Just a little Christmas in July...

So I never really got around to posting all the stuff I made for my shop last year.  I had a super busy and successful Holiday selling season in 2017.  Now that I'm starting to prep for Christmas 2018, I thought I might share a little bit of what I made last year and what my plans are for this year. 

Last year was most definitely the year of the Stockings for me, with Fabric Photo Books coming up as close second.  I'm hoping to have another successful stocking year this year, but it's really hard for me to predict what will take off and what won't!

Last year I made:
45 stockings (19 of which were custom made to match a customer's specific size/fabric request).  Most of these were ordered with blank cuffs, for customers to personalize themselves.  However, I did cross-stitch 4 stockings and appliqued a set of 12.  Whew!

I figured out that the trick to selling stockings last year was to offer them with blank cuffs for customers to add the cross-stitching themselves.  It turns out there aren't a lot of sellers online offering something like that!  I the past, I tried to sell my stockings WITH the custom cross-stitching, but as soon as I took that part out (and slashed the price to account for it), they sold like hot cakes.  Nobody wants to spend an extra $25 on something they could do themselves for a couple bucks.  ;P 

I spent a few months in the summer searching out sales on Christmas fabric and turning those into stockings so that they were mostly all ready to go by October.  Of course, these drew in quite a few custom orders, which were fun.  This year I've been collecting more Christmas fabrics and I probably have enough for... more stockings than I care to admit at the moment.  Lets just say that it's in the triple digits.  ;)  I want my customers to have options, and I'm pretty confident that I have a wide array of choices this year...

I also made:
8 fabric photo books (it felt like a lot more because these are so individualized and they were all ordered within a couple weeks of each other), plus a couple quiet books/rummy mats. 

I even made a bunch of bibs in preparation for the Holiday rush, but they didn't really sell.  I think I'm done making bibs for Etsy, but I might make a few more for a very small local trade show I want to do in September...

Now I'm off to see if I can make a dent in my newly(ish) acquired stack of Christmas fabrics!  Eeee!  I LOVE Christmas fabric!!!

A Few Shop Highlights: Quiet Books, Photo Books, and a Quilt!

As I mentioned before, I've been busy making things for the shop lately.  I'd like to share some of the things I've been working on.

First up, I've made a few fabric photo books, each with something new to it.

This book is the first one I've made with an odd number of page spreads.  Because of the way they are put together, I made this one with a binding along the edge.  Yeah, I stitched that baby through 12 layers of fabric.  Any more than that and my machine might have exploded.  

This book was made completely from organic fabrics.  I was more limited in my fabric selections for the inside (I so wish I could show you - but out of respect for my customers, I won't).  I do wish I had used something else for the letters, though.  And don't you love the little family of owls?

This book was made for a family who is adopting a little girl from China.  They had me make this book to send to her in the orphanage while they wait to go pick her up.  How cool is that?  Each page has words in English and in Mandarin. 

Next up is this set of bibs. I tend to make bibs for my shop, but then pull them out because they are difficult to sell (the Etsy market is very over-saturated with bibs right now), and they make the BEST baby shower gifts - particularly since I always seem to have a few on hand.  Why did it take me this long to think of adding rick rack to my bibs???

I was super excited when a customer contacted me on Etsy and asked if I would finish this quilt for her. She had the top finished, just needed it quilted and bound.

Oh, and it was Queen/King sized.  Nothing I can't handle though, right?  ;)

I just did an overall stipple to keep things nice and simple.

I pulled this binding from my stash and it seemed to fit perfectly with the colors and prints in the quilt.  Woot!

Next up, quiet books.
I bought some new buttons and couldn't wait to use them in one of my color books.  Can you spot them?  I'll give you a hint - the new ones are a car, a giraffe, and an elephant. )

I also made a TON of these baby quiet books for Easter/Birthday orders.  Here are two books for Eliza and Kendall all ready to sew into books.

I also got to make these cute books for twins Liam and Quinn.  I don't get to make these bigger books very often (they are a little more expensive), so that was fun.

And lastly - some new Rummy mats.  I actually had two different customer requests last month.

For this mat, my customer wanted something extra long, with beige backgrounds and this touch of ADPi blue.  This Rummy mat is big - 24" by 48".  It was fun to make something a little different.

And lastly, this customer requested some extra personalization in the center of his mat.  It's inspired me to add a personalization option to my listings - soon.  :)

Whew!  What's next?

Fabric Family Photo Book

Before Christmas, a customer contacted me on Etsy and asked if I would be able to make her a fabric photo book for her daughter's first birthday.  After lots of communicating back and forth, I figured out what she had in mind and this is what I came up with!  I think it turned out adorable and now I need to make one for Noah!

The camera fabric is by Riley Blake ("Snapshots" by Bella Blvd) and it seemed perfect for this little project.  :)

I'm sad that you don't get to see the adorable pictures of the family (their baby is seriously SO CUTE), but I must protect my customer's identity.  :)  I printed all the photos on "Printed Treasures" printable fabric and they came out beautifully.

The customer wanted the photos to be bordered with lots of different fabrics.  I had fun going through my scraps to find just the right pieces. 

I even embellished the pages with buttons and some fun appliques (I even fussy cut cute designs from some of the fabrics I used).

I think the ribbon taggies may have ended up too long, but they make a fun little addition.  I think the cover pages (front and back) are my favorite.  That pink doodle print is also from the "Snapshots" line by Bella Blvd for Riley Blake.  And the crowns were from the scrap bin at my local quilt shop. 

It finished at about 8" square - just the right size for little one-year-old hands.  :)