Long Beach Patchwork Re-Cap

whew! i am tired! and jazzed...but tired...patchwork happened yesterday...thank you to everyone who came out and said hi! it means a lot to have your support...we didn't get a lot of pictures...i had asked Bryan, but he was busy chasing down 2 boys who happened to be running all over the place...not sure why because when i have them they always stay in a line right behind me with their hands clasped behind their backs...right? moving on...

so the coolest thing about doing shows for me is interacting with the people. there is so little of that "on-line" apart from a couple of emails possibly. but to see the kids and parents respond to the things we make is really neat and encouraging. it makes me want to do more shows because of it...but maybe after a nice resting period.

Linz made some darling bibs...i snagged a couple...3 actually...they are perfect because the tops of all of Bodie's shirts are destroyed...rendering a lot of them non-passer-down-a-ble...i have tried everything to get some of the stains out...it is the drool combined with food products and whatever else he finds to put in his mouth - all collecting on the tops of shirts...so this way he is much more fashionably dirty...

rashelle with her mama...giving bryan the stink eye for taking her picture...sorry rashelle - it was one of the only ones!









and linz wasnt quite ready for her close-up either...

this is me and my marketing/PR rep Liz of Lascaze PR...she is amazing and if you stopped by while she was around she probably put a zoodie on your child and convinced you they needed one...love her!

that was also a highlight for me was to see people's reactions to them...by far the parents seemed a lot more excited than the children, and i had a lot of people ask if i make adult sizes...but to see people interact with them was really neat and encouraging...because truthfully sometimes i think they are a little silly...but other times i think they are fabulous...so to get any type of encouragement is motivating!

i did do some shopping too! later i will post some links and pics of some of my favorite vendors...and there were a lot of good ones!

long beach patchwork tomorrow!

friendkidly will be at the long beach patchwork show tomorrow from 11-5 - stop by and say hi! this pic is from the last time we were there - november of 2008 in santa ana! i was really pregnant then too...

should be a nice gorgeous sunny day and over 100 vendors! see you there!

My Swedish Phase

in preparation for Patchwork Long Beach...BTW...June 27th at the Marine Stadium...you going? you should! anyway...in preparation, i have been using up old fabrics and turning it into dresses and realized i have a major Swedish thing going on...i can not stay away from the blue and yellow...or that gingham...

in my defense, at $2/yard...its hard not to fall in love with gingham!

i almost gave up on this pattern because the last couple i made did not turn out right, but after recently seeing a couple of babes wearing the dress like this that i made for them still after a year and a half and one still wears it after 2 years i believe...well, it made me a believer. that plus they are super easy to make!

i am going to wait to post these to the shop until after the show...maybe even after august...because if this little babe #3 does happen to be a girl...she will be mostly swedish after all :)

Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festival

i am very excited to announce that friendkidly will be at Patchwork in Long Beach. June 27th at Marine Stadium Park (Appian way and Nieto) from 11 - 5. If you are in the area...or even if you aren't...its worth the time and drive. they have the raddest vendors - tons of homemade lovliness - food, baby stuff, big kid stuff, music - and its all good...seriously. its not your incense and rasta crocheted handbags and vendors that sell shirts with kitschy stoopid phrases...its good stuff people. so put it on your calendar. and stop by and say hi.!

Gingham Dress Up in the Shop

i have a lot of this gingham left over...something tells me that this isn't the last of its kind...which is fine, because i so happen to find them darling...and soft...oh so soft. Its up in the shop!

Kitty Zoodie in the Shop

i posted the kitty zoodies today in the shop - go tell all your friends!

The Lion Zoodie

i think this one is my favorite :) American Apparel finally started making some yellow hoodies...so here it is - up in the shop! ready to go....roarrrrrrr....

zoodies for the girls...

its funny cause recently i have had 3 or 4 different mamas tell me i need to make more girl zoodies...i think the problem is that 1) i do make them for girls, but i havent posted them in the shop because i am horrible at taking pictures and B) in an effort to stretch myself and sew more for my boys i went overboard and left out some of the girls in my life. ya know some girls dont want to be kitty cats...or sharks or dinos for that matter...so after stretching a bit more and a great idea from Becks, here i introduce the mouse and ladybug...

modeled by boyz...2 very hesitant boys may i just throw that in there. i am accepting orders now for these, however they will take a while to post in the shop, since the mannequin won't work for these guys seeing how my mannequin lacks a head to display the hood....soooo...until i get real creative and fashion a head for a mannequin, i will need to find some female models to post better pics of them in the shop.

so if you are interested, please email me at carleekajsa (at) gmail (dot) com.

