A New Blog Home

Yes I am moving my blog to a new home. While I do love my domain, I thought I was so creative with picking out the name, I feel that it is time for a change. I am still sewing away, however I do love making my jewelry too. Oh I don’t know why. Anyhoo here is my new blog http://www.Hannahmshaw.com Stop by and say Hi!!

Creative Time Out

After I posted yesterday I got to thinking… what the heck. I need a time out, a good one. Not the kind where you sit in the corner with your nose to  the wall. The kind where you escape from the real world into your own creative bliss. And that is just what I did hmm for about an hour when I was catapulted back into reality by my wonderful niece bounding out to the screen porch wanting lunch. I nearly flew out seat flinging solder everywhere. 

I have wanted to try my hand at the whole soldered charm thing and since most of my studio (sewing machine included) is in boxes now, I thought this would be a good time to try it. I can’t bring myself to show you my very first attempt. Let me tell you, I have a whole new abbreviation for learning curve. I first tried to solder a scrabble letter. Now it looks like some sort of jagged weapon. Needless to say after countless attempts I think I got the hang of it. I was so excited I did what any woman would do… I called my mom, and of course she wanted one of her very own. At her work a gentlemen once told her that you are not valued by what people think of you but what you value in yourself. So the word she chose was “valued” I have yet to attach her gemstone and crystal yet. I think it turned out quite nice.

This one came out so good I thought I would try my hand at a few more:

I promise I will do some more packing…. but I am not packing my soldering supplies! No you can’t make me!  These little things are addicting! 

Moving Along.

I believe I have a habit of simplifying things down and by doing so making them more time consuming or just all together more difficult. On our trip home from Montana I talked to Jason in great lengths about how I was going to go about tackling the house and what I was going to pack first. I had my list and my plan set for packing. It was a piece of cake in my mind, no problem. I was thinking that it was *shrug* no problem, hah. The truth is no matter how organized I thought I was, how much I thought I had downsized, or how much “stuff” I thought I had gotten rid of when we moved in this home….. I was sorely mistaken. How does one go about acquiring all of these things. I just keep telling myself, wait until we get to Washington, things are going to fall into place. A new studio, a new home, wonderful opportunities and then I open my eyes and look at the work ahead of me. Maybe I am just feeling a little grouchy since I haven’t been able to create anything lately. We have been packing and garage selling, packing, garage selling repeat, repeat hahaha. I think we have made some head way.  

We have packed everything in the main living room. The only thing left to do in this room is to take the curtain rods down, patch and paint. 

All the pictures have been taken off the walls and are ready to be bubble wrapped. 

I even have some empty cupboards in the kitchen. We are getting there…. I think. If not, don’t tell me hahahah

I am taking the morning off from packing and organizing. I am going to indulge and sit here with my cup of coffee and read my favorite blogs. 

Have a wonderful day!

xoxoxo Hannah

New Beginnings

Well Jason and I have found a home in Wenatchee. It is in East Wenatchee and has a gorgeous view of the Cascade Mountains and the Wenatchee river. I am looking forward to living back in the Northwest. I have enjoyed my stay here in the Midwest, but I am a nature girl at heart and I miss my evergreens. I will be close to all of my family who are spread out all over the state. I will be able to make frequent trips to my home town of Sequim, the beauty there is soooo inspiring! Right now we are back home in Illinois. My niece came with us from Montana. She is 11 and so much fun to have around. She is going to help us pack and get things in order to move. We make the journey in August! I hope to be able to put a few projects together in the mix. We’ll see. I am also really looking forward to the festivals that Washington has, I am sooo excited!! I will be posting pictures of our trip very soon, I just wanted to stop in with an update. 

Have a wonderful day!

Hannah

A very cool Giveaway!

