She lives!

I've said more than once that I can't believe how time gets away from me.  I opened an Etsy shop and then fell off the face of the earth; or so it seemed here among the cobwebs on my blog. The shop has done quite well actually, mostly selling e-reader cases made-to-order. They've been quite popular! Check them out. Then a few rounds of colds and a couple weeks with Mr. R out of town, then a few more rounds of colds, an extra day at preschool each week, and a weird two-day rash all brings us to the beginning of December already.

And now the mad rush to complete all my projects by their own respective deadlines begins! I need to have all my machine sewing done by the time my family arrives (7 more days, hooray!) since either they or Scooch are taking over my studio. Then I have a few hand sewing projects I'd like to try. I'm hoping to don our tree with a bit more than a string of lights and two ornaments this year.

I have been able to squeeze a few selfish projects in the mix these past couple months.  Shannon on luvinthemommyhood had a cowl knitalong, and after reading about it for a while, I just had to knit one up myself.  I went with the Stockholm scarf that I found on Ravelry.  It was a relatively quick knit, and I wear it all the time; around the house, to the park.  Scooch even crawls up under it so we're both wearing it. I'm not crazy about the colors, but they're what I had on hand, and it's warm.

Now, I know I've complained about our laundry situation here a time or two. Ahem. Lucky for you, that complaining was on the blog that my family reads. Aside from not being able to get soft laundry (no dryer, hard water, don't use fabric softener, etc), our washer has a tendency to turn things grey. I'm not talking just a dirty tinge. I'm talking nasty dark grey. For example, Monkey's washcloths. They are white with colored bindings. I only use them to wash Monkey in the bath. They come out of the wash white around the edges, and almost black in the center. So nasty. You'd think I scrubbed Mr. R's tire rims with them. So, some new washcloths were in order. I plan to make a tutorial for these at some point, but for now, here's the finished product.

I have some other things in the works as well. Here is my To Do List which must be completed, at different intervals, by December 24:
  -Complete a certain pair of stuffed items for two boys for Christmas
  -Make stockings for said boys
  -Finish any custom orders from Etsy (currently 2)
  -Make a sweatshirt for Scooch
  -Make ornaments for our mini tree (all of our holiday decor is in storage in the US and last year I was too deep in post-baby-sleep-depro mode to care)

Oh, and I forgot to add that, along with that list up there, we're going to Scotland for a few days right before Christmas, and Mom and I are baking half her usual load of goods once they arrive. Even half her usual load still means we'll be baking from sun-up to sun-down from the moment she arrives until at least Christmas day. Busy busy busy! I love busy for a change.

And this is something I'm thinking of for future blog posts. Instead of one a day, maybe one a week. Not sure yet whether I want to be that personal on this blog. Several of these are pretty can-of-worms type topics and I don't know that I want this blog to be that.  I might just play around with the safest topics.

Shop is open!!

We are open for business!!  Yahoo!!  I am so excited to introduce to you, my Etsy shop:

You can click right on the photo to go check out my rather slim selection.  And to kick things off, you can use coupon code SHOPOPEN to receive 20% off your order!!

Phew!  I made it!  Sort of.  Remember how I said that I would open my shop today even if I could only list ONE item??  Well, that's almost exactly what I did.  I actually listed 5 items, but they're all the same zippered pouch, in different sizes and fabrics.  I actually have more things finished and ready to sell, I just need to get them photographed and listed.  Isn't it amazing how much life can get in the way of these things?  What's funny is that if I were opening and actual brick and mortar shop, I wouldn't be able to miss my opening day.  But because it's online, it seems so much easier to say, well I only got a few things in, but at least there's something there.

This all sounds a bit like I don't take this seriously.  I assure you that I take it very seriously.  I have wanted to sell my own handmade items for years and years and this is the beginning of that dream coming true for me.  I know that these items aren't my own designs yet (well, one is), but I'll get there.  Plus, I would rather list a few quality items, rather than loads of stuff not made to my standards.  So, please bear with me as I get the rest of the items I currently have available online.  (You can look at the category list on the left of my storefront to get an idea of what will be coming.)  I'll post here each time I list new items.  Almost everything will be available on a made-to-order basis as well. 

Please go take a look, and tell your friends and family to take a look as well.  Please help me spread the word.  YOU are my advertising!

Later on, I'll be posting some ideas for future items, and I'd like your input, since you are my customers. *smile*