Monday, July 15, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 296

Hello! It's Monday night which means I'm a solid day and half-ish late on my workroom recap but you'll have to forgive me! I'm sure you will too - because you're the best!

This week started with a fun mail, my fur delivery! Which sounds like a super fancy luxury designer thing to say but of course it's faux and crazy coloured and destined for doll heads. (ie: not that fancy.)



That top one is a pretty light blue, then yellow, turquoise and hot pink. Exciting stuff! I didn't get a chance to use it yet this week but I did use the black from the last shipment and a little bit of green for a special custom order mini doll!

First I took some time to make a few more pom poms! Lots to go if I'm going to have a pom pom covered booth for my outdoor shows but luckily I have a couple months left before they spring up on me.



Then I was asked by a customer to make a mini version of my already mini Thumbelina doll for her daughter to hang from her backpack. I made her as small as I could and I was really happy with how she turned out! I hope her daughter loves her!




So little! I was pretty excited about how small I was able to get her so I might have to add this size to my collection. First I have plans to make more the size of the bigger Thumbelina though. There are always so many things to make!

The rest of my week involved some gift making - a bunch of goodies that were sent off to my oldest best friend Jenny in Iowa City Iowa who is expecting a little baby boy in August and a doll for my other dear friend Lisa of Nerdbiskit who was celebrating her birthday.

After I did a bunch of jungle illustrations for Baxter's nursery - I made him a matching monkey and banana rattle. Then a little owl family and baby blanket for good measure.





Happy to say they loved everything! I can't wait to hopefully visit Iowa soon after baby Baxter is born!

And here's the doll I made for non-baby Lisa! A little doll version of Lisa all decked out in Nerdbiskit colours and the Nerdbiskit logo.




Cutest pair of dolls!

And that was it for the week! I've been in the process of tidying up my work room to get ready for a photo and video shoot for The Hamilton Spectator which is scheduled for this Thursday. Eep. I'll let you know how it goes!!

But for now, here's the before! (Messy messy messy)



See you soon!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 295

Hi guys!

I started off the week with some more boring behind the scenes work and also managed to get everything back up on the doll wall! Important stuff. Super important.



To continue in the "behind the scenes" vein, more time was spent on painting display pieces for future shows. I need more than just my refinished white trunkto fill up my tent for outdoor shows AND my big booth at the One of a Kind show in December! I'm excited to get rid of the black stuff I was using for the past 5 years and to make some changes for shows. If any of you have experience (and I know you do) doing craft shows and the like, you know how both important and somewhat challenging it is to find display stuff that is practical and looks good so hopefully I have found some! I like the idea of changing things up because if I'm bored with it, chances are someone else is too!



Sneak peek anyway! We're basically using up this can of white paint on everything and then I'll figure out exactly how it will all fit together and what I can use for the old Needlings display. Who doesn't like a nice little white table and assorted goodies anyway right? Right. It'll work out! It will!

In addition to the painting work, I packed up some gifts and orders and started work on a new doll!





I plan on finishing her up this week so I will at least have something new to show you for next week's update. And a few more things hopefully!

See you then lovely friends!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 294

Canada Day weekend! If any of you non-Canadians were starting to "tsk" me for being late with my workroom recap, don't worry, I didn't forget! I had a great holiday weekend and while I did manage to get a little work done, I thought the blogging could wait a couple days so I could join the rest of my countrymen in enjoying the long weekend.

So here I am on Monday night to let you know how the last week of June went for Needlings!

I started with finishing up a secret gift project I've been working on for awhile that I may be able to share at a later date...

And then I started work on that custom doll I was waiting on a supply delivery before starting.



I met (another) Heather of Creative Bug at Heirlooms show in Welland earlier in the month and she asked me to create a custom doll for her daughter! I was happy of course to create a custom doll and after seeing a photo of her in her Wonder Woman costume and hearing a few more tidbits (she likes butterflies and liked my pom pom table at the show), I did up a little sketch and got to work as soon as the blue fur arrived!



