Fan Expo 2012

Hi guys! I've finally recovered from the insanity that was last weekend enough to let you know how it went! Get ready for a long one!

Fan Expo is Canada's version of Comic Con where apparently 80,000 make their way, over the course of four days, to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. I had never been myself until a few years ago when my friend, Jen of Sparklegirl, mentioned it would be a good fit for Needlings.  Now I've been going for the past three years and it is always super fun.

I took lots of pictures of my booth as well as a bunch of crazy costumes over the weekend so I'll show you a few here! If you'd like to see the rest, check out the facebook album if you haven't already!



Here it is on day one! It was quite a crazy morning getting in to Toronto with enough time to drop off my puppy at her sitter (who is one of my best friends and was amazing to watch my new little Callie pup the whole weekend!), get through lunch time Toronto traffic, and register for the show with enough time to set up! And we did it! 

I wore my table matching handmade skirt for the first time too, twice!
                     


I also stopped by my close-by friends Lisa of Nerdbiskit and Jen of Sparklegirl! Both of their booths looked great!




And a few costumes of course:

A kitty that bought a kitty!


Day 2 went a little more smoothly in terms of commuting in to Toronto with the puppy again but after the late night, I must admit we were all pretty sleepy! Lots of tea was required behind the booth.






Funnelling out after a long day 2!


On to day 3!







Day 4! Last day! (It really felt more like 10)








I didn't buy anything over the weekend but I did do a trade with fellow artist, Sincerly Swiggins! Check out his etsy shop here!



Happy! Overall, it was a great weekend! Worth all the sleepiness and long days for sure! 

I am already back in to the workroom program finishing up some big orders that were waiting for me when I got home, store restocks, and prep for more festivals coming up in September here in Hamilton, Locke Street Festival and Supercrawl, with another show at the end of September in Waterdown. Busy month for Needlings!

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of fall-ish weather! I'll see you at the end of the week for a workroom recap!

In the Workroom Recap : Week 249

Hey guys! I'm a little late this week with the recap. The days just keep flying by and now there are only three more days until Fan Expo! The good news is I feel ready to go and excited for the weekend thanks to all the work I was able to get through the past couple weeks.  Here's what I managed last week:

After I finished all that I decided to try my first mock set-up to see what else was needed. I ended up moving things around again later to try out a different set-up that doesn't completely put me behind a cage for the weekend.


I decided I needed some more owls - more Owl Mamas and littles.







Alllllmost made it without running out of stuffing.

Then I made up some signs and moved around the set-up until I was happy with it. I think it'll work!



I'll be spending the next few days finishing up with the tagging and pricing of everything and getting it all packed away and organized and all ready to go for Thursday! 

Let me know if you're planning on being there in Toronto and come visit me at my booth in Artist Alley A114!  And if you aren't going, don't worry, because I will definitely be back next week with a big old update filled with lots of pictures!  See you then!

In the Workroom Recap : Week 248

Ok guys, quick workroom recap this week! Fan Expo is less than two weeks away so we're in the final stretch! Lots of owls on the go!

Then on to phone sleeves!




Check out all those owls! 



All stocked up on keychains too!



And now currently finishing up some Owl Mama Crossbody Bags!



Would you believe me if I told you I was working on the bare minimum amounts for everything?  It's true! Fan Expo is a BUSY event guys! I'm so excited!

Oh another exciting thing was getting a peek at my new Needlings Doodlings buttons that will be available at Fan Expo! These were custom made with my little doodlings by my lovely friend Lisa of Nerdbiskit!



Ok I'm wasting time here not sewing! See you guys next week!

In the Workroom Recap : Week 247

Happy August everyone! The next few week's blog recaps may be a little less text heavy because I am feverishly sewing away to have enough stock for Fan Expo in less than three weeks!  My to do list is scheduled out and the deadlines are etched in stone. (too dramatic?) 

Anyway, there are going to be lots of things churning out in the next few weeks and it will all be capped off with a super fun/crazy four days in Toronto at Fan Expo. 

Before I started work on a batch of Owl Mamas for Fan Expo, I finished up a restock for Dots & Loops in Lunenburg and sent it out!



I sent two purple cell sleeves out to a customer waiting on them at Homespun in Indiana. Restocks are on hold due to Fan Expo but they'll be next on the list for a bigger restock as soon as the dust settles after Fan Expo!



