'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