two 'flossies' and one 'edna'...

i promise you that i did not spend all last week flitting around my tidy studio in a slip taking photos etc. i did actually achieve some work! i dyed a load of slips using Rit Dye this time, thanks to Emily who told me about her success...they all came out a treat and are waiting for embellishing as i type...
i also managed to get several 'flossie' and 'edna' bags under way and hope to list a few of these in the shop in a day or two along with some slips...

so for your viewing today, i have two 'flossies' and one 'edna'

two 'flossie' bags

and one 'edna' bag

best of all, our #1 was inspired to get out her sewing machine on Sunday. she customized two t-shirts, took in two pairs of jeans (creating the skinniest jeans in the world) and made one fabric scarf from my left over scraps...if this adventure with dottie angel does nothing more than inspire my kids to get creative then that's enough for me...

happy monday Tif

it's my space and i like it...

after the massive clean up operation in my studio this week ( for the benefit of the photographer and my sanity), i thought i would invite you for a guided tour. for my family and friends that live across the pond, i hope this helps you picture me in my happy place...

starting by the door, this is where my man hung me a rail for slips and i covered the extremely dull closet doors with a load of inspiring tear outs...

this wall is full of hooks for bag hanging, my cart full of fabrics, lace etc and it is also home for Mabel, my favorite ebay purchase...oh and do you remember that funny flower thing i scored thrift hunting a few weeks back, it ended up on a lamp shade...

this is where i beaver away at the machine with the window behind me...

this side of the studio houses a ton of stuff, supposedly all organized into categories but i still can't find things or forget i even had them in the first place...so there you have it, my space, my place, my sanctuary...

thanks for visiting, Tif

slipping into the frock shop (so sorry about this terrible play on words)

my friend Beth and i took a trip to the big city. the purpose of our trip was to drop off some dottie angel slips but we also used it as an excuse to drive through the beautiful older districts of Seattle. we checked out all the old houses, chatted about how lovely it would be to live in the city instead of the suburbs, oh so perfect... we took the slips to a store in Phinney called the Frock Shop which has been open for around six months. (now would be a great time to add that it has also been voted the top five shops on MSN, a pretty good achievement in six months). anyhow i have digressed a little (what's new, i hear you say). as you can tell by the name, it sells frocks, skirts, bags, shoes and lots of other pretties, Suzy the owner, studied fashion design in London and also had her own stall at Camden Market (oh how i wish), she is back in Seattle and as well as designing her own line of bags, clothing and more, she has opened her shop. ( i can only dream )

so my slips are now hanging on the rails in this pretty boutique and once again you find me keeping my fingers crossed that they will sell...

Kris and Suzy outside their shops

Suzy parted with her knowledge of the "thrift store mecca highway" outside of the big city, which i plan to visit on sunday, taking our #1 and #2 with me. shall let you know what treasures we unearth...and before i go, just to let you know that the whole ordeal of having my photo taken wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. (i thank you all for your positive comments!) funny how the things you dread the most, always seem to turn out being so much fun...although crisis number two has appeared on the horizon and i will be seeking advice from you on that one next week, it is enough for me to tell you "the gray day" for you to know what i'm talking about ( i choke just thinking about it), watch this space...

keeping you hanging on by the edge of your teeth ~ Tif

here i am standing in my bare feet...

so this is it dear readers, i thought the picture above, taken in 1973 was going to be my fifteen minutes of fame. i am the one on the left (aged four and a half ) sporting a seriously interesting haircut (courtesy of my lovely mother) and some very cutting edge clothing...i will not point out my three brothers in the picture for fear of them crossing me off their christmas card lists.

anyhow, the whole point of showing you this picture is i thought that was my 'moment' (being in a newspaper car commercial)! well roll forward thirty four years, dear god that is a hell of a lot of rolling, and my 'moment' has come again! what are the chances of having two moments in one lifetime...so this afternoon, i shall be having my photo taken, which will appear in the newspaper (seattle times) in an article about selling slips on Etsy. this was all very exciting until i realized that i was no longer four and a half years old and looked like 'a sweet little thing' with a dodgy hair cut.

after much thought and about fifty panicky emails to my longest and dearest friend Debbie in the UK, i am now camera ready, or as ready as i am ever going to be...

be kind...i am only accepting positive comments today...

off now to disguise all the heaps and piles around the house as pieces of modern art

from a *shaking with nerves, please give me a drink* Tif

spring is in the air...

our #4's artwork

i always know that spring is on the way in our house because of some tell tale signs. obviously the sun shining through the window, highlighting all the dust and finger prints is one give away sign...but the most telling sign is my boys needing haircuts. now i am sure for most, this is no big deal, but in my house this is an annual event...i liken them to sheep and the need to be shorn when the weather starts to get warm.

saturday saw both of them balanced on a stool in the kitchen with their mum looming over with a pair of rather blunt scissors and a plastic comb. it always starts off alright, as i am not too bad at shaping one side, my problems arise when i need to mirror image the other side. by this time #4 is getting antsy, has lost his towel and is complaining about the itchiness, as a large red rash is enveloping his body...did i mention that i dry cut their hair!

