08.31.06
Posted in ElisaLou at 11:32 am by elisa
I hate running out of thread. Especially at night when the stores are closed.
Cole and I got up this morning and braved a thunderstorm so I could get some more. He found this
he called it a fabric present. Had to have it because of the dogs. Lucky for him I had one of those 40% off coupons, so he got to take it home. That store makes me crazy but I guess the secret is to go on a stormy day. We had the place to ourselves.
Expecting another fabric shipment soon and then those fall fabrics are going up. I promise!
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08.30.06
Posted in ElisaLou at 8:17 am by elisa
Ok, after much thought I have decided to no longer offer jewelry on the ElisaLou site. It was a tough decision but I have found it getting increasingly harder and harder to keep up with both sides of the business. My true passion is textiles so the choice was easy. My plan is to now focus 100% of my time to the bags- scoping out the coolest new fabrics and coming up with fun new bag designs.
So…. if you see something you like, grab it now before it is GONE.
And, if you want cool jewelry, check out my friend Heidi her stuff rocks.
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08.28.06
Posted in Life at 4:56 pm by elisa
Some much needed rain all day today. All good except for the muddy football practice tonight for Austin.
Thanks for all the well wishes for my finger! It is sore but fine and I am having a good time grossing out all my sons friends.
The other injury around here is my girl dog. This picture cracks me up
She wounded her head when we went to the farm a couple weeks ago and the dinkus keeps scratching it and pulling the scab off. Next thing we know she has a massive head wound. Talk about gross. I told her I would be her friend again when it heals- just kidding but I try not to look at it before dinner.
So now she has the cone- which seems to have depressed her a little bit- not exactly the fashion statement that she wanted to make. Not to mention that her clumsy self has been knocking every thing over and running into walls.
So, doing some healing around here.
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08.27.06
Posted in ElisaLou at 10:29 am by elisa
I should have added to the other faq post about discontinued fabric. Most of our fabrics are going to be “limited editions”. This is for a couple reasons.
The first is that it may just be all gone. Sometimes fabric manufacturers keep producing their prints and sometimes they have one run and then they are discontinued.
The second reason is because I like to keep things fresh. By continually adding and subtracting fabrics, it keeps it interesting for me and guarantees that there won’t be millions of bags out there that look exactly alike.
So….that said, if there is a fabric out there that you absolutely love, you can always email to see if I have gobs of it left, or if it’s nearing the end.
The blue flowers on brown actually falls into both categories- I have tried to find more but it’s all gone.
Now, on to more gross topics. Yesterday I impaled my finger with one of my thick sewing needles. I break a lot of needles, but have never had an injury from one. There’s always a first I guess. I thought it had just punctured my finger nail so when I went to the sink to wash off the blood, you can imagine my surprise when I turned my hand palm side up and saw a little bit of silver poking out of the back part of my finger. I stood there for a minute staring at it, thinking no way did that needle go all the way through my finger. I walked over and calmly got some tweezers and tried to gently pull it out. I just couldn’t do it so I yelled down to the basement where Andy was working on the plumbing, “hey can you come up here for a minute?” to which he responded “I’m busy! Can’t it wait?” Umm, don’t think so. So he came up and took a look at my finger and I watched it sink in as he figured out what I needed him to do. SO we went to the sink and he said, “1.2.3″ and tired to pull it out. It wouldn’t budge. Tried again, same thing. I started sweating and I thought I was going to throw up. But on the third try it came out and after a cold glass of water, all was well. But my finger is sore and has a hole it it! I eyed my sewing machine suspiciously for a while thinking “hey I thought we were friends” but I have since forgiven it.
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08.25.06
Posted in ElisaLou at 1:38 pm by elisa
Round two of the faq- hey that rhymes.
How long will it take to get my bag
Ok I actually don’t get asked this question very often (all of ya’ll are extremely patient). But I thought people might want to know. Typically I do a one to two week turn around. Usually it doesn’t take that long. A recent surge in business has pushed me to two weeks- possibly three.
Can I pick the interior fabric for my bag?
Absolutely, in fact we encourage this. We offer suggestions for those who don’t want to deal with it, but it’s always your choice to put something else inside. We will work with you on this if needed as well. I get a lof of “will this go with this?” Love it.
What are your fabric made of?
I am a cotton snob but I do have a couple blends as well. Most of the fabrics are heavy decorator weight but some are regular premium cottons. I am considering labeling which is which on the site but if you want to know, just send me an email.
How do you run a business with three young kids?
I have a VERY supportive husband. But I also waited and brewed ideas while my first two kids were young. Now they are in 1st and third grades so they are gone all day. My third child just turned three and will be starting preschool in a few weeks. I started slow, tried out a little of this and that and really thought hard about my passions.
I signed up for the email but never got one, what’s up?
My husband is very busy (see above) 
he is in charge of the website. I think he is working on a newsletter to get out once he gets the fall fabrics up. So soon, hopefully.
What does the zippered laptop bag look like?
it looks like this
That is all, it’s Friday- yippee. Have a great weekend.
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08.24.06
Posted in ElisaLou at 9:13 am by elisa
How exciting is it when the UPS man comes? We all get into it, even the dogs- Right after I had Cole I was sitting on the couch nursing him and I saw one of my dogs out front chasing a UPS truck down the street. I ran out there (with baby still attached to boob) and started yelling for him to come back. He gets too close and gets clipped by the wheel which sends him rolling to the curb. I am still screaming and finally, finally the UPS man decides to stop. My dog Astro was ok, and Andy fixed the fence where he was escaping (let me tell you- that half coyote dog is a genius). So now our UPS experiences are better. Except yesterday when I was expecting a fabric shipment. I opened the door to find this sweet little box from Garnet Hill. Hmmm tempting as it was to stick it under my shirt, I dutifully took it next door to my neighbor Kitty Jo. Don’t you just love that name? Her husband’s name is Rex. Love it. Anyway they are cool, my parents age, and they love kids and dogs and always have an assortment of both coming and going from their house. When I got to her porch I saw my huge package sitting there. She opened the door and I handed her my trade and lugged my big rolls of fabric back home.
But the good thing, new fabric! Check these out.
I am so loving the brown and salmon and light blue polka dot, and the atomic looking one- so much fun!
So sign up for the email because as soon as these babies make it to the web site, an email is going out. Now when will they make to the website, well that’s another story. We have to talk to my tired husband about that one. In the meantime if you see something you want, shoot me an email and we can work it out.
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08.23.06
Posted in ElisaLou at 7:37 am by elisa
So remember I talked about the gourd plants growing in my backyard well yesterday I found this
and this
little baby gourds. I have no idea how we are going to mow the lawn because I am leaving these babies right where they are. My grass is all dried up from lack of rain any way, probably no need to mow. Nights are getting a little cooler, school starts tomorrow and I find myself looking forward to fall.
In the meantime I am still doing a lot of this
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08.21.06
Posted in ElisaLou at 8:05 pm by elisa
I read this great quote today
“The real measure of a home is how it restores you at the end of the day”.
My home is chaotic, messy, and usually pretty loud. Being the only girl in a house full of boys sometimes takes it toll. Am I really the only one who cares if you can’t walk through the Living Room because there are toys all over the floor?
But my home is also, well, homey. When I think of home I think of comfort, dogs, cottage, trees, porches, quilts, color. I think of my kids and hope that their memories of home will be of safety but also fun. My boys have been fighting a lot lately and it is making me crazy. My brother is 8 years older than me so sometimes I have to take a step back and try to put myself in their shoes- 3 boys- 3 very different boys- trying to grow and become individuals. It’s hard work. So I take a deep breath and hope for more patience and better sibling relations tomorrow.
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08.20.06
Posted in ElisaLou, Life at 8:17 am by elisa
A naked Knight has invaded my sewing space.
and…
I love it when my customers put together cool desgins so I thought I might start featuring some here. This was the latest one I thought was pretty cool. A Kiwi swirls messenger bag with black gingham on the inside.
Once again the weekend has passed and it feels like I need another weekend. The boys finished up the summer with a party at the pool last night and tonight is a cookout with some of Andy’s work friends. Ice cream social at the school on Tuesday and school starts on Thursday, and that’s it. Summer is coming to an end my friends. Seems like it just started.
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08.18.06
Posted in Life at 11:53 am by elisa
the book below is now in. my. house. Can’t wait to dive in- last night I left the kids all waiting on the curb for the ice cream man (with my mom) and I slipped over to B&N for a few minutes of me time. Came home with the new O magazine (the Home one- not the regular one) I couldn’t resist the flowers on the front, and the new Quilts and More. And of course the Amy Butler book.
On another note….
I will be the first to admit that having a husband work for VS has it’s advantages. Besides the nice discount, he likes to surprise me with things too. A couple days ago the UPS man was at the door and handed me a big bag from from VS and said, “uh- this is for Andy.” Inside was a bunch of tanks and also this skirt. This is the 2nd time this skirt has made it to my house and it is the 2nd time it will be going back. Like a few other things at VS, the picture is deceiving. It is much much shorter. I’m not sure exactly what he is thinking or where I would ever wear this skirt, PTA meeting?
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