::::::::::::New Patterns::::::::::::

I have to admit, it's been kind of fun bringing out my sewing machine again and creating new items to a) sell or b) keep them for myself (which is what usually happens because I can't part from my lovely creations).

My recent sales on Etsy (and offline through friends and random people on the street) have given me some extra money to buy additional fabric and a little extra motivation to try some new patterns. I decided to bust out my Jandotter, "Sewing Simple" book and try out a new pattern. I thought I would try out the bib pattern in the book because I had just received some wonderful Michael Miller laminated fabric in the mail that I ordered online. My first bib turned out ok...not my best, but not my worst by far. I have very little experience working with bias tape so I found this to be the most daunting part of making the bib. I read that the trick to getting bias tape to "bend" around curves is to iron it and steam it to the shape of your item. Oy vey!

It was daunting but I think it came out worthy of selling on Etsy.

I have also tried making a few yoga totes. Now, I haven't taken a yoga class in my life (I won't be keeping these items...ha ha)....so I was a little nervous about making a tote for something I would never use or neverless seen one in my entire life. I found out that they were pretty simple to sew (using Jandotter's explainations of course) and the most daunting task was how to attach the carrying handle at the end so that it looked pleasing to the eye (and didn't look plain downright ugly). I grabbed some extra thick canvas from Michael Miller and a yoga tote that I picked up at Borders Books (who knew they would have yoga mats on clearance there??) and I got down to business. I thought long and hard about how to make the handle look snazzy (Jansdotter's explaination was a little vague and confusing...probably my lack of sewing was the real problem). Here is how the little guys turned out:

...Michael Miller Home Decor Weight Fabric...

...A little pocket for your keys and cellphone...

::::Valentine's Day, New House and All Things Snow:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

OK OK....I know...I am days behind on this post...

This poor entry has been stuck in "draft" mode all week! Eek!

This past weekend was a fun (but long) weekend! There has been so much going on it's hard to keep up with PH and all. Going to work seems to be my "rest period" and my time to recoup from the weekend activities!

Friday night (Feb. 12th) was the most fun I have had in a long time. After work I went to the new house and paid the workers for this week's work. Then I locked up the house and jetted over to Mack's for his Winter Olympics Party that he was co-hosting with his brother. I just about died when I saw that we were supposed to arrive in our "Olympic" gear (noted on the bottom of the invite weeks ago. Being the slacker that I am, I busted out my 2010 Winter Olympics jacket that I picked up when I was in Vancouver this past summer. I wore my beanie and my snowboarding goggles and was ready to go. I cracked up all night when a new person came in through the door. My favorite outfit was Tim's by far. He came decked out in Spandex and a helmet ready for his bobsledding event. It was a blast to watch the opening ceremonies with close friends and especially Mack. :)

At the top of Whistler Mountain in front of the Olympic Statue (close to where the downhill/alpine skiing area is)...

Saturday seemed to fly by so fast, I can barely remember what I did...must be that PH memory loss working...hmmm...I did sleep in because I didn't get home until 2am (ugh...I am just not that good with late nights anymore...lol). Mom and I went to JC Penny's (one of my least favorite stores) to pick up some dishes she saw on sale. Mom is a major dishes addict. I think she has about 40 different sets of dishes. It's ridiculous. So we went and picked them up...12 person place setting for 60 bucks was a pretty good deal I thought so I didn't throw much of a fuss. Then we went to Home Depot to pick up our handles for our kitchen cabinets and we also picked up the outlet covers and light switch covers for the entire house. We went to the new house next where Carlos was painting away still and Kenny and his future son-in-law were installing the billion kitchen cabinets and all the bathroom cabinets through out the house. They looked fantastic I must say. It was so exciting, we were one step closer to the big move. Then dad took us to Outback for dinner and then we raced home to watch the Olympics.

Sunday was a blur too now that I think about it. More house stuff (additional cabinet install, more painting, etc. ). Mack came over and helped dad install sinks, ceiling fans, and a bunch of other little things.

Is it almost over? I keep asking myself that and the true madness hasn't even started.

This week at work has been pretty slow overall. Some of the sales guys are in so I have been creating lots of spreadsheets, attending lots of meetings, and other mindless things that are pretty much routine. Working on Home Depot's online catalog has been the most challenging thing to complete this week. Only because I really don't want to have to do it. I keep pushing it off but I am going to have to address it at some point.

Etsy sales have been kind of slow this week but profitable. Wedding girl from previous blog has decided to take the fabric and run. Which, is in the end, is probably the best thing (who has the time to sew 20 table runners and 2 tablecloths?...surely not me). So I tripled the price of the fabric that she is in desperate need of and made a sweet little profit of $200.00. Woohoo. And I didn't have to sew a darn thing...just a quick drive to IKEA and the deal was done! That was the easiest sale ever. I kinda wanted to sew them...just so I could get the extra business if someone asked where she got them, but....I just don't think I have the time to do it with work, PH conference stuff coming up, and the big move.