Her Southern Charm is a new little Etsy shop that is doing a great giveaway! Go here to enter Pink RiCRaC . I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

xoxo

Hannah

Sew is for Stress Relief

I know that I have been posting about how frustrating and stressful trying to find a home has been. Last week I thought that Jason and I had found the perfect home for us. We talked to the lady, walked through it, was totally sold. The lady said she really liked us but she would have to think about whether or not to allow dogs. By the end of the visit she said she would and that we should take the night and think about whether we would like to take the place or not. She also said that the most important thing to her was to like the people that were in there, she would rather it sit empty than to have people she didn’t like in her home. Long story short the next day she called and said she gave it to someone else. How many times this has happened to Jason and I. It is sad to say, but I we are constantly judged by our appearance. You would think that by now people would be used to seeing tattoos. Anyway today is our last day here, we leave tomorrow morning. So our look for a house will continue but this is the last day to see a home with our own eyes. Well we found the perfect house (for now). It is a brand new home (which is not for me but it will do for now), they are willing to negotiate on pets (after some finagaling). Tomorrow morning we go to fill out the application, which then the property manager sends to the owners who live in California. Then Jason and I hold our breath for the next few days until they decide our fate. *lots of fingernail biting will ensue*

So in the meantime while still on “vacation” and trying to find a place I had to find an outlet for my stress. My mother told me I was wearing a path in the carpet, so I got her sewing machine back out and went to work. I have gotten to know myself a whole lot better on this trip. Little things that I never knew, like I am not one of those people who don’t eat when stressed, I am soooo just the opposite. I also learned that I am productive when under pressure when I really thought I was just the opposite. I also learned that life is a roller coaster and I keep trying to flatten it out and find a neutral zone. On this trip I learned: Hello there is no NEUTRAL! hahaha. At least not in my life, not right now. Just when I think I have everything figured out and I sit back stretch and breathe a sigh of relief, I am thrown out of the chair flat on my butt. Ah well, I can’t say that I don’t enjoy the journey, I do. I just want to buckle up for the ride… this time. 

Here is what I worked on while trying to keep my mind off things. 

Here are some keychains that I think turned out great. I had more but my Mother got a hold of them and somehow her employees ended up with some very stylish key chains

This is a pattern that I made myself. I really like making them from scratch, it is such a wonderful feeling to take an idea in your head, put it on paper, and watch it come to life with fabric. 

This is a wristlet wallet. I really like how it turned out. 

This is a messenger bag that I got inspired to make from one I saw a lady carrying in Starbucks. I was probably rude just staring at her bag totally lost in my own designing thoughts, adding things here, moving things there. hehehe Taking mental measurements. 

I saw this fabric and just had to try my hand at making an apron. I figured if I started small there would be less room for errors. HAH! 

Well wish me luck for tomorrow. We go to fill out the application, I suppose that’s the easy part. The waiting is whats going to kill me!

Hannah

Crossing My Fingers & Toes….

If you can’t tell from the spelling and wording in my last post, I have had a lot on my plate while we have been vacationing. Jason and I have decided to put our home in Illinois up for sale and move back to my home state Washington. When we made the decision I could have done back flips I was so excited, but now I am just plain frustrated. We have 3 dogs now. Two yorkies and a pit bull. yes I know I showed pictures of my chihuahua, but she is no longer living with us. It unfortunately didn’t work out. So anyway we want to find a rental so we can take our time, get caught up and find what we really want as far as buying. YEAH RIGHT! OMG Even if we find a rental that we love, they say “we would like to find someone without pets” GRRRRRR  we are looking in Wenatchee Washington and the rentals are going like hot cakes. I cannot believe it, we leave the day after tomorrow to go home put the house on the market and start packing. I would feel so much better knowing that we had a place to go to before we left here, but I am starting to think that isn’t happening. I am like a little kid, I have my fingers, toes and legs crossed with my eyes squeezed shut hoping that we find the perfect little place! 

To make matters worse the newspaper doesn’t come out here until noon!! What in the world! So that means from the time I get up at 7am to 12:30 I have to keep myself busy busy in order to not go crazy until I get the classifieds. My pattern making has reached a whole new level!! I even made my very first keychains and I finsihed a whole bag yesterday! It is a little gloomy here today so I will post pictures soon! Hope everyone is doing well!! 

xoxox

Hannah

Amy Butler and Vacation

Well we are still on vacation. As you can see I haven’t posted in a while, some family that we have visited don’t have the internet. Sometimes I don’t realize how addicted I am to something until I don’t have it. Right now we are visiting my Mom in Wenatchee Washington. Jason and I owned a home here about 3 years ago and are thinking we want to move back. We have been looking at rentals, but so far nothing. We will know when we find the right one. So I guess what I am saying is that we will be putting our home on the market when we get back to Illinois. 

Anyway, the vacation has been great. We traveled from Illinois, stopped in Mount Rushmore, then Montana to see my sister, then Sequim (the peninsula of Washington) to see my Dad and siblings, then here to Wenatchee. I was so thrilled to find that a fabric store in Wenatchee sold Amy Butler! I always had to look for it online. Well I got 4 yards and so far made one bag and matching wallet. Here are some pictures. This is me with my little brother Johnathan. Isn’t he adorable! We are at a private beach that we have been going to since I was little. It was so beautiful!

Here is my bag and wallet that I made with my Amy Butler fabric. I made the pattern myself, with newspaper. It was a first for me. A friend (Beki) once told me to just do it, as far as making my own patterns. So I did and I think it turned out great. I have even gotten really good at installing an inside zipper thanks to Creative Little Daisy!

Until Next Time!

xoxox 

Hannah

Cross Country

Hello everyone! I apologize for not getting to everyones email, I will get to them very soon I promise. I mentioned before how busy I was and didn’t really adlib. I was busy working on my finals and getting ready for our big trip. We are driving from central Illinois to Washington state making a stop in South Dakota at Mount Rushmore (thats where we are today) and also stopping in Montana to see my sister. I will be posting pictures as our trip progresses. I tried to bring my sewing machine, but Jason said it wouldn’t fit in the car I am already having withdrawls ;) 

Mount Rushmore was gorgeous, I had seen photos before but to to see it in person was amazing! Then we went to Rushmore Cave, we were actually inside the black hills. Now that was cool, literally, it was 58 degrees. The whole cave is made out of limestone. Very interesting. 

From there we went to Deadwood which was a thorough disappointment. We loved the show on HBO, and were soooo excited to see a very old historic town. NOT! it was a complete modernized version with nothing but casinos. Totally ridiculous and a complete waste of time. 

To make up for it we made it back to town in time to go to Bear Country! We got to drive through a wildlife preserve where bears, buffalo, reindeer, wolves, among many others run free. There must have been atleast 30 bears in one part, and they walked right up and rubbed against the side of our car. It was amazing. And just when I thought it was over, we got to see walk through a zoo type exhibit where there were baby bears! Now I hate to see animals caged up, but these were wild rescues. I think it is wonderful what they are doing. Here are some photos of Rushmore and the baby bears. I didn’t take any of the cave, it is so dark they don’t really turn out. 

This is Mount Rushmore… hahah Obviously. 

This is me with the Four Presidents way up there. 

These are two tiny cubs hugging.. okay they were wrestling but isn’t it cute! They were so adorable! Their little growls were so cute, there were about 15 of them and they were rowdy!! I wanted to pick them up and cuddle. The caretaker came in and they ran over to her climbing up on her legs. She picked up the runt and kissed her. I want her job!

Another one of the baby cubs, aren’t they just adorable!

Well I am off to bed. 5am tomorrow we are off to Montana. I haven’t seen my nieces in 3 years and I can’t wait! We will be camping, well we are in a cabin, but still we are at a campground. I will be sure and post pictures. Hope everyone is doing well!

xoxo

Hannah

Sewing Marathon

I mentioned in my last post that I had been busy sewing away for items I wanted to use on our trip. Well here are some pictures. I love how everything turned out. My new business cards showed up just in time too!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Hannah