Beige messenger bag

Hello friends! I've had a lovely morning, listening to The Lady and The Unicorn on cassette tapes (!!!) and sewing. Here is my latest. Adios!

Special Order

Here is my newest special order I put together today for an Etsy guest of mine. She wanted a waterproof lining, laptop pocket, and a wide webbing strap. This was my first time working with oilcloth and I'm happy with the results. The best advice I have is use new, heavy duty needles. This bag is going all the way to Melbourne!



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Birthday weekend

My birthday is tomorrow! I always get super excited about my birthday, and this year I'm trowing a little shindig with some gal and guy friends. There will be lots of treats (I've been baking cookies for a few days) and a couple tasty beverages. I am a bit bummed, as I ordered some stripy straws and they didn't arrive, but the rest of my plans are coming together.

Today, I made lip balm for party favors. I have wanted to do this for a while, and I figured my friends are pretty good guinea pigs and they will be honest about texture and usefulness. It was super fun and easy.

If you are interested, it went like this:
4 Tablespoons organic beeswax, shaved for easy melting
2 Tablespoons Coconut oil
1 teaspoon honey
5-8 drops of your favorite essential oil

I also want to share a present my sister gave me:

She had a stamp made with my name from the Etsy shop Primele.
I love it! Happy birthday to me!

What I've been sewing

Now that all of these wonderful gifts have been given to their people, I am happy to share them with you! This top bag was made for Caroline, a spunky freshman girl. When we talked at the dessert party on Christmas, she explained how great it will work for school, as it's a fairly large bag and she doesn't have time to go to her locker in between classes. Sorry there is no inside picture, but it is lime green with navy tree buds.


This purple bag is a bit hard to see. The bottom is a pretty purple with a green leaf pattern, both of which seem to disappear in the photo.
These two little clutch bags were so fun to make. I played with a smaller frame for the bag - these are 7 inches wide and only two inches deep. I've been making fabric flowers for some time now, but this is the first time I've put them on a bag or used buttons for the center. I think they turned out really great :)


This last picture is the latest pouf I've sent out. You'll recognize the polka dot from above :) I'm happy with how efficient I've gotten at these pillows. I have changed the design from the original - I use only 11 panels now instead of 12.

There you go. Consider this a pre-view of what's to come in my Etsy shop. I'm getting set to order more bag frames, and I'm always on the lookout for fun buttons. If you know of any fun sites, feel free to send me their info!

Sew good.

I am so proud of myself! I've gotten so many sewing projects done in the last few days. My one huge failure is that I haven't taken any pictures of them as I was rushing to get them mailed off, but they are done!

The biggest, has been one that I promised to do for a regular customer from my days at Common Grounds. She has an old mission style rocking chair and wanted her cushions recovered. She brought in the old covers, and after a few hours of stitch ripping and measuring, and remeasuring, I was able to put together two beautiful new covers for her. I salvaged the old zippers and old trimming cores. It was the first time I'd made something with pipe trim, let alone sewn something for someone without being able to measure the chair or the cushion innards.

Dan was up last weekend when I was completing one of the sides, and I knew I did well when he said, "This is something my parents would have in their house." I was worried they looked amateur and unprofessional, but it all came together beautifully.

I'm making gadget covers, pillows,hand bags, and more pouf pillows. It has been great to see these things start, finish, and get in the mail.

Fuzzy

We're having a fuzzy morning here in Carbondale. The kitties look like road kill - splatting themselves all over the house. "What happened here!" I can imagine a detective saying. "We loved them to death."

One of the last farmers' markets was this morning. One more week then it's kaput. We brought home apples and cheese. Yum. I whipped up some pesto eggs and biscuits for breakfast, and now I'm off to sew. It will be a blue pouf for an order on Etsy.

The work space is looking a bit rough, but I figure, soon everything will be boxed up and sent either to Bloomington or Juneau. It can be messy a little longer. Besides, messy = creative! Right?

Sweet Pea's Treats

My friend Audrey is amazing! She has been a fantastic baker for quite sometime, and now is starting her business. At this point she is loaded with orders in the Bloomington/ Normal area, but now anyone can have her treats! She put up an Etsy page, and was featured, and here is her link: Sweet Pea's Etsy

Last weekend when I was visiting her, she let me eat a roasted banana cupcake with honey and maple butter cream frosting. I am pretty picky on banana flavored things, but these were the perfect combination of moist and firm, with an unexpected natural sweetness mixed in with the smooth calm of the frosting. So good. Yum.

And isn't the whoop-de-do on the top wonderful!?

two new pillow orders and a kitty

I had some scraps, so the other night I tried making a cat doll. It was a good first try, but I'll need to revamp the pattern if I decide to make more. I made the head completely separate from the body, and because of the quick stitching to see how it looked, it is incredibly floppy.



These are the next to orders I've put together for some Etsy customers. One wanted purples in a 24 " pillow, and the other wanted purples and pinks in the 18". I'm excited to see them puffed up and finished!

And this is Comma getting set to get on her perch. I had to take her collar off this morning, as I saw it had rubbed the fur off her neck underneath it. It wasn't tight and had plenty of slack to rotate on her neck so I don't know what to do other than keep it off to let her fur grow back, then keep a closer eye on it. She is a super happy kitty, and I think she is finally fully adjusted to life with the boys. Even in the feline world, it's hard to live with boys! She's a trooper.

Whew!

It's been a roller coaster for me these last two days.

I just made a trip to Mailboxes Etc and sent off a special order to Neely in Tennessee.

This pillow finally got made after two days of misunderstandings and numerous color swatches. It was almost too much near the end! But, this is what she wanted and this is what was mailed. She will enjoy it, and I now have enough cut out pieces from the other swatches to make a pillow for my page :)

My projects board has two rows of contact information to check in with when I return from Alaska, and that feels pretty good. There are 9 people just waiting for pillows!