Oh yes, I also made a little treat for myself out of my custom Needlings fabric.  A skirt! I plan on wearing it to Fan Expo so I'll of course take some more pictures then! I'm really excited about being able to use up some more of my fabric supply on some skirts for myself.  It's always hard to find the time to sew something for myself but I'm glad I did!




I also had a small bookmark order to finish up this week before starting the last Fan Expo dash.



Then the owl cutting began...





Another sewing afternoon with my friend Lisa of www.Nerdbiskit.com helped me finish up all the owl faces.



The top right panel of the image shows Lisa's work - nerdy bags that will also be available at Fan Expo at her Nerdbiskit table just around the corner from Needlings!






Finished Owl Mamas and on to little Owlings!  Right on schedule!

I'll be back next week with lots more! Have a good weekend, friends!

In the Workroom Recap : Week 246

One more week closer to Fan Expo at the end of August and one more week of Needlings working!

I started with finishing us a batch of little Owlings and Robots to bring over to Chapters in Ancaster.





All tagged and ready to go!



I'm very happy with how quickly they've been disappearing from their little temporary home in Chapters! Hopefully that will tide them over for the month!

I was quite excited to receive my Needlings owl fabric in the mail this week! I'm so excited for what I have planned for it - hopefully I can make the time in the next few weeks to finish my planned project!



Before I can get started on stocking up for Fan Expo in Toronto on August 23rd-26th, I have Dots & Loops in Lunenburg to stock up and send a couple additional phone sleeves to Homespun in Indiana. My goal is to finish them up on Sunday and be all Fan Expo all the time for the next few weeks!



A few Owl Mamas first...

Then on to some littles!




I was lucky enough to have my dear friend Lisa of Nerdbiskit stop by again while I worked on these little guys!  And she got to meet Callie, my new little rescue pup! The update on her is that she is an unspayed year old little sweetie that seems not to have anyone looking for her. She was perhaps a lost hunting dog in training or was abandoned in the country for no fault of her own. I think we're lucky to have found her and I'm so glad I saw her on the highway and had the left over fish and chips to gain her trust! 

She's the sweetest!



Lisa kept her company on the couch while doing some handsewing of her own while I sewed away at some littles for Dots & Loops!



I'm always happy to have a coworker for the day!

I then managed to finish up those littles and move on to a batch of phone sleeves! Two purple ones to a customer waiting on them at Homespun in Indiana and the rest to go along with Dots & Loops' restock!





Now to finish them up and send them out!  My list of to-do's is close by this month as I attempt to fit in a LOT of sewing in the next few weeks.  

Be back in a week with an update! Enjoy the rest of July, friends!

In the Workroom Recap : Week 245

July is almost over and I can hardly believe it!  This week ended with an exciting twist which I will mention at the end of this post but the week started pretty much as usual with finishing up a bunch of phone sleeves for White Rabbit in Iowa City.

And finished! Printed some packaging for them and got them ready to go along with the batch of Owl Mamas from last week.



And in the box they all went! They should be making their merry way to Iowa City as we speak.

In addition to this order I whipped up a little something for myself as well as planned a new additional project before Fan Expo next month (wishful thinking that I can fill everything in).



A little hairbow made with original design Needlings fabric!  This was my first little project made from Spoonflower fabric (Spoonflower is a company that prints custom design fabric) and I'm really excited about potential future ones.  I'll definitely keep you updated! In the meantime I'll be enjoying my new owl bow.



Now, my initial plan for this weekend was to finish up this little batch of Littles for Chapters in Ancaster...



BUT this little lady had other plans for me...



This sweet little one year old girl is the new addition this week. We found her scared, hungry and alone on the side of the highway late on Friday night out in the country. We were told by the SPCA that she has been running around that area (Caledonia) for about a month, being fed donuts at the local Tim Horton's but not allowing anyone to catch her. We've checked back through the SPCA for people with missing beagles like her as far back as March and didn't come up with any matches. They seem to believe someone may have dropped her off in the country unwanted which is heartbreaking.
We took her to the vet and are in the process of getting her all fixed up but of course will be happy to give her a home if we can't find the one who lost her or is looking for her. She's really so sweet and appreciative of her new indoor home. Gus the cat is still adjusting to a new "friend" in the house but hopefully they can figure out some sort of aggreement soon if she'll be sticking around.  She's been tentatively named "Cale" (prounouced "Callie) because we found her in Caledonia.
She's a busy little bee so I haven't been able to do much sewing but I'm back to it today now that she has settled down a bit and all her medications/vaccinations are out of the way.

We'll see how it goes this week! Wish us luck!