Needlings

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I hope you're all as lucky as me to have an amazing mom like mine!

She's why I am who I am and a big part of Needlings too! She's there at almost every single show and I could never thank her enough for everything she does for me and her family. She's the best! 

I finished the week up making a few little handmade goodies for her...

But before that, I had lots of Needlings work to do!

I sent these guys off to Wholly Craft in Columbus then got to work on my next to-do.

About a month ago I was asked to provide a piece for the art show associated with Uglycon, a celebration of Uglydolls, put on by the creator of Uglydolls and Giant Robot gallery in Los Angeles. I was quite honoured to be asked to participate!

The task I, and the other plush artists, was given was to make a sort of collaboration of our own plush styles mixed with the "Babo" Uglydoll! After a little brainstorming, I made a Needlings dolls/Babo hybrid with a little touch of owl of course.  So little Baby Babette B. Babo will be headed off to Giant Robot in LA and available at Uglycon on June 15th! I can't wait to see what everyone else makes!

In addition to the art show featuring the artists' spin on Babo, you can also make your own Babo (although no outfits, prints, or edits) to participate in Uglycon as well! And apparently even watch along on Google+

Fun stuff! I will be in Welland on the 15th at another show but hopefully will catch a little bit of the excitement via the good old internet later on in the day.

Well that's it for the week! Hope you are all having a lovely Mother's Day! See you next week!

Hi everyone!

Last week was an exciting news week for Needlings because I found out I will be participating in the One of a Kind Show in Toronto as a part of the new Etsy section! It's going to be a busy couple months getting ready for it but I am excited and looking forward to doing an exciting new show that boasts being the largest consumer crafts show in North America. AH! I just read that to include it here. It's so big, you guys!  

I'm sure I will update you as I go along! Super relaxed updates with no freaking out at all!

Before I got the news of the show, I finished another doll since I was kind of on a doll roll for a bit there.

Her hair is pretty crazy isn't it? Anyway, I got her up in the shop but took her, along with a few other of the new ones, out because I was asked by One of a Kind to send a few items in to them to have a little photoshoot to potentially be included in the show's web and print material.

I whipped up a few other owls and Needlings goodies and sent them on their way.

So off they all went! They'll be back after their exciting stay at the One of a Kind headquarters in Toronto.

I also found these little boxes this week and got to thinking about new display ideas for the show.  Notice I am pretty plum out of stock myself so you and I can both look forward to a few weeks of stocking up on goodies for the show!

I will be out of the workroom for all of next week starting on the 25th so there might be a bit of a hold on the workroom updates depending on how it goes. If you know me or have read for awhile then you know that my daddio has some health problems and because his wife will be out of town, I'll be staying with him in Binbrook (about a half an hour from me) to get him to and from his kidney dialysis and general taking care/hanging out stuff. I'm bringing along some handsewing work to keep on top of things of course but in general, it'll be a little slow on Needlings work for the week. 

See you soon, friends!

*Over the past 4 years I have been amazingly lucky to be made aware of some really lovely shops that now carry Needlings - some I've visited myself and some of which just my work has crossed the threshold. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to meet such lovely shopkeeps and people through this little Needlings biz so I thought I would take the time to introduce you to some of the stores in a series of store visit posts, in no particular order.*

First on the list of (virtual) store visits, is Dots & Loops Handmade in beautiful Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

(All photos c/o Dots & Loops on Facebook)

Dots and Loops opened in the summer of 2011 with a bunch of Needlings there to join in the opening festivities. As soon as I saw the adorable yellow building I saw it was perfectly "Lunenburg" and would do well.  Over the course of the year, thanks to their Facebook page and my impecable internet viewing skills, I have seen their shop fill up with some wonderful handmade things from all over the world (and then things disappear, no doubt exiting with happy customers, and filled again). I also love that the store name is a Stereolab album - so they definitely have that going for them in my book. That and that ceiling...

I lived in Halifax (about an hour or so away from Lunenburg) for a bit when I was a kid.  When we visited Lunenburg back then, I remember it as beautiful little touristy fishing town filled with the smell of the ocean and lots of cute little brightly coloured shops and houses. Of course, we made sure to visit the famous Canadian Bluenose (II) schooner, where we were excited to see the "dime boat," (for you non-Canadians, the Bluenose is the famous sailboat you see on the Canadian dime) though not as much as we were excited to get some ice cream cones from one of those little only-open-in-the-summer small town places and roam around the sweet little dockside streets. My parents must have known I would need to be blogging about this 20 or some odd years later and thankfully provided me with this experience to remember. 

I have so many warm memories of the east coast (my mom's side of the family lives mostly in New Brunswick still) and am so happy to have a tiny piece of myself there in the form of my felty handmadies in this beautiful shop.

I hope to visit Lunenburg again sometime with a more grown up appreciation of big boats and beautiful handmade things.

                

Meet my awesome mom, Mary Jane:

She is my favourite.

The reason I am introducing her to you (in addition to the fact that I love her a bunch) is she makes things too! Her knits are available at shows she does in the Hamilton area with me and on etsy at thenatureofmaryjane.etsy.com.

(My brother, Nick, wearing Olive Cowl / Circle Scarf)

I remember growing up asking her about random crafty decor we had around the house, "where is this rug from, this pillow, this puppet, this dress for my cabbage patch doll, etc.?!" And she had made them! I think she rested on knitting a long time ago, sporadically making little yarny goodies for my brother and I as kids and then when I asked her to teach me how to knit in middle school, tons of scarves. Seriously, we ended up with so many scarves.

(Mustard Hooded Cowl / Circle Scarf / Infinity Scarf)

A year after I opened my own etsy shop and had done a few craft shows I thought, HEY, my mom should be doing this too and I should help her do that!  So we set up her etsy shop, The Nature of Mary Jane and she started setting up at the craft shows she was coming with me to all along anyway! We are really close so I'm always happy to have her close by.

I should also mention that in her dayjob (actually night job since she works mostly nights) she is a nurse who takes care of special needs children and people in the last days of their lives. She really is pretty amazing.

(Table with Knit and Wrap)

She even has her hooded cowl pattern published in this great pattern book by Lark Crafts, Knit and Wrap! That was exciting for sure.

They are my favourite winter accessory and I have one in almost every colour! (Thanks Mom!)

(Me wearing Woodlands Hooded Cowl)

So there we are. She's the best!

Check out her shop here: thenatureofmaryjane.etsy.com

and like her on facebook here: www.facebook.com/thenatureofmaryjane

See you next time! ♥