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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Work Not In Progress

This week's post was supposed to be very different - as I had planned on making a ton of progress and finishing a custom order for a bride by today and sharing lots of amazing photos with everyone! However, Hurricane Irene had much different plans for me, as we are now on day 5 without power. I must say that we fared better than most, as the storm hit the Richmond area harder than we were expecting, and many people are still without power. Some even had trees fall on their homes and cause a lot of damage. And, to make matters worse, the current estimate for power is FRIDAY! By that point we will be a week without power.

Tree down on power lines in our neighborhood.


View from our front porch during the storm - luckily no homes or cars were damaged!

So, no power = no sewing. And no sewing = no finished products to show you. However, I do have this photo as a sneak peak of some linings I was able to cut during the day on Sunday.


Don't you just LOVE the bright colors? I am so in love with all of these patterns! Anyone want to guess what they are going to be?

Hopefully, our power will be on soon and I can get back in the sewing room to finish these custom orders! And with that, I'll leave you with something I did get to finish last week - a gorgeous pink & green fabric wreath!



Hope everyone on the East Coast weathered the storm! Hopefully I'll have some updates on finished projects soon!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Oh Baby! Oh Boy!

There has been a lot of baby items flying out the door this summer! I recently had the pleasure of making items for my bestest friend Julie's sister Katie, who is expecting a little boy, Jackson, in early October. Katie smartly put in her request for a baby bag and nursery letters at Julie's shower this past winter - here is the link to Sophia's letters in case you missed those.

The best part is that I was able to see her reaction to the items at the shower! Unfortunately, I was too engrossed with holding Sophia, but I do have photos of the items!



Custom Baby Bag


Jackson Nursery Letters - Custom made to match Pottery Barn Junior Varsity Bedding. For more amazing photos of the letters, check out this blog post at Callie Hardman Photography. Katie used the letters in her maternity photo shoot - and I am just in LOVE with the photos of Katie & Ricky, and the letters too of course!

And finally, because everything on this blog doesn't have to be fabric related, I also provided my "crafty consultation" to Julie on the shower's munchkin cake! Katie requested a munchkin cake, and the night before Julie asked me "So, umm, do you have any ideas on how one would make a munchkin cake?!" Julie made the final product, but it was my idea to use a styrofoam cone from a craft store as the base. Didn't she do a great job? It was very yummy!



Munchkin Cake - made of roughly 200 donut holes

And, we don't want to forget the girls! Here are a couple baby quilts with personalization that have found their way into new homes!




Fabric is Lilly & Will II by Bunny Hill for Moda. Pattern designed by me, quilted by Mom. Don't you just LOVE the Pink, Cream and brown? And the bunnies?!


Love this quilt with the name and birthdate! Fabric from Connecting Threads.

We have lots of new baby quilts on the way! If you have a shower coming up or a baby on the way, I love to do custom orders based on your nursery theme or colors. You can either check out my shop on Etsy or send an email to christen (at) love-elaine (dot) com with your request.


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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Voted Richmond's Best Local Etsy Shop


I'm very humbled and honored to announce that Love Elaine has been voted (in a 4 way tie with three other amazing shop owners) as Richmond's Best Local Etsy Shop in Richmond Magazine's Annual Best & Worst Issue! You can imagine my surprise and excitement when I received a phone call from a writer at the magazine last month letting me know I had won - I didn't even know I was nominated or in the running! If you haven't been in a while, check out my shop on Etsy.



The paragraph gives a quick summary of all of the businesses, and at the bottom of the paragraph where it talks about Love Elaine it says:

"Love Elaine owner Christen Barber's inspiration for sewing came from her mother and grandmother. Her relatives also inspired the company's name. All the women in her family have the middle name of Elaine, and Love is her Grandmother's maiden name."

Thank you to all of my wonderful family, friends, fans and customers who continue to support me and Love Elaine - this honor wouldn't be possible without all of you!

Also, congrats to fellow local Etsy shop owner and friend (who has taught me a lot!) Linda at Burlap & Blue! Be sure to check out her shop and blog - I'm a regular shopper and visitor of both!