Date Night

Last night Simon and I went out on a date. Something we haven't done in ages. We went to one of our favorite spots in Philly the Nodding Head. Not only is this a pub with great fries, but it is also a microbrewery and brews all there own beer. This is really why it is my favorite bar, it's fries are the second reason why.

This amazing bar is on 15th and Sansom, and is in a way hard to find as it is an upstairs bar. There is a giant sign above the bar, but only a small door and a staircase make up the entrence. Which is why on my first time going there I walked past it completely. the atmosphere reminds me much of the pubs I visited when I was in England.

The beer is great and the selection is always changing. Their grog a dark chocolaty beer is my favorite, while Simon enjoys their 60 Shillings which is smooth and malty. In the Spring and Summer we both like thier Monkey Knife Fight which is a white ale brewed with lemon grass and ginger. On par with there beer is their food, I've already mentioned the fries (which they serve with a spicy mayonais dipping sauce), but there burgers and sandwiches are delicious. I love the Muffeletta made with Pesto and olive tapinade. The also have wonderful Mussels which you can get steamed in a varriate of ways.

All in all I love this bar.

Bags!

I hve finished my first round of bags. I have 9 in all. I'm excited that these are finished and can start working on the knits. I love this fabric!

Snow Day!

It is a snow day today! That meaning I did not have to babysit at noon and have been able to get some more sewing done today. This is great as I want to finish my initial stock of bags by the first of February. This puts me at almost a month ahead of scheadule. It also gives me more time to work on my knit items.

The knit items are a whole different ball game. I have the bamboo yarn I need to knit the tams, but I still need to order my banana silk for the scarves. Hoefully I'll be able to put in an order after February 10th. I'm designing lights for a small production of one acts and am getting a small stipen, but It will be enough for my initial order of banana silk. I'm starting to worry thought I must admit. What if nothing moves once I release my spring and summer items? I truly believe tha I'll do well, but in the back of my mind there is this tiny voice saying "what if!" "what if!".

I try not to listen to much, but I am taking it slow and only making a few items. Enought to have a stock, but not to many that they will be siting around my work space.

Holding Pattern

I'm in a bit of a holding pattern for a few days. I'm working a lot for this week and will hopfully finish my sewing on Thursday, but it might have to wait till friday.

More later!

Sew Productive

It being Monday I spent much of the day at my sewing machine. Since I work assembly line style nothing is finished, but all the linnings and bags are sewn. I need to finish the straps and attach them, then I'll be done. That can wait till Thursday as that will be the next day I have a big chunk of time to sew.

I also edited some of my pics today and started on a new banner for my etsy shop. Overall a very pruductive day. As a reward I'm making pasta in vodka sauce and will dink yummy wine with dinner.

Uneventful

I just returned home from work. I really want to sew, but I think I will wait till Monday as the light in my apartment is sucky.

Not a very eventful day.

Harmony Lace

Remember this?


Now it looks like this!

This pic isn't great, but I just had to share.

Winter Hibernation

All I want to do lately is stay home and sew...or knit...or watch Pride and Prejudice (the good long one with Colin Firth) while I knit, or eat something yummy.

Simon seems to have cabin feaver if we stay at home too long and is always having my bundle up for a walk. Right now I am the opisit and I blame the cold weather. It makes me want to put on Pjs, eat buttered toast, drink hot chocolate and work on projects, as well as watch some of my favorite movies.

Fabric!

I got up to the fabric store today and look what I got!

I also got a package today filled with all my bamboo yarn I orderd. Now all I have to do is save some of my money to get the banana silk I need and then I'll have all my supplise for my spring/summer items. Yippy!

L'Aube

I have gotten my sewing machine and couldn't be happier. All I want to do now is sew! I went up to my favorite fabric store today to get my supplise I needed for my spring items, and it was closed. There website says that they are opened 7 days a week, so I was very sad and a little cold having walked 10 blocks to get there.

My friend Antea and I went together, and on our way there we stopped at a new french cafe called L'Aube. It is really cute and has organic fair trade coffee at great prices. It's located on 15th and South St. It has a great atmosphere and the owner is super friendly. They also have crepes, one of my faves as well as ones filled with neuttella, my super fav. If you are in the area deffinatly hit up that spot.

