pretty in pink

loving this soft pink cross-stitch fabric:



i got it for an upcoming project, or venture -- more on that in the coming weeks...

bat-tastic

here's a little project i did well over six months ago, but never remembered to take a photo:


heeehee! awesome, right? it's a batty finger puppet that i made from maritza soto's pattern - which she so generously posts for free on her blog. not the crafty type? well then, you should check out maritza's shop instead, where you will find some of the coolest finger puppets and little stuffed things i ever did see. shop here. blog here.

making good

this is really really cool. thank you so much to everyone who has blogged and twittered and facebooked to spread the word about my red balloon project and my mom's bikeride fundraiser for MS.
thank you so much to tara:


who blogged about the story on scoutie girl. see it here.

and samantha:


she posted on her blog the experts agree. see it here.

and karen:


(you gotta read her post -- as usual - there's a little bit of education and a good dose of entertainment. click here.)
it feels really good.

readymade renegade

hey - check it out - i forgot to mention that chez-sucre-chez got a mention on the readymade magazine blog. a few of the readymade peeps came by my booth at renegade and we had lovely little chats. whilst chatting with amy, we did the whole "where are you from" thing and when she responded "south jersey" i said, "hm, where" and when she said, "near cherry hill" i said, "oh really, me, too, where?" and then i found out that she grew up in the town next to me and that we both attended the same high school (but at different times)! crazy. small world. read amy's version of the story in the post here.
in other readymade news, i packed up a little trio of tooth buddies and sent them off to iowa, where they are hoping to have their photos taken and make it into the magazine. i know they were not so excited about traveling all squished in the fed-ex envelope but i assure you they were exited. i meant to take a picture but i forgot. boo.

9 red balloons (or, help me help my mama)

so -- this is a preview of an exciting little project that i was invited to be a part of. (it's not quite off the ground yet, but it's starting -- get a little taste here; it's called spoonful.) i was asked to create a work for this project weeeeeks ago, and i put it on my schedule to complete the week after chicago -- giving me one week until the deadline. i thought about it all week but of course, as it almost always goes with me, my A-HA moment didnt happen until the eleventh hour. that's when i thought - f yes, i will stitch 99 red balloons! super cool idea, but a little too ambitious for an afternoon, kj. perhaps if i were a bit more of a planner....
so -- as a compromise, or, rather, a reality, i did nine red balloons.
they were whipped up kinda quickly -- nothing fancy, just straight up embroidery stitches of hot air balloons on regular cotton fabric, framed in embroidery hoops. i like the way they look together.
here are a couple more shots:



okay --- so i photographed them a whole bunch and sent the images over to anthea (for the final shots, you're gonna have to stay tuned and check out the publication of spoonful!) and now i've got these sweet little hot air balloon pieces. and now here's the other A-HA moment that i had while i was stitching them up. i was thinking, hmmm, so what am i going to do with these pieces now? and then my mind was wandering and it went over to thinking about my family and my mother and how she is doing this two day bikeride to raise money and awareness of the effort to find a cure for MS. i am so proud of her -- she only took up biking, um, i think four years ago, and now my mom does these 150 mile bikerides! it's fantastic. she's amazing. you've got to click on over here and read her little page about it. (do it! there's even a photo of her in her biking gear! yeah mom!) so -- i was thinking about all of this and then i was thinking, dammit i wish i werent so broke and that i could put some money in her fund. she is SO close to her goal. but alas, i just dont have the cash. and then i thought, WAIT A MINUTE -- what if i put these up on my shop and do what i can to get them sold and then donate all of that money to mama's fund?! that would be rad! and so -- this is what i am doing. so --- think about it. check it out. click on over here and look at the little balloons in my shop. do you NEED one? probably not. but hey, if you buy one, you get a simple little piece of art (you could even give it away as a gift), you've donated some money to a good cause, and i've been able to further support my mama in her awesomeness. everyone wins! wow. this was a lot of writing. okay.. please think about it... please pass on the link to this post if you care to. thanks! xoxo-k

bunny bags

new drawstring pouches for the "hearts and hares" diy cross-stitch kits:


i like these ones better than the old lace-print fabric i was using. that's all.

trifecta complete

i hesitated on doing this one, because i remember that a looooong time ago, little miss black apple, emily, had embroidered this quote. she had it hanging on the wall of her home right next to the little cross-stitched squirrel of mine that she had bought. and then she posted a photo on her blog, which is where i saw it. (and then i, in turn, blogged about that -- and you can see my post here. i tried to find the post on her blog, but there i couldnt!) anyways, i'm a little nuts about not ever wanting to do something that someone else has done before, so i was quite sure that i didnt want to stitch this one up at all. HOWEVER, it seems to be maybe the most popular or well-remembered smiths line, if my friends are any measure. this was the line that was suggested to me time and time again. so i did it.


and now the trifecta is complete. i don't know why i get so obsessed with doing things in multiples or groups, but i know that i simply could not get it out of my head to put down the graph paper and needle and thread and to give my smiths mp3s a rest until i had done three of these. (and, because i can't be doing this kind of stuff just because it's fun anymore, they're all available for sale in the shop.)
so, okay. done. and now, thanks to karen's enthusiastic support when i casually mentioned that i had thought to do dylan quotes, i'll probably do those next. (her suggestion of "i'll let you be in my dreams if i can be in yours" is perfect. one of the best, k! thanks!)

ruffian stitches

i got an itiching to stitch this one up last night -- and so i did...


this was the first smiths quote that i ever wanted to stitch, and i did - last year - a much different version of it, which now lives with jess. it's really one of my very very favourite smiths lines, so i happily stitched it again.




i am really liking this series! originally i had intended to do these in traditional cross-stitch lettering, to make them look like old-fashioned samplers but with these quirky smiths quotes instead of the regular ABC123's and bible quotes. but i am very much liking this modern-feeling handwriting-esque font for these pieces... i dont know how many i more i can do without getting tired of the font - they do look quite similar. i do, however, have some new colored aida cloth that i am eager to play with -- i think the next of these will be dark lettering on grey fabric... now what other quotes should i use? i've got plenty of ideas, but i'd love to hear some of yours!
(ps -- i've put these pieces in the shop -- click on over if you're interested.)

i wear black on the outside...

and here it is in reversed color (and a little larger):




gotta rush this off to the post office!

thank you thank you thank you

i totally forgot to post this link when i found it, which was a few days late -- but now it's a few weeks late; oops!
my please please please let me get what i want piece got a sweet little mention on the mixed plate blog.


see the post here.
thanks for the love, liana!
i'm happy that people have reacted so well to this one. i brought it with me to chicago and had people commenting about it all weekend long, until the end of the second day, when it sold. the woman who bought the piece is moving from chicago to LA next week and she's taking it with her. i wish them both safe travels.
i've already gotten and completed another order for one of these -- check back in a few hours for photos - this one's a little different and it, too, is LA bound!

tribune tribute

hey hey hey -- chez-sucre-chez made it into the style section of the chicago tribune today:


i was able to catch it, thanks to a thoughtful gal named sarah who spied the article and sent me a link to the online text. thanks, ellen, for listing me as one of your top-eight vendors!
see the article here.

make your own home sweet home

here's the latest chez-sucre-chez do-it-yourself cross-stitch kit:


i created the piece a couple of weeks before going to chicago and decided to turn it into a kit just days before the trip. i like that it's a really simple design and that the colors are different from my other light-color-stitching-on-black-fabric kits. the color combo for this one and the little red heart flanked by doo-dads was inspired by a ribbon design that i remember from my childhood. i thought i had a little scrap of that ribbon to photograph and post, but it seems i dont... hmmm, i'll have to keep my eyes out for it. i'm sure you know what ribbon i am talking about, though -- very folk-y looking- white ribbon with red and blue and green and yellow "embroidery" design on it. if i find some i'll post it here later. anyways, that was the inspiration behind the original piece and then i thought i liked it so much that i wanted to share.


so that's where the kit came from. it comes with the pattern, a four-inch wooden embroidery hoop, blue aida cloth, red and white floss, and a needle -- all packed up in a little draw-string pouch that i've sewn up.



kits available in my etsy shop and soon in my bigcartel shop.

chicago recap

schwew! what a whirlwind! renegade chicago weekend was a hoot (pun intended to work with the renegade mascot owl), and a whole lotta driving.



the weather was absolutely beautiful. we really lucked out with that.
here's the chez-sucre-chez shop:



the little cutesy stuff hanging out on the corner of the table to lure people in:


the totes and towels:


the cross-stitched stuff:



also noted:
**thank you to friend molly, who put together a care package for me to take with me on my drive. fresh baked muffins, a delicious cheese and tomato sandwich (on home-baked sammy bread - with the tomato in a separate bag to prevