In March, our beloved dog, and the inspiration behind my business passed away suddenly.

Anybody who’s ever loved and lost a dog knows how hard this is. They’re family, and our home was a little bit quieter and a lot messier (she was a great vacuum, picking up every bit of food my son dropped). There has been a dog shaped hole in my heart since Sassy has been gone, but this week that all changed. Meet Maggie! We rescued her from a local shelter. She is 7 months old, and her breed is anyone’s guess. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a puppy, and Maggie is all puppy. As our vet said, she has some big paws to fill.

Cystic Fibrosis is is a genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. Currently, there are approximately 30,000 kids and adults in the US living with CF. One of those kids is Jack. He was born the same day as my son. I “met” Jack’s mom through BabyCenter.com while we were pregnant. I will get to meet their family this weekend at the Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis, in St. Louis. For the last month, I’ve donated 20% of all Sew Sassy sales to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The CFF is the world’s leader in the search for a cure. My husband’s cousin lost her life to CF in 2011. I am excited to report that as of today, I’ve raised over $200. That money will go towards research in finding a cure!

So, it’s been awhile. I hate it too. There have been numerous times over the last month that I “write” a blog post in my head, but never seem to find the time to actually sit and type it out. I’ve been incredibly busy, which is awesome, but not an excuse. I’ve said it before, but really mean it this time (or, I hope that I really mean it at least), but I vow to do better. I planned to type this all as one post, but it got too long, so for your sanity, I’m breaking it up.

Scarves have kept me busy. Besides sales, there have been a few- out of the ordinary- exciting developments since I last posted. I sold 2 chevron scarves to a woman named Suzanne- the co-creator of ScoopOTP, a insiders guide to life outside of Atlanta. She found my etsy site through google, saw I was a local small business over, ad Sew Sassy was featured in an article on their website!

When I launched Sew Sassy Creations as a business, I was making t-shirt quilts and very little else. I started making baby blankets, and the youth college and NFL blankets, but the market for that isn’t huge. The infinity scarves have been a hit, but I’ve been at a standstill the past 2 weeks, waiting for my new fabric to arrive. Today, I scoured Pinterest and the Internet for inspiration for new projects. I’m looking for things I can sew, and sell in my etsy shop for $20 or less. I’ve found patterns for other types of scarves, and today I attempted a woven bracelet using jersey knit fabric. Not sure how I feel about it though… Tomorrow I’m going to try a new type of scarf using recycled (or the term may be upcycled) shirts. I’ll post pictures if that turns out decent.

Happy Monday morning friends! This was a big weekend for Sew Sassy. I opened my Etsy shop, and bought a domain name. We’ll start with Etsy. Have you shopped there? It’s addicting! I spent a small fortune during my pregnancy, buying things for my son. There is something special about buying something homemade, and I love supporting small businesses. I never thought I’d open a shop myself, but I also never thought I’d leave my job to stay home with my son. Facebook was a great way to start my business, but now with the scarves, I needed a better way to organize, and promote my business. My shop went “live” Sunday afternoon, with only 1 item listed. I about fell over when that item was purchased Sunday evening! It’s exciting, and I can’t wait for the fabric I ordered last week to arrive so I can list more.

Now, lets talk about the domain name. I’m not sure if I ever posted the reasoning behind “Sew Sassy”. Sew goes without saying, just a play on words. I went through a variety of adjectives, and names (of course) were taken. Sassy is sort of a play on words too, because its the name of our dog. My husband and I got Sassy while we were in college. This past year, she turned 10. She’s such a great pet, and has adjusted quite well to her new roll as big sister. OK, back on track…. I’ve thought about purchasing SewSassyCreations.com for awhile, and thought with the Etsy shop, the time seemed right. I was so proud, that I did it all on my own- buying the domain, setting up the account, and figuring our how to route my blog to the new address.

So, that’s what’s been going on. I’m expecting some fabric to arrive today, but the bulk of it won’t ship until next week. Keep checking back. I was embarrassed when I logged on and saw how long it’s been since I’ve updated. I vow to do better!