It's almost show time!

I have been very, very busy the past 6 weeks sewing away in my craft room getting ready for my shows! The first one starts in just 3 days!  Eek!  How could it be holiday season already!?!?

Here are some things I've made recently:

My Wool Upcycled Sweater Mittens

Frosty Snowfriends

(The pattern for these is available on my website, and also an instant download on Etsy here.

Penguin Gourds

Lots and lots of new samplers this year!

Unnamed snowman!

This little fella is new this year, and will be a pattern, when I have a chance to make a pattern up.  What do you suppose I should call him?!?  

Hope if you are in the Southwest Washington area, you'll look me up!  My schedule is as follows:

November 7 & 8 - Crafts Unlimited Holiday Boutique

November 14 & 15 - Washougal High School Holiday Marketplace AND New Hope Bazaar

November 21 & 22 - Artisan Fair and Bazaar

November 29 - Prairie High School Bazaar

I've been watching lots of Christmas movies while I sew, and I am in the holiday spirit, already!  Let me be the first to wish you Merry Christmas!

Holiday blessings,

Laurie

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Ha!  Did you notice my sheep and crow (above) have Santa hats on?!  Time for a little holiday cheer! I've also added Burl Ives singing "Holly Jolly Christmas" to my side bar.  You'll have to click to hear it....many a time I've been browsing around on websites late at night, and startled myself nearly to death when I click on a website that has music playing!  Kind of annoying!

I added the Santa hats to my graphics on the website Pickmonkey.  I love this site and all the fun things you can do with photos!  Check it out!

I'm smack dab in the middle of bazaar season, and I've been putting in 12-14 hour days crafting! Got to take a break next week and put together 4 new patterns!  Watch for them soon! All Christmasy, and some great sellers at my bazaars so far!

Prim blessings,

Laurie

You just meet the nicest people.....

Finished a two-day Christmas show today at New Hope Church in Clackamas (Portland), Oregon.  It was a fun show, and my friend Vicki and I had a great time!  We spent two days next to our new friend, Marguerite.  We've met so many nice vendors during our shows, and this one was no exception!  Marguerite sells beautiful necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, and I treated myself to a beautiful blue beaded bracelet made from vintage beads.  I just love it!  Visit her Etsy site here for a real treat!  Great prices and quality!

This was our second weekend of craft shows, and we're back at it again next weekend.  Find us Saturday, November 16 at Washougal High School's Holiday Marketplace Bazaar in Washougal, WA, at Prairie High School's Yuletide Bazaar, Brush Prairie, WA,  Saturday, November 30, and the Vancouver Farmer's Market Holiday Market at the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver, WA, Sunday,  December 1st.

Hope to see you there!

Primitive blessings,

Laurie

New Patterns Coming Soon!

I've emerged from my craft room!  Since September 24th...the day after we took our twins to college (My babies!  That was sooooo hard!!!!), I've been working 10-12 hour days and sewing/crafting up a storm for my upcoming shows!  I've been too busy to stop and take pictures, but here are a couple of things I made this week that I will make into patterns in a week when my first show is over.

Frosty Snowfriends

These snowgirls turned out so cute!  I was just going to put one on the pattern, but decided to have three of them, to show the variations that can be made with one pattern.  I made 9 of them.

Santa's Laundry Line

Something kind of fun and different, and very quick to stitch up!

My first show is the best show in Southwest Washington!  If you're in the area, it's worth a trip! Crafts Unlimited is in it's 38th year, and it's a juried show.  Very high-quality crafts, live harp music, and a free Artists Reception with refreshments.  See the blog here for more details, dates and times, and directions to the show.

Can't believe it's less than two months now until Christmas!  Back to work! 

Primitive blessings,

Laurie

Holiday shows almost done!

My friend, Vicki and I at our booth.  Vicki is the amazing painter whose products you can see in the pictures.

Our husbands built our cute little 10' x 10' "chicken coop" shop for 6 days of fun selling!

Whew!  It's been a whirlwind for the past month with craft shows!  Today I finished up "America's Largest Christmas Bazaar" in Portland, Oregon.  900 booths + 6 days = Exhaustion!

My spirits were lifted this morning when an article appeared in our newspaper featuring me alongside some other local crafters!  Business from local customers was great on my website today after that!  See it here.

Hope so far your holidays are merry and bright!  More to come soon of holiday preparations and decorations at our house!  In the meantime, I've started a business Pinterest account, and here's a link!

Christmas blessings!

~Laurie

My gift to you!

Greetings!

Ahhhh.....bazaar season just got over Sunday, the house is decorated, and I have lots of presents already bought/made. Life has definitely slowed down in the past few days! Upon looking at my poor website and blog, however, it seems I must've slowed down a long time ago! Over a month since my last blog post!? I'm a bad, bad girl! To stay on Santa's good side, I thought I'd better remedy that! Here's the plan: Go to my website - Prindle Mountain Primitives, and choose an e-pattern. At checkout, enter the code "Free e-pattern", and your e-pattern will be FREE!!! This coupon code is just good for today and tomorrow, so don't delay!

It was a great bazaar season! My friend Vicki and I had a ball! Here's our display at the Expo Center in Portland, Oregon. Hard to see in the picture, but our husbands built us a little shop (and I mean "little"....10' x 10'!) out of old barn wood. We've always wanted to have a little store, and we did....for six whole days!!!



