yurtcraft

Bad Blogger :(

2011-11-22T14:21:00.001-08:00

Boy have I fallen down on the job with this whole blog thing! I am a terrible blogger because I never think what I have to say is interesting so I just don't say anything.

Sadly, I've had to pull all the cool Asian fabrics with gold paint on them from Flickr, I've had a couple customers inform me that they don't do well with extended soaking. The gold trim dissolves and leaves holes in the fabric :(. So, what I have left of that fabric will be used to make some draw string storage or carry bags since regular washing seems to be OK for those fabrics.

I think I am finally to the point where I can stop tinkering with the stitching on my pads. I've decided to stay with the "classic" yurtcraft wavy top-stitch and instead of diamonds in the center of the pad, I'll put tiny diamonds on the right wing, like this:

Now my only issue is that the shape be perfectly symmetrical, I'm still working on that.

This liner could be yours :)WINNER is Sandra

2011-10-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Random.org has chosen #3 which happens to be Sandra"Sandra said... And here's my share :) https://www.facebook.com/SandraPopeMiles" Sandra please send me your mailing address at yurtcraft (at) yahoo (dot) com so I can get that sent off :)

All you have to do is comment here. If you want to enter more than once just share the love anywhere you can and come back with a link in another comment. The drawing closes next Monday(Oct 17) so that the winner can get their prize before Halloween. By the way it's a 9.25" liner/light pad.

After a week of fighting with my sewing machine I finally gave in and took it to the shop for a cleaning. While I was there I bought this :)

Isn't she pretty? When the other machine gets done having her innards cleaned and oiled she will be going on eBay to help offset the $ I shelled out for this baby. Off to play on her some more. Hope you are having as much fun today as I am! :)

It's back

2011-09-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am always drawn back to using the wavy stitch, there's just something about it that completes a yurtcraft pad. I was going to cut it out because I am in the market for a new machine but I just can't let it go. So unless my new machine just absolutely can't do it the stitch will be here :)

30% off until Midnight on the 30th :)

2011-09-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

Use the code SEP30 to get 30% off of merchandise at yurtcraft . The code will be good until midnight(Texas time) on the 30th. I am 23 sales from 1700, woo hoo! The person who purchases #1700 will get free shipping and a surprise! Thanks so much for all your support, I have really enjoyed sewing for you ladies over the last three(nearly four) years!

September Pad Give Away #8, Mas is the winner

2011-09-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

The random integer generator chose #8, which happens to be Mas. Mas please send your mailing info to yurtcraft (at) yahoo (dot) com so I can get this shipped off to you. Congratulations!

Normally I give away small pads or liners but I decided to break tradition and offer up one of my 12.5" light pads/panty liners.

Because sometimes you want more coverage but not necessarily a heavier pad. This is the answer. Great for light days or night, cup backup or stress incontinence. The core is one layer of bamboo flannel and one layer of bamboo french terry. The back is WindPro polyester fleece. The fabric is purple with tiny white dots on it, it's from the Hoopla line by Moda.

I'm going to run this for a week, so Sep 21 is the magical day that I plug the numbers into the Random Integer Generator to let it pick the winner. And as I've been doing you can get more entries by sharing this post on your blog or facebook or twitter or what ever social media you use and coming back here to give me a link to it. Comments are moderated so as soon as I read them they will be active, duplicates will be deleted.

Streamlining

2011-09-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've figured a way to streamline how I make cores AND save fabric. I'm pretty excited about this because it means I can get more pads per yard of bamboo with virtually NO waste.

I've also reset my shipping for Malaysia. The "lost" order was at customs for over a month so the lady finally got her items. I think the problem is with large orders because orders of only a few pads always seem to make it without problems. If you order from Malaysia and decide you want Registered Mail it is $11.50 extra.

Today I am busy serging cores so I can restock my CPS shop and add to Etsy . As always I combine shipping between the two stores and refund the overage. Keep an eye out for new items in the next few days. :)

Policy Changes at yurtcraft :)

2011-08-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

I am going to start taking checks, but I won't ship anything until my bank gives me the OK on whether the check cleared or not. I know not everyone has or wants a PayPal account and I can deposit checks to my bank without leaving my home so I figured I'd try it out for a while and see how it goes. I have also decided to offer discounts for custom bulk orders, orders of 10-19 pads will get 10% off and orders of 20 or more pads will get 15% off

I recently read two books by Francine Jay "Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter, and Simplify" and "The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life" . They are very inspiring. I've been to just about every thrift store in town with a Jeep-load of 'clutter', it's been very cathartic. I am still downsizing and decluttering since I am not to the point I want to be just yet. I can't even imagine how much stuff we would have if we didn't move every couple of years. Today I down-sized my sewing supplies again and I'm feeling much better about the space. Having a lot of stuff distracts me and makes it harder for me to work. I am looking forward to the day when I get the space 'perfect' so I can sew without distraction.

Well, I am off to work on a project for myself. Maybe I will post some pictures when I am done. I don't sew for myself nearly enough so I am looking forward to the "me" time.

Hope you all have a great week!

I'm still here!

2011-08-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been almost two months since my last post, yikes! Up until two weeks ago we had air conditioner problems that made me not want to do ANYTHING. We just got a new system so me and my electric bill are pretty happy campers. I don't know how many of you have heard about our record triple digit temperatures this summer in Texas but I can tell you it's NOT fun. We have had triple digit temps since the beginning of June and only a light sprinkling of rain a couple of weeks ago.

But there have been good things going on, too. My outside the home employer The Enchanted Quilt got in some beautiful modern type fabrics that I had to bring home with me. I added some items to the store last week from these and they were promptly purchased. Thank you ladies for your support. I've still got a fair amount of these fabrics so custom orders are always welcome. Right now there is a coupon code for http://yurtcraft.etsy.com for 10% off, it's AUGUST and runs until the end of the month, everything at http://yurtcraft.clothpadshop.com is already marked down 10%.

I've been doing a lot of fun sewing at work. I love that I get to make quilts and try things I haven't done before as my job. Seems almost sinful to take money for doing something I love so much. If you check out the blog tab at The Enchanted Quilt's website you can see the really cool Twister quilt I made for a shop sample. It was so much fun and crazy easy to do because some genius quilter developed a template so that all you have to sew is straight lines and cut squares, there are no strange angles involved in making it.

We celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary last Friday. In honor of our commitment and because my wedding ring was driving me crazy(I have a gold allergy) we did this He got one just like it. I realized that this year I have been married exactly half my life, that was kind of a wild thought. I can honestly say that these past 22 years have been the best of my life and I love that man more every day. I'm looking forward to many more years with him!

I hope y'all are having a cooler summer than I am and all staying safe!

And the winner is.....

2011-06-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

number 27, which happens to be complaisant....congratulations!

June Drawing

2011-06-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to have air conditioning again after nearly a week without it that I've decided to do a drawing in June after all. I didn't think I was going to have time to get something made but today I MADE time. This will be the first give away with WindPro as the backing, YAY!

This ridiculously cute "Peace Van" liner is my standard 7" liner with a cotton and bamboo core. This drawing is going to be a bit different. You will have a chance for multiple entries. The winner will still be chosen by the Random Integer Generator but with extra chances to get your name in you have a better chance that you will be picked. Before I go over the rules I need to emphasize that I NEED some way to contact you if you are the winner. I never thought there would be such an issue with finding the winner but for the last 2 drawings I've done I've had to pick new winners because I had no contact for the first winner and she never checked back in to see if she did win :(. So please, please, please make sure I can find you!

Now, on to the rules. You can get an entry for telling us your favorite size liner. Do you like the itty bitty 6" liner or do you want a monster 12.5" liner or something in between? Next you can get entries for spreading the word about this drawing all over the internet. After you spread the word come back here and leave another comment with the link so I can go check it out. You can do that as many different places as you can find to spread it. Your blog, Facebook, Twitter where ever you can!

As always comments are moderated and I will delete duplicates. I work at The Enchanted Quilt for the next 2 days so comments won't show up until I get a chance to look at them in the evening sometime. If you don't see yours right away don't sweat it, it will be there after I've read it. I'm going to leave this open until June 30, that's when you'll need to check back if you didn't leave me contact info.

All right ladies, let's spread some cloth love!

What I love about WindPro

2011-05-22T13:03:00.001-07:00

This is looking down on a HUGE drop of water that I poured onto some WindPro fleece, this is probably about a tablespoon of water.
Looking from a slight angle.

Looking at it from the side.

This is the reason I switched to WindPro, when I was experimenting it always shed water, which means when fluids hit the WindPro they will be forced back into the core material to be absorbed.

Facebook NoNo's

2011-05-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Because I was a bad girl and didn't read ALL of the terms of service I inadvertantly broke some Facebook rules when I had the 100 LIKES contest. Someone was kind enough to alert me and link me to the info before I did anything else to get kicked off Facebook.

So in the future I will do my drawings here like I've always done in the past. Legally I can't tell you on Facebook which post will be for a drawing, I can just link to my blog posts. No worries I don't post a lot so your Facebook page won't be filled with yurtcraft blog post alerts. Also, I NEVER EVER send spam e-mails or sell or give away any information I get from customers or winners of my drawings. The only problem I've had in the past by not requiring any personal info is that ladies have not checked back to see if they were the winner or not and I've had to choose a new winner because I could not contact the original winner. So, if you enter and there's no contact info for you please check back on the drawing date to see if you need to send me your mailing info. I do not keep mailing info, once the package is posted I delete the e-mail, due to privacy and security concerns.

Another thing I want to make clear is that I always use Random Integer Generator to choose the winner so that if a customer or friend wins it won't look like I'm playing favorites. I would have too hard of a time singeling out comments so I thought the most fair thing was to let the computer pick.

I pulled all my other fleece off my shelf for donation and have been using WindPro exclusively. It had such a nice feel and sews so nice I just could not bear to use the other fleece anymore. In fact, today I listed several liners in sizes from 7" up to 10.5" today.

Isn't that little mouse just the cutest? I have sewed with this fabric before and didn't even see that mouse until yesterday. Once I noticed him he HAD to be included ;)

Liners...

