Here we go...

It's official...this week I received my acceptance into the NY International Gift Show at the Javits Center Jan 30-Feb 3! There is a lot of work to be done over the next 2 months to get ready, including getting the new collection together, overhauling the website (which is woefully out of date), not to mention designing the booth layout. It's a big gulp, but I think the company (and I!) are ready to take this big step forward.

Also on the calendar coming up is the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade on Dec 5th in Little Italy in Manhattan. I love selling with the newnew team, and this show will be highlighting some of the best of the NY craft scene.


A couple weekends ago, I took a road trip up to Boston to sell at the SOWA open market with several of my newnew friends. The weather was gorgeous the day was a bang up success. I also finally indulged in something that I have been wanting from Caja Jewelry - check out my new "Craft Tramp" necklace! I can't wait for it to be delivered tomo. I have a feeling I will wear it every day.
Full speed ahead!

that's a lot of nice.

I can't resist a great group shot, so when I was getting ready to ship a lot of Be Nice or Leave pillows (total: 24) to several locations of Boston Interiors, I was nearly beside myself. They should be in-store right about now. Be sure to check it out.

Upcoming events:

Sept 12th: {newnew} presents the Fall Handmade Cavalcade in Beacon, NY
October 17: Crafts in Chelsea, 21st St b/w 8th & 9th Ave, NYC
October 9-31: Madison Square Park Market ("NYCraft" booth) 23rd st b/w 5th & Madison, NYC

Sneak peak at a new Lady Slipper Orchid pillow that I haven't listed on etsy yet (but will very soon!)

i really like orchids.

I was hard at work last week on a "research trip" (vacation) in Paris. We took a road trip to Giverny to visit Monet's house (amazing) where I took (way too many) photos of all the flowers growing there. I see some new botanical pillows in my future...

i could probably paint a masterpiece or 300 if I lived here

one of 172 flower photos I felt compelled to take. thank god for digital.

now if only I could conjure up an excuse/several grand for India next....

handmade

I wanted to play around with some logo artwork and thought I would scan in the embroidered logo that is on the back of every pillow...and got this. Dang that's awesome.

upcoming events:

Aug 1-3: Philly Buyers Market of American Craft (wholesale). Pennsylvania Convention Center, Booth 1616.
I'll be there with some friends -- Cakehouse, KimmChi, Beacon Bookmarks, and KnitKnit

September 12: {newnew} presents Fall Handmade Cavalcade in Beacon, NY

October 17: Crafts in Chelsea, 21st St. between 8th and 9th Aves (NYC)

Fingers crossed for another major event...tba

Be sure to check out all the new styles that are uploaded to etsy

Happy summer!

new collection time!

Oh, happy day!

You know how singers will complain in interviews that when they are on tour they get soo sick of singing the same song over and over again? Well, I kind of understand that.

It is time for something new!!

Luckily I have Dallas wholesale market coming up fast to jolt me into gear to design a new collection. And what fun it is!

Drumroll please...I would like to introduce the world to Privet. Privet, world.


Fast on Privet's heels came Clematis, Smokey Blossom redux, and two lovely fantastical birds that have yet to be named.

The bad news is that Dallas market is 3 weeks away and god help me that I am only 5 new designs in. 25~ to go.

Other fun news to report is that I have discovered books on tape. My motivation has skyrocketed. When I used to work out of my apartment, I would leave the TV on (MSNBC) and listen to it as background noise while I worked. The Obama pillows were designed during this time. Then I moved into my current studio at my mom's house and was relegated to my iTunes music library. That got old real fast. I thought I was burning out (how many months can one work with no day off?). This is my dream! Why am I dragging my feet?! Where is my television?? As much as I am obsessed with Beyonce, I was ready to throw her out the window.

Then came the audio book. My ideas are flowing again. I clammor for studio time. I banish visitors who come to taunt and distract me from my focused work. First I listened to Ian McEwan's "On Chesil Beach," (oh, the agony!) and now I am in the grips of Dan Brown's "Angel's and Demons." If religious iconography starts creeping into my pillow designs, you now know why.

Lot's of things happening over the next few weeks--

First off, this coming Saturday, May 30th, I will be at the Brooklyn Flea again. Last time was such a success, it was so nice to meet customers in the flesh! So I am really looking forward to that.

June 6 & 7, I am honored to have been chosen among a select group to be a part of the {newnew} team pop up shop for the Atlantic Avenue Artwalk festival! Come find us at 93 Nevins St. Aparently there is a block party on Saturday which i think will be terrific fun! www.atlanticavenueartwalk.com

Then on June 13th I am back at the Brooklyn Flea.

One (very short) week later, on June 22nd, I will be down in Dallas for wholesale market week. If there are any buyers located in the midwest who will be attending, please be sure to stop by and say hello! I will be with my team at Omni Sales Group in the World Trade Center.

Something fun to leave you with--when it rains, it pours, and in a sudden deluge I received a ton of orders for red Bud Explosion pillows. So I took a family shot. (there were actually 3 more, but they couldn't all fit into my set!) What a proud mama, I was!

Brooklyn Flea!

Yesterday, I participated in my first outdoor selling fair, the Brooklyn Flea.

I was coming off of a really rough work week in the city, and hadn't done any of the things I had wanted to to get ready. So try and picture it, Friday night at 10pm arriving in the studio for the first time all week trying to gather up everything I needed. Thank god my mom had had the foresight to pre-load the car with the table and chairs (the HEAVIEST table and chairs she could have found, mind you, think solid teak outdoor furniture, no kidding). The night before I had stayed up till 1am making my logo banner to hang on the fence behind me--I was actually really pleased with how that came out, given the hour. So I was a little cross-eyed by this point.

The next morning, the alarm went off at 5:45. Then 6. then 6:30 (I know myself). Catrina brought bagels and coffee from downstairs. It was so early and I was so tired, that I insisted that we sit down like human beings to eat. Breakfast then took an hour, so even though I had woken up on time, we still left an hour late.

All the stress of the previous 24 hours seemed to be for nothing once we arrived at the Brooklyn Flea. We were not the last to show up (fear #1). Unloading the car was not as difficult as I had imagined (fear #2). I did not get a parking ticket (fear #3). The tent, although called "EZ Up", was not as EZ as they suggested, but it did in fact go up with little drama (fear #4). Fear #5--that credit card processing via dial-in would be a nightmare, DID materialize. But by the end of the day, I had gotten the knack of it. And my wonderful patient customers didn't mind.

Best of all, I left the Brooklyn Flea that evening with a whole lot less pillows than I had arrived with. It was so nice actually meeting my customers - living in a digital world can be a mind-bender sometimes, with no any face to face contact! Cool moment-- a woman walks up, points to a pillow, and says, "I saw that in a photo shoot last week." She is a re-toucher and had worked on some photos for a magazine shoot that I had submitted pillows for.

Also really fun was getting to hang out with some of my newnew team mates, who were in the tent next door. Jennifer from joyella.etsy.com and I had interesting chats all day. Jody from aStudiobytheSea.etsy.com told us all about how her glass jewely is nearly indestructible. Debbie from MilkMade.etsy.com even gave me a pair of earrings (!!!). Check them out below--Relax! I love how it matches back to one of my pillows. Her grandfather used to collect all these milk caps from the early 20th century, and now Debbie is upcycling them into jewelry and magnets. Totally cool.


I'm really looking forward to being at the Brooklyn Flea again on May 30th. If you are in the NY area, please be sure to come on by!

Stately Homes by the Sea Show House

I just saw this photo that was taken of the master bedroom of the show house I am going to be in next month. I am so blown away. Those are my monogram pillows on the bed! They have chosen this as the photo to send to all the press regarding the house, so there might be some fun magazine postings!

If you are in New Jersey, and want to stop by the show house, here are the details:

Sheep’s Run

A Designer Show House in
historic Rumson, New Jersey

April 28 – May 31, 2009

Hours of Operation:

Tuesday - Sunday

10 am - 4 pm

For Information Call:

732-224-6791

1023 Ocean Avenue
Sea Bright, NJ 07760

website: www.statelyhomesbythesea.com

I will also be putting some of the botanical pillows in the shop at the show, so be sure to check them out!

Sunny day in Brooklyn (and Manhattan, and Queens)

Today I went to my second {newnew} etsy street team meeting, which was at the etsy labs in Brooklyn. Just like the last time, I managed to run 45 minutes late. Not only did I start late (good excuse--Josie my cat had to have her drain tube taken out of her face--long story, not pretty), but there was terrible traffic and then I took a wrong turn somewhere in deep burrough territory and did 100 blocks the local way down atlantic ave.

After the meeting, which was very informative, several of us walked over to the Brooklyn Flea which was just hopping with people enjoying the sunshine. Stopped at the {newnew} tents, bought some delicious chapstick from Nordea's Soaperie (www.nordeasoaperie.etsy.com), got to say hi to Kristen from Cakehouse who wrote a lovely interview on me for the newnew blog (www.cakehouse.etsy.com), and somehow wrap my head around even more things I had to get ready before May 9 when I would be selling there myself.

After this lovely afternoon, I then managed to drive into Manhattan (planned) and did a full tour of Queens (unplanned). At least I had the top down on the car and managed to get some much needed sun on my shoulders.

Finally put up a bunch of listings tonight on etsy. Visit www.alexandraferguson.etsy.com. Most of them (99%) are monogram pillows, plus I did a fun silver/orange colorway of the watering can pillow.

Something cool that I learned in this last monogram moment? 1. W is an awesome letter. 2. oatmeal and black are rocking next to each other.



Another cool moment that doesn't have a photo yet is a new "be nice or leave" colorway courtesy of a wholesale special request. I'll post the photo later, but for now let me just tell you that 1. I was pleasantly surprised and 2. I loved it more and more as I was sewing it (which is a good sign). Going to work on even more "be nice" colorways that I will debut next week.

Finally, just checked google analytics and learned that we had a pretty cool moment on the etsy shop this week. On Thursday April 16th, we had over 1000 visitors to the shop! It just so happened that I was on the front page of Etsy 3 times that day, which probably helped.

my fantasy come true (bragging rights)

I just wanted to share this picture with you. This was my day on Sunday. Yes, I wore sunglasses while I worked. Outside. On the deck. In 65 degree spring time sunshine.

soo ready to design new items

I have been trying to be really disciplined lately making sure that I fill all my orders before I spend time designing new pillows as well as experimenting with other categories like tote bags. But let me tell you, I am starting to get really ancy about it.

In addition to all my new pillow and felt ideas that I want to explore, today I happened to pop my head into a fabric store in the garment district today that was going out of business. Now, anyone who has shopping in the garment district in NY knows that there are a ton of little store front fabric shops that all seem to sell the same thing--overly embroidered and ornate beaded silks from China and India. Beautiful fabrics, but best used in (very) small doses. So my expectations in this shop was low. However! In the back! A small lonely roll of double faced cotton canvas. Yes, folks. Navy on one side, cream on the other. So stiff and strong it could stand up on its own. We used a fabric just like this when I worked in couture, and the wholesale price of that fabric was about 90% higher than what I paid today. Which means that it was affordable enough to make something really cool that I could sell at a normal price on etsy.com.

Now, if I was back in couture, we would do double-faced fabric seams on my future tote bags. This technique is when you split the fabric down the middle and insert the edge of the other panel in between the split layers. I might try to do it myself, but it's a little tricky. Keep you posted.

what a day

Today was my first full day working out of my new studio at my mom's house. It was originally a separate 2-story, 2-car garage that was filled with scary old junk for years and years and years (I wouldnt crawl in there because there were so many spider webs). About a year ago, my mom bit the bullet and decided to clear it out and turn it into a generic crafting studio for herself. She hand-stenciled the cement floor, installed our old wood burning stove, we handpainted a wall together with trees...let me just say how super cute and cozy it is. Well, now that my own crafting has gone full time, and my apartment just couldnt hack it anymore, her little studio is now MY little studio. Mother/daughter relationships are amazing that way.

So you can picture me today sitting in the studio with the stove burning away watching the monsoon rainstorm through the sliding glass doors that look out onto the backyard, cutting little felt letters.

What a lovely dream I am living right now...

Let's try this again

I built my original website, www.alexandraferguson.com, using iWeb on my mac. It's a web building tool for families who want to post vacation pictures, and I was trying to use it as a stepping stone to building an e-commerce site. And like all situations of trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, this one was just more trouble than it was worth.

Herein, my second attempt at starting a blog.

I promise to really really try harder to post more often this time. If it doesnt take me 2 hours and several hosting crashes to post, I have a feeling my blogging just may become as prolific as my sewing. Stay tuned.