Saturday Bloggers Shopping Spree 2

Another Saturday rolls around and it's time again for the Saturday Bloggers Shopping Spree hosted by Quilts Galore and More (see button on sidebar left). This Friday night and all weekend to midnight Sunday Fab 28 everything in my shop is 20% off! Such a deal! Take 20% off any piece in my spring collection! Take 20% of one of my gorgeous bedspreads! And/or take 20% off a comforter! And please look at the participating shops by clicking on the Saturday Bloggers button to see more great shops and deals.

Meanwhile, look at what I'm making now for spring! I have these lovely golden silks I'm making into a pillow - or maybe two. This is the fabric:




I want to do another piecing piece. I cut two 6" squares of each fabric, and am log-cabining them in opposite fabrics. The solid gold silk is bordered with the patterned silk, and the patterned silk is bordered by the solid gold:















Iron, iron iron:




The first round is done. The next round will be the opposite; the solid will border the pattern and the pattern will border the solid. I'm thinking these will be the front and back of one pillow, or maybe I'll use another silk for the backs of two separate pillows. Hmmm...we shall see....

THE FRONT PAGE

I came THIS CLOSE to the front page of etsy. I received an email from craftcult telling me my black and white Laura Ashley toile tablecloth was chosen as an alternate for their black and white theme. Heck. But then again, at least etsy is now aware of me, and perhaps maybe one of these days, it will happen!




Meanwhile, I keep sewing. I am working on my spring collection and listed this the other day:






This is a gorgeous Lee Jofa handprinted cloth called "Aylesbury Print" from their Archival Collection, and is now discontinued. This is the only piece of it I have (sigh). I spent good time making this, and I am very happy with it.

Rummaging through my goods that have been tucked away I have found more springtime fabrics that I will make something from soon. Not sure what yet, the pieces are only 24" square. Maybe pillows?

My Website

In my never-ending quest to increase my exposure, traffic and ultimately sales, I have been joining and networking all over the place. I now have a website, http://customdesignsbynancy.com! Since I have become so much more technologically adept by learning how to blog, I was able to set my website up on Vistaprint with very little trouble. I just wish I could edit more, change fonts, etc. I'm not ready to spend the extra $$$ to gussy the site up just yet. Let's see how much traffic it generates, and how well my sales are. Need the do re mi before I can sing any louder!

I have also joined indiepublic and a few groups there. This is the photo I am using for my avatar:





My grandmother painted this of me when I was a teenager. I have another painting of me as a baby which is charming, too. She was a tough New Englander, ferociously Democratic, and is missed. I loved her dearly. She encouraged me to be artistic and express my creativity. I am who I am in large part because of her influence.

MONDAY MONDAY

Another Monday...what to do? Think I'll share some personal things...




This is a phalanopsis orchid, widely cultivated and sold in the US. Most people throw them out after they bloom, because, let's face it, it's not a pretty plant. It's a pretty flower, and when the flower is gone they don't want the ugly plant hanging around for a year or so until it blooms again. So little patience, so little tolerance. A woman I know gave me this after the last time it bloomed, when she didn't know how to take care of it. "Easiest thing in the world", I said. "Water when it is dry, and let it have some sun." Anyway, she let me have it, and it has bloomed twice since then.

Just saying...

Saturday Bloggers Shopping Spree

It's time for another Saturday Bloggers Shopping Spree! This Saturday and Sunday only Feb 20 and Feb 21 I am offering 20% off any item in my shop. Please write like "20% off" or "Saturday Blog Shop" in notes to seller and I will refund the difference. Some of my newest items are just in time for spring:

This is the Asian Music Tablerunner. It measures 52" x 11 1/2", backed with silk:





Let the sunshine into your house! Spring is coming, yes it is! Yellow toile "Lovers" in yellow:





Verstatile tablerunner: spring on one side, fall on the other. Just turn it over when the seasons change:




And this is just cheerful. You can't help but smile every time you see it:





And be sure to click on the Saturday Blog link on my sidebar to connect to other bloggers offering more great deals. Happy shopping!

