Sorry I've been gone!

Hello Lovlies! (if anyone's still reading this after all the neglect I've been showing it of late)

Hope you are all well. As I said last time big things have been going on in my neck of the woods. And now I can tell you about a few of them. First off, and the biggest of my big things, I've been working on a craft kit!
I did all the writing and the amazing cross stitch artist Kristina Kizzee designed all the patterns and stitched all the samples. It's super fun and funny (if I do say so myself) and I can't wait for it to come out in the Spring. I'll let you know more about the release date and where you can find it as soon as I know all the details. But until then, dig that awesome cover!

In addition to the book (yea!) I've been getting ready for the holidays. I'm happy to tell you about the craft fairs I'm doing for the season. The first is Crafty Wonderland in Portland, OR on December 13th. It's my first time in Portland and I can't wait. Apparently, according to my friend Sarah, it's full of some of my favorite things - bikes, boys, and beer (better than those sodding girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes anyday!). I also get to spend time with the lovely Susan Beal and sell my wares to a new and lovely crowd. If you're in the area, come by and say "hi!" I'd love to meet you.

Not in the Pacific Northwest? Perhaps you'll be in San Francisco the following weekend of December 19th and 20th. If you are in "the City" that weekend, you should come by and visit me at the first Renegade Holiday Craft Fair San Francisco. Unable to make either show, no worries! You can visit the Etsy shop! I've already added a bunch of Christmas items to the store and more will be added for your holiday shopping pleasure very soon.

The logs are also doing quite well and can be found in kit form at www.modcloth.com and The Curiosity Shoppe (though currently only in their brick and mortar store in San Francisco) and in pillow form at www.chopshop.com. You can also still buy them from me personally in my Etsy shop. Everyone loves a log after all!

In non-Boyfriend news, I've been making a quilt for a friend in need. A quilt that keeps hitting massive roadblocks along the way including having part of it eaten by my dog! I started in July and I'm still working away. I hope to be done really soon so that I can send it and all my love to her from so far away.

Then there's my Halloween costume. Here's a taste:

and
I'm gonna be a zombie cat lady. Thanks to the book (yea!) I think I've got zombies (and zombie cats) on the brain!

Okay, back to work. Must sew and work on a few more things I can't quite talk about just yet. Love to all who are still around, thanks for sticking by me!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Hello Friends!

Been a while, I know. . . I have had such a hart time balancing my work with the boyfriend, the odd freelance job, and my work with CraftStylish that I let things slip a bit. . . well, more than a bit really. . . but I'm here to say that that's going to change soon. I'll have sooooo much time coming up because I won't be writing for CraftStylish after this month.

That site will be changing soon from a blog with a handful of highly skilled contributors into a site with user-generated content. I wish them all the luck in the world. I owe them a lot, because of my work with CS I've met and worked with so many amazing people and have so many new and wonderful friends. Besides, CS's loss is my blog's gain!

Now that I'm not stretched so thin, I'll have more to say here (good news for all, I'm sure!). And I'd like to continue posting projects like those I've done for CS. Maybe not weekly like I've been doing for them, but at least once a month, just to keep those gears ticking.

In the meantime, check out my new tote bag design!

Pretty sweet! No? I figure so many people love the logs, I might as well embrace my Log Lady status. The bags and other super cool new items will make their debut at this year's Maker Faire and will appear in the boyfriend's Etsy shop soon after. Woo hoo!

Also, if you haven't yet, why not check out my work for CraftStylish? I'm awfully proud of it.

Hearts and puppies,
erika

The logs have taken over my life!

Sorry it's been forever since I've posted a proper post to this blog. With the move and the new job over at Craft Stylish I'm afraid that I've let the boyfriend blog slip to the back of my mind. Well. . . NO MORE! Here I am! And I'm ready to post my brains out!

Things have been crazy busy here. As you can see by the title, the logs have taken over. . .

All I do these days is make logs. And I'm kinda growing to hate them a bit. I know. . . I know. . . they're cute, and as an objective outside observer I love them to bits and pieces but I'm just so sick and tired of making them! I feel like a rockstar who's not allowed to play any song other than her hit. I am Skynard. . . the logs are my Freebird.

I know I should just shut the hell up. The logs are making me money, paying my bills. If you look at the sold items in my Etsy shop you'll see it's almost all logs all the time! And that doesn't even include all the shop orders and inquiries. It's great to have such a popular item and, if I was having them made and not making them all myself, I'd be dancing round town. But I can't figure out how to mass produce them and keep the quality up. And even if I could I can't AFFORD to have them made! I've tried to figure out if I could replace the hand stitching with machine work, but I'm afraid they'll end up looking just kinda blah and boring. What do you think? Does the hand stitching make the log pillow?

Ultimately the most soul crushing aspect of my current situation is that I've not had the chance to actually design anything new in ages. I've turned into a one woman factory instead of an artist. I got into this gig to design and create not to make more logs than the fellas on Axe Men.

AND whenever I DO design something new it goes right on over to CraftStylish. . . and STILL some of those ideas are log inspired. . .

I've got logs on the brain!!!

I'm just so scared that this is all I have. . . that I'm becoming a one trick pony. . . that I'm becoming (have already become?) the Log Lady. . . sigh. . .

Well, I'd better go. . . I have more logs to sew. . .
On the plus side, my Mom has started to help with the sewing which will, hopefully help a lot!

Log Hearts and Log Puppies,
Log erika