This Coming Saturday! Webs Tent and Fleece Sale

Popping in today quickly to tell everyone that I will be setting up a small booth at the 16th Annual Webs Tent and Fleece Sale this Saturday - May 19th from 10-5:30. I think this may be the 6th year that I have done this event. I look forward to meeting lots of folks and spreading my love of color. I will have our Farm Raised Leyden Glen Lamb with me along with my books and whatever else I can organize quickly. I will be sure to bring samples from the new book. 

Also - upcoming at Webs, I will be doing a Book Event on June 2nd from 2 to 4. More information here. Thanks so much to the fine folks at Webs for helping to spread the word about my new book Crafting A Patterned Home. 

I'm off to the Tuesday Market in Northampton today. It looks like it is going to rain something awful. Our lilacs are just starting to pop. And the apple trees in the orchard are ready to burst open too. I will try to get some photos this week but for now - here is a throwback to the lilacs a couple years ago. 

Photos from the Book Party

What a weekend! The Book Party was a huge success. It is all a bit of a blur for me and I am plum exhausted. I keep going over the conversations I had with so many really nice people. It was such fun to share all the decor and color with folks that were interested in what I do. I have no idea how many people came but I am guessing it was at least 200. 

Saturday was incredibly beautiful - sunny and not cold and not hot - just perfect. Blue skies - some wispy clouds. The dogs Kate and Sadie greeted people. The cats - especially kitten Rosie and senior cat Charlie were definitely the stars of the weekend. 

This is the 4th time I have held an Open House but the first Book Party. Over the years, I have figured out the traffic patterns and what works best. I was extremely fortunate to have Photographer RIkki Snyder and her boyfriend Riley here to help out. Rikki took all these photos for me because I just didn't have time to do it. Thanks Rikki. My friend Kay ran the cash drawer and my friend Linda came and helped greet people. It was awesome to have such help because it really isn't possible to do this kind of thing without help - especially with the cleaning and set-up. Thank you Kay, Gail, Rikki and Riley for helping make it all guest worthy. 

I had a guest book so that I could see where people traveled from. Lots of local folks came along with folks from Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, Connecticut, and even Texas. Now I'm hoping this event helps to spread the word about color and pattern and creativity through the folks who came and the new book Crafting A Patterned Home which is getting out there. 

I had the first floor of our farmhouse open along with the two sheds outside and my studio downstairs. The outdoors was self-guided and it was great to look out the porch windows to see folks enjoying the sunshine and the spaces I have created. 

Here are some photos taken by Rikki so you can feel like you were here. Enjoy!

New Tea Towels - Rosie checking them out

My hexie afghan was a hit

Julia is on the hunt for new glasses

 

Two Days to Go before the Book Party

I'm in a mad rush to get ready before the Book Party this weekend. I have no idea how many folks will come. It is an Open House format so everyone is welcome. The hours are 11 to 4 and people can stay as little or long as they like. My goal is to inspire folks to add color and pattern and joy to their own spaces. I'm hoping it works!

Tomorrow we are moving some sheep up to the green pastures outside our farmhouse. Hope they don't hide in the orchard so people can see them. 

Roost Books (my publisher) is supplying some food which is so sweet. Rikki Snyder - the photographer - is coming too. I have a few friends helping out but I really don't expect too many folks to make the trek - although I hope I have a decent turnout considering the amount of work it is to put on something like this. What was I thinking? 

At any rate - I am still sewing tea towels which I will have for sale - New designs that I did this winter. I also had some of my older patterns reprinted so there will be a variety. My sewing machine seems to be holding up okay. 

I'll also have some of my handmade pottery for sale. I haven't had a chance to make any this winter but I do have some pieces that didn't get fired in time for my Christmas sale so they will be available. 

Hope to see some of you here. No need to sign up but if you want - there is an EventBrite page here. This is a casual event - but wear flat shoes. The terrain is hilly. 

Busy, Busy + Big News! I'm Throwing A Book Launch Party.

