two new boxes in the shop

I have put two new boxes in the shop , now didn't these turn out nice?

i'm rather pleased with these two boxes,


 I layered some lace motifs at the bottom of the "birds of a feather box"


the diamond seam treatment turned out nice, the blue beads down the center show off that seem very nicely


 the embroidery on the birds is pleasing it's a pattern I've used before with various degrees of success

 I'm glad it turned out so well here




"the music lesson" turned out well too I was hoping the silkie would show better but no matter where I take a picture of it theres a glare and the picture is washed out, poo!

I wish too that the clock would have been a little more centered  but sometimes placement is tricky when your putting the final touches on.

and in order for the rest of the block to be shown well without cutting off anything vital the clock face got a little smooshed, also Poo!
I could just use the top as a template but where would the fun be in that?
besides I like the look of the embroidery wrapping around the edges and going around corners.

what have I been doing?

well there's a story there.


 A little story.




I've been making purses.

 lots and lots of purses.

I've dubbed them Saddlebags.




 i road tested them on my 17 year old by making her a star wars themed purse.




she could put all her stuff in it

while she bopped around the city for the summer with friends.




 then it turned into a school bag that holds all the stuff that she doesn't want to get smooshed in her backpack.



 so it's been thrown around used as a pillow, sat on, thrown in the wash, dragged on the floor and generally beat up and tortured



 then she thought I would be able to sell them at the annual Christmas bazaar at school. so I set about making a few out of material I already had on hand.


 I made a promise to myself I was not going to buy more fabric for future projects I was never getting to, no matter how amazing the fabric was.


so I had a backlog of fabric to choose from




I sewed and sewed and eventually ended up with 35 fun and unique bags to sell at the bazaar.




I also took some of my cq stuff. I got lots of compliments and questions about CQ which are nice





I didn't sell any thing.






so now I have lots of Christmas presents and new items up in the ETSY store

and a rather cynical view of bazaars.

Finished a pink and blue box

I tried out a couple of new techniques here one was the gathered ric-rac in Alli Aller's  crazy quilting book and folded ribbon roses.  

i have always been a little intimidated by folded ribbon roses and I still am a little. there must be a trick to making them so you don't get that square look.

i lined this one simple with the same pink cotton I used on the outside as the white box looked too stark to leave plain.
so now I have three boxes and two purses to sell in my ETSY store when I get it up and running hopefully by the end of the month. I want to do a little more research on it an get a better banner together.
But I think it's gonna happen.

i'm going to try not to panic or obsess or any of the other silly worry-wort things I usually do when I jump in feet first.

I figure I'll give it 6 months to see how it goes and if it doesn't work out it doesn't work out.

A picture frame

I have finished this picture frame and I love the result but it took so long to finish!















do you have endless debates with yourself?

















over which color red tread would look best here or there and if i'm going to go through that, I'd better go through this.













then there are the distractions of organizing, clearing, separating those beads you just mixed together by accident and oh I need something from the store, it's 4 days into a project that should have taken 2 at most!





So now I have 2 boxes a little purse and a picture frame to put up on my fictitious ETSY site, can you open an Etsy store with only 4 pieces?

then the debate of what to charge for them because you know your never going to get out, what you put into these pieces.

no one would pay that much for a smallish box so what to charge?

then for me final procrastination point to not opening a store for my things,
and it's on my mind because it's that time of year again,
how do I figure out my taxes for it? boo scary!

I think I'll go make more boxes instead!