2011-05-14T15:57:00.001-07:00

I just had a comment on an old post about longer liners and was wondering how many ladies would like longer liners? They are always available as a custom order but if there is enough demand for them I would offer them in the store as a regular item. Now's your chance to let me know what you'd like to see....sound off :)

Sewing on the 430 :)

2011-05-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've been testing her out and sewing up a storm. I've listed a bunch of one of a kind pads and liners. All the Hawaii theme liners and the 8" fairy pads are one of a kind. That fabric came from my last purchase of end cuts. If you see something you like you'd better get it because there won't be anymore. That goes for the Olivia pad, too. I found just a small piece of that fabric while cleaning my sewing area. :)

Tax Day Drawing{{the new winner is Tereza}}

2011-04-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

The Random Integer generator picked comment number 32, which happens to be Tereza who is a new follower, yay!
OK ladies, this April 15 I will be giving this 9.25" regular pad to one of my lucky readers. I mean you deserve something for coming here and seeing what I'm up to all the time. Why did I pick April 15? Because it's a day we all know and hate and I wanted to give you something nice to look forward to. Since I've already done my taxes and didn't have to pay in{YAY!!!} I'm in a fairly good mood this April and I wanted to spread that around ;). All you have to do to enter is leave a comment about why you switched to reusable menstrual products or why you want to. I know we all have very different reasons for making the switch and I thought it would be fun to see why others have made the switch. I personally made the switch for comfort/health reasons and I will never go back to disposable products. (Comments are moderated so you may not see yours right away, as soon and I get a chance to read it everyone will see it) Some good news for customers who love this size pad is that I've found a way that I won't have to discontinue this size when I order the cutting dies--YAY! More good news is that I just ordered 20 yards of fabric from my favorite online quilt shop at a very good price-which means I can leave prices where they are for a while. The fabric will be a surprise, I have no idea what I am getting, it is what is leftover from the end of the bolt when they cut their other orders, no piece will be smaller than 1/2 yard so I expect to see some fabrics that I won't be able to get again. There are sure to be fabrics that are very different from what I pick but rest assured it is all quilt shop quality fabric so I'm excited about the surprise. I have also decided that when I make the switch to Windpro fleece backings I am going to go with Navy Blue since blue pairs well with everything.

Oh My...

2011-03-30T07:55:00.001-07:00

ya'll are going to think I have totally lost my mind with another sewing machine post but here goes. I was frustrated with the Janome to the point that I actually had it listed on eBay, it was not doing all I had hoped it would :(. I was going to sell it and the Bernina B350 and look at the Bernina Aurora 440QE with the Bernina Stitch Regulator(BSR)--but it's just so much money and doesn't have the throat space of the 6600. So I got out the B350 and put the walking foot on it--it made beautiful nice even stitches even around the corners and points of all size pads. The wing tips weren't getting stuck and smushed, the rounded ends had nice even stitches, it was heaven. I feel like such a dolt because I hadn't tried it first! I had read that you should not use your walking foot if you were going around corners so I never tried it, afraid I would break a very expensive foot and have to replace it. Sooooo, that means I will go back to business as usual, wavy stitch and diamonds on pads and wavy stitch on liners.

The 6600P? I'm keeping that to use for quilting. It's got 9" of throat space and I really want to work on free motion quilting. I've never been good at free motion, that was why I was looking at the BSR, but I've read many awesome quilters who say it takes PRACTICE not fancy equipment. So I really need to just take a little time each day to practice. But first off I will work on my quilt which is just straight line quilting.

And to make this all pad related. I've got a stack of pads needing snaps that I am going to list today before I quilt(that is my incentive to get on the listing right away). Most of the pads are from fabrics that I was cleaning out of my stash but there are a couple with the new stuff I just ordered.

Another question

2011-03-25T10:41:00.001-07:00

I just got my swatch kit from Mill Direct Textiles and of all the fabrics in it the Polartec Wind Pro is my favorite. I ran tons of water over it on both sides and it ran right off. It's also very thin, so it would make a thinner pad. Here's the catch.....it only comes in black. EDIT: I can get it in Navy and Coyote, Coyote is a tannish/brownish color-I'm leaning toward that.

I did the water test on all the other swatches and some did not shed water but let it go right through and some shed water initially but then started to let it run through. I am seriously leaning toward only using the Wind Pro because I am so impressed with its performance. I would use the colored fleeces I have until they are gone and I would keep checking to see if the Wind Pro came in colors other than black.

So the question is: Could you live with only one fleece color if you knew the chances of leaks through the fleece were miniscule?

I finally did it!

2011-03-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

I decided on and bought a domain name, yurtcraftpads.com , for now if you type that in you will be taken to my Etsy store, until I figure out how I want my site to be. I've been researching hosts and shopping carts and all that kind of stuff and I more confused than when I started. One day I will get it all figured out, in the mean time you can still shop at the in stock stores and work out custom orders through conversations of e-mail. I want to set up my site in a way that makes custom orders much more stream lined for the customer AND for me.

As soon as I have 30 "Likes" on Facebook I'm going to do a drawing for a free item from the store, there are 26 "Likes" right now, so if you haven't already liked ~yurtcraft~ on Facebook head on over there and do it! :)

Facebook and a Drawing

2011-03-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Tell all your friends to like ~yurtcraft~ on Facebook because as soon as I get 30 likes I'm going to have a drawing for a free instock item from either store. That's right, if you are the winner you get to pick anything you want from either yurtcraft or yurtcraft

Bamboo Flannel Love

2011-03-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to get my hands on some bamboo flannel and it is awesome! It is far superior to the cotton flannel I was using when it comes to sucking in liquids quickly. If I can continue to acquire bamboo flannel I will be using it as the top core fabric in all my pads and liners.(EDIT TO ADD: This actually means the bamboo flannel is under whatever fabric tops the pad to help draw fluids in quickly)

I am having trouble getting Make It Green fleece in solid colors :(. The place I usually get it from has been making prints which are geared toward babies instead of solids these days. So I've ordered a swatch kit from Malden Mills and may start using their fleeces. They are a bit more expensive but are of much higher quality. They do have a fleece that is 89% recycled material(plastic soda bottles) but it only comes in a dark gray color.

So my question would be which is more important, recycled content or color coordinated backing? I am leaning toward the backing with the recycled content because if I order directly from the mill by the bolt I may be able to get a wholesale discount, which would keep my prices more reasonable. But what do you ladies think?

Changes....

2011-03-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

I've got some plans to streamline(and partially automate) my process in order to make more perfectly shaped pads. It involves having custom made cutting dies made for each piece of my pads. I can't take total credit for this idea as it came from another pad maker a couple years back. I am just now ready to take the plunge and move into larger scale production.

I'm trying to decide which pad sizes to keep and which to retire because each size will involve two dies. I'm thinking of retiring the 9.25" size since the 10.5" seems to be a better seller. I plan to keep the 6" liner and the 7" liner/mini pad, the 8" pad, the 10.5" pad and redesigning the overnight/post partum pad to give more coverage in the back(or the front if you want to flip it around). I can still hand cut for small custom orders if ladies are set on a size that I retire.

I've been hand cutting lately in order to conserve fabric and I like the cleaner shape, but it takes so much longer. With the cost of fabric set to go up this year I wanted to make the best use of what I buy. I used to not worry too much about the waste because it saved me time and I figured it was a trade off. But after a talk with the owner of my local quilt shop I realized I was going to have to do something so that I don't have to raise my prices too much, they will have to go up but I still want my product to be affordable without cutting quality.

Another area I'm torn on is shipping. I've seen shipping discussed several times in a couple different cloth pad communities and as much as people like free shipping I always feel bad if they make multiple pad orders because in order to have "free" shipping I have to add the cost of shipping materials and postage into the cost of each pad. I've heard some ladies say that they only want to see a shipping charge not shipping and handling but in order for that to work I have to add the cost of the envelope and label to each pad and then if you order more than one pad you are paying for more than one envelope. So what do you think? Now is your chance to sound off on the shipping debate. What do you like to see?

Sneak Peek!

2011-03-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

I just ordered some fabric today, you can get a preview here . It's a lot of Asian themed fabric, cause that's what I feel like doing right now :) I can't decide if this

or this

or this is my favorite.

Can't wait for it to get here. I'm ready to see some new fabrics :)

Coupon Code

2011-02-28T16:18:00.000-08:00

There is a 10% off coupon for yurtcraft_too for Facebook fans of ~yurtcraft~. Right now I only have 8 fans but one is me and one is the husband. Maybe I'll do a give away when I get 30 fans. Who's in for that? :)

Vintage Coconut wins the yui kokeshi liner

2011-02-28T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Random Integer generator picked number 20 and I'm such a dork I still can't capture that image and post it here like all the cool bloggers do so I'm just telling ya'll :)

Vintage Coconut please send a message to yurtcraft (at) yahoo (dot) com with your name and mailing info so I can get that shipped off to you.

I got my new sewing machine on Friday, YAY! I love the machine but I don't love it's wavy stitch, I can't adjust it like I could on the Bernina so I think the wavy stitch will be going away and I will just do two rows of straight stitching and the diamonds. I played with some other stitches but I wasn't really loving them so some ONE OF A KIND liners will be listed soon. They are OOAK because I won't be using the stitches I tried on them in the future but they are totally functional and pretty so I will be selling them :)

On Facebook now :)

2011-02-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

I finally took the plunge and created a Facebook page for yurtcraft even though they won't let me call it yurtcraft :(, they said it had to have proper punctuation even though the proper way is with a small y. But I got the facebook page before the YurtCraft who makes yurts did, woo hoo! I guess that's my little victory since they beat me to the punch on the domain name yurtcraft.com ;). So you can like me on Facebook now and I will try to figure out exactly how it all works as a way to inform and help my customers. There's a "like" button right over to the right if you are not reading this in a blog reader, if you are just click on over to the blog and you will see it.

So in my search for a domain name there are several endings I can choose from but I can't decide which one would be easiest for customers to find and remember. .biz, .org, .net, .co what sounds best to you for a business?

Just Because I Can :)(drawing closed-Vintage Coconut wins)

2011-02-18T11:07:00.001-08:00

I'm doing a second drawing this month. This one is for a 6" yui kokeshi liner with a minky back. I listed some bamboo topped pads at CPS and some of the new style with the wavy stitch and the diamonds at yurtcraft_too. Etsy has some of all three styles right now.

Same rules as the last drawing, if you spread the love and link back here you can earn more entries. This one goes to the end of the month. Be sure to check back to see if you are the winner.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to add that I combine shipping between stores and refund excess shipping charges. :)

Happy Day!

2011-02-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

Now that I've stopped waffling on which sewing machine I want and made the decision to get the Janome Memory Craft 6600P over the Juki TL98Q I have learned that I will still have my beloved wavy stitch. But since I really love the new diamond top-stitch, too, I've decided to use them both on future pads. I love how the diamonds let you know what kind of a pad you have but I felt like something was missing without the wavy stitch. Something about that stitch just makes the pads seem prettier to me. I feel like it adds a touch of femininity. What do you think?