Shop Update! Dresses Galore!

I had the community market/fair at Fremont Elementary today to help raise money for the school's tech/science lab. what a great school...what a great community. this will be Bryson's school if he goes to Public school and what a great introduction to the school i had today. We met the principal (who happens to attend the same church as we do...hurrah) and a lot of the parents and their kiddos as well. these are some of the only pics we took, but i love it because this is so what happens during a craft show - one or more of the kiddos running around, some in the booth, some out. it was a great day, but mainly because i shared a booth with Angie. Angie used to have a little shop called The Outfit. Sadly, they are closing, but for a good cause - Angie became a mommy to her third child 6 weeks ago (her and her sweet baby girl Esme shown here) and is putting her efforts there - where they belong. And guess what? you can benefit! She is having a huge sale over there...so go here and check out her store!!

I scored this sweet little hat for the Bode-ster from her...he loves it for seconds at a time...hopefully we can keep reminding him how cool it is!

So if you have been paying attention, i have been making a slurry of little wee girls' dresses and no models to speak of to post decent pics up in the shop, but thanks to dear Angie i was able to purchase a wee mannequin from her. by far the easiest model to work with ;) however, this model only fits 2T and up, so my smaller dresses still need a little bod until they can go as well.

i was able to post some things up in the shop today - a bunch of stuff for 2T! so if you were looking...i'm just sayin!

The Pink Parlour Craft Fair Review and Recap

so...as i told you before...friendkidly was at The Pink Parlour craft fair at the Santa Anita Racetrack yesterday - Sunday...We found out about a week and a half ago that we were doing it, so not much time to prepare, but off we went!
(do you see our bargain wagon? aren't we genius? except kids all day wanted to play in it and i think it ticked off the mamas...ha!)

it was linsey and i all day...which is always nice to be able to sit and relax with a girlfriend without being interrupted by little munchkins all day...we wish we were interrupted more by customers all day, but that is a different story.
(BTW - can you see her darling skirts here?)

it was family day at the races, so our hubbys and babes came and enjoyed the bounce house and junk food and our hubbys wagered a few races...so i think all were entertained to some degree, which is nice - its usually not a fun-filled day for dad and the boys at a craft fair...dunno why! thats my kind of day!

so here is the low-down...this was definitely NOT our crowd. not a lot of mamas...more like a lot of rock-a-billy single gals and guys wearing their flower hair accessories...the girls wore the flowers...not the guys...anyway...across from us was a corset booth that got all sorts of crazy action...so that should tell you something...the moms that were there were dressed ummm....how to say it? not our style? their kids wore little skulls and had shirts that said "i love my mom and her tattoos" and the boys were wearing Ed Hardy-like shirts...i dunno...definitely not "cutesy homemade" like we do...i hope that doesnt sound judgemental...i'm just saying that we werent the best fit for this show...


so we know our crowd for sure better now...i think Patchwork is definitely a better fit for us...we did sell some stuff, but definitely a let down as far as sales went...

BUT...it is always energizing for me to see this community of DO-ers and MAKE-ers and crafters - the people we meet and the things they make are always encouraging! it is such a cool community to be a part of and a huge reason why i keep doing it even though i make no money...

I think we will stick to shows that seem to be a better fit...or else i will learn how to make corsets and flower hair accessories...and skull onesies...

Readying...

pregnancy is the weirdest thing...i can have a day like yesterday where the most productive thing i did all day was put a load of laundry in the dryer...didnt take it out of the dryer mind you...just dried it. i also went to church i guess...but then later i got out of the bath and laid on my bed in my towel for 2 hours because i was so overwhelmingly tired and nauseated....

and then i can have a day like today...where i finished aforementioned laundry and went for a 4 mile walk and ran all my errands and managed to sew up a storm...and its 10:00 pm and i still have energy. so so strange.

so i take what i can get and when i have energy i put it to the test and roll with it! the reason for the sew storm is that friendkidly is in their first craft fair of 2010 -- this Sunday March 14th -  the pink parlour at the Santa Anita race track. if you are looking for something fun to do this weekend in the socal area - stop on by! its family fun day at the race track and there are races going on, plus an arts and craft fair...should be fun! plus we will be there...so...yeah...what other excuse do you need?

i had fun tonight - i sewed up some dopey horsies, which i haven't done for a long time. i actually made them as gifts for a couple of friends coming up. in fact, most everything i made has an intended person - if i sell it then i can make another - if i dont then i am ahead of myself for once!

i also went through one of my fabric bins that i havent opened since we moved...i rediscovered all this great vintage scrap material - which is how i made the horsies and the raggedy-ann and andy shirts. anyway - we are very excited to get out there again and meet some interesting people and get some feedback on the stuff we make - always fun to interact with actual adults...

 so hope to see you on Sunday - we will have a table not a booth, so come find us and support handmade!

