Most exciting was an article in the Sunday Orgeonian paper that featured Kitty Baby Love! Our picture was on the front page of the Metro NW section and included a review on Saturday Market (scored 109/100 points) and a couple of interviews on new vendors there.. like us! What a great way to start a new year at the market.

This past 18th was our 9 month family anniversary. Mikah is a crawling champion and will follow Ben or I around the house, pull himself to a standing position on our leg, and pout for us to pick him up. He has 7 teeth now and is still growing bigger everyday. His shoe size is 5/6, clothes 24month, and weighs 30lbs.
He had sooo much fun in Hawaii. The 80F and sunny weather provided the perfect opportunities for him to crawl around grass and explore the ocean. It was a little bit depressing returning to Portland, although we are so happy to be back home. We decided to do an early spring cleaning and rearranged the house and our work room. More importantly, we spent the past week taking care of our personal health. Sometimes we forget to do that since we are so focused on taking care of the other little creatures around us.

Ben made this silly accronym, VEFIM (pronounced ‘vee-phum’), which stands for:
Vitamins (like Fish Oil!)
Exercise (20min, 3 times a week)
Food (eating enough quality foods, at the right times)
Interaction (with other people)
Massage (can’t do this everyday, but nice to get pampered now and then)

He posted this sign in our living room to make sure we remember to think of ourselves.

Now that we’re re-energized we’re going to spend the rest of the month preparing for Easter and Portland Saturday Market, which is starting again on March 6th.

(Ben + Sara) + VEFIM = Kitty Egg Crayon EXPLOSION!

In other news, Ben and I have been preparing for a trip to Hawaii! As mentioned, we spent this past Christmas with just the 3 of us (and the kitties). While my family doesn’t usually celebrate Christmas anyway, I still felt a little melancholy around New Years. So I called my mom and booked a last minute ticket to Hawaii (off season tickets + 10% off sale for total of under $540 for 2 people!).

Ben and Mikah have never been to Hawaii so I am very excited for them to see where I grew up. More importantly i’m happy that my extended family will finally get a chance to meet Mikah before he gets too old.

What’s so good about a draw string bag? It’s perfect for holding all your little knick-knacks and great for little kids to store all of their little treasures. I used to love having a bag for all my toys when I was younger, like jack & balls, puzzle pieces, or just random collections of *stuff*.

This tutorial is for a simple bag with French seams.

Supplies Needed

• Fabric for your bag >>
  Figure out what size bag you would like. Then to those measurements add 1/2″ on the left and right side and 2″ to the top for seam allowance and your drawstring casing. The bottom should be the fold of the bag. Notch the sides of the bag 2″ down from the top. Your pattern should look like this.
  The bag I made will measure 9″ x 10″ after it is sewn. That means my pattern will be 10″ x 12″ or (9″ + 1/2″ + 1/2″) x (10″ + 2″).
  Don’t forget to cut on a fold!
• Drawstring. I used cotton twill tape measuring 1/2″ wide. A pretty ribbon will just as well.
• Large eyed needle to thread the drawstring (a bobby pin or small safety pin will work too)
• Thread
• Scissors or thread clippers
• Sewing machine or thread and needle if you want to hand sew

OK ready? Now on to the instructions…

Instructions

1. With your RIGHT SIDES OUT, sew a 1/8″ seam along the sides (if that makes you nervous, you can sew a 1/4″ seam and trim 1/8″ off after you finish. This will make your bag a little smaller when finished). Stop right at your notches (remember the one 2″ below the top?). Backstitch the ends.



2. Turn inside out.



3. Stitch 1/4″ along sides from edge. I like to use my presser foot as a guide (as seen in picture). You want to encase the raw edges. If your edges are frayed, trim them before sewing, otherwise you will have ugly fringes on the outside of your bag that look like this. If that happens, just trim them off as best you can.



4. Make sure you backstitch and stop right at the notch.



5. Fold the upper portion of the bag inward 1/4″. If your fabric is thick, you can iron it to stay flat.



6. Stitch between 1/16″ – 1/8″ from edge.



7. I like to sew this part with the fold facing right and the body of the bag on my left hand side (as seen above). This way you can sew down the edge of both sides in 1 swoop. See the above image to see what I mean. Just sew right over the sewn edge/divide, don’t be scared!
   
8. Repeat on the other side.



9. When you are finished this is what it will look like.



10. Now fold the top in 1/4″ – 1/2″



11. Fold over again so that the edge meets your notch. If this is difficult to do, you can use a pencil and ruler to draw straight lines and fold along those lines, then press flat. Otherwise you can use your nails to crease the fabric flat. You may also hand stitch or pin in place to make sewing by machine easier.



12. When sewing you want to make sure the edge closest to the bottom of the bag is being sewn to the body of the bag. Ideally this will be 1/16″ – 1/8″ away from the edge. It doesn’t really matter as long as you catch the first fold you made- otherwise the raw edge will be exposed and may fray if you wash your bag.
    Make sure you are only sewing/working on ONE side of your bag.
    Use the edge closest to the top as a reference for making a straight line. Ideally both lines will be straight, however if they aren’t, it won’t be noticeable if you use the upper edge as a guide.
    Backstitch the ends a few times for security.



13. Now that you have one side finished, turn over and repeat… Fold the top over 1/4 – 1/2″ and then again so that the folded edge meets your notch. Make sure your 2 folded edges line up (above image).



14. You now have your casing for the drawstring!



15. Turn your bag inside out.



16. Grab your drawstring and lay it on your bag. You want it to measure twice the width of your bag plus 2-4″ extra at the ends. This is 1 cord. Cut 1 more the same length.




17. Grab one of your cords and thread it using your large-eyed needle (or bobby pin or small safety pin). Start threading your cord into the casing.



18. When you come to the other side, continue threading the drawstring into the back casing.



19. When you are finished, tie the ends into a knot. I like to use a slip knot. If you need more room to tie a knot, just push the fabric back to expose more cording.



20. Grab your other cord and thread it from the opposite side of the bag.



21. Tie your knot on the other side.




22. Viola! Finished!

Now you can use your reusable/washable/eco-friendly bag to store whatever you want. Ours will be used for our Handmade Bowling Kitty Set.

Bowling Kitty Set - $40

What have we been up to? Making Bowling Kitties! Ben does all the woodworking and I do the drawstring bags. A friend recently let us borrow more professional woodworking tools so hopefully we’ll be making a ton of them soon. My contribution to the set is making the bags.

Cutting the bags out of medium weight cotton canvas

40 bags all cut out!

Inking the Gocco screen

All 40 pieces printed with help of Gocco & "ink for cloth"

The next blog post will be a tutorial on how to make a simple draw-string bag (e.g. the Bowling Kitty storage bag). Til then!

Happy New Years!

Wishing everyone a happy 2010! This time last year Ben and I found out we were having a baby, had no jobs, but a lot of hope. This year we are finishing our 1st year of Kitty Baby Love with an official count of 596 sales on etsy alone and over 12 wholesale accounts. Not to mention we are raising the most amazing little boy on the planet. (He started feeding himself multigrain Cheerios today!)

We have lots of continued optimism for our growing family and business for the next year. Thank you 2009 for smoothing out all the wrinkles for us and we look forward to what 2010 will bring.

7 month Anniversary

Mikah is 7 months old (7 + 1.5 weeks actually!), has 4 teeth, and is a professional rugrat. He uses his potty regularly (Ben and I have limited the amount of poopy diapers to about 1 per week. It’s great.). If you don’t already know about it, do a quick google for elimination communication.

He has started solids and eats when we do… with plenty of breastmilk in between. We use the KidCo baby food mill and carry it with us when we know we’ll be out for a while. Mikah is also understanding drinking but has not grasped the concept of tilting the bottle or cup upward to get the fluid out. His favorite drink is coconut water. Yum!

In his spare time he can be found practicing his vocal range (as in volume) and using miscellaneous boxes as a prop to stand up. There is nothing more inspiring than watching the determination Mikah has to balance himself and stand. Ben and I are so excited for when he begins to take his first steps…

This was our first Christmas as a family. It was small and cozy and very peaceful and lovely. I don’t think either Ben or I have been happier than we are with each other and Mikah. We are tired, oh so very tired, but very content with life.

Wishing a safe and warm wintery season to everyone!

Read about the crayons at Small Talk blog

Olivia playing with her Kitty Egg Crayons

Ben and I are retiring from craft shows for the rest of the year. Portland Saturday Market is actually doing a week long event up til  Dec. 24th that we were considering, but with 40F weather, rain, etc… I think it’s a better idea to pass.

This is our first Christmas with Kitty Baby Love and there was no way we could have anticipated the response we received from online sales. When we first started the business, we had hoped to get at least 365 sales by the end of the year… a sale a day. As of today we have 571 sales on etsy! It’s such a wonderful feeling to know that something we work so hard on is becoming successful. Mostly we are grateful for the opportunity of being work-at-home parents.

Mikah is already 7 months old, crawling around, and has 4 teeth. There are so many things we would have missed if either of us had to go away or he had to go to daycare. Instead we get to stay at home and be with him everyday. Thank you to all of our customers and supporters for this opportunity!