Totally Slacking lately

I have been such a slacker when it come to the blog lately. I guess that isn't so good for my new years resolution. I also haven't been putting a lot up for sale in my etsy shop. I have been working but behind the scenes mostly. I have had some personal things going on that have kind of taken up some of the extra time I had but then I got let go from my tutoring job so a little more time opened up.

The exciting thing is I have been working with two wonderful artists ( who I will introduce you all to soon) who are working on some embroidery patterns for me to sell as PDF's in a new etsy shop.

I just started last week a swap with people on Flickr so this is always a lot of fun plus I know some of the girls from other swaps and they are all super talented artists.

Here are some of the most recent items I have finished.



A new Maicen girl shirt for me. It has been a bit chilly here lately so she has gotten a lot of wear. I found this pattern for the Happy Creamer somewhere on Flickr and don't remember where. I had bought this adorable tablecloth at a vintage shop that was going out of business. I still might add some cute cups or something

This is from Sublime Stitching and the pattern is from Emily Martin of The Black Apple. I though it was a sheep and people said it was a hedgehog..oops.
I picked this hankie up at the same vintage store and thought the pattern was a little like the fleur de lis so I put a french looking hedgie there. I carry this around so people can see what I make.
Current WIP. Pattern from Aunt Martha's. My mom's friend likes wine so as a thank you to her I am making her a towel.
This pattern is free over at Jacque Davis' flickr I found her adorable FREE patterns last week and whipped up this patter with the cupackes and the one below..
If you want this FREE Pattern go check out Jacque Davis' Flickr. She has a bunch of really cute and did I mention FREE patterns..

My Goals For The Shop in 2009

I would love to figure out what I could do to get my shop to get more sales. I think for 2009 I need to focus on making my shop a better one. I am lucky because I do have a pretty good following outside of etsy. It makes me sad I never get to share the compliments I receive from my outside sales because they have purchased locally. I have some women that order from me all of the time. I think a lot of them are not super comfortable using the computer to purchase items so they go through me personally and not etsy. My mom gets between 4 and 6 items a month from me for gifts. She is my best advertisement. I feel that the economy has a lot of people spending less for everything, including discretionary items, and that hurts my sales too.

I am very worried about the CSPIA and I think that this in turn will effect my shop. I will go back to making gifts for friends and their children and take all of the items out of my shop which means I will have a much smaller inventory. I am going to focus on more unique items. I am working with a friend to open another etsy store to sell patterns which I am super stoked about. I have a couple friends that draw and I think they would translate into great, different patterns.

I am also looking at running more shows. Once again the CSPIA puts a bit of a damper on that because I do not want to get sued for having people that sell items that need to be tested and it limits the vendors I can have at a show. I am hoping some of the people from HHB will join me for the spring show I'd like to have...

On a side note these are some of the item I made this weekend.


from Sublime Stitching, the fab Emily Martin pattern. I picked up a hankie from a vintage store that is closing and I made it for my purse. I love it!

I'm not "lion" shirt for my mom to give as a gift.

A bib for my mom to give as a gift too...