Ciara flew out to Turkey yesterday with Adam, and now that it's 5pm, they only have about two more hours of flights, and maybe 2 hours of car rides until their big travel day(s) are behind them.

I need to get ready for my own traveling. I took an adventure through my closet earlier to pull my rain gear and cold weather clothes out. My back pack in airing out. I am taking a little break from all of the rushing with the latest pillow before I tackle the actual packing.

Dan and I will drive up to Chicago tomorrow, with a stop in Bloomington to see my friends, Kristy, Trish, and Crissy for lunch. At the Garlic Press. I love the Garlic Press. And then early Saturday morning, I fly to Juneau through Seattle. I'll be there at 2:30 local time, which will be 5:30 Central time.

I'm excited to read books on the plane. Since my Etsy shop has opened, I haven't been able to focus when I read. I feel like I should be in "my studio" (that is how I reference it now. "I will be out of my studio from August 14th- September 30th...") working on orders. I have four books just waiting for some quality time.

Speaking of quality time, Dan and I are going out! Gotta go!

In the Etsy newsletter

I found the spot where my pillow was featured on Etsy. Visit the page HERE. I'm part of a selection with the header of Rooftop Party. This newsletter goes out to thousands and thousands of people everyday. What great exposure!

Since Thursday I've been trying to keep everything straight and accomplish as much as I can.

Here are three orders in their wedge stacks with backing, waiting to be sewn together.
I had to come up with a easy way to see where all of the poufs were at in the process and keep sellers straight. I turned my tree sun window into my sticky-note bulletin board with headers for: Interested, Fabric Choice, Cut, Fill, Done, Ship, and Follow up. The sticky note then has the buyers name, item ordered, the status of their payment and any special instructions.

In amongst all of this sewing business, Dan's Friend Kelly will be coming to stay with us this coming Monday night, with a dog. I had a chance today to clean out "Dan's office" (which is really full of my stuff) and get it ready for company. That meant I needed a place to put my fabric and projects so we could set up the twin bed. Seeing it all heaped up on the ironing board before re-sorting it made me realize how much I've taken on! I have a lot of fabric!

I got to talk with Ciara today and hear how her moving countdown is going. She is busy getting organized and seeing her friends and family. Wednesday is going to come so fast.

Still sewing!

I'm still filling orders from my Etsy explosion. Since Monday I've been to the fabric store three times. I've upgraded to buying muslin by the bolt. I have shipping materials. Who knew people would like my floor pillows so much!

Tonight is Friday and I'm going to stop thinking about my orders. Dan bought a bushel of basil from the farmer's market last weekend and made some amazing pesto with it. We'll finish that up for dinner and watch some Sons of Anarchy. We'll probably also have a beer. Happy Friday!

Today I realized it was my last Friday of coffee shop work until October! Yay! I can't wait for a reprieve from this weather. One more week and I'm in Juneau.

Adios

First Etsy Order

I've had my shop for less than two weeks and today I've gotten my first order!

The pouf pillow I made a few months ago is used as an example on my Etsy for sale as a custom request. Today I had a very nice woman order two, and larger! I am so happy I could spit!

Sewing up a storm!

Hi friends! Now that I've dove into Etsy and opened up the shop, I've been having a great time putting projects together and feeling good about how they turn out. At the same time, I've had two custom apron orders to make for a Common Grounds customer. So much sewing!

To start the weekend, my machine kept malfunctioning (!) and I spent a good hour taking the thing apart (as best I could), cleaned and oiled it, and eventually found the one loose screw that was keeping my feeder foot from grabbing fabric to progress the stitch. I felt pretty good, I have to tell you. Dan got to see me skip two laps around the house singing a little ditty proclaiming how awesome I am for figuring it out. So here's what I made!


This is the double sided full apron for my CG customer. She wanted something with lots flowers, in mint green and light pink. This is what I came up with . The green side has one pocket (the white square), and the pink side has two pockets (the beehive pattern rectangle).



These two bags I made and put on my Etsy page. I really, really like these two fabrics. Both I found on my last stay in Chicago at The Needle Shop.


I made this, my second Kiss Clasp bag, and I wasn't happy with how it turned out. It is a bit too long, which makes it a bit awkward to use. It was good practice with making my own pattern to fit the frame, and also to make inner pockets.



I call this last one my Octopus apron. I made myself a slouch bag out of this material and love it more and more as I see it. The purple square is a pocket on this side, and below on the back side, both the orange flower square and the pink polka dot square are pockets. I really like how this project turned out.



And just now the mail man came! My sister sent me a care package with all sorts of wonderful things! I knew about the fabric, but she added some wonderful other things - take a look :

Jam (home-made and will be gone in three weeks, yes, that's one jar a week), the second book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, Ciara's favorite Amy Butler pattern, buttons, a hand-made paper notebook, and wonderful sewing things: fabric, fabric, ribbon, and edging. I can't wait to use these wonderful treats!

Comma (Ciara's cute gray cat pictured below) was sniffing all of the contents as they came out of the box, I can only assume, because she recognized her momma smell. It was so sweet. And then after it was empty, she guarded the box from Baxter (who usually gets to take the first squat in all of the other boxes that come into the house). Aren't the cats super cute?!

Alaska Jane Handmade

I am so sorry to have taken so long, but finally, my Etsy shop is open!

Please visit and let me know what you think. I've been reading other people's pages to try and determine policy, shipping, and descriptions, but if you think it could be better or different, I welcome the feedback.

My Etsy page is http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlaskaJaneHandmade.

Now, to get more items posted...here I go!