Well I am off to sew for a bit!

Camp and Cold

It is so cold here in Philly. The last couple of winters have been mild and this one is very cold. I have to admit it is nice to actually have a winter. Simon however has said he has never been in a place this cold. I guess this is expected since he is from Australia.

Today was my Camp reunion, which is why this post is so late. I work at a summer arts camp in South Jersey and today was the reunion. We all get together campers and some of the staff and hang out at the camp for a few hours in the afternoon. It was fun to see some of the campers I have taught and visit with some staff that I love.

Tonight we went to the midtown continental for dinner and while pricy the food was amazing. The best part about dinner was the lobster mashed potatoes.

Hats!

Here are my hat designs for my spring/summer line. I only have two of the three colors , as I changed my mind recently on the third color.

I'm keeping the blue one for myself, but I did order more of this color yarn.

The hat is knit up in Fish Tail Lace, which is of course my favorite. It's a bit slouchy, but not giant. I like the look of a tam, except when it hangs down longer than my hair.


The third color was this organgy red, but I'm swiching it to a more berry color. The orange didn't seem to fit in as well as I had hoped.

Today is a day off for me, so Simon is taking me to buy my Sewing machine! I'm super excited.

Valentines Sale

I feel like I've been working my tail off and at the same time I feel like I have gotten nothing done. I'm setting up a sale in my Etsy shop. A bit of a vday sale, I need to move some items in the next two months. Check it out as my scarves will be marked down from $60 to $40 till the first of February.

Valentines Sale

DIY Bussiness

Good Morning, ok good afternoon. I slepted in as I don't have to work till 4pm today, and it's only baby sitting.

I have met all my deadlines for this week, and I feel like I need something to do. I have lot to do, but I'm done making samples. Now it's a lot of paper work and budgeting and editing photos and all that Jazz. I find this fun in an odd way, but I really want to make my items. I can't do this till i make a budget and decide where i'm getting my supplise from.

Oh, I will be able to set up a wholesale account with the supplier of the Bannan Silk I want to use, but I need to save a bit of money for the minimum order, which is actually not that bad. I figure $150 is easy for a minimum order compared to $300 to $500.

Well I'm off to edit some photos and order some prints. I want to apply for some craft festivales and need a look book. I want to make this as nice as I can on a low budget, so I'm going to try to do a lot of things on my own, at least as many as I can.

TaDa!

TaDa! Finished, or almost finished bag! I took these yesterday before I went to Spool to finish them. What do you think? I really love this fabric. I'm going to use the other colors of it too.


This one is a little softer and more femme, but I love the colors and the illustrations.


Both bags are the same size and are squared on the bottom. I must admitt I was really excited when i figured out how to do that with out sewing a gusset down the side. Only haveing to sew two three inch seams is much better than sewing six extra.

Batteries

I finally got new batteries for my camera, actually Simon got me new batteries for my camera, but that means I was able to take some pics of my spring stuff.

Here is the fabric I choose. It's is so perfect. I love it .

They both come in other colors, so I might get some in the fushia and the orange, both will match the bamboo and the banana silk I plan to use.

Today is my day off and I must try to make it a productive one.

Hippest Pub

Last night after I finished work at the shop Simon and I went out and met up with some of our friends at a bar on Locust St. I didn't really get anything productie done, wait that isn't totally true. A few of my friends are going to test drive my spring Items for me so I brought the Banana Silk Scarves with me to the bar and gave JQ and Cori each one to try. That was productive.

The bar we went to was mildly busy when Simon and I got there, but by 10pm it was pack so full we could barely move. The bar sid it was an Irish pub, but it was the coolest, and hippest pub I hae ever been to. There was a line to get in and I usually make a point not to go to places like that. All the girls that were there were in their best Saturday night outfits from LBDs to Black slacks and little tank tops. I was in jeans and a sweater and looked very much out of place. I didn't care as i had been working all day and was not about to spend an hour or more getting ready to go out and drink over priced beer.

I really hate over priced beer.

Simon bought me batteries for my camera! Pictures to come soon!

