I’ve made up a new batch of kiddy messenger bags for my shop, but the one you see above (on my cute little girl) can be yours for free! Cassie at the awesome Crafty Crow is giving it away and you still have time to put your name in the hat.  Just in case you don’t win (I never do) you can hop over to the shop and take your pick.

and remember there are only a couple more days left to sign up for mobile swap 2009!

Somehow I managed to screw up my own email. argh! Please send your sign up email to

elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com

I’m sorry. I read it over and over again (because I did the same thing last year, if you can believe it), so if you’ve sent the email, please please send it again to the correct address!

When I said I’d post the sign up on Monday morning, I of course meant Tuesday evening. Sorry. But it’s here! the 2oo9 Mobile Swap! I started this last year after putting away all my holiday decorations and feeling that my house looked so sad and empty. Well, it’s taken a little longer to get the decorations down to the basement this year, but the house is looking bare now and a pretty mobile would be just the thing to bring it back to life.  If you’d like a mobile of your very own (and try your hand at making one too) please email the following information to  elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com (edited to correct address)

Please write “mobile swap 2009” in the subject line, if you don’t I could lose your email in spamland.

1. name

2. email address

3. website (if you have one)

4. mailing address

5. favorite colors

6. whether the mobile you’d like to receive is for a baby’s room (and his or her age probably would help). If you would particularly like to make a mobile for a baby’s room, say that here.

That’s it! The mobile can be out of any kind of material using any design you can think up. Sign up by Friday January 30th and I’ll send you your partner’s information the following Monday. I’ll try to arrange it so you send to one person, but receive a package from another–just to mix it up. Packages should be sent out by Saturday February 28th. There is a new flickr group for this year,  but be sure to visit last year’s group to see all the awesome mobiles! I made two different mobile swap buttons so you get to choose between a classy lady and a dapper dude. Please copy and paste them onto your blog (or click on the pictures and it will take you to the link to use) and spread the word! Now I really need to pack up the rest of those christmas decorations.

Sorry to disappear like that, but there hasn’t been much sewing around here lately. Actually none. This dress is the last thing I made (the day before christmas of course).  It’s a simple enough dress, but the gathers were a royal pain in the butt. Velvet isn’t one of the suggested fabrics for a reason. It never gathered enough–the fabric was just too thick–and I had to put the button waaaaay over so it would stay up on her shoulders.  And that is button, not buttons, because I got the flu and five button loops and five covered buttons just seemed like a lot more than I could handle.  But she wore it to christmas dinner and was just the cutest (and that was really the point right).

I will be back Monday with the Mobile Swap 2009 sign up. Last year was a huge success and a lot of fun to boot. Check out last year’s flickr group just to see the amazingness and check back next week to sign up!

I suppose I should have posted this yesterday, seeing as 2008 is now over, but I’ve been busy doing absolutely nothing.  This week has been post holiday recovery. I finished everything I had to do by the time we left to go to Grandma’s house for Christmas and then I promptly got the flu Christmas eve, so I could barely enjoy it. Poo. I’ve actually heard of a few other people getting sick on Christmas this year–maybe we’re stressing out a bit much about Christmas these days? maybe next year everyone will get a kiss and a pat on the back. Anyway, things are slowly getting back to normal: the tree is on the way to the curb and the kids have stopped asking about the advent calendar everyday. And though we did whoop it up with hors d’oeuvres and chocolate milk at 5:30pm last night, the new year came in pretty quietly. This is the time of year when I am very happy to have a blog, because I can look back and actually see some of what I accomplished this year. I was never the sort of person who could keep a journal past January or remember what happened last week, much less last year, so it’s nice to be reminded that sometimes I can get shit done and sometimes it’s not half bad. Most, if not all, of this stuff would have never come to be if it wasn’t for you, dear readers. It still seems silly to me that someone I’ve never met can say something nice about my work and it pushes me to make more and better things. Before I started this blog, I thought my creative vein had dried up, but somehow you keep inspiring me to push through those crappy creative dry spells and keep making. Thank you, thank you. I wish you boundless creative energy and piles of amazing vintage fabric (for cheap!) in the new year.

Happy New Year!