Gnome don't you know me?

Click the button below to join in on the November gnome festivities! Angie over at Gnome Angels is all set and ready for the holiday fun! Check out her blog here: http://www.gnomeangel.com/

Popular Pillow Designs at the Corvallis Fall Festival

The Corvallis Fall Festival was quite an amazing experience! Each year over 30,000 people walk through the 170 booths-buying gifts for themselves, gifts for others. My favorite thing about the festival was talking to people and hearing their excitement about particular pillows. Owls and Peace Signs were the top sellers. The owls were not much of a surprise, but each time a peace sign walked away with a smiling patron, I was overjoyed.

One girl who was probably thirteen or fourteen came to my booth in the last hour on the last day and said she really loved the square peace sign pillow, but she didn't have any money. Then she showed me some beautiful jewelry and said her dad had a booth where he sold them. She offered to watch my booth because I'd said it had been so busy I'd barely been able to walk around to see all the other booths. Then she looked around a bit more and asked if I'd be willing to do a trade for jewelry. She told me she needed to check with her father, Robert Keene (owner of Robert Keene Jewelry from Washington), and she'd be back. When she returned she said he said it would be okay. I gave her the pillow and she left with a big smile. I later visited him booth and chose a gorgeous blue necklace. Funny enough, he also made fabulous peace sign earrings.

Featured Artist on My Craft Corner!

I'm honored to be the featured crafter on My Craft Corner! My Craft Corner is a fabulous website where artists can exchange crafting techniques, promote each other through social networking and make some wonderful connections. Lately, I've been gearing up for my second residency (getting my MFA in creative writing), but trying to work on new Zillow Pillows for the Corvallis Fall Festival on September 25th and 26th 2010. So I've been busier than normal, not being able to keep up with the social networking that I enjoy!

My Craft Corner inspires me to keep on pushing through this busy time. What a wonderful surprise! Join today!

What does a pillow mean to you?

I'm surrounded by pillows every day. Some I've made, some I've purchased, some I've been given, some I've lived with for years. People sometimes ponder the question, what does life mean to you? Well, I'd like to hear about your favorite pillow. It could be a little travel pillow that's been riding with you on vacation for months or even a nighttime pillow you sleep with each night. I'm really interested in office pillows and how they hold up during deadlines and customer visits. I'm talking about any pillow, not just Zillow Pillows. Please, in at least a sentence, tell me, what does a pillow mean to you?

New Tags

I'm excited to have my new Zillow Pillows tags to send with my Etsy orders!

Zillow Pillow Giveaway at Women Who Do It All

Stop on over to the Women Who Do It All blog and enter to win a Zillow Pillow of your choice from my Etsy shop! Anyone can enter. Pause to read through the great posts and follow for fun!

Goals

Goals is a funny word. I guess it's strange to me because I'm horrible at making them, keeping them, talking about them, well you get my drift. I've got no problem wanting to do anything, it's just the final walkthrough I'm struggling with. This month, I'm working on a new line of Zillow Pillows, trying to get into the fantastic Corvallis Fall Festival, and juggling my Etsy shop along with keeping the ultra fancy shop Mod Pod stocked with Zillow Pillows. Okay, these things sound suspiciously like goals. Wants. Needs. Aren't they all the same? Am I actually good at saying what I should be doing, you know, like tending to my blog, but I need to do some mental reconfiguring to finish the tasks I create.

Pillows are the perfect "get-me-on-track-with-my-goals"

Using the squeezability of a retro-themed Zillow Pillow, I can fuel my creative energy into completing the goals I set for myself.

Below: a list of my goals for May - Please leave a comment if you have goals you'd like to attain, agree that goals is a funny word, or just simply want to type some letters because you used to own a manual typewriter. Writing, of any kind, is so Very.

Blogging daily
Four sales a week on Etsy
New pictures on Etsy
Write three short stories in two weeks
Buy my top five necklaces on Etsy (I have a love for necklaces like you may know a shoe lover)

Welcome to My World!: Terrifically Talented Thursday! Wild & Whimsical

Welcome to My World!: Terrifically Talented Thursday! Wild & Whimsical

Spring is here, Famara Designs knows sunny when she sees it!

