Embroidery Fun on Etsy and An Amazing Quilt Block Listing

So I've actually been really good lately about not spending money like a wild woman. I've been downright frugal. I haven't even visited Goodwill in a couple of weeks. But, as I predicted, the embroidery bug has caught. And I had to just take a quick peek and search embroidery hoops on Etsy. And I found this:

MyraMelinda

It was $7.50 including shipping. And there's that beautiful lace, and that old funky broke down quilt block. And the buttons - my etsy search turned up some amazing emroidery hoop art with buttons, so I'm inspired to give that a try. So it's mine now. As are these:

LemonTorte

...which are nothin' fancy, but I think they'll do for wall hangings and my goodness all 8 of them were a buck, well 3 including shipping, but that beats the heck out of the ones at Joanns. EDIT: Well file that under "too good to be true" - the seller just emailed me to ask which one I wanted. Guess "8 embroidery hoops 1 dollar" means 1 dollar each. Oh well, she refunded me my money right away, so I have $3 of my frugality back.

So there I got my little fix for $10.50 $7.50 and am stocked to the ears with emroidery hoops and other embellishments. Can't wait to get my paws on them and start stitching away. I have had plans for birthday presents, belated Mother's Day gifts, little man bedroom decorations...darn it, all this crossing out is making me sad that I'm not getting all those hoops after all :-(

Inspired by that first purchase I also did a quick search for quilt blocks - nothing in my price range (free) that I could get, but were I less monetarily challenged, my finger would have punched "add to cart" on this listing before my brain ever knew what happened:

roryunraveled


Evidently the shop owner found these at an estate sale in Wisconsin. If ever there were a reason to live in the midwest, folks, I'd say this is it. I just love that top block in the picture on the left - that white and aqua and green paisley/floral pattern? And she says they're from vintage feedsack fabric. Really, they made feedsacks from this stuff? Talk about the good old days. How lovely. Anyway, I wish I knew the person that ultimately buys this lot, b/c I would LOVE to take a gander at the finished product.

A Word About This Photograph

photograph by FrancesPhotography

And that word is "LOVE". I just love it. I have it over there in the left sidebar under my etsy favorites, and everytime I check out my blog it catches my eye. It can be purchased in sizes from 8 x 10 up to 40 x 30. I'd say the bigger the better on this beauty. I feel I could walk right into this picture. It begs contemplation and soul searching - in a calm and happy sort of way.

Anyway, I thought since I keep stopping and staring at the little picture of it in my favorites I would make sure you all had a look too. The photographer has lots of other similar abstract nature themed photos in their shop. So beautiful...

The Wish Bunny

Isn't she adorable? She's a little wish bunny on a scrabble tile covered with some sort of glass like resin. There are other bunnies too, one with its little nose sniffing a pretty flower, a pirate bunny, a bunny on its back playing with a butterfly. So stinking cute. And only $12.50 with shipping. The lady that makes them is from Ontario and has a shop on etsy: http://www.twentysix7.etsy.com I saw this little bunny in her avatar on the etsy forum and had to have it.

I spent most, well all and then some, of my "poor me for working so much I think I should buy myself a treat" money on supplies for the tshirts and knitting, but I decided $12.50 isn't so extravagant as to require I pass up a sweet little bunny pendant, so I bought it.

I'm aware that it is this type of thinking that has kept me firmly in the "I don't have enough savings to keep me going for 6 months in case of a disaster" category. I'm working on that along with the eating healthy and exercising thing.

Store status

So I think I'm going to link my blog to my etsy store now so anybody stumbling onto my empty storefront can come here and get an idea of where I'm at in terms of product development. Currently.....I'm getting there. For my earthbound shirt, which will be somewhat of my signature piece, I have accomplished the following:

- purchased shirts. from a Hawaii based company called the Kokobean Shop (http://www.thekokobeanshop.com/) They have been wonderful, the shirts are beautiful. I have 12 of the natural color organic long sleeve lap Ts, and 12 of the smoke blue organic short sleeve lap Ts. I am so happy with them, and almost afraid to decorate them. Absolutely pleased with their product.

- purchased ink. matsui enviroline ink in black. got great response when I contacted them for documentation of their CPSIA compliance. I tested them out on my screens on Wednesday and am very happy with the results. Tonight I will do a wash test.
- made screen stencils. Tested these with the ink on Wednesday and they turned out well..I used all caps on the "earthbound" and think I might be true to my original and stick with all lower case - will hopefully get to test that this weekend after the previously mentioned wash test. So that means tonight I need to make a lowercase screen (I'll have to explain this process at some point - very neat, but takes a while to explain...maybe I'll just post a link to an already existing online tutorial....)
- ordered labels. organic cotton ones from this etsy seller: http://www.greenbeansnstrings.etsy.com/ I love her, I've written in a panic a few times with changes and she hasn't blinked an eyelash. They should be in the mail.
- finalized a stamp design. this will be used for my business card, which I cam going to cut out of food packaging card stock weight boxes - I'm really excited about this upcycling project - saves the boxes from the landfill and saves me some $!

For my other projects:

- ordered yarn. this idea was born just the night before last as I was finishing some pants I started way too long ago for Boone (my baby). These pants are simple to knit and super cute on. I visited http://www.knitpicks.com/ and found some beautiful cotton/modal and organic cotton yarn that will make some to-die-for baby britches. I ordered it up and hopefully can get those started next week - I have some pattern making to do and lots of ideas! I didnt order any wool, so I'm feeling like I'm letting all my cloth diaper mamas down, but it'll happen soon. I'm on a limited budget for now and the cotton colors just got me all a-flutter, so they got ordered first. Slap on an AIO, cloth diapering mamas, and you'll be good to go!

So that is the current state of http://www.earthboundbaby.etsy.com/. I have lots of to dos, but lets focus on the accomplishments for now, shall we? In fact I should be calling the tax board right now, and deciding on if I'm going to stick with just "earthbound" shirts to start, or work in some of my other ideas, and seeing if I have the right needles, and working on getting some organic thread, and......