20% Chance of Rain

Well, if this is what a 20% chance of rain looks like, I'm not sure I want to see 100%! Winter has definitely arrived in Sacramento! Gotta check the SpareTheAir site to see if I can use the fireplace ... sure hope so! This long weekend is going to be all about sewing ... and hopefully more than a little listing on Etsy!

Two Weeks and Counting!

This is my booth from the 2007 show!

I can't believe it's almost time for the Bird in Hand show again! This holiday folk art & antique show may be small in size, but it's very much worth a look-see! Produced by Sue Lynch of Quail Country Antiques, and Emily Hollinger, a local artist, this show has been a much-anticipated annual event for more than 10 years now.

Located in the charming downtown area of Los Altos, California, Bird in Hand is held the 1st Saturday of December (for 2008, the date is December 6th), from 9:30am until 2:30pm. The show is held in the American Legion Hall, located at 347 First Street in Los Altos.

I would highly recommend that you arrive by 9:00am, or shortly thereafter. There is usually a bit of a line to get in, but because our wonderful customers do their job well (buy, buy, buy!), it's imperative for serious shoppers to arrive at (or before) the show opens!

Once in the door (if you're one of the first 50 or so shoppers), grab a shopping basket from the table to your left. Then make the rounds, traveling from booth to booth, to see all of the folk art and antiques. A central checkout area is provided near the entrance/exit for your convenience, so you can pay for all of your purchases at the same time!

Besides my primitive folk art, you will find Emily's paintings, Sue's antiques, and a variety of handmade items in various styles. Admission is $1 -- which is a donation to the Los Altos History House Museum.

New Listings on Etsy & eBay

It's been a super-busy week, but I've managed to find some time to list things on both Etsy and eBay!

The first few of my eBay auctions will end today -- these are for vintage patterns. BTW, I have more vintage patterns if you're interested, but unless I get more than the one bid I have at the moment, the rest of them will be going on Etsy. Also ending today is an auction for 3 seed bags in wonderful Autumnal shades of brown. The remainder of my current eBay auctions will end tomorrow -- these auctions include 5 ounces of colorful wool roving, small IKEA storage jars, a punch needle piece I did last year ("Harvest Moon"), and a set of primitive candy canes, also done in brown shades (these would look great with the seed bags, by the way!).

I've been listing "destash" items on Etsy, the results of cleaning and rearranging my studio over the past couple of weeks. So far, I've listed metal tins, silver glitter, red Chinese take-out boxes, and an assortment of metallic papers and stickers for altered art or scrapbooking. If these things don't sound like me, that's because they're not -- I received them in a "surprise box" where I only had to pay shipping. And if the person I acquired these from sees this, never fear, you included several things that I am keeping! :-) I also have some primitive destash items to list soon too! Off the top of my head, I remember some faux wired grapevine and a couple of small beeskeps ... but there's lots more!

If you're wondering why I took time during my busy season to rearrange my studio, it's because I found the PERFECT work table, a great old antique table that's actually big enough so I can get some serious work done! (I'll post pictures soon, once the studio is "finished"!) For the last 2.5 years, I've been using an antique sewing table -- the folding kind -- and if you're familiar with this type of table, you know just how small they are! They're also not very high, which meant that I had to put my sewing machine atop a small crate to bring it up to a usable height. Of course this wasn't terribly conducive to doing serious sewing! My new work table is just the right height (as Goldilocks would say!), and I've already spent more time sewing in the last week than I have in the last six months!

OK, enough blogging for now, I need to get some breakkie and then list a few more things on Etsy!!

Hampster Dance

OMG ... someone just sent me the link to the Hampster Dance!! This was one of the very first web sites I ever saw that "did something" (move/action). I'd sit and watch it for waaaaay longer than I'd care to admit. Check out the Hampster Dance here!

Yes We Can!

This is my friend Wen and her wife Tara,

at their wedding in San Francisco,

June 17, 2008.

To borrow a line from President-elect Obama, YES WE CAN ... make people understand that discrimination is not only wrong, but it's illegal too.

And borrowing a slightly paraphrased quote from Brad Pitt, "... no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it ... everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another ... discrimination has no place in America!" I wasn't aware until just a few days ago that Brad Pitt has refused to marry Angelina Jolie until gay marriage is legalized once and for all. How cool is that?!

If you'd like to help in our continuing battle, here's a few things you can do:

* Follow the case Strauss v. Horton in the California Supreme Court.

* Help us challenge the tax laws of the Mormon church: http://tinyurl.com/5rmxfu

* Donate, donate, donate! NCLR, Equality California, No on 8, and other similar groups can still use your support. This isn't over yet!

Here's a No on 8 commercial that didn't get a lot of air time, so I'm giving it a bit of time right here! http://tinyurl.com/5nada6

And remember, "If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress." (http://tinyurl.com/5htmm4)