Garden Update

We've been having lots of rain recently- which is great for the garden, but not so great for the picture taking.


I'm still on my break from the sewing machine, and have actually been working on the sweater (I've only had to rip it out once in the last week!). But I'm starting to get the itch for my next sewing project- learning to follow a pattern!


In the meantime, here are some photos of the backyard garden. I was in too much of a rush this morning to head across the street to the community plot- but things are sprouting up there as well! I think I've only killed two tomato plants so far.


I was reading Amanda's blog this morning and understanding very much her feeling of regaining that feeling of being centered and connected (both to yourself and the rest of the world around you) when you get out "in nature". Although I'm stuck in the city (and honestly--I am really a city girl), having these gardens is a great way to get in touch with that side of me on a daily basis.


Like I said, I'm really into the small, I live in the city but can still have a house with a garden thing. A girl could get used to this.

Aprons!

I've listed some aprons up in the shop. I'll be gradually listing all of them over the next week or so, so if you don't see anything right away, there will be new ones. Also, I love doing custom orders, so if you want one, but don't see a color or design that you like, let me know.


I made a special one for myself to use for change at the craft fair I did last weekend and it was super handy (you can see me wearing it in some of the photos). I ended up selling a few to some of the other vendors there- it was great! Almost everyone who saw them had a new idea for what they could be used for- I love how multi-purpose they are.


I'm still working on listing all the bags too, but I'm getting there.


Have a great weekend!

Summery Totes

Like I said, I'm taking a breather from the sewing machine (although not from thinking up ideas for new projects!). But I thought I'd catch you all up on the products that I spent last week working on.


I'm slowly posting these adorable summery totes in the shop, so if you see one here that's not up in the shop yet- just hold your horses, it will be by the end of the week.


These totes are pretty simple- no pockets, and only some of them have ribbon closures. But I think they're great for summer. They'd make good knitting bags too!


I've got tons of aprons too- and those will be up in the shop as soon as it's sunny enough to take some decent photos of them.

Taking a Breath

{sigh}

After a long week and weekend of sewing, sewing, sewing, and then selling, selling, selling, I am taking a breath. About a week ago, I had a minor freak out that my inventory was seriously lacking less than seven days before my first summer craft fair. So I spent the week creating my own one-woman sweatshop in the corner of my living room.


This was my view for most of the week (except imagine all that fabric out of the boxes and strewn all over the living room and dining room).


Special thanks to all those who helped out--namely Jared for designing my new business card and generally putting up with my mild insanity, my mom for all the great ideas and "not calling because I knew you'd be sewing", and my day job for lots of personal time!

I spent most of the week on aprons and bags. But somewhere in there I managed to find time to finally make myself an awesome banner (with a new matching logo soon to come).


After lots of aprons and lots of bags, I had a great weekend. The weather was a little less than great (although it's a bit comforting to hear that others around the country had similar experiences), and I had to pack it up early both days, but overall it was a great weekend. I met some wonderful other local crafters, made some trades, and had some good sales.


Look at all those bags!!!

And look at all those aprons!!! (How does one person make all of that in one little week?? I need a nap, let me tell you- this is not the way to run a business.)

I'll be taking a bit of a breather from the sewing machine, with the exception of a very cool special order for my aunt's school play. I'll be updating my etsy shop with some of the new products I've been working on, and hopefully catching up on some knitting (I don't think I've touched this since this post). And, of course, I'll be sleeping. More to come soon...

{sigh}

The Maiden Voyage

After much procrastination, and nerve-wracking, I finally planted the bulk of my garden yesterday afternoon.


I wasn't going to do it yesterday, what with all the sewing I have to do for this weekend, but the weather was just so beautiful that I had to take a couple of hours outside.


I must admit that I'm a little nervous about how this will all go, being my first foray into gardening outside the house (my previous apartment was referred to by some as the botanical gardens).


But I'm trying to maintain not-so-high expectations for it all.


It is after all, the maiden voyage.

The Album

Now that Mother's Day is over (and was quite wonderful for us here), I can show you the beautiful album that Ryan over at littleputbooks custom made for my mom. It's so beautiful and my mom just loved it.



Of course it was filled with photos of our whole family. It was actually hard to part with! But with all of us scattered across the country (New York, Minneapolis, California) it's nice for her to have that.