I need some feedback about the different shopping options. I sell way more on Etsy than any other venue, is it just because people are more familiar with Etsy or do people truly not like the other stores? Are they too hard to shop at? Too confusing?

yurtcraft_too

2011-02-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

I decided to give Artfire another shot but because of the way I closed my store last time they won't let me have my name back. So I had to come up with something that would still work and not be too confusing. I could have done yurtcraft1 or yurtcraft2 but I thought yurtcraft_too was cuter. It might not be as clever as I think it is but just let me live in my delusion ;)

3 Years

2011-02-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I've been selling on Etsy for three years this month! So in honor of that I've got a coupon code for the Etsy store that will last until 12 Feb for 10% off, the code is 3YEARS. The discount is for merchandise only, sorry shipping remains the same. Thanks for the last three years.

February Drawing is CLOSED-New Winner is #6 Anic

2011-02-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

*****The previous winner did not leave contact info and did not send me an e-mail so I picked another. #6 Anic is the new winner, she has until Wednesday 16 Feb to send me her contact info and if I don't get it by then I will plug the numbers into the Random Integer Generator once again and see what comes up.*****

I just realized it's been forever since I blogged and almost as long since I've had a give away. So here I am with both :). I will keep the drawing open until next Friday(11 Feb 2011) and then I will use the Random Integer Generator to pick the winner. Since it's Valentine's soon I decided on this pad for the drawing. It's not technically a Valentine's print, but it has hearts. It's actually a print for women's heart disease awareness so you get to support that and Valentine's with one pad ;).

This is a 10.5" Ultra Absorbent pad. Don't be afraid of it because of that though, it is VERY thin. The core is all bamboo fleece so it's thin AND absorbent. The back is "Make It Green" polyester fleece.

All you have to do is comment on this post(I will activate the comments as I read them). If you want to plug this contest on your blog or facebook or whatever you can get more entries, just come back with a link to where you gave me the "free press" and I will activate that comment, too. I ship anywhere in the world so anyone can enter the drawing. Please leave some way for me to contact you if you win. Happy February!

PS There are a bunch of new items in all my stores so please go check them out!

New Inventory

2011-01-26T12:23:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged but I will just say I have been keeping busy sewing and I had to leave town for a funeral over the weekend. But to make up for it I am adding inventory to all three stores today. I added some flannel topped pads to the Etsy store and to the CPS store. I also added a couple pads to the BigCartel store. The BigCartel store is great for anyone who doesn't want to sign up for a website like Etsy or CPS, all you need to purchase from BigCartel is a PayPal account. I will be adding more items to all three stores today but for right now I must run get some groceries, for some reason the people in my house think they need to eat, go figure ;)

You can get to each of my stores from the links on the right hand side of the page. Happy Shopping!

New Pads Up at Etsy :)

2011-01-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

I just listed a few of the new style pads at Etsy. I moved what didn't sell at Etsy over to CPS (at a reduced price) and also listed the pads in the design I decided not to continue over there. What is at CPS is definately one of a kind, there won't be more pads with the wavy stitch or with the football shaped topstitching. I will be getting more new pads up at Etsy this week as I get the pictures taken. Dreary winter weather does not make for pretty pictures :(

New Topstitch Design

2011-01-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of my new sewing machine I sat down and tried to figure out a topstitch design that would be pretty and tell the user if the pad was a liner, regular, extra absorbent or extra-extra absorbent. I started with this designbut I wasn't really feeling it. The two football shapes means this is a regular pad, it has two layers of bamboo fleece in its core. The design wasn't as "clean" as I was looking for and it was kind of hard to sew those curves. Then I came up with this
diamonds. I really like the diamonds, they look clean and are easy to sew nicely. This has three diamonds, meaning it's an extra absorbent pad.

I hope to get my Bernina listed on ebay sometime this week, I've got to take some pics and write the listing for it. As soon as it sells I'll be able to get my new machines. Yes, I said machines because I'm getting a machine with a large throat for quilting and a mechanical machine for any zig zag type stitching I need to do.

New Coupon Code~~EDIT:code no longer valid

2011-01-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

I've got some changes in mind for my pads so I want to clear out what is in stock right now. With the coupon code~ clearance ~you will get 20% off the cost of merchandise.

I am changing sewing machines and will no longer have the wavy stitch so I've got some ideas about something a little decorative for the top that will also let you know right away how many layers are in the core of the pad. So no more guessing or trying to remember if it's a regular or a heavy pad.

Coupon Code

2010-12-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

OK, not sure if anyone will notice but I just totally changed this post so I can see where my store traffic is coming from. My blog readers can get a 20% discount on merchandise from yurtcraft on Etsy by using the code DECBLOG2010 at checkout.

EDITED TO ADD: December coupon has expired.

Latest Large Custom Order Preview

2010-12-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

This is a preview for the lady who ordered these.

These are fleece on both sides.

Last Day for Coupon Code

2010-11-30T08:27:00.000-08:00

Today will be the last day that the BLOGNOV coupon code works.

I really hate to do it but if I can't find a fleece that I like at a cheaper price I may have to raise my prices. I've been getting my top fabrics from the clearance section at the quilt store in order to keep my prices lower but the fleece I like for the back doesn't go on sale that often. I could get a less expensive fleece for the back but I happen to be in love with the Make It Green fleece because it is so thin and stays nice looking wash after wash. I'm kind of OCD about "pilling", I hate when fabrics do that.

I'm in the middle of another big order to Australia that I hope to finish up today or tomorrow and then I will have some one of a kind pads available. They are one of a kind because I only have pieces of fabric big enough for one pad in many of the prints. The fabrics are warm and dark colors, reds, oranges, hot pink and even some lime green.

Coupon Code

2010-11-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

I just learned that Etsy now allows coupon codes. So just to see how it works I'm offering one for my blog readers until the end of the month. It will be 10% off items purchased. Just use the code BLOGNOV.

And the winner is...

2010-10-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

Megg, according to The Random Integer Generator, she was comment number 18. I tried to paste the image of the generator here but I'm having no luck today so I decided to just tell you all. Megg please go to my store and pick your items and them send me a convo with your choices and your mailing info. I will delist them and get them sent on their way.

Happy Halloween everyone!

The Give Away

2010-10-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've decided on the give away and I can start the "contest" without needing to start sewing again. The person chosen by the Randon Integer Generator on October 31 will get to choose $20(items and shipping) from my Etsy store in stock items, ie whatever is in stock when the winner goes to the store they can choose from that. Just comment here about why cloth pads are your favorite(comments are moderated so they will show up after I read them).

Moving part of my life....

2010-10-19T12:02:00.001-07:00

I've decided to separate my quilting and life stuff from yurtcraft if you are interested in that I can also be found here ~lisa quilts~ . I'm planning to keep this space for yurtcraft give aways and announcements. And I know I haven't done a give away in a while so I'm working on correcting that as soon as we finish our floor installation and I can sew again.

Oh Happy Day!!!

2010-10-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

I know it doesn't look that bad but that rear door won't open and we had to put that spare on to drive it(very slowly)back home. We were so afraid this would be the accident that totalled it but it's not. They are going to fix it! We are so happy about this because it means we won't have a car payment and we have a car that we know all the issues on. We are the kind of people who drive a car until it just won't drive. Our last vehicle was totalled because of a rear tire blowout while towing a trailer.
All our friends and family think we are just plain wierd that we don't just get a new vehicle instead of fixing ours all the time. But honestly, the repair costs are worth it if you don't have a payment. If you run the numbers it just makes sense. We are cheapskates so our payments aren't ever over $300 a month if we have them(we like to keep it low in case of emergencies, like a job loss). So if you have less than $3600 a year in car repairs you've saved yourself some $. And just think about if your car payment is $500 or $700 a month($6000 and $8400 a year). If you save the $ value of your car payment every month while you don't have one you can pay cash for your next vehicle. How liberating would that be? Another tip is to not buy new, let someone else take that initial loss in value that happens when you drive a new car off the lot.

Believe me, we haven't always made the best decisions about cars but we are mending our ways. We NEVER set foot on a car lot during business hours until we KNOW what we want. We are those middle of the night car shoppers, if we see something we like THEN we will go back during the day and talk to a salesperson. That has served us pretty well, before we started doing that we came home with vehicles that we were sorry about later, wishing we had just kept what we drove in there with.

YAY!!....and not so yay

2010-10-05T08:41:00.001-07:00

First the YAY, we got a second Kindle, isn't it purty? I'm not sure how I ended up with the new one except to say that my husband is just plain awesome! Now we can sit and read together.

The background in the picture is me working through my scrap bin, well actually the product of me sewing from scraps not really me working ;). I've been working on some blocks using only scraps. I've not really made a dent in the scrap pile but I had to take a break for some custom orders. I was going to make potholders for Christmas gifts but when I laid those out I decided I might make table runners or table toppers, it's all still pretty fluid since the blocks aren't sewn together.

The not so yay is that my car is in the body shop again, ugh! Thankfully my kids are OK and so are the occupants on the other vehicle but I'm not sure my poor little car will be OK. We are waiting to hear from the insurance company. I will say accident forgiveness is a WONDERFUL thing! I am so glad we have gone enough years without a claim that this one is a freebie. Having teen aged drivers is always an adventure! The worst phone call you can get is "Mom, I've been in an accident." My mind went a hundred places in the few seconds it took for her to tell me everyone was fine. I hope to never get that call again, it's not good for my heart. I am so not looking forward to the day the boy starts driving!

And since I am terrible at endings or segues I'll just say that I hope you are all having a wonderful day! Off to sew!

Break Up

2010-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

I broke up the Peanuts sets since it didn't seem like anyone wanted sets as I had them divided. They are at the CPS store because Etsy is being a pain today. I'm not sure what is going on but I did notice that they recently made more changes to their format. I hope once the kinks are out it is actually better.

Neutral

2010-09-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

I got my first neutral ratings on Etsy and I'm feeling kind of wierd about it. I am the kind of person who expects a LOT of themselves so neutral just isn't acceptable. I got one B in high school and was crushed by that. I guess the reason the neutral ratings bother me is because one of them was for an item the lady decided she didn't want so instead of taking it up with Etsy and giving her a bad rating I gave her a positive feedback and just relisted the item(and paid the fees again, thank you very much) and the other one was because she didn't get what she was expecting, I guess my description wasn't clear enough, which troubles me because I take time to give a VERY detailed description of my items. In fact, sometimes I think maybe I give too much info to those who surf Etsy and copy other's work.

Anyway, I just had to get that off my chest because in typical me fashion I've been obsessing over it.

