Jenna Lou Loves You

It's DONE!

Yippy... it's done! The Girl's Best Friend Wallet Pattern is now available in the shop. And because you all have been SO good about patiently waiting for it, I'm offering a special PRESALE for one week only. All Girl's Best Friend patterns purchased during the presale will be shipping on 3-5-08. You can view more pictures of the pattern in the shop or on flickr.

It was such a pleasure to work with Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom for the cover wallet. Isn't it yummy and just screams spring... which seems far off in this winter cold, but has been on my mind all week. I have a few plans for some of the other prints too ( I ordered them all hehe) maybe some bags for the shop... and of course a few wallets I'm sure too.

Thanks to everyone for your support during my writing of this pattern. Each and every comment, email, phone call, and hug made this possible. I'd like to give a special shout out to my testers Rachel, Sarah, Barb, Donna, Lynn, and Kate... These ladies are incredible sewers who I've learned a lot from and hope to continue to learn from. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Hope you each had a lovely weekend!
xoxo,
Jennalou

Pumpkin Puffs and Inspriation

I whipped up these yummy little pumpkin puffs yesterday. The recipe came from Toni's blog. Can you believe that she made this up all by herself?? What genius.

I really love this recipe because I can never seem to get enough pumpkin, plus it sneaks in some flax which is always a nice addition and adds a great nutrition factor. The recipe is really straight forward and I followed it pretty much exact. The only thing that fluctuated for me was the time in the oven which was about 18 min. I think that might have something to do with my oven being crazy ( it burned another baking experiment that I'd rather not talk about recently ).

They were really delicious... so much in fact that I ate two right away and another for breakfast today... I LOVE the cinimon and nutmeg... mmmmm... give 'em a try.

xo,
Jennalou

ps. Can you tell where I got my inspiration for the photo?

Pods Sling

I was hoping to have the Girl's Best Friend patterns ready to go by now, but I'm having a little trouble securing the fabric I wanted for the cover shot. I'm going to see what I can do, but hopefully I'll have things ready to go by next week. Let's cross our fingers that a lovely package arrives any day now. I'm planning a little surprise for the release so check back in for that.

To calm my anxious pattern writing, editing, sewing, photographing nerves, I gave myself a little sewing "ME" time. I've been carrying around my Eliza Jane bag for months now, and although she's in great shape... I was in the mood for something new. So I made this lovely. I'm not sure what to call her yet... for now it's my Pods Sling.

For a first draft it turned out pretty good. I'm really liking the adjustable strap so I can wear it as a shoulder bag or around my body as a sling. I think if I did this again I would swap out the zipper for a magnetic snap. Inside I experimented with some different pockets. One side has a zippered pocket and the other a cell phone and pen pocket. More pictures can be found here.

I really like the shape and am thinking about using it for some spring totes. It's always so fun to just play around in my sewing room to see what I can come up with, but the downside is I tend to throw things everywhere and make a huge mess. It's part of my creative process... but now I must go clean and get back to the daily sewing routine.

xo,
Jennalou

The end of a good thing.

I might be the last person to find out about this, but I just found out that Adorn Magazine has stopped publications. I went to the website to renew my subscription and when couldn't find a link to subscribe I emailed to inquire. Here was the response:

Dear Ms. #####,

Adorn Magazine has ceased publication on 2/11/2008. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If we can be of any other assistance, please let us know.

Sincerely,
Mark Robinson
Email Customer Service

???? What the heck is up with that?? I thought Adorn was doing really well. They had just upgraded their issues a couple months ago to a larger size and more articles saying that it was because of such a great reader response. And what about all those people who have subscriptions?? What a bummer. I really loved Adorn and am sad to see it go. The strange thing is if you go to the web site everything is functioning like usual... no notices that they are done printing or anything. Hopefully I'm under informed and they are just making some changes. If anyone knows let me know.

I'm now on the lookout for new magazines... any tips?? What are your favorites to go to for inspiration?

Love Ya Too!

The flowers were hand delivered yesterday with a hug and a kiss from my step-dad. He's so great. Took me out to dinner and gave me the sweetest card a daughter could ask for.

John and I aren't planning much for tonight.... maybe coffee. I don't like to do gifts for V-day... just hugs, kisses and time spent together. It's a great chance to remember how important friends, family, and loved ones are to our lives, and I am so grateful for each and everyone of them! I love ya too!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!!
xoxo,
Jennalou

Etsy Find: Remarket

I haven't done an "etsy find" post in a while... not sure why... I'm buying more than ever to support other indie shops. Anyways I stumbled upon this really great shop, Re-market, just a couple weeks ago and purchased immediately. I LOVE my reusable produce bags, and use them every trip to the market. They are really nice and sturdy. I worried a bit about the size, but they are working out great for me!! She even added some colored ones so you can shop in fashion.

This is a really simple and great way to do your part in helping the planet. I had already started using fabric bags for my groceries and other shopping a couple months ago, but there wasn't a way to get around those produce bags until now. Thanks Re-Market for making it easy to be green.

ps. Thanks to everyone who signed up for the mailing list!!

I'm going to be broke

My poor poor wallet. I'm going to be so so broke. It's all his fault... and her fault..... why do they have to make such beautiful fabrics?

I'm drooling!

Be the first to know *new feature*

If you're visiting the blog you may have already noticed a brand new feature over there to your right. A mailing list!!! Be the first to know about major shop updates, sales, pattern releases, and giveaways!! Sign up today :D

Just a note about my mailing list habits. I don't send many... so far my record is about 4 a year. NO SPAM... just the really good stuff :D

xoxo,
Jennalou

It's done... but lost.

hmmmm.... I've had the scarf done for a couple days now.... but where o' where did it go?? I've already worn it all over town... all soft and warm on these brisk winter days. I cleaned the house as we have had guests over several times this week and I stashed it somewhere not to be found.

Craft room?... no. Box in entry with mittens, hats, and the rest of my scarfs?.... no. Car?... no. hmmmm.... under the bed... YES! Hey...How did it get under there??

I don't know sometimes... I just feel like I'm loosing it. At least I have this lovely blue scarf to comfort me.

I'm cabling along!

As part of my goals for the New Year I really wanted to expand my knowledge of knitting. Everything I know thus far was taught to my by my wonderful Grandmother. She's been the knitting, sewing, cross-stitching guru in my life for as long as I can remember. We started out back when I was 16 or 17 with simple garter stitches... just learning the basic knitting and purling. Then just this New Years I asked her to teach me mittens. So now that I got the increases and decreases mastered I really wanted to learn cables. Grandma was never into the fancy knitting... her work was more practical... so I signed up for a class at our newly opened knitting shop in old downtown.

Last night I got to indulge myself in 2 hours of cable learning and chatting with some wonderful gals and just enjoying time out of the nest. I was quite intimidated going in because all of my teachings are hand-me-downs so I don't really know the "knitting language", but our instructor was really great. It was a nice small class so we each got one on one time and to be honest I was quite astonished with the ease that it came to me. News flash: Cables are EASY... and FUN!!!

We worked on scarves to keep it simple and quick. I used some baby alpaca in a beautiful dusty blue shade. It was my first experience knitting with the "good stuff" and now I know what all you gals are raving about! The cable looks a bit untraditional because it has turns in it so that we could learn the right slant and left slant cables. I'm about 1/2 done with my scarf and I've already picked out my next project... more on that later.

Can you believe it's Friday already? I sure can't! Happy weekend everyone.
xo,
Jennalou