Boy and Girl Duvet Covers

Here are some pictures of the duvet covers I made for Kelly and Matthew.  It can be hard to find something that works for a boy and a girl, but I found this fabric from Waverly that was just right.  The stripe pattern in each is slightly different, but the green and brown in each is the same, with Kelly's having a pink stripe where Matthew's has blue.



I used varying buttons in ivory for Kelly's, and brown buttons for Matthew's, and set them in an ivory muslin band.  (Yes, if you look closely, you'll see that Matthew's is missing a button.  Story of my life these days - everything just short of finished!)  I used the same muslin for the backs of the covers as well.  There wasn't too much I could do to match the wall color.  That's what happens when you promise a teenager you won't paint over her walls while she's at university!

New Name for the New Year

So... I've changed the title for my blog, for a couple reasons.  First, because I'm no longer 'starting up', and second, because I've decided it's more fun to post from each area in my little world, rather than just work.

I haven't really posted much about work and Lil Elephants lately.  It was a very slow couple months.  I had one sale at the end of November, then nothing for the rest of the year.  A bit disappointing to say the least, but it did let me focus on family during the holidays.  Plus, I sat down for an end-of-the-year re-cap of how things had gone in my first year.

I opened shop in February (of last year), made my first sale in July, and ended up with 37 sales on Etsy, and ten off site.  I'm still in the red, having spent more to get set up than I brought in, so my goal for this new year is to break even.  (A profit would be great, but one step at a time!)

I've joined EtsyKids http://www.etsykids.com/ and have had a couple things featured on CraftGawker http://www.craftgawker.com/ .  I'm planning on approaching a couple local stores about either carrying my clothing on a consignment basis, or at least letting me put postcards in their shops.  I'm considering having some clothing available on my own website, but that means spending money to have someone set it up, or spending precious time to learn how to do it myself.  I'll post later on in the year to let you know whether any of this was successful.

So... here's to a great new year, hopefully for all of us!

Not Even a Bathroom Yet, But Here's Carpet!

We've been working on our version of 'The Money Pit' for six years now. Here's the latest installment. A mistake by the builder left a section of floor 7/8 inches lower than the rest of the floor. I found out we couldn't just use a leveling compound because it would most likely crack with the movement of the wood subfloor, then it would be like gravel under the flooring. Fun!

So I finally managed to get the floor filled in using some plywood, vinyl tiles and silicone caulking. (See my previous post for details and an ugly picture of my sliced-up thumb.)

We used Flor carpet squares for the flooring. I love it! Easy to install, fun, and will work well with our radiant heat. Oh, and not really any more expensive than a middle-of-the-road carpet installed from Home Depot. Here's another of their carpet patterns I like. http://www.flor.com/service/flor/shop/item/Needlepoint-Stripe/1008U02500-7456.html

This one is called 'Patch Me If You Can'. Love the name, too. The kids have taken well to the new room, but then I'm still sleeping in there with them for now.

So we're not totally bathroom-less. It's just not finished. Like everything else in the house. And outside of it. And of course, there's something else that needs to be fixed before we can finish it. That uneven floor I mentioned earlier? Guess it extended a little further than we first thought.

I didn't catch it until I was installing the bathroom cabinets. Had to shim one end about an inch, then realized that the partial wall/ledge behind the cabinets is uneven, too. So the next project will be to take the cabinets back out, rip out the little wall, fix the drywall and put the cabinets back in. Talk about one step forward...

But here's the bathroom so far. Yes, we have to brush our teeth with a jug of water and rinse in the tub, but the kids can actually take a bath now. We just have to hold our noses and try to ignore the sulfur. Is there anything in this house that isn't wrong? (That was pretty much rhetorical. I know there isn't.)

And just in case we forget what we love about this place, here's a reminder. Oh wait! I forgot. The wooly adelgid has infected the hemlock, and it'll have to be cut down before it falls on the dining room. At least then we could fix the off-center location of the chandelier outlet.