Weekend Update

Well, I wasn't feeling great over the weekend; I think I'm fighting with a little cold. It was a moderately productive weekend, though.

Last week I actually made a lightbox, seen here:

It's not pretty, but it gets the job done. At least, it's sort of helpful. I don't have a good light to use with it, and as you can see, it's rather flimsy. But overall, it's better than what I was getting with poor lighting and a lightweight camera. Makes things easier.

I worked on this little guy (Etsy shop preview!); hand-stitched while watching Coraline. Which was interesting. I know I'm a little late to this, but hey, I'm not exactly a "cutting-edge" person. I liked it as a movie; the characters were fun and interesting. The whole stop-motion, crafty, handmade aspect amazes me.

I also made one of the autumn potholders.

It's super-thick and I love the stitched "veins." I felted two sweaters for this; the grey one was thrifted and the red one is an old one of mine (I'm too lazy to care for wool sweaters properly, so it had become too small). First time felting wool myself, and it was so fun! With the thrifted one, I turned a loose-fitting women's medium into a child-sized sweater about an inch thick. Not really an inch, but that grey wool is actually a good 3/8" thick now.

I'm planning to bring it to my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner. That bowl needs some food in it. So excited for the holidays to begin!

Adding & Connecting

I now have a link to the Etsy shop here on the blog, along with a link to the brand-new Facebook page - both are over there --> on the sidebar.

I have also somehow connected Facebook to Etsy, and there are links to Twitter and this here blog on Etsy... It all feels very circular and makes my brain spin a little. We were watching The Office tonight and I felt like I needed a weird version of WUPHF.

Craftiness to happen tomorrow. Hopefully I can make time for some Christmas goodies, because I want to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving - and that's next week! It doesn't quite seem like November to me yet, but maybe a nice, rainy weekend will help.

Etsy

Go Vote at Design*Sponge!

If you haven't seen it, Design*Sponge is having a "Design Your Own Alphabet" contest. On day 2, I saw Skunkling, which I really liked and has made it into the top 3. Then I found out today that it was designed by one of my husband's high school classmates! Go vote for him!

*** Update: He won! ***

Etsy Treasuries

Well, I may have found a new addiction. I made my first treasury today:

And I am also IN my first treasury!

It's so fun to dig around, figure out a theme, find items that go together... It takes some time, though!

Vintage Needlework

I am definitely not one of those people who can come up with even semi-creative titles here, am I?

A few weeks ago I did a little thrift-store shopping, and I found these:

This is actually the first non-fabric vintage purchase I think I've made. I rarely go to thrift stores, and when I do, I'm usually just looking at the sheets for good prints. I've gone a few times in the last month though, and I'm starting to look around a little more.

They came in these frames, but I spray painted them black. They were a yellowed creamy color, and there's sort of a wood grain texture to the plastic. I don't know what they looked like originally... I can only imagine. One of my favorite things about these is that there was a little note on the back of each one.

One of them said (although I couldn't really read the name):
"Worked by Rita Thilitt
1979 & 1980
Part worked
while right arm
& wrist broken in
fall 5/27/79”

The other said simply:
“See back of
other picture”

They're now on what used to be a completely blank wall between our TV and sliding glass door. Not bad for $4.

Etsy shop - now open!

I have officially listed my first item in the Smith & Daphne Etsy shop. I'll be adding new items throughout the week, so although it looks a little bare right now, I do indeed have more items! I just need to get pictures taken and descriptions written for everything - luckily my mom is going to help out with the pics.

Now I'm off to do some more sewing!

Took the day off...

I spent the day with my husband, Buddy, in "the city" (which around here means San Francisco). He had the day off, so I took the day off too and we headed out for a day trip we've been trying to take since my birthday (almost exactly a month ago).

It was a beautiful day. We took the ferry.

The Ferry Building is very cool and has some wonderful shops in it. We started off with coffee at Blue Bottle - which is amazing.

Then, we got a hazelnut macaron and an eclair from Miette. This was my first macaron - loved it! I was so excited to eat it I took a bite and then got a very blurry picture. So I made it more blurry... ? It's like a dream picture of a macaron (or something):

Then we walked around and went down to Pier 39, where we saw the sea lions, bought a Christmas ornament (I like getting these when we go somewhere, because I know it's a collection I'll actually use and enjoy), got some candy, and saw a super creepy cat urn for sale. Really.

Oh, and we saw them decorating the big Christmas tree! The ornaments are gigantic.

Then we went back to the Ferry Building to shop around there. We had lunch from Cowgirl Creamery, which was SO good. I <3 cheese.

It was a very good day off.