Bumble bee heaven

More stuff I was able to get photographed and finished up:



I posted the apron before, but since it went with the theme, I posted it again. All are available at Burst of Happiness, along with this:

Catching up with my life

Everything has been so hectic lately. Work is crazy because we're down so many people. Being a newspaper, we are working 365 days a year, so no guaranteed holidays off. I am pleased to have Christmas Day off this year, but I'm a busy bee working till then.

I had trouble getting to my sewing machine as much as I would have liked, but I sat down a week ago and spent hours cutting, cutting, cutting. Cutting out the fabric is the worst part. I hate it. But it does allow me to be able to sit down and sew a bunch of things quickly.

Here are a few things I've finished. I have several more aprons and bags, but I need to photograph them. I depend on the sun for good lighting, and it's been overcast a lot since Thanksgiving. To top it off, whenever we do get sun, it's been windy and my items try to blow over. This has gotten me a little behind on posting stuff for sale.

New things:

Sewing challenge

I was approached by Albuquerque the Magazine to participate on a prom dress makeover project. Or maybe it's bridesmaid dresses. Or both.
I was given two dresses and asked to turn one into a handbag and the other into an apron.
I think this will be in the February/March edition.

The first dress was a casual Hawaiian print. It wasn't what I expected, and to be honest, I didn't feel very inspired by this fabric. I think it would make a fine men's Hawaiian shirt, but not much else. I wanted to make a bag like this one but much bigger -- like a casual beach tote. I didn't have enough fabric. It's really challenging when you have a garment with seams and slits and zippers and not just a big piece of fabric. In hindsight, I wish I'd considered a yoga mat bag. I don't know that I had enough fabric for that without having weird seams all over the bag, anyway.




The second dress was exactly what I pictured: Big, poofy sleeves and everything. My mom wanted to get in on this project and she had some great ideas. We really utilized everything, including the existing neckline and the rosettes from the sleeves. OK, we did not utilize the puffy sleeves.




I'll post more when the issue publishes. I'm sure their pictures will be much better, and I'm excited to see what other people did with their dresses.

Warm and cozy

Since the weather turned chilly, I have felt like knitting again. I am especially into making rosettes, though I have found that crocheting them is 10 times easier than knitting them. They are cute when attached to scarves or used as brooches on a coat or big sweater. I plan to make lots of them!

This scarf is knitted, with two crocheted rosettes:


This is a fuzzy, cornflower blue rosette brooch:


Available at Burst of Happiness.

9 bits of cuteness

I just finished a big holiday order for my friend Autumn. She picked all the fabrics, styles and details. I had so much fun with it because I really like to make different items every time. It's fun to see how they end up coming out.



Orders available at Burst of Happiness.

Rear view

Fashion Tip:

If you're wearing a longish skirt with boots, and you figure you can get away with really high white knee socks that stick up over your boot tops because your skirt is long, please take note of whether your skirt has a slit. Because, you see, from the back we can all see your ugly white knee socks whenever you take a step. Yes, we all know your dirty secret, and it's awful.

Blech

Among terms that I hate: "Girly-girl"
As in, "I'm such a girly-girl!"

Do you mean you're female and you're feminine? Wow! That's crazy. It needs its own term, definitely.

Merry Christmas to myself

I was given a little mad money, and I splurged on this fabulous handbag I'd had my eye on for a long time. I know, I make handbags. But this is knitted. I know, I knit, too. But not this well. Please explain this to my husband. Then he will understand that I neeeeeeeeed this bag.

I bought it at Bandamy Boutique (Amy, she's based in San Jose. You should go find her. Find her! And buy lots of cute bags in person.)

A few new aprons

Here are my two most recent aprons. The plaid one sold right away.




The pink one I just completed. I LOVE it. It's pink and chocolate, first of all, which is a perfect combination. It's pleated and has little brown strips peeking out of the pleats. It's also reversible and has a little heart on that side.



available at Babycakes Aprons, part of Burst of Happiness.