I think I'll do some personal sewing today just to clear my head. I've been wanting to go through my scrap bin and make some pot holders, mug rugs and coasters. They make excellent gifts and I never seem to get them done in time for Christmas, maybe this will be the year that I actually get my stuff done and mailed on time, all because I'm bumming over some neutral ratings. ;)

Working out the bugs~~

2010-09-25T18:49:00.001-07:00

I have been working this out in my head since before I got my Kindle. I've got a few more things to tweak but so far I'm pretty happy with it. I'll be sure to show the new updated version when I get it done. :)

Halloween Pads Available

2010-09-22T10:13:00.001-07:00

These are the prints I have sewn up so far. I'm out of the Jack-o-Lantern print so get 'em while the gettin's good. I decided to put them at BigCartel. ArtFire wouldn't give me my name back so I didn't reopen that store. BigCartel will give me my name everytime I come back as long and no one steals it. I moved all my stuff from CPS over to Etsy because things weren't moving there, I think I only sold 3 or 4 pads since reopening that store. I'm really torn on that one, I might just put it on vacation for a while and see how I feel later.

I've got some wetbags in the works right now. They will be PUL lined and have a strap for hanging or carrying. I got a great deal on some vintage zippers at the thrift store so that will keep costs reasonable. These bags are great because they can also be used for makeup or any other items that can leak or be messy.

Changes

2010-09-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

So good some I'm not so sure of. First we are finally getting rid of our nasty carpet. I absolutely LOVE our new laminate floor.
The picture is awful but it was late and I had to use a flash to get this. We still have the hallway and the bedrooms to do but this is just wonderful. It has gotten rid of some of the old house smell I've been living with since moving in. And I woke up the day after this without a stuffy nose and itchy eyes, yay! The dog doesn't like it at all, the poor thing can't jump up onto the sofa now because she has no traction.

The change I'm not dealing so well with is that the daughter has a young man now. She followed the Joshua Harris "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" plan through high school and never dated. I did not push this, she chose it on her own, but I was fine with it because I think that mainstream 'date wisdom' sets young people up for divorce. A young man noticed her at work and then at the Baptist Student Ministry school year kick off picnic and asked if he could take her to a movie and she told him no she didn't date. He was a persistent young man and hung around as a friend for over a month and then asked the man of the house for permission to see her. He's very different from the young man I would have picked for her but so far he treats her well and has read the above book and agreed to the daughter's "terms" of the relationship. I'm just not dealing well with my babies growing up I guess....I was happy when she still needed me to help her get registered for college but now I hardly ever see her, she doesn't seem to need me anymore :(

Bag Winner

2010-08-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Sylvia Sling was Melia, but I haven't heard from her yet. Melia, please send me your shipping info at yurtcraft@yahoo.com by Friday, Sep 3. If I don't hear from her(she doesn't have contact info for me to contact her) I will draw another winner next week after we get back from visitinf family down south.

FRIDAY!!!!!

2010-08-20T13:33:00.001-07:00

I just ordered a yard of each of these. I couldn't help myself. I think the scale is bigger than the green print I had but I love the colored RVs.

So far it looks like only one lady is interested in the Sylvia Sling, so she has a pretty good chance of being the new owner.

I am considering opening a storefront at Artfire again. Any thoughts on that? They have done a lot of refining over at their site and I still like the format a lot. I was considering reopening at BigCartel again, too, but right now I don't have the presence on the web to drive enough traffic there to make it cost effective. Artfire is a community like Etsy and CPS so people who go there looking at other stuff may stumble across my store.

I'm going to start listing some sets of pads. Right now I'm making some liner sets but I'm planning to get some starter sets and maybe some full stash sets done, too. A while back there was some discussion about sets vs. single pads in a community I watch and the consensus was that most ladies like to buy their pads individually but lately I've been getting requests for sets. I will mix and match fabrics within the sets that go together, either color-wise or theme-wise.

I had a wonderful dinner last night with my love at Texas Roadhouse. The last 21 years have been fabulous and it was great to realize how far we had come. 21 years ago we couldn't afford a nice dinner at a place like Texas Roadhouse. We were an Airman First Class and a Sergeant with new vehicles just struggling to survive. We've learned a lot since then and no longer drive new vehicles.

I hope everyone has a terrific weekend! Do something fun!

Mixed Feelings...{{WINNER is Melia}}

2010-08-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

[According to the random integer generator Melia is the winner, please send me your mailing info at yurtcraft@yahoo.com and I will get it mailed off to you this week]

First off, I am very happy today as it is our 21st anniversary. I have been totally blessed to have a wonderful husband to share my life with. Second, yesterday my daughter was officially enrolled in the local junior college. She will still be living here at home, but I guess this makes her officially an adult now. I was happy that she asked me to go with her yesterday because that means that she still needs me a little ;). I am so proud of her I cannot express it in words, there just don't seem to be the right words for it.

Now for the kind of sad news. Remember this bag? After carrying it for a few days I remembered why I don't carry this style of bag anymore even though it's always been my favorite. It hurts my shoulder :( So, because I'm so happy about everything else in my life, I'm going to give this away. Yep, one of my faithful readers will be the new owner of this. Just comment and tell me why you love this bag and think it should be yours. If you post about it somewhere else just come back and leave a comment with a link for a second chance to win. The comments are screened so don't worry if you don't see your comment right after you post. I will announce the winner on Monday, August 23.

Done!

2010-08-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

I like the purse, so far, but I was less than thrilled with the pattern. I am an experienced pattern user and this one just seemed kind of disorderly. I had cut some of the pieces out and then read in the next step not to cut them with the pattern piece but to do it another way. The good news is I was able to make it work anyway, but I don't like patterns that tell you extra stuff in later steps.
I love the buttons. There were several options for the strap and since I'm not a frilly kind of girl I chose the buttons over the frilly, gathered, flower.

The size is nice. It's a bit bigger than I thought it would be but it's not too big. I don't know if I will make another of these just because I didn't really enjoy the pattern. The insides have bias binding on the seams instead of a lining. I understand why she had to do that (because she used Peltex as the base, which gives it a nice shape, but it's a pain to work with) it's not as neat inside the bag as on the outside. I was going to add an inside zipper pocket but changed my mind when I saw how the inside was constructed, in hindsight I wish I had done it anyway. There are pockets on both sides but not all of them are very functional so my stuff is most just strewn in the bottom of the bag.

I will carry it for a while just because I love this RV fabric so much.

Maybe I'll destash the pattern on Etsy later. I've actually got quite a few patterns I used once or not at all that I should do that with. :)

Me Time

2010-08-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

I am actually sewing something for myself. It's 'The Sylvia Sling' by Serendipity Studio. But in true me fashion, I didn't go out and buy new fabric, I just rooted through my stash and picked something that was big enough for the project that I liked fairly well. If I LOVE this bag I may splurge and get fabrics to do one of the pieced versions with the contrasting handle and all. It is my favorite shape for a bag so we'll see how it is. There are so many cute possibilities with the pieced tops and contrasting/matching fabrics. Since the fabric I'm using is a directional fabric I'm going to have to do some creative piecing in order to not have upside-down campers on part of it.

I spent Monday rearranging my sewing area but for some reason everything is back where it started, only neater and dust free. No matter where I moved the shelves and tables they weren't as functional or aesthetically pleasing as where they were. So, they are where they were. But, it did give me a chance to get all those dust bunnies and lint that have been collecting over the year since we moved in.

Wow, I can't believe we've been in this house a year already. It seems like we just moved in and yet it seems like we've been here forever. We are still sorting through stuff and purging. You'd think after a year we would have gotten rid of all the extra stuff, but no, it still seems to be hanging out in corners and closets.

The garden is barely holding on. We've been having 100+ temps for the last week and the plants do NOT like it at all. They are pretty perky in the morning but they start to droop around 10:00am and don't perk up again until it starts to get dark. I'm not quite sure how we are going to work this garden thing here in the hot spot of Texas. We are going to try a fall garden and see if we have better luck. Hopefully we'll have some mild temps before the really cold stuff.

Back to my dark sewing corner where I can enjoy the ceiling fan the man of the house installed for me this weekend and get some more done on my bag. There will be pics in the next day or two! :)

I'm still here :)

2010-08-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my blog while I've been busy sewing. I made a baby quilt for some friends who are adopting. I'm very pleased with how well it turned out considering I haven't pieced a quilt in ages. The corners all matched up and thanks to fusible bamboo batting there aren't any puckers in the quilting. I did run a bit short of fabric so there's some selvedge action going on in the piecing for the back, but I think it's all good. :)

I reopened my store over at CPS so if anyone likes that format better for ordering I'm there. Now I just need to get busy and get a few more pads into the inventory. The local quilt shop had a really good sale last week so I've got some new fabrics in stock, I even bought half yards rather than fat quarters. And Hancock Fabrics Online has a great sale on Make It Green fleece going on so I ordered some of that, it's in the mail and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival. I've found that it is my absolute favorite fleece to use as a backing because it is so thin.

And I won't leave you hanging about the quilt, here are some pics. :)

The top, 5" squares, quilted 1/4" from each side of each seam.
The back with it's little stripe of selvedge.
One of my perfectly matched corners, I'll bet you can tell I'm pretty proud of that ;)

Breaking the Rules--Quilting Rules That Is

2010-07-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

While my kids were at camp last week I cleaned, purged and rearranged the living and sewing/dining rooms. While I was going through my sewing stuff I found this unfinished quilt. It is the last quilt my mother in law hand pieced before her rheumatoid arthritis forced her to give up hand sewing. I have always heard that a hand pieced quilt MUST be hand quilted. So several years ago I started hand quilting it. I love the look of hand quilting but I'm not a big fan of doing it. I don't have the attention span for it. I like things to be very even and nice, which almost made me just take this whole quilt apart and make it even, but when I thought about the thousands of tiny stitches that Marianne put into this while her poor hands were aching I just couldn't do it. So now it's a combination of hand piecing, hand quilting and machine quilting. I considered taking out my hand quilting but decided to leave it, I mean this isn't a show quilt it's a giant piece of love made by my now departed mother in law. I just want it finished so we can snuggle under it while watching movies.

I promise there will be more pics when it is finished but it will be a while because it's a full size quilt and I am quilting fairly close together(because I love dense quilting). I might take a break to make a baby quilt for some friends who are adopting this month. I've got some cute bug prints that would be a perfect baby quilt, they are green and yellow so it's gender neutral, also perfect since the baby is not here yet.

