many think better than one

All I can say is thank you, thank you! Your response to my survey has been overwhelming and I can't believe all the great ideas you've been sharing with me. My future posts thank you too!

I am so excited to be hearing from so many of you and so humbled by the generosity of your kind words. Your comments just propel me to work harder on this blog that I enjoy so much.

We all know that collaboration brings fruits of its own and this time it was no different. Everything you shared with me has really sent my mind into overdrive. And, yes, I consider your input a collaboration with the efforts that I do here.

There are so many options I could start working on! In order to keep myself sane and wanting to jump in and do this or that or ooooh that, I'm going to have to buckle down and put together a plan for the next few months. It'll be very nice to be more organized about my approach. I can't wait to get started!

And again... thank you!

If this is the first time you hear about this and you'd like to help me make A Little Hut a better place to visit, check out yesterday's post. I would love to hear from you too.

• • •

You know it's rare for me to leave a post without a photo right? This happens to be another collaboration I've been working on. These boxes where made my son's 5th grade class. I'll tell you the whole story and share photos of the final project on Thursday.

if I may be so bold...

I have an enormous favor to ask. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I didn't want to impose. However, I think the time has come to go for it. So here's the deal...

I love working on this blog very much and I want it to make it even better. More importantly, I want you to enjoy your time here. I think that one of the best ways to do this, is to ask you directly, what you'd like to see. I want A Little Hut to be a place where you can come and learn or be inspired by something new—but I need to know what that means for you. This isn't to say that my ideas and projects will change drastically, but it would be helpful for me to learn more about all of you and why it is that you stop by.

In the coming months I have some plans for improvement, so a simple survey will help me tremendously in moving forward. I know... a survey. Blah. Not the most exciting thing in the world. But I promise it will only take you a couple of minutes because it's only 5 questions long and it's completely anonymous. That's all! Painless and easy.

Although I can't wait to hear from you, I'll admit that I'm still a bit nervous—which is kind of funny since I've never had anything but kind messages and comments from all of you. So... if you would like to help me out I would be so very, very grateful—and thank you for making what I do so rewarding.

Click here to answer the survey.



As a small way to show my appreciation for you being here, whether you answer the survey or not, here is a new thank you card that you can pass on to someone that you think needs to hear from you. Download here.

And again...

Thank you!

EDIT - I will leave the survey open indefinitely. If you're reading this days or weeks after the fact I still would love to hear from you.

gifts

It never ceases to amaze me that there is such talent everywhere and that the internet allows us to share our ideas and work. Frankly, sometimes it's a bit too much to take it all in. But every now and then it's quite exciting to be wrapped up in the middle of it all and visit with real live people that you've met through the computer screen. That's what I got to do over the weekend at Quilt Market. So that is the theme for today...

Friday Tidbits

Cloud 9 (Michelle Engel Bencsko and Gina Pantastico) and Daisy Janie (Jan DiCinto) and her friend Corina.
I saw them all on Monday (lucky me!) at Quilt Market (a trade show for fabric and quilts) and I couldn't be happier for their success. Not only are they all quite talented but they couldn't be any sweeter. They are the real deal people—the real deal. Follow the links above to check out their fantastic work, all produced on organic fabrics.





The amount of interesting work I saw at Market was incredible and as a first time visitor it was quite overwhelming. I had to skip much of the show or I'd never make it to the people that I really wanted to visit. The fun part was visiting with friends (old and new) on Friday at Fabric 2.0. I had brief conversations/encounters with Caroline, Marisa, Lizzy, Melissa, Jenean and Rachel—they are all so inspiring.

As you know, I dabble with patterns but I haven't been too serious about it just yet. Maybe one day, I will get on with it and show my work somewhere like Quilt Market or Surtex. Only time will tell.

And a little extra one...

Gifted
Have you seen the new magazine published by Ez of Creature Comforts? It's a beautiful collection of design, tutorials and gift ideas. I'm so honored that my Gift Tags and Gift Boxes are included (pgs 212 and 216). Thank you so much Ez!



If I'm talking about gifts, why not be literal and show a gift box? This was totally a spur of the moment deal and I made it using the design of one of my calendar pages. See it? (top middle).

Have a great weekend everyone!

2011 calendar

You know when you have a great feeling about something you've made and you absolutely do not care whether anyone else gets it or not? That's how I feel about this calendar. It was one of those projects that just came out without much fighting with myself.



This calendar will be offered as a DIY option—as a PDF document or printable/SVG files. I realize that this may not be what everyone would prefer but there are two reasons why I decided to do this. The first, is that (being perfectly honest with myself—and you) the production of any amount of calendars seems daunting to me at the moment. The second reason is that there are so, so many great ready-made options that I wanted to design something that you could really tackle and make your own.

In order to keep the project as simple as a possible, while still remain interesting to look at, I kept the shapes simple/approachable and set the design up with two months per page.

This will make a fun (& economical!) project to work on for gift giving. Work on it on your own or as a group at a crafty get together. Throw in some yummy snacks and drinks and you'll have a great time!

When I say you can make the calendar your own this is what I mean...



If you prefer more color in your calendar, all you need to do is use scraps of paper or fabric to the back of each calendar box. Here I used green paper and a piece of linen—but who's to say you can't make your version more sparkly and add glitter or shiny paper too? Remember that even if you don't add anything the color of your wall will show through each box.

There is a small window of hope...
If you are interested in a ready made (printed and cut) version (with some small assembly required) please email me [info at a little hut dot com]. I may decide to sell a limited edition depending on the interest level.

- To order a PDF printable version click here.
- To order SVG files compatible with SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot) click here.

EDIT - By request of several customers I am now going to be offering a limited edition of a ready-made calendar. It will be delivered completely cut, scored and there will be minimal assembly required. Order here.

If you prefer a simpler calendar to work on, my blank DIY calendar is still in my shop (I had a few customers requesting the 2011 version in the summer—to get a head start on holiday gifts!) and my initial cutout calendar is still very popular too.

From where I stand, calendars are a lot of fun to design. My biggest hope is that those of you that do choose to work on your own diy calendar find it just as rewarding as I do.

So, here's to some fun paper crafting!

PSST! Remember that if you need some tips on working with paper projects you can check out some of my tips under The Basics section on cutting —here and here or about scoring here. (Thank you Trisha and Janet for recommending I mention this!)