Spring finally seems to be getting to western Massachusetts. The daffodils are blooming - such a cheery sight. Yesterday was the first day of the Northampton Tuesday Market. It was a gorgeous day and there was a big turnout. That was a surprise because usually the first market is quite slow. I think people were just so happy to see the sun and feel some warmth. 

I sell our local lamb at the Tuesday Farmers Market in Northampton for 30 weeks a year. As you can imagine, I have gotten to know some of the other vendors and some customers quite well. It was so good to see everyone yesterday and to hear how their winter was. The most common comment was LONG. I agree. 

I was blown away by the tulips, anemone and ranunculus at the Old Friends Farm stand. Gorgeous. I don't have any tulips in my garden because the sheep eat them so I love seeing bundles for sale. So colorful and such a harbinger of spring. 

In other news, I'm still getting some orders for my new book Crafting A Patterned Home. I'm up to 231 copies sold. It is going slow and I'm not sure I will make my goal of 500. I can at least try. Still time to order and get the freebies I offer plus free shipping. Here's the link to my website or you can buy in my Etsy shop here. 

My big news is that I am throwing my new book Crafting A Patterned Home a BOOK PARTY! Yes I am. In less than two weeks, I'm throwing open the doors of our antique farmhouse to share the colorful decoration with whoever travels to the farm. You can read all about it on my EventBrite page. There you can find tickets - IT IS FREE! 

The idea for the Book Party came from my agent Linda. She has come to my Holiday Open House for several years and she always leaves inspired. She suggested I do a similar event near the time of publication - and not in the winter when there is chance of snow. 

So here you have it - You are invited.

BOOK LAUNCH PARTY - MAY 5-6
HOURS - 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

to celebrate the publication of my new book 

CRAFTING A PATTERNED HOME.

Our colorful 1751 farmhouse will be open to the public. On view will be many of the projects that are featured in Crafting A Pattern Home along with many other things I have made over the years.

This event will be a celebration of the handmade. I hope the day will inspire you to add some pattern and color to your home.

The event is FREE. Books will be available along with some other things I have made. For more information and directions, see the EVENTBRITE PAGE HERE. 

Although tickets are not mandatory, it will help me get a count to know what to expect. Hope to see you here in western Massachusetts in May. 

EVENTBRITE TICKETS HERE

You can find directions to our farm on our Leyden Glen Lamb website here. Our farm is 2 hours from Boston, 1 hour north of Hartford and 3 1/2 hours north of NYC. We are 15 minutes off of Rt. 91. 

If you have any questions, send them in an email to kristinnicholas AT gmail DOT com or leave the ? in the comments. I will answer it there but make sure to check back for the answer. 

Big Announcement #1 from Kristin Nicholas

Boy, life gets busy sometimes. I want to thank you all for the book orders for my new book Crafting A Patterned Home. I've been busy shipping them out and am pretty much caught up on orders. I've heard from some who have purchased with comments - thank for those. It is difficult being in a void here so any feedback I hear is awesome. On the book count, I'm up to 221. Only 279 to get to my goal of 500 books. Here is the link to order directly from me. You will receive some exclusive freebies and Free Shipping. 

Now that that's done - here's the Big Announcement #1 for Today. I'm throwing my book a

PARTY! 

Yes - that's right. On May 5 and 6, I will be opening our Farmhouse for a House Tour and She Shed Tour. It's going to be fun. I will have it decked out with most of the projects from Crafting A Patterned Home. You will be able to see the decorative wall and fabric treatments for yourself. 

The goal of the PARTY is to inspire you to fill your home with color and pattern. I hope that by seeing the different projects in person, you will find the techniques approachable and not too scary to try yourself. And of course, another goal is to celebrate the publication of Crafting A Patterned Home. 

I've set up an Eventbrite page for the party. Check it out here and sign up for tickets. This event is free and open to the public. Can't figure out how to use Eventbrite - just shoot me an email that you will be coming. 

WHEN: May 5 and 6 (Sat + Sun)
HOURS: 11 to 4
WHERE: 31 Glen Road, Leyden MA 01301
HOW FAR FROM WHERE? We are approximately 2 hours west of Boston, 1 hour north of Hartford and 3 1/2 hours north of NYC. 
DIRECTIONS: Get them from our Leyden Glen Lamb website here. 
WHO TO BRING: Your friends, your Mom, your partner, your kids but NOT YOUR DOGS. This is a working sheep farm and dogs and sheep do not mix. Thanks. 

Questions - feel free to email me at kristinnicholas AT gmail DOT com

Can't get to the party? You can still buy your very own copy of Crafting A Patterned Home. Here is the link to order directly from me. You will receive some exclusive freebies and Free Shipping. 

One Week til Launch + Some Book Biz Thoughts

Hi Everyone. Thanks so much for placing the orders for Crafting A Patterned Home. I am up to 122 books that I will be shipping out by the end of this week. I am in the process of packing them now. The official release date is next Tuesday April 10th. Only 378 left to go to hit my goal of 500 books.  

I was speaking with a person this morning who will be interviewing me for a podcast I had never heard of. She was asking me about how I would like the link to point when she adds the book to her show notes on her podcast's website. I said I would really appreciate it if she pointed everyone to my very own website. She asked why so I explained. She was fascinated by the explanation I gave her and she said she never realized how little an author made from writing books nor how Amazon sales affected an author's income. I thought it would be good to explain it here since you too might be deciding to buy my new book on Amazon versus directly from me on my website - even if I do throw in all the goodies. 

I received an advance for this book. I got two checks - one in 2016 and one in 2017 - each for $7500. I also paid my agent her commission of 15%. I used the advance to fund all the projects in the book - there are 30. For most of them, I had to purchase new supplies. My advance was to help cover the cost of the supplies and to help me live during the book production. 

This book took me about 1 1/2 years to do, write, illustrate and edit. There are a lot of very big projects in this book that took eons of time. In between I did other projects to help pay the bills. I ran classes at our farm, sewed tea towels, made pottery, did Farmers Markets. We live pretty simply and try to keep our expenses low. 

By now, the advance payments are long gone. There are 2 ways I can make more off of this book. The first is to earn back my advance and if by some miracle I do earn back my advance, I will get a check twice a year for a very small amount. I will say that in all of my 12 books that I have written, there is only one book that I have earned my advance back on. Writing craft books is not the road to riches. I'm not complaining - I like to conceptualize, make, write, illustrate and do all the work that goes into making a book. 

I know that my only good chance of earning any more money off of Crafting A Patterned Home is to sell books myself. I purchase the books wholesale from the distributor and then I sell them direct to you. I have costs associated with this. Here is how I have broken them down.

Book Cost:                        $ 12.48
Bookplate:                         $     .04   (my own handpainted design for you)
Postcards (set of 5):          $     .50   (goodies from me)
Postage via Media Mail:    $   3.17   (I am offering free postage for a while)
Shipping Label:                 $    .04
Envelope:                           $    .28
Tissue Paper:                     $    .16
Plastic Bags for goodies    $    .05
Paypal Fee                         $   1.02
Ink and paper for printer? Who knows

My total cost:                     $ 17.74
My profit:                            $ 7.21 per book

This does not count my time designing postcards, painting the bookplates, ordering supplies..... nor packing the books. Lots of planning and time goes into this. 

If I sell you the book for $24.95, I am making $ 7.21 per book past my advance that was received in 2016 and 2017. This will really help me keep my business alive this spring. Once again - it is not the road to riches but it is a help. 

If you buy the book via Amazon, the purchase of the book will go towards the book count towards my book advance. Amazon will make the spread past the cost that they pay the publisher for the book. I am quite sure they receive a larger discount than I do. As we all know - they are the largest bookseller in the world and most books are now sold through them. 

My agent Linda and I met the other day for lunch. I was telling her how I would be selling copies of the book. She said "I always tell authors - the person who puts the book in the hands of the purchaser is the one who makes the most money. Past the author, the editor, the book designer, the photographer, the distributor. " 

So thanks for purchasing from me. Here are the four different bookplates that I have designed. I am randomly packing them in envelopes but if you want a certain one, please note it on your order. 

This is my collating station where I stack up the various postcards and goodies and bag them up to go with each book. 

I'm not sure why more authors don't take the opportunity to sell their books directly. Perhaps they would rather be writing books rather than packing and shipping them. Perhaps they don't have an e-commerce website and don't want to bother. Me - I like to have my income come from many streams. I like the variety and the planning and the scheming and the physicality of shipping orders and going to the Post Office. I'm going to be thinking about all of you kind people as I wrap and package this new book - Crafting A Patterned Home. 

Here is the link to order Crafting A Patterned Home from me. Thanks so much. 

Of course - if you are lucky enough to have a local indie bookstore, please buy from them to help keep them in business. Bookstores struggle as much as authors do to make a living. It is your choice but if you do purchase from me - thank you so much - from Julia, Mark and I here at our farm. 

News from the Studio

I've been so incredibly busy this past month. So busy, that I haven't been able to post here on the blog. My manuscript for my next book Crafting A Patterned Home came back to me after I re-wrote things in January. I had a week to turn it around this time. This is the last time I will see it until after the copy editor reviews it and I have to answer questions about it. It's a big hurdle I just got over and I am relieved. I think it is reading nicely. I hope you all will like it.

Next, I had to pump out about 76 illustrations for the book. I was given a week to do it. First, I do pencil sketches on tracing paper. I transfer them to watercolor paper using a light box. I hand-paint them with gouache. 

That is the fun part. Then they had to all be scanned. During a snow day, I taught Julia how to scan and she scanned almost all of them for me while I kept painting more. We have had a lot of snow and school has been called off and started late. One week Julia only went to school one day due to illness and snow. Good thing I had work for her. 

After scanning, I bring each of them into Photoshop, fix the color, tweak them some more and cover up mistakes, then re-size them for the publisher to drop into the book layout. It is a lot of work. It used to be that I would do the illustrations and ship them off to the publisher and they would do all of the work for turning them into art ready for the book. Now it is up to me to do that for them. Progress? I didn't actually get them all done in a week but I got them all done pretty done close to the deadline. Success.

Next up, after the illustrations, I had to draw all the templates for the different projects in Adobe Illustrator. Templates are different than illustrations. They are like a pattern piece and are printed as line art in black and white - no color. The process for this part of the book project is that I put each piece on my scanner, cover it with a white sheet, scan it, and then bring the scan into Illustrator. I use the scan to draw over and turn it into line art. 

There were a lot of templates for this book project. Here's a pile of some of them. 

Next week is school vacation. Luckily I am caught up with my book deadlines and hopefully will have some down time to spend with Julia and help out at the farm. It is her last February vacation before high school graduation in June. Yikes. 

Big News + Happy Birthday Crafting A Colorful Home

Last year on January 15th, Crafting A Colorful Home was published by Roost Books. Hard to believe it has been a year - and quite a year it has been. I want to thank you all for your support of me, my work, my blog, my family and our farm and this book. 

Last January, I wrote this blog post about how a book is made why it helps readers to buy directly from an author. The response was so positive and I received many, many orders. I think it helped to clear things up with readers about why I (and most likely many other craft book authors) write books. Last February, I was kept busy with shipping books and lambing and snowstorms. It was so heartwarming to read each buyer's name, sign their book and send them off into their home. With each book I shipped, I hoped that I would inspire the reader to decorate with fearlessness, color, and the handmade. 

Crafting A Colorful Home was embraced by the print media. The book or projects from the book with photos by Rikki Snyder were featured in Yankee Magazine, Mary Jane's Farm, Taproot, Where Women Create, The Houston Chronicle, The Greenfield Recorder, The Northampton Gazette, Small Spaces/Big Ideas, Country Woman, Romantic Homes, Bohemian Home, Mollie Makes, Cottages and Bungalows, Library Journal, Flea Market Decor, Woman's World, The Houston Chronicle, and the Boca Raton Observer. I'm not sure what happened with the on-line community where Crafting A Colorful Home was concerned. It got zero interest from design bloggers. I had high hopes but I guess it didn't speak to bloggers. Oh well - disappointment can make one work harder. 

Crafting A Colorful Home has been the vehicle to introduce me to a world beyond the world of knitting. I feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity and that my work and art is being so well received. 

Last summer, I shared our farm with many students who came from near and far. I taught them fabric printing, about color, knitting (no - I haven't given it up), and crewel embroidery. What great creative days and new friendships with lovely women were formed. 

In May, a film crew came from California and Houzz produced a video about our farm. You can watch it here. It has been viewed over 96,000 on YouTube alone, not to mention everyone who has watched it on Houzz's website. 

I began making and painting pottery again and opened up a second Etsy shop for mail-order sales of my art. I painted several oil paintings and colorful lampshades - they are for sale on my Etsy shop too. 

In December, our home was featured in Yankee Magazine. You can read that article on-line here. In early December, I opened up our home for a Holiday Open House along with two friends of mine. It was such fun to share the color and decor with those who came and see them excited about decorating with color. I'm hoping to repeat the event again in 2016. 

So what more is on the horizon here at this little old farm? Once again, I will be teaching Creative Retreats here at our sheep farm to small groups of students. I've got to get that organized and scheduled so that you all can think about coming. 

Anyone have anything particular they would like to learn? Any interest in a weekend of learning to oil paint or a weekend painting your own dinnerware? Anything else? Embroidery? Knitting? Color? Fabric printing? SPEAK UP!

Here is my big news...... I am writing another book for Roost Books. What's it about? It is a continuation of Crafting A Colorful Home but it will be a stand alone book too. I'm super excited to begin. My deadline is November 2016. The new book will not be released until 2018. Boy that seems so far away, doesn't it? Best thing is I spoke with my editor Jenn and she said she doesn't mind if I include small bits and previews from this upcoming book here on the blog with you all. I know it is a long time to wait to see the book in print but at least I can include a bit of what I will be working on here on the blog. 

This is what I need from all of you. If you have any ideas for me - about projects and techniques you would like to see included in my new book - shall we call it CACH#2? - please send them on in - leave a note in the comments or shoot me an email at kristinnicholasATgmailDOTcom. I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

This post is a bit of My Year in Review. I've never done a post like this but I thought that documenting 2015 here will be a reference for me in the future. I thank you all for your support this past 2015 and I look forward to sharing more with you in 2016. I am still selling signed copies of Crafting a Colorful Home on my website here. 

More Paisley Crewel Progress

My printed and crewel embroidered paisley piece is coming along. I wanted to share some of the photos of the individual finished paisley motifs with you all. Above each photo, I have given you the stitches I used to complete each paisley motif.

You can come to our farm and take a Crewel Embroidery class with me this summer on August 8 and 9. Class is limited in size to 8 people so this is real hands-on with lots of my help. We will have time to do some printing on linen fabric if you want to make a paisley design similar to what I have been making and sharing here on the blog. 

For this year's classes, I have decreased the price but I will not be serving dinner at the farm. There are so many great places to eat around here that feature incredible locally raised food. The bottom line was that worrying about dinner for everyone on top of teaching was too much for me. But I do throw a very nice lunch spread which will not disappoint, along with nice homemade snacks during the day. Check out all my offerings this year here. The Fabric Printing Class has sold out but I will be adding a second class since it is proving popular.

Can't get to our farm - check out my on-line class on Craftsy. See the link on my left sidebar for a special price for this on-line class.  

Onto the paisleys......

Stitches Used: Chain, Outline, Fly, Cross, Fern, Straight, Couching

Stitches Used: Chain, French Knots, Two Color Running, Threaded Herringbone, Fern

Stitches Used: Tied Cross Stitch, Laid Stitch, Chain, Outline

Stitches Used: Chain, Fern, Fly, Laid, Outline

Stitches Used: Chain, Running Stitch, Buttonhole

One of the reasons this project was so much fun and went quickly was that the paisley shapes were printed onto the fabric before I started stitching. Here is a post with that process outlined. Lots of times, with more typical crewel embroidery, entire solid colored shapes are stitched using heavy stitches such as satin stitch. Stitching on pre-printed shapes defintely makes Crewel Embroidery much more approachable. 

Another way to stitch up colorful textiles is to start with a patterned fabric - such as a stripe or a plaid. Then you can embellish to your hearts content. I did that on this pillow project from Colorful Stitchery which is available on my website in a new edition. (Photo a little pixellated - sorry.)

In a recent Martha Stewart Living Magazine, they featured some beautiful embroidered fabrics, using a print fabric as a background. Here is a link to the Flax and Twine blog which excerpted that article from MSL. 

Embroidery certainly is making a comeback! I am so happy that people are picking it up again. Rebecca Ringquist has a new embroidery book coming out which I can't wait to see. Here is her version of a paisley sampler available via her Etsy shop. 

Links You Might Like! + 9 Years + Bonus CACH Photos

I just realized that this little blog has just passed its 9th year anniversary. Wow. I went back to read my first post to see how I began. You can read it too. I cannot believe I am still at it. I have no time to reflect on this anniversary today but maybe I will in the near future. What I do really appreciate is that you each take the time out of your busy day to read what I have to write and share. 

We are severely still lacking in the color department here in western Massachusetts. I think it is my colorful, cosy home that has helped me to make it through this winter. Today was a beautiful day - the sun was shining and it was bright and clear. Such a nice change from the winter we have had. 

I am totally inspired by this article on British potter Prue Piper. Oh, how I hope I get to do some pottery again soon! 

Every Thursday for the past 15 years or so, I have gone to the general store in Bernardston to pick up the New York Times. Why? So I can read the "HOME" section. Well that is no more because the NYTimes has discontinued it. Booooooo NYT. :-( You can read about this here. 

Our food scene here in western Massachusetts was written up on the Huffington Post. Check it out here. 

Rikki Snyder - the photographer of my new book Crafting a Colorful Home - has put a blog post up with lots of outtakes of photos we took that didn't get used or were cropped so that many details were missing (in print). Check it out here and thanks Rikki! 

Here are a few of the outtakes that Rikki took of our home for Crafting A Colorful Home that didn't appear in the book.  You can still order signed copies of the book from me on my website. I am still offering the postcards and the Kristin bookplates. $27.95 and FREE FREIGHT! Here is the link to my website.

This chair came from my mother-in-law and it serves as an extra seat in the library. I'd like to re-cover it again someday. The curtain is actually a piece of Uzbekistan embroidery. The engravings are antique and I have collected them over the years. Most have something to do with sheep, dogs, fiber animals and knitting. The mural on the wall is by me. 

Photo by Rikki Snyder 

This is the little Jotul woodstove that warms us all winter. I love wood heat. The wood engravings above the mantelpiece were done by Randy Miller, a New Hampshire wood engraver. Such a talented guy. I discovered that he sells his prints on-line. His images are of agricultural and small town scenes. Our collection includes from left to right:
Border Collie (this collie looks so much like Kate)
Shakers Mowing
Sheep Talk
Town and Country Scene (not available on his website)

On the mantel, I have a piece of needlepoint from Uzbekistan. You can see more on Susan Mellor's site here. 

Photo by Rikki Snyder 

This is a scene in our kitchen. I love British teacups and have a nice collection. Just so you know, the counter is never that clear. There is always stuff all over it. Aren't those zinnias pretty? Summer will come again soon. 

This is a scene in the kitchen at our old wood table. The tea set is Fiestaware that I have picked up at Brimfield over the years. It is great for photo shoots because of the colors and the shape. I made the cushions for our kitchen chairs. (I include instructions for making chair pads in Crafting A Colorful Home. I used fabric I had printed at Spoonflower from my own designs that were done in Adobe Illustrator. The theme is sunflowers of course. You can buy the fabric too. Here is the link to all my prints on Spoonflower. 

Photo by Rikki Snyder 

I hope you all are having a good week. Mud season is arriving here soon.