Happy New Year!

Olive Branch Cowl, originally uploaded by Needlings.

Yep, it's 2009 now. I hope everyone had a fun night ringing it in.

I wanted to show off more of my mom's shop items! This cowl has been the most popular in her shop lately...I must say it is my favourite.

On the Needlings shop front - lots of already sold snap pouch designs have been relisted for sale and new items are still being worked on in my little workroom.

I tend not to make resolutions but I am definitely looking forward to another Needlings year and will be happily putting in lots of work and time in to making new items and doing more shows. It's always exciting to think of what is to come.

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. They always fly by fast, don't they?

Merry Christmas!

and happy holidays!

I hope everyone enjoys a nice day off
and maybe some time with family and yummy food.

I feel so lucky to have the lovely people I have around me.
I will definitely be enjoying a completely relaxed day.

Love you all,
Heather
xoxo

December

Owl Baby Pocket Mirror, originally uploaded by Needlings.

These new little pocket mirrors are up in my shop - among a few other new things. I'm hoping things will slow down so I'll be able to sew a bit more and get a few more things in the shop - new tote, new pouches, new Needlings - lots of stuff on the go. I'm excited for January when I'll have a bit more Needlings time.

But...

December has been a busy month...
as I'm sure it has been for a lot of people!

I'm using today to wrap presents and get ready for Christmas completely since I will be at work all day tomorrow.

I hope everyone is doing lots of fun holiday stuff and enjoying some time off if you have it.

The year is almost over...see you in the next one!

Mom, Markets, and Computer Hate

I've been keeping quite busy lately in terms of Needlings

goings-on as well as helping my mom start her very own

Etsy scarf shop.

So we present you with, the very sparce, currently, but not for long,

The Nature Of Mary Jane

She's working on lots of pretty, pretty scarves featuring

the yarns you see in the photo. I'm helping her out

as much I can until she gets the hang of it but

it's very nice to see her excited.

She's always been a "maker" who would love to have

a shop of some sort but I think wasn't sure where to start.

On the topic of markets,

I will be participating in the Holiday Makers' Market

here in Hamilton this year taking place at Christ's

Cathedral Church downtown - which is a beautiful old

church that allows it's usage for such events.

I'm excited to see how it goes considering it has more of

an "indie," for the lack of a better word, vibe than

my first show did (that I was still happy with) earlier this month.

Now on the combo topic of computer hate and why

I haven't been very present on this here blog lately

My firefox browser has decided to disallow me

access to certain features such as my email, flickr blogging,

and other fun things that make my life easier for them

to all be in the same place.

My computer has decided to take a bit of a speed break

on top of that so we'll see what I can work out.

Perhaps Santa will bring me a brand new spiffy working

computer...and if he doesn't - I may just have

to bring it to myself.

I hope to see you more often than it has been.

I shall be working away on new items (Owl Mamas currently)

and organizing for the market next week but I hope

everyone in the U.S. has a happy Thanksgiving

and end of November in general for everyone else.

Love.

Free Shipping and New Moo!

Needlings Notecard Set, originally uploaded by Needlings.

These are my new note cards featuring my product photography printed by moo.com!
I thought they needed a little home so I made a felt envelope to hold the little set of 4 cards and envelopes. It's fun trying out new things. I'm still working on a few more holiday-y items so look out for those if you are so inclined.

I spent today doing a little Christmas shopping for my mom...I seem to always start with her because she's just the easiest. I love shopping for her. On the off chance she reads this I won't say what I got but I will say that I think she'll like all of it. My dad and brother always require serious spying, prying, and list-making. Thankfully, I am a cool-headed late shopper so I still have some time!

Speaking of holiday shopping...
I'm officially letting you all know that I have free shipping worldwide in my shop until December 1st! No excuses to empty out those favourites now. (wink wink)

I hope everyone is enjoying the starting signs (or full on pleasant/unpleasant effects) of winter coming.

If you hate winter...don't fret - it always goes away eventually. And if you love it...enjoy it until it is over and then don't fret - it always comes back again.

MacFair finished!

MacFair 08, originally uploaded by Needlings.

I've had a busy beginning of November getting ready and finally actually doing MacFair at the Museum of Art the past few days.
It was an overall pleasant first show for me and I was lucky enough to have my mom there the whole time.
This photo is of my set up before the show started and only experienced a little shifting and replacing of items over the span of the three day show. Definitely happy with how it turned out!
It was busier than I thought it would be and there really were no disasters or even almost disasters and I am now feeling ready to agree to more shows...which is exciting!
It was super nice to be able to talk to a few people who are really right there with me in a lot of ways. I'm really too much of a homebody most of the time so I really liked meeting some really sweet people.

Oh, and tomorrow is my birthday! Not a bad November so far.

It's a Necklace!

It's a necklace!, originally uploaded by Needlings.

In the middle of all my tagging and pricing prep for MacFair Thursday, Friday, and Saturday...I decided to make a tiny owl.

Added a little ring and ribbon and I think he makes the perfect little owly necklace!