We had a great weekend filled with eating LOTS of good food, a farmer's market, an awesome Mother's Day lunch (if I do say so myself), and some great weather. (Jared and I even snuck in a quick yard sale early Saturday morning, hehe. Like I said, I have a problem).

Lots of works in progress right now- getting ready for Johnstock this weekend. We're in a bit of a sewing frenzy over here. Photos coming soon!

PS. A huge thanks to Felicia for including me in her treasury of people who read her blog regularly. All of the aprons that I had in the shop sold out immediately! It's great to have blog friends!!

Swap-a-licious

I participated in my first swap this month. It was the May Five Dollar Lavender and Yellow Swap. Thanks to Mushroom and Gadgets for organizing it! Luckily I received my amazing swap package just before I put together the one I'm sending out, so I had a good idea as to what I should include. Here's the amazing package I got from Eve:



Check out that awesome little needlecase- with a "J" embroidered on it! How amazing is that? Plus ribbon, a bookmark, stamp-pads, felt flowers, and some buttons and little flowers. What a great first swap package to receive! Thanks again Eve, I'm so excited!

Here's what I sent out to Meghan:



I got the idea for this zippy pouch from this great tutorial from Laural. (And I actually followed all the instructions this time). I think it came out pretty well, hopefully my partner likes it!

Well, maybe this month wasn't the best for a first swap. But it was really fun, and I'll definitely be doing some more in the future.

The first step...

...is admitting that you have a problem.

Hi. My name is Julia. And I'm a yard sale addict. I'm sure that everyone who might read this can understand this addiction, so I figured this would be a good place to admit the problem.

So being without a four-wheeled vehicle for the past four months (another story for another time), I've re-gotten used to getting around on two-wheels, or two-feet. We've been very lucky to have some very generous friends and family who have lent us their four-wheels enough times to get us moved in to our apartment and furniture shopping, etc. But being without that this weekend, I began contemplating on Friday afternoon how it would work out to go yard sailing (thanks Amanda for this great phrase) on my bike.


It was on Saturday morning at 10 am, when I ventured out on a three plus mile ride to a neighborhood full of yard sales-with the threat of heavy rain, I might add-that I realized that I truly do have a problem. I had to make a pit-stop back at home to unload before hitting the last one, but it was worth it. Ok, so my shoulders are a little sore from the heavy backpack, and I did arrive home soaking wet and almost blown over from the wind. And after many many weird looks and "oh, are you on a bike?" (I actually got this one multiple times while wearing my helmet! It was all I could do to not reply with- no I'm just really accident prone- the last time I just couldn't resist!), I made it home with a pretty good stash.


I came away with much more than these photos show, but this was the most exciting lot of it all. The biggest lesson for next time: tape a "not for sale" sign to my bike when I take it yard sailing!

(I'm still sifting through all the photos from the amazing May Day Parade on Sunday- the other big event of the weekend. Will post as soon as I can pick out the gems)

what I've been working on (for lack of a more creative title)

Ok, I know that I posted about these awhile ago. But I finally got around to taking some good photos of them (thanks to a very patient photographer, who also happens to live in my bedroom) and posting them up in the shop. I also have another four for sale over at a great new store in Minneapolis- i like you (that's what they say when they answer the phone, i love it!).




I've also finally tackled the magnetic snap- although it's not that complicated, I was grateful for this tutorial on craftster. I made one of these bags last week, but I thought I'd try another one with the snap. It worked out great, but I think it might need some reinforcement, since the magnets appear to be stronger than the fabric. I had dismissed that part of the tutorial, thinking it wasn't necessary- turns out it was. We'll work on following directions next.



I got this black and white fabric as a remnant at IKEA, and it was one of those patterns that I just immediately knew what to do with it- I instantly pictured the contrasting red stitching shadowing the black lines. There's one posted in the shop right now, sans magnetic snap.

More to come this weekend, I promise. It's supposed to rain, so I'm sure I'll get tired of planting my garden pretty quickly! And come visit me in the Mother's Day Showcase tomorrow for some last minute gifts. Have a great weekend!

May Day

I've been trying to avoid politics in this blog. Primarily because this is my place to talk about beautiful things, and so often politics is just not beautiful and I prefer to leave ranting out of this space. However, I thought I would just share some images of the May Day Immigrant Rights march that took place here in South Minneapolis yesterday...




It was a beautiful day. And the feelings of community, grassroots people power, cultural pride, and a strong defense of basic human rights were in the air.