POTHOLDERS AND TRIVETS

This is my (belated) Saturday bloggers post for Saturday bloggers in Unique Women in Business. If you are a member of UWIB and wish to purchase anything from my shop, please add "UWIB" in your message to seller, and I will give you 10% off your paypal invoice. Thank you, all Saturday Bloggers! And please follow the link to Saturday Bloggers on the left to see more great shops, and follow some other terrific blogs.

Hey hey I sold all my large potholders! Yippee for me! Unfortunately, there was some confusion over which potholders my customers wanted, and how many they thought they had purchased. It all worked out in the end, but now I will list them differently. Instead of "assorted large potholders", I will list each pattern/color separately, to be sure my customers get exactly what they want. Now to make more!

The blue and yellow Laura Ashley toile is the most popular, so I decided to make them first, but I did cut out and start sewing ten new large size potholders/trivets at the same time. I find it faster and more efficient to think production line when creating many of the same item. First, cutting and sewing:
















Then, snipping corners and turning inside out:






The trick to a good product is constantly ironing, every single step. This allows for quality control too, snipping threads and resewing seams that don't meet inspection:




Finally finishing, which means sewing the last seam and quilting concentric rectangles.





Hours later, I finished four blue and yellow Laura Ashleys first, so I could post them right away:





And now I have to finish the blue and white Laura Ashleys. I did two in blue and white. These pictures show the two sides of the two pieces, and a closeup of one:



























And the blue and white Winterthur Museum toile. I did four of these. I really like the crisp fabric and sharp image, the dark blue print. Again, I show the two sides of the four pieces, and a closeup of one of them:






I will be finishing these and listing them as separate items on my etsy store as Blue and White Laura Ashley Large Potholders/Trivets and Blue and White Winterthur Museum Large Potholders/Trivets. Please look for them coming soon!

DECISIONS, DECISIONS...

Believe it or not, I am running low on toile fabrics! It seemed I had a never-ending supply of Laura Ashley in lots of colors, but after so many tablecloths, placemats, potholders and aprons, the stash is becoming depleted. And I wanted to work on something different for a while. What to do? Dig into my other stashes of course! I have some lovely floral and tropical prints on a kind of polished soft cotton that I wasn't sure what to do with. Decisions, decisions...

This is my tropical stash:










And I call this my flora and fauna stash:





Once upon a time I made an apron for a friend from one of the tropical patterns for his wife. It turned out well, and she was happy with it. I'm thinking of making the black palm fronds into an apron, very bold, almost masculine. A man could wear it and not feel "feminized" wearing a girly apron. Recently I made tablerunners from some of the flora and fauna, and I think they're very pretty:




You can find them on my etsy store items red and yellow floral tablerunner and the spring and fall tablerunner. I should say the red and yellow tablerunner is not this polished cotton, but a large weave cotton poly blend. However, it is not toile and is part of my new collection of florae and faunae. I did make a comforter using the flora polished cotton and another gorgeous blue flower print, but I'm not happy with my stitching and have not put it up for sale. You know how sometimes the material just won't cooperate, maybe you're tired or distracted and no matter how much you work on a piece it isn't up to your quality standards? I had that problem with this piece - I am not happy with my quilting, and after working on it for HOURS I put it away.




I'm not sure what kind of blue flowers those are - hollyhocks? They look so familiar, but it's been a long time since I had a garden. It's awfully pretty fabric though, and now since I put it away last week, maybe I can take out the parts I don't like and re-quilt it, and put it up for sale. It will be a pretty little lap comforter or baby quilt - put it on the floor for your baby to crawl around and play on. All this material is soil and stain resistant, machine wash and dry. I should also say they are all Kravet Inc. exclusive patterns, available only through an interior designer. Kravet sells to the trade only and is a recognized leader in the industry, so buying from my shop may be the best way to have these patterns in your home.

Decisions, decisions...shall I make more comforters? More aprons? Or something completely different? Stay tuned and watch my store for new listings!