Tales of a 'Steamy' Festival (part 1)

If you know anything about me, you know I'm not much on the great outdoors - especially when the weather is - well - anything except perfect.  So having a 3-day craft show in 95-100+ degree weather - not my most favorite activity.

I was accepted this year to the St Johns Medical Center Festival of the Arts in Westlake Ohio (more about this later).  It's a Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday show.  I'm usually not even a fan of the 2-day format, but a lot of them I set up Friday anyway, so I figured it wasn't that much more time involved.

You know we've been having a heat wave here in Ohio (and much of the rest of the US) - so boy, it was a fun weekend. (are you sensing the sarcasm?!?)

Luckily, my helper for the weekend was my husband - I'm pretty sure I would have given up about 5 minutes into unloading.

We were in a lovely park-like setting at the hospital - my booth was at the top of the hill, by the main road - and there was a little slope and some really uneven ground.  So the booth setup had to change to accommodate.

Believe it or not (it's true!) while I went to check in at the hotel, Jamie put all the product out and arranged it.  Really, he did a great job!

Stay tuned for some additional tales of the weekend!

Happy Sewing!
Susan

Let's Hear it for the boys....

With all this extra time, I've been making some dresses for my great nieces.  My youngest niece said that her little boy gets sad (he's two) when his sister gets something from me (like the apron I made for her) and there's nothing for him.  So she asked me to make him a hat.

But, you know me, I can't just make a hat.  I had a cute blue fish fabric that I bought last year when I bought fabric for dresses and aprons for the girls, along with a shirt pattern for boys.  So, why not?

Checking out the pattern, I saw that it had a traditional collar (cringe).  I can remember making things with collars in the past and always thought that was where you could just tell it was homemade, because they never seemed to turn out right.

The other thing was that, of course, it has buttons, which means that I had to make button holes.

Either my sewing skills have grown (well, I do sew a lot more than I used to) or I was just bad at it in the past, because I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

Th other thing that was funny about making this outfit - the hat was from a girls 3-6 pattern, and the hat fits on my head pretty well.  So either I have a small head, or the kids have big heads!

Stay tuned, as I have more items to make for the kids.  Hopefully my nieces will take some pictures and send me with them wearing their new outfits!

Until next time.

Susan

Feedback

My friend and former coworker found some material that she asked me to make a purse from - it was three coordinating fabrics from the 'Man's Best Friend' line from Leanne Anderson and Henry Glass. The blue has all sorts of cute dogs, bowls, bones, etc. The brown has coordinating pawprints, and the cream has bones and dog 'talk'.

She didn't have a specific style in mind, so after harrassing for some measurements to start from, the purse below is what came out. I really love the style, and think I can adapt the pattern to a couple of sizes.

I passed the purse off via some mutual friends, so didn't get to see her reaction, but this is what she had to say:

" The purse was fantastic! My friend loved it! Everyone I showed it to loved it also. I think her (my friend's) comment was "oh, I wanted a Susan purse and this is so cute!!", so count yourself among the Vera Bradleys, Kate Spades, and Stella McCartneys of the world. You are now a product line name! :) "

Wow - talk about making me feel good.


I think I will call it the 'Holly' purse after my friend who let me be creative in making it!

Look for this style in at least two sizes after the first of the year!

Susan