Duke City Renegades holiday show

The Duke City Renegades art guild had our group show last night, and I was really worried about attendance. For one thing, the weather has been blustery, and New Mexicans aren't used to dreary days. I, for one, tend to want to stay home when it's cloudy, rainy and windy.

Ren Adams spent a lot of time sending out press releases, and she even got a story done on us in the West Side Journal (part of the Albuquerque Journal).

I was pleased with my sales. My mom and I took our aprons, too, and people seemed to love them. We sold a total of four aprons and one bag, which is still the best show I've ever done. After some of the rough ones, I'm very pleased with that turnout!

Here are some pictures of my booth. It was held at an old warehouse that's been converted to art studios.

Come on down, and don't forget your wallet.

I'm part of an Albuquerque, N.M., artist/artisans group called the Duke City Renegades. We're renting out the Factory on Fifth art studios for a group show next Friday, Nov. 30. I wanted to do a post about it, and figured the easiest way for me to do it was to steal the words right off of Ren's blog:


Winter Arts & Crafts Show
presented by the Duke City Renegades Art Guild

Come on by the Factory and get a little holiday shopping time in!

What:

The Duke City Renegades, a local arts & crafts guild, is hosting their first-ever winter art show.

You’ll find original paintings, art boxes, photography, designer purses & bags, crochet handicrafts, vintage-inspired jewelry, assemblage, beaded and hand-forged jewelry, and even recycled fashion clothing–all under one roof! A wide range of prices and items will give you something to talk about!

The show is indoors in the main Factory gallery building.

When:
Friday, November 30th, 2007. 4 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Where:
At the Factory on 5th Art Space (in the main red brick factory building).
1715 5th St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(between Aspen and Haines).

From I-40, take the 6th st. exit (one way, heading south), then make a left on Aspen and a left on 5th St. (one way, heading north). The Factory is on 5th St., right between Aspen and Haines.



Refreshments provided. Free parking.

Proshariffic

As if this cat video wasn't cute enough:



Someone had to go and do this translation to Human:

I told myself I wouldn't sew ...

I was going to NOT sew on my two days off last week, but I got antsy on the second night and whipped a few items up.





I also made another of these, but this one is a bit smaller. The first one came out big in the waist.



It matches the purse above, just in case anybody's into that.

I also made this for me recently, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I don't remember if I posted it yet:




MEANWHILE, the holiday season has been great. I've had a lot of sales in the past week. Plus, I have an order for 9 bags.
Here are a few items that are gone:

The ultimate guilt-tripper

I was trying to sew the other night and Roady would not stay off my chair. This means trying to sew with her either in my lap or squished behind me. I tried getting her her own chair next to mine, but every time I stood up, she'd snag my chair again. I kept tossing her down and telling her "no." Then I found her in this "tent" Mark made her, looking about as pathetic as possible and like she was freezing to death.

Cookin' food, lookin' fancy

Here are my most recent http://www.babycakesaprons.etsy.com. Lacy indeed.

For those little jobs

Sometimes I am sitting around darning socks and such, and this little pincushion ring is very handy:



I bought it from dottyral on etsy.com

Ass kicked by a rodent

Remember this post from a few days ago?
Well, Roady apparently is no longer king of the mountain. She has been deposed by this squirrel. I have never seen a squirrel in my yard before, but this one has taken over "the spot."

New style

This is my latest style. All of my bags are pretty boxy, so I wanted to do something softer and different.

Christmas orders

I've had some Christmas orders keeping me busy, which is great!
Here are a few I finished up over the past few days:



I took Wednesday off so I could sew, sew, sew. Mostly because I'm burned out at work and needed to do something else for a day.

Another girl

It's impossible to have a dress form and not feel it's a person and refer to it as "she" or "her."
I got this used one for modeling our aprons (my real dressmaker's form is very heavy) and taking to shows. It's really just for display and not for dressmaking purposes.