Project: Vote for the Yeti Dreaming of Soup!

I am a finalist in the Lil Blue Boo & Dharma Trading Design Challenge! How exciting. Go vote for me here. There are 15 other entries and they are pretty good so I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Remember I did a reverse applique using an image on the bottom piece of fabric. That's not easy! Plus I embroidered that soup freehand to make it all dreamy. No stencils, no tracing, no nothing.

Go give the yeti and shout out.

Project: a feature!

The amazing folks over at Feeling Stitchy featured my Yeti Dreams of Soup dress on their blog. It's a great site full of all the latest stuff in the world of embroidery: new patterns, some projects, free tutorials, and a lot of talent.

It's an honor to be there. Thanks so much!

Project: Design Challenge finished! Yeti dreams of soup.

If you were a yeti, what would dream about? Soup!

I'm so happy with the way this dress for the Design Challenge turned out. And Zadie loves it to. When I finished it I held it over my legs so it would be at her eye level and she screamed, "Yeti dress!!!!" and gave it (and me) a huge hug. Success.

For my embellishments, I did a reverse applique using one of my yeti t-shirts. I'm happy with the way it turned out and it was totally worth the challenge. If you like doing this technique, try it with a design element. Just trace your image onto thin paper (or photocopy it) to use as a template for placing the fabric underneath your garment. Use a lot of pins to get it right. I stitched around the edges before I cut then went around it again after. Basically I felt that the machine stitching wasn't standing out next to the embroidery so I wanted it to pop a bit more. It wasn't necessary to the construction because I used Wonder Under around the edges of the yeti.

I did the embroidery starting with the bowl of soup. I mapped out where I wanted everything with pins and then just did it freehand. I wanted it to look dreamy so I didn't want to draw on the dress and "trace" with the needle and thread. Finally, I surrounded it with the thought bubble.

Doing this project really reminded me of my love for embroidery. I'll be doing more of this type of work to Zadie's future outfits. If anyone wants a tutorial on my reverse applique, leave a comment. If there is enough demand, I'll write one up.

For more on Project: Project, read this post.

Small for Big

My screenprinted yeti onesies were featured on the awesome Small for Big blog that features really cool stuff for kids.

These onesies have been really popular and I'm considering making more. I have my friend Dorsey, who prints all my yeti shirts for me, print some onto fabric. I iron my fusible interfacing to the back of them, cut them out, then iron them on to the onesies and use the sewing machine to do the applique like I do for my other designs. His press is too large to print directly onto onesies.

People had been asking for these for a while so I made some up. It's so nice when someone else "gets" your stuff. I want my stuff to have an edge without being snarky. I want my kid to look good without announcing her parents' sense of humor to the world. I have so far successfully avoided buying baby clothes without witty (or not-so-witty phrases on them) and I'm hoping to keep that up and make it possible for others to do the same.

Customer Appreciation Week

I've recently gotten a couple of amazing emails with photos of people decked out in Lemon Cadet.

So each day this week (or something kinda like it), I'm going to post pics and stories. If you have any photos of yetis or beans or any of my other little guys (who I swear I will be making more of in my next collection), please send them to me so I can put them up.

This is my nephew Ashton in one of the now extinct yeti tees. What a cutie!

And we're out.

So the time has finally come. The yeti is extinct. He will be remembered fondly by his hand-stitched toothy grin, his pointy claws, and his silky pelt.

Oh yeti, you will be missed.

Pictured above is the last of the yetis. Ever. He flew via First Class Mail/Parcel Post to his new home with Jess T's dad. Another traveled far away and will be a baby shower gift so that's a secret. If you find some of this fur, let me know and we'll attempt a reincarnation.

I have already begun working on designs for a new elusive species. Look for them in late Spring/early Summer.

R.I.P. mysterious beast.

BOGO sale continues

Due to some success, I have decided to continue the BOGO sale in my Etsy shop until Feb. 14.

Here's the deal:

Buy any one item at regular cost and get ANY item of equal or lesser cost for FREE! Please shop as you normally would adding both items to your cart, but do NOT pay, wait for an updated invoice reflecting your sale prices. ALL items qualify for the sale, even bean dolls and yetis, panties and rompers.

Let me know if you have any questions.

BOGO

I'm having a huge sale in my shop for the next week. I'm in the middle of a huge life change (no, I'm way too young for menopause). I'm just rethinking a few things around here so I decided to have a sale. Plus one of my YetiLovesSeamonster peeps, Tiddlywinks, was having a sale and I had a lot of fun choosing a bunny for Zadie so I thought it would be a good idea.

So it's Buy any item in the shop and Get One free. That's right. As much as I hate that acronym, I'm using it now.

So just buy what you want but don't pay. Wait for me to send you a revised invoice and pay then.

And no, this is not in response to the CPSIA CPSC craziness (I'm sure that will all get worked out). It's just me.

And no, I'm not doing any custom orders right now. (Unless you are JessT or the other yeti lover who I will not name -- yours are both almost done, I swear).

Oh, and Anda is sending me some things from a consignment shop in Brooklyn that was only open for like a week so I might have a couple of sizes in a few items not listed so ask.

An Endangered Species

Please help me find more yetis to slaughter for their fur. I have used the last of my stash and can't seem to find this fabric anywhere.

I originally bought it at JoAnn Fabrics. That's the last of it curing on my clothesline. It can be found in the "fun fleece" section of the store when it is in stock.

That's a detail of a claw on one of my handcrafted yetis. No real yetis were harmed in the writing of this post. But if you don't act now, I will only be able to make about 2 more of them.

Crafty Bastards 2008

Crafty Bastards this year was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that we are only just now recovering enough to get the photos off the camera.

Mr. Lemon and Baby Lemon sported their fabulous Lemon Cadet apparel making Team Lemon, by far, the best dressed peeps in town.

More pics on flickr.

The weather wasn't fabulous and we were set up in mosquitoland but it was still a great show and we are already looking ahead to next year. Just think, Baby Lemon will be walking! We made some changes to the table displays and the booth was back to snazzy.

We got to meet Greg the writer of my favorite blog Daddytypes and another fellow blogger, Mamabird from SurelyYouNest. They each had incredibly well-behaved and well-dressed kids with them. Perhaps next year they'll let me borrow one for the ride home. Baby Lemon hit meltdown as soon as her little yeti onesie hit the carseat...

Off to Crafty Bastards!

Team Lemon is all packed up and just about ready to go. The Trader Joe's bag on the left is full of all the new yeti ringer onesies, the top bag has the new yeti plush (with the long luscious fur), there are new rompers below the yetis, and a bunch of screenprinted yeti tees hot off the press. The big bin contains lots of lemon candies and loads of one-of-a-kind pieces while the two big space bags are absolutely stuffed with bean softies. This is how we travel.

In the basement, the tent is in its bag and the silver bins are stocked with all the table display stuff. For outdoor shows we also have to bring our own tables and chairs. This time, we have to get Baby Lemon read too. That's another blog post altogether.

I uploaded sneaky peeks of all the newest beans to my flickr. Because Crafty Bastards is doing a lot of promo for the show via Twitter, I've been spending some time there too. It's addictive. You have no idea (actually, I think a few of you do). If I can figure out how to send messages with my cell phone, I'm going to have a special sale on Sunday.

OK. Hope to see you all in Washington, D.C. for best Crafty Bastards show ever this Sunday, September 28 from 10 - 5 at the Marie Reed Learning Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.

Find Team Lemon at booth 10 right next to local furniture peeps Miss Pixie's.

A yeti premiere

Check out my little interview on the Crafty Bastards blog. I just finished up all the new yeti ringer onesies and plush and you can read more about them over there. The plush is amazing. I'm super happy with how they turned out. They're a bit bigger than Zadie's head and extremely soft.

The ringer onesies also turned out better than I expected. They come in tan, pink and blue and they all have chocolate piping. I have 3 - 6, 6 - 12, and 12 - 18 months. Now that I have a wee one of my own, I feel that these onesies run slightly small (or maybe I just have an enormous child). The fit is similar to Old Navy stuff or American Apparel.

Here's the extra dilly-o, G: I'm having a sale at the show where you can get both the plush and the onesie for $40. Also pair a romper or ringer tee with a bean plush and get them both for either $36 or $42 depending on the size of the bean.

If there's something in the Etsy shop that you want and you don't want to pay shipping, you can buy it online and pay for it then (I'll refund your shipping when you come to collect the goods) OR pay me at the show. As you know, many of my items are one of a kind or have limited sizes available so this is the best way to get what you want before everyone else does. Just make sure you let me know your plans via the "message to seller" box during checkout. Also do this before midnight Friday or I won't know what you're talking about by the time we get to D.C.

A little bit of a preview. . .

It's been crazy busy in the land of Lemon Cadet. Baby Lemon has been hard at work developing her modeling skills, Mr. Huskystar has been stitching up a tsunami of new goods, and Mr. Lemon fixed the tent.

I've been working on some yeti plush that I'm really excited about. I usually embroider the faces after I have a base established. It's a little more to grab onto that way. But this new fur is a beast! It was shedding like a Skunk Ape in Spring so I had to hand sew the faces before I attached them to the fur. Then I had this amazing bald yeti.

