Now that the Handcrafted Hoedown for the Holiday’s is over and was a HUGE success it’s time to focus on my next event – The Holiday Craft Lounge. 

Of course my husband is super busy at work this week and we have to add Thanksgiving into the mix so preparing has been slightly challenging BUT I’m taking a new approach at this craft sale. 

Part of the excitement of the Craft Lounge is that artists will be demo-ing DIY projects.  I was asked to demo these fun-tastic book wreath’s:

I have some already to go and I plan on having a few work-in-progresses so you can see how it works.  If it work’s out I’ll be able to have one or two people at my table making their very own right there.  I’m working on some new techniques to make the edges of the pages super cool – one being DYING them with the same stuff we dye our fabric and clothing with!  My MIL did a trial so I would know if I should go over tomorrow and do more.  I’m happy to say that I’ll be heading over tomorrow to get some books dyed so you can buy your own.  I also have the supplies so you can mix your very own dye for sale at my booth.  After all that rambling…I’m going to have some really neat options for book wreath creating available at my booth!

Now, for my other portion of my booth instead of just selling my pre-made wares I’m going to be selling kits with instructions for your to DIY!  (Of course I’ll have some pre-made examples that are for sale as well).  So far, I’ll have kits & instructions for:

  Patchwork BeltsOrigami Wristlets  Patchwork Kites  Matryoshka Doll Ornaments

Upcycled Poppy Flowers that can be used to embellish bags, head bands, pins, or whatever your heart desires!

Now, depending on how much space my kits and supplies take up I may bring a sampling of jewelry which you can peak at here at theApple and a few other surprises.  (the other surprises depend on how much I can get done in just two more days…)

The great thing about my ‘kit’ plan is that whichever kits don’t sell, I’ll be able to put them together for my last show – the Craftacular!  A win, win all around!

Holiday Craft Lounge

Date/Time:  Saturday, November 27 · 10:00am - 3:00pm

Location:  Overture Center for The Arts

201 State Street

General Info:  Our little store just isn't big enough to hold all the crafting goodness that we'd like to share with you for the holidays so we've found space at Overture as part of the Downtown Holiday Open House.
We will have expanded craft table activities as well as guest artist demonstrations & instruction so you can get a jump on your holiday crafting projects. Local artists will also be present selling their wares. Purchase kits and supplies to take home, or have a seat and make something that day. The range of affordable activities includes: decoupage ornaments, paper star ornaments, crochet scarves from t-shirts, paper garlands, rust-stained scarves, stamped cards, assembling enamel pieces into earrings and necklaces, make your own button/magnet/pocket mirror, stamped bracelets and ornaments, fleece neck rolls, fabric brooches, Zentangle art, freeform crochet, collage, crayon pendants and recycled pinwheels.
Admission is a can of food or a $1 donation for the Second Harvest Foodbank.

Yeah!  My Vintage White Typewriter Key Necklace's made it onto etsy front page!  Thanks so much to redtilestudio for bringing me there!

I believe that etsy came out with the Nasa/Etsy Space Craft Contest – to the Moon and Beyond at some point in October.  I’m not really sure as it was apple season and I didn’t have time to eat and sleep let along participate in the contest. 

Multiple people contacted me letting me know about this contest and how I should enter my Galaxies Converge Quilt that I made for Project QUILTING.  Of course, I had sold that quilt back in August when it was in the Madison Paper.  To be able to enter the contest you have to be able to potentially send them the item (if you win) so I had to re-make the quilt if I wanted to enter.

The due date was midnight on November 2nd.  Apple season ended October 31st.

On November 2nd, I dropped the girls off at the sitter in the morning, delivered our apples to the school, grabbed a cup of coffee and went to work.

Before I picked up the girls I had finished AND photographed the quilt.

And later that evening I managed to get the quilt listed before the deadline.   I tried to patiently wait a week and a half to see if I made the first cut (they put 50 of the ‘best’ of each category into the voter).  When I was at the Quilts By Barb Quilt retreat I was happy to discover that my quilt had made the cut!  WooHoo!     

After all that, here’s my plea to you…I need your VOTES!  The voter is only open for a few more days – 11:59 pm on Friday, November 19th, so please don’t wait and vote now: http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=113

Thanks so much for all your support!

I can’t believe the Hoedown opens up this FRIDAY!  WOW!  Time has flown.  I’m going to try to post some teaser’s to get people super excited for the sale.

