marsupial

new zippy pouches!


i really really enjoyed working with the canvas (that my super-duper friend greg so generously donated to me). does anyone else think that it smells like chocolate, or some other confection, when it runs through the sewing machine? maybe it's just me...



i took some product shots and i'll soon be listing on etsy.

the s is in the mail

photographed in some rather early sunlight.
it's on its way, rebekka!

hand-stitched

my local mennonite dry goods store finally got a new shipment of tea towels..
here's the project du jour --


lots of hand stitching.

stitching in the a.m., stitching in the p.m.

more custom initials! hooray!

new favourite material

canvas.


wow.

pink_e

this little e is going into the mail today.


it was a custom order and i cannot be more thrilled with the pink on white, framed in black.
what great taste you have, diana!

she had ordered an e done in bella font -- but once i took a look at the pattern for the bella e, i wasn't so sure it was going to be what she wanted. as we both agreed, the letter is pretty, but it doesn't read so easily as an e. i also realized that in my photo of bella font letters, i haven an f which is actually not in bella font! (i gotta change that!!) i dont know where i got that pattern! anyways, i used that f as a basis for a new e pattern, and then presented diana with some options.


i'm happy with the one she chose, and i think the finished piece is just right!

there are not enough hours in the day

new post soon... i promise.
i've been working on too many projects at once...
i've used this quote before, and i'll do it again;
"i've got a head full of ideas, and it's driving me insane."
tis true, mister zimmerman, tis true.

special delivery

two handsome little dudes are going to be getting some limited-edition chez-sucre-chez onesies in the mail this week...

bella bella bella

i did a new listing on my etsy shop for custom-order initials/letters.
this is the bella font. (it was named after bb -- my sweet little niece baby bella)


i had a nice busy day yesterday after my mention on design*sponge. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the busy-ness (and thus, business) continues. i like to be busy.

wow-wa-woowie

thanks very much to grace, of design*sponge, for featuring me today on her blog. and thanks, too, to all of you who have clicked on over to me from there.

fin de semaine

yeah, it was a good one.

and now for something completely different...

well, maybe not that different.


here's a project that i had started MONTHS and months and months ago (maybe well over a year ago?), which i only just this week completed. i found it while i was unpacking some of my studio stuff and realized that it was nearly complete. i had stopped work on it because a huge and highly frustrating knot made me tear a little hole in it, and then i couldnt get the knot out. i was too frustrated to go on. this was way back when i was on the whole feather motif kick.
i picked it back up though, and not 20 minutes later, it was complete. i really do like how delicate it looks.




the thin-ness of the vintage linen hankie was trying to work with -- i had to be really careful not to pull my stitches too hard. but it worked. it's a lot of work for a hankie with fraying edges and an initial P embossed on it (i dont know anyone with an initial P!), but i enjoy it anyway.

so -- as i look back on my week, i'm really satisfied with the work i've done. setting up my studio has made a big difference, i think. it's pretty darned nice to have a place to work -- where i can spread out and where i have all of my supplies at my fingertips. it makes me feel like a real artist. please keep your fingers crossed for me that all of this work pays off and that somehow i soon get to turn this into something that can help me to actually pay my bills!

and now, i'm going to give myself a weekend. no more work for the next two days.
it shouldnt be too hard -- i've got some good stuff planned to keep me occupied and out of the studio...

here's a shot of my inspiration/mood/bulletin board above my computer desk. i'm really digging the current color palette.


(the amazing image of the woman on the right is a postcard for a show of paintings by my friend suzannah sinclair. that girl is SO good! she doesn't have a website yet, but you can check out the site of the gallery in germany for which this postcard was created.)

tote-ally rad

while i was debating over the black totes vs. the denim totes, the faded print vs. the saturated ink, i completely overlooked the charm of the simple canvas tote.
how do we like these?




mi piace molto!

(the sunlight coming through the window of my studio is so pretty right now!)

hot off the embroidery hoop

new tea/hand/dish towels.




the embroidery floss that i used for the silver lining isn't metallic this time. so, it doesnt have QUIte the same silver sparkly quality to it, but it is soft instead of scratchy and it'll be fine when the towels go through the washer and dryer.

blue skies

here's what happened this morning:


i can't seem to stop; it's another group/series of little clouds. these one are on muted sky-blue backgrounds.
the sky actually looked like this when i awoke at five-thirty this morning -- pretty pale (not yet bright) blue with white fluffy clouds. i wasn't awake enough to think to take a photo of the view outside my bedroom window -- that would have been really good.

bags of clouds

so here it is: the new project that came out of my studio yesterday:




silver-lined cloud tote bags!
i think i am happy with them, but i am a little torn; maybe you can help me decide:
which is better --
the lighter print (which is actually easier to do, it is just a block print with fabric screenprinting ink):


or the more saturated, opaque print (where i did the block print and then went over and filled it in with a paintbrush):


personally, i am a little drawn to the more faded looking one, i just think it looks a little cooler... but does it look incomplete, or like it is a mess-up (which, technically, maybe it is -- the ink isnt fully saturated on the print...)?
help me decide, please! i did them on canvas bags that i had ordered before renegade and on which i had intended to do some screenprints of my cross-stitch designs. i didn't get to that project in time for the fair, obviously.
i hadn't done any block printing in a while; well, i did try one of one of my cross-stitch designs, but i was not happy with those results. this time, though, i had fun! me gusto!
here are what i did for my test prints: my shipping envelopes -- now they have little silver lined clouds.


the other challenge of this project was finding a metallic embroidery floss or other material that was both easy enough to work with and thick enough to show up on these bags. the stuff that i use for my cloud cross-stitch pieces is too thin for this use; plus, is it a pain to work with - it frays and breaks and makes me scream bad words out loud when i am working with it. so you saw, in my previous post the whole big pile of options i bought yesterday. (i had no idea there were so many options!) well i tried out each kind, and found only one that is pleasant enough to work with. oh well, at least now i know. and the results, me thinks, are worth the pain. just as long as you know -- I SUFFER FOR MY ART, dammit. oops.

i put up one of the black bags on etsy. go check it out if you are interested.

shiny shiny

i rode my bicycle in the rain over to my local needlework store today. the shop is called, get this -- crewel world -- HA! you KNOW i love that...
anyways, look at the sparkly bounty i came home with!


yeeeeoooooooow! i'm excited.
check in tomorrow -- i've got something new and fun cookin' up in the studio today.

puttin' it out there

i've restocked my etsy shop. i listed a whole bunch of my new cloud pieces and got the cross-stitch kits back up on there.
spread the news! tell your friends! send a link to your rich colleagues and relatives!
xoxo.

playlist-making...

... is listed as one of my interests in my rather vague profile here on blogger.
here's one going out in the mail today...

il fait tout gris -- cloud reveal #3

here's the last little batch of clouds -- the grey series.


i've moved my workspace out of my bedroom and into my new studio! it isnt ready by any means -- still a lot of work to be done in here -- but it's now painted! it's the same pink as my brooklyn bedrooom. dang, i love that pink. (although, sadly, i think it looked a little better in the brooklyn room than it does in here... different light? hazy brooklyn air?)

july four

cloud scapes - cloud reveal #2

first; a cloud-piece sandwich:


and now; the clouds, all hung on my bedroom wall:





come closer to see their silver-linings: