So, we get back from Stitches East.  Fab show, fab people, fab yarn, fab knitting opportunity on the plane, but I digress.

Knowing that there are several people waiting on embroidered buckets upon our return home, I knew we would have to spend a bit of time getting to know Maggie and her new software.  When I arrived home, I scurried over to the sewing shop to schedule my new sewing machine lessons.  So, yea, not so condusive to people who have to, I don’t know, TEACH for a living.  They only offer classes on weekdays and only before 2 PM.  So, basically NOTHING for the poor teacher who wants to play with her new BFF, Maggie.

That being said, while waiting on materials, mom suggests we just see what we can do.

Is this a challenge? I think so.

Enter challenge conquering Superhero Team.

We have a great idea for a new embroidery design and start sketching out the idea, then we start setting it up the design on the embroidery software.  First thing we learned, the best laid plans mean NOTHING when you are using this new software.

Hours of fiddling and 4 pieces of canvas later, we have one thing to show for the new embroidery machine.

Then comes the frustration, I get it to work one time, and then I can’t get it to work again.  I save, I read, I transfer, I google, I forum, I do everything except say ABRA CADABRA, and then I go and eat dinner frustrated and alone. (Well, not really alone, but you get my point.)

After dinner, I try again, and learn the most amazing thing.  If it is too big for the hoop, it won’t show up.  That only took 3 hours.

Well, to make a long story short, too late, we figured it out, and without the classes that they so loving only schedule during working hours for the rest of the world.  So here I say, classes?! we don’t need no stinking classes.

**As this was being posted, Maggie threw a fit, and now sounds sick.  She will be going to the shop tomorrow. **

Take 10% off everything in the Etsy shop with coupon code MARGARET11.  Also, we are also going to cover the shipping.  That means that there is no reason to hold off on your favorite Erin.Lane goodies.

Also, we have added a clearance section.  There are a bunch of things in that section that are already on sale, and the 10% off applies to the clearance stuff too!

Get your goodies while you can.  I will be listing things every night, so pounce on the things you want.  They might not last long!

So as an added incentive, we added a drawing to give away $200 of Erin.Lane goodies to anyone who donated at least $10. And here are the results.

And, finally, the results…

DENA RAUCH! Come on down! You are the lucky winner of the $200 of Erin.Lane goodies.  We will be in touch soon.  Hope this makes your day, and everyone, if you see her tell her a big CONGRATS!

Here are a few pictures of her journey to our little studio.  She is currently sewing one of her first embroidery designs, and is very happy in her new home.

She is a big machine.  It took both Mom and me to get her inside.  However, she is totally worth it.  Here is her unpacking and getting ready to start her new job.

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There she is ready and willing to sew.  She packed her embroidery unit very carefully as you can see.  She is also very bright.  Her LED HD touch screen is wonderful when she needs to communicate a problem to us.  So far, all she says is transmitting, sewing, and finished sewing.  She is super easy to get along with.  We are so happy to have her sewing along.

She is such a good machine.  She is working diligently to make sure that jumps aren’t an issue.  In fact, we went from this:

to this… Isn’t she fabulous!?

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She is definitely a more complicated machine.  We are going to have to go to class with her to learn how to do most things.  We have figured out a few things, but she still has a lot to teach us.  Therefore, we are not going to be taking embroidered bags with us to the next show.  We will have to learn more first.

Again, everyone at Erin.Lane, including Margaret and Sue, thank you for your generous giving.

P.S. Sue decided to retire from embroidery, but she is still sewing.  Don’t worry.  She is working currently on some drawstrings for the next show.  What a trooper, huh?

We are waiting on the fund to clear out account, and then this Saturday, we are going to go and pick up our newest employee.

Here is a picture of her.  We are not allowed to release her name yet, we don’t know her well enough, but we do want you to know that Sue’s replacement is ready to be hired.

We are super excited, so join us on Saturday for news updates, and LOTS of pictures.

We wanted to thank all of those who donated.  You made this possible.  We will be filling the perks as soon as possible.  Right now, once again, we are waiting on fabric delivery.  Then we will be cutting and sewing our little fingers to the bones.

Can’t wait until Saturday!

We are just a week away from ending our IndieGoGo project.  We need a new embroidery machine.  Sue, our old embroidery machine, entered early retirement. She was a trooper, but she just couldn’t keep going; she was too tired.

