Craftalicious 2010

A week later I'm recovered enough to write about Craftalicious 2010.

Ok, that's a lie. It wasn't the craft sale that wiped me out this week...it was a cold, too little sleep, a a 24 flu bug for both me and my husband, and oh yeah, we bought a new house. More on that last one later...

This year, I may have mentioned that I shared a table with Holly. Waaay less stress and waaay more fun. I had a wide variety of things on offer:

• an assortment of fabric covered button, vintage button and cabochon hair pins
• doll quilts
• scallop christmas garlands
• quilted mug rugs
• a few patchwork ornaments left from last year's saleedible treats: candied curried pecans, chocolate almond butter crunch, peanut butter and chocolate assorted goodies, caramel cream sandwich cookies, and ambrosia macaroons.
• paper and fabric gift tags

Nadia from Red Sonja Designs did my labels again this year and they looked fantastic. She is so talented. Buy her photo lamps! They're beautiful!! Or if you're in the market for graphic design, she's your gal. End plug.

We started the sale an hour earlier this year, and the traffic steady from the getgo. I can't believe how many people came through. We didn't pay for advertising this year, beyond having posters and postcards (designed by Nadia) printed up. We relied on social media, in large part, to get the word out. I can tell that Ottawa is hungry for handmade goods as most sellers seemed to be happy with their sales.

I packaged my edible goodies in clear bags this year, as another food vendor instructed me to do last year. It made a huge difference and I sold/bartered nearly 60 bags of goodies. My hair pins almost sold out, so those will be repeated next year. I think some clever packacing on the garlands would help folks figure out what they were: even though we had strung some up on the wall and on the front of the table, lots of people asked 'what are these??'.

Here are a few pics from the day; even one of me to start them off!

Are any of you participating in or organizing craft shows this year? I'd love to compare experiences!

- Donna

Craftalicious Countdown

doll-quilts[1]
Originally uploaded by Kindred Crafters

I'm busy getting ready for Craftalicious. It's Nov. 13! - go here and check out some of the awesome vendors.

I'll be selling a hodgepodge mix of doll quilts, mug rugs, fabric garlands, gift tags, hair pins, candy, and cookies. Something for everyone!

My friend Nadia took this photo of three of my little doll quilts. These are made up from leftover blocks from a baby blanket I've working on. Sara was here last week and bound them all for me. She makes her binding differently than me, and RIPS the fabric and MACHINE BINDS. Her way is much quicker and her mitered corners are so straight! I wish she lived here always so we could sew together often. I would learn so much!

If you live in Ottawa, be sure and swing by the sale, St. Matthew's Hall in the Glebe, Saturday Nov. 13, from 9-5!

- Donna

My turn to play catch up

Woah.

I am mailing off September and October blocks for Tong and Clivee...tomorrow. For reals.

I have had a heck of a time sitting down to get these ones done, and if I'm being honest, I'm sending a half finished project at best. Tong had asked for wonky scrappy stars for September. I was super happy to get going on this one...but a work trip, misplacing the fabric for several weeks, two bouts of cold en famille meant that I left this and left this and left this. I finally sat down in front of the machine last night to work on them. I cut out my cream coloured squares for the background, and made to scrappy centre pieces. But somehow in the way that I laid out the fabric I didn't realise that I had only half of it pulled out of the bag....I think I then tried to wonk the heck out of the squares and they ended up too small, as did the overall block. I put in several hours to get one block done, and it's wee, so in the end, I'm sending just one block and returning the lovely scraps to Tong with my apologies and a few treats. I'm so sorry I didn't complete the task!

I also miraculously got October's blocks done too....and even finsihed the two requested....Hope you like 'em Clivee.

Sorry about the poor photos. It's grey, grey, grey and cold and wet and it feels like almost-snow. I'm not ready for that yet. I would like some pointers on taking better photos...I have only a point and click but winter is nearly upon us so can't rely on sunny days so much....and also, how do I take a photo so it doesn't make the square look so wonky??

I had a lovely impromptu one night only visit with Sara this past week and we set up a little sewing room in my kitchen, joined by the ever crafty Holly. While Holly worked on packaging up the fabric tags we had sewn up months ago, Sara put herself to work binding four of the doll quilts I had sewn up for the upcoming craft show, while I worked on some potholders. What a productive evening! Thanks for the company Sara and Holly, and thanks for the sweat labour, too. Pretty good deal for the price of a steak and blue cheese salad (dinner!)

More to share soon!

- Donna

- Donna

Craftalicious Preparation

We're going ahead and making plans for the second Craftalicious Craft show..to be held this year on November 13 in Ottawa. We've got the applications almost ready to go out, and we'll be able to announce to applicants around mid-September if they've secured a spot. The folks from the Craft Co-op are helping out this year and I gotta say, this guys are consummate professionals. They've got a mailing list set up, so if you're local and want to join us this year, get on their mailing list and you'll receive the call-out.