I probably won't be updating the store for a bit since I've got big plans. Tomorrow is my 43rd birthday, woo hoo! And, the husband and I got a joint gift this year(his birthday is in 2 weeks), a Kindle that I will be playing with in between my quilting. Of course I will have to make a case for it and I might be a little naughty and make it in fabrics that will cause my husband to leave it with me all the time ;)

Empty Nesting

2010-06-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

My kids are away at camp this week and I have been cleaning, organizing and dejunking like a madwoman. My kids are older teens so they don't require a lot of my attention during the day but I was amazed at how much more I'm getting done while they are gone. I miss them like crazy but the chance to do my spring cleaning has been great. I finally made my kitchen curtains, as seen above. I could have turned the lights on for the pic but then you would be able to see my not yet put away clean dishes AND my not yet washed dirty dishes opposite them(my son is the official dishwasher so I'm a bit behind).

I cleaned and organized my sewing area and, shudder...got rid of some fabric. I know that is a hard thing for fabriholics but this was not fabric I bought so it didn't speak to me. I cleared off a whole shelf which I promptly filled with notions that were on the window sill. With soaring temps and my sewing area getting the brutal afternoon sun I had close the curtains for the summer so my notions were not easily accessible behind them.

I hope to get some sewing done today, but I still feel the cleaning urge and that doesn't happen often so I must obey it. The kids are going to think they stepped into the wrong house when they get home.

I have a terrible habit of not eating when the kids aren't home and I get busy with a project. That stops today! I am going to start the day with a green smoothie made from chard from my garden and then I'm going grocery shopping and make the man of the house a special dinner just for two.

New Item

2010-06-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

Dual zippered wetbag. I love how the zippers turned out, I'm finally getting the hang of zippers!

I made pickles

2010-06-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is from our first harvest of cucumbers. We only planted a few plants because we were not sure how things would grow here. We wanted dill pickles but we bought the wrong mix and ended up with sweet pickles. Normally I am NOT a sweet pickle fan but these are good. We've got quite a few cucumbers waiting to be harvested right now that WILL be dill pickles. I am going to make the brine myself as soon as I find some fresh dill.

Two posts in one day :)

2010-06-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is one of the projects I've had in mind for a while. I finally figured out how to make my favorite reusable shopping bag myself. We have several different styles of reusable bags but there is just one that I REALLY like. After some trial and error I was finally able to duplicate the bag with the 6" flat bottom, much like a paper grocery bag. I love this bag because of the size and the handles. These are long enough that you can carry the bag on your shoulder. Most of our bags have short handles that you can only carry in your hand, which I find inconvenient if I'm parked far away. And I usually am because I have no patience for "parking lot vultures", I park in the first spot I come to and I get irritated if I have to wait because someone is waiting for a spot to open and blocking the aisle. I guess that could be a character flaw but I just see it as having better things to do than get the closest parking spot. ;)

And because I'm so proud of my corner, here's a picture of it. I'm going to list this bag over in my Etsy shop as soon as I get done here. And as a bonus, it will be very reasonably priced because I was gifted a bunch of fabric from my MILs estate. She was a child of the Depression and saved everything so I have quite a bit of fabric I can use for these bags to keep them inexpensive. Some of the fabric is thinner so I will make them double layered and they will of course, be a little more, but still very reasonable.

My other big idea was a bust. I was trying to make serged pads instead of turned and top-stitched. I don't know if it's my cheap serger or just that I'm not as good with a serger as some, but they were ugly.

Today's Harvest

2010-06-18T08:07:00.001-07:00

Considering the size of our garden I'm pretty happy with this. This is actually our first year to have a garden in the ground. Last year we did pots on the back porch because we were renting. There are two types of cucumbers, purple radishes, strawberries and a lonly cherry pepper. I'm going to pickle the cucumbers and the strawberries are being frozen as we pick them until we have enough for jam. It's getting pretty late for strawberries so they are small and sour, not really good for eating.

Wednesday--it's half over!!!!

2010-06-16T06:17:00.001-07:00

My new ironing board cover. I realized that I don't sew often enough for myself. When I start to get burned out I find if I make something for myself it helps. So I made this a couple days ago. The fabric came from my MILs estate. I've been hanging on to it for several years just trying to decide the best use of it. I considered curtains for my Texas themed master bath but when I hung the fabric over the rod to get a feel for it it just wasn't happening for me. Then I looked at my stained, burned ironing board cover and it came to me, the perfect use of the coveted Texas fabric. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

I've got about a bazillion ideas in my head right now just dying to be sewn. I'll just leave it at that and you can wonder what you will be seeing here in the future.

Oh, I don't know how I forgot this, but in my best Dave Ramsey scream---WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!! Yep the credit card in finally paid off! It was such a nice feeling to make that last payment.

Messenger Bag

2010-06-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished messenger bag. I love it! I almost wish I could keep it, but it was spoken for even before it's creation. I wish I could have gotten a better picture but for some reason it was very hard to photograph. I took the Nikon back and got a Sony. I like it much better. With all the playing I never could get the color balance or the macro to work to my satisfaction. The Sony rocked right out of the box. I've still got a lot of playing to do but right off it took much better macro pictures without me having to play with it.

Last One

2010-06-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

I'm still figuring out my new camera so these aren't the best pictures but this is the last order and it will be shipping today.

Now I can finish up the messenger bag I started a few weeks ago. The strap hardware came in over the weekend. I can't wait to see it all done.

Playing with the new camera

2010-06-09T13:54:00.001-07:00

I was able to get a new camera today. After a charge and a little tweaking I was able to take this picture in regular indoor lighting. I'm pretty pleased with it. I got the Nikon Coolpix S3000. After all my research I found that the Nikon Point and Shoot cameras took the best indoor pictures.

Every time I look at the shrimp on my pin cushion I think of Jacques from "Finding Nemo" and it makes me smile.

OK off to sew, I'm almost finished with the Australia orders and then I will finish the messenger bag and post pics of it.

WOO HOO!!! One more done!

2010-06-08T09:37:00.001-07:00

These are all bamboo with a PUL layer.

One more down! Two to go! :)

2010-06-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

Another order down

2010-06-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

three to go :)

Top row are 8" waterproof extra absorbent, middle row are 7" waterproof extra absorbent and bottom row is 7" liners. Below is the backside of the pads.

Goldfish Orange and Amazon Green

2010-05-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

Pictures as promised :)

2010-05-27T09:34:00.001-07:00

The fabrics I dyed yesterday. The indoor lighting isn't flattering but they are still pretty. Below is about 1/7 of the custom order I am working on right now. (Please ignore my ratty cutting mat, I know I need a new one, maybe soon;) )

Back to dyeing and sewing, I still have some Goldfish Orange and some Amazon Green to dye today.

It's here!!!!

2010-05-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

My bamboo arrived shortly after my last post and I have been busily washing and dyeing fabric. It's too late for pics tonight but I'll try to get some tomorrow before I cut the fabric. Today I dyed Tulip Red, Bahama Blue, Velvet Black and Dark Brown. Tomorrow I plan to do Goldfish Orange and Amazon Green. I can't wait to see how they all turn out. I'm experimenting with the brown and black right now by letting them soak overnight to see if the color is any richer.

After I posted the picture of my pin cushion I saw that someone had just listed a bunch of those on Etsy and they sold like hotcakes. I was considering making some myself but I decided not to for fear I would look like a copycat. So I'll just be making them for myself and possibly as gifts for sewing friends.

And completely unrelated to sewing I'll leave you with a picture of my strawberry bed. They are going crazy. I expect the bed will be completely filled soon with all the runners my original plants are sending out. That ugly fence is to keep our prissy dog out of there, she doesn't like to walk on grass.

Waiting....

2010-05-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

.......for my bamboo fleece to arrive today. It's on the truck for delivery, I just hope I'm not at the end of the day's deliveries.

I'm still working on those big order's for Australia, but I'm at a standstill until that bamboo gets here. So I finished up a few other projects and have my sewing table fairly cleared off.

I remade my pin cushion with my last scrap of sushi fabric. I think I like this better than my previous pin cushion made from my mother's punch bowl cup, it's bigger and just looks neater. The punchbowl cup cushion was too wrinkly because there was no way to stretch the fabric.

Graduation Gift Possibilities

2010-05-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

1 or 2
What's the consensus out there? Personally, I like the green one, but blue is the grad's favorite color.

EDIT: I consulted the grad and she doesn't like either one, so I've decided that I'm getting the tea one for myself, it is just too cute, I love anything to do with tea or coffee and that huge button on the front is too cute :)

Learning New Skills :)

2010-05-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

No, I'm obviously not learning photography skills. I'm dyeing fabric. I was blessed to be asked to make pads for a group of Australian ladies who are going on a mission trip and they were kind enough to let me experiment a little with some hand-dyed bamboo fleece for the top fabric. This is the second go around with this sinkfull of dye. The first yard is a bit darker. I just couldn't see not trying to get a second yard of fabric from the dye, it seemed a waste to just drain it and start with a new batch of dye. I am considering making these available in my store when I get done with this order. Is anyone out there interested in something like this?

I find it therapuetic to stand at the sink and agitate the fabric and then to rinse it and see the beautiful color remaining on the fabric. Plus, I just love the names of the dyes, this one is Intense Violet. I can't wait to try Bahama Blue and Velvet Black. I will definitly be going back to the store for the Goldfish Orange and the Olive Green.

I vowed I would be a more regular blogger but I must warn any readers I might have out there that I probably will be MIA until I get this order done. It's the largest order I've had the good fortune to be asked to sew. I plan to add a few flannel topped pads to the store later today so I can get some PayPal $ to order more bamboo fleece. So if you like flannel topped pads check back, the prints are very springy and just plain pretty!

The other wonderful thing that is happening this month that may keep me away from here is that I will be graduating my first born from high school. We are not participating in the local home school graduation but we still want to make it special for her. I ordered a nice diploma that I will be taking to a calligrapher to have her name printed on it and I will be putting together her official high school transcript. We want her and everyone she encounters to see that home school is serious and that her education is not lacking in any way compared to her public school counterparts.

Hope you are all having a wonderful season where ever you are. It's the tail end of Spring here so we are still planting our garden and watching tiny seedlings pop up through the new soil. The husband made me 2 more raised beds that we will be installing this week. I cannot wait until I can feed my family from the produce we've planted in our own yard. There will be updates about that as it happens, too. But right now I must get back to work, sewing and keeping my home. Bless you all!

Mmmmmmm!

