A full blown rose

My husband transplanted the rose bushes a few weeks ago andwe have one large and lovely bloom. Something or someone has been pruning the other bushes in the dead of the night so they have yet to produce, but they are trying!

I have had a sale in my shop!!! My dreams of fame and fortune are coming to fruition!!!!

Ah well, not likely, but I have some items for an update and I am desperately trying to find time to get some more sewing done. One more week of school for me and then some real chunks of time to work.

A blanket for that baby with a flair for the dramatic--check the shop tomorrow for more shots.

Heads up

Rete is giving away a skein of yarn to a commenter this week. "One random winner will receive a skein of Louet Gems in their favorite color." I don't knit but, my husband does and I am plotting how he will make me some lovely socks if I win. Skip on over and sign up.

Etsy shop is open!!

So there it is --------------------------------------------------------------------->

The shop is open and I am waiting to see who gets the first item......

Well, where is everybody?

I kid, I kid.

It seemed to take forever to get it all up and, because I had hit my deadline, I posted unimproved pictures. If you read the descriptions of each item you will see that I got better with each posting. All in all not a bad experience.

I have been dithering about doing something like this for a long time (joined Etsy in 2005(!)). But the counselor at the school my daughter will attend next year talked to us parents about how procrastination is just a way to avoid failing, so I decided to just bite the bullet and jump in.
(Just to mix a few metaphors--ack!!)
Please, everyone who reads this, tell your friends (whom you think might have an interest) to check it out--self promotion is my achilles heel.

I am also interested to know what kinds of things you all buy on Etsy and what you might like to see--looking for more ideas of what to make. I want to stick to the realm of sewing, and thrifted, one of a kind fabrics and trims. Ideas?

Anybody wanna trade?

Ok, so, I have these two lovely batches of wool yarn that I thrifted ages ago. I do not knit or crochet. I think I bought them because I have a loom but since I don't weave either.....

This yellowish, yucky color looks pretty accurate on my computer screen, it is indeed that awful 70's color that is never gonna come back. However, it is wool and could be dyed--a brown could work quite nicely over this. Or, perhaps you just love this color and know just the thing.

Now, since there are only about 4 or 5 of you who read my blog I am hoping you will pass this on to somebody who might be interested in a trade. I would take anything except more yarn: scrap of fabric, a few buttons, a nice bit of paper, spool of thread, beads, pretty much anything. The yellow is 4 skeins, 4 ply, 3 1/2 oz each.

Now this Britania wool is a better color--the small picture is more accurate on my screen. There are 6 skeins, 2 ply, 1 6/10 oz each.

Same deal, trade me anything in the realm of craft of art supplies, nothing highly valuable--just roughly equivalent to a few skeins of a dicey color and probably not enough, yarn.

I was thinking that they would felt nicely.

Jello and greeting cards

Ha! Regina sent me a photo of my cards I sent in the swap. Thank you Regina! Quivering , dietetic jellos are my fave.

Greeting card swap

Here, finally, is the note card swap I did with Regina . I sent in 5 cards, which I failed to document. And I got these 6 lovelies back. Now I need to send them to people. Anybody want some mail?

Several of them have been made with handmade stamps, and that pink one has magnetic pants on it. That would make a good band name -- Magnetic Pants -- No?

This one with yellow flower was done by Regina. They are all so pretty, mine had pictures cut from 60's cookbooks on them. A totally different feel.

Today I get to go to my Paperworks meeting. Such a great group. I think this month we are hearing about the In Over My Head groups. They are people who get together and expand their knowledge in different areas. I am going to join one in the fall. We have heard great lectures from several fabulous artists from all over. Very inspiring. They are mostly women, mostly over 50 and many, many proffesional artists. I feel very young and inexperienced among them but I don't care.

There is also a very large percentage of people who wear that virulent chartreusy, yellow green. I have decided that that color is in the domain of artists, older women, intelligencia, and occasionally thin rich blonde women who wear lots of jewelry. I have a shirt in that color and really like it.

Button Swap Bonanza

Hooray for Sonya!! Wow, what a lovely selection of buttons--I think she must have a much nicer collection than I do because these are the ones she is willing to give away! Here is the line up--I took this shot outside in some crazy rainy weather, so they don't shine quite as much as in person.Here is a subset on some nice polka dotted rayon she included.

More goodies plus a whole 'nother dozen buttons!!

Trims, bracelet, tin.......it is all too much.

Another vingette, there is that cohesiveness that I struggle to attain in my groupings of things.

Thankyou Sonya! Such a fun swap.