I did have some extra time though to crunch out a few new items for my Etsy shop...most came out pretty gosh-darn cute and are up for sale. Here a few pics for your enjoyment (and because I believe no blog should ever be posted without a picture!).

One of the cutest baby blankets I have ever made! (I kinda wanna give it to Ayden!)

Easy Wipe Away Bib in Michael Miller Fabric!

Yoga tote in Michael Miller fabric!

House updates coming this weekend!

:::::::Let Wedding Season Begin:::::::

Yesterday I got a request via Etsy to create 20-25 table runners and 3-5 tablecloths for a young lady who is getting married in June.

This young lady has been searching for the fabric to do it herself but she lived near 1 store where they sell this fabric and I live by 6. She wanted to know if I had enough fabric to make 25 runners plus tablecloths for her buffet table, etc. I had made 2 table runners already with this fabric for my store and I knew this fabric was on clearance and was one of the most popular fabrics at this store. (See 20 yards of this fabric in the picture in this entry.)

I had to act fast.

I started calling around like a mad woman and the only place that had it was a store in Carson. I drove up there (during rush hour BTW) and bought 20 yards of fabric. This was the last bolt of it in the state of CA. Yes, I called each store in Cali.

Now I have to come up with a price and hopefully I will land the deal. I can't wait to make them. Just think...if I can get just a few of her friends to visit my store afterwards, that will be a lot more clients. I really...REALLY want to land this deal. This would be a great way to get some exposure (over 200 people will be coming to her wedding). Now I just need to get some custom satin labels with my store name and Etsy addy on it to put on each item. Anyone got any good resources for this (I am hoping my PHriends/Etsy peeps know a connection)?

This could be a huge profit and a great project for exposure.

Wish me luck that she gives me the A-Ok! :)

:::::Just One of Those Days:::::

Ugh.

It was just one of those days.

This morning I dropped off my car @ my 'regular' mechanic to get some new brakes. Lexus was claiming that I needed brakes AND roters. Yeah ok. Roters after my first set of brakes??? Come on. So my friend John took a look at them (now that my car is back from getting it's warranty fixes at the Lexus dealer). He looked at them and said they looked perfectly fine. What's up with that?? I think Lexus was trying to get some money out of me now that they spent over 6K on fixing my engine, fuel rails and dash. Nice try buddy!

As many of you know, my little car has been at the Lexus dealer since Thursday. I got a recall notice (by the government) in the mail saying that my Lexi needed a new fuel rails for the fuel injection. Lovely. So I thought this would be the perfect time to mention this strange noise that I keep hearing when my car starts when it's cold out. Kinda sounds like change falling through the engine. Something was definitely not right. I also mentioned the squeaky inside of the dash on the passenger side. Every time I hit this one bump on my drive into work each day, the dash sounds like it is coming off.

I was smart because I was expecting the Lexi mechanic to not her the noise because the car would be in the garage at the dealer. I told him to keep it overnight (it was supposed to be cold and rainy that night...a perfect time for it to make it's little noise. They replaced the fuel rails and the dash on day one and day two would be the true test. I researched the TSB (technical service bulletin) for what I thought was this noise. I thought it was either the starter or the cam gears (according to the TSB). I wrote the TSB number down just in case.

Of course my little Lexi made her noise that morning and they told me it was the cam gears weren't getting oil and thus the gears were bad. Ah ha...thank you TSB! So I told them to keep the car and fix the damn thing. So it took them all Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to fix it and replace everything that was broke regarding the bad cam gears. The replacement list was long and in the end, it would have cost over 6k in labor and parts. Yikes. Thank the lord for warranties!! :)

Now that my car is back, Lexi got her new brakes and is running awesome. My fuel mileage is up 4 miles per gallon and it feels good to give Tustin Lexus their IS250 back and enjoy my spacious GS350.

Then I had to go to Lowe's after work to pick up somethings for the art department. Of course, they only had 2 of 6 items they needed so I whipped out my Hampton Credit Card and charged it.

Then I got this email from a buyer on Etsy saying that she would like me to make her 20 or more table runners for her wedding. OH MY GOSH!! Yay but yikes! Only problem is that she wants it in fabric that is discontinued and I only have about 3 yards left in my stash. Now I am on a desperate search to find this fabric. Lots of calling I will be doing tomorrow!