We agreed on star glasses and a couple other things but I was mostly just asked to go ahead and make what came to me so I did just that. I'm pretty happy with how she turned out and even happier that Heather is too and excited to gift it to her daughter in August for her birthday. I hope she loves it!




I put in another order for some more fur and plan to have a few more done very soon whenever doll thoughts enter my brain.

After some other commitments were out of the way and I had some big brother birthday times, I got to work on a little owl family! It's fun to coordinate colours I wouldn't normally put together and mix and match in groups. After making literally thousands of these guys in the last five years, I love that I still can find new combinations. I have my Owl Mama to thank for a lot of my business so even when I have moments when I think I just can't sew another little beak and eye sparkle, I am thankful I can still have fun with my trusty design.




Plus practice makes perfect! Or at least better. Everyone always asks me how I get the stitching to all look the same or some such thing and I always answer, "well, I've had a lot of practice." And I have!

So that's it for the last week of June! July is starting and I'm sure I will have more to show you in the coming weeks.
This year is my first year in three or so years that I will not be scrambling to get ready for Fan Expo in August (I just can't fit it all in with the One of a Kind Show Spring and Winter shows for the first time this year) but I have lots of work to do before my next two big shows in September on top of the usual store restocks so expect to see the usual batches of goodies and new dolls pop up over the next couple of months!

Happy July! See you next week!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 293

Happy Summer! It feels like it's been here for a little while now but it's official now and today especially felt like a steamy summer day! 

I, of course, spent some time in the workroom this week in addition to some fun out of doors activities but my week started out with scouring the internet for photos from Uglycon which took place a couple of weekends ago at Giant Robot in Los Angeles! Thankfully the gallery posted some photos for the artists that weren't lucky enough to be able to accompany their work - yay!



So there's my little Ugly Doll inspired gal on the gallery wall among some great pieces from other plush artists from all over! I feel quite honoured to have been asked to do it and pretty excited to see the photos pop up from the show. You can see more over on Giant Robot's website here.

I then spent the rest of the week finishing and getting together a big restock batch for Dots & Loops in Lunenburg which is finally ready to be on it's way to them! Finally! 





And off they go!

I am lucky enough to be starting a custom doll for a customer very shortly as soon as my materials arrive but I whipped up a very quicky rough sketch for layout/idea hashing purposes first.



It's been too long since I made a new doll so hopefully there will be more of them sooner than later once my supply shipment comes in and I have lots of furry hair colours to inspire me!

But for now I have some side jobs to take care of this week in addition to preparing some supplies and such to start thinking about restocking my own inventory for this year's busy big shows! Eee - so much to do!

And that's all she wrote - I'll see you next week lovely friends!

Monday, June 17, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 292 AND Show Recap : Heirlooms

Hey guys! 
We're in to week 293 here but after a week of preparing for Heirlooms show in Welland over the weekend and spending some Father's Day time with my dad, it took me the day to get back in to things.

Because my display has changed a bit and I'm still getting used to it, I did a little mock set up at home during the week that I added to as I finished up some last minute goodies for the show and finished tagging and prepping everything for the show.

Here's how it turned out!



I still need to figure out a good way to prop up those Owl Mama faces so they aren't so tucked away when it's all loaded up but it did the job and I'm happy to use my trunk again for the first time after One of a Kind show!

So after a wrong turn and rushed morning, we made it to Vermeer's Garden Centre and set up inside the greenhouse just in time! The setting was beautiful and despite it being quite warm in that greenhouse, it was a lovely show.

Here are all the vendors outside! It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky, and it was nice to see some familiar faces and meet some brand new ones too!





My mom was there too of course! We put out some of her cowls and despite how warm it was in there, lots of people did some early Christmas shopping and we left with quite a few less. I shouldn't be surprised seeing as I have about ten myself and love them all (when it's a little cooler out obviously). 

One of the familiar faces was Gillian of Pip Robins, who was outside with her beautiful belt buckles and bags! We had a nice little chat and I look forward to seeing her at the Christmas One of a Kind show in December (and I'm sure our crafty paths will cross before then).


