resolution

new posts soon -- i promise. i've been working on no less than five (literally -- no exaggeration) big projects at once these past few weeks -- picking up one, working on it, putting it down, picking up another, putting it aside, going back to the first, moving on to a different project... been feeling a little scattered.. lots going on..
check back in on me in a few days, though -- i've got a goal to finish at least two of these projects before the new year (tuesday?!) and i'll post them as soon as they're complete.
happy almost new year!

chimney sweeps, pipe cleaners.. there's a thread here, right?

i had no idea that pipe-cleaner crafts could turn out so cool. these reindeer really arent that complicated, and they turned out way better than i expected. my mamma had printed the instructions from ms. martha's site (brilliant, as ever) and bought the supplies as an activity to do with the wee ones...
very cool. i highly recommend you try it.

one of my favourite things

popcorn and cranberries


plus needle and thread


equals one of my favourite xmas decorations ever.
sweet baby aidyn and i watched mary poppins on television last night (that movie rules). afterwards, we made strings of cranberries and popcorn garland to decorate the trees outside -- a little xmas gift for the birds. it's raining today, so we can't hang them outside yet, but when we do, we'll be singing "feed the birds, tuppence a bag - tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag..."

'tis the season

xmas bats and rats...





thanks for the help this year, young french.

twitterpated

this is a portrait of a girl falling in love. it's scary, it's exciting. it's got me on pins and needles.
this is way more than i would usually share, but my head isnt right these days. and, i've got no new craft projects to post (though i have pLENTY in the works)!
please send me your good thoughts -- keep your fingers crossed for me -- hopefully soon i can fill you in on at least some of the juicy details.

sorted out for E's...

another custom initial going out in the mail tomorrow... hooray!

red letter day -- er, "A"

as an english major on a cross-stitch kick, i couldnt resist the urge to make a scarlet letter A. ... really, who doesnt love hawthorne and his ms. prynne (okay, a lot of people...)


seriously though, friends -- today was a pretty big day. "A" for amazing, awesome, adventure, apprehension, anxiety, a-little-crazy, anticipation, ... if all goes well, you'll hear more about it soon.

hearts and crafts recap

last weekend was the holiday edition of the hearts and crafts affair....and i'm just now getting to recap. (things have been busy - in a really good way.)
well, first of all -- a big thank you and hooray to the wonderful miss kira b. ( http://www.missbirney.blogspot.com/ ) -- that girl sure knows how to organize and throw a craft fair; at the end of the fair, as the vendors were all packing up, we were chatting and all agreed that hearts and crafts is the best craft fair around. (it may have helped that kira busted out and started serving a case or so of champagne somewhere around the four o'clock hour.)
anyway -- i had a great time, as usual. i felt really good about my work and the haphazard presentation of it that i threw together.


i chatted with a lot of very nice people (including some who found me/sought me out from the post about me on decor8!! http://decor8.blogspot.com/{check the november archive}) who all said very nice things about my work, a lot of my friends stopped by, which is always sweet, and i met some really talented artists/crafters.
marliyn has done the last few hearts and crafts affairs, and i always liked her crafty work, but what is REALLY great is her paintings -- she has them hung in cafe grumpy this month and they look BEAUTIFUL -- check them out - i am really hoping that she gets the right attention - her work is great. http://marilynglinka.com/
barbara was my neighbor for the day and it worked out swimmingly - her drawings and my work hung on the wall next to each other looked so cool -- we had similar color schemes and themes going on (red and blue and ponies and other animals --i wish i had a picture of both of our walls together). her drawings are really very special; take a look: http://www.mylittlepictures.com
betsy was across from me and had a lovely display. betsyply.etsy.com
andria takes photos and makes clocks and she's always fun to talk to. newyorkclocks.etsy.com
and roxanna makes the CUTEST sock elephants and kitties and puppies. i hope she creates an online site or store soon, because her work is really great and her line is so polished -- she'll be a success, for sure.
thanks to everyone who stopped by to see me and my stuff!

elephants in the room

best day at work -- (ever?)


working a 9 - 6 day job (where i have no access to my personal email or files) has been a challenge -- especially as all has been going so well with the chez... i find dylan's words rolling on a constant loop in my head sometimes, "i've got a head full of ideas, and it's driving me insane." but i can't quit maggie's farm quite yet.
today, however, was a fun one. i got to make an elephant trunk and ears for the president of the company.
with the help of the fabulous jenny wong (on quick-stitch detail), kristy humin (headband/ear-attachment engineering) and jessica stahl (snout extraordinaire) we whipped up a pretty sweet elephant costume on very short notice.
our very fun president was psyched with our creation - and she actually wore the ears and the trunk during the company wide meeting -- to make the point of addressing the elephants in the room.

