custom goodies

while i was away a couple weeks ago, i got a slew of custom orders flooding my inbox. funny how these things come in droves when i finally take a vacation! not complaining, but i sure had a busy week last week, as the first three all needed to get out by friday morning. i thought i'd share them with you here.

i'm loving making these new custom smidgey blankets, and they seem to be quite a hit. i'm so glad that people love them as much as i do!

i rounded out the week with a set of blocks for one baby izzie. this order came from a lovely local couple, who were themselves gifted a set of blocks when their little guy was born last winter, and who now wanted to share them with a friend. my favourite kind of word of mouth, and a huge compliment, too.

i've got three more custom orders to finish up this week, and then i'm on to some linen goodies and a good dose of halloween buckets. phew!

[i'm not sure whether you can tell here, but i've ever-so-slightly adjusted the placement of the ribbons on my blocks. i'm not sure that i'm through fiddling with them. in fact, they may disappear altogether, i'm just not sure yet. this tiny adjustment may seem insignificant, but it means a whole lot. more on that later on.]

a pile of cloth blocks

look at all those blocks, i've been buried in them for the past month ;)

still three more sets to come in the next couple weeks, too. phew! lucky for me, i enjoy making them + love that each set is different.

a new name, a new colour scheme, a new stack of fabrics...

baby gift sets

this past weekend, i went to a great baby shower for an old friend [i've known her for 20 years!]. it was alot of fun, many of my school friends were there, and it was great to catch up. for my gift, i made a little collection of goodies to welcome wee baby emerson to the world.

i've been thinking about adding a gift set to the shop for some time, so it was really fun to put it together and see how it takes shape. this set is made up of a fabric bucket, a single cloth block, and a onesie, all monogrammed with 'e'. i loved using these particular fabrics, i knew they'd fit in really well with the nursery scheme, modern + sweet, grey + pink + brown.

i am hoping to have the first set listed in the shop later this week. i'll start with the 'stone birds' set, and follow up with a boy version, and a gender neutral version as well. i'm thinking i'll offer monogrammed or not, for those who don't name their baby beforehand ;) what do you think?

some things i've been up to

so i just wanted to share a few new sets of custom cloth blocks i've finished up in the past week. i hope you're not tired of seeing them here! i love making them, and showing the photos to you gives me a bit of closure as i send them off to their new homes.

first up we have the 'wgb' blocks, commissioned for a sweet baby boy here in greater vancouver. i was asked to use lots of different blues and greens, and to highlight the happy green apple fabric, as well as alexander henry's 2D zoo [a fave fabric, it seems, for many!]

and here we have sadie's blocks. these are about to be whisked of to nyc, and i hope sadie + her family love them as much as i do. they were commissioned by a friend of theirs, and were really fun to put together. love the bright + happy colour scheme that was chosen, and i think they turned out super fun.

last but not least, this set of blocks for baby cash. i was asked to use browns + greens and some other colours to complement those. i included a couple of my hoarded 'difficult to find' fabrics, heather ross' dogs on blue, and my favourite japanese trees, you can see them there on top of the green a block. you can still find bits of the other colourways of those trees, but i have yet to find any more of the blue + green trees. anyone? i'd love to get my hands on more. bit of a tangent there, but i love the bold colours of cash's blocks, and i do hope they are well-received.

thanks for bearing with me as i show you all some of what i've been up to. i am finishing up two more sets of blocks this weekend, then i am moving on to a few fabric buckets, and some custom totes! in between, i hope to find some time to start bulking up my inventory for holiday craft shows. phew! don't worry, i'll share pics when they're all done ;)

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i also wanted to say a big thanks to some people who featured my products this week! my jack on black hallowe'en bucket was posted on coochicoos, a 'design blog for modern parents'. then, my pink baby girl cloth blocks were included in lori dean dyments' wordless wednesday post. and finally, craftnouveau posted my hallowe'en buckets in her flickr friday hallowe'en preview today. thank you, everyone, i am constantly delighted + amazed by this online community, and this week has been very good to me.

one more sweet treat, i woke up this morning to find that ghostly delight had been on the front page of etsy! yahoo!! that is my first front page appearance, i'm so excited. i'm just sad it happened at 4am our time, i didn't get to see it 'live'. thanks etsy, you rock!

more cloth blocks!

i thought i'd share pictures of the latest cloth blocks that have made their way out of my little sewing room this month. first, a set of blocks for finn. these were chosen for finn by his cousin, and sent off to him as a surprise baby gift earlier in the month. i sure hope he loves them!