Dad then called and told me to meet mom and him at the new house. The kitchen cabinets were delivered by Kenny today (he has been making the cabinets from scratch at his home). All I have to say is that they looked awesome! Now our garage is full of kitchen cabinets, crown molding, and the old home owner's new fridge that they left behind. Carlos and his sons are about halfway done with the painting. Carlos says my room looks awesome so far (just the ceiling is painted right now). That reminds me that I need to call Porcelanosa and see where my sink is at. All I know is that the sink is swimming across the Atlantic from Spain. :)

As for the Etsy store, sales are a little slow this week. Since I posted new items up today, visit numbers went up. I put up a few items on sale for valentine's Day so hopefully that will get some items moving. I need to sell some items in order to make room for my new baby items I have made. Store showcase is on the 19th so I need to get going on sewing those totes!

Tomorrow will be pretty quite at work. I packed up the product for the True Value Hardware show next month. No meetings are planned (yet). Big Boss is out of town on business still. This will give me some time to cut fabric at work hopefully.

Tomorrow should be a good day. :)

:::::::Stitch by Stitch::::::::

As many of you know, last week was the first week my Etsy store (Five Cent Designs) was open. We had a fantastic opening week with 4 sales. I was able to sell two sets of placemats, a table runner and a purse that I was actually tempted to keep for myself. :)

I got my first review today. Danielle, the buyer of the black/brown/white honeycomb placemats received her placemats today and has already put them on her table. How do I know this, you must be asking? Because she left a photo of her placemats on her table and they looked wonderful! She left me an awesome review and was very pleased (and excited) about her purchase.

As most people probably are with their first sale...I was a little nervous. I knew I sent her a beautiful set of placemats but I kinda wondered if they were what they she was expecting and I also wondered if she felt they were worth what she paid (I only charge 15 bucks for a set of four). My confidence was a little low...because sewing things for the public for money and sewing things for your family and friends is a whole other animal.

By her positive response, her photo, and her obvious excitement she showed in her response, I think she thought they were worth what she spent and met her expectation levels.

...Here are Danielle's new placemats on her kitchen table...my confidence just went up a notch. :)

:::::::Life in a Nutshell::::::

It's almost embarrassing to say that my last post into this blog was in September! So much has happened since then and now so this particular entry might be long, but I will try to keep it short. :)

In October I got to visit the wonderful state of Georgia. I had to do some Home Depot training in Atlanta and then decided to take a few extra days off and venture over to Savannah and North Carolina. Both areas were beautiful. One of the few highlights of the trip was going to the Savannah-style Oktoberfest and have lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant. All I have to say is yum!!

Once I got home, the fam concentrated on finding a new house. We love the condo, but it's starting to get a little cramped. Going from 3200 sq. ft. to 1700 sq. ft. is a large adjustment. We made it work but we really wanted to be settled. So on our quest, we found a nice home. Kinda older (which is surprising because my parents never buy used homes) but it was the perfect size, the perfect layout, and very close to work. Overall it just needs some TLC. In other words, in the terms of the Nicol fam, it had to be gutted, and that's what we did!

...Before Demo...

...After Demo...

Now months later, the house is in it's final stages of being finished. The new cabinets are going in this weekend (and the first part of next week). Carlos (the painter) and his crew are prepping and priming. The staircase is finished and so is my bathroom (minus my cabinet which is still swimming over from Spain). The downstairs bath is looking good and the granite we picked out for the kitchen and the bathrooms in the house is gorgeous!! There is still a lot left to do, but we are get closer! In 3 weeks, we will be in our new house!

...New House from the Outside...

In the meantime, mom and I (well really I for now...she is slacking on her creations because of the packing...but I will give her a break...lol) opened our own Esty store called Five Cent Designs. The first 3 days I had 4 sales! I couldn't believe it. So once what was a somewhat full store of goodies...is down to 12 random items. Ugh! Time to sew!

...One of my latest projects...

So in a quest to sew bigger and better things, I picked up this most adorable sewing book by Lotta Jansdotter called "simple sewing". I am totally in love. Her patterns are modern and sleek and best of all, easy (for us novice sewing peeps). My favorites are the reversible apron, the all-day tote and the magazine holder....shoot everything in there is a love of mine! My goal is to do at least one of each item over the next few weeks to see what people seem to be interested in. I can't wait!

So in order to have items made you have to have supplies right? So I trekked down to Ikea (love the fabrics...wonderful prices) and picked up a few yards of different fabrics. I was lucky enough to hit up the 1.99 per yard rack and scored some great deals (cheaper the fabric, the more profit you make right?). And now I am fabric obsessed. I ordered some laminated fabric online in hopes of making some baby bibs and I also got some modern design cotton fabric to make some snugly baby blankets. I am swinging by Barnes and Noble this afternoon to pick up Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing for Baby" (can't you tell I just love her stuff).

All of this sewing frenzy is happening (right in the middle of our move of course) because our little Etsy store is going to be showcased on the 19th of Feb. So that means I only have 2 weeks to make a ton of stuff so people can buy, buy, buy! :)

So that's everything so far. Well, that's not everything but that is a large chunk of what's going on. Will post more soon (I promise)!!