anyhow it all ended fine, they do not need to be seen wearing a hat at all times in public and i also didn't need to revert to getting the clippers out (which has happened before). so here is #3's before and after, and here is #4's before and after...

not a huge amount of difference, but at least they are smiling

Tif

knowing me, knowing you...

i love it when you meet new friends when you are least expecting to...i had two such chance meetings this week

#1 meeting ~ on friday, i was pushing my cart around Target, picking up boring items like cat litter and trying to avoid the usual 'Target Traps' that they set for me, eg. clothing, bags, shoes, homewares, you get the picture. just as i was heading towards the checkout, feeling very pleased with myself for avoiding the said 'traps', a small word caught my eye...'BOOTS'. now any Brit living in the States would immediately stop in their tracks if they saw that word. i dared to look down the aisle and gleaming from every shelf was No7 and Botanics beauty products from the UK. (do you hear the chorus of angels) and standing right beside them was an angel herself. that's right, a british Boots employee who proceeded to spend the next hour giving me a make-over, boosting my flagging moral and making me feel young and british again.

i left with a 'miracle cream' (i shall report on that another time), a new eyeliner, a lip gloss and another 'Target Trap' to be avoided...

#2 meeting ~ saturday saw me sitting in the bank, hoping to sort a few things for dottie angel. the girl that helped me turned out to be a fellow crafter (the best kind of chance meeting), we got talking and talking. Tasha turns out to be a self taught crafter (just like myself) and is a very talented textile artist. we both share a love for embroidery and embelishing fabrics...what a fantastic chance meeting...

right, i am off to my sweat shop up the stairs before i have my yoga lesson, which will then put production down by an estimated 50% this week, so i had better get a move on...

i have no interesting pictures for you, so i have dug deep into my 'favorite things' pile and given you this one...a great way to start the week.

happy monday Tif

I do....

just about have time to put a few photos up before the kids require their old mum to give them some attention, after all it is friday night and i have been more than a little distracted this week...so the slips i listed in the shop did well this week. interesting to see the returning customers that i have. i was very pleased with the way the dying came out, the machine and i have reached an understanding and mutual respect for each other.

so i shall leave you with a view of the one that i would have said "i do" in, if i was in the market
for saying it...

and this would be for the reception...

as i beaver away at the sewing machine creating my slips, i always think of how they could be worn...

happy weekend Tif

all i see for miles is piles and piles...

today, as well as yesterday have started slow. this is all due to my heavy and sore arms and legs. yes you guessed it, i had my 2nd personal yoga lesson. the great thing is, my original pains have been greatly reduced because the new ones have pushed them out the way...anyhow it is now 48 hours later and i can lift my arm above my head again. i reckon by monday i will be fully recovered so i can do it all over again...

so the heavy, aching limbs have greatly impinged on my 'making'. i have achieved 4 completed bags, 5 shells of bags and alot of 'pieces of fabric that are supposed to be handles' are still lying around in my studio (no thanks to the elves). talking of my studio, it needs help, it needs to be loved and cared for, i have done neither for several weeks and now it is chaos. i tried to sort it yesterday, but my useless arms would not allow me to...and to add to it, all around me there are piles growing in the house. let me show you what i see...

first here,then this, take a look over there, and can you see that, and then we have this.

all of these delights belong to our #4 child who leaves a snail trail where ever he goes. the worst is, he doesn't see it, take a look at this in my lounge. i hate to admit it, but those stinky things are going into their second week adding to my room decor. i am waiting to see how long it is before anyone notices them...

just when all the piles were getting me down, the mail man came to call. horrah for the mail man, he had my package from superbuzzy and it had all the wondeful fabrics i ordered last week in it...

they are all so yummy (what a strange word, but it describes them perfectly) and they will all be starring on bags very soon. here are a few of the bags i got round to this week before my arm issues...

off now to investigate what mischief the washing machine has got up to with dying my slips. not all great successes this week, although some have come out so beautiful, you could get married in them...shall show you the results next time...

*aching* Tif

the elves and the bag maker...

yesterday was pretty productive in the end. managed to get some bags made without being too distracted. whenever i get to the end of a bag, it always seems nothing short of a miracle to me that it actually all fits together properly and has turned out just fine...i 'love' making the outsides. don't mind, but not 'in love' with making the linings and my least favorite thing to do is the handles.

so as i was sewing away at my machine, my mind started to wander and i got to thinking about the fairy tale "the elves and the shoemaker". then i got to wondering, if i left all my bits of 'handle pieces' laid out on the table over night with some cookies and milk, maybe the elves would help me out...as you can imagine when i took a peek in this morning at 5:45 all the pieces were just as i left them...still you can't blame a girl for trying.

today i plan, in between laundry, cooking, soccer, driver's ed, dance and grocery shopping, to finish off the dreaded handles and then move on to slips...that way i have time to wash, dry and photograph them for listing by the end of the week. i am hoping that the weather starts getting better for picture taking, every time the sun shines, i hop outside ready to take some fabulous pics, only to find the wind is blowing a gale and the slips look like sails on a boat...thinking i may add a few of the bags i have been working on this week to the shop along with the slips. haven't had much luck with bags on etsy before, but these are brighter and more summery, so i shall give it ago...after all i've got nothing to lose and everything to gain!

pictures have no relevance to my posting, i just like #1's sock monkey collection and they make me smile. i particularly like "agatha". third from the left, top picture, i like the earrings and her rather natty little cloche hat i made for her...the two on the left, my #1 child made herself, what a talent...

Tif

love at first sight...

i admit to being a late comer to Etsy

i stumbled across the site through an ad in the first copy of craft, last november. it was love at first sight.

i knew immediately that i needed to be part of this growing family of crafters and designers selling their wonderful wares...

what i didn't bargain on was the amount of beautiful things that i would find that i suddenly couldn't live with out. a perfect example of that is pictured right here ~

joy & contemplation

by millymollymandy , i just love this pretty pair of pictures and am now looking for the perfect old frames to do them justice. one of my favorite reads as a child was the millymollymandy books, how could i resist this shop...so if you have time to stay and browse, here are a few more artists that have had my money

theblackapple ~ ashleyg ~ badbird ~ irishluck

and here are ones that will soon be getting some

clarissa ~ suezybees ~ treehouse28 ~ birdie1973

now i am off to vacuum the used dog's hair off the carpet and set about my working day. this week it is "bag making week ", watch this space...

happy monday, Tif

ohhh, look what i found...

so treasure hunting proved very successful this weekend. on saturday i found

five half slips

twelve full slips

six camis

on sunday i found lots of bits of lace, two vintage tablecloths perfect for recycling into bags and a pink flowery thing that will become a cushion...

and then this rather sweet crocheted apron that #1 child is modelling for me, while folding laundry

i am thinking of sewing this to the front of a summer skirt...

Tif

another week accomplished...

4 kids were clothed, fed and watered
6 pets were not clothed, but fed and watered
(sadly, Clive the hamster has passed on to the great hamster heaven in the sky, which i am told is not dissimilar to las vegas)
1 good man still with me
2 bags sold at here
6 slips sold here
1 newspaper interview for the seattle times
2 girls to go thrift store hunting with tomorrow
12 fresh organic eggs from San Juan island
1 good week...













* smiles* Tif

sunny days and a yellow bag...

earlier in the week, i told you of my great excitement when i received my japanese craft books. well, today i set aside a couple of hours to make myself a bag. i took my original 'izzy book' bag pattern and just took inspiration from my lovely books. i also got to use one of my new labels that Heather from Irishluck made for me.

here are the results, and i am perfectly happy to be toting this one around when the sun is shining and all is well in my world...

*thinking of sunny days* Tif

me and my washing machine...

so saturday was spent in the laundry room having a 'love/hate' relationship with the washing machine. 'hate' because i had 7 (yes, 7) loads of laundry from a 5 day vacation (not to mention the 7 loads i did for us to go on our trip). anyhow the 'love' i shared with my machine was because it dyed all 27 half and full slips in the most beautiful colors. of course my machine cannot really take full credit for this, it was aided by the wonderful acid dyes that i had ordered in the mail from dharmatrading. i had only sent for a sample of salmon, teal, brown and olive green. to tell you the truth i was a little scared to try this out because a) the colors were very vibrant and b) i have a front loader and all the instructions i have ever come across in the U.S are always for a top loader machine. while i was on 'boring' load #3, i threw caution to the wind and tried the teal and look what i got...

and then i tried salmon

then brown

and finally olive green

i must admit that i didn't use as much of the dye as they recommended, because i really wanted a softer look. needless to say the other 4 loads of 'hate' laundry did not get done until sunday...

after customizing some of the 'newly' dyed slips yesterday, i decided to have a go at getting some photos of them with a 'body' inside...this is usually impossible to do, as when i need to take photos of my slips it is generally in the middle of the day when no one is around to help. so i thought i would attempt to take a picture looking in the mirror...this did cause me some distress as a) i did not want to see my head and b) even though our #1's room is newly painted and pretty clutter free, i seemed to get more of everything else and less of the slip. have told husband that it is time to invest in a beautiful old mannequin so my photos will be perfect, he kindly reminded me "and with what money would that be, Tif" and so for now it is either me in the mirror ( i don't think so), #1's bright red dress form called Nora or just hanging them up with pegs...

*sigh* Tif

chick, chick, chick, chicken...

just to quickly wish you a happy easter. the sun is shining and we will be spending the day with good friends...

here are a few of the things that have made my day such a happy one

japanese craft books

i ordered these books from amazon in Japan and they arrived in just over a week, the projects are truely inspiring and i can't wait to start getting creative once the kids have gone back to school!

also this wonderful package of lace turned up last week from my mum,

i believe i have the best mum in the world...

*smiles* Tif