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.