Saturday, December 04, 2010

Supplies...Supplies....and Getting Ready!

The weekend after Thanksgiving was a big weekend for us, because Joann's has some great bargains and we load up on lots of supplies for the next year.  Supplies, as in FABRIC! 


We are trying some new patterns and if they work well, and don't take a ton of time, we'll add them to our offerings next summer.  The Farmer's Market begins in June and that will surely come before we are ready=)




This is actually some wool blend that Beth (Mom) will be making some skirts for Jessica and Jennifer...Of course, the green is for Jenny=)

I bought extra of these two fabrics...for lounge pants for the girls. 

A sling backpack bag that I am currently working on....I'll post when it's finished.


White bolts of interfacing...we go through a lot!  That's 40 yards of it!!!  Last year we used almost 30 yards, so we bought extra in case we are extra-productive.

Also...I'm working on some Christmas gifts for Jess and Jenny while they are away....I can't post pics until after Christmas - so I'll keep you and them in suspense. 

Sunday, November 14, 2010


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Belated Craft Show Photos from Oct. 9th

Hello Everyone! Sorry these pictures are so belated but I still wanted to post them. Mom and I manned this booth at an indoor show on Oct. 9th. It was very fun to spend time with Mom even though our profits weren't the greatest. We are hoping the craft show coming up this weekend will be much better! So this week we are going to be busy sewing away to get last-minute projects done. Wish us luck! ~Jessica

*See next post for pictures*

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

It Was Cold!

We were a "bit" chilly on our last Farmer's Market this past weekend...and it was too windy to put up our canopy.  Both the girls and I were glad to pack up and head home.  Our next stop....a craft show in a nearby town - our first adventure into the world of craft shows as a vendor and not a shopper.  At least we know we'll be indoors=)

Monday, September 06, 2010

Images....

Our lives are so full of color...every day as we sew together or design new bags we have so much fun! 
Fabric flowers we're making into hair clips


This will be a new coin pouch.


The latest tote bag made by Beth - in browns, greens, blues and pinks. 
 A nice general tote with two pockets outside and two inside.



That's all for now...

We're planning to do a day-long show in October, besides our weekly farmer's market booth. 
Which means we are busy!!!!  The best part - we get to work together.

Chilly, but Fun Saturday Morning in Elkhart Lake

This past Saturday was quite chilly - even for Wisconsin...but we made it through the morning.  Here's some pics, which include a canine visitor=) 
Jennifer...on most days she's our comic relief.


Jessica


Jessica and "Visitor"

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Farmers Market Fun

The Farmers Market was such a blessing this past week. We were debating if we should have a booth or not because of the rain. So finally around 8:30 we decided to start setting up and prayed that the rain would stop. And amazingly, right as we were carrying our bags to our 'spot' the rain stopped! We were able to have a very fun day. Two little girls from our church stopped by our booth and ended up each getting a "Three Baggy P's" bag for themselves. It was so cute the next morning at church seeing them carrying their new bags. They both adored them for which I am very glad!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Colors of our Saturday Mornings

A great day today - Jessica outsold Mom today - three bags to one!  We are thankful for all of God's blessings today - here are some pictures from today's market....colorful they are!

A new market tote that Jess made last night, which sold today.


This denim tote is made out of old jeans that I recycle...really fun to piece together and easier because of the ready-made pockets I use from the jeans.


Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Market Bag goes to Nice, France

We are so excited!  A young girl who is visiting Wisconsin selected one of our market bags to take home and give as a gift to her mother - they both are from Nice, France!!!!  How much fun it is to know that we now have bags in three countries - the USA, Lima, Peru and now, Nice, France.  We can only wonder where else our bags will end up in the future......

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Gone South

We'll be heading South for the 4th of July weekend - won't be back at the Farmer's Market until July 10th...hopefully with some brand new bags!  Jessica has been busy in the basement and I'm jealous.  I've been trying to play catch-up around the house and have not been able to sew. Next week I hope to get busy sewing.  Until then...have a great 4th - and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Saturday Update

Wow! It was soooo hot today - but a good day!  We sold 5 bags - 2 market bags,  2 of the new pattern from Simplicity which you can see in a previous post, and another simple bag.  And...best of all..JENNY SOLD HER FIRST BAG!!  I can't believe I didn't get a picture, but yes...she did!  Knowing Jenny - she has the money spent already=).  Looks like we will miss next week because we are heading to southern Illinois for the 4th, yet...we need to get busy this week before we leave and make some replacements -we'll focus on market bags and the new one which sells so well.  We have so much fun together doing the market - and Jenny surely eats her share of egg rolls!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

We're Working Hard for the Big Weekend here in Elkhart Lake!

