What's New Wednesday!

I've been neglecting my blog.  My last post was in July.  Whoa!!  Summer was a blur.  A few extra hours working the day job with special projects, my SewHappyDesigns business and vacation and family life kept me pretty busy. Such.is.life.  I like my day job working for a non-profit.  I like sewing for my Sewhappy business.  I like love my family.  Some things need to stand still while the whirl of life goes 'round.  An F5 hurricane is a bit too much whirl.  Well, I haven't really gotten to F5 stage, but close to F3! As I said, I like to be busy.

Busy leads to creativity and ideas that get sparked at 3AM.  Creative is good...sew bring it...bring on the busy!

Here's what's new~~

My latest venture is participating in the winter farmers market....the indoor fall market at the Paddock Arcade, the oldest continuously operating covered shopping mall in the US.   I created the flyer below and the pictures are from my displays.  As you can see, my SewHappy hands make a variety of items, mostly smaller quilted or sewn items, many made from my personal patterns.  I also have the patterns for sale.

I am scheduling other sales venues, just to branch out the SewHappyDesigns name.  One does need to have a plan to when one retires.  After all, I will need to have a fail proof plan for $$ for a future "fabric fix".

Happy Wednesday~

Cindy

AKA SewHappy

 

WIP (work in progress) Wednesday~~ Messy=Creative

Sew you know that old saying "it takes a village".  This is my workspace in it's current state.  I'm not ashamed to show you how messy I get.  I think it may have been worse last week.  I have been sewing inventory for my SewHappyDesigns etsy shop and also a few Christmas presents.  More Christmas presents are in the thinking stage, but have not made it to the sewhappy cave.  Yes, running out of time.

Throw having the flu in the mix for the past few days and you can color me stressed. No it's fine, really.  I do what I can do because I know that all of my "handmade" internet craft friends are experiencing some of the same and that gives me comfort.  I call these wonderful artists, my "handmade" friends, very appropriate!

Putting on my big girl panties until Christmas and then McStevie and I have a week off to relax.  Ahhhhh

2011 was a GREAT year!

Wowza!  This blog has been sew neglected.  If you look at my January 1st post of last year you'll see that I vowed to do a better job of blogging for 2011.  Good intentions, but after my giveaway on my last (October) post, all blogging came to a halt as I concentrated on sewing for the holidays.  That proved to be a good thing! My sales for the holidays were great awesome.

Because it's almost the end of January 2012, I just want to say how wonderful 2011 was and highlight some of the events...

On the family side of life, our grandchidren, Tucker and Tessa were confirmed in the Catholic faith in May.  Parents, Aunt Mandy and gma and gpa enjoyed a little party after the event.

In June, daughter Mandy received her tenure for teaching.  Yay Mandy!!

McStevie turned 60 in April.  We celebrated that in July by taking him to Toronto (on my big winnings from the Preakness horse race)  to a Yankee game.  The whole family went and it was lots of fun.

Also in July, our Godchild Rachel got married and we enjoyed our trip to Connecticut for that wonderful event!

We got our dream kitchen last summer and have been enjoying it's beauty and functionality.

We had our usual August family week in Saratoga renting "the cabin" (our 7th year) and, of course visited the racetrack, having trackside seats this year and getting to meet Smokin Joe Frasier, may he RIP.

We also worked on another room this summer, our office, which is now Steve's "mancave".  We bought a beautiful desk from our favorite furniture shop, Painfull Acres and have a lovely wooden frame futon/sofa that doubles as a bed for extra guests, i.e. grandchildren.  The room still needs just the right wall decorations, so before and after pics still to come.

In September I did a daring thing.  I got my first and only tattoo.  It was on my bucket list for a long time.  Just a little spool of thread on my ankle..actually, it's my icanquilt website logo.  Since I told no one in my family, now that the shock has worn off, I think they think it's pretty neat cool.

On the business side of things, I released 2 new patterns in 2011,  IcanQuilt it Curvy Reversible table runner and IcanQuilt Reversible Spidy Mat.  Sales have been good for both patterns.

Last summer I acquired a new consignment shop in Potsdam, Maplerun Emporium.  I sell mostly kitchen items there and love working with Mary Hilton.  I still have items at Painfull Acres on consignment and love working with Mary Dufresne there.  Both Mary's are just the best!    Both shops are in bad need of new stock from me.  I am working toward that goal as I sold most stock this last holiday season.

