spring awakening

the hoarding of materials and sleepless nights due to inspiration overflow have begun again.
three weeks after mika's birth i wiped a thick layer of dust off of my sewing machine (yes, it should be covered, but i just love at least looking at it from across the room every day).

first i pimped a little hoodie sweater jacket for my cousin's birthday and forgot to take a picture of it. oh well.
then i moved on to actual sewing and made myself a quick and easy top and a very retro very artsy dress for joon. then a quick two minute hat for her and today i shortened one of the many pairs of cheap jeans i recently bought.
i sold a mei tai and put everything i made off of that right back into two big fabric orders from the states which should arrive here some time next week.
i got a little bit of fabric at ikea and bought a couple of vintage materials at a fleamarket yesterday.
the list of things i want to sew is growing by the minute.

on top of all of that trin and i went to hollaendischer stoffmarkt today... fabricgasm! seriously.
140 or so market booths selling fabrics, threads, ribbons, zippers, velcro, bias, patterns, absolutely everything related to sewing and all of it for much less than at the overpriced german fabric stores. our town's market square was filled with gorgeous materials and i got to walk through it all with my best friend and without our crazy toddlers or impatient husbands for two hours. it was absolutely amazing! i didn't buy a whole lot because i just spent a lot of money on fabrics, but i did finally get that little biastape making tool and bought some jerseys, the perfect material for the thai fisher pants i've been wanting to make and some funky corduroy for kid's pants. all of that for less than 30euros.
my head is still spinning, my heart rate is probably still elevated and my creative spirits are completely overflowing. time to get a sketchbook and stop sleeping altogether.

so. tomorrow i plan of finishing a kick ass guitar hero mei tai for the store and then it's off to working on my family's spring wardrobe... for now though here are some pictures from today and a promise that i'll take and share pictures of my most recent projects asap.

yay! for springtime and the earth's fertility! can't wait to see everything in full bloom soon!

maternity leave and sale

so this is it. i'm officially putting myself on maternity leave.

it really has been a tough decision to make. i had just gotten into such a great flow of work and it felt so good to focus on something other than being a mother and wife and i've just recently discovered all these great sources for gorgeous materials which i'm now dieing to work with...
but i've spent the past two weeks in misery wanting to do so much and feeling more and more physically and mentally unable to keep up with myself and my desire to create and now i'm giving in and just taking an official break.

no more sewing for the joontoons store for a while. well, i might finish the two mei tais i've started, but i'm not putting any pressure on myself.

there's still lots i want to get done for joon, the new baby and i have a couple of things i'd love to get done for christmas, but i need to mainly just let go of the idea of "working" every day and instead focus on taking it easy, enjoying these last few weeks of being pregnant and of being a single child's mommy. it feels so important right now to soak up every minute with joon!

the pregnancy is still going super well, but the baby is already sitting very low just like joon was and i can tell there's constant pressure on my pelvis, so my midwife told me to put those legs up and not do anything that's not a neccessity. i plan on not having to go through the whole hospital stay and bedrest due to premature labor thing this time around.
our midwife will be on call for us starting january 18th. that's only slightly over a month from now!! whoa.

so, in celebration of maternity leave, i've decided to have a small weeklong sale on etsy. yay, yay, yay!

while i will no longer be creating new pieces and don't know when i'll return to sewing for the etsy store, i'll keep the store running until i go into labor at which point the store will actually go on a few weeks of vacation as well.

oh, i've been meaning to take pics of the few things i've managed to create these past two weeks, but somehow i haven't even been able to update my facebook status on a regular basis... it looks like i may get around to taking pics tomorrow though and i'm excited to share with you the goodies i've sewn from my favorite michael miller fabric. :)

much love and crafty holidays spirit to everyone!

check out my etsy

seriously. go take a look. i'm in love with my two new mei tais! they're so pretty... so instead of boring you with more "anna maria horner is a genius" speeches, i'll show off my work instead.







and then we're off to go see the opening show of the children's musical which dave did the musical direction and arrangements for and stars and drums in. my husband is pretty amazing. and hot. and all sortsa good things.

delay

no mei tais today. so sorry. i was so close to having them finished, but then joon decided half an hour was long enough of a nap and required my attention. so i won't manage to get the mei tais done before the sun disappears (which is like now and it's 2:45pm) which means no pictures which then means no listings. bleh. i'm not happy.

anyways, by the time most of you get up tomorrow there'll be two new beauties on etsy. promised.

pinks and blues...

are what's keeping me somewhat sane on this otherwise very far from festive thanksgiving day.
and that's pretty weird, because if you know me, you know that i'm so not a pink and blue kinda girl.

anyways, wishing you all a happy turkey day if you're celebrating thanksgiving or just a happy thursday if today is simply a thursday to you.

the pinks and blues are well on their way to becoming two toddler mei tais and should be ready to make their appearance on etsy tomorrow (yes, on crazy black friday).



preview? there ya go.

bleh

it's been a very unproductive weekend.

i'm still waiting for my fabric orders to come in and until then mei tai production is on hold which is very frustrating to me right now. i had just reached such a good flow of productivity and now i'm left to sit here waiting.
i've managed to prepare four sets of straps though, two are even attached to the inner canvas layer already. so i should be getting the next couple of carriers finished unusually quickly.

this has also given me time to think about where i'd like to take my carrier designs next which led to serious consideration of making joontoons slipcovers, podeagis and the possibility of changing one small feature (the hood loops) on the mei tais. i'll most likely do some testing on all those ideas in the next few weeks.

