been a challenge to work out a new schedule for myself, hence why I have not written in so long.  I'm sure eventually I will work out some kind of schedule (maybe in 20 years!)  Fear not, I have been very busy over the past few months.  I also have several orders to get out the door before the new year.

Everything seems to take a little longer for me now, but I think I am slowly getting the hang of things.  Since it's been so long and I have many projects coming up, let me give you a quick run down of the projects I have been working on since I fell off the face of the earth.

Baby Blanket completed!  The blanket I was working on for my son was completed just in time for him to come home from the NICU, so perfect timing on his part.  I've gotten several compliments on the blanket including a mom starting at the boys daycare in a few weeks.  Who knows, maybe that will give me some new customers. 

Halloween Costume Completed!  My oldest was Max from Where the Wild Things are this year.  And when I say he was Max, I mean that in the loosest term possible.  I put a lot of thought into the construction of his costume and in typical 2 year old fashion refused to wear it!  I did photograph the process and as soon as I am able to sit down in front of my photo editing computer I will write a post about it.  Maybe just in time for next Halloween.

Pink Baby Blanket Completed!  I had been working on and off on this blanket for several months and finally completed it.  The only bummer about it, my plan was to make it on the larger side, but once I finished it, it was much smaller than I had planned.  Total bummer!  I hate when great plans don't turn out as expected.  It's still a beautiful blanket, just not the complete vision I had in mind. 

Christmas Present Started! For Christmas this year, I am making a chenille blanket for my son with a Cars theme of course.  He is going to be super excited once it's done.  Fingers crossed I will get it completed in time for Christmas (Only 20 more days...eek!)  If not it will be his birthday present. 

And finally...I have 2 nap blankets on order that will be completed as soon as the fabric arrives, which will hopefully be this week.

Wow...writing all hat down makes it all seem so real.  That's quite a list to do on top of all the other things that require my attention on a daily basis.  It might take longer than I had planned, but in due time it will all get done. 

What are your current projects?  Bring me up to date since I've been out of touch for so long!

My Apologies For My Absence

I apologize for my sudden absence.  I promise you it was not planned!  As some of you may have read between the lines in the last several months, I was expecting again.  Well this little guy decided he wanted to enter the world 2 months earlier than planned.  It has truly been a whirl wind here.  Both mommy and baby are doing great.  I am pretty much recovered from the very fast delivery and baby boy is doing fabulous in the NICU.  We are hopeful he will come home soon, the only think holding him back right now is getting all of his nutrition from either mommy or bottle.  He's about 60%- 70% of the way there, just more time to practice. 

Needless to say, I have not been working very hard on any projects of late, other than the beautiful blanket for baby boy.  It should be finally done this weekend so he'll be able to enjoy it at the hospital for a few days before he comes home to us with it.  Once he is home I hope to take advantage of some of the time I have at home to do a little bit of sewing.  We'll see what projects come to me when the time comes.  While I'm focusing on bringing home baby boy, I would love to hear what some of your current inspirations are.  What kinds of products are you looking for to help you get through your day? 

I will be checking back and posting again soon.  Hopefully I won't take as long as a hiatus this time.

Being Greedy

T-shirt rug found through Pinterest

Now that fall is approaching, I'm starting to get in the mind set of preparing for Christmas this year.  Yes, you read that right, here we are at the end of August and I'm already talking about Christmas!  Such an improvement from last year when every holiday seemed sneak up on me.  But this year I have a different twist on things.  Right now I'm being a bit greedy and working on some projects for our house instead of making new products to sell. 

I've been fighting the urge to sew and knit for myself for a while and I finally broke down and said, nope right now is going to be me time. There are several sewing projects I would like to do for the family and for myself.  I still plan to chronicle them here, but they just won't be available for sale unless someone makes a custom request.  In the mean time I may sneak a quick project in here or there, but now that we've been in our new house for about a year, there are a few things that I really want to tackle.  One of them being this rug.  I'm debating making it with t-shirts or old sheets.  Feel free to check out this crochet patterns over at Coffee and Vanilla one of my latest Pinterest finds.

Now that I'm taking some time to focus on my house, what are some projects that you've done for yourself or to improve your home of late?  Give me some ideas!

Project Failed...

Max Costume from here

Well not really, but sort of.  I had high hopes of getting to the fabric store this past weekend.  Those were quickly dashed when the weekend ended up getting filled with multiple furniture pick ups for the nursery and more outside playing time than I thought was possible.  I guess family fun time can trump making another nap blanket.  We will just have to delay the creation a little longer.  I really want him to be part of the selection process so it may not be until Labor Day weekend. 

I did do some research on some great Halloween costumes and I think this year my son is going to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  So while we are there I may start looking at some fabric for that as well.  I found the instructions on Education.com.  They seem surprisingly easy.  I was worried about his costume this year because I didn't want something hard to get in and out of in case he has go potty while in costume.  This one is pretty nice as I'll make it two pieces so he can slip it on and off as necessary. 

Looking Forward to My Lastest Project

Nap Blanket Available for Sale

So this one won't be going into the shop, but I'm excited about it all the same.  My son has not one, not two, but three of his four 2 year molars working their way in right now!  This is reeking havoc on his normal demeanor.  As a result, we are currently having lots of potty accidents, especially at nap time at school.  I feel so bad for him and like any mom I just want to take the pain away from him, but alas it is just part of the growing process that he needs to get through.  That being said, my husband and I are getting tired of the nightly laundry we have to do because he is wetting his only nap daily at the moment.  I don't think our hampers have been this empty continuously, well, ever.  So this weekend, I'm taking my son to the local fabric store (he loves to go shopping with me) and letting him pick out the fabric for a new nap blanket.  My guess if there is a Disney Cars fabric there that will be the choice.  It might be a little more expensive than what I normally would pay for fabric especially since I can find some manufactured nap blankets for what seems like pennies.  I don't know about you, but there is something to be said about a blanket made for you by mommy.  Not to mention some of those manufactured blankets end up looking pretty ragged pretty quickly, at least in my opinion.

My nap blanket design has changed since I first made my son's almost 2 years ago now.  I've sold many of the blankets to his fellow classmates, most of them personalized to the particular child.  The ones the school sells are just solid colors whereas I've made fairy princesses, flowers, all sorts of fun prints.  Much more fun, if you ask me! 

Maybe while we are there we will start thinking about Halloween costumes.  Is it really that time of year already?