Hello Stranger!

It's been a while huh? I have not fallen off the planet, just been a busy Mama. Times are changing, and life is continuing. Crazy how even the best laid plans don't work out sometimes.

Anyway, I'm back and hoping to keep this updated now.
I've opened a brand new Etsy shop also! It's empty right now, but it's soon to be super!

Introducing -- ShinyHappyFitOfRage.etsy.com!


Still a work in progress, as most things I'm making. Not sure if I'm crazy about the banner even though it is one of my favorite Amy Butler prints. I got the last scrap available at my supplier the other day. I'm thinking about framing it. I've been slightly obsessed with framing things lately. I just put up 25 frames on one wall in my living room. Why not frame fabric? Especially if I don't want to cut it up.

It's crochet season for me, so I've got lots of goodies in the works and up for sale. My slouchy hats have been very popular this year!

Thumbtacks are new to my long list of things I make also! They are so bright and pretty, I love them.

I made these guitar appliques a while back and wasn't sure what to do with them. I almost made them into a quilt, but instead I stitched them onto a bunch of t-shirts and onesies. They turned out great!!
I Heart Ipanema has been pretty good to me as well. The store is becoming pretty popular, I'm very proud, and thankful, for their success! It's nice to have somewhere local I can send people to instead of just Etsy. I've tried out a couple other opportunities, but I Heart Ipanema has been the best! If you are ever in Kalamazoo I encourage you to check it out!

Lots more to share soon! Thanks to those of you that have stuck around/returned after my long absence! <3




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Nearly Silent Saturday....

...or Friday, or whenever I feel like posting it...

The first quilt I want to post on Etsy. Looooove the colors/fabrics used! When I washed it the edges got crazy wrinkly though. I don't like that. Thinking of not selling it because I'm a perfectionist. Opinions?

Continued from last Saturday... This is the table runner I made for my boss for Christmas! It looks great on her table, but proved impossible to get a decent picture of.

Some mirror-image mittens I crocheted for my boy. I couldn't find any mittens that were actually long enough to cover his wrists. Problem solved. 2 pairs are in the works right now for my Etsy shop! I'm hoping to sell the pattern if/when I ever finish writing it so it makes sense to more than just me.

I made this handbag and the one below a while ago. Notice the grass? *sigh* I miss you sunshine! I want to list these on Etsy as well. I'll get to it. I love the mix of beautiful fabrics & quilting, crochet, and wood!

Flex frame pouches 0, Delainie 1. Took me a while, but I figured out how to do these right finally. Not sure why I made that so difficult before! By request I made the latest ones with blues, greens, and black, trying to be as ungirly as possible. Guitars and wheels man up the flowers right? Available here.

The rest of my time has been spent with this little dude lately. He is loving the snow. Whose kid is this? I could've swore he is mine... Proving snow-hating is not hereditary.

Wipe out! Snow is a lot more fun with him around. :)

On With The Good...

We are having quite a go of it over here. Some good, some bad, some ugly. I wrote up a really long post venting about all the bullshit in my life right now. I don't think that my negativity is getting me anywhere, so I deleted it. Taking a little break from the blog lately as it feels like my sounding board, and it's meant to share the beautiful things I make and find on Etsy and the good things about my family. Not a constant rant-fest as its been.

Blah. It's hard to be positive when the week goes this way. Could be worse. I'm the most positive cynic I know. Not dwelling on the bad--

On with the good--

We found a house!! After seeing dozens and dozens of them, it's finally happened! My husband and I agree 100% on it too. That never happens. Ok, not 100%, but at least 99.9%. This is how it went when we walked in:

Envision a 70s mint green with gold flake countertop in the kitchen....

Him: Wow, that's the first thing we're taking out of here!

Me: Wow! That's the only thing I want to keep in this kitchen!

Other than that, we're right on par with this house. We agreed we'd hire someone to take the counter out and reinstall it whereever my workroom ends up being, instead of smashing it out of its ugly misery as he'd like to do. There's no possible way I'm parting with that fantastic countertop. I love all things 70s. It's miiiiiiiiiine. Even if I have to hide it in the basement. I'm already picturing it paired with my bubble mirror that I shamelessly begged a former landlord for when I moved out.

I love the location, even though I swore I wouldn't be a Kalamazoo lifer. It's in Portage so not really Kzoo, right? Walking distance from a gas station (that has slushies!!), a Kohl's and an Old Navy (goodbye $!), and D's future High School. I'm also content in knowing I'll be in a city full of amazing local music and local beer. I know someone everywhere I go, and there's good potential for my business. It's also tucked back in a little subdivision on a dead end. There's already plans to set up a hockey goal and I will actually get my rollerblades on again. Prepare yourselves for a gory broken bone post in the future! I promise pictures!

We are so excited to finally have a place to call home, and have a yard!

We made an offer on Monday and are expecting a counter-offer by noon on Thursday!

*Cross your fingers!*

And because I've been too busy to really even think about Christmas cards this year, here's the picture we were going to use. Because yes, my family is crazy funny and I love them. :)

Also, I've added a new item to my Etsy shop now that I've finally perfected them! Pocket Mirrors! Only $4! Here's a little sample:

2.25" and backed with fabric (some with a layer of mylar, some without), all with a crystal clear real glass mirror! Come check them out!

Magnets!

I added a bunch of magnet sets to my shop tonight!

Also, for the rest of September get a FREE magnet with every purchase!

Short and sweet tonight...

Tomorrow is my son's first field trip!

We are headed to the apple orchard bright and early.

Ali is coming along too. She's so excited that she finally gets to go to school,

even if it's for one day and we'll barely see the classroom. :)

Whoa Now, I made something!

It's been a while since I've had the chance to really sit down and sew. My social life and other responsibilities have been getting in the way. When living in Michigan sometimes you just have to put work off to the side and enjoy the beautiful weather when it comes your way! So I have. I spent a lovely weekend up near Petosky, a beautiful weekend in Frankfort, a few afternoons at the pool and many evenings playing ping-pong in a friend's garage. You can definetely tell this by looking at my house. Word to the wise... always do your dishes and take out your trash BEFORE you leave for the weekend. It will still be there when you get home and you will be sorry you left it that way. Took me 2 weekends to learn that. It took me roughly a week between getting back to work and my socializing to get this mess of a house cleaned up!


So yesterday, while sitting in my nice, clean house, I decided it was time to mess it up with some fabric and thread. I promised my best friend Bonnie a brown and green curtain for her youngest son's new monkey themed bedroom. So I forced myself to make a curtain. I find curtains to be tedious and boring. Straight lines straight lines straight lines. Plus, brown and green just aren't that pretty together. I couldn't get the tension right with this fabric to save my life either. I should've lined it and I think I will tonight. I'm hoping the weight of the curtain pulls the seams taut as well. Here's hoping! I'm such a perfectionist... I'm half tempted to start all over again. I really might do it over again tonight in a vertical colorblock instead of what I did here. There's a seam in both the greens and my OCD can't let that be. Maybe I'll wait and see what she says first. What do you think?

I also picked up some gorgeous orange and cream fabric, and some blue fabric with white "wheels" on it, on a whim. Impulse shopping at it's best. I should really only be allowed to carry cash into a fabric store because I can justify buying damn near anything there. I loved the combination of these 2 fabrics so ridiculously much that I made 2 identical pouches. I never do that!! But I just had to have one for me. I'm going to a wedding this weekend, I needed a new clutch of course! Not that it matches the dress I bought today AT ALL. Orange, blue, and plum... oh well. It's too fabulous, I might have to just go mis-matched. I could pretend I'm colorblind or something. Wouldn't you just to carry this?

I'm also entertaining the bad idea of dying the dress black tomorrow. I never checked the fabric content though. Maybe I'll just return it for something less purple and conservative. I don't think I was thinking clearly when shopping [with kids] this morning.

All Yours!

I've decided to offer some personalized Itty Bitty Snap Pouches! I was inspired by a potential customer that wanted to use them to package her wedding parties gifts. I hadn't even thought of stitching names on! Too easy to not run with the idea!

Erin was in luck yet again. She seems to get her name tested on most things I personalize since she's got such a short name, and well, I like her! Lucky gal! I stitched both names freehand, they turned out pretty well!!

I'm much more inspired to alter the wedding dress I've been holding out on. The girl (my twin sissy's best friend) told me I could keep all the scraps. In fact, she looked at me like I was nuts when I asked all excitedly if I got to keep what I cut off. "Uh Delainie, what the heck am I going to do with a pile of fabric scraps?" Guess we're even since I looked at her with that same "Are you fekking insane?" when she brought me this gorgeous (5 layer!!) dress and told me to chop it up. Oh the trust... the pressure... the nervousness! I just wanna use the scraps to make little pouches though!!

Internet Time-suck...

How can I spend so much time on the internet, without getting any actual work done?

Why won't I eat food that's been in the fridge more than a few days, but I love blue cheese, which is really just mold?

Why am I always ready for a nap at 7pm, but never ready for bed at 9pm, even when I skip the 7pm nap?

Just a few random wonderments of mine tonight.

I just found out I made the Front Page of Etsy last week! I didn't even know it! My fourth time on the front page, and the second time for this item! Somehow every one of my items that has made the front page has been yellow and gray.

I added a few goodies to my shop today as well! It was bittersweet making a clutch this weekend, as it is the very last frame of this style that I have. That, and it turned out so great I want to keep it for myself!! I was getting the frames somewhere completely random, and they no longer have any, so I guess that line is done! I have one more that is broken, I'm hoping my bro-in-law can fix it for me when he gets home from Africa soon.

Off to bed with me- my last day of Spring Break is tomorrow- I have to spend it cleaning! Boooo!

Impatiently Waiting

It's like my birthday is never-ending! Last night I finally checked the mail (after my Dad made me) and found a check from him for my birthday! I love birthday money. For the longest time, I have wanted a bookbinding machine. I've bought enough notebooks on Etsy by now that I could've bought one long ago.

Last night, the time came! I finally found the one I want, that doesn't use those icky CombBind things. I wanted double-O wire spirals! I spent hours researching machines and managed to find one for half the price that all the rest were listed for. Score! I am soon to be a proud owner of a SircleBind WR-60 Manual Wire-O Binding Machine. YAY!!! I'm impatiently waiting for my tracking # so I can stalk my machine all the way to my house. I've been thinking of all kinds of crazy ways to make notebooks while still using fabric too. So. Many. Awesome. Ideas. I need to get my other sewing machine fixed so I can beat the snot out of it trying some of these ideas out. I can't wait to share! OOOHH SO MANY IDEAS!!

I made some new Slapdash Zip Wallets yesterday! Got some pics today and got em listed. I really love these with zippers! I wanted to call this one "My Precious" since I love it so much, but instead it's "All The Rage" since I didn't think it had much to do with a LOTR reference. Sure is pretty,isn't it? :)

Sleepy Un-Birthday Mornings

*Yawn* I have too many mornings that I'm awake before I want to be. I'm being forced to watch Bobby's World (again) about the missing slipper (again). David now knows every word and when we aren't watching it, he's reciting it. It's super cute, but man, how can kids watch the same thing over and over and over? The Beatles references are cute though, I never caught on to those as a kid!

I added a new Slapdash Messenger Bag to my shop! I've had a busy week of custom orders and just plain awful picture taking weather, so this is all I've listed this week.

It's similar to the Bonnaroo Bags I made a month or so ago, but this time they aren't all Reserved for other people! I used 12+ fabrics for this one and even made the hidden pocket even more hidden by making it run along the very bottom of the bag. I had to make one just for me this time around, they are too great for me to not have one of my own! I've gotten so many compliments on it! I am just LOVING my Slapdash Series. I made some more tiny snap pouches also, but I can't manage to get a decent picture. The longer I wait the faster they are selling locally, so I can't complain. They've been a big hit around here! Someday I might get them onto Etsy! Come on sunshine! Here's the best of the worst pics of them I've gotten so far. If anyone wants one of them, let me know, a few are still available. After 4 different failed photoshoots for them I'm not that excited to try it again, but I would for you. :)

Yesterday was ridiculously relaxing. My first full day of vacation and I could barely keep my eyes open for most of it. I've been hanging onto this spa gift card I had gotten from my awesome boss for Christmas, and I finally got to use it yesterday! So I got myself a haircut and a pedicure. It was great! The haircut is real cute! I haven't attempted to style it myself yet, but we'll see what magic I can work when I finally get off this couch. The pedicure was soooooooooooo relaxing! I wish this fancy spa had had those vibrating massage chairs like Walmart does though. The bench thing I sat on had too low of a back to just lean back and relax. For twice the price of a WM pedi, I really think a massaging chair would be nice! It was great though, and the girl that did both was so sweet! If any of you are in Kzoo and want to spend way too much on a haircut at a fancy salon from a really sweet stylist then let me know and I'll tell ya who she is! I'm entirely too cheap to do these sorts of things I think!

My birthday is tomorrow! I thought I'd spend it all sitting at home with David since I had no sitter, but my Dad came through! Since I let David know about going up to Grandpa's he's been talking endlessly about Grandpa's garage. Grandpa's garage is really a wooden breadbox. David snags it as soon as he walks in the door every time! I'm thinking the Easter Bunny might need to bring this kidlet a breadbox. What am I going to do with myself being kid free for 2 nights??!! I hope all my friends aren't at work tonight!!