So I finished the hoodie...I tried a new hood design that really wraps around so when its down you get a cool collar effect. Nice and warm too. I put it up on ebay ...

I also added a new pair of pants to my site...

I've been experimenting with block printing a little bit. Here's a great tutorial if anyone is curious....I love her work...Here. For these pants I decided ginkgo, yet again. I really love the shape of the leaves. And I love the idea that ginkgo is said to increase concentration and memory...I could use some of that!

Up next dyeing some fleece! I got this today...Big Fun!!!

French Films and Gratitude

I recently finished an amazing book my best friend got my son for Christmas...

This is an absolutely amazing story and the illustrations are stunning...
It has refers to early french film making by director Georges Melies. He did this beautiful film called The Trip To The Moon....I'm using it as inspiration for my next top....I can't wait to share...

I've been thinking alot about how much I just love my job. I get to stay home with my kids and make stuff and make a little money. I've tried doing "lines" of clothing but I get so bored with it, that it takes away from the thing I love. I know this is the way to streamline and be more efficient but it literally drives me crazy. Jason is always like cut out 10 of such and such and you can whip them out....I've tried and the result always seems less that what I like my end product to be....so my goals are to continue making one-of-a-kind pieces and try to make them cost effective. Its a work in progress.....

Here's some recent work...



Oh I took the plunge and applied to my first festival, Wheatland Music Festival.
Its a juried show so I'm waiting to see if I got in...I'm crossing my fingers...although I may have to reconcile making multiples of things if I want to fill a whole booth!

This blogging thing!

I love blogs...I read them all the time. The whole knitting community is big on blogging so thats usually pretty interesting. What people are doing or working on...I love it...so why is it that I have the hardest time keeping up on my own? I'm going to be better I promise...

To catch up...
This summer was fun. We hung out at home mostly. This was our summer project...

This big beautiful Ash tree in our front yard was being killed by the Emerald Ash Borer. It was hanging precariously over our house. So we had to cut it down...We chipped up all the small stuff for mulch and this is what we did with the bigger pieces....
And thats not nearly all of it...firewood! Yay! So as sad as I was about losing that big beautiful tree, we managed to recycle every bit of it, makes me feel better.








My kiddos both had birthdays so they are now 5 and 8. Big kids.






My little business is still doing well. I was so excited when just last week my mailing list hit 100 members! I've been really loving Etsy lately. I haven't posted anything new there in a while but when i do its always good to me. There's some really amazing artists on there as well. I've started spinning again. I bought these batts from Loop...
Absolutely stunning. I'm deciding what to make out of the yarn I spin....maybe a hat or a scarf to go with the winter coat I'm making myself =)...




I'm trying to blend different fibers without a drum carder or hand cards...just by splitting the rovings...here's some of my latest...

The one on the left is blue face leichester in royal blue, light blue and seafoam green with splices of dark purple bamboo...

On the right is my FAVORITE! Its natural black alpaca with hand-dyed black bamboo with some undyed areas that turned silver. Its so heavy and soooo soft!


In clothing I've been trying some new designs... =). I have a couple new tops made out of hemp jersey that I left the exposed seams from the serger. I love the effect and they turned out really comfortable. The trick is how to make them really unique and not just another jersey top...its a work in progress...
I feel like this blog is so boring...thanks to all who sat through it :). I'll get there...pretty soon I'll be the MASTER BLOGGER!!! Ha, when i remember to write one....
You'll have to excuse my picture placement....I can't seem to get it right!

Mildly Distracted

I have so much sewing to do and I'm sitting here absently staring at my computer eating peanutbutter ice cream. I'm daydreaming about a new spinning wheel and a drum carder. Spinning?! I barely have time to sew and that is my income right now. Oh well, I'll do what I'm supposed to soon enough. I'm normally a very easy-going kinda girl but when I have to get stuff done, I get this rebellious streak going. Like "you can't tell me what to do!". I am making a mental wishlish for when I have some extra money (get stitchin', right?!).
1. Lendrum double treadle spinningwheel with jumbo plying head and bobbins
2. Drum carder, preferably Pat Green or Strauch (um $500 later...)
3. Bernina vintage sewing machine, I'd the Record 830 or that awesome Favorit that was lime green on ebay a while back..
I guess thats all for now...Ok I think I've got the rebellion out of my system. The joys of being home-based self-employed. And only an hour left before mom-taxi is back on duty...

So Super Busy!

I feel like I've been so outta touch lately. I haven't posted anything new to my website in weeks. Its not that I haven't been busy sewing though. I'm just finishing up a wonderful bunch of custom orders. Its so fun to take those. People come up with great ideas and its so fun to see how they end up... my new friend Sarah came up with the idea for this pretty skirt...

Camel color hemp jersey with dark brown accents and just a few dragonflies here and there. I almost couldnt let it go :).

My sewing machine now has all sorts of fun problems but my sweet grandma gave me hers to borrow. Talk about a life saver. Now I'm on the look out for a vintage Bernina..tis the season for gargage sale finds so who knows?!

Oh some more exciting news, my new friends Robyn and Jason have a cute little shop in Bloomington Indiana called Natural Elements. They have decided to start selling some of my clothing! We are both very excited about this. So if you live in the Bloomington area, please stop by and support their little family business! Our local natural food store, Foods for Living, is also carry a line of my tote bags, coin pouches and skirts...Like these...



So thats whats been going on here...oh and I have a new nephew! Cute baby pictures coming soon!

Some things about me....

Alpaca Granny tagged me! Ok now you get to learn 7 things about me....

1. I love sushi, especially the Green Dragon Roll (yummm eel and avocado)
2. the site of blood, or any wounds, makes me pass out (no doctor here!)
3. my husband and i are celebrating our 9 year wedding anniversary at the end of the month
4. I went to school for photography but sewing just keeps calling me back
5. I love tarot cards.
6. I'm a huge fabric snob...Hemp is the only way to go! (although I havent tried bamboo yet)
7. I make my own environmentally friendly soap, laundry powder and most recently automatic dishwashing soap...

Oh the Colors!

I got to dye some fabric today. It has to be one of my favorite thing to do. Not only is the result usually an awesome surprise but often the color combinations and textures are wonderful inspiration for a piece of clothing. Each part of the one piece of fabric are completely different. There may be one tiny part that is definitely texture and color for a moon, for instance.

I'm toying with the idea of doing an elements series. I always seem to end up with a hand-dyed piece that looks like water. Lately I've had a couple that are very jasper-like. Next I have to figure out air and fire...Here's the pieces I did today...


Sometimes I get little troll faces that come through...Like this blue guy above...he's super cute but maybe a little grumpy :)...

I also took pics around the yard today cause it was so nice!!!
My hostas are coming up....

This is my Mama Tree...She's the matriarch of our home...
Back to work now...tomorrow I'm gonna try to put 5 new pieces on the site and put the unsold pieces on ebay...