New! New! New! or should I say Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!

Yes, I'm sewing so fast that fuzz is flying through the air as I zoom along fleece bag after fleece bag. Last week, I decided to try a chick-shaped I Spy Bag. This is after my mother told me I should do an egg. Yes, easy enough to do an egg, so I wanted to try something even harder. I didn't have time to go to the fabric store, so I just tried to use up some periwinkle solid fleece that my mom had passed along to me. Why not a purple chick? I had some leftover coral/pink ribbon from way back in the days of my card making business, and so I added a beak. Here is the first prototype:




I thought it turned out pretty cool! My mom pointed out, however, that maybe some people were not so "edgy" and might prefer a chick in more traditional colors. So, I traipsed out to the fabric store to purchase some yellow fleece and orange ribbon. Lucky for me, I spotted some yellow fleece in the remnant bin right away! Even luckier, they were having a President's Day sale, and all remnants were half off! Yahoo! I tweaked my pattern a bit to make the head bigger, and cut out 3 yellow chicks. It was at this time that I came up with the *brilliant* idea to make the viewing window (hole) shaped like a wing. Here is prototype #2:


Actually, both kinds have been selling rather well. I've already sold 2 purple chicks and 3 yellow chicks. In the next "batch" I'm making the wing window a bit smaller so you can tell right away that it is a wing. Also, I've noticed that the beaks turn out a little different each time, but it seems that the smaller beaks are cuter, so I'm making an effort to make them nice and small. I'll post some pictures soon once I've finished!

Recently I've had many emails regarding I Spy Bag requests for boys. It is harder than it seems to find "boy" fabric that is the right scale for an I Spy Bag. I'm always on the lookout, but rarely come across any. Today I cut out some stars and fish out of my polka-dot blue fabric -- hopefully this will help fill the "boy void" for Easter basket stuffers. Again, not quite finished, so I'll post pictures later this week.

My sitter has been on Spring Break this week (actually her kids).... Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder. I can't wait to see her bright and early on Tuesday morning!

Oh, and the only other thing I've been busy with lately is preparing my taxes. All kinds of new things for us this year! New business, first house! After several hours of looking through receipts, downloading figures, and creating lists, I promptly ordered this software to help me during tax season next year...