2010-05-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

We won't be making any jam this year but the sample every other day or so is pretty tasty. It just amazes me how much better food from my backyard tastes. The daughter and I were wondering why people ever got away from growing their own food because the stuff from the grocery store just doesn't compare. We planted another bed with veggies and herbs and have two more beds nearly ready for dirt, we are painting them since we didn't use treated lumber. They need one more coat before we can place them and fill them with Mel's Mix.

I am thinking about getting my very own digital camera. I've been using my kids cameras. My son has this camera which I mainly use and my daughter has this, which is far to complex for me. I am looking at this one for myself. I don't want to spend a lot of $(I can get it for under $100) and after all my research it looks like it will do what I need it to. It's supposed to take good pictures in low light conditions which will be great for indoor pics of stuff I want to list. His camera doesn't do low light well, hers does but like I said, it's more than I want to deal with. Any suggestions or advice?

Learning Curve

2010-05-07T13:32:00.001-07:00

This is the iPad case I've been droning on about for the last couple of weeks. It turned out OK and I learned a lot, but it's NOT perfect. I wanted the zipper to close on the top but didn't realize until I had it sewed in that I didn't do that, doh! And the inside is not at neat as the outside. Since I quilted it I put binding on the inside seams instead of making a lining for it. The binding was pretty hard and isn't perfect I think next time I will try for a lining. I didn't try a lining because of the way the zipper curves around the case, it kind of scares me. I'll have to root around the internet and see if I can't find a tutorial for that.

My next project is a full size messenger bag. I've made the mini-messenger before, but not a full size bag. The hardest part for me is resizing the pattern because I tend to forget the seam allowances when I cut, but maybe now that I've put that out here on the internet I will remember....one can only hope!

I didn't get a picture of my kiwi-strawberry treats because my daughter ate them before I got a chance. They were VERY tasty if you're thinking about making some. The husband liked them best before they were fully dried. If you aren't drying them for long term storage leaving them a bit chewy is best.

Sunny Days

2010-05-04T10:28:00.001-07:00

The weather has been beautiful here the past week or so, with just enough rain sprinkled in to keep things green. This is what we did over the weekend. My wonderful husband built the bed for me and then we planted some tomatoes and peppers in it. We have wood for another bed but we aren't quite sure what we will plant in it. The wood for the bed came to a grand total of $8 so we are planning to add many more beds to our yard. I plan to trim that ugly weedblock down but I'm waiting to get the next bed in before doing that. We've decided that next time we aren't going to spread the weedblock over the yard but will staple it to the bottom of the wood and then turn the frame over and add some Mel's Mix as found in the Square Foot Gardening plan. The topsoil here is terrible, a lot of red clay and even though the house is nearly 50 years old there's a ton of construction debris under the sod/weed layer.

I'm caught up on my pad orders so I plan to hop on that iPad case tomorrow after our son leaves on his trip to Colorado. He's going up for a family wedding with his aunt and uncle. It's his first trip away from us without his sister. We are a bit concerned about his diet issues(celiac disease) but he is a young man now and will soon have to take charge of his own diet, mom won't always be there to monitor it.

I've been running my dehydrator nearly every day. Today I'm going to dry some kiwi and strawberries for quick snacks. I'll be slicing them and then stacking a slice of strawberry on a slice of kiwi. I can't wait to try them, my mouth is watering just thinking about it! If they are pretty I'll be sure to take some pics.

Playing Catch Up

2010-04-29T13:14:00.001-07:00

This is what I have completed of several large orders. There's also some stuff there that still needs to be completed. One thing being the iPad case I am making for one of my customers. I just about have the details all worked out in my head so I can actually cut the fabric. I'm always afraid to cut into anything until I've got it all figured out. I hate to rip seams and I hate to have projects that didn't quite work because then what will I do with it? I know I need to work on my perfectionist tendencies because they really prevent me from trying a lot of things I'd like to do. It's easier to not fail if you don't try, I know that is a very wrong mindset, but it's hard to break habits that are over 40 years old(yep, I'm admitting to being over 40). I guess that should be my goal for this year, to be more adventurous when failure is on the line. ;)

This is what my sewing table looks like right now. It's an unorganized mess that is making me crazy. I've determined that as soon as I finish the liners for the order I am currently working on I'm going to put EVERYTHING on that table back into it's proper place before I move on to the next order.

I've also got a project laying on the table that I want to do for me, however, I need to get my obligations taken care of first. But I can tell you about my project, can't I? I use cast iron pans and I love those little pot holders that slip onto the handle(see them there on the table?), they tend to get singed when the heat is up. So, I'm taking my ugly burnt ones apart and quilting some pretty new fabric onto them and then reassembling. It's kind of like recycling, I figured why buy insulbright when I've already got something that will work. They are perfectly serviceable, but they are UGLY. So, I've got some pretty squash fabric that goes perfectly with the colors I painted my kitchen, and it is about to become potholders and maybe even some cafe curtains. Heck, I might even make myself a new apron if there's enough leftover.

OK, back to work so I can do some sewing for me soon!

Regrouping

2010-04-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure what to do with myself just now. The past 3 weeks were spent getting a short notice passport for my daughter to go to Germany and then getting all she needed ready to go, while the man of the house was off for 2 weeks of leave. It was a very unusual 3 weeks. The end to it all is that she didn't get to go, the volcano in Iceland put an end to her trip. She is taking it like a trooper, I think I feel worse about her not getting to go than she does.

During this time I did get a little time to sew and to plant a few things in the garden. I also played with my new Excalibur Dehydrator, man I love that thing! Who would have thought that zuchinni chips would actually be good to eat without reconstituting them? We discovered if you dehydrate them along with a tray of fruit they take on a slight fruity flavor. Perfect for a quick snack.

I don't have any pics of new projects but I hope to have one soon. A lovely customer has asked me to make a case for her new iPad. I thought I might have gotten in over my head when I agreed to it but this morning in the shower I had an epiphany and I feel much better about the whole project.

I've been sewing with the Amy Butler and Heather Bailey(liner above is from the Pop Garden collection) fabric that I got last week from a terrific shop down in San Antonio called Banberry Place. And I have to say I LOVE the quality of the fabric. It is so crisp and nice to work with, sure beats what I have been buying locally. I really like the fact that I am supporting another small Texas business by ordering from her.

And since I'm reduced to rambling now I will get off here and make a pot of chili for dinner before I sew.

Haven't done this in a while :)Winner is #6

2010-04-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

According to Random.org the winner is #6

"wings-humming said...
I would love to win this pad because 9.25" is the perfect size for me! Also, I have never owned one with bamboo terry or fleece before - would be very interested to try it. :)

April 14, 2010 6:02 PM "

So please send me an e-mail with your shipping info at yurtcraft@yahoo.com and I will ship your pad as soon as possible. Congratulations!

Since I haven't had a drawing in a while I decided it was about time, and I'm giving you two chances to put your name in. First, comment and say why you'd like to get this. Your second chance comes when you give me a plug on your blog and come back here with a link to your post.

I love this fabric, it's from the Pop Garden collection by Heather Bailey. This is a 9.25" regular pad. The core is bamboo terry, bamboo fleece and organic cotton terry. The back is polyester "Make It Green" fleece(that means it was made from post consumer fibers made from plastic bottles and some new fibers). The terry makes this incredibly thin AND absorbent.

I'm going to let this go for a week. So on April 21st I'll plug the number of comments into the random integer generator and let it choose the winner. Be sure to check back on April 21(2010) to see if you are the lucky winner.

EDITED TO ADD: I've noticed a lot of new traffic but only a few entries in the drawing, please rest assured I do not spam anyone. If you are afraid to sign up because you'll get more spam that IS NOT the case for yurtcraft. Thanks!

World's Worst Blogger :(

2010-04-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

I swear I am the world's worst blogger. I always determine to blog regularly and try to make my life sound interesting but that never seems to happen.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks.

I ordered some new fabric for the store, since I decided to keep it open. Here is a little sneak peek. You can see the individual fabrics on Flickr, just click on the badge on the right.

I flubbed a custom order so there are some once in a lifetime items in my store right now. Some 9.25" and 10.5" waterproof pads. They have the swirl topstitching so I had to bump the price up a bit due to the extra thread and time invested in them.

Speaking of once in a lifetime my daughter is getting the chance to go to Germany. So we went to Dallas last week in order to get a rushed passport for her. (If you are intending to ever travel out of the country I suggest you get your passport before you need it, it's a whole lot cheaper that way.) I am excited for her to go to Germany but I am also nervous about her traveling alone and jealous that I don't get to go, too. I'm sure she will come home with some fabulous memories. I guess we can call this her senior trip since she just turned 18 and will be graduating this year.

I've been busy planting my garden and trying out my new dehydrator. My garden isn't nearly a big as I'd like, but in time it will be. The dehydrator is awesome, I got an Excalibur, I can even tell you how happy I am with it. It was definitly worth the wait. If you are at all interested in drying your own food start saving up, it is SOOO worth it!

I've got a couple more custom orders lined up and then I hope to get some more items in the store from those fabulous fabrics I just got. I still haven't started on my quilt. I'm not sure why, I just don't feel ready for it, I guess I'm not quite sure about the pattern I chose and once I cut the fabric I'm committed. I figure it's better to wait and be sure than to waste the beautiful fabric.

I'll leave you with a pic of my beautiful 18 year old daughter and what she did the day after she turned 18, because we wouldn't sign the release for her to do it before. ;)

It's done!

2010-03-25T12:17:00.001-07:00

It's finally done. I hand sewed the binding on last night. I would love to machine sew it but basically I suck at machine sewing bindings on. The look so much nicer if I hand sew them. This is a smaller size baby quilt, perfect for tucking around the babe in a stroller or car seat and the perfect size for dragging around later as a favorite blanky. I used a cherry print flannel for the binding. I don't usually use a different type of fabric than the top when I make a binding but I wanted this one to have a soft snuggly binding. I'll admit when I was a kid I had a blanky that was my 'comforter' because I liked the feel of the binding when I ran my fingers over it.

So I hope that the precious little girl who receives this will one day find comfort in it. I know making it provided comfort for me. It was a much needed break from real life.

Today is a beautiful day here in Texas and I can't decide what to do next, but I'm thinking a little gardening and soaking in some vitamin d is in order. Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

You've Convinced Me!

2010-03-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ladies you have been so awesome and kind with your comments and encouragement that I have decided to still carry pads in my store but it won't necessarily be my main focus.

As soon as I finish the baby quilt I'm working on I plan to sew a few pads from the cores I already have assembled. Mostly 8" and 10.5" pads.

Once again I want to thank you ladies for bringing me out of my funk! I was feeling like I wasn't making a difference but I've heard so many wonderful comments to the contrary that I feel like not offering pads at all just wouldn't be right, somehow.

