Sunday, May 18, 2008

Feeling Guilty

So, I realized at the last minute that I had absolutely NOTHING (and I'm not exaggerating) to sell at Johnstock, and therefore, didn't show. I'm very sorry to those of you who were looking for me there yesterday. Hopefully, you found a fabulous handbag concoction from another vendor. You can always check out the selection of Lemonade Bags at the Textile Center gift shop. It's right on University Ave. in Minneapolis near the U of M. Talk about centrally located.

I've been up every morning this week sewing by 6:30 a.m. I'm doing a private sale at the Minneapolis Convention Center on June 3rd. Anything I don't sell there will be added to my sad, neglected Etsy site. I'm committed to keeping my store stocked going forward. This should be easier once my older son goes to kindergarten in the fall and maybe the little one will go to preschool, too.

I'm always in awe of professional crafters. How do they keep up their inventories? How do they find the time to man their table for a full day or two? Selling at craft sales takes real fortitude! The crafters at Johnstock were really keeping it together despite the wild wind.

And while I was in NE Minneapolis yesterday, I checked out the new Crafty Planet store/location. Joy! It's so nice. Scored a couple yards of a new Michael Miller fabric called Zen Blossoms (pictured) for a skirt, or maybe lounge pants, and restocked my Japanese owl fabric stash.

Finally, I was reading about International Quilt Market in Portland, OR this morning on various blogs. Oh, it sounds so fun. I must find a way to get to one of these soon...

Best wishes and happy Spring.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Off to Neverland!



Well, not exactly. We just returned from a trip to Disney World (in Florida, of course). We had way more fun than I ever anticipated, and boy was I pooped out at the end of each day. Highlights were the "block party" parade at Hollywood Studios, the safari ride at Animal Kingdom, all of Epcot, and last but definitely number one were the fireworks at Magic Kingdom on our first night there. The Big Wheel photo comes from our second hotel called Pop Century (a Disney "value" resort). Had to have a photo since I was a Big Wheel junkie as a kid.



Now that we're home, I'm in full sewing mode as I prepare for Johnstock on May 17th & 18th in NE Minneapolis. I'll be sharing a tent/booth with Andrea of Wild Oatz (diapers and other cool kids' stuff). Then I have a private event on June 1st. Very exciting.




Here's a photo of the medium sized bag I just made for a friend. She picked out a lovely Japanese fabric designed by Junko Onishi. Sadly, it's out of print (sob).