graham's blocks were whisked off to chicago right before i left on vacation last week. it was fun to make these, graham is also my dad's name, and one you don't hear so often for new babes these days. i got a such a sweet note from my customer [g is her friend's baby], she was so excited about the blocks that she emailed me before she had even finished unpacking them, she loved them so much. i love getting notes like that, it really made my day. it feels good to know that your labour of love is appreciated!

i have a number of blocks to make in the coming weeks. a couple of sets are on pause for babies who will be arriving imminently, and i'm getting started on another two sets this week. if you aren't tired to seeing them here, i'll share a few pictures when they're out the door!

pretty excited...

about having my blocks pictured in this post on Sew, Mama, Sew! i've been reading sew, mama, sew for a couple years, there are always lots of inspiring projects + pictures, plus amazing tips + advice. so i was pretty thrilled when they contacted me to ask if this picture of my blocks could be included in their post. yahoo!

a few more things...

thought i'd share a few more things i've sent off from my shop in the past week. baby olivia had a really fun and vibrant colour scheme for me to work with. hot + light pinks, mustard yellow, brown, and tiffany blue. i suggested adding another darker shade of aqua to the mix to help balance out the warm and cool tones, and away we went. i think they turned out really well, bold + sweet + fun. i hope wee olivia feels the same way.

these personalized 'd' totes were sent off to a new home in alberta last week. i was pretty excited about this order, i love making my tote bags, and i'm trying to get them noticed a little more. let's hope this is just the beginning!

and then one more set of cloth blocks! this was a fun set, it's the first custom order i've had for a baby boy, so i happily pulled together some adorable boyish blues + greens. my customer loved the alexander henry 2D zoo fabric so much we decided to feature it on each block, and extend the rest of the colour scheme from there. it was fun to work in a different way, and i love how the finished product turned out. i also got to use one of my fave recent fabric purchases, tula pink's caspian in dark blue from her awesome neptune collection [shown, bottom left]. love it!

another new baby boy will be getting a set of blocks in a couple of weeks. i'm putting them together in fits and spurts when i carve out the time, and i'll share pictures next week. i'm trying hard to find a balance in life and work these days. with my 4 year-old son on summer vacation, it's more difficult to work during the day, but i must say i'm having fun with a little vacation time of my own. we're having some incredible weather in vancouver this past while, so i'm just basking in it while i have the chance! have a great weekend everyone, and i'll see you back here next week...

cloth blocks

soft cloth blocks are a great choice for new babies. my little girl loves hers! squishing, tossing, grabbing ribbons, they make a fun and vibrant toy. these blocks come as a set of three [i can do more by request], some sets all one size, some a variety. appliqued with 'abc' or baby's initials, they work on display in the nursery or tossed in the toybox. cloth blocks will be available as both ready-made and custom items. i love putting these together, getting inspired by fabulous fabrics and colour ideas!

block city

here are the soft blocks, put together from my stack of fabrics from thursday. i finished them friday night. they came together nicely, and i'm quite happy with how they turned out. my fabric stash has leaned towards more girlie prints since d was born last year. i can't help it, pink  + orange are just so fantastic together! anyhow, with that in mind, i had fun picking out these gender neutral fabrics to make blocks for one wee baby who will enter the world an day now. and of course, a couple extra sets for my shop. soon.

i really like making these blocks personalized with the baby's initials, but i think the abc theme is nice, too. i'm all about applique these days, so the blocks don't leave my sewing machine unadorned. what do you think? more pics are on my flickr.

block love

one of my oldest friends welcomed her second baby, a girl, on christmas eve. i finally had the chance to finish her baby gift yesterday, a set of soft blocks. i enjoy making these, they are a fun project and [i think] a nice gift. babies seem to love them, and they're pretty to look at!

here is my pile of fabric waiting to be cut. i just love the way fabrics look all stacked up and ready to be used. so fresh and pressed and pretty. that erin mcmorris bird print in the ivory colourway is probably one of my favourite fabrics ever. swoon worthy.

i had fun mixing up lots of different fabrics for these blocks. i do like pairing prints from within one collection, but for me, the fun part is finding pieces from different collections + designers, and coming up with my own combinations. with all the amazing fabrics out there, it's always a pleasure.

opposite sides of the blocks. lots of little ribbons to touch + inspect. i think it's so cute how wee babies are drawn to ribbons and tags.

you can see more pics on my flickr. 

i've talked about it before, but i want to start working on some of these to go in my shop, which i hope to have up and running this spring. i'll keep you posted.