And another familiar face was my dear friend Lisa of Nerdbiskit of course! We had a fun time as always laughing and chatting as well as spying on the resident kitties of the garden centre. One even stopped by for a bit to play with one of Lisa's catnip mustaches - who could blame him?


So precious! Also take a little peak behind the scenes of the mess that's hidden behind the tables...

I usually manage to refrain from spending too much on myself at the shows I do now despite there always being so many amazing things from other vendors that I'd love to own, but this time I couldn't help myself when I saw a few booth of amazingly priced little hair flowers. I couldn't decide on a colour so I had to buy three!


I wore one the very next day for some Father's Day visits and I'm sure I will be getting lots of wear out of them!

So that was it! I'll be spending these upcoming weeks on some store restocks and general building of stock for my own shows coming up later on in the year. So many exciting events I can't wait for, Locke Street Festival, Supercrawl, and of course One of a Kind!

I hope you're all enjoying the great weather! See you next week!


Monday, June 10, 2013

In the Workroom Recap : Week 291

Hi friends! 

I had a busy week working on a few batches of things to stock up for Heirlooms show in Welland next Saturday and general store restocks - this time for Dots & Loops in Lunenburg. I'm still not quite back to the usual pace after my week away but I'm getting there. I had a few other things to get out of the way but managed to continue work on some display stuff as well.

First, though, I finished up and packaged that batch of keychains I was working on.


They haven't been bagged up yet but will be tucked away soon to come along to the show on Saturday. This is my favourite colour combination and seems to be everyone else's so I decided to stick with it for the time being although I can always make a variety of colours on request. Mint and hot pink for now!

After finishing up the keychains I was working on stringing my pompoms in to some garlands for my display. The show on Saturday is a one table display so luckily I won't need too many to start but my goal is to brighten everything up inside my tent display for the later summer shows. There is something about those little puff balls that makes me want to put them everywhere. I even have plans to put them on some shoes. Too far? Nonsense. 

I've also been doing a little brainstorming for a special project that I hope will be able to come together sometime this summer or fall...



More on that later but for now, back to more Needlings stuffs...

Next was the ever present phone sleeves. These guys keep me busy year round that's for sure! So of course I needed some to bring to the show and also have to send out to stores that are getting low.




Almost finished! I'll be getting back to them tonight after a day off to visit my dad and enjoy the sun. 

Hope you are all having the best week! I'll be back next week for a workroom recap and recap of Heirlooms too. Don't forget to mark your calendars if you're close enough to visit!

Monday, June 3, 2013

In (out of) the Workroom Recap : Week 289 & 290

I'm finally home and back in the workroom after my week away filling in as caregiver for my dad. I managed to get a little work done while away but spent most of my time hanging out with him at his dialysis treatments at the hospital and generally spending time with him.
I am, of course, a little late to get back to things here which is why I'm a little late with this recap but in the coming couple weeks I will be preparing for my first summer show and getting caught up on things from my time away so will hopefully fall back in to the schedule sooner than later.

The first show of the summer is a brand new one for Needlings; Heirlooms in Welland, ON. I'm excited to spend the day with crafty friends at the flower filled Vermeers' Garden Centre. It's a two day one but myself and a few other vendors will be attending just the Saturday date so if you're planning on coming to say hello, I'll be there on the 15th only!



It should be a great show - there are tons of particularly amazing vendors coming so if you are able to make it either day, I definitely recommend it!

So back to the recap:
Before I went away I brought some keychain parts and littles to stock up on for the show as well as some supplies to make more pompoms that I plan on using for my craft show displays in various ways. They were a good sort keep your hands busy job to do while my brain was otherwise occupied so I definitely added a nice amount to the pile by the time I came home.




So I added them to the pile when I got home!



I finished the handsewing on a small batch of keychains that I will be back to work finishing up this week, among other things.



So that's it! I'm still in the process of getting back in to things and remembering my to-do lists and all that so hopefully I will have more of the usual Needlings work to show you next week.

See you then! xo