soap updates and backtack

lots of things got done this weekend, and I still have one more day to go. First off, the rain. It's been raining here for over a week. The stream in our backyard is quite a torrent, but thankfully it's far enough from the house that it doesn't threaten us. Here's a picture of what is normally a gentle, easy stream:

In other news, I finally added the bath salts to the store. I purchased some cute grosgrain ribbon and I really like how these have come together. The bath salts smell divine, I'm really pleased with these as a complete package. I have three single-serving samples to give away. If you'd like to enter the drawing just leave a comment!

Also, the Lemon Mint Soap is done curing. Most went to the new graduates of the Community College of Vermont at their party last night, but I have a few bars available to the rest of the world.

Finally, I finished my back tack III project. Here's a little taste:

Truthfully, I had a lot of crafters anxiety with this project. I see other projects out there and it becomes painfully obvious to me that I've only been knitting for two years. That it's been fifteen years since my mom taught me how to sew. That I'm just not quite 'that' good. I had a lot of ideas, and if I would have pursued them all this little softy would have been quite the hussy. I forget who said it, but said, "before you go out, look in the mirror and take one thing off." and that's the advice that I followed when puttting this together. Only there were about five or six things that I thought of that I didn't complete. I hope my partner likes her, the intention is there.
For the kitty, I chose to use a vintage tablecloth that I had picked up at a yard sale in La Mesa, CA when we were living in San Diego. It had been embroidered by someone, but not particularly well, and hadn't been that well taken care of. The cloth had burn holes and so forth, so I never used it but couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. When considering my options for this softie it popped right into my head and I knew I had to use it.
In order to get the designs on the body, I had to enlarge the pattern for the body about 20%, which thankfully made it a bit easier to turn out. She has a lot of character. First I was thinking that she was some sort of punk rock kitty, but after the eyes were done I learned that she was really a diva with a naughty side. Her mohair cape, large red rock and bling brooch are her well-groomed side, while her 'ink' shows the naughty side.

This week I'll try to take some better photos, I hear the sun might make an appearance after Monday and put together an awesome package for my pal.

If you have a chance, check out Abby's jewelry at Handmade by A Fish. In addition to putting up with my hellion son three days a week, Abby makes handcrafted, hand beaded jewelry. I always get tons of compliments when I wear her stuff so I'm happy to spread the word about her new website.