I love Etsy. Not just for the most unique handmade items, but for the community of friendly people who love to interact and help each other promote. Famara Designs (on Etsy) wrote me today and had compiled a gathering of fantastic yellow handmade goodies from Etsy.

The links to Famara's shop, blog and the FB promotion of twelve wonderful Etsians is to the left!

Start a Zillow Pillow fight. Stylish drama never hurt anyone.

To write or to sew, that is the question

I wasn't even trying to come up with an answer on this one. Yes, I need to be working my creative mind toward my MFA in creative writing. I love it. Writing is more than just an outlet for me, it's like weeding my brain each time I write a story. Getting rid of the clutter, the overgrown thoughts, the sticker bushes that impede the growth of deserving flowers. But I've always loved the blackberries, stickers and all. And who am I to designate what's a weed and what isn't. Heck, can't they all just grow together? I think so.

I'm off to finish a story...

Zillow Pillow Giveaway at Busy Working Mama

Little bird, Don't be shy Zillow Pillow is up for grabs at Busy Working Mama's retro/stylish blog. Don't forget to visit zillows on Etsy, pick your favorite Zillow Pillow and post on her blog. Giveaway end March 25th 11:00 p.m. ET.

http://busyworkingmama.blogspot.com/2010/03/zillow-pillows-giveaway.html

Zillow Pillows soon to be available at Mod Pod in Corvallis, OR

I'm so excited to have my Zillow Pillows in a local shop here in Corvallis called Mod Pod. Here's a link to the website: http://modpoddecor.com/

I spoke with the owner today who kindly deemed my Zillow Pillows "flippin' adorable" Hooray! Jessica seems to know how to target the college girl with her hip furniture, art, rugs and more. I'll be proud to have my Zillow Pillows for sale in such a stylish shop. Now we both win.

Just as buying on Etsy is addictive, I'm sure if they sell regularly at Mod Pod, I'll be getting a few super fancy items from her shop instead of money. Good for me...

Ten yards of fabric on the way, a story in my head and an ice cold Diet Pepsi. Life is fantastic.

It's a happy day to be on the front page of Etsy! Support handmade artists, buy from Etsy.

New Fabric, New Zillow Pillows

The newest Zillow Pillow fabric is in and now all I need is time to sew! Thought about the life of a pillow today, wishing I could have such a cozy life: under a back, under a head, sitting pretty on a cute couch - the details are endless. I love creating new Zillow Pillows and posting them at Etsy.com. Not only do I sell on that wonderful handmade website, of course I buy. My favorite thing is to put quirky words into the search and if I find someone has used the same word I have as a tag, I almost always buy it! The best necklaces on Etsy may have been tagged as "square rooting" or "cube this," either way, I'm sold.

Here's a few of my favorite Etsy shops:

elloh
mamaslittlebabies
marymaryhandmade
suzannaanna
circularaccessories
niceface

Check them out!

Zillow Pillow giveaway on a super cute blog!

Oh, I received the sweetest invite to be part of a giveaway on a very cute blog. Please follow the link and check out Amber's "For All of the 'OMG' Moments in Life"

I'm so happy to be part of the blog and giveaway. Making Zillow Pillows really does get me through my MFA in creative writing. It gives my brain time to relax and just sew. When I come across nice people who, not only like my Zillow Pillows, but help me reach more people with the cozy love of a pillow, life is fabulous.

http://amberfilkins.blogspot.com/

I've been expanding my product line for Zillow Pillows. I've moved from squares to rectangles (at my talented mother's suggestion) and now I've been creating the "I heart houses" line. We've all heard the sayings, house to home, home to house, but what is it about our spaces that we love to love?

When I was young, a typical Sunday was a drive through fancy neighborhoods, observing rooftops, gables, house styles. I'll admit I didn't love the long car rides, being prone to car sickness and adolescent boredom, but that didn't stop my parents from continuing these family outings. My father was a home contractor and an architect. Looking at houses for him, was like reading short stories to me, entertaining but also a form of study. My mother loved not only the outside of houses, the exterior, the surface, but preferred to delve deeper inside to the home decor side. This information not only defines each of my parents, but explains why I'm closer with my mom.