Speaking of holiday season, my Artfire online store SewHappyDesigns had wonderful year end sales. This month I re-opened my Etsy SewHappyDesigns shop and have begun stocking it.  I received my first sale since opening last week.  Yay!  Thank you to everyone who has bought my IcanQuilt patterns, items from consignment shops and online shops.  I have filled many custom orders this year and I love the challenge, thank you to those customers who have given me the opportunity to make something special for them.

2011 sure was a great year and I am truly blessed!  Let's hope we all have a wonderful 2012!

Many blessings to you!

Time for a Giveaway!!

OMG it has been FOREVER since I did a give away!  I need to get that straightend out PRONTO.

See this lovely little Spidy Mat?? (It's a shame the picture doesn't show how those little blue and orange crystals AND the clear center one sparkle in the light.)  Those cute eyes light up in the dark and the thread that is top-stitched around the outside is GLOW IN THE DARK thread.  WOWZA this was a fun pattern to create.  Barring catastrophes the IcanQuilt Reversible Spidy Mat pattern should be out shortly.   I have had it in the works since last year at this time and have created a bunch of these in all kinds of spidy fabrics...they aren't hard to find this time of year.  The great part is that you can put something else on the reverse side so that when Halloween is over you can use it through the fall if you want. 

Click on the pic to enlarge

Click on the Pic to enlarge for detail

This one has the (optional) center piece that was fun from another "spidy" fabric and reverses to an orange fall leaf fabric.  I like to put a candy dish on mine through the month of October and then my trick or treat candy basket on it the night the goolies and goblin "littles" come out.

OK sew...this is how you enter to win this little mat:
You get 1 entry for leaving a comment on my blog.
You get 1 entry for following my blog.
You get 1 entry for going to my IcanQuilt website and liking my SewHappyDesigns on FB
You get 1 entry for going to my IcanQuilt website and liking my IcanQuilt Company on FB (my pattern Co.)
You get 1 entry for checking out my SewHappyDesigns Artfire shop and leaving which item is your favorite in your comment. 
You get 1 entry for leaving in your comment a suggestion of an item you would like to see me make and list in my Artfire shop.  (I make many items that I don't list there, so this entry will be very helpful to me.)

Now if you already follow my blog or are a SewHappyDesigns or IcanQuilt Company fan, be sure you let me know so that I will count that entry.

I will be drawing the winner on September 23rd and you will receive it the last week of September.  Plenty of time for your Halloween fun!

Good Luck and Thank You for supporting handmade!!!

Blessings~
Cindy

I love teachers!

I love teachers!

Many of my family members (daughter, daughter-in-law, nieces, and more) are teachers.

I love to sew things just for teachers and am always on the lookout for “teacher fabrics”.  Here are some of the fabrics I currently have in my stock.  Click on the picture for a larger view.

Below are a few of the items I have made for teachers thus far.  I have other ideas for projects and would love any input you may have, especially if you are a teacher, so don’t hesitate to give me a comment on your idea.  Also, I love to do custom orders, so if there is something I can make for you, please use my contact form!

 

towel/potholder sets

(plastic bag holder)

You’ll find these in my Sewhappydesigns artfire shop. Link here.

Fabric sometimes whispers to me...

But yesterday these pretties literally shouted at me.

I walked by them once and felt that “hairy eye ball”. You know how that goes, the little hairs on the back of your neck stick up and you start to get a little flushed, like someone just told you the back of your skirt was all bunched up in your panties. I gave a glance in their direction. Then, quite loudly there was a plea…come on over, touch me, have your way with me…you know you want to! Wowza! I was there faster than a bug hits a windshield. I’m sew easily seduced by fabric.

We are at the midpoint of our long winters here in northern NY and this lovely cotton eye candy will keep me company while the snow falls softly and I’m entertained by my favorite pair of cardinals, (Fred and Ethel) at the feeder. After these lovelies come out of the washer and dryer I’ll be in the cave getting some spokes cut for some sweet spring candle mats. Ahh...it's what makes me sewhappy! Hope you are sew happy sewing today too!

FYI~

The little prints are from the Wild Rose, by Marti Mitchell collection from Maywood Studios.

The green and rose pink that “read solid” are from Perennials by Eleanor Burns collection from Benartex Inc.