Quilt Fun

2010-03-19T15:03:00.001-07:00

I discussed the quilt with the man of the house and we decided that I will be making this quilt. And in order for it to not be too girly I removed all the pink strips from my Oh-Cherry-Oh Jelly Roll. Not being a big fan of pink myself, it wasn't much of a sacrifice for me. I used those strips to make the baby quilt below for a girl who works across the hall at the husband's office.
I can't get a decent picture today because it is overcast AGAIN. We have snow in the forcast for tonight and early tomorrow morning. What the heck? This is Texas, not Alaska, it needs to stop already so I can plant my garden.

I want to thank you all for the sweet comments about my store. I can't tell you how many wonderful messages I've gotten about my products. I am seriously rethinking my decision now. I hate that about myself, I overthink everything and change my mind fifty times after I've made a decision. I do still want to quilt and sew some other things for a bit so maybe I'll just take a break from pad sewing for a while and see how I feel then. I still have supplies for a few more listings.

I am now the mother of an adult =/. My daughter turned 18 this week and I cannot for the life of me figure out where the past 18 years have gone. She is a great kid and I could not be prouder of her. She did, however, surprise us by coming home with a nose ring on the day after her birthday. But it's all good, I mean if that is the worst thing she does I am still the most blessed mother on the planet.

I tried to buy a walking foot for my machine today to quilt this lovely quilt but the shop was sold out. I had to order one and it'll take up to 10 days. I am so NOT good at waiting! I will probably end up quilting this before the foot comes in and swearing the whole time because I have to rip out stitches.

I hope to have pictures for you of my quilt next time I post, not finished, of course, but a few blocks to show you. I've got a few cores for pads on my sewing table that need to become stock so I can have free space on the table to cut quilt pieces, so watch for those early next week or possibly over the weekend. I'm feeling the urge to sew with Asian fabrics. I've got some koi fabrics I want to use and some sushi and kokeshi fabrics.

Have a great weekend!

Store Update and Some Store News

2010-03-12T10:12:00.001-08:00

I've just updated my store with a few items and I've made a decision about my store. I am going to sew pads until I am out of bamboo and organic cotton and then I will try something else for a while. There are so many more pad choices out there now as compared to when I started selling 2 short years ago that I feel like I can't compete using the materials that I use. I order my bamboo and cotton from Canada in order to get the best quality and therefore I pay for it and have to pass that cost on. I realize bamboo terry and bamboo fleece are not in the same category as all flannel pads but it still makes it hard to compete. I've still got enough core fabrics for a month or two of pad listing so if you're in the market keep an eye out. If you like pretty topstitching you'll want to watch the store, I have some pretty pastel flannel that I'm going to use to make some everyday liners with fancy stitching.

I am feeling the need to be more creative and do more quilting. I thought I had decided what I wanted to make for myself but now I'm waffling. I have this book and this one. I was leaning toward the quilt on the cover of the second one and now I'm kind of thinking about the cover of the first one. I have 2 jelly rolls in this line because I want it to be bright and springy. Maybe I should just make one of each :) I'm looking forward to the challenge of modifying the pattern so it will fit my queen sized bed and still look proportional. I can never leave well enough alone, I ALWAYS have to make a change of some sort. I guess I've never been very good at following directions, I like to be told what needs to be done and then get it done in my own way. I'm not good at being micro-managed.

Long time no blog....

2010-02-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes life can really get in the way of all the fun stuff we want to do. Sorry I have been gone so long! I had a couple of big custom orders and several small orders to get done and we had more snow here in Texas. I know having snow doesn't sound like it should affect my blogging and sewing but it does. When the base closes and my husband is home all day I don't get a lot of sewing done, because we like to spend that time together, we both know that when he goes back to work he'll be gone from the house for at least 12 hours a day:(.

We got a Trojan on our computer and ended up having to replace it. I still haven't gotten all the important files off the old computer, I had to step away from it and get on with life. One of my pet peeves are those people who seem to have all the time in the world to write code for viruses and trojans, I mean what kind of a sick twisted person gets joy from destroying other people's property? There's just something not right about people like that. I was raised to respect EVERYONE'S property so it just irks me when people don't.

I am sewing to restock the store, so watch for those items in the next few hours and days.

Did you notice my new banner? Isn't it cute? I really like it a lot, more crafty, not just pad related. As I've said before I'd like to add more items to my store. I've got a cute laundry bag pattern that would also make a great pad storage bag. I also have the pattern for the Lickety Split Bag that makes a great diaper bag or book bag or just a big purse. I bought the license for the Lickety Split Bag and I've contacted the other company and was told I could make 15 items for sale before I needed a license. So if anyone is interested in either of those items shoot me an e-mail and we'll work out the details.

Green Smoothies

2010-01-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

I read many different types of blogs, from health related to homesteading to quilting, well you get the idea, I'm into a lot of things. I started reading about green smoothies several months ago on several of the blogs I read and I have been mulling over it since then. I had been trying to figure out how we would use all the things we plan to grow in our garden since we don't really like cooked greens, our garden seed pack came with a lot of greens. Well, last week I dove in and made my first green smoothie. It wasn't as pretty as the one in the picture above but it wasn't horrible. I put frozen berries in it so it was actually a brownish purple color. After a couple days I noticed I had a lot more energy. Then I started giving them to my son and he drank his without protest and asked for more, my daughter balked as soon as she knew there were greens in the smoothie, but now she will drink one as long as it's not green. This weekend I got the husband to try one and he's hooked now, too. He was very surprised at how good he felt and is now ready to keep up the challenge to try to clear some allergy issues he has been dealing with for years.

This is such a simple way to get a ton of greens into your body. I recommend everyone try it for themselves. I could never eat the amount of greens that I pack into my blender even if I took all day to do it. After a few days I started cutting back on the fruit and using water instead of juice for my smoothies and now I don't need them to be sweet like I was previously used to. I cannot stress how good I feel. Normally I drink a pot of coffee a day, today I drank a cup before going in for my thyroid checkup and then this afternoon I drank another cup that was left in the pot just because I didn't want to waste it NOT because I NEEDED it. I have already lost my craving for sweets and that is fantastic because when I eat sweets I have trouble with my vision because of the blood sugar changes and that makes it hard to sew and read--two things I spend the most time doing.

I've been watching Robyn Openshaw and the Boutenko's on YouTube and have learned so much. Both have a lot of very interesting and useful information. I was especially impressed with the Boutenko family's stories of their health recoveries.

Today's winner is comment #3

2010-01-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

Now you can't say you never win any more edesapples:), please send me your mailing info at yurtcraft@yahoo.com so I can ship this out to you. Congratulations!

edensapples said...: I never win thes things.. but here you are.

edensapples @ lj

Blog Recommenddown---to---earth

2010-01-12T14:07:00.001-08:00

I don't know if any of you struggle with $ and debt but even if you don't, this lady has a fantastic blog. I linked to her recent post on budgeting because it's something I struggle with. Her ideas are very like Dave Ramsey's, use cash and keep it separated, however she uses ziplock's instead of envelopes. Her blog is all about living a deliberate, simple life. She is very full of wisdom and great money-saving ideas for the home.

Speaking of money saving ideas, we decided to keep the non-working fridge(that the guy never picked up)and have it repaired. It will cost us about the same to repair as a freezer would have cost and we will have extra space for fresh foods. I've been making green smoothies so I've been buying more greens and our little fridge gets so packed I can hardly find anything until it's empty enough to need to go shopping again. My sewing/dining area will still be clear because we are moving the small fridge to the garage and moving the snazzy ice and water in the door fridge back to the kitchen when it's repaired.

Did you know that an appliance repair technician cannot legally service your fridge with freon in your home? I learned that today, because of some new EPA laws they have to take the fridge to the shop and try to determine where the leak is before they can service it. I wonder what happens if they can't find a leak?

I recently added a bunch of inventory so if you are in need go take a peek. I only have 4 more items made up that I will add over the next day or two and when I get done with the quilt top I am piecing I'll be sewing for the store again. I am also nearly done with the embroidery on that baby quilt so I'll be able to quilt and list that, too!

I hope you are all having a wonderful new year so far!

You Could Be A Winner! Comment #3 wins

2010-01-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

And the winner is comment #3, please send me your mailing info at yurtcraft@yahoo.com

edensapples said...: I never win thes things.. but here you are.

edensapples @ lj

I wasn't sure if I was going to continue with my monthly drawing this year because the interest seems to have dropped off significantly since I first started doing it, but with hard economic times upon us I thought this could be my way of providing a bit of relief to cloth pad addicts. I'm going to let this run for 2 weeks instead of one in hopes that more ladies will get a chance to enter. So on January 21, 2010 I will plug the numbers into the random integer generator and it will pick the winner. Here are the specifics of this pad:

~8 by 2.5 snapped, 3.75 flares
~cotton top
~bamboo fleece(2) and organic cotton fleece(1) core
~polyester fleece back
~#20 polyacetal resin snaps

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and check back on the 21st to see if you are the winner! Shipping is free and worldwide so don't be shy about entering if you are overseas!

My Sewing Area

2010-01-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

This was my sewing area.

I had pretty much taken over the dining area and we couldn't use the table unless I put everything away. I put everything away over New Year's because we had family for a few days, and kind of got used to the area being more streamlined. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a plan where the table would still remain free and it came to me late one night. If it hadn't been so late I probably would have gotten up and rearranged. But I refrained and did it the next day after church. The broken fridge on the right is supposed to be leaving my home tonight, we put it on Craigslist and someone claimed it immediately, but he hasn't called yet about picking it up tonight. If he doesn't take it there is another guy who wants it so it is leaving, just maybe not as soon as I'd like. This is what it looks like now.

We can still use the table, I get natural light from the window above the sewing table and that huge fridge isn't there taking up space. I really like the less cluttered look! I can't wait for warmer weather so we can have our yard sale and get rid of the pile in the corner that I strategically left out of the picture. Less stuff makes me happy!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

I actually finished my big hand quilted Christmas project and started this embroidered baby quilt over the holiday. I found the top in my craft supplies while cleaning and purging. I pieced this over 5 years ago and forgot I had it. When it's finished I plan to offer it in my store since no one in my family who would appreciate it is having a baby this year. I want to try to have a more diverse store this year since I am regaining my love of quilting.

I made a lot of quilts before my children were school age but once they started school I did not have time for a lot of quilting, teaching a 5 year old how to read and do math takes more time than one might think, but now that they are nearly done with school and do a lot more of their work by themselves I find I can complete a project before I lose interest.

