Sunday, December 7, 2008

Needlebooks & Pincushions for Christmas Art Festival

For the past two weeks I have been nonstop 24/7 sewing up a storm for the 32nd Annual Christmas Art Festival. This show has always been great and I really enjoy meeting lots of new vendors and seeing all the wonderful talent that is being created. Yesterday was day 1. Attendance was down quite a bit - guess the economy is keeping everyone home holding on to their wallets. All in all I had a pretty good day but it was very surprising what was selling. Who would have thought I would spend so much time sewing items for the show when my biggest seller were 3 pieces of my mosaics. I was so excited when one of the vendors came over and bought a large mosaic mirror even before the doors opened to the show. I sold a few of them but have a feeling they would have been better off at a Quilt Show.... funny... most people had no idea what a needlebook was.
Now, for my part in "going green" I decided to start saving all the empty cat food cans I was dumping in the trash on a daily basis and make something out of them......... ta da - my cat food can pin cushions. These were a lot of fun to make. Grab some felt, some beads, threads and silk ribbon and a variety of pretty velvets and just let the mind and fingers wander.
I don't know about you but whenever I'm out shopping around and I see something at a great price I always wonder... hmmmm what can I make out of that? Well a couple weeks ago I found some little address books at a great price and decided to see if I could dress them up. I had a couple extra string blocks hanging around so decided to see if I could make a couple of covers for the address books. Topped each one off with some dyed lace and a few beads to dress these babies up. And.... not to let anything go to waste I used the left overs from the string blocks to make little kleenex holders.......... now, can my fingers take a rest for a little bit LOL!

Since I think I might finally have some free time, I will be putting together a little surprise. Stay tuned as within the next week I will be announcing a "Christmas Give Away" of some goodies..... a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

16 comments:

  1. Nicki, you are just a wonderful artist. I love your work. Eye candy, for sure!!

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  2. Nicki, I love coming here for the Eye Candy!!! Beautiful work as always....

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  3. I loved your needlebooks, but as you say, some people don`t even know what a needle is! lol
    I would love to see some of your mosaic work posted here.
    I bet you could sell some of those needlebooks at the retreat.
    Tammy

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  4. Beautiful work, LOVE your needlebooks.

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  5. Wow! How beautiful everything is! I love the colors and the themes! I hope the attendance picks up for you, I know you've been seriously non stop now for weeks+ I always think it's way cool when vendors shop at each other's stands, I appreciate the support! Way to go Nicki, i look forward to more updates about each day at the show! Go girl go!!!

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  6. oooooo....these are lovely....you've been busy......it's a good thing!

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  7. Hey Nicki! Thanks for dropping by. Been a while, eh? I've got 4 projects running at the moment- some more "significant" than others: A couple AHA art quilts and a couple WIPS for me. Since I am getting laid off on the 19th (yeah- it sucks) I'll have plenty of time to quilt and job hunt- pro'ly in that order!

    Later!!!

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  8. What a lovely site, really pretty lace dyeing.

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  9. Thank you everyone for your sweet comments. This has been one wild weekend and I am still stunned at the response to the needlebooks - everyone of them is now sold and I even have a few orders to fill. It's your support that keeps the creative fires burning! Thank you!

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  10. Nicki, your needlebooks are gorgeous, as well as the address books and tissue holders.

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  11. Nicki, Wow...all the color on your blog is just fabulous and stimulating......love what you are doing...and my goodness...who ever thought a cat food can could look so good! And, the needlebooks are divine. I'll return soon. Thanks for visiting me this a.m. or I may not have ever seen your blog. A good day to you!! Pat

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  12. Your needlebooks are just lovely. And, as a pincushion fanatic, I LOVE what you've done with yours.

    Happy Holidays!

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  13. The needlebooks are amazingly beautiful!I have also found that lots of people don't know what they are....You shouild sell them online

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  14. WOW Nicki I just LOVE your needlecase and tissue holders! Awesome. Good luck on your contest too.

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  15. Hi Nicki,
    your works are pretty-unique, I like this work, greet,
    Wanda

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