She could fix up any space. She could see potential in any area. And she still has the ability to take anything as it is and add a special touch.

My father worried more about the outside.

The "I heart houses" line is a lot about the exterior of cute homes. But behind every outer surface of a cute home is a compilation of better layers: love, thoughtfulness, smiles, sorrow, goodness, togetherness and memories. Thanks mom, for showing me the layers.

Long before Zillow Pillows - One year for Christmas I made little 5 in x 8 in felt pillows for my entire family. I started with my mom, who (at the time) loved chickens and my brother who loved guitars. Then I made some holiday ones with lights and trees. A pig for my friend Jorja, a cat Pez dispenser for another friend. My grandma loved angels, so I made her a white and golden pillow with a triangle bodied angel and a small round head. But I didn't know what to make for my grandpa Hugh. Maybe some background on him before you understand why it was so important to make him a very special one: he was the best person I've ever known. If you'd met him, you'd believe the same thing. So this pillow was more than just a decoration for his chair, mind you, this is the same chair that he allowed my cousin Aubrey and I to curl and hairspray his not too long hair. We played barbershop on his head and he never complained once (in fact, we have pictures!). He paid for braces when I was seventeen, made me an exact replica of a coffee table I saw in the Pottery Barn magazine and I couldn't tell the difference. He and my grandma delivered groceries to my house right after my son was born and when I came out to help, saying "Hi grandpa, how are you?" he looked right at me and said, "Don't get nosey." So he was a comedian too.

Finally, with an idea from a close friend, I ended up cutting out a hand saw from a piece of yellow felt and a handle from some brown felt. I sewed it on and wrapped it up. Christmas eve we opened our gifts at my mom's house and my grandpa Hugh was sitting beside me. When he opened his pillow it was upside-down, he turned it around and began laughing- a grand laugh, both deep and high, almost to tears. Every few minutes between opening other presents he'd look down at the pillow and laugh again or smile. Right before the evening was over he leaned over and said, "Some people have to buy things at a store to give as gifts, some people can't make something as special as this."

I have his pillow again, safely tucked away with other memories I bring out on the occasion of needing a tangible item to squeeze, just to make the memory come to life. Zillow Pillows came after my grandpa Hugh's passing, but the idea of making a pillow and knowing someone will enjoy it or give as a gift reminds me of how lucky I am to have known a man who knew the power of a handmade item.

Here's to kindness...

Zillow Pillows keep me busy

Three new Zillow Pillows to share tonight on Etsy. I remember pillow fights with my brother when we were younger, but mostly I remember "All Powerful Sock" - a tube sock stuffed with four other socks whirled around above one of our heads and then pleasantly slammed into our faces, shoulders, backs. If only we'd been lucky enought to have the not-yet-invented Zillow Pillows. Life would be sweeter, nicer smelling and a heck of a lot more fashionable.

Here's two favorites of the three newest additions! Cheers!

Studio Madness

The studio is a mess. Zillow Pillows scattered, fabric in stacks and a few starts to my next short stories. I've been writing another Vera story. She's not much of a pillow hound, unlike me. She's thirteen now (having already celebrated nine, eleven, fifteen and forty-three in previous stories) and of course she's difficult. I'd almost go as far as call her unruly. But does she have to be as predictable as a Zillow Pillow? Can't she surprise me by being ugly (inside of course) and breaking at the seams? Does she really need to worry so much about her father and argue terribly with her mother?

Well, Vera's not going to clean the Zillow Pillow Studio and frankly neither am I. Let the creative magic of words and fabric sit and sulk. Good for them.

Off to sew a pillow...

Zillow Pillows are like little stories...

I've been sewing a lot the last few weeks. Making Zillow Pillows is such a wonderful break from the writing I'm doing for my MFA in Creative Writing. I love writing, but there's something lovely about a tangible pillow I can squeeze and touch with my hands. They're like stories, only softer. Here's my newest tonight. Available on Etsy.

New Zillow Pillows on Etsy

The new Zillow Pillows are available now at my Etsy shop. Just type zillows in the search. The new rectangle shapes with felt trees and fancy fabrics are just the perfect look for your living room, dining room, game room or home office. Follow the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/zillows