I have a bunch of stock for the store that just needs snaps and pictures taken before I can list it, so keep an eye out if you've been waiting for new pads. I'm hoping for a nice sunny day tomorrow to take the pictures. I think we've had one sunny day since Christmas and we had company so I didn't get a chance to take pictures then.

The most exciting part of our Christmas was a blizzard that dropped 11" of snow. This town has not seen that much snow in over 80 years(we don't usually get more than an inch and usually not every year) so you can imagine they were not prepared. We did venture out for a trip to WalMart on Christmas Eve and saw a lot of vehicles stuck and abandoned even before the worst of the storm. We got to use the 4WD in our Jeep for the first time and didn't have any problems getting around. Of course we have lived in snow country so we were experienced in snow driving.

I was finally able to organize my sewing area to make it more aesthetically pleasing but the light is terrible for pics right now, so I will save that for another day. I will however leave you with another picture of the quilt I an working on. May 2010 be a terrific year for you and your family!

INVENTORY REDUCTIONSOLD OUT

2009-12-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

I have cut prices on the remaining items in hopes of clearing them out before the end of the year. Prices are from $2 to $3.75. We are currently snowed in so I will ship as soon as the roads are clear enough to get around safely.

~~The store is currently sold out, thank you! January 1 there will be all new inventory! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Why do I even leave my house?

2009-12-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

Whether it's via the internet or actually getting dressed and leaving I always manage to see something that I really want but know I can't have. Am I the only person this happens to?

I picked up my sewing machine today and while I was at the shop I started to covet sewing tables. I sew on our dining table now so if we ever need to use it I have to put everything away. I've been rearranging furniture in my head for a couple months trying to come up with a plan that will leave our table free and still give me room to work. So far getting another table or cabinet for the sewing machine and serger are all that's coming to me. So after I got home I got online and found this
Isn't it beautiful???? Now I am seriously lusting. I think the green(my favorite color)is what really caught my eye on this one. I would love to have a flat surface like that to sew on, too. There's no drawer so I can still use the knee lifter, an absolute must as it's one of my most favorite features of the machine. I have really missed that knee lifter while sewing on the WalMart Brother I bought.

I'm off to test the machine, I have a 30 day warranty on the work so I must make sure she is working properly before that time is up.

I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season and isn't too frazzled from shopping, parties and programs. Merry Christmas to you all!

Inventory Reduction at my Etsy store

2009-12-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

From now until the end of December I will be having a buy one get one half off special to reduce inventory before year's end. Refunds will be given when shipping labels are printed. If you order different items you will get half off the lesser priced item.

The winner is...

2009-12-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

SAMZE said...

Would love to win as I have just been lurking at all the cute pads...it's Christmas time and I've put a ban on myself from making any indulgent personal purchases! he he he. Thank you, as always, for your generous giveaways! :)

December 6, 2009 2:04 AM

I used the Random Integer Generator as I usually do and it picked comment number 3. Since I had so few entrants and they are all faithful readers it's the only fair way to choose. So, SAMZE, please go to my store and pick your item, then send me an Etsy convo so I can reserve it for you.

I have been working tirelessly this past week on the above quilt and I'm nearly finished, YEA!!! I've been quilting it for 3 years, ugh. I didn't realize how much I dislike hand quilting such a large quilt. It's a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law and I am determined that she have it this Christmas. I am just too ADD for such a large project. I love to do the piecing but not so much with the quilting. From now on all large quilts will be machine quilted. I pledge to only hand quilt wall hangings and baby quilts from this day forward;). I had to add that last part because while going through my craft supplies I found a baby quilt that I had already pieced that I have decided to finish and add to my store this next year(as in 2010). It's a cute little thing that will have embroidered ducks, dressed for each season in the blocks and then the quilting is the cutest little duck footprints around the border. I know there will be some who don't want to see anything but pads in my store but I have found that I just don't have the energy to run more than one store, I never could keep up with keeping them all stocked. So for now it will all be in one place:)

December Drawing

2009-12-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

I'm going to do it a bit different this month. The entrant who wins will get to choose any item, no really, anything in stock at yurtcraft. I'm only going to announce it here which means only my faithful, diehard readers will be eligible. I'll plug the numbers in on Wednesday morning(December 9) and make the announcement, then the winner needs to go to the store and make her choice and send me a convo so I can pull the item from the store for her.

Be sure to leave your comment on this post for your chance to win!

December already???

2009-12-01T13:45:00.001-08:00

Where has this year gone? It seems like it has just flown by. It's been a big year for us. We have our first licensed driver in the house. We bought a house. Our youngest will be 16 in two weeks.

Even though I did a lot of weeding out before we moved I still feel like I am overwhelmed by stuff that I never use. Some of it I feel guilty about getting rid of because it belonged to family members who are no longer with us and some of it I just need to deal with my hoarding issues and get rid of it.

My goal for the new year is to scan our photographs and put them all on thumb drives and one day when we are finally debt free and have some disposable income get one of those nifty digital picture frames. I used to think they were silly until I moved three(or was it four?)very heavy boxes of pictures during this last move. Now I'm thinking it would be pretty sweet to have one picture frame and a couple of thumb drives.

I did think of a way to preserve a childhood memory and not keep an entire punch bowl set.
I made this pin cushion from a cup that goes with my late mother's punch bowl. I'm pretty sure that any of you who grew up in the 70's had one of these sets at every family gathering. I can't remember any special get together where the punch bowl was not brought out. This set was one of my mother's things that I inherited so I really didn't want to haul it off to Goodwill(how many of these have you seen at Goodwill lately? I don't think I could count the number on both hands). But we NEVER entertain and we have a small house so I was struggling about what to do with it. I really like the pin cushion idea but I'm not thrilled with the cushion I stuck in there to try the idea out, so I'm going to dig out some vintage fabric that I got from my mother-in-law's estate and make the cushion part from that. With that I've killed two birds with one stone:) By the way, if any family members read this and want their own pin cushion from Mom's punch bowl set send me a message.

I feel bad for my post about my Bernina that I made in October because now that I've been without her for over a month I've realized how much I do love her. I stopped by the shop today and they don't have her parts yet:(, I made the mistake of sitting down in front of(and sewing on) the Aurora 440 QE. Now I am lusting, it has a walking foot, several other feet and the Bernina Stitch Regulator for free motion quilting. I am in love, but it will have to be an unrequited love because we have made the pledge to get serious about our debt. Get it paid off and never get into it again.

Total Dave Ramsey! I am about to become the biggest funsucker in Texas! I hope my kids can forgive me and learn a lesson from our bad choices.

OK, I'm off to do some Christmas sewing. I never realized how hard it is to find handmade Christmas gifts for men. I've taken to making family gifts instead so that I don't have to try to come up with a not cheesey handmade gift for all the men in my life.

Happy December!

UGH!!!

2009-11-18T08:07:00.000-08:00

My machine's board needs to go to the factory for repair. That will take at least 2 more weeks, depending on how busy they are. Since it's an older machine they don't have parts they repair yours. So my sewing will remain basic until I get the good machine back:(.

UPDATE: I bought a cheap machine that has my favorite stitch so that my sewing won't be dull, I hope it holds up until the Bernina gets out of the hospital:)

Not a good sign:(

2009-11-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

I just called the sewing machine shop that has had my machine since Nov 3rd and they still couldn't tell me anything about it. It's still sitting on the tech's work bench and 'should' be done tomorrow but they had no idea about where he was in the repair process. GRRRRRRR!!!! I'm pretty sure they would just love for me to come in and just buy a new machine but if I have to buy a new one it won't be from their shop! I would love to get my hands on an older Babylock, it's called the Quilter's Companion and has all the features I want in a machine PLUS dual feed.

New Look

2009-11-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

I want to change the look of my store and blog. When I first started selling on Etsy I let someone talk me into the Asian theme, she convinced me that was my niche and I shouldn't stray from it fabric-wise. As much as I love Asian fabric and the time I lived in Japan it has never really felt right as my "theme". However, I have zero skills when it comes to computer graphics. I have an idea in my head based on a drawing my daughter did for me when I first opened but I don't know how to get that idea into a digital format. I really wanted a yurt somewhere in my shop banner but have yet to find the 'perfect yurt' for that. Does anyone have any suggestions for free software that I could use to make my own banner?

yurtcraft

Bad Blogger :(

This liner could be yours :)****WINNER is Sandra****

It's back

30% off until Midnight on the 30th :)

September Pad Give Away** #8, Mas is the winner**

Streamlining

Policy Changes at yurtcraft :)

I'm still here!

And the winner is.....

June Drawing

What I love about WindPro

Facebook NoNo's

Liners...

Sewing on the 430 :)

Tax Day Drawing{{the new winner is Tereza}}

Oh My...

Another question

I finally did it!

Facebook and a Drawing

Bamboo Flannel Love

Changes....

Sneak Peek!

Coupon Code

Vintage Coconut wins the yui kokeshi liner

On Facebook now :)

Just Because I Can :)(drawing closed-Vintage Coconut wins)

Happy Day!

yurtcraft_too

3 Years

February Drawing is CLOSED-New Winner is #6 Anic

New Inventory

New Pads Up at Etsy :)

New Topstitch Design

New Coupon Code~~EDIT:code no longer valid

Coupon Code

Latest Large Custom Order Preview

Last Day for Coupon Code

Coupon Code

And the winner is...

The Give Away

Moving part of my life....

Oh Happy Day!!!

YAY!!....and not so yay

~~Break Up~~

Neutral

Working out the bugs~~

Halloween Pads Available

Changes

Bag Winner

FRIDAY!!!!!

Mixed Feelings...{{WINNER is Melia}}

Done!

Me Time

I'm still here :)

Breaking the Rules--Quilting Rules That Is

Empty Nesting

New Item

I made pickles

Two posts in one day :)

Today's Harvest

Wednesday--it's half over!!!!

Messenger Bag

Last One

Playing with the new camera

WOO HOO!!! One more done!

One more down! Two to go! :)

Another order down

Goldfish Orange and Amazon Green

Pictures as promised :)

It's here!!!!

Waiting....

Graduation Gift Possibilities

Learning New Skills :)

Mmmmmmm!

Learning Curve

Sunny Days

Playing Catch Up

Regrouping

Haven't done this in a while :)~~Winner is #6~~

This liner could be yours :)WINNER is Sandra

September Pad Give Away #8, Mas is the winner

Break Up

Haven't done this in a while :)Winner is #6

Blog Recommenddown---to---earth

You Could Be A Winner! Comment #3 wins

INVENTORY REDUCTIONSOLD OUT