Did I mention it's really hot?

Did I also mention that I work out of my car? And that for some odd reason all Chevy Equinoxes are delivered with broken air conditioners? Well, they're not entirely broken. The air works intermittently. Today, mine didn't work so much as not work.

This causes me great distress. Great physical distress. It causes me to completely understand postal workers who go a little loopy in this heat and deliver mail to the wrong house on purpose.

This afternoon as I was heading to pick up the kids, my car thermometer said 103*. Which means it felt something like 134*. The asphalt pavement was probably somewhere around 156*.

How do people who work outside stand this heat?! It makes me crazy.

I'm feeling badly because I shipped off a skull/geisha skirt yesterday and completely forgot to tack down the zipper lining! I sent the buyer a message, I hope she forgives me. My brain just isn't working right in this heat, I think.

I have about seventeen projects in the sweatshop right now that I'd like to finish, and no time to do it. Ironically, the sweatshop is currently the coolest room in the house.

I also learned some tricks to increasing sales on Etsy. Did you know if you relist your items regularly, you'll sell more? I always wondered how some sellers were able to chronologically list their things so quickly! It takes me forever to put together an Etsy listing. Yeah, it turns out they're not listing those things, they're renewing old listings so they pop up at the top of the list again.

The trick works, I swear by it. The problem is I've suddenly gotten a rash of requests for custom items and I just can't do them all! So for this week, and probably next, I'm going to work on finishing projects that are cut out and waiting to be put together, and get organized for my next flurry of listings. On the list of cut out and waiting, in no particular order:

• Michelle's Anna Tunic
• MJ and Amber's mai teis
• Angela's skirt
• The Birdie Sling
• My summer top in my custom feather fabric!
• Griffin's camper shorts
• Cooper's skull & crossbones shorts
• A dozen crossback tanks and shorts
• Cindy's modified Birdie Sling
• A swing top for the Etsy shop in the banana seat bicycles print

I used to sew every night after I'd put my oldest to bed. It was a solid hour of uninterrupted crafting. Lately that time has been used doing other things. Talking, thinking, thinking, talking, sleeping. Maybe someday I'll get that hour back again, but for now it isn't looking good.

- H

French poodles go oui oui

A few years ago I went to an open house for a modern ranch in one of our suburbs. It wasn't for us, but there were some super cute details the owner had put into the home that I loved.

One of them was creative painting in place of art. The one that has stuck in my mind the most (or hasn't stuck, in this case) is the powder room. It was painted a nice steel grey, with a quote stenciled around two walls. It said something about having a French poodle and every time it had to tinkle it said oui oui? It even had a byline or whatever it is when the person's name is attached to the quote?

But I can't remember it! And I've googled cute French poodle quotes and have come up with nothing. Does anyone happen to know what may have been her quote she had stenciled on the walls in that powder room? I guess if worse comes to worst I could track down the old real estate agent and have them call their past client, but the odds of that happening are about as good as one of my readers knowing what quote I'm talking about. So I'm starting my search here.

Anyone? Know any funny quotes about French poodles?

- H

Sweet Saturday

I'm trying to play catch up this weekend. Between thirty-six loads of laundry and games with the kids I'm trying to slowly whittle down my project pile in the sweatshop.

I had a rush of Etsy orders last week that kept me super busy. Custom orders may be too much for me to handle right now, I'll probably have to suspend them again for a while until things settle down.

I finally got to work on the Amy Butler Birdie Sling. This thing is HUGE. It's beautiful, I'm making it out of Anna Maria Horner's drawing room twill, and it is certainly going to have a presence.

I also finally got a lot accomplished on Michelle's Anna Tunic. She chose one of Jennifer Paganelli's paisley brocade prints and it is stunning on this pattern. I hope she's going to like it, I'll post pics tomorrow when I get a chance.

Thanks for all of your support over the last few weeks, everybody. It's a crazy time and I can use all the help I can get. It means the world to me.

- H

It's a miracle, I'm cured!

Long about 1:00 today, my mysterious fever virus mysteriously disappeared. Yay!

It was hard to tell for a while there because it's so freaking hot and humid here one could easily think they have a fever when they don't. But I don't anymore and my normal energy level is back and my normal interest in living is back, so that's good news.


- H

Awww....so sweet....

I finished a cutie patootie swing top tonight for the Etsy shop.


The only thing I needed to do was sew on the goldfish bowl buttons but somehow it managed to sit at my sewing table for days waiting for that.

Comes complete with fishie pocket, a la Sonja and her awesome circle pocket tutorial. It has spawned so many great ideas for me, I probably need to pay her a finder's fee, if I was actually making any money off of this! Eh, money schmoney.

Three days of fever (mine) are now being followed by a scratchy sore throat. I am so happy about that, I can't even tell you. So happy that I'll probably be sick for another week, yay! This is great! I especially love the part about running a fever while it's 100* F outside with humidity in the high eighties and water standing everywhere. So great.

- H