I hope you're enjoying this special time of the year, and I'm wishing you and yours the best, most blessed Christmas ever!

Primitive blessings,

Laurie

Craft Shows

Nope! I really didn't drop off the face of the earth! I'm in the middle of bazaar season, and I've been spending every waking moment (and lots of moments that I should be sleeping!) stitching away! Averaging 5 hours of sleep, and not getting to bed until 3:00 a.m. has left me little time for blogging!

My first craft show of the season is now one for the history books! This show, "Crafts Unlimited Holiday Boutique", is one of the most unique shows that I do. Artists combine their wares, so we have a boutique feel, and not individual booths.

My sweater mittens proved to be a good seller! I sold all but three pair, and have a bunch more to make for my big show later this month/first part of December, "America's Largest Christmas Bazaar".


I just added a new pattern to my website this morning. Itty Bitty Annie was very popular at my craft show, and I've decided to make her into a pattern to sell. Very quick to stitch up....I made 40 of them in just a couple of days!

Hope you're gearing up for some great holidays ahead!

Prim blessings,

~Laurie

Photos from the Crafts Unlimited Show:

What's New!?

Is it really the third week of September!? Where has the time gone?! It's been a month since I've posted, but I've really been crafting up a storm for the Christmas bazaars that start in only a month and a half!!!! Besides my usual primitive dolls, Santas, snowmen, and other fun prim holiday items, I've also been trying my hand at altered art domino necklaces, penny rug pins, and here are some spiffy mittens that I just finished making up, and they were so much fun, I thought I'd share them with you!

First, I bought lots and lots of wool sweaters over the past few months at yard sales, thrift stores, and some friends even shared from their own closet! :) I did what the washing instructions tell you NOT to do: washed in HOT, HOT water! It's amazing how much they shrunk! I let them air dry, then I cut open the seams and laid out my pattern. (I made my pattern slightly larger than this pattern I borrowed from Studio 5. Deciding which fabrics to use was the fun part...I liked to mix them up a little, and one pair of mitten had fabrics from four different sweaters:




I've lined these mittens with quilt-quality flannel. So fuzzy and warm! Of course I've been stitching these in August and September, and have received some funny looks both when purchasing a pile of wool sweaters in the extreme heat, as well as from my family when I'm trying them on and admiring each pair while wearing shorts and complaining about how hot I am! :)



On one pair of plain mittens I appliqued some holly, using burgundy and olive Pendleton wool.



Did you also notice that some of the buttons that I used were made by my husband from dropped deer antlers? I think these are my favorite pair. My husband said I should pick some out for myself for Christmas! :( Not really what I had in mind, Dear!




Lots of fun to make, and I may have some up on my website once the craft shows have passed.

Yesterday I received my newest issue of Create and Decorate Magazine. My "Mr. Kringles" pattern is included, and is now available for sale as well on my website as a paper pattern or an e-pattern.



Hope you're enjoying the last waning days of summer, and are gearing up for a fabulous fall! My pumpkins are just about ready for picking! :)

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Primitive blessings,

Laurie

Great Craft Show!

Wow! What a great show Crafts Unlimited was this year! Very busy, lots of customers, awesome craftsmen, and great deals! Next, on to Mountain View High School!

I spent the next day browsing at an excellent estate sale, our local antique store, and getting some good ideas for Christmas gift-making! My one find I was especially happy about was an old vintage composition doll. She's pretty sad, but I love her just the way she is! I bought some old vintage linens at the sale and made her a dress, since she was just wearing some too-big baby clothes. I think she's perfect! :) I also picked up some antique Christmas bulbs.

I added a few things to Etsy today. Please check it out:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrindleMountainPrims

Ready for craft shows, and five new patterns too!

It's been pretty crazy around here, with all the hectic sewing and crafting getting ready for the Christmas bazaar season, but I'm ready, with the exception of some pricing. Yay! :) I even took the time to make five new patterns today, with some new designs I came up with for the craft shows. Here's a little peak, but you'll have to check out my website to see them all! :)

If you're in the Portland/Vancouver area, be sure to check out my craft shows! Here's where I'll be, and when:

November 6&7 - Crafts Unlimited, Vancouver, Washington (here's a link to the blog: http://www.craftsunlimitedshow.blogspot.com/)
November 13 - Mountain View High School, Vancouver, Washington
November 20 - Washougal High School, Washougal, Washington
November 27 - Prairie High School, Brush Prairie, Washington

We spent the weekend at Mt. Hood in Oregon! They had several FEET of snow last week, so there was nothing like some snow to get me in the Christmas spirit! With the calendar now proclaiming NOVEMBER, I know by the end of THIS month I'll be Christmas decorating, and getting ready for the holidays big time! YAY! We love Christmas!!!!

In the meantime, enjoy a wonderful autumn, and make sure to take time to count your blessings!

Hugs!

Laurie

Deck the Halls!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the ol' Johnson Homestead here on Prindle Mountain! All set for Christmas, minus tons of gifts yet to purchase, cards to make, and a Christmas tree to go chop down! Ok, so I'm not ready! The house looks good and sparkly, and it was fun decorating, even if it only lasts for a month!

One more craft show this weekend: Wy'East Middle School in Vancouver. Hoping to unload some things I don't want to store until next year! Happy holidays!