The second photo is a sneak peak at what the finished guy will look like. The new fur is longer and very silky. I actually finished all of these but the photos are still on the camera.

Pounce!

Etsy has this cool new feature called Pounce. It jumps on shops that have recently sold items and shows you what's left in the shop so you can pounce on it. I sold a ladies yeti tee a while ago and pounced until I found me. Is that kinda like doing a Google search for yourself?

XL yeti tee anyone?

I promise to report on the Bust Craftacular as soon as I get the pics off the camera. We got home late last evening and it was enough to get the items back in the shop before crashing out early.

Just a quick announcement: If you are the guy from the Bust Craftacular who later in the day wanted an XL yeti tee after I had sold out, please email me. I had one at home and I'm saving it for you.

Lesson learned: get an email address next time!

You decide

I am currently in the best treasury ever. It's up to you to decide who would win in a fight: the yeti or the one in the parka. I put all bets on the yeti but agree with another commenter that the parkas wouldn't go down without a good fight.

Check it out here while it lasts.

Crafty Bastards 2007!

I know it's been almost a week but there has been a lot to catch up on around here. Since I put everything on hold while getting prepared for the show, I've been taking care of old business.

So I'm sure you've heard that Crafty Bastards was amazing. There were thousands of people there. I sold lots of stuff and even bought a couple of things. I think Team Lemon singlehandedly (or two fistedly) emptied Sticky Fingers of their vegan treats.

The first photo shows most of the booth at the very end of the day with two very tired team members, Steph Lemon (aka Sister In Law or Sister to my Husband, Mr. Lemon) and Mr. Lemon. Both are sporting items from the Lemon Cadet line. I think Mr. Lemon looks hot in that yeti tee. Soon the facial hair will disappear as he shaves for tonight's Mustache Show at Wild Zero studios. My friend Jen stopped by and she snapped this photo of me (if you're dying to see me hot and sweaty and holding a bean).


That's Ingrid of Team Lemon who not only let us stay at her house, but also helped out for most of the day. She was a madman with wrapping up items in tissue and making everything sparkle.


The beans were a huge success. I didn't bring home very many of them and I'll be adding those to the shop next week. They also got featured on the My Aim is True blog.

The new yeti screenprinted tees were also a hit. I still have lots of sizes for kids and ladies in stock and I'll be ordering more of the men's sizes later this week. I want to have more ready for Handmade Arcade. I'm not sure if they'll make it to the Etsy shop since I didn't print them myself. So if you want one, let me know.

For more pictures of the event, check out the Crafty Bastards 2007 flickr pool.

Indie Path Interview

Lemon Cadet was asked to do an "Indieview" for the relatively new blog, The Indie Path. I enjoyed answering these questions more than any other interview so far because she asked me really specific things. That was cool.

Plus she said you need to kick back with a cup of chai before reading and that's my favorite drink!

I got the pictures from Crafty Bastards off the camera so if time allows, there will be more on that tomorrow.

It's time for Crafty Bastards

I know you've been wondering why it's so quiet around here. I've been super busy making stuff for Crafty Bastards. It's this weekend! Sunday, Sept. 30 from 10 - 5 at the Marie Reed Learning Center on 18th and Wyoming in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C.


They sent us all interview questions for their site. My interview is up right now on the blog.

What's new for Lemon Cadet: a whole bunch of bean softies in lots of different fabrics, of course those fabulous yeti tees I wrote about here, and finally, some long-sleeved t-shirts and onesies perfect for Fall and Winter.

Find directions and all the info you'll need to stalk me on their website. I'll be in spot 28 right next to Ms. Tina Seamonster.

I hope to see those of you within a reasonable driving/walking distance sometime on Sunday. It's not just all shopping. They've got some great entertainment planned, some cool crafting workshops, and food.

A crafter's list

I made a big trip to JoAnn's last weekend to stock up on supplies for all the stuff I'm making for the shop and Crafty Bastards. I either have to drive 30 - 45 minutes south to the town where my parents live to shop at one or drive 1 1/2 hours up to Pittsburgh for a really big JoAnn's. Our house always needs a lot from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's so if I can get Mr. Lemon to come along, we head North.

I always make lists like this for my shopping trips. I take scrap pieces of paper (whatever is closest to me when I think of the first thing I need) and go crazy. There are always swatches of fabric stapled or taped here and there, my weird names for things, and ideas -- where I know what I need but I don't know what it is yet. If you're a crafter, you know what I'm talking about: I need something beige-ish and cotton and about 1/2" wide but....

My list was particularly nuts this week so I thought I'd share it with you. I support my local quilt shop whenever I can but they don't have the faux fur.