Thrifty Finds

Good morning and Happy Monday!

I mentioned it was girls night out Friday and we went to a thrift sale and dinner. I know we got pretty wild and crazy. :) It's an annual sale held by the local art center to raise money. It is always a blast. I always come home with lots of treasures. Here's my stash from Friday night. I got some golden books to use for notebook covers, some metal tins to paint up and decorate, and my best find of the night were the picnic baskets. I have been wanting a travel sewing box for all my nights at baseball and tennis. I love to bring along my hand sewing to keep myself occupied while I watch the boys play. I, of course, am going to do these up in Jangles fashion. Stay tuned, that will be another post down the road.

I didn't want you to miss the previous post. I have a handful of fat quarters in the Etsy shop. It's all I have... get em while you can.
Have a great day,
Jennifer

Fat Quarters

Happy Saturday!

Remember I did a quilt show a couple of weeks ago? Well I have a few fat quarters still left from the show and I thought I would get them in the Etsy shop. This is all of the Happy fabric I left. If you need larger pieces I know there are lots of great fabric shops out there with the Happy fabric still available. If you just want to snatch up a few fat quarters this is the place and time.

Have a great weekend,

Sewing Projects

Hi there! I just had to show you a couple of photos that found their way to my inbox this week. I can't believe the amazing things that you are sewing with my Happy fabric. This adorable dog sporting the fancy collar was made by Angie. Her company is Fetching Collars. You can find her here on facebook. The photography is amazing as well and it was shot by Mia Baker Photography. These women are both from Athens so if you're a local reader of this blog you can find them around town.

My friend Harriet Rudolf made this bag. How great is that? I met Harriet through the Miami Bead Guild a long time ago. She's a beader and she does amazing sewing and quilting. I been told by other members of the guild that they would all be having Harriet sew them tool bags from my fabric. If you need a bag, let me know and I will give you her e-mail.



I know there is more out there that has been sewn with my fabric so I thought I should create a Flicker group for the projects. I know when I go to other blogs I love to see what folks are making. Look down there in the right hand side of the blog. Please...oh....please show me some photos of what you've been making.

Have a great day,

As Promised...

As promised....a much nicer photo of my new fabric. I have been told it should be arriving in stores any minute. :)

Have a Happy Day!

Oh Happy Day!

Oh my gosh! It is here! My fabric has arrived. It's quite a whirlwind in the studio. Crazier than ever. Whew! See I am even typing fast. Well I guess you can't tell that. Let me slow down, back up, and explain....

My fabric has arrived and that is exciting. It's hard to believe a year ago I was staying up until all hours of the night designing away on what I hoped might be fabric someday. Fast forward a year later and wow za! I have it in my hands. My wonderful fabric company suggested I make matching buttons. They promoted them along with my fabric and once again, it was more than I could have imagined and we are swamped with orders. I now have three super fantastic employees. Ask me a year ago if I had wanted employees and I would have said no way. Now, I can't imagine life without them. It's so much fun. Next big change from a year ago...a new studio. Yes, I am pretty sure I have sworn, on several different occasions, that I would not move my studio again. But that was way before all of the above came into my life. I am currently looking at spaces. It will be a few months before the move and I will keep you posted in future posts. I have taken over every inch of the basement and garage and I still don't have anywhere to set up my Quilt Market booth. Yikes! My family is being patient, but I can tell it's not going to last forever.

So boy... oh boy what can happen in a year. These next two weeks are insane, loads of buttons going out, fabric is shipping, patterns are going to the printer, and I have a big ol bead order. Yes, for those bead fans out there, I am still making them. I promise some new jewelry projects soon, they are designed on my work table. I just need someone to come make them. Got any volunteers?

I guess what I am saying is please stick with me for a few more weeks, I promise to get back to my regular blogging self. I miss you all.

As for fabric, if you check out other fabric designer sites, you'll notice beautiful shots of fabric. They will all be stacked up so neat with flowers and other props. Well, after a weekend of all night(seriously, all night) sewing, here is my new fabric. Embarrassing for it's debut, eh? I will have a pretty shot soon, the photographer was here on Sunday shooting it, I promise.

Below I was able to shoot the three color ways from the fabric samples I have. They are so pretty, if I do say so myself. I wish you could feel them. They are so soft. I am having so much fun sewing with them.

As for the sneak peek at the top of the page....As I mentioned, I am working on four sewing patterns. They are off to the printers this week, fingers crossed, I will reveal more as I can.



Alrighty, I am real Happy I could sneak in some time for a blog post. ...
Have a great day,

Strike Offs

Hello!

This just arrived the other day in my mailbox and I was so excited! I am learning about the fabric process as I go, so I will share. Yes, that is actual fabric above! But it doesn't quite look exactly right. These are called strike offs. In The Beginning Fabrics submits my fabric designs to the mill. The mill then screen prints the fabric as close as they can to what it will look like when it's printed. They send it back for us to look at and give changes to them. This will happen a few more times and then when they designs and colors are exactly what they should be they will be actually printed. These are the first set of strike offs, the color is a little off and the black lines are thicker than what they will be, and the fabric quality is not as nice as the real deal. But we are getting closer and closer to having real fabric to sew with. EEEEK! I cannot wait. I have a whole list of projects to make.

And below is a copy of the spring In The Beginning newsletter. I made the front page. Sorry about the bad photo, it's the best I could do. I still need that new camera.


Have a great day,

Give Away Friday

Hey! Hey! It's give away Friday again. I took a few weeks off. I can't say that was my plan I think those Fridays just sneaked up on me. Leave me a comment for this post and you will be entered to win a woodland snail bead. He is a one of a kind because he has a hole. My snails are usually charms. I think he's pretty darn cute and almost hate to part with him. I am sure he will scoot on to a good home. You can post a comment until Monday morning when I will pick a random winner. I can't give you an actual ending time but it will be once the boys are on the bus and I am sitting at my computer drinking my morning mocha. I am so official. :)

Let's see there are so many things going on in the Jangles studio right now, there is just a buzz about the place. It's so exciting that my fabric is available for order now. This also means that my buttons are being ordered by quilt shops too. I am in full speed production right now. I have a humongous kiln being loaded today with all sorts of stuff. I can't believe it but I think I will have almost everything in stock on my website after today. There are just a few items left to make. Wohoo! I didn't think that was really possible. I also have some new birdies in the kiln. All different colors, I can't wait to see them all together. One more thing and then I will stop....I also just placed an order for some new stamps. I am super excited to get them. I make my texture pendants with stamps that I hand draw. I drew out some new designs and am having them made as we speak. It will still be a few weeks before I can even start making things with them, but I am sure you will here about it when I do. The ideas are churning in my head. Whew! That was exhausting just telling you about it all.

Before I go and let you start leaving your comments, I thought I should mention again, my Bead and Button classes. I can't believe it's only six weeks away(or close to that). I am teaching a bunch of ceramic bead making classes and a jewelry making class. It's always a good time. So if you were thinking about signing up now is the time. I really hope to see you there. I love when I get to spend the day with someone that I have talked to online, it's fun!

Alrighty, get to commenting, and I will be back here on Monday, mocha in hand, to let you know who the winner is.

Have a great weekend,