Makeover Monday: 3/22

Good Monday morning! I have a two part makeover for you this week, and it comes from a custom basket request that I received yesterday. My task is to make a basket shaped like this:

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In a color like this:

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With a little bit of this kind of *tutuness* around the top:
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I am so thrilled with this challenge! This is to be a true heirloom, as it is being made for an 18 month old little girl to be her "forever" Easter basket. Come back tomorrow to see how I did!

Rectangular Rug: Check!

Yippee! I put the finishing touches on the rectangular rug last night!
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She weighs in at 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and will be making her way to her new home in Wisconsin very soon. She'll be sure to add a super dash of color, charm, and comfort to the kitchen!

Lid: Check!

The lid, she is finished!

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The bright, beautiful project keeper is ready to make her way to her new home in Michigan.
Bon voyage, pretty baby. Mwuah!
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Super Stickers

I am so excited about my new shop stickers, I just have to share! Jessi at jessijewels.etsy.com is the BEST. She listened carefully to what I wanted, gave me 3 beautiful choices in a super timely manner, and made these gorgeous stickers just for me. If you are in the market for something to make your packaging stand out, look no further than this "jewel" of a shop!

Kitty Bowl- Check!

My first ever custom kitty bed is complete; I love the way this turned out! The flat base is about 12 inches across. The sides go up, out, and curve back in making it 14" across at the opening, and 4" high.

The colors of this bed were chosen to match a specific decor. Click HERE to see the link my customer gave me. How did I do?

I sure hope Baxter likes his new sleeping quarters. I should know in 2-3 days when the package arrives at its destination. My customer has promised me a photo of the kitty in the bed; I can't wait to see that!

Custom Order Part III

Here she is at 18" across! With only 6 more inches to go, I am now able to figure out exactly how many rows and stitches I have left. I have planned out the rest of the colors, and am on track for being able to present the finished product to my customer on Tuesday. Yippee!

Custom Order- Part II

It keeps growing, and growing! This was taken over the weekend, at about 14" in diameter. Every inch is slow going now, but I am loving this project! What do you think?

New Custom Order Part I

I am currently hard at work on several custom orders, but the most challenging (and exciting) one right now is shown here. The beginning of it, anyway. I love to get a request for something I have never done before, and this is one of those for sure.

Last week I was contacted and commissioned to make a 24" (that's right, 24" = TWO FEET) rag rug style table coaster. My customer wants this to be the focal point of her round, antique oak table. I have some table coasters in my shop that are 8", but this is substantially bigger. You might be thinking, "Yes, Jennie, it is 3 times larger". Ah, but you would be mistaken.

Enter my techie husband, with his larger than life math skills. As I was laboring over determining a price quote for this creation, he showed me that it was a *simple* matter of algebra. Let me say that for me, the words 'simple' and 'algebra' don't belong in the same room, let alone the same sentence. So, what he thought would be a five minute conversation took most of the night. But, in the end, I understood that a 24" table coaster is actually 9 times larger than an 8" one.

The color scheme is to be pink, white, aqua, "funky green", and red. As usual, my first step was to gather fabrics. As it happened, I had all of these colors on hand- perhaps because they are some of my personal favorites. My customer approved the fabrics I showed her, and has given me lots of freedom with the design; her main desire is to have aqua with red and green with aqua. The rest can be worked in however I see fit.

I sent her this picture and two others this morning. As it turns out, she was out most of the day, and did not reply for several hours. I'm pretty sure I didn't breathe much during those hours; as anyone who does custom work, I just felt anxious and hoped that my vision would match hers. It does!! She loves it!!

This is about 10" across so far. The challenge in this coaster, besides color placement, is alternating my added stitches variably so that the coaster stays round versus multi-sided. I've got it figured out, though, and can't wait to add more colors. Stay tuned for Part II!