there's been more time for sewing for my family which was nice. joon now has two super soft new pillow covers for the big girl bed she's about to get, dave has a fancy new pillow, joon's neck is finally warm enough because of the ridiculously pretty scarf i made from my last garden party scraps and some comfy fleece and i started working on an upcycled sweater kimono jacket for our new baby. yay, yay, yay!

now here's hoping that i get my fabrics tomorrow because i'm afraid if i don't i'll have too much time to think of more things i want to create.

oh, pics? yes. tomorrow. hopefully.

hokkaido dolls mei tai now on etsy

just a quick lil' note to inform you that i just listed another mei tai on etsy.

more toddler mei tais coming very soon. i promise! ;)


oh, and because she's cute...



joon right after her nap today sporting her fancy new hat that grandma got at the pow wow.

preview

here's what i've been working on the past two days. it's a baby size mei tai and i've been so eager to get it done, but a nasty headache is forcing me to call it quits for now.
hopefully i'll get to finish it tonight, it's so frustrating to be like an hour from having a project finished and then having to take a break. anyways, this should go on etsy tomorrow!

sharing the fabric love

this month has so far been a really fantastic one for many reasons (Yes, We Did!).

one of my favorite things about this november though has got to be the fact that i managed to kick the greyness in the butt by purchasing ridiculous amounts of gorgeous fabrics which are sure to brighten my days for the rest of the grey season and will hopefully make the recipients of the final products feel happy, bright and colorful as well.

so here's what i got most recently...



mainly intended for mei tai bodies, but these fabrics are kinda whispering "make me into a bag" into my ear.



this pint one is ridiculously bright, but i just had to get it. i'm not quite sure if it would work as a mei tai, but i just may have to try. one of my favorite aspects of making clothing and carriers is that bit of suspense not knowing what a pattern will look like until it's made into a garment or carrier.


straps, straps, straps. the orange is so yummy it made me crave sweet potatoes all day yesterday. german stores are closed on sundays, but i'm set on getting some tomorrow and then i'll probably eat sweet potatoes all day!


i loooooove these quilter's weight cottons! so soft, i'm seriously considering making bedding from the one on the left.


yes, this is a stack of fat quarters. yes, it's garden party. it's twenty-eight of the fourty-four anna maria horner prints and they're on their way to me. needless to say thinking of the day that these beauties will arrive in their new home, i feel like a kid that's just been told she could spend a week in disney land and have all the free candy she wants.
check out sewlovefabrics on etsy for a great selection of ridiculously pretty fabrics!



i've been drooling over "groovy guitars" for months now and finally managed to order some. it's on its way over here from luckykaerufabrics along with some of my favorite alexander henry prints and my first ever echino (gotta find out if it's worth the hype).






all that should really be enough, i know. but there's more! my sweet wonderful mother-in-law went shopping at joann's yesterday. i got to join her in spirit and i'm sure she picked out some treasures for me. i just have no idea what's in store for me... yay! fabric surprises!

listing on etsy in just a little while...

the first joontoons baby mei tai is ready to be listed in a few moments! i'm stoked about how it turned out... loooooove it.

more blogging later tonight, gotta get the etsy stuff done and then spend a fun afternoon with the kiddo and her sweet lil' friend. :)

what a week

we have a new president! well, you do. if you're american. does the rest of the world get to call him "our" president? in this case i kinda would like to call him that. at least for now. anyways, he's not really president yet. so i guess that statement was just all wrong. america has a new president-elect! there ya go. what i meant to say is, i don't remember the last time anything "politics" made me this happy!

unfortunately the elections took two complete days out of my crafting week. tuesday our midwife came over, we went on a great outing with dear friends and prepped the house for a little election party. then i stayed up til almost 4a.m. which left me useless the next day and i thought i'd better not set foot near scissors or a sewing machine til after a good night's sleep.

i got caught up though, mainly thanks to my butt-kickin' husband who btw is for sure the greatest dad to have ever walked this earth! i love you, dave. :)

so here are the results of a semi productive week...


green toddler mei tai going on etsy tonight












"very berry" baby mei tai unfortunately not going on etsy because it's flawed. i love this thing and i hope maybe it'll find a home somehow. if you're interested, drop me a line and i'll give you all the details and make you a great price! ;)





one more thing about this past week... it's just shocking to me how grown up my "baby" has suddenly become! baffles me every day. seriously. here she is "getting dressed".

joontoons' first made for etsy mei tai

fabrics for body are all part of the gorgeous "garden party" collection by anna maria horner. the straps are double boxstitched to an inner layer of thick home dec weight canvas and reinforced with far from perfect but very pretty stitching on the outer layers. straps are super sturdy yet soft to the touch brushed canvas in eggplant. please check out my etsy for detailed measurements and such.

of course this carrier is completely one-of-a-kind like all joontoons items! but i'm already thinking up the next carrier in my head and i'm hoping to list a mei tai every week or so until my pregnant belly gets too big to fit between myself and my sewing machine(s).

enough talking, more showing off!

almost done

so here's a first not so great pic of my first anna maria horner fabric project. i'm head over heels in love with this mei tai! honestly, i think it's the most gorgeous thing i've ever made and i basically could not be happier with the result.



took two days to make and i feel like i hardly got any sleep because i was so obsessed with getting it done, but now all it needs are the little loops for the hood straps and a joontoons tag and it's ready to go on etsy. yes, i made it for the store... it'll be hard to part with this beauty but i need to have to must feed my fabric addiction and am in bad need for some paypal funds.

and here's a close up of all the pretty pieces laid out together before i got to sew the whole thing this morning...