I hope everyone's November is starting out as pleasant as mine has been.
Busy with work but definitely good.
I'll be spending the next couple of days frantically working to prepare for my show but I hope to see you all following the weekend with some good words (and photos) from my first big show!

Holly Doll

Holly Doll, originally uploaded by Needlings.

It's Saturday night and I've finished another new doll!
My weekend is never much of a break in the week since I work at 7am both Saturday and Sunday so my work week soldiers on as usual.

It was quite a rainy day today but I managed to get a few photos taken between sun showers which made me quite happy.

I wish it were snowy so she could have a wintery background to suit her rosy red cheeks but these will do for now.

Ellie Doll

Ellie Doll, originally uploaded by Needlings.

Well, here she is all finished up! And she's up in the shop too.
My plan is to get a few done to add a few punches of pattern to my table at MacFair!
First one down, polka dots!
I've been working on another one that's a little more Christmas-y looking. Red and white to be exact. With some vintage floral print legs. It's fun to work with patterned fabric every once in awhile on things other than bags.
Happy last weekend of October! I always miss October when it's over. But November is my birth month so the longing doesn't last too long!

New pouches!

New pouches!, originally uploaded by Needlings.

I finally finished a big batch of pouches I've been working on and they're now up in my shop!
My fingers are quite glad that the ordeal is over but I didn't give them much of a break to be honest:
I've spent the past little bit finishing up that new doll that I'll be showing off very soon.

Can you believe how hard I'm working?
I can't!

Talk soon and thanks for checking back with me; as always.

Work

Work, originally uploaded by Needlings.

Just started working on this new doll last night while watching Pushing Daisies (I love that show).

I hope to get a few dolls (my felt plush with fabric legs) finished before MacFair...among a few other things!

Back to work! Hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday!

P.S. There will be a new batch of snap pouches in the shop very very soon!

Come see me at MacFair!

Come see me at MacFair!, originally uploaded by Needlings.

Work

Work, originally uploaded by Needlings.

Still working away at a big batch of pouches.

My poor fingers.

I've also listed a bunch of new Owl Mamas in the shop!

Happy Thursday!

P.S. See that adorable little pincushion?

It's from the ever so sweet SugarElf shop!

Yesterday's Twitter Tweets

• 08:15 Why am I awake? #
• 09:06 Katie in the shop! tinyurl.com/3jyof7 #
• 09:06 Fern in the shop! tinyurl.com/4klb49 #
• 10:16 today I have to: keep working on ridiculous quantity of pouches, shop for more MacFair supplies (bags, rack for totes, etc.), and vote! #
• 16:15 voted! #
• 18:11 so happy with all the stuff I got for my craft fair display today! Less nerves and more excitement! #
• 21:57 listening to Penelope by Pinback #
• 23:22 is quite happy to be heading to bed tonight. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Happy Thanksgiving!

Or Columbus Day,
for you Americans.

Or Monday,
for everyone else.

Still working on a big batch of pouches for MacFair.
So so happy to have the next three days to devote
to Needlings and just myself!

Hope everyone has a lovely day!

Yesterday's Twitter Tweets

• 05:29 why does my cell phone not let me know I have a new voicemail until the absolute middle of the night...5 hours after the message was left? #
• 12:58 working on a batch of pouches for MacFair and taking photos of Owl Mamas. #
• 13:05 Peter back in the shop: tinyurl.com/4hvwwh #
• 13:49 what is going on with my camera? #
• 14:04 just listed a new Owl Mama in the shop! www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16115842 #
• 14:24 and another one! www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16116649 #
• 14:53 not looking forward to working 7am-3:30pm tomorrow but really looking forward to my Thanksgiving (Canadian) 3 day "weekend." #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Finally Finished Scarf

Finally Finished Scarf, originally uploaded by Needlings.

Remember when I started this? Me neither. June, I believe.
I absolutely love knittydirtygirl's yarn! http://knittydirtygirl.etsy.com

Now I have an excellently green scarf to go with my purple jacket.

Who Loves Ikea?

I do!

So I always get lost and will
never possess such a perfect display kitchen...
but one trip to Ikea and I feel loads better about MACFair
that's coming up in a little under a month.

Two little metal shelve-y step-y things,
a little pink stool,
and a bright yellow metal storage pail,
and I feel like I'm almost there.

All I need is a rack of some sort for my totes.
Email me if you have any leads!

Here's my "test set up."
Don't mind the currently empty signs
and random bits of clutter scattered about!

Cloudy Day

It's a pretty sad looking day today...

And I just shipped out this happy little cloud custom pouch.

It was nice and sunny when I was working on it yesterday though.
Really pretty.
I love fall.

Yesterday's Twitter Tweets

• 11:15 waiting for yummy French onion soup lunch in the oven...working on knitting various straps for unplanned bags. #
• 16:02 working on a custom snap pouch. I love when someone else picks great colours I haven't put together yet. #
• 16:34 still sewin' flickr.com/photos/needlings/2910795028/ #
• 17:43 and done! flickr.com/photos/needlings/2910911842/ #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter