Pictures!

Here are pictures (finally) of some of the things I have been working on this month:

27!

My good friend Leigh is offering 27% off in her Etsy store today only (12/30/08) in honor of her 27th b-day! Why not get yourself a gift that promises a year full of surprises showing up at your doorstep every month: A Year Subscription to Leigh's ACEO's.

EXCITING!

hmmm?

Wondering where I have been? Well, aside from eating every chocolate and snack in sight, I've been filling lots of CUSTOM orders! I don't want to ruin any surprises so I'll wait til the weekend to post some pics :) There are alot of cool things, and even some exciting non-scarves. To date I have 6 scarves left to sew, and 1 non-scarf creation. For 10pm on 12/23, that doesn't seem too bad.

and the winnner is....

Last night at 12:02 I used a random number selector online to choose the winner for my giveaway... and the winner of the $10 gift certificate to my etsy store is .....
Ruthie!

Congratulations, Ruthie!!

I will be adding more scarves to my shop as the weeks go by, and I will also have lightweight scarves, as well as KIDS scarves. So get excited!

Also, as a bonus I will be extending the 20% off sale in my etsy store to anyone who entered this giveaway! Just send me an email or convo before you order, and I will adjust the price. The sale will run through January 1, 2009.

Have a Happy Monday!
-Rachel-

GIVEAWAY!

It's finally time! I have been adding scarves to my store over the last few days, and though I am not finished yet, it is time to start my Giveaway to win a $10 gift certificate to rachelsthread.etsy.com.

Many of you may not know that in addition to loving scarves, I also love words! I'm sure you have noticed that the plural for scarf is scarves. I talk about them all the time :) There are actually a bunch of words that end in "f" (like scarf) but change to "v" (scarves) in the plural or other forms. I'm sure you can think of some ... so here is your chance.

Step 1: Come up with a word that has an "f" that changes to a "v", besides scarf/scarves.

Step 2: Go to the comments section of this blog post, and make sure no one has already said it! If there are duplicate comments with the same word, only the first person will be entered.

Step 3: Post your words ("scarf-scarves") as a comment on this blog.

Step 4: Include your email address if you cannot be contacted through Blogger.

Step 5: A winner will be chosen from all eligible entries through a random number process. Check back on Monday when the winner will be announced!

We may run out of words so tell all your friends to get on here soon! Entries will be accepted through midnight EST on Sunday 12/14/08.

Good luck all you word-smiths - you can do it!

Hip Hip Hooray

As you may or may not know, my good friend Amy has opened up an etsy store for her crocheted critters, blankets, and more! And this is NOT your Granny's kind of crochet... though we do love all the things Granny made us ... But I've never seen any yarned goods that are hipper than what Amy has to offer in her store Hooray 4 Crochet

And while you are on etsy, check out some of my newest additions in my shop Rachel's Thread on Etsy ... and don't forget, Thursday I will be announcing my giveaway right here, for a chance to win a $10 gift card to my etsy shop!

Have a great night.

Knee deep in socks,
Rachel

WINDY

Tomorrow Matt and I are going FISHING on the boat! So tonight we went out and bought all kinds of warm clothes. Tomorrow's forecast is "WINDY" with a high of 39 degrees and 23 mph winds. And probably even colder on the water. So I'll be bundling up!I am planning to wear 2 hats, earwarmers, a neckwarmer, 4 shirts, a coat, thermal pants, regular pants, ski pants, 2 pairs of socks, my Sorel boots, and 2 pairs of gloves. Here is a picture of what I am wearing. I hope I fit into the car wearing all this:

If my fingers aren't too frozen maybe I'll take some pictures of our fish.... or our sad faces if we don't catch anything .... or my green face if I forget to take my Dramamine....

In other news, I bought a TABLE tonight for my sewing room! I assembled it all by myself, yay! It's nice and tall, so I can work standing up, and not on the floor like I usually work. I can't wait to clear out the room, and get it in there!

Time to get some sleep! Keep an eye on my etsy shop, I MIGHT be adding to it starting tomorrow night :)
~Rachel~

Happy Scarfday!

Today I took a scarf day at my real job, and I am home working on orders, and taking care of some other things. It's a little hard to stay on track, but I keep making and revising my lists and I seem to be doing ok so far. I even put "brush my teeth" on my list...

So, some exciting news: I have been planning a grand re-opening to my etsy shop! I just got some cool new photo lighting that I ordered on ebay, and I'll be taking pictures and listing new scarves over the next few weeks - and having some awesome sales for returning customers - as well as NEW customers :) Get excited! AND I am planning my first giveaway, which will be a contest to win a $10 gift certificate to my esty shop.... so stay tuned.

Ok. lunch break is over.

Have a good day everyone!
Rachel

Events Events Events!

Thanks to everyone who stopped out on a cold a rainy Sunday to see Rachel's Thread and Mermaid Tears Jewelry at The Flying Carp! We did have a lot of people in the store, and it was a great day! I only took one photo... which I will post later ~

Tonight is the Art Party at my house, which will feature painting on location by Leigh Seddon-Slingluff. We will have paintings for sale and of course scarves! As an added treat, tonight will be the debut of Hooray for Crochet, by my awesome and talented friend Amy. For a preview of her adorable creations, check out her etsy page here ahmee.etsy.com.

And next week, I will be joining Jennifer from Mermaid Tears jewelry and graphic artist Julie Goldstein at the Mermaid Tears Holiday Open House!

(click to enlarge)


Hope to see everyone soon! If anyone is looking for custom orders for the holidays (sports teams, kids scarves, or anything custom) please let me know by some time next week.

Thanks!
<3 Rachel

Sock-o-Lot

Today was a big day for Rachel's Thread!

First off, the scarves are now being sold in a new store in Hammonton, NJ called The Golden Feather. It's an awesome boutique in a brand new building, with a ton of things you will NEED to have... so stop by and say HI. It's on Rt 30, right next to the Pizza-Rama in Hammonton.

Today Matt and I headed up to Berlin to go sock shopping. We came home with over 200 pairs of socks! Here they are:



And these are my 2 favorite pairs:



Tomorrow my lovely assistant, who is also known as Grandma, will cut the tags off all the socks, and then wash and sort them. She is the best!

Finally, speaking of photos, I uploaded photos of a few of the kids scarves that were finished last week. And here they are:

One more pic

Meiko
Originally uploaded by DerekBrad

Thank you to DerekBrad for the use of his photos!!

Meiko

Meiko
Originally uploaded by DerekBrad

look what I found on flickr :)

Up to.

Hi. I've been getting alot done these last few days, ALOT more productive than last week. This week I've mostly been working on kids scarves, and custom orders. Hopefully they'll be all finished up by tomorrow night and I can take some pictures. The kids scarves are SOOOO cute. I need to borrow some cute kid models to get some pictures up on my website. Anyone want to lend me some?

Here is where I will be on Sunday 11/30/08. I hope some of you will come out to see me at The Flying Carp in Ocean City, along with Mermaid Tears Jewelry:

Is it "slew" or "slue" or "sloo"?

I have been sick alllllllll week with a stupid cold with every cold symptom imaginable. I am finally starting to feel better today, and I've literally been sick a full 7 days. To anyone at the Underground party, I'm really sorry if I got you sick. I tried not to shake anyone's hand, but if you bought a glass ring, you might have brought home a few of my germs, since I tried on almost every one, so hopefully I didn't infect anyone. Other than my sore throat, the party was GREAT! Thanks so much to everyone who came out, and a special thanks to Mike and Lucy from Underground for bringing me coffees (yes "s" ... they are brave people!) and for letting me take over their store for the day. I sold a bunch of scarves and made lots of new friends. If you weren't able to come, you didn't totally miss out, because Underground now has a supply of over 20 brand new scarves, so go check them out!!!

So, there is a small slew of new scarf owners out there, and I thought this would be a good chance to post a little slideshow, so here it is:

Handbags, Messenger Bags, Minis and more!

Next week I will be working on some new patched handbags. I hope to have some available on etsy by the beginning of December. I have a few different sizes and shapes of bags. This is the small tote bag style as seen with Leigh and Rebecca (in France!)
Yes my bags and scarves were in France :) More pictures of their world tour soon to come!

(Disclaimer: Due to necessity and time constraints, Rebecca is shown here in a beautiful, yet non-Rachel's-Thread, scarf. She is a huge fan of Rachel's Thread, however, and we will not hold it against her. Please, no hostile comments regarding this rogue scarf.)

i love music

I'm not sure if any of you knew that, but it's true. Actually my mom reminded me the other day that my first complete sentence at age 2 was "Turn the radio up, Daddy" :)

Last Weds nite, my mom, Rae and I went to Philly (not for the World Series) to the World Cafe Live for the Hotel Cafe Tour, which included Meiko, Rachael Yamagata, Thao Nguyen, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Samantha Crain. All of the music was amazing, and we had GREAT seats in the Mezzanine.

I was especially excited because I brought a scarf with me to give to Meiko! I brought it down before the show, and gave it to the girl at the merch table to give to her, since we would be leaving right after the show to beat the Phillies traffic (which we did!). I asked the girl at the table if Meiko would get it before the show, and she said she'd bring it backstage now! :) So when Meiko came out onstage she was wearing the scarf! She even made a comment about the scarf being made out of socks, and she was sure I washed them first ;]

So I've been hunting on the internet for a good picture of her in the scarf, since our great seats were not great for photo-taking. Here is a link to a video of Meiko playing Reasons to Love You, wearing her new Rachel's Thread scarf ~ Watch Meiko play Reasons to Love You at World Cafe Live in Philly! ~enjoy

Tomorrow !

Hello to everyone.
Tomorrow is the PUNK ROCK SCARF PARTY at Underground in Smithville, NJ. I hope everyone who reads this will come, but I do understand if you live too far or have something IMportant going on that will last most of the day and make it logistically impossible to stop in. So the party is scheduled to start at 12 or 1, depending on which sign or postcard or bulletin or event invite you look at. I love randomness but I apologize for confusing anyone. The truth is the store opens at 11, and I will be there from the time they open til the time they close (thanks in advance to Michael and Lucy for their hospitality!). So please come whenever you want :)

I finished tagging and listing all the scarves I'll be bringing, and I will have roughly 40 sock scarves, 11 dressy scarves, 11 tshirt scarves, and 6 kids scarves. The most EXCITING thing about this party (well not completely true) is that I have over THIRTY brand new sock scarves, which have never been available for public purchase. Yes I know, hold onto your hats.

So today I woke up with a scratchy throat. I really hope it goes away by tomorrow. That's really all I have for today. My brain is a little fried. OH if you live in a state where you set your clock back tonight, enjoy your extra hour, and make good use of it, hug a friend, or do some jumping jacks. or celebrate with a little jig.

home sweet home

Hi everyone,
Matt and I had a GREAT time in Oregon, and boy it's been hard to get back on schedule! We flew in Tuesday night, leaving Portland OR at 9:30 PM after driving 2 hours from beautiful Newport to the airport. Our flight left on time, and was 5 long hours. Thankfully it was a night flight, so they turned all the lights off and there was none of that airplane small talk that strangers seem to feel obligated to do while traveling. They played 2 movies, which is the only way I know I slept at all. First they played Get Smart. I love Steve Carell, so I begged Matt for a dollar to buy the disposable headphones they were selling, since I already promised the guy sitting on the aisle seat to my left that I wouldn't get up the whole flight (and I actually didn't!) and my headphones were packed away with our laptop in the overhead compartment. Matt said no, since I should sleep, and I knew he was right, but I couldn't fall asleep so I proceeded to watch the movie anyway and make up my own story. Did anyone see it? I really don't know if it was any good. So the next movie was Space Chimps. I didn't see much of Space Chimps, so I believe I may have slept for about 90 minutes, since that's probably the longest a kids movie could possibly last... I was awake on and off for the end of the flight when they were playing tv reruns. It was hard to sleep and the plane was bumpy. By the way! I am conquering my fear of flying by learning about flight! I learned that pilots learn to fly with only some or even none of the engines, and they can even land the plane safely with none of the engines working, since they can fly on wind currents! I had no idea. So I keep reminding myself during the takeoff and landing about all the things I learned about flight and I'm alot better now, ask Matt, no nail marks on his hands this time :)
OK so our plane landed at about 5:30 AM and it is now Wednesday, though to us it feels like a very late 2:30 AM on tues nite still... ugh. Then we had to find our luggage and then our car which we never wrote down where we parked! Thanks to some quick prayers, Matt found the car on the first try with no wasted steps, so we were on our way home from Newark, about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Then after a HOT much needed shower at home, and a 10 minute power nap I headed to work to do payroll. I worked until about 2 o'clock when I could no longer think and I was at the point of total ridiculum. So I headed home and basically slept from about 3 pm until 7 am today. Today was alot more productive at work, and a little productive when I got home. I managed to unpack one of my suitcases, I did 2 loads of laundry, and I made a schedule for Rachel's Thread through Dec 4th. There are a lot of fun things coming up! More about that later.
Please come see me here:

By the way, don't use your cell phone while you drive. I got pulled over for that yesterday. Just got a warning, but still, it was enough to make me stop.

this is where I've been

beautiful Newport Oregon. It's been amazing so far, and such a great way to get away and clear my head. I do miss all my family and friends to pieces, but other than that, it has been just about perfect. I hope to add the rest of the pictures to the web album before we leave, so check back if you'd like <3

dreamnite

Last night was a night of all-night wacky dreaming. Here is what I remember. Ingrid and I were getting together to work on a project. It wasn't the first time we were working on this project because I was fiddling with her measuring tape and broke it, and I told her now I owed her a new measuring tape and a new something else. We found Leigh outside in her trailer. She had bought a trailer I guess to carry around her art, and the outside of the trailer had art printed on it as well. It was really hard to jump up into the trailer, but once I did I realized, wow - it's also a refrigerator. What a great idea, since then your food will stay cold and you won't need to buy a fridge. Another part of the dream night I remember is from high school. I know I wasn't walking around naked, but there was definitely something I was unprepared for, like couldn't get to my locker in time, or couldn't write everything down fast enough. I know this is one of those standard dreams everyone has, so it almost feels stupid to even write it in here, but there it is, i dream the dreams normal people do too, woo hoo. The next thing I can remember is being at a party. It might have been a party for my little sister, since she was definitely there. Some other family members were there. I was making something with my little brother. Oh yeah, and basically the backdrop of all the dreams was all the things I am wanting to make, they are popping up everywhere. The next dream I had was a work dream. Somehow I was outside several blocks from the building, and they needed to get this string, or wire? over to the side of our building to thread it under the building. I'm not sure if they didn't know how to get there or whatever, but they wanted one of us to hold the one end of the string until we got there. I was the first pick for holding the string, but I was in my pajamas, and I THINK on my bike. They ended up picking someone else, I think Auntie Tricia, who was in a convertible. She doesn't work there, but also had already changed out of her pajamas. So we ended up at the back corner of the building, and we were able to thread the wire or string under the building, and they told us someone would have to crawl under there and get it to the other side, and then I was chosen again, but this time they did want me to do it cause I was in my pajamas. I have no recollection of doing it. The next and final part of the dream I remember, just barely, is being outside and this high school aged kid was hanging out in the back of this trailer or truck. All I remember is at the end of the day he thanked me for getting things set up for him. In fact, he may have been an older guy, with a teenage spirit. I remembered more about this dream RIGHT after I woke up, so maybe it will come to me later. The guy was really skinny. I asked him what his parents would think if they knew he was out there, I guess alone living in this trailer, and he didn't answer me. So that's the end of my dreamnite. I'd like to thank the Turkey/Swiss shortie from Wawa that I ate at 10:00.

meet the MINIs

Rachel's Thread MINIs will be available at Underground beginning this weekend! These little purses are about 6 inches wide, the perfect size for a cell phone or keys, and all those little essentials. This is the first batch of seven MINIs and there will be lots more to come!

Make a Statement!

I've been in the midst of a BUSY 2 weeks, but I don't want to neglect my blog, so here I am! Some exciting things are on the horizon, including: the debut of my Sock Scarves at Studio 27.28 this Saturday night...... Brand new patched purses and mini's at Underground this weekend during Octoberfest...... And a new home for Rachel's Thread scarves at Hair Culture in Galloway, NJ in the next few weeks!

Over the next 28 hours I will be busy finishing off some purses, making some mini's, designing some dressy and sock scarves, and straightening up my sewing room. It's exciting and FUN, but my regular job is definitely getting in the way right now :D

Are you looking for something to do this weekend? Check out my new "Upcoming Events" section on the right side ------>>>

Have a good Thursday <3

Rae of Green Apple's Purse

Hooray! I just finished off the custom messenger bag-style purse I was making for Rae and I want to KEEP it ... But since tomorrow I will part with the adorable bag, I decided to do a little photo shoot first. Actually the photo shoot starts out when the bag was just a few little squares of fabric. Also in the photos you'll see my new toy: the "Sidewinder". This awesome rechargable-battery-operated machine winds bobbins without having to un-thread your sewing machine. WOW-Winding the bobbins is so fun now! So if you sew, you need to have one. They are at Joann's for something like $22 if you use the 40% off coupon they send you. And they are Limited Edition Breast Cancer Supporting Sidewinders, so you can support a good cause too. Ok, enough commercial. Here are the pictures:

PS . I know I never said how Sunday went at the Berlin Farmers Market. I was too tired to even take a proper picture of my purchases, sadly, but I promise I will post about it soon. It's been a busy few days. But I did get Twister for 50 cents :)

Big Day "Off"

Sunday is the day I try to get things done. I need to get myself over to the bank today to open an account for Rachel's Thread. I got edged out of my old bank (Commerce) after the first year, since they started charging a fee when my balance was under $1,000 (!) . . . I guess they don't really care too much about the very small businessgirl, so I'm heading over to Cape Bank for some free small business checking. Then I'm stopping in The Flying Carp in Ocean City to drop off some new sock scarves. And THEN I'm driving up (over?) to Berlin to check out the new sock store at the Berlin Farmers Indoor Market. And then, finally I'll be stopping on the way home from Berlin in any fabric stores along my route. When I get home I'll be sewing some purses :) So today should be quite a productive day. So far, Matt and I shared a brownie for breakfast. And yes, I was up before 7 am on a weekend. Matt's going fishing on the boat today, so he's already up and out of the house. I'll hang around in my pjs for a while and do some paperwork. In the early morning, my hair looks alot like Paula Small's from Home Movies, which is by the way, one of my all-time most favorite shows. just a few clips: Melissa helps Coach McGuirk write a 'newspaper article' Jason's Ailments

Fall scarf excitement

Today Matt took 30+ scarves to work to have a little scarf show at his desk. He had a ton of interest and sold 4 scarves within the first hour! He said: "People are flocking around my desk!!!" (That's 3 exclamation points, which means alot from Matt). Well by lunchtime he got busted for selling something that wasn't for a fundraiser, so he had to hide the scarves away... But he managed to sell 11 scarves, and has a couple others set aside on reserve!! Go Matt :)
Here are the fall colored sock scarves that are hot off the sewing machine:

Hole in my sock

So one of my FAVorite pairs of socks has a hole in the toe... perfect for the next sock scarf I make for myself :)
This is actually exactly how Sock Scarves got started. 2 winters ago, I had already been making scarves, but not patched scarves, and I was lying in bed staring at a bunch of mismatched socks, and socks with holes in the toes, trying to figure out to do with them. I definitely didn't want to throw them away. I was actually planning on sewing up the little toe-holes, but then realized I'd have this extra thread/sewing bump at the tip of my foot, and I didn't really like that idea, plus hand-sewing is not really an interest of mine. And then I decided... how about a SOCK scarf... And that's basically how it began. I still wear the scarf that's made out of all my old socks all the time. So anyway, in case I get on Oprah some day, and can't spit the words out cause I'm way too nervous, at least all 6 or so of you who read this blog will know how it all began. . .

back to work

Hi everyone. Hope you had a nice weekend. I got to see a bunch of relatives on Sunday who were visiting our new house for the first time. A few people definitely seemed to feel that seeing the Rachel's Thread workshop was the highlight of our house. I even sold 4 scarves !! I also got to finish up an 'Heirloom Scarf' for my cousin, which is filled with pieces of each of her son's favorite things. Star Wars, sports t-shirts and jerseys, and even a pair of snowman toe socks that one of her sons used to wear.

Today I've been working on some paperwork. Selling things=paperwork, but it's always a good feeling. Now I'm trying to get in the mood for fall colored scarves, since I'll be making a few sock scarves in browns, oranges, and nice fall looks. ALSO, if you haven't noticed, I listed another t-shirt scarf in my etsy store. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) most of the scarves Amy and I had pictures and descriptions to list on etsy are now SOLD! I'll probably add a few more this week. I have just about the perfect amount of time to do that each morning. My morning includes the following: Alarm goes off at 5:30, I press snooze about 6 times, finally get up with Matt at 6:53. Then I go on the internet, make our lunches, go on the internet, iron our clothes, go on the internet. Then Matt leaves for work, and I might go on one more time after saying goodbye. I usually leave myself about 10 mins to shower, figure out what to wear, get dressed, find my keys and phone, and make sure our cat is inside. So anyway, I think I can manage to get a new scarf up in my store at least a few times a week.

best Dad ever

They did a special article about my dad on Standup2cancer.org
The quote from Rodney Guishard at the end of this article was one of the most memorable moments of my dad's funeral.
Here is the link to the article: Beyond the Bench

I miss my dad every day. I don't quite have the correct words or medium to express it at this point, but once I do, I might do a better post about it.

Photo from Father's Day 2007

Rods and Rods of Scarves

Finished hanging the scarves in my scarf room last night. This is Sooooooooo exciting for me. I kept going in the room and turning the light on to look at them, and then leaving, and then going back in to look at them some more.... It literally looks like a store (but shhh, I'm really not running a store from my place of residence). So anyway, I'll be listing a handful on etsy so if you happen to spot one in the picture that you love, let me know, and I'll reserve it for you :) If you click on the image you can see the larger (and even grainier, sorry...) version.

Green Apple Rae and Go Eagles!

Hiya, how is everyone today? Last night I had the pleasure of having Rae (of the Green Apple Rae series) over to pick out fabric for a patched purse. All the fabrics she chose look great, and I can't WAIT to start piecing them together. I'll surely post pictures once it's done. She also picked out a scarf from the Pink Squirrel series, to give to her grandmom for her 80th Birthday. Maybe we'll get to see a picture of that lovely lady in her scarf too, hint hint.

So on Monday I was leaving work wearing this new hat someone at work gave me. The hat has, i don't know... a mosquito or something on front, maybe he's rowing or something? I really don't know. But it's definitely a flying bug of some kind. Well, I was walking out of work to my car, and some girl yells from her car "GO EAGLES!!!!" Haaaha. So here is a picture of me, in my new "Eagles" hat.

Blah blah blog

Hi. I spent a long time last night trying to figure out how to 'feed' this blog onto my myspace page www.myspace.com/rachelsthread . I think I finally have the application working ok, so we'll see. If you're reading this on myspace then, hooray, success. And if you're on the myspace page and would like to see the complete blog check out rachelsthread.blogspot.com .

So I see that people can sign up to be 'followers' of this blog. I never thought the term 'follower' had a very good connotation . . . but we promise no one will judge you if you do decide to 'follow' in this instance.

Ok. I guess that's it for now about that. Fall purses will hopefully be in the works tonight, So keep your eyes on my etsy store :)

Recycle!

I found this ad in our Atlantic County, NJ Recycling Newsletter. If anyone has an old or extra bike, this is such a great idea! They also have a website p4p.org where you can see the countries that are being helped out, and also find a collection site in your local area. And, they're taking used sewing machines! Check it out, and spread the word :)

shirt

Forgot to mention, Matt and Johnny installed 2 rods in my scarf room last week! I can now hang scarves and fabric samples along the back wall, and the place looks like a little store :) I love it. It's inspired me to get organized, so everything is put away except a huge pile of small pieces of fabric. Tomorrow, I'll hopefully get to work on a few purses for orders, and then get the remainder of the fabric put away, Yay!

So, I'm getting ready to play some Rock Band now. I'd love to play while wearing this shirt:
.
But does anyone see a link to buy it? I'm confused, or maybe it's just been a long day, but either way... I really want it...

Oh boy !

I have a new blog... so if you want to hear about what I've been up to, new scarf news, and other big announcements such as what I had for breakfast, this is where you want to be.

So, in scarf-related news ~ a new line of patched purses is almost in the works, and they'll be made from recycled upholstery samples! I have TONS of these samples, thanks to a friend in the furniture industry, in loads of perfect FALL colors. This should be really exciting. Anyway, I'm looking forward to making one for myself :)

And, in other news ~ I'm eating grilled veggies, mac+cheese, and steamed beets for lunch. [The beets have turned everything in my tupperware pink]

That's it.