We've been super busy this week - getting some new bags ready for the market and also getting ready for Ethan's graduation party - both events on Saturday.  I think we've made 7 or 8 new bags - and we are very excited! 
It should be a huge weekend....NASCAR is coming to Road America and over 100,000 people are expected to attend the event.  We're hoping the wives decide to start the day at our local farmer's market!.  We'll also have family in town who will see it for the first time and we can share our fun with them.  I can't wait to post some pictures....until then...finish the week well and we'll trust the Lord to bless as He desires.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Saturday update...


Good day today...met lots of nice people and both of the new bags we made this week sold!  Guess we'll have to make more of that pattern!  At times it rained today, but only lightly - and there were still quite a few people out and about...
This is Jess and the new bag she made.



We are enjoying our Saturday mornings together

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

A New Bag




This is a completed bag of Simplicity Pattern 2396 - which I made for the first time.  I love it and this fabric I bought at Nancy Zieman's Sewing Weekend in May.  I added an extra cell phone pocket on the inside and put some of the fabric flowers we've been making on the outside - a nice touch, I think. This bag took less than a yard of each fabric, plus some interfacing.  Jess and Jenny are both in the process of making their own - which they will post as well.  Whenever we make a new pattern - it's so hard to sell=)  We love them all! 









Monday, June 07, 2010

Well, we did it! The first day of the Farmer's Market is over. As we were taking down our display I said to my mom "This is way too much fun!" I love doing the Farmer's Market every year and this summer is going to be the best, I just know it. Saturday I sold two bags and Mom sold one so I'm "winning" for right now. =]

Here are a bunch of pictures of our booth.











This is Ethan - older brother and part-time helper=)  He just graduated from high school. 

These are new fabric flowers we've made this year - we got the idea from this great crafty website:

Well, we better get back to work - lots of sewing to do this week and a few things to tweak with our display.  Bye for now....



Friday, June 04, 2010

We're Packed Up and Ready!

This is the back of our van - fully loaded and ready to drive us the 4 or 5 blocks to our set-up location at the farmer's market downtown - which starts tomorrow!  We are very excited and are also praying the rain holds off until we are all packed up again after it's over.  We're looking forward to seeing fellow-vendors from past years and meeting new customers.  We are in a larger spot this year and have a new canopy to shade us - courtesy of Grandpa Joe and Grandma Sherry, who gave it to us as a Christmas present - they were surely thinking ahead and we are very thankful we'll be out of the sun from 8am 'til past noon.  We will all be there - even Ethan - the older brother, who doesn't have to work tomorrow.  I'm so glad we live in Elkhart Lake.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Building our Display



Eddie (hubby & father), started out with a pile of lumber and some 4x4 pieces of pegboard.  He also started with creativity and imagination...it was all in his head and we had to trust his powers to create it.


We're thankful for the tools Daddy has in his arsenal.


Daddy, with Jessica & Jennifer putting the pegboard into slots of the 2x4.  This display is easily dismantled and loaded into our van.  Daddy made it so his girls could set up each week in minutes.


Jessica , Ed and  Jennifer next to the finished product.  He made another just like it - so we have two!  Now it's up to us to fill them both up.  We are working really hard to do that.


We took the display into the house and started loading it with our creations.  We are thankful to have both sides of two displays...we'll need the room.  This picture is only one side - we have the other side full as well.  We'll use all four sides and spread the bags out more. 

Next....we have to finishing our pricing and set up our total display sometime before Saturday, so we'll have a plan come early Saturday morning.  We are very excited!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

We've been sewing all winter

We've been sewing all winter and are nearly ready for opening day!  We will work on our display over the Memorial Day weekend and post pictures of that coming together.  We'll need Ed's (Dad's) help with that for sure.  We are very thankful that we live in a tourist town which fills on the weekends with visitors who seem to love shopping at our local farmer's and artisan's market. We thoroughly enjoy meeting so many people each week and especially those who are "regulars."  We've met so many people in past years and they have certainly blessed us by enjoying and purchasing many of the things we've made.  There is no greater joy for me than to share my love of sewing with my daughters.  There are three of us living under one roof who have become "fabric-aholics" - that could be extremely dangerous.