A crafty week.

I'm sorry that my blogging has been sort of sporatic lately. I go through phases where my mind is full of things to blog about, and phases where I'd just rather do other things. :)

Here are some crafty things about this past week:

1. My Etsy shop! In the past seven days, I have had four sales. The most sales I've had in a single week since I opened my shop just over a year ago. I am so happy!

And up until this week, I had only sold one piece of my embroidery {Some Pig}. This week I sold three pieces. Please know, I'm not bragging. I'm actually still sort of in shock, I think? :)

One of my favorite things about having an Etsy shop and selling my creations is how sometimes a person will just have a connection to one of your items. One of my Eiffel Tower embroideries this week was sold to someone in Paris. That just completely made my day! :)

Also, remember my To Kill a Mockingbird embroidery? After I put it in the contest Flickr group, I was contacted by someone interested in purchasing it. I wasn't originally planning on selling it, but this lady is having a baby next month, and she's naming her child after a character in the book. I thought that was so neat, so I talked to my parents about it and decided to let the piece go. I love stories like that. They make my bookworm heart flutter.

2. I have two hobbies that I can do while watching movies: embroidery and knitting. Lately I've been spending so much time on knitting that I haven't gotten to work on any embroidery. But with my sales this week, I decided to splurge on a couple of patterns on Etsy! :) You'll be seeing the other two as soon as I finish them.

This is Miss Oste Rich, a pattern from Studio MME. The first time I saw the pattern, I fell in love with it. I adore the profile view and the glamorous 1930s feel. And she has a handsome friend. I want to stitch him, too, and frame them both in black-ribboned hoops. 

3. Yesterday, I went with my mom and her friend to a holiday bazaar in town. I went mostly because I might get a booth there next year and I wanted to scope things out. :) It was okay, except that most of the goods that were actually handmade were really underpriced {see my rant about this here}.

Marmee bought me my first ever skein of handspun yarn! Very exciting. :) The lady even had a small spinning wheel there behind her table. It's very cool to know that this yarn was sheared (shorn?) and spun locally.

P.S. I am not not a craft snob. I don't want high-priced cotton fabrics or special embroidery floss or refuse to use craft felt. And I am not a yarn snob. I have used acrylic yarn before, and it's fine. I do, however, prefer natural fibers for many reasons. But do realize that every single bit of yarn I have ever bought (except for this one, which technically Mom bought. And it was only $4.50, which I thought was surprisingly low), wool and cotton and all, was either on clearance or bought with a coupon. :)

4. I spent one morning this week making a project that I've wanted to do for a long time: a peppermint garland from one of my favorite craft books, Fa la la la Felt (full of cute felty holiday ideas). And yes, I used cheapo craft felt, because I didn't want to use my tiny supply of wool blend felt. And it worked just fine.

The peppermint rolls of red and white felt really did look good. Almost good enough to eat. :)

{I have never tasted felt- I hope you haven't either- but I imagine it tastes like a very dry marshmallow. Don't you? Or maybe a cotton ball. But Buddy the Elf seemed to like those.}

The garland turned out super cute, but I haven't really figured out where to put it yet. So right now, it's adorning one of my DVD storage things. With Audrey looking on.

Until next time,