If you’re one of the first their you may be able to snag one of these amazingly, adorable ceramic owl ornaments that I purchased for the sale from a friend of mine on etsy – MissPottery:

  I only have a dozen so don’t wait too long!

If you do miss out – don’t worry – you can order your very own from MissPottery via etsy right here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/60509188/owl-ornament-for-your-christmas-tree-or

In the almost four years since I’ve had my kids, I had yet to pay a professional to take their photo.  When I saw THIS PHOTO I knew it was time to see what Cory, of Friends in Photography could do with my girls.

Mercedi

I was not disappointed…  Capri

AT ALL!   The adorable handmade holiday dresses Cedi & Capri are wearing were made by Kiki of AlltheNumbers.  Our dyeing sunflower field made a perfect place for some amazing photo’s to be taken! 

Aren’t they just so sweet and beautiful!?

**Disclaimer** I know this doesn’t have much do with my Crafty Apple business but they are just so beautiful I want to share with everyone!

If any of you could see the pile of things waiting to be packed into my van (yes, I’ll have to drive it around back) you would probably think I’m crazy!  I’m only going to be gone for two days!  I just really don’t want to feel restricted in anyway so I’ve pretty much packed up my entire sewing room.  I can’t wait to head out for Belmont tomorrow to the retreat and get sewing! 

Here’s the teaser quilt for today:

Fruitful Harvest – Crossroads

an overview of this beautiful lap quiltA close up of the ‘fruity’ quilting Barb did for Diane.   

For some reason I decided to have a Pampered Chef party at my house tonight so my preparation for the Quilts by Barb Quilt Retreat had to go on hold so I could clean my house (or at least three rooms of my house…).  BUT I’m still super excited!

Your temptation/teaser today is -

American Candy Quilt – Hand in Hand

overview of the quilt   close up of the quilting

I am so excited to be heading down to Belmont, WI, for the QuiltsbyBarb quilt retreat and I’m sure there are many others that are as well.  It’s been such a crazy busy apple season that I absolutely can’t wait to go and sew for 2 days straight (I know, some of you luckies get to stay for 3 days)!

If you’re not excited yet I wanted to show off one of the quilt’s Diane made as an example for the retreat to help get you excited.

The Scrappy Blackford

OverviewA close up of the amazing quilting Barb did on the quilt! 

Wait to see more as I continue to count down to the retreat!

Yes! I am having the Handcrafted Hoedown for the Holiday’s again this year. I’m excited to be able to share with you some familiar faces and some new ones in this years collection of goods. I’ll start out with talking the basics:

What: An opportunity to buy unique, locally hand-crafted items for friends and family while listening to holiday music!

Items from numerous artists include: Quilts, Ornaments, Baskets, Bags and Purses, Belts, Scarves, Holiday Decorations, Baby Items, Hand-dyed Clothing, Jewelry, Crocheted Hats, Winter-Wear Items, Stockings, Tree Skirts, Candles and MORE!

Also, a Mini Quilt Shop, freshly baked goodies from Lapacek’s Orchard and FUN Tarot Card Readings from Sass Mama Arts on Friday, November 19th.

WHEN:

Friday, November 19th from 9am – 5pm

Saturday, November 20th from 9am – 5pm

WHERE:

Lapacek’s Orchard

N1959 Kroncke Road

Poynette, WI 53955

Expect to find Goods from the Following Artists:

Kim’s Crafty Apple – Quilts, bags, Quilted Paper Dolls on the Go, Ornaments, Hand-Dyed Clothing, Belts, plush owls, book wreaths and MORE!

theApple – Crazy, fun, colorful jewelry

Diane Lapacek – Quilts, Ornaments, Decorative Hand-Painted/Stained Gourds, Christmas Decorations

QuiltsbyBarb – Quilts and Quilted Items

Baskets by Becky – Handwoven Baskets for many occasions

Bare Tree Apparel – Awesome Screen Printed Belts and Scarves

My Poplin – Modern, Funky Baby Items

Nise’s Niche - Bags

CJ’s Eco Chic – Soy Candles

Jen G’s – Handmade Soap

Karol T - Recycled Wool Sweater Mittens and More!

JanetQuilts – Table Runners, Christmas Stockings, Bags, Quilts

Story Line Design – Whimsical Buttons

SpaceOddities - Mixture of FUN items!

