a new look

I decided to try out a new banner in my etsy shop, and changed my blog banner to match. I think it is pretty cute, and since I have been focusing less on screen printing t-shirts and more on sewing playsets for kids, I thought my banner should reflect that. I still looove the rainbow of bright t-shirts, but maybe I'll have to save that for another venture.

Here is the before banner :

and here if the after banner:


Don't worry, I'm not over screen printing! I may soon be sharing my printing knowledge at a gallery workshop near you. Stay tuned for news on that!

Check out the new Yellow Stripes Kids Basket in the shop too. I have been finding the most amazingly cute, brightly patterned cotton for the placemats and I thought they would make great suprise, educational Easter baskets! What do you think?

eco-friendly

I found some new felt while stocking up on reds and pinks for a custom trade project I'm working on with etsy.com yarn spinstress banadura. This new felt is a hand washable polyester fiber made from post consumer plastic bottles! I love that it is a vegetarian, recycled material and since I have been having trouble finding a good price and color selection of wool felt, it makes a really great material to work with in the mean time!



I have been really diligent with bringing my own canvas bag when shopping to avoid having to take plastic bags and the more I do it, the more I remember to grab my canvas bag[s] and bring them when I go into stores. One of my fellow Cleveland Etsy teammates, zJayne, actually recycles t-shirts and sews them into unique, one of a kind shopping bags! She picks out some really great ones, and this two pack is totally one of my favorites, probably because of the Cleveland t-shirt she used in the main photo :o)

Two new HandMade Plush Kids Toy Baskets are now in the HandMade Goods shop - Pink Stars and Blue Flowers. I am way into the new yellow squash and zucchini plush toys I have just added to the collection. I will continue to add new fruits and vegetables soon!

I hope this doesn't ruin the suprise...

Hi again. Here is a quick update on things I have been working on.

I finished the purple scarf I was knitting as a suprise for Shellie. I had planned on taking it with me to give her in person since I thought I was going to zip off to Los Angeles for the weekend - however - my little dog got sick and after a late night emergency trip to the vet, I decided to stay home and keep and eye on her. So, I finished up the scarf, snapped some photos, and will be posting them to my ravelry notebook shortly [so many things to do this busy Monday afternoon!]. I dropped it in the mail on Friday, so I hope she gets some use out of it before it goes back to the tropical California gorgeousness that they have practically year round. And in case you were wondering, Heidi is all better - I babied her quite a bit and I'm sure she adored it.

I did a lot of sewing over the weekend, and added squash and zucchini to my vegetable line of kids toys. I also made up a few more baskets, which I will be listing throughout the week.

I started a hat.

I am officially addicted to knitting and ravelry in that order. I have been feeding my yarn habit and have several new projects in the works. I also finished a small scarf from the hand spun, hand dyed yarn I bought from Banadura on etsy.

I attempted the drop stitch in a scarf I started making with super soft and fuzzy Angel Hair yarn. I don't necessarily know if I like how it is coming out so far. It seems quite busy with the dropped stitch designs and the color blocking. I may have to stick to either using the turquoise or using the muli-color yarn if I want to keep the stitch pattern.


I finally picked up the right size circular needles to start a hat and I think the licorice yarn I am working with is a really easy yarn to work with as a newbie. Plus, I loooove the colors.

some developments

I was recently contacted by someone about one of my flickr photos of the American Apparel Factory in downtown Los Angeles. I took the photo as I was leaving the factory after being interviewed on the roof last January, though that is an entirely different story!

Anyway, the photo was chosen for an online guide of Los Angeles. You can see it here in all its bright pink glory.

As of yesterday I am now on ravelry.com and have been photographing my ever-growing yarn stash [!] and trying to update my projects. Though it is still in the beta testing stages, there is SO much going on and to learn from and I love the features so far! My username is HandMadeGoods, if you want to look for me there.

finished projects

I finished the black scarf I was working on.


I also finished the fun fur scarflette. I added the bright blue button and I think it works well with the colors and is easy to find when trying to button and unbutton it.




I have been reading a bunch of tutorials about using Kool-aid to dye your own wool/cotton yarn, so I will be trying that next!