Sewing: Inspiration

Last week, I posted about my need for a new clock in my sewing room.  After oogling over my options, I decided on this lovely:

My sewing room is a very neutral light blue color with white trim.  At first, I thought that I would want something funky, but the clock that I picked made by Making Time TC called to me.  I think that it will be perfect - I can't wait for it to arrive!  I'll be sure to post pictures of it in action.

I am still having a wonderful time sewing and working on items for my Etsy shop, and spent a few evening hours last week working away.  My clutches appear to be the most popular on Etsy and Pinterest, so I have made a few more to add to my shop soon.  I also had my third sale today, which is very exciting and inspiring!

I have also been doing a bit of research and development on new products, and am on the lookout for new fabrics.  The following from the Ty Pennington Fabrics Collection are screaming to be mine.

What sites do you recommend for craft inspiration?

Hobby No More

In early November, I decided to work toward making one of my dreams come true: owning my own business. I've still got a full-time day job, which sometimes turns into much more than full time, but why not turn my spare-time hobby into something more? And so, the PeetSwea Shop on Etsy was born.

Today, I have 13 items for sale on my shop, and only two sales, but I am finding endless excitement in learning about what it takes to build a shop and build a following.  I should have known that sewing bags and clutches  would be the easy part - after all, I already knew how to do that.  Learning how to take pictures was an early goal and I spent more hours than I could count coming up with an approach to photographing my items.

Next up is networking with other Etsy sellers to learn as much as I can about what it will take to be successful, and spending more time in the sewing room to build up my inventory.

All I can say is, I'm loving the ride so far!

Find PeetSwea on Etsy and Facebook

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at a few things that I have been working on lately. 

New and exciting things are coming to PeetSwea!

Sewing Project: Mixer Cover for my Mom

It's been over a year since I successfully completed a sewing project.  When my mom visited us in December, she commented that she would like to have a cover for her mixer, like the one that I made for myself.  She's a big fan of Polish Pottery, so I set out to find material to compliment her collection.  Just in the nick of time on Wednesday morning, I finished up and shipped it to Florida.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Mixer Cover



Mixer Cover with Polish Pottery



Now I've got the itch for my next project...

Crafty Tuesday - So Close

I took some time tonight to exercise some frustrations on my sewing machine. I came oh so close to finishing this cute little bag. If only I had remembered to buy FOUR D-rings instead of TWO. Brilliant. Easy fix, once I can make it to JoAnn, but a little anticlimactic nonetheless.

Crafty Tuesday - Finally

I've been a little lax in finishing up this project, but I finally completed the cover for my KitchenAid on Sunday. I would have been done sooner, but I accidentally (stupidly) cut a huge gash in the side of the fabric. So, it's a little less wide than I had originally planned, but it turned out ok. Yay!!

Crafty Tuesday - Here I Am!

Not a ton of crafty progress made over the last week. I did spend an evening working on the mixer cover that I've been covering (unfortunately) for the past three weeks. Here's a few shots of the progress...

Three pieces longing for some attention:






















Up close and personal look at my first time freehand quilting - it was a lot more daunting than this anal-retentive-color-within-the-lines girl would like, but after a few minutes I was having fun!!






















And here's a sneak preview of what took up so much of my time over the weekend. The color inspiration and the new wall color for the sewing room.

Crafty Tuesday Part Deux

Last week I showed pictures of two sewing patterns that I ordered. They arrived on Saturday, but there was entirely too much moving of furniture and de-cluttering rooms to do anything but place them in the sewing room.

In anticipation of today's post, I had to get my butt in gear... I'm starting with a cover for my KitchenAid - the pattern is actually for a breadmaker cover, but if I did the measurements correctly, it should still work. Last night, I was able to start cutting fabric - Yay for Progress! I was thrilled to have so much floorspace to be able to lay out the fabric. Having ventured into the realm of quilting over the past few years, I had forgotten what it was like to actually use a pattern and scissors - it's completely different when you rely solely on a ruler and a rotary cutter!

Here's some shots of last night's progress. I'm hoping for more time this evening to cut the lining and maybe start sewing a little.

Tuesday Crafting...

I posted yesterday about the quilt that I just finished. Looks like I should have waited one more day!!

Take a look at my new pretty button on the left for Crafty Tuesdays - hosted by Pink Ric Rac. I'm really looking forward to it.

So here are my Crafty Tuesday thoughts for this week... I'm feeling a home decorating mood coming on, so I ordered a few patterns yesterday, here's what I found at Simplicity :
















I'm looking forward to heading to the fabric store to find some inspiration for the patterns. JoAnn mothership, here I come!