beginnings and endings and all the stuff in between

i just added a new set of zipper purses to the madebyhank shop, in new and bright colors.

had such high hopes and goals for an organized and incredibly productive past few months, and especially the past few weeks. unfortunately, being human, life tends to get in the way sometimes, and the days pass and suddenly it is almost january.

i was sick on and off for the past few weeks. the worst possible timing, and perhaps a sign that i need to take it a little easier on myself.

and then there was the snow storm-- 23 inches here in philadelphia! oh, my.

i also had to finish up a few gifts for friends and gifts for friends' friends. i have not spent nearly enough time making things for the people i know this year. and i cannot remember the last time i made a bag for myself. it has been over a year, if not two. and if i were being perfectly honest, i have not made myself a bag since i first started making them. the most recent madebyhank bag that became mine was not made with myself in mind, was a mud-covered casualty of the sadness of the epic and torrential downpours of the chicago renegade craft fair last year. so in the coming weeks, i plan to not only add, but also cross 'make hank a madebyhank' off my ever-growing to-do list.

2009 was a bit rocky to say the least, but i feel that both katie henry the person and madebyhank the business have grown up quite a bit (and i think i am at a little proud of us both). i still have a lot of figuring out to do, of course, and i am hopeful that this coming year will bring great things. which is not to say that great things did not happen this year-- because great things certainly did happen this year!

i am taking some time to re-organize and re-think a few things, but am also sewing up a storm, and new shop updates are coming soon. i want to update a few of the existing styles, add some totally new designs, along with a few new and different small collections of the bigger bags.

my sewing room is a complete tornado, which is another project i am trying to tackle.

i just want to continue to make new and exciting things and keep myself and all of you as happy as possible.

thank you so much, each of you.

i know that thanking all of you through a blog post is not the most personal touch, but i assure you that the gratitude i feel for each of you comes from a very sincere place indeed.

and as soon as i catch up a bit more, i will post about the upcoming giveaways i am working on. i have a few tricks up my sleeve for 2010 indeed.

xo,
hank.

oh, my!

oh, my! those went fast. thank you everyone. i will have more ready on monday, and will keep you posted about details on those. have a great weekend!

shoulder bag shop update and events to come

there will be a new set of tough ruffles shoulder bags in shades of greens and blues in the shop at 4pm EST this afternoon. i will try to post preview photos on my flickr page ahead of time so that so you can have a look before they are officially available.

if you live in philadelphia or will be here this evening, you should stop by trinity framing for The Other Woman: Unwrapped! there will be a party there to celebrate from 6 to 9pm. the other woman is an art collective of fantastic ladies who make amazing things. you can read more about them here.

tonight!
Friday, December 11th, 6:00-9:00pm

The Other Woman: Unwrapped!
Trinity Framing
701 South 3rd Street (corner of 3rd & bainbridge)

after that, head over to b2 to see the opening reception for new work by sienna freeman



sienna freeman: equinophobia
at b2 (corner of passyunk & dickinson)

tonight! 6-8 pm

and tomorrow evening, be sure to stop by the ugly american to see what melissa farley and kathryn moran have been up to.



croque madame at the ugly american
1100 s. front street
saturday december 12th
9-11 pm

i am looking forward to seeing some friends i have not spent time with in far too long. i have not been very good at hanging out or leaving the house lately, as i have been content to hibernate a bit. i have also been super busy sewing up a storm to try and keep up with etsy, and also prepare for a holiday sale that will take part in next weekend. i had some sewing machine issues and had to purchase a temporary replacement to get me through the next few weeks until i have the time and brain space to research a more long term investment. if only a quick trip to target could replace a broken heart as easily as a broken sewing machine.

if you would like to see some madebyhank creations in person, i will have a table at a local holiday sale next sunday, december 20th. i will post more details about what i will have available soon.


you can view all the details and a larger version of the flyer here


i wish i had the time to hop on a train and head to brooklyn on saturday for lena's holiday sale. i would love to see all of those lovely ladies' creations in person, and jenny's preview photos are making me wish now more than ever that there were just a few more hours in the day so i could stop by the sale. maybe i will skip the whole sleeping thing tonight and get everything done and have magic energy and decide that i will head over to brooklyn to check it out. who knows.

just added a few new zipper purses and snap clutches to the shop. tomorrow i will have a small batch of shoulder bags in shades of greens blues. i will announce a more specific time once i have the photos together.

spit and wishes

i just wanted to say a quick hello and tell you all that you should take a minute to check out my friend adriane dalton's new etsy shop. she is just getting started, but has some necklaces and earrings made from vintage flocked wallpaper. she cuts each piece by hand and somehow magically and seamlessly links them together to form these beautiful chains and attaches them to oxidized sterling silver.

please take a moment to take a look and see if one might make the perfect holiday gift for yourself or someone you like.

just added some of the new zipper purses to the shop.













hope you find one you like!

'tis the season

i sewed and sewed and sewed and then i sewed a little more. and the result is a stack of zipper purses taller than me. nearly two hanks-worth! unfortunately today is grey and soggy once again here in philadelphia, so i will have to hold off for some sunshine, or at least a raindrops-free kind of day to individually photograph them. they should be in the shop in the next day or two. i will post a more specific time once i have photos together.

i had a seemingly brilliant idea, where i would stack all of said zipper purses in a neat stack and stand next to them. it was just me and the pets this morning, so i set up my nifty new tripod and set to work. stack, collapse, stack, collapse, stack, collapse. and so it went. luckily, there is no soundtrack to these photos, because just about every curse word i know freely flowed from my mouth. i do not have a remote for my camera, so i set the timer to ten seconds, then tried to jump up on the table next to the stack without them toppling over. apparently i am about as graceful as a three-legged horse, so none of this worked out as planned and i have are outtakes!

oh, goodness. i tried.

i also have some new shoulder bags in the works, and will post more info on those soon as well.

hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving and a well-spent weekend.

oh, and you can't really see it in the smaller versions of the photos, but my necklace is from dores and it is my new favorite thing.

how was your weekend? mine was a little all over the place. a little sick, a little sad, a little photo shoot, a little dancing.

oh, and it ended with the police banging on my door at 1am to inform me that someone had just tried to break in my house. the person did not take anything and no one was hurt, it was just disturbing to say the least. they opened my kitchen window and removed my dish rack and put it outside on the ground. so weird. i mean, obviously they did that so they could climb in the window and not knock it over, but it just seems so much more difficult (it's one of those folding bamboo ones and it was full of dishes) to actually get it through the window if you ask me. so weird. luckily i live on a block where no one ever minds their own business so my neighbor called the police and they scared him before he was able to do any damage. they also caught him, which makes me feel just a bit safer. i had to go down to the station so a detective could interview me, which sadly lasted until 5am, so i feel a little like a zombie. it could have been much worse, but still shook me up a bit.

on the bright side, i finished up a new batch of shoulder bags and saturday morning we went to FDR park to photograph them. i posted preview photos on my flickr page, and the official shop update will be at 7pm EST this evening.

this newest batch are in beautiful shades of purples, lavenders, plums, etc. there are thirteen of them-- four small sized and nine large. there will also be a handful more of the zipper purses in similar shades.

new in the shop, new on my arm

i had such plans for today, and hopes for all of crossing things off of my ever growing to-do list. but instead i locked myself and frances (my dog) out of the house this morning. we walked our usual morning walk to the coffee shop and back home, only to realize my keys were not in any of my pockets, and unfortunately neither was my cell phone. we walked to broad street and hopped in a cab and headed to the gallery where my housemate works, only to learn that he had just left for a day trip to baltimore. so into another cab and back to south philadelphia we went, to try and track someone down at the coffee shop who might have my landlord's (we call her our friendlord) phone number. luckily she had just gotten back from her trip to florida so frances and i walked over there to pick up the extra keys. nearly three hours, thirty dollars, and about a total of forty blocks later, frances and i finally made it home. at least it was super beautiful outside today. perhaps it was the universe's way of forcing me to spend a little extra time in the sunshine. frances is snoring away after all of the excitement!

thank you all for your kind words and well-wishes the past few days. i am feeling much better and finally did some serious sewing yesterday for the first time in a few days.

i just added a few new colors of zipper purses to the shop, mostly in shades of purple, lavender, and plum. i also have a few shoulder bags in the works in similar shades, and will have those ready and in the shop soon.







oh, and i got a new tattoo a few weeks ago. it is on my right arm, of a pair of antique embroidery scissors i have.

a very grey wednesday, a very sick hank

the past few days have been a little rough over here in hankland. our internet has been down since late sunday night, and just started working again this morning. i have been trying to get as much internetting done as possible at the coffee shop, but that has been a little trying because i have also been under the weather. it crept up on me monday night-- sore throat, achey everything, headache, you know the feeling.

i went to sleep at around 5pm last night and woke up around 9am this morning! i guess i really needed the rest, but that is a little nutty. i do feel a little better today, my head still feels heavy and a bit foggy, which is a giant step up from the feeling that it was in a vice, being squeezed tighter from all sides. just a little cough and sore throat remain, which i will hopefully drown in countless glasses of water and tea.

my apologies to those of you who waited a little longer than expected to get your orders from this past weekend. the last of them will go out first thing tomorrow morning, if not already.

thank you everyone for your support and patience!

love,
hank

shop update!

i hope everyone is enjoying their sunday so far. and i hope that it is as sunny where you are as it is where i am. after the past few weeks of rain and grey skies, this weekend's sunshine is just what i needed.

thank you to everyone who purchased the wristlets and zipper purses from friday's update. i have a handful more of some of those styles that you will see in the shop along with a new batch of shoulder bags tomorrow morning.

this newest set is mostly vintage wools and doubleknits in beiges, greys, teals, and purples. these are larger than the totes sewn with the vintage trim from a few weeks back. i also used a different handle style, with oversized cotton piping sewn inside to keep them super comfy on your shoulders even when they are full of everything you need during your busy days.

i will post some sneak peek photos on my flickr page later this afternoon, and you can look for them in the shop at 8am EST tomorrow, monday november 9th.

just added a few tough ruffles wristlets in four new colors and few new smaller zipper purses as well.
new shoulder bags coming very soon!

just added these three to the shop.

i hope everyone had a happy halloween! some friends put on a cover bands show in west philly on friday, and among the bands were lady gaga, the go-go's, fugazi, operation ivy, and many more. some kids threw eggs at me while i was locking up my bike, which was a little sad, but once the slime was rinsed off, the show was really fun. saturday i started to come down with a bit of a cold, so instead of going as bonnie parker i just wore a white dress and the same ol' rabbit mask from last year. and i just happen to have a few spare masks, so some friends went as a lion, a giraffe, a monkey and another rabbit. we went to see the ted leo misfits cover band and dance while mike mckee and a few other friends played some records afterward. also, i accidentally took a nap during trick-or-treat time so instead of handing out candy, i now have giant bowl of it that i have been eating way too much of.

photos above are of my friends adriane and kat. they were part of the party animals crew on saturday