Woah. Can you believe it's December already? Where did the year go?
As usual, the past month I have been busy busy busy prepping for the No Coast Craft-o-Rama. This year marks my seventh year at this great event (also WOAH). I'll have a dual booth this year, presenting both Plushroom Soup and Stardust Stitches goods. I'm still working out how I'm going to do the display, but whatever happens, I'm excited as always!
Here's a sneaky peek at some of the goods that I'll have available. . . .
I know, there are a LOT of photos in this post. The farm is just so flippin' gorgeous this time of year, I had a hard time choosing! As you can see, I was a little obsessed with the tamaracks. I've never seen them so pretty.
The alpaca photos were taken at Whistling Winds Farm, where I spent an afternoon assisting with vaccinations and nail trimming. The herd welcomed two new crias mere weeks ago, so it was of course hard to choose from among all that adorbsness as well.
If you follow the Plush Team (and if you don't, well what the heck are you waiting for?), you know we just celebrated our 5th Anniversary. Can I get a woot woot?
Anyway, to mark the momentous occassion, we decided to do another swap! Because nothing says par-TAY quite like snuggly plush.
I was lucky enough to get this adorable party owl from Nyssa of LitheFider. She already has her party hat on and even brought me a tasty little treat!
I'm not sure if it's because she's so cute, so sweet, or because she totes around a sweet, but she already made good friends with all my other plush.
She should probably watch herself, though. A few of them look like they want to eat more than just her cupcake. . . .
Thanks so much, Nyssa!
Oh, hai Interwebz! I have returned with splendid tales of offline adventures!
The most exciting bit of news: I launched a second business last week! The new biz is Stardust Stitches, and it's lots of handmade little lovelies to help you have a more relaxed and serene life. Slippers/house shoes, rice therapy pillows, sachets, lap/receiving blankets, etc.
Check out the Etsy shop or the Facebook page for all the goodies. I might be crazy, what with Plushroom Soup, the day job, the 5 pets, the farm plan, and trying to have a social life too. But I'm super excited about the new biz!
I'm also excited to announce that Amy, my BFF and favorite crafty partner in crime has revamped and relaunched Crabtree Studio. She's making utterly AMAZEBALLS heriloom-quality childrens clothing, so if you've got a little munchkin in your life, you should check out her stuff.
Last Sunday, we shared a booth at the innaugural Summer No Coast Craft-o-Rama in Silverwood Park (reunited and it feels so good. . . .). But holy hell, people, was it HOT. And STICKY. I felt like I was standing in a swamp all day. I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my entire life. But the park was gorgeous, the crowds were pretty steady, and we got lots of positive feedback about our work. I even made a few more sales than I had expected for both a first-time show and the first event for Stardust.
I didn't have much of a chance to check out all the other vendors, but our neighbors Oh Dier were really sweet and lovely people. And they make highly-covetable, beautiful objects to prettify your home. I think this sign in red would make a perfect addition to our reading room.
They also had one that said "Library," but I can't find an image of it. Tough to choose which I'd want more, but I better decide before Winter No Coast!
In other news, I started a new day job in mid-June. I've once again picked up the red pen after my brief erroneous stint in IT. I'm VERY relieved to not be part of that madness anymore and am loving the new job so far.
The farm dream is also going strong. My local NRCS rep came out to the farm in June to help me assess the pastures and develop a rotational grazing plan for my future critters. Turns out I have abundant and species-diverse (if a bit overgrown) pastures, including awesome native prairie.
Sadly, all this activity has left little room for plush making. But I do have lots of fun ideas and the Plush You! 2012 deadline is starting to loom, so expect to see some fun stuff soon.
Also expect to see some changes around the blog in the next few months. I haven't entirely worked out what it will look like, but I know I want one cohesive space where I can write about Plushroom Soup, Stardust Stitches, and the soon-to-be-named farm. I'm toying with lumping them all under one blog called Farm Sewn (see what I did there? See? Yes, I'm a dork.). I know many of you run several businesses. Any advice for juggling their web prescences gracefully?
Last weekend (May 10-14) was the second annual Plush Team retreat. Just like last year, there was so much joy, warmth, fun, laughter, and productivity all weekend. I'm sure it sounds like a tired refrain by now, but seriously, I can never adequately express just how awesome this team is, and how lucky I feel to be a member.
This year's retreat was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was organized by the amazing Yummy Pancake. Though there were six fewer of us who made the trip this year, it was no less fun. I'm not sure I ever laugh quite as hard as I do when I'm with this group.
Our view this year was very idyllic and peaceful. Most of us spent a few hours taking in this view each morning while sipping our tea or coffee.
A few bird families even lived in the walls of the cabin. Unfortunately for me and Ann-Claire, this was directly behind our beds, and we were awakened to a chorus of very loud cheeps every 20 minutes or so starting just before dawn.
One of the highlights of the trip was the PA Fabric Outlet. It wasn't quite as big as S.R. Harris here at home, but the wall of buttons and trims was much more impressive. And cheap!
We also explored downtown Lititz, which was incredibly quaint. We had the most amazing meal there at the Tomato Pie Cafe (if you are ever offered tomato pie, eat it! You will not be sorry. It was so delicious that most of us became obsessed with it the rest of the weekend, plotting ways we might get it shipped to us or how we might make it ourselves.) and had a great time exploring the little shops and reading plaques on all the historic buildings.
Back at the house, there were tacos once again, Amy's famously delicious margaritas, and waaaaay too much sugar and chocolate (between the Amish homebaked goods we picked up at the Green Dragon farmer's/flea market and the chocolates from the Wilbur Chocolate Factory, we were guaranteed weekend-long sugar comas).
Of course there was much crafting, as well, including the awesome group-produced giant plush taco you can see in the first photo of this post. There were zombies, moss balls, poopsticks, appliqued onesies for the Moon Bun in the Oven, caged gouda, angry panties, and so much more. . . . We also once again participated in a white elephant swap and the goods were so amazing that actual tears were shed when certain items were stolen.
But none of these things were quite as amazing as all the laughter. The conversations were hysterical and often we laughed until we cried.
I sincerely love this whole group, and I can't wait for next year's retreat!
