i’ve been busy

A few things have been keeping me from the internet lately.

1) I’ve been working on a really exciting, HUGE custom order for a very major US retailer. It has been stressful, but awesome! I am making 4 custom kits for them, and I can’t WAIT to tell you who it is and show you what they are. So I’ve been taking some time off from the Etsy shop and summer shows to get that going.

and…

pizza pizza

2) and 3) – ben and I are expecting, not just one, but TWO babies! Our twin girls are due in September. It is pretty crazy. We thought we were prepared for one, and then got the shock of a lifetime when we found there were two growing in there. I am not going to turn this into a baby blog, so we are going to write our personal things over on our other space, infinity forever. there are no posts there yet. but hopefully there will be. neither of us are very good at keeping up with posting. We are trying to build up a good inventory of kits this summer so that the tako fibers etsy shop will be open during the holidays. woo hoo!

back for now

discovery park jumping

Jump for joy! I am trying to make an effort to write more things here. I know I have been gone for a long time. You know when you think about something every day yet somehow cannot force yourself to do it? That is how writing has been for me. I have dutifully been posting photos of my dog, my knitting, and my food on instagram, but haven’t had much to say about life or embroidery.  I’m hoping to change that.  I realize it is not very interesting to read this because every time I write a new entry, it is to say “Whoops! Sorry I haven’t been around for a long time!” But, I have some exciting things coming up that I would love to share, so this seems like the proper thing to say.

Errata for Red Fancy Bird

 

For Red Fancy Bird,  Steps 1 and 2 of the instructions should read:

1) Using DARK RED, fill in the top of the head, wing, upper body, and tail feathers using long short stitch.

2) Using LIGHT RED, fill in the tip of the wing, scattering some stitches up into the DARK RED to give the illusion of blending.

 

I apologize for any troubles you may have had!

 

upcoming shows

Tako Fibers will be participating in 3 big handmade shows this year, hooray! And they start in just a few weeks!

I can’t believe it, this year has FLOWN by.

December 1st and 2nd – Urban Craft Uprising, Seattle, WA (11am – 5pm both days!)

December 8th and 9th – Crafty Wonderland, Portland, OR (11am – 6pm both days!)

December 15th and 16th – Renegade Craft Fair, San Francisco, CA (11am – 6pm both days!)

I will have lots of new kits, including mini kits like this cutie here:

Sneak peek at a tiny new kit...

and a big kit, which I am hurriedly finishing up the sample for:

 Sooooooo close to being done with the sample...

I hope to see you there!

ps: so, i haven’t been writing here because ben and i are starting a new blog, and it will be really awesome. its not ready yet though. this space will be for tako fibers news updates, but our super awesome new blog will be for so much more – just you wait and see.

pickles!

It is pickle time!

Claire and I picked up 40 POUNDS of pickling cukes from Kruger’s farm market stand, along with a bunch of dill.

40# of cukes

We made both sweet pickles and dill pickles. For sweet pickles, to keep them crisp, you cut thinly into coins, salt them, and put them on ice for several hours. We made the dill pickles first, and holy geez did we ever make a ton. I think we have over 25 jars! We both love pickles so hopefully these will last until next summer.

We didn’t make quite as many jars of sweet pickles, but we did manage about 10. They will start to be super tasty in about 4 weeks. We already tried a jar of the dill pickles, which will also be much tastier in a few weeks – but they are already amazing now! They were a little limp, so I might try liming them next time to keep them crisp.

 a million jars of pickles

Yay pickles!

its a start

As you can see… still working on the website. It’s hard when you work full time and have a million other things going on. blarg. at least i have been painting and knitting and embroidering. i just can’t stand to be in front of the computer for more than a few minutes…

I was happily featured in an etsy finds email the other day, so that was good!

 

Tako Fibers in today's Etsy Finds email, hooray!

and still working on it…

I am taking this opportunity to completely redesign and re-think my website. I’m sorry for the delay! Its amazing how easy it is to get lost in the world of css. I have my own virtual server on my computer and have been building and working on it every day… it takes awhile though!  Please feel free to email me, facebook me, tweet at me, whatever, if you have any embroidery questions at all.

working on it

ok! my site is back online! but not working very well right now. note to self and note to all of you: KEEP WORDPRESS UPDATED! getting hacked is no fun! The posts are up but I need to make it pretty again. I’ll be back soon!

knitting

Since this is the summer where I am going to focus on me me me, I have been doing a lot of my other favorite yarny activity – knitting. I started knitting way before I ever started embroidering, and have always loved it so much. When I started making embroidery kits, my knitting fell to the side. I am happy to report that I have been knitting and even finishing projects!

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This is a little sweater I knitted for a very sweet baby. The yarn was small but baby sweaters always go so fast.

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This is part of a square from a secret blanket that Ben and I are knitting together. Yes, he is learning to knit! Hooray!