katie jean in San Francisco

 

so, does this look like me?

I will be in SF in January for a very special event called the Mission Indie-Mart. It is a one day, 4 hour shopping party. I am nervous and excited about it all. I do feel a little square to be there, (see above picture), that's the nervous part. But it sounds like fun. Here is an excerpt from their blog:

The Mission Indie-Mart has quickly grown from an underground backyard shopping party into a popular monthly event featuring a tantalizing combination of shopping, music, and food. Catering to the style conscious hipster, this event showcases truly independent local designers, offering everything from one of a kind fashions and reconstructed vintage (that's me) to offbeat crafts, handmade jewelry, and fun antiques. Enjoy cheap beer, hot plates, local dj's and the cream of the crop of San Francisco's indie designer scene.

See what I mean about being nervous? "the style conscious hipster". But how can you beat any craft event that has cheap beer! Also the location sounds intriguing. There will be 50 other vendors there. I hope to see some familiar faces, come to San Francisco for the day!

The Mission Indie-Mart

12 Galaxies Bar

on Mission by 22nd Street

quilt market and flickr

www.mellyandme.typepad.com

I just posted my last picture onto my flickr account of my trip to the Houston Quilt Market. I thought I had at the most 50 pictures of my trip. It was actually 113 pictures. That explains why it took me so long to get it done. But I am so glad that I did finish it. I took a trip one year ago to visit my other sister Judith in Japan and I never did post all of my pictures to flickr from that trip. And now I feel like there is no going back. So many other pictures have been taken.

Now that Christmas is over, I am so ready to sew! I will be in San Francisco on January 27 for a special craft market. And after getting at least 4 new craft books for presents there is so much for me to do. It is hard for me to decide what to make next. I always need to fill in my inventory with my regular baby stuff like blankets and such. But there is a lot of stuff swimming around in my brain now. It has to get out. If you are the creative sort I'm sure you know what I mean! What are you busy making?

let me explain

oliverands.com

If you have seen my flickr pages you can see a serious pattern has developed. My first 30-40 (50?) pictures are all titled "Houston Quilt Market 2007". This was a trip I took with my sister in October and I still have pictures left to post. This was my first time to Quilt Market and since I am a flickr addict, I couldn't help myself. I even took pictures of my food. Why didn't I think of doing this sooner. It was a lot of fun and I am so thankful to have a digital camera and not have to pay money to get my pictures developed.

Well Quilt Market was really cool. My sister Mary has a quilt shop in North Dakota, Quilter's Eden, and invited me to go.  THANK YOU MARY!!!  She had the hotel already and I had a free ticket and my husband said OK. All was set, so I went. This is how most of my trips happen. They are always, well usually, spontanious. When I went to Indonesia, I had to leave in five days. Pretty cool huh?

I loved seeing all of the new fabrics, and learned a little bit more about actually quilting. My favorite thing to see was the crafty booths. Seeing the girls who were doing new things in sewing, patterns, and design. It's really cool seeing a new generation of sewers and how they are creating in new ways. Look at Melly & me. I met Susan Branch, whose illustration and books I have loved for years. She has a new fabric line. It looks like little watercolor drawings, cute. I saw the new Mary Engelbreit line, it looks very mary, although I didn't meet her. I did meet Amy Butler which I loved. I felt a little bit like a groupie. I showed her the eyeglass case that I made using her pattern and my sis took a picture of us together. Which is also on flickr.

So, I love flickr. I check my email first thing in the morning and then I look all over flickr. Everyday. Love it. Check it out. Hopefully I will soon post all of my Quilt Market photos and you can see more of what is up in my life.

Enjoy it!

more Christmas specials

I still have some special Christmas items left. This little longsleeve onesie dress is made from two vintage handkerchiefs. And would be really sweet for babies first Christmas. This dress fits 3-6 months. It usually sells for $29.00, but I am now offering a special Christmas sale price of $23.00. That's more than 20% off. There are more front/back pictures on my website. Have fun looking!

the winner

This has been a long week. I bet it has been for you too!

The winner of the handkerchief Christmas stocking is Sarah! I wish you the merriest of Christmases! Especially for your littlest girl. I know how fun a babies first Christmas can be, especially for Mommy, finding all of the perfect little gifts. There is so much cute stuff that they "have to have", so many traditions to begin. It sure can be a lot of fun.

All of my own kids Christmas stocking are handmade out of black felt. I had a lot of it left over one year from making bat wings for a Halloween costume. I then tried to applique a special picture onto each one that made me think of each one of them. One loves dogs, one loves the snow, and one is an angel. Actually, they all love dogs and the snow! My husbands' and mine each have a gingerbread boy and a gingerbread girl. I love hanging them each year and seeing my kids get so excited about which one is theirs and what little details they like.

On my stairs, I have hanging some older stockings. The first ones I made, my first year of marriage. One that is knitted, from my mother-in-law, that she sent us for our first baby. One sparkly stocking for our baby girls' first Christmas from her Gram. Jeff's childhood felt stocking, and my Snoopy stocking that I got as a teenager from my sister.

What does your stocking look like?

for you

This one is for you! I am doing a giveaway especially for my past customers and my new friends. I made some Christmas stocking that are a soft white cotton and have a vintage Christmas handkerchief on the cuff. All that you need to do to is leave a comment letting me know that you want to enter my Christmas stocking giveaway. The last date to enter the drawing is Saturday, December 15.

You can also visit my website to see the rest of my katie jean Christmas stockings. These pictures were taken by my friend Rachel Valley of Nifty Images. She has been taking pictures for me, for two years now. Thanks Rachel!