The Shark Zoodie

everytime i put this on him i find myself singing..."there was a shark do do dooo do...his name was Bryson...do do dooo do." if you ever went to camp you probably know it...camp cherith? jenny...please confirm...anyway - i was very pleased to see that American Apparel is now selling gray hoodies...opens up a world of animals :)

so along came the shark zoodie. for a boy who likes any sort of dangerous animals: namely dragons and sharks.

He was in quite the mood yesterday though and told me when he first put it on that "its not cool mom, its just that its not cool" so that was my first diss on something i made for him. i told him that he didn't have to like it and that i would give it to someone who thought it was cool and i would make him something else. not mean...just matter of fact and he got all bent. i added the elbow fins and all of the sudden it was cool. he also didn't understand the "holes" in the hood...i showed him a picture of the shark and its gills and then it was cool some more. bryan informed me that the slits should go up and down, instead of diagonal like i did...so sorry my little shark hoodie isn't atomically correct. that will be corrected.

so hope you like it - hope people like it enough to buy it - my biggest seller so far has been the dino zoodie - i like them too because they wash great! you can find them here at our etsy shop Friendkidly

The Cat Zoodie

i can't leave out the kitty cat zoodie...but it will be left out of the shop until i can get a willing model...ummm...i thought i was going to stop doing this to him?

The Dino Zoodie

introducing the dino-zoodie-saurus...this was my third prototype zoodie...i made it for Bryson a while ago and he loves it! it has evolved since i first made it - i made the plates - i had to wikipedia what the hay they are called that go along the stegosaurus' back - so they are called plates...i made the plates a little smaller since bryson's are too big and go haywire often. i also added the front "scales"

Bryan was helping me place some scales today and i liked some of his ideas...i don't want the zoodies to be "costumey" though...i know they look pretty costumey i guess, but i guess its more that little kids love to dress up and they want to wear their Halloween costumes for like a year and the parents are always, "gross" and "you can't wear that to church" - but these are a good compromise...it lets them have some fun with their clothes and the parents not be so embarrassed...so i guess i am toying with that line...

I have high hopes of putting these up in the shop - not sure if that will happen tonight or soon, but it is a long time coming! the holidays and moving have really thrown off my creativity! so be on the lookout for an actual friendkidly shop update...i know, right?

One Day Left! Belmont Heights United Methodiest Church Craft Fair

one day left to get all this home-made goodness! lotsa lotsa baby stuff, kid stuff, candles, cookies, pajama bottoms that apparently are the hot ticket, hair goodies! come support handmade! if you live in Long Beach please stop by Friday Dec 4th from 11 - 4!! and bring your checkbook! or cash!

Belmont Heights United Methodist Church
317 Termino Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90814

Shop Update! Skunk Zoodie Up in Shop

a little stinker stopped by our booth today so i got an extra model...the amazing Asher Dasher Do is famous now!

these went up today in the shop (over a month late i may add) and there just may be more headed there soon!

i (and linsey also) realized that we have a lot more stuff than is on our *online* shop...really because of lack of models...okay lack of willing models....and female models...sheesh! both our boys have banned us from using them ever ever evah again. so if you know any girls who LOVE trying on clothes and smiling for the camera...there just could be a twirly skirt in it for her....just sayin!

thank you God for Heat n Bond...

gearin up for the craft fair this week! got some new items that will be posted to the shop if they don't sell...or maybe some will inhabit Bodie's wardrobe...not sure yet! i had to make do with some of the onesies and shirts piling up and had a lot of fun just piecing together some little goodies! i really like how the little Christmas tree one turned out. i intended on decorating the tree, but then after i put it together i didn't want to ruin the simplicity of it...still undecided..but i still have a lot to do before Thursday! i am hearing good things about all the vendors at this little craft fair...should be good times, and some of the proceeds go to charity, so you can consume and feel good about it!

skunk hoodie

i realize i never posted the rest of my "zoodies" - soon this little guy will be up in the shop too! (i also have a dino one that turned out so cute! perfect gift for that perfect little stinker! sizes available are 12 mo - adult sizes! (sweatshirt by American Apparel)