I'm still throwing around ideas of what I could make. Last year I went with an assortmet of appliqued baby tees, Christmas ornaments, candy and cookies, pushpins, magnets and hair pins. I also sold some of Sara's lovely things.

The shirts were a hit, I sold some candy and cookies, and the hair pins went over well, as did Sara's crayon rolls.

People asked alot of questions about the buntings, but I didn't sell one, which shocked me, since they were pretty and so well-made. I had whipped up a wicked bad one made of Christmas colours to decorate the front of my table, and several people tried to buy it. This year I decided to see if Christmas garlands will sell...so I whipped up 5 scallopy ones in Christmas fabrics. I figure if they don't sell, my home and office will look great come December.


Way back in the throes of near spring, I stitched up a few doll quilt tops, and I finished them up recently. I figured I'd make up little pillows and coordinating pillowcases and sell a few doll bedding sets. Not sure how many I'll get finished, but two sets done (minus the pillows, which I figure I'll do later in a bunch).

So in addition to these few items and the gift tags I made with Holly, I'm definitely planning on making hair pins again and will make candy, only will package it in see through bags to show off its glistening buttery glow. (I tossed the unsold candy into the freezer and I did end up selling it a few weeks after the sale at a home based craft show...that stuff is like crack - important to give out samples!)

I've got a few other ideas up my sleeve which I'll share as I get moving on them...!

Have you sold things at a craft market before? What kinds of things do you like to buy at a craft sale?

- Donna

Gift Tags for Craft Show

Gift Tags for Craft Show
Originally uploaded by Kindred Crafters

Holly and I banded together this past week to whip up some little paper and fabric gift tags for Craftalicious. We're thinking we'll share a table this year. These were super fun to make, especially once we abandoned the method we had read about in Sandi Henderson's newest book, which involved cling wrap as a fuser...we used glue sticks and then stitched them down and added a little grommet to finish them up. We'll add some twine and package them in sets of five for the show.

It's so hot here it's hard to imagine sewing but I'm going to work on some garlands tonight. More to show later this week!

- Donna

Sneak Peek

No time to fiddle with getting pictures to look nicer but here are a few sneak peeks. . .
Shirts are all sewn . . .I love this one (I think because it has two scraps of Flea Market Fancy!)

Ambrosia Macaroons are setting.
And doodads (magnets, pushpins and hair clips) are done and packaged.












It's the last day before the sale! I'm working on packaging today and designing my table layout. And making soup for the crafters' lunch (roasted apple and carrot with ginger and a butternut squash with chipotle peppers, pancetta and sweet corn. Sprinkled with some goat cheese it's pretty much heaven in a bowl). It's going to be a good day tomorrow!

I can't wait to fill you all in on how it went.

- Donna

PS -thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a super nice day with a fantastic lunch out here with Holly, an amazing birthday cake baked by my husband. He then helped me make candy for three hours. Love that guy!

Working on Prototypes

I love craft sales, particularly around Christmas. I think that they are such a great alternative to shopping at a mall. Several months ago, some friends and I were talking, and we decided to organize one for next November here in Ottawa . .we're thinking about 15 vendors, in a church basement, a fun afternoon of crafty love.

And, er, I'm one of the vendors.

I have several foodie type items I'm going to make, which should go over well, but I'm also looking to sew some small items.

But what, but what? Given my newbie skills (but I have many months to improve, I argue!), and my shortage on time (two kids under 2.5, one of whom is now sleeping in my craft room - temporarily, I hope - and an impending return to full time work in early August), what can I possibly make?

And so the search for a few prototypes begins. I've got a few ideas, but I need some time to work on a model and then figure out how to mass (as in 25 or so!) produce a few things.

I've got a line on some organic cotton onesies in lush colours, and I think I'm going to place an order and applique some with great fabric cutouts. I've done many of those and do a mean blanket stitch, if I do say so myself. I might even try to machine applique but not sure what kind of stabilizer to use.

Today, though, I tried making a patchy fabric bookmark. Many kinks, but fun. I grabbed a handful of scraps from my stash, stitched 'em together, ironed the seams flat, and cut out a piece of corduroy for the back. I stitched a piece of retro ribbon on to it, and then stiched some interfacing to the wrong side of the back. I wanted a little stiffness to the thing. I then put the pieces wrong sides together and top stitched 'em up, and trimmed the edges with a decorative wavy rotary cutter. I'm not sure I like that.

I'd like to put a ribbon through a hole at the top, but I have no idea how to set an eyelet or even make a hole through two pieces of fabric and interfacing. Back to the drawing board.

- Donna