Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Berries, teeth, diapers, kitten, skirts

The strawberries are here! I'm not talking about the giant tasteless supermarket variety of berries that are flown in from 3,000 miles away (picked last week). I'm talking about the tiny, dark, super sweet kind that were picked early in the morning and brought to the farmer's market. The real kind:


Also really good right now is the Superbuzzy fabric that arrived earlier after I stalked their site for days waiting for the new stock. Everything I got is so lovely that I can barely stand to part with it, but I have big plans for sales. Harlan likes it so much he won't even let me photograph it:


The only thing I need to actually do is make everything. Other than that I have to sell it. Both concepts are simple in nature, but Harlan was up every hour or so for the last three nights moaning and groaning with a fever, and now I'm exhausted. The daytimes are not much better and the culprit appears to be some new teeth making their way in. I spent Tuesday evening on the sewing machine zig-zagging away on the microterry diaper inserts that I needed to make rectangular in shape so that they would fit into the G-diaper linings. Did I mention the diaper system I ended up finding? A woman from the neighborhood whom I know told me about her ingenious cloth diapering system that does not use any horrid bulky pre folds. She puts terrycloth diaper inserts or doublers into the linings of her G-diaper covers. She also wraps a bio-degradable liner around the inserts so that if poop should occur the only labor involved on her part is sliding the liner into the toilet. This system is still a bit bulkier than disposables, but I do prefer it to shelling out money and going to Target every week for disposables. Also, it's the strangest thing, but there is no odor from the diaper can with the cloth diapers.

Last weekend we went to a wonderful birthday party for one year old Hayden. I made this Japanese kitty for her and I hope she doesn't mind the lopsided eyes. I want to enlarge the pattern and make some more to sell. On the business front I have been working on some embroideries (like the cowgirl kitty in the previous post) to make into small quilted wall hangings or pillows. I am still not sure which way to go with this because I don't have an idea of what people might rather buy. I do know that my appliques are on hold right now because I am just enjoying making small quantities of items that I can work on when I feel like it. It's not that the appliques are not fun to make, but I am easily sidetracked and due to feeling generally overwhelmed these days I am reluctant to invest time in larger plans.

I got this book from Amazon and I can't believe it took me this long to find it. The book explains how to custom make any basic skirt pattern for your specific measurements. There is a super easy to understand formula and diagram for how to create the pattern on paper or directly on fabric. Even someone who has never sewn on a machine before could figure out to make their own skirts. I'm afraid I may be even more sidetracked than usual when it comes to craftiness...

8 comments:

Green Kitchen said...

I wish I had time to leave more comments. I love reading your blog. Thanks for writing it. I have the Sew What book, too, and love it.

The Mock Duck said...

Thanks for the tip about the book: I'm trying to find a simple skirt pattern for myself. I've got it on pre-order(not published in UK yet).

{kimmymade} said...

Hayden LOVES her kitty, as do I. Thank you again, so much! David's stepmom Janet, who does lots of embroidery and applique with wall hangings, was equally enamored. I even said to David that you should sell these! I really did!

I know that I'd personally buy the cowgirl kitty any which way that I could get my hands on her, but would pick a pillow if I had a choice between the two.

dottie angel said...

well, i just came on over to say hi and thankyou for letting me know i am not the only nutty one who goes to bed with her japanese craft books by her side...

Anastasia said...

the strawberries look really good - its not about the size is it? most are huge but tasteless!
that book looks interesting...Ive made skirts before and I love love Aline skirts!
hope your little one is feeling better!!!

Anonymous said...

we were eating lots of yummy strawberries (and shortcakes and whipped cream) before we left california. delish!

it's hard to figure out what one should sell. i think that not only should you think about what other might want to buy, but also what you can make that 1. you WANT to make multiples of and 2. what makes financial sense for you to make multiples of. the embroideries in particular look like a lot of work - make sure you can make enough money to make it worth it!

Elliette Devine said...

you know. (and this is sad) but i just now realized that i am like, 5 blocks away from the PPark farmers market. i had been hoping the Q to union square on the weekends, but the Pros.Park has pretty good stuff too, and it's only a 5min walk away.

I want to buy one of your animals. They are so cute! I love the kitty with the lopsided eyes. Make sure that if you make me one, it too has lopsided eyes, in that that gives them more character!!! :-D

the fabled needle (jen) said...

adorable, i love how its eyes are askew. :)