Morning Posts

I've figured out the blogging problem. I must blog in the morning. I was doing it at night hoping to be inspired by something that day, but just found I was making lame excusses not to blog.

My camera needs new batteries as I have lots of photos to take. Yesterday I was able to fit in about an hour of sewing a Spool and was able to get my two sample bags almost done. I have to sew the handles, lining and outer shell together, which will take me all of five minuets to do on a machine.

After using the machines at spool I've realised that it's time to bite the bullet and take a bit of my extrea cash and buy a sewing machine. It's best in the long run. I need an affordable machine that can do a few of the extreas like button holes and zippers. If anyone has any suggestions please suggest.

Well I'm off to the day job.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger lately. I shouldn't make excusses, but I have been working my butt off. I've been working extra hours at my day job, which I am looking to get out of. I'm designing a show for February, and ontop of still being a nanny and a having a day job I am designing and makeing prototypes for the spring. Something needs to go and I really want it to be the day job. It's not what it use to be and while yes it pays the bills I would love to have something else pay the bills.

I'm just tired of going there and cleaning and doing things that i have no desire to do. But as for now I can't quit as I need to work as much as I can till March, which is when I start a Spot op gig at one of the theatres in the city. I had a huge work week and made enough money to cover February's bills, but if I can save up more I might be able to quit and do my theatre gig no problem.

I'll still Nanny as I love that job and it's only three times a week for about two to three hours. I love the boys and their dad is great and pays me well.

Overall I want to spend my days knitting and roaming around the city, while occassionaly working a theatre gig.

Spring line and Deadlines

Yesterday was my day off and I had a great day. Breakfast with friends, roaming Philly with friends, Dinner in NJ with friends. It was great to see everyone. I must admitt though that i didn't get much done. I went to the fabric shop which was closed for inventory. That was the one thing I really want to get done as my proto-type deadline is in less than a week and my fabric deadline is well tomorrow. So, tomorrow it's off to the fabric shop with me. Simon and I are going to run errends together. I'm going to the fabric shop and while I'm there he will be at the music store buying gutar strings and playing guitars.

I will post my fabric choices and some of my bamboo work soon!

Day Off!

Tomorrow is a my first day off in seven days! I can't wait. I have a huge todo list, or a fun stuff list. First thing first I'm going to breakfast with a few friends to one of my favorite places in Philly, which is Morning Glory. I might have pancakes, or a breakfast sandwich, or a fritata, I think i need to go find a snack.

Then after breakfast it's of to Spool up on 19th and South st. My fabric deadline for the spring is coming up fast and I need to go look at some fabric and get some ideas, and maybe buy some.

After that i have a few random things todo, along with a production meeting at 5:30pm for the show I'm designing. It's going to be a day full of fun things for me to get done. I love my day off, I wish I had more of them.

Twitter is like Crack

I am loving Twitter. If not for anything serious, then just for the fun of posting little tidbits of what I'm up to. Twitter is going to be addictive, like crack. I've started and now I'm not sure if I'll want to stop. It's a big time sucker, but i can post do some work and check back.

Check me out on Twitter as BlueBetty.

Working Etsy Style

I have been doing a lot for my etsy shop today. I signed up for Twitter, which I think I will become very addicted to. You can fallow me here. I also started to get an account for a newslwtter started. More on that later.

The most exciting thing today is I got my Bamboo samples today! When I came home from work there was a small priority mail box waiting for me with yummy yarn inside. I started working on my bamboo hats right away.

I feel like things are starting to move forward

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all!

Just a quick post and I'm off to work for the day. Simon asked me if I had any new years resolutions and the only one i could think of was that i am determin to learn how to cook tofu. It's a little silly, but that was all I could think of last night. Now I can think of a few more, here is a short list for 2009.

I am going to be a better friend and hibernate in my apartment less.
I am going to be more organized with my business and work towards branding my designs.
I am going to promoto and not be afarid to talk about my work with others.
I am going to halp Simon around the apartment more, and attempt to keep my yarn under control.
I am going to spend less money on things i don't need.
And after all of that i am going to learn how to cook good tofu.

I'd love to hear what some of your resolutions are.
TTFN!
And Again Happy New Year.