Thursday Small Business Feature: Little Lovebugs Boutique

Welcome back to Thursday's Feature!  Today's feature shop is Little Lovebugs Boutique.

 Kristin Demay is the face behind the adorable selection of creations.  I had a hard time choosing which of her items to feature, there were so many cute things!  I think my favorite is the playmat.  I have 3 boys and there are so many amazing girl items; it's nice to see some boy themed things.  ;)

Here's what Kristin shared with us:
I am a stay at home mom to 4 beautiful little Lovebugs. They range from 8 to 1!

 My oldest daughter was my inspiration to start creating bows and 3 years ago I opened up a shop on facebook. Since then my little shop has gone beyond just bows and now launches new items 3 times a week!! A part of me goes into each creation so picking a favorite is hard!! It changes all the time.

Here's a list of where you can find Ms Kristin:
Website: www.LittleLovebugsBowtique.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Little.Lovebugs.Bowtique
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/lillovebugsbowtique
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lillovebugsbow

 

Please stop by her shop and let her know you found her here!  Happy shopping and see you next week where we will get to know another great store owner!  Oh and Kristin has set up a special coupon just for you! 

 

                                                  Etsy coupon code GIFTGARDEN
                                         FREE SHIPPING ON orders of $25.00 or more

 

Smooth Sailing?

I am currently working on the second challenge for Persimon Dreams Quilt challenge. The challenge this week is to quilt something using only your favorite color and white. You can read about the cahllenges by clicking on the Project Quilting Button to the right. I know I said after the last one that I was going to do a smaller project, but...I couldn't resist. So now, I will be fighting the clock to get this one done!

My favorite color is blue, but I actually do not have much in the blue fabric department. I found a pattern in one of my quilting books for sailboats and thought it would be a good way to use up my scraps.

I cut out the blocks and triangles and here is the layout of the boats:

I managed to get one sailboat pieced last night:

And all the triangles sewn together:

So, now I just need to piece the other three boats, add strips of white inbetween, figure out what to use as binding and backing, and quilt it by Sunday at noon. I better get to work!


I will be linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday so be sure to check out what everyone else is up to! Have a great day!

Works in Progress Wednesday

Well, time to see how I am doing on Monday's to-do list.

1) CLEAN THE HOUSE Progress has been made, but how clean can a house get and stay with two young boys lol

2) Finish my friend's Spring bag (still need to get to Joann's for this) Almost done-made it to Joann's yesterday and got the lining and straps for the bag. Now I just have to finish putting it together. The lining looks very similar to the purple squares on the outside but it's small hearts instead of circles and it is a thin flannel.

3) Make a cat kitchen towel for another friend No progress-still hoping to get this done this week.

4) Design and make a cat potholder for same friend No progress-also hoping to get this done this week, or at least started.

5) Email a third friend some fabric ideas for a gym bag Done!

6) Finish my sis-in-laws bag Progress made and would LOVE to finish it tonight or tomorrow. She asked me for this probably over a year ago and I bought fabric but never made it. She asked for lime green and pink so the outside will look like this:

The inside will look like this:

This is my first reversible bag-I did the blue and purple squares in case she wants a little change. The solid squares are actually sparkly, and I bought yellow and green but ended up not using them. I like how bright and cheery it is!

7) Finish a red and black table runner that I started oh, last year lol Haven't even taken it out yet lol.

So, some progress made which I am happy with of course, but am hoping to make much more before the next quilting challenge opens on Sunday.

Enjoy the day! I think today is one of the last of the nicer days until rain and slightly cooler weather comes in so we will probably be outside.

I will be linking up to Freshly Pieced so be sure to head over there and check out the other WIPs!

Accomplishments and Lists

Well, I finished my table runner for the quilting challenge over at persimon dreams. I had to do a bit of marathon sewing on Saturday but I finished it.

It was only my second time actually "quilting" something so I am pretty happy with it despite some issues I had. With the first table runner I made, I had some bunching and puffy issues. I just figured my pinning wasn't as up to par as it should be and was told polyester batting has a tendency to make things puffier than cotton batting. For this table runner, I pulled the polyester batting apart so it was even thinner and really took my time and pinned like crazy. Well, the first square I sewed around was very puffy and the next section I tried to quilt had some major bunching and folding over. The third section was even worse. What made it even more frustrating was that I was using a walking foot and had dropped the tension down. I ended up taking those quilting lines out and taking off my walking foot and just using the regular sewing attachment. The quilting came out SO much nicer. I don't think it's perfect (I never think that) but overall I am happy with the end result. So, is my walking foot a dud, or what? I do not even want to mess with it anymore.

No quilting challenge this week so I am going to try and tackle my list of to-do's. Persimon dreams is also starting a quilt along this week and I am so tempted to join in. However, I am almost positive I do not have enough coordinating fabric so I am going to try and resist! Okay, so here is what I hope to at least make a dent in:

1) CLEAN THE HOUSE lol
2) Finish my friend's Spring bag (still need to get to Joann's for this)
3) Make a cat kitchen towel for another friend
4) Design and make a cat potholder for same friend
5) Email a third friend some fabric ideas for a gym bag
6) Finish my sis-in-laws bag
7) Finish a red and black table runner that I started oh, last year lol

So, how many of these will actually finish? Hopefully more than one, but we will see! Hope everyone has a great week!

The Week and Lessons Learned

Happy friday! Except hubby may be working Sat and Sun. :( Oh well, at least it is supposed to continue to be nice out. My older son's first dentist visit went extremely well. He did not seem to be stressing about it, more excited actually. He kept asking when his appointment was. Before we went in, he said he was a little nervous. The girl that did his teeth was amazing with him and had him laughing. His xrays looked fine and the dentist said he had beautiful teeth. Yay! Let's hope it stays that way. We took the younger one along too so he could see, even though he has another year and a half before they will give him his first cleaning. After C was done, little H climbed right up in the chair, ready for his turn. So, cute. I am definitely glad he had such a good first experience. I remember dreading going to the dentist as a child.


This week the boys have been doing a lot of pretend remote control play, mostly flying helicopters and planes. While we were visiting my family over Christmas, my Poppop took us out to the flying field he uses for his model airplanes. My husband flew the airplane a couple of times and C got to try for a minute and even got the plane to do a loop-de-loop. My dad has a flight simulator program on his computer and the boys are always asking him to fly it. My dad also has a smaller remote controlled helicopter that they thought was awesome. So, for Christmas they got remote controlled trucks and my husband got a remote helicopter like my dad has. The batteries on the trucks were dead when we got home (they were apparently left on the whole 11 hour drive home) and one has a broken control that we need to fix. They love when my husband flies his helicopter in the house (he enjoys it too) and so while he is at work, they make up their own. They use random toy steering wheels and bike ramps, basically whatever they find, as remotes for their planes, helicopters, motorcycles, etc. It is so cute to watch and I know my Poppop would be so tickled to see them doing that.


We got a little bit of yard work done the other day, there is still a lot to be done. This weather is making me want to go ahead and plant my bulbs and get the early spring garden started but I think I need to wait a few more weeks, just in case. In the meantime, there is plenty of prep work to do to the yard and I can start seeds indoors in just a little while. I also saw somewhere (probably Pinterest) cutting the top off a 2 liter bottle,filling it with soil and planting carrot seeds in it. That way the kids can watch them grow. I'm hoping to do that this weekend.


No finished projects to display. I only have 2 days to finish the table runner for the quilt challenge. I have the squares and inbetween strips sewn. I just need to add the side borders, cut out backing and batting, quilt, and bind it. My friend's bag is still waiting on lining and straps, but I am hoping to get to Joanns this weekend as well.


I would have to say my lesson learned from this week is being satisfied with what you have, specifically fabric and skills. I received a Connecting Threads and a Keepsake Quilting catalog in the mail yesterday. Looking at all of the amazing fabric and threads inspired me but then I began to feel frustrated because I do not have such an extensive collection from which to choose. I also see all of the quilts and want to do them so badly but in reality, a lot of the designs would probably be too difficult for me. I also need to work on the quilting part-I have only done it once. So, I started to get frustrated but quickly realized that those are things that will come with time. I need to focus on what I CAN do and what I already have on hand. I need to pick projects that I am excited about and that can challenge me without being too advanced. Most of all, I need to ENJOY what I am doing or it is not going to come together. Just my little philosophical thought.


Have a great weekend!

Creating and Playing and Friday

Happy Friday!  Except that I'm so confused from the holidays on what day it is :)

Well, it's been a pretty productive week, even with the hubby home the first half of it.  I love when he is home of course, but definitely don't get as much done. 

I finished the heart towel and found and listed a pink crochet snake that I had made for a relative that changed her mind on color.

I have squares cut and ready to make a spring bag for a friend.  You can see the cut out squares here.

I apologize for the links instead of direct pictures, but for some reason my uploader isn't working :(

Another friend reminded me about making animal shaped potholders and I found these cute squares so we'll see what I come up with.  You can see pictures here.

Finally, I may be making a bag for my aunt; hoping she can find the perfect fabric for the project!

So, yeah, lots of planning, now to get doing :)

With the spring bag, I was able to stick to using what I had on hand and am happy with the color and design combo.  I am not sure what I am going to do  for the handles and lining yet, but I'll decide after I have made the outer shell. 

My aunt originally wanted to use a birdhouse fabric I had from Fabric Central's Aerie bundle for the bag.  Unfortunately, I did not have near enough of it and it is no longer carried at Joann's.  I am really bummed they do not sell that line anymore because it was such a pretty group of fabrics, and it could have been used in so many projects.  You can see my scraps from the bird fabric here.

Anyway, I have had a pretty good week with the kids.  They have still been adjusting to being back at home and getting into our very loose routines.  With all of their new toys, they have been bouncing from area to area and toy to toy-generally being messier.  So, we are working on remembering to clean up again.  My older one got a good deal of Playmobil and that has kept both of them pretty busy. 

He also got some starter science kits-a fizzy foamy one and a color mixing/crystal growing set.  We did the fizzy foamy set the other day.  The kit has about 7 different activities and I jumped right to the volcano one.  It hardly bubbled up so I tried the activity labeled "More eruptions".  That one bubbled up more but neither really fizzed up and spilled over so while the kids thought it was cool, I was a little disappointed.  Looking at the other activities, I realize that I probably should have done them in order because it goes through acids and bases and what makes it fizz and all that.  But, at the same time, I feel all of that information would be lost on a 4 yr old and 2 yr old.  The ingredients are basic and are all kitchen friendly-vegetable oil, baking soda, citric acid, etc.  So, even if I run out of something from the kit, I can easily replace it.  We haven't tried the color mixing/crystal growing set yet-hopefully today or tomorrow.

I have been struggling with how to structure their day and at times I have even tried to plan activities and lessons for them because I worry about them missing out on learning while being home.  But, I have come to realize (which I already somewhat knew and just needed to accept) that they will learn just fine through playing and experiencing each day.  My mom did not plan out activities and lessons for my brother and me and I do not think either one of us went to preschool and we did pretty well in school.  Right now, my boys just need me to play with them and enhance their play experiences.  They usually help me bake and I hear my 2 yr old saying he needs a teaspoon while playing in the tub.  We count while playing games and lining up cars; we find shapes and colors all around us.  If my 4 yr old draws a picture of a fish or cave, I have him write the word on the paper.  Seeing what my boys are capable of doing, reassures me that they are on the right track.

For those that do more structured days with their young children-I admire you and appreciate all of the hard work you put into it.  For me, my day just gets away too quickly and when I plan activities they almost never go the way I planned.  So, I let them decide how they want to sped each moment of their day (within reason) and try to enhance it.  They both have Mobigo's which is a game system for children 3 yearsto about 7 years.  The cartridges are well known tv and movie characters, except the generic one that comes with it.  The games help them with shapes, colors, math, letter and word recognition, etc.  Every game has an educational purpose.  The boys do not play them every day and when they do, it is not for hours on end, but I think it is a fun way for them to learn the basic skills while giving them some quiet time. 

Anyway, enough rambling...Hope you have a great Friday and weekend!

Motivated Mondays!

Here it is, another Monday has come around.  Have you found your motivation for the week?  I think I have; let's see if it sticks around all week. 

I am motivated to be a more intentional teacher/mom.  Although, I still feel like the boys and I are settling into our new lifestyle, I feel like I need to be even more on top of things.  I had tv pretty limited but noticed it crept back into our daily routine more as the week went on.  It was so convenient to let them watch one thing so I could get something done.  Not this week.  They weren't watching junk and were learning from what they saw, but still.  I don't think having a strict schedule: we will do this at this time, for this long kind of thing will work.  But, I think I definitely need to devote more of my day to them, and devote the free time that pops up to my other need-to-dos and want-to-dos.

I am motivated to focus on being more time efficient and not waste time on the smaller things such as checking stats on here and etsy as much.  If I can, I'll wait until the end of the day.  (This one may be a hard one for me)

Last night I organized my sewing room (dining room).  Well, it's not perfect but it's a whole heck of a lot better.  I cleaned off the table so now I have more room to lay projects out.  I tried to organize my fabrics, but I don't know if I'll ever find a system that makes me 100% happy.  There is now a clear bin that holds my queued fabrics and projects.  I think I am the most excited about that part.  And, I removed my scrapbooking stuff to make more room.  In reality, it just means I am moving all that stuff to clutter up our bedroom.  We have NO extra storage space in this house.

While I was working full time and going to school, the house would get very cluttered very quickly.  Since I have started staying home, I have been trying to clean out/organize one little area a day.  I plan on continuing that because itis the little things that make the difference.  Now, our house is not dirty, relatively speaking with 2 young boys.  It is just cluttered.  Like I said, we have NO extra storage space. 

So, there is my motivated Monday pep talk.  What are you motivated to do this week? 

My First Experience with Hexagons-Machine Sewing

My mom keeps me in business all by herself, from requesting items to buying fabric that she really likes but gives to me to use. To be honest, sometimes making things for my family is more stressful because I just know they'll say they like it even if they aren't completely satisfied with it. They are just that nice.

This past November, I was commissioned to make a bag for my cousin, with no specifications other than general size. I decided I wanted to try a hexagon flower, pieced together, not applique. My google search quickly taught me that there was more to this flower than just sewing it together. Paper piecing sounded too frustrating and time consuming at the time. I just wanted to be able to put it all together, ideally without trying to conquer too many new techniques. Fortunately, I found a blog called Sew Many Ways that had a simpler version of how to sew hexagons. And, it was designed to be machine sewed, which was a big bonus for me. Between her easy to follow instructions and clear pictures, I could picture what I needed to do just by reading through the post. Find the tutorial here.

So, I didn't have many problems cutting the hexagons in half besides the occasional, I'm too tired to be using a rotary cutter and just veered off my intended path. With the pieces sewn into rows and the rows put together, this is what came together:

The blue stripes were not in the original design and were added when I realized the bag was shorter than I planned. I didn't take into account that cutting the hexagons in half and then sewing them back together would make them smaller. Duh, but I was being hasty. But, that "fix" ended up adding to the design, in my opinion. Anyway, I'm sure you experienced sewers, and probably even beginners, can see some irregularities and mismatching. I had some rows come out not so straight and instead of ripping out seams and redoing, I just kept going, hoping I could hide it.

The next issue I had was the blue stripes did not line up when I put the two sides of the bag together. Hmmm, wonder where that problem stemmed from... maybe I should have taken out the uneven rows and fixed them. So, I decided to add a blue mock binding to the edges to distract from the unevenness.

Pretty effect...except at the corners where it folded in funny. Grrr. So, at this point, I'm feeling horrible but am still too stubborn to start over or scrap it. Through much texting with my mom about these issues and if she thought it would be okay or if I should just say forget it; I went ahead and finished it, errors and all.

Sorry for the bad photo quality, I took it with my phone with no intention of ever needing it besides sending to my mom.

So, my cousin said she loved it and my mom said it came out very nice. I'm still undecided because I feel like I just kept trying to hide a mistake that kept growing. Kind of like lying. Honestly, I think at a glance it looks nice, but I can't just glance, my eyes automatically look for bad spots-which, to me, are everywhere.

So, what was the point of posting this? Well, I wanted to point out the excellent tutorial I found. I also wanted to share some basic lesson I learned/relearned:

• Nip mistakes in the bud-there are very few that can be hidden along the way. More than likely, that little oops is going to come back as a bigger issue.



• TAKE YOUR TIME-Proper piecing is really crucial and mismatched seams can be very distracting when it comes to the finished product.



• Have a plan, but be prepared to wing it-my spur of the moment additions actually ended up adding to the design-I just wish I had been more of a perfectionist from the beginning.
  

Now, I promise I am not a sloppy sewer, I only sell items that I am happy with in my Etsy shop. I just wanted to share my experience in an attempt to help other avoid this issues. It's nice to have family and friends to try new things with. This way, if I decide to make something similar to sell, I'll be more aware of the challenges ahead and where I need to pay closer attention.

I recently purchased tiny 2" hexagons from another Etsy seller, Spring Water Designs, and already have a plan for them. Since they are so small, I will not be doing the cut-in-half technique I used for the bag. I'd like to try the paper piecing, but may end up just appliqueing. Either way, I'll let you know! And with better pictures (hopefully)!

New Year-New Goals!

I'm sitting at work, drooling over Keepsake Quilting's new catalog. They have amazing fabric collections as well as patterns. For once, I am glad there is no way for me to scrounge up some extra money to order more fabric. I just received some beautiful fat quarter bundles and quilting templates for Christmas, and so definitely don't need any more fabric or inspiration. What I need more of is time! I think a good thing about having so little time is that I've had to learn how to prioritize my projects and goals as well as keep them realistic. I'm certainly becoming a fan of generalized baby steps!

My ultimate goal is to be able to stay at home and sell my creations full time. The reality of that is kind of depressing right now, so instead of crunching numbers, I focus on more abstract goals. Obvious things, like: create more to sell more. I realized last year, I really didn't make that much; I think I just wanted things to sell and got frustrated when they didn't. Well, people won't buy if there isn't anything listed. So, while I would like to set a goal, like list at least one thing a week, I know that won't always be possible, and I'll stress myself out if I try to stick to it. Instead, I'd just like to focus on increasing my listings in general. Along with that, I am hoping it will double my sales.

I need to try different venues. I did one craft show in November and it was miserable! Very cold and windy and I didn't make back my entry fee, which was only $25! But, I blame it on the lousy weather and maybe having too many options on my table. None of the vendors around me seemed to be too busy either. This year, I am hoping to test out the local farmer's market as well as a few other shows and festivals.

I've also recently started participating in some BNS/BNR treasuries on Etsy. Basically, there is a collection of shops chosen by the curator. If you purchase from one of the shops featured, your shop will be featured in the next round. So far, I've bought more than sold. But, it was all stuff I can use for my shop. And, I got 2 sales out of the deal. So, now, I'm sitting out for a while but definitely plan to participate again.

The most important thing I would like to focus on this year is to enjoy every minute of it! I sew and create because I enjoy it. Since this is not my only source of income, I don't HAVE to do anything. I've tried, well semi-tried, to keep up with what was trending and to try and guess what will sell best and cater my shop around those items. Results: stressful and not fun. I've found that I'm happiest just floating around in my own little world. Things definitely seem to come out a lot better that way!

Like I said in the beginning, abstract baby steps. You only have so much control over the numbers; you can't force people to shop with you. Plus, it's such a great feeling when you know the item is going to someone excited about it. So, this year I'm choosing to focus on the enjoyment of the process while expanding my skill set. Hopefully, the sales will follow. If not, check back next January for the new plan!

What are your goals this year?