i wish i were a bear

this blustery cold weather has me wishing i could just snuggle under blankets next to the radiator with plenty of yarn and fabric and cookies and cocoa -- and maybe not leave my house until the cold weather goes away.

once apron a time...

i stitched these up at the last minute before the hearts and crafts affair.



a found a use for some of my embroidery experiments -- pockets on aprons.


modeled by the lovely janna

sun shines brightly...

...through my window today...


how can i not be happy and productive when i wake up to this?

evolution of the birds' eye

i had been making my vintage-print birdie onesies with button eyes.


and then i put on my hunter's vision -- or my naturalist's perspective-- and i found the hidden eyes in this vintage print. (can you spot them?)


when lined up just right, the flowers in the pattern make such great, subtle eyes -- so far better than the buttons (and it cuts out a step in production!)


the new, improved vintage-print birdie onesies (and newborn shirts)
(they'll be for sale this sunday at my table at the hearts and crafts affair at cafe grumpy in greenpoint, brooklyn!)

would you like to buy an O?

or a k? a j? an f? an l?...


...or any other letter?
prompted by the sweetly supportive positive feedback from friends about my cross-stitch K's, i'm putting the initials up on etsy -- with the option for custom orders.
i haven't had too much luck with etsy yet; we'll see how this goes.





(this post {maybe someday} sponsored by the letters k, s, g, m, and r.)

mushrooms - sylvia plath and meringues.

-Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly
-Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.
-Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.
-Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,
-Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,
-Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We
-Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking
-Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!
-We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,
-Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:
-We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door

That's my favorite Sylvia Plath poem.

The mushrooms pictured above aren't real mushrooms! They're cookies! Made out of meringue! HAHAHAHAHA!
Yup -- that's how I spent my Friday-night-after-Thanksgiving... making meringue mushrooms. What a nerd.

sunday morning

hung up some of the cross stitch pieces... they look kinda cool, right?

stitches in time

you can pin and mount me...

like a butterfly (or a moth).


sweet early-morning late-fall sunlight behind the latest cross stitch pieces

a hand made towel

taking a step backwards from the coral -- this is where it began, really, or where the coral facination stemmed from. (i actually finished these a few weeks ago -- just now posting...) this style of embroidery (which, again, i am not finished with my exploration of) is called "redwork." i first saw it a few years ago at the Folk Art Museum here in NYC, on quilts. It made an impression on me and I have just now gotten around to playing with it.



i really love the red embroidery floss on a white material.



dishtowels.

***my camera is taking really fuzzy pictures! or i am always taking my photos after i've had too much coffee...

inspiration coral-ation

here's my current inspiration board -- and new projects in the works.


i am IN. LOVE. WITH. the new gucci spring/cruise ads and runway looks. ( http://www.gucci.com/us/us-english/us/cruise-08/womens-runway/ ) the first time i saw the new ad, my heart went all a-flutter and my brain was obsessed with red coral.
in the picture you can see the beginning of my execution of the theme (the red-on-white coral cross-stitch pieces)-- and i'm just beginning.

smock around the bunker...

smock around, smock around...


I picked up Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing." I had been seeing a lot of reviews on it and everyone else seemed to love it. Well, when I leafed through it, I saw why. It really is a great book. There are a lot of inspiring ideas in there and the patterns are simple and easy to adapt and customize. I really appreciate her "bend the rules" attitude towards sewing --- the voice that says, " ah, don't pin it -- that's a waste of time -- just sew!" that is definitely how I work.
I tried the smock pattern first - with little miss Bella in mind.


Typical of me, I never seem to stop at just one. After the first, I decided to enlarge the pattern a little bit.


and then I just kept on going.

I had embroidered this chickie, but didnt have any use for it -- so I added it as a pocket.


If I make another, I think I will change the pattern just a little bit -- maybe make it a wee bit longer -- maybe add some buttons...
That book really is great. I recommend it to anyone who loves a project but needs a little direction. It gives the basic idea and how-to and lets you go from there to make the project "your own." A+++++++++, Ms. Karol.
(she also keeps a really great and inspiring blog, http://www.angrychicken.typepad.com/ )