So here is the deal, for the next 7 days if you donate at least $1o to the IndieGoGo project, you will be entered into a drawing for a $200 gift certificate for Erin.Lane goodies when we reach our $4500 goal.  If you donate, you will also receive the perk that goes along with your donation and an entry in our drawing.  If we reach our goal, we will draw and announce the winner on Friday, September 16, 2011.

Tell your friends.  $10 could get you $200 of Erin.Lane goodies.  Only 7 days left!

We were getting ready for our first show in February of this year.  We were so excited about going to our first Stitches.  We sewed and sewed and sewed, but we spent over 3 days picking fabrics.  We were ordering it online from online store by the yard.

Just a few days ago.  I took over 38 EMPTY BOLTS of fabric to the recycle bin to get them out of the way.

This took several trips, and was something that was pretty eye opening.  I knew that it was a lot of fabric, because I had cut it all and all of that, but having to move all the bolts out of the studio was a real eye-opener.  Also, not long ago we were also buying thread on sale every month at our local craft shop.  Now, we are buying the thread by the box. Check this out.

See the several empty boxes, yea, those were full of thread.  We thought we would have that beige thread for months.  Yea, more like weeks.  We didn’t order nearly enough.

It is amazing that just a few months ago, we weren’t even ordering anything in bulk, now we are ordering muslin in 120 bails.

The best part is it is all because we have the best customers in the world.  Everyone tells everyone else, and that is what is so great.  We have experienced great success, made it into a magazine, and it is all because of you guys.  So, here it is, THANKS!

Knitters are the best people on earth.

BOOTH # 719

Not only that, but we are working hard to get the 120 buckets we want to take with us.  Sue has trudged through finishing her 57th canvas in 30 days.  She is tired, and if you can please help us hire her replacement by contributing to our IndieGoGo project.  If you have already donated or want to help, please tell your friends.  We are at about 25% of our goal.  We need to know we can get that new embroidery machine when we get back from Stitches.  Otherwise, we might not be able to make Buckets for the holidays. ACK!  Please help us.  To prove how tired she is, here is what she did one day.

I spent the entire day working to make her feel better, but last Wednesday, pretty much all I did was work with her.  The reason that looks funny is because what you are looking at is the bobbin thread being pulled to the front of the canvas.  Not a good thing.  It took forever to fix, and a phone call where I was asked if I had the machine threaded.

You can imagine how I felt about that question.

But I diverge.

The main point of this was the fact that after tons of cutting, sorting, and sewing, we have made huge progress.  We have all the KnitPacks ready for final touches meaning magnets and binding ribbon.  Also, we have managed to get all the buckets ready to stuff and sew together…which means we could have the buckets done in the next 3-4 days!  It took forever but they are all ready!

This is where I tell you the truth.  When we make anything that has that nice stand up bottom, we have to draw the square on the bottom and then pull and sew them.  After that, I have to cut that extra fabric off or it makes a mess in the bottom of a bag.  This is how I feel about corners… I want them to die.  All of them, forever and ever.  This is what it looks like after I have done all the buckets.

Yes, Hank is hanging out with the corners.  Mainly he hung out down by my feet to make sure I didn’t stab myself in the eye with the scissors.  Thank God that is over.

Want to know the bad news, we have to do that many corners for the insides of the buckets, and for all the insides and outsides of the sock bags.

Did I mention that I don’t like corners?  Yea, I have a lot of them in my future. Ugh. A cornering I go…

It doesn’t look like much, but let me tell you, it feels like a mountain of fabric. A MOUNTAIN! Like EVEREST! Thank God that is over for a little while.

First, we found a great little fabric company out of California that only prints a few lines, but they are amazing. We spent a little while on the phone and the sales person, Paul, actually would go to the warehouse and check to make sure the fabrics we were choosing were going to match. Talk about amazing, yea, meet Anthology Fabrics‘ Theory Line.

I know you are already in love, but there is more, oh so much more! We waited and waited and called and called and then one day unexpectedly our doorbell rang and *POOF* there is was, a fabric that wasn’t suppose to come in until the END of August.  Just so you know, that is Joel Dewberry’s Aviary 2.  It is super back ordered, but because we are such fabulous superheroes, we got it in early!Last but not least, we got in another FABULOUS fabric line by Alice Kennedy.  Portobello was something else we had to fight to get in before we left.  We were super excited when we ordered it, but it got so much better when we opened the box.   We thought it would be beautiful, but we didn’t know how pretty, here is a sneak peek!

We have a bunch to cut up and make into fabulous needle cases and bags. Check back for studio updates.