The lighter green roses print is a fat quarter that didn’t have writing on the salvage of the piece I bought.

~Reorganizing Project~ Inside and Outside of the Sewing Cave

Sew I've been talking about my fabric and supplies reorganization project since the beginning of December when I got my new storage cabinets for my birthday. We got them half price at Lowes at Thanksgiving time. We've got a ranch style house with a full basement. In the basement is a separate room ("cave") that's used for my sewing and teaching quilting. It's a wonderful room with great lighting and lots of room to spread out. See before pics of the cave below (when I was crazy with sewing gifts for Christmas) and the after pics when Christmas was over and I was able to get it back in order. You can click on the picture for more of a close-up.

What a mess!



Now doesn't this look better?




Here are some of the lovely things that surround me when I sew...You will see that many of my lovelies were given or made for me by my wonderful friend Pat. We have many things in common...one of the major ones is our love of sewing and quilting.











The outside (one whole side) of the basement is devoted to SewHappyDesigns. The classroom/sewing room is a room by itself. Outside of that room the whole side of the basement is dedicated to my fabric/supplies storage and cutting area, and other tables for creating.

The cupboards sat around until after Christmas because there was just too much to do with the making of many of my Christmas gifts this year. We had a week off after Christmas so McStevie put the cupboards together (exclaiming, "wow, these really fit together well"....thank you Lowe's and Black and Decker) and my part of the organizing project began. Fabrics were brought out from several large clear plastic boxes and sorted, some by color, some by theme. One large container now has several pieces to donate to a worthy cause. There were stray patterns, tons of applique patterns I often use, books and more that had to be sorted so that I could find them more easily. Most of them now have a home in the old file cabinets that were partially empty at the end of the room. Clippings and appliques and misc. all have a home listed alphabetically, much easier to find. (Now I just have to keep it that way!) I still have a few things in files in another room upstairs that needs to be incorporated, but saving that for another day.

These are the BEFORE pics of this area....one cupboard is together, just hangin out in the mess.














And here is the AFTER. This picture is taken from the bottom of the stairs...at the door of my "sewing cave".




















So, with more moving help from McStevie, (my hero)...viola....the rest of the outside of the cave looks great...awesome even.

Keep in mind this is an unfinished basement, so it isn't super pretty cosmetically.

Can you weave barefoot?

well...I can't weave with a shoe on OR off....

Our friends Bill and Miki from Potsdam, NY came for a visit this weekend. Miki and I were discussing my etsy and artfire shops at the computer. She showed me the shop of a weave artist friend (of hers) called Barefootweaver.

Turns out Kait is also from northern NY, further north than me, but closer to the area where I grew up. I am the proverbial country gal.

Her weaving is very impressive. I invite you to have a look at some of her eye candy.

Visit her blog here and see more of her work in progress.

~~I'm Featured~~ WOOTS!!

I am sewhappy to report that I have been featured on Tami Murray Cline's (AKA TMCPhoto) blog called TMCPhoto-peanutbutterpie .

THANK YOU TAMI!!!

It is always sew wonderful how crafters meet by chance. I made a little hanger for fun one day after chatting up a storm in an artfire chatroom about tiaras. I put it on my blog as a give-away and Tami of TMCPhoto won the little gem! Read about that here:

http://sewhappydesigns.blogspot.com/2009/06/and-winner-is.html

I checked out Tami's blog and saw that she was on a wonderful family vacation at the time, sew I emailed her a little note and told her to let me know when she was back and I would get her tiara in the mail. She emailed me when she got back and asked if she could do a feature on me. Heck yes! You need to check out this very talented gal from Canada (not one, but TWO etsy shops) and enjoy her writing and the adventures of her "little peanut" on her blog.

Tami's Etsy shops:

See her awesome greeting cards at: PeanutButterPie

See her awesome photography at: TMCPhoto

Keep track of what she's up to at twitter.com/PeanutButterPieFollow and Facebook at www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Tami-Murray-Cline/19882647549?ref=ts

And the winner is~~~

TMC Photo

Congrats Tami!! You are CROWNED!!
Here is her winning post...

TMCPhoto said...
I'm not the tiara kind of gal although I did think I was way back when I was 9 (who didn't want to be a princess when they were that age?) granted I wanted to be an elf princess and be a part of the fellowship of the ring with my own bow and arrows but I digress. I know someone who would adore that shelf hanger, she rarely if ever takes off her tiara.

Take a look at her etsy shops:
TMCPhoto
PeanutButterPie

~Tiara Giveaway Contest~

OK, there was much talk of tiaras one day with my pals in chat, so a few weeks back I got creative and came up with a cute little tiara shelf hanger. It says "if the tiara fits, wear it". I added a little bling...and...snap! Click on the pic for a close-up of the wording done with my machine's alphabet feature.
Won't it be fun to hang in your craft area to remind everyone who wears the tiara in the family?

This is all you have to do to enter...easy peasy....

1)Just make a comment on my blog for one entry.
2)You can get 3 extra entries if you make a comment that you have posted the tiara pic with "Sewhappy's Tiara Giveawy Contest" on YOUR blog w/link to MINE.

The contest will end on MAY 31 and the WINNER will be posted on my blog on June 1st.

It's gonna be sew fun to see who gets CROWNED!!

~Pay it forward~ with the Blockhead Radio Charity Sampler Box

These are trying times. I have always said that no matter what you are going through or what struggles you have there is always someone that is going through worse. Sometimes I pinch myself that I am blessed in many ways. Yes, I have had many a challenge over the years, but I have always had the strength to persevere. I heard somewhere that “everyone has a story, don’t judge until you have heard it.”

Giving back or the newer phrase “paying it forward” is something that many of us strive to do. Whether it’s helping your local community or going more global, every dollar combined with more dollars can add up quickly.

As an artist, I am thrilled to be able to pay it forward with the new BHR charity sampler box. This gives me the chance to give back to artists that are less fortunate than I am. It’s a simple thing, really. I have a wonderful stash of fabric that I have been fortunate enough to collect over a few years. It sits there and begs to be made into something lovely. All it requires is a little bit of thought and time on my part to come up with something that will work for the BHR sampler box. I encourage all of you to read more about this awesome cause and then decide what you, as a crafter, could put together for this wonderful cause. Even if you can only submit one or two items….remember…. it all adds up.

I decided to make drink coasters in sets of 4 for the sampler box. They were made with lots of love and from the heart. Here are my first 6 sets going out in the mail to our BHR charity sampler box co-coordinator, the awesome Lily Wrey (whom I lovingly call sweetlips) aka, TulipsTreasureBox.

Please remember that one day it may be you (God forbid), that has a tragedy and may need a little bit of help. As Blockhead Radio’s biggest fan, I thank you in advance. I am sew proud to be a member of this artisan community. A community that is bigger than any corporation and where love is widespread.

Visit the Blockhead Radio Charity Sampler Box's website.

Many Hugs,
Cindy
aka SewHappyDesigns

Who Loves Ya Baby?? ~~Just a tip or two~~

As a quilt teacher, I tell my students that the most important thing you can do for successful sewing is to take care of your machine! Make sure you get it in for service at minimum of every 18 months, and that’s only if you aren’t having any problems with it. Your dealer takes it all apart and makes sure it is cleaned and oiled in the proper places. I don’t have a degree in sewing machine maintenance, sew I leave that to the experts.

In relation to that - clean your feed dog area – (dig out your owner’s manual because it will show you the steps) take out your bobbin case and really get in there with that little lint brush that came with your machine. I do this about every 10-12 hours of sewing. Lint from your fabric and threads builds up around the bobbin case and your machine will do all kinds of crazy things if you don’t clean this area on a regular basis. HELPFUL TIP: I also use q-tips to do this, the end of the q-tip is a natural lint magnet, plus it can get down deeper in the crevices of that area.

In addition - change your needle – put a new needle in your machine about every 10-12 hours of sewing, unless you are sewing with paper (paper-piecing). You need a good sharp needle when doing topstitching or machine quilting. I sharp needle gives you even stitching.

There you have it, just a few simple rules to follow for successful sewing! Along those lines, I am proud to show you some of my attention to detail sewing….hope you enjoy these pics…

My version of "Turtle Mania"

My latest quilt creation, "Turtle Mania". I made this quilt for my co-worker, Adrienne. I was pleased with how it came out. The quilt is done first by machine appliqueing the turtles on to each square, putting all the pieces together, adding the borders and then quilting the quilt by machine. The binding on the outside comes last and is sewn on by hand. I have the turtle appliques for sale in my SewHappyDesigns etsy shop, sew you can decorate with turtles too!