So... what's new?

What's new?

Lots.

So much going on right now I don't have the time to be a dedicated blogger. 

Let me explain.

No, there is too much, let me sum up.

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Yoga Sunsations was featured in a blog: Check it out here -- http://topetsyfinds.blogspot.com/2009/08/repurposed-yoga-strap-and-handle-in.html

Woohoo!! 

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I also made a sale, woohoo! First Etsy sale, calls for a celebration!! 

Pretty, isn't it? I thought so too. And someone else thought so too! Happiness all around.

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JET is keeping me on my toes. He'll be a year old in early October (!), but he's been walking for almost 2 months now, so he's moved on to the more dangerous-make-my-heart-skip-a-beat types of activities like climbing and "running" (perhaps a better word is "zooming") and grabbing at anything within finger tips reach. It's exhausting, but I love being a mommy! He's a funny little person with a charming disposition and only the occasional tantrum now that he's mastered the zoom. Those mainly come out when you request he refrain from zooming. Stillness is devastating. 

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I'm opening another Etsy shop. This one is just for whatever I happen to be in the mood to make but have no practical purpose for. It's just going up under my seller name and can be found here -- jessmturner.etsy.com . Nothing for sale yet, but I've already found a talented model for all the lovely little things I have just waiting to go up! 

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I'm turning into a crochet maniac. Seriously. I have 5, maybe 6 projects I'm in the midst of with no end in sight. My (minimal) free time is spent searching for more patterns and projects. I have an afghan I'm making that was Anthropologie inspired -- http://search.anthropologie.com/?q=carnival+throw&international=false 

though I'm doing mine up however I like. It's really just a patchwork blanket that should be done in time for the cold weather we experience in Rockford (ugh). Red, Burgundy, Navy Blue, Cream and Brown are the colors selected to match our bedroom, and they are a delight! My favorite part is the hexagon "squares" I made, following a pattern from a blogger named Lucy at Attic24 -  http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/hexagon-howto.html

Love, love, love crochet!! 

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My husband and I are also active members in our church - www.hopeinrockford.com. He's the official/unofficial leader in all of our community outreach projects we do in an effort to show the love of Jesus to those around us. Next up is a food drive for the local homeless shelter - www.rockfordrescuemission.org - and after that a Fall (though I prefer the word "Autumn", sounds cozier and a bit more important) Service Day, where a group of us go around the neighborhood raking up leaves in yards whose occupants are incapable (from lack of time, lack of motivation, lack of youth, lack of health, etc) of raking themselves. Just a random act of kindness sort of thing. Gotta love those! Don't you wish you had us walking down your street with rakes in hand right after your lovely maple tree dumped it's leaves off on your grass. :)

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So between the yoga, the Etsy, the babe, the crochet, the church and the husband, and not to mention all the social functions we got going on, I'm SWAMPED! And pooped! Whew! Good day to you all!

Getting Organized

I'm not an organized person. 

Oh sure, when I occupy a territory that is not my own I am. When I worked outside the home I completely overcompensated for the lack of organizational skills in my personal life. I'm sure I duped quite a few people. It hit me Saturday that, while sewing a repurposed pillow case, that I was working in a mess. Baskets atop baskets, bits of fabric and string everywhere, sewing tools in 4 different locations, there was even an unpainted bird house found in the mix. Seth declared the mess is because because I don't have any room to "spread out", but I knew better. Sitting in my sunporch and running back and forth between that room and the guest room, unable to find my stitch ripper, I completely crumbled. This would not do. Organization was a must. What an awful way to spend a summer Saturday, cleaning and organizing. This wasn't a calm, collected sort of cleaning, this was a mad frenzy that began with the purging of useless items. "What do we need this for?!?" was my battle cry. Seth walked in to find me, with twitching eye, stuffing my Abbey Road poster into a garbage bag (an act I now regret. I'm so sorry for wrinkling you up, George). That's when the intervention took place. Seth, despite all stereotypes that indicate men are sloven pigs, is surprisingly organized (you should see his tool box at work. Everything laid out in a row like he's a surgeon or something). He retrieved the Fab Four and informed me that having a poster that was not hung on the wall did not add to clutter at all, it just needed to go where it belonged. I calmed down and the two of us worked together, me explaining what tools I use most often, and Seth giving helpful suggestions along the way. The happiest sight of all was when I hung up my completed projects in the closet. The straps especially, because their d-rings would gently clang against each other reminiscent of a wind chime. I can't wait to add more!

Not wanting to waste the beautiful weather, Seth, JET, Anna (our Sheltie) and I ventured out for a walk. We got around the corner and there, by the curb, was a discarded desk. The perfect sewing desk. Flat top, three drawers on the left side: perfect for a mostly left handed one like myself. Seth sped up towards it and I was immensely grateful for a husband who is unafraid to take peoples discarded furniture. The family was sitting in the driveway after an unsuccessful garage sale. Seth double checked that the desk was free for the taking and declined an unassembled Christmas tree they tried to press on us. He then threw the desk up onto his shoulder and carried it home. My hero! :) 

The desk isn't in terrible condition. It's solid, made of real wood, not that particle board corruption. It has some stickers on the bottom drawer, and some marker etching declaring it the property of "Katie", if I recall. We left it in the garage and I have big plans to sand it down, repaint it (orange? green? other?) and give it fun new handles. We did the same thing for my dresser on one birthday and years later I'm still obsessed with it.  

On a different note, I'm considering not creating anymore crocheted yoga bags. Random, I know. I just was looking at how many views were on each of my items on Etsy (obsessive? Quite.) and noticed that people looked at my fabric bags 4 times as often as the crocheted ones. That means that the project I started on the way back from Ben & Elisha's wedding (which was BeAuTiFuL, by the way) will be unravelled, unless someone declares otherwise. It's my own design, again, a bit different from the others. Here's a picture... 

It's quite a bid wider than my other crochet bags. I thought that would appeal to some. I've been told to finish it and put it up on Etsy anyway buuuut... what do YOU think?

Currently Crocheting...

This is that yoga mat bag that I'm currently working on. Just a few more inches until it's finished! 

My own design. :)
So far I've made two types of crocheted yoga mat bags. One is from the pattern that Picklescreated (Om Shanti). I looked all over her site and couldn't see anywhere that she asked people not to reproduce it to sell. Perhaps I'll email her to be on the safest of sides. I was going to link her site with every etsy offering that was an Om Shanti bag. I can't take credit for the design after all. 


What colors should I use next?