The Painted Daisy - recycled/upcycled scarves, arm warmers and hats

Glitter Workshop - fun randomness :)

RobertShawDesign - furniture & ornaments

IngesAccents - Metal and Glass Bead Accents

Barb Cook - Crocheted Afghans

Lori Cox - Primitive Art

Julia Jiannacopoulos - Uncommon Objects:

I make adornment for both the body and the home incorporating recycled and found objects. My art celebrates the glitter, funk and glamour of another era. Everything I make is one-of-a-kind for 2 reasons: I believe we have an emotional connection to recognizable objects/materials and when they are re-presented into unique items they illicit both joy and surprise.

Items for the body include; necklaces, bracelets, earrings and chokers.

Items for the home include; antique lamps w/ handmade shades, glitterati light plates, vases & frames, ruler-inspired wall hooks, and other small funk-a-rific items.

Bob Tomlinson - Santa Woodcarvings

Jane Fullerton - Scrabble Tile Necklaces

Lilac Hill Soaps & Sundries - Balms, lotions, chap sticks, pincushion rings

Anna's Whimsies - Hand Painted and Beaded Kitchen Items

***I will continue to update this list as more artists get back to me***

What made you decide to join Project QUILTING?

I saw it in the Quiltsy groups and thought it was such a good idea.  I really wanted to stretch my skills and come up with some original designs.

What was your favorite part about Project QUILTING?

Thinking of something to come up with that's original and pretty.  I also loved that I sold most of my projects!  That was a bonus :)

Which Challenge in Season 1 (you can include the 2 pre-season projects) was your favorite? and why…

My favorite was the log cabin one.  Mostly because it was the favorite quilt that I made and it brought me back to basics since log cabin was one of the first quilts I made.

Which Challenge in Season 1 (including the 2 per-season challenges) was your least favorite? and why…

none, I liked them all

Which Challenges did you come up with your idea immediately and which took some marinating?

The apple blossom one I knew immediately I was going to make one of my favorite table runners in the pinks and greens of apple blossoms.

Did you try any new techniques for your projects during these challenges and if so, what were they?

Just coming up with original designs is new to me.  I get most of my ideas from quilt magazines.

How has Project QUILTING made you a better Quilter? 

Stretched my imagination.

What didn’t you like about Project QUILTING? 

I don't have a blog or many places to advertise my item so the "popular" vote seems to be the ones that have blogs or a facebook page.  It doesn't really bother me because I know it's good advertising for Kim’s blog, but I could never win the popular vote, even if I had the most beautiful quilt :)  I do feel the overall winners of the judges vote were always the most worthy though!!

Did you find the judges comments beneficial, annoying, or inconsequential?  Why?  Beneficial, they mostly said what I know so it was good to hear it.  We are our own worst critic so they definitely validated what I think I could work on.

Do you think the judging format should be more structured, less structured, stay the same?  and why? same

What was your favorite piece that you created for the Project QUILTING challenge? My log cabin quilt - dolphins in a circle with beachy fabrics.

What was your top three favorite pieces that someone else created for the Project QUILTING challenge? that's hard!  the most memorable to me were the

black and white with the hands on the wall juggling [PennyFabricArt]

the apple tree log cabin  [KimsCraftyApple]

the film one for road trip. [LoveBugStudios]

What changes would you make to future Project QUILTING Seasons? none

Thanks QuiltingDiva for taking the time to answer my questions, great job in Season 1 and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for Season 2 (coming in January 2011).

Well, I’m onto ‘partial’ apple season (we are now closed Monday’s and Tuesday’s and don’t open until noon Wednesday – Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday but still…) so that means it’s time to start to think about this years Holiday Craft Sale Season.

I am partaking in three different sales this year:

Friday, November 19th & Saturday, November 20th

Handcrafted Hoedown for the Holidays

Lapacek’s Orchard

N1959 Kroncke Road

Poynette, WI 53955

Saturday, November 27th

Holiday Craft Lounge

Overture Center

Madison, WI

Saturday, December 11th

Sixth Annual Holiday Craftacular

the Eastside Club

Monona Drive

Madison, WI

I’m also getting some things put together to sell at the reopened 'GLITTER WORKSHOP on the west side of Madison and some new jewelry for Project M Boutique in Riverwest, Milwaukee.

How do I plan on getting this all done?  Well, I”m attending the 2010 Quilts by Barb Quilt Retreat in two weekends and instead of doing the project I plan on PRODUCING!  I can’t wait – I’ll have 2 1/2 days of nothing but sewing!  WooHoo!

Since things are slowing down in the store hopefully I’ll have time to keep you all more informed about my going ons…stay tuned for more details and some ‘sneak peaks’.