In January it will be three years since I began katie jean. So thank you for your love, support, and "this is soo cute" words of encouragement. Merry Christmas to you!

Shoe of the Month

I know that this isn't handmade, but I thought it was pretty cool anyway! J.Crew is now offering a shoe of the month club. Love it! Even though I'm not really a shoe girl I think it would be so great to get a surprise pair of shoes each month. The ad says:

A GIFT FOR THE SHOE OBSESSED

Each month, our designers will handpick their favorite shoes and send them straight to the doorstep of someone who has been very good this year. Treat someone to 12 months of luxury. Call 866-739-5944.

No price was given to join this "club". I remember when I used to always wear white keds. And they weren't even real keds, those were too expensive for me. I bought mine at the grocery store. I know, I was soo cool.

The shoes I still think about are the hot pink Converse high-tops that I got for Christmas when I was 16. I loved them, even though they made my feet look so huge.  My best friend Michele had a pair just like mine.  I don't know why, but we loved dressing up like each other.  Oh the '80's!  I just bought son #2 his first pair of black Converse. He thinks he is pretty cool too!

Do you have any shoe memories?

I'll bring the cupcakes

holiday expo's and home parties

I just finished an all day holiday expo in Folsom. It was a lot of fun and at a really nice place, Bridgestone Racquet Ball Club. All of the usuals were there like Silpada, Pampered Chef, and Cookie Lee. I had a great spot by the child care drop off. And met a lot of nice girls who had a lot of nice things to say about my collection. Thank you especially Christie and Mickey!

My friend Rene from Arbonne was also with me. We had some of their baby products with us. It is great stuff that I still use for my own 3, even though they aren't babies so much anymore. Arbonne offers so many great skin care products for all ages, even your man! Arbonne has no animal bi-products, which means they are 100% vegan and are not tested on animals. I noticed results immediately and have never been so excited and pleased with my skin care products before.

Beginning in January we will be booking home parties together, katie jean and Arbonne. When hosting a party in your home, you will receive 15% off your katie jean order placed at your party and you will receive a free gift from Arbonne. Also, with every $250 of retail order placed, you will receive $100 of free products of your choice. Email me if you are interested in booking a party, trottgirl@sbcglobal.net.

support handmade at Christmas

tree of life celebration stocking

paper doll celebration stocking

'tis the season

ok, so it might be a bad idea to start a new blog during the holiday season. Since this is the busiest time of year for shopping, it turns out to be a busy time for me to be sewing. I haven't had time to update my blog, which can be a good thing. But I do feel guilty for neglecting it. When I usually blog at night, I am now knitting. My gumdrop hat supply has gotten low and now with some finally cool weather coming upon us, it is a good idea for me to get to it and get busy. And there is so much cute, fluffy yarn out there for me to use and make cute, fluffy little hats.

I have also been making some custom christmas stockings for my neighbor. She picked out some really cute fabrics that are very un-christmas. I think they are really celebration stockings, especially good for birthdays. There is nothing sweeter than waking up on your birthday morning than to find a cute little gift stuffed into a stocking tied with a bow to the foot of your bed.

The stockings have been fun for me to make too. I have made at least 10 of them, but every time I sew a new one I have to remake it in my mind. It is a pattern that I have made myself and now I think I need to write the instructions down so it's a smooth process. This would make so much sense to do. Would you like a tutorial? hmmm...

getting out

It hasn't been very cold here yet. The daily temp says 60's, but it still feels almost in the 70's. Which is still too warm for November. Even though the days are beautiful, I can hardly wait for the change. Maybe buy myself a cozy sweater.

Since there is no school this week we are looking for adventures. So today we took a walk around Traylor Ranch. This is one of my favorite places to take my kids. It used to be a working ranch and the family donated the property to the county. Now it is open for walking (it's pretty flat), horseback riding, and bicycles. No dogs allowed though, my kids always ask me why, and I just say because they might scare the horses.

So, we walk and ride bikes, then stop and have a snack. After a break the boys get back on their bikes and we go over to the big rocks so they can climb them. Molly wanted to get up there with them too, and she did a great job at it. I don't think she was scared at all. I was a little scared for her. I remember what I was like when I was little, always scared to try new things, especially things like climbing big rocks. But I did get a really great picture of them that I think I will use for my Christmas card.

One of the great things about where I live is that it's in a rural area, but still close to the mall and airport. Places like Traylor Ranch are such a real treat for me to find. A lot of people don't know that it's there. Which is a big part of it's charm. I am so thankful for these little hidden places. They are like little secret retreats that we can go to and share with others. I especially love sharing them with my kids. Getting out, into nature it's a little adventure for all of us.

paper doll

This is my paper doll.  I use her everywhere I can.  It's my attempt at branding.  When you see a paperdoll you think of katie jean.

I found her at a local antique mall.  She came in a packet with two brothers, an older and a younger.  There was also supposed to be a little sister but she wasn't there.  My doll came with some cute clothes too.  But I think her underwear is cute on it's own, that's usually how she appears.  She is even on my business card in her undies too!

When I bought her, I had no idea how I was going to use her.  I love to decoupage using some Mary Engelbreit paperdolls, so I thought I might do that.  This was before I had really started my business.  Now she is kept safe away from all scissors and glue!

So, now when I see a paperdoll, my heart beats a little faster.  Old or new it doesn't matter.  I even love to find paperdoll fabrics.  What do you like to collect?

welcome to katie jean!

I love all things vintage and have so much fun having my own business making what I love. I hope to share with you the fun things that I make, which is mostly baby items. I am also excited to share with you the adventures that I have searching out my special finds.

Thanks for reading my blog and I will have a ton more to follow!