Introducing

A new product!

A lightweight 100% cotton blanket!

There is no minky on this blanket. No chenille, flannel or batting either.

Just designer cotton backed with designer cotton.
I have been dreaming about this blanket for months but have always been too imtimidated to try it.

These blankets are made using a method called "self-binding". It means the back fabric is wrapped around to the front and frames the front fabric.

The part that intimidated me was the corners. They are mitered, or squared off nicely.

The first two tutorials I found weren't very clear on how to do the corners and I ended up with an "inside out" corner. Frustrating!

I searched and searched online until finally I found a video on YouTube that was very clear about how to do it. Sweet!

I took a little bit of instructions from each tutorial I had read, made a few of my own tweeks and here they are!

(It's amazing how a bit more ironing and a few more stitches can make the final product look so much neater.)

I am going to love using these for Baby Doll this summer.  Lightweight, colorful and fun!

Here's where I need some help...

If you were searching on Etsy, or anywhere online, what would you call this type of blanket? Which search terms would you use?

What size would you look for? I currently have 4 listed that are 24"x24". Should I do some smaller (20"x20") and larger (30"x30")?

Part 1 in a series: You know you have kids when...

 You go to sew but first have to move Duplos out from under your foot pedal (is that what it's called?).

 You trip over a play purse and a toy car on your way to your sewing stool.

A baby toy pops up (literally) on the desk next to the computer.

To be continued...

Some days

Not a whole lot gets accomplished.  On other days,

a whole lot gets accomplished.

This is yesterday's pile of orders ready for the mail. It always feels great to get a bunch of orders made, packed up and out the door.

Baby Doll has seemed to settle into a routine of a sleepy day followed by an awake day.  On her sleepy days, I try to get as much done as possible so on her awake days I can enjoy just lounging and holding her.

Such is the story of my life lately and I wouldn't change it for anything.

In the near future

I will be working on an order of 96 key fobs.

They will be given to teachers as a thank you gift from that school's PTA.

The woman who placed the order is a member of the PTA and has placed several orders for key fobs from able mabel in the past.

The two orders I remember off the top of my head were a set of 15 for Christmas gifts and then another set of 24 for gifts she'd need for a vacation she was taking (hostess gifts, gifts for nieces, etc.).

It's awesome to hear stories and feedback from my customers! Totally makes my day!

Today's Math Lesson

+

=

To list or not to list

 I've been ordering Michael Miller fabrics by the bolt. Because of the minimums I need to order each time, I've been listing the fabrics for sale in my shop and selling them by the yard (or however many yards people want to buy).

 On the go

 Socks Retro

Spa Geo

Today the USP man dropped off two more bolts.

and

 I bought 4 bolts (2 are coming later) to coordinate with most of my fabrics I have in my stash.  My intent is to use them for the new blankets I'm working on.  The larger blanket take 1 full yard of coordinating fabric.  That means I'll only get 15 blankets out of each bolt.

So what should I do?

• list the fabrics for sale and if I sell out I can take the money I made and put it towards another bolt of either the same fabric or a different one?
• or do I keep it all for myself and don't list it?

Treasury Time!

It's always fun to spend a bit of time making treasuries (collections on Etsy featuring other Etsy sellers work.).

The story behind

Wow! 2 days in a row, I am on roll! Actually I will post as often as I have time or have something somewhat interesting to say.

Sometimes I have a product that has a short and sweet story behind it. A story that it too long for a Facebook post. I thought it would be fun to share them here on the blog.

Today in my shop, I listed this bib and burp cloth set.

The fabric I used for this set is from Michael Miller's French Journal collection.  Last fall, I ordered a full bolt of it (15 yards). It was a pure impulse purchase.  It arrived on my door step one Friday afternoon.  I took one look at it and gave myself the "what were you thinking?" lecture.

Yes, it's darling. Yes, it would make a non traditional baby blanket.  But for some reason, it overwhelmed me.  It had so many prints and patterns on it that I wasn't sure where to start breaking it up. I decided to list in for sale by the yard in the fabric section of my shop.

Within an hour of listing it, I received a message from a customer in Australian wanting to buy 10 yards of it. She was in love with it! Gone was my overwhelmed feeling and I skipped to my craft room to get her package ready to ship.

That evening, another Australian customer wanted 4.5 yards of it. Sold!

Just like that I was left with1/2 a yard. It was enough to make this set and I have just enough left over for one bib. (which will look nothing like the bib or burp cloth shown here.)

"Problem" solved and everyone was happy!

Resurrecting this blog from the dead...

Remember me? It's been a while.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more often. Here it is March already and I've failed miserably.  Part of it is due to the fact that

we have a new Princess keeping us busy. Today she is 6 weeks old. We love her to pieces and I will willingly "sacrifice" crafting time for her.

(I bought her booties from this shop.)

Before Babes arrived, I could be found "nesting" in my craft room, scurrying to get new product made, photographed and listing in the shop.

Patchwork blankets, using fabric I've had for years.

Sets of burp cloths, finally.

Jumping on the chevron band wagon. A smart move, if my sales on these items tell me anything.

Once I have a spare moment, I will be adding a new blanket design to the shop.  Yesterday I was able to organize my fabric bin and start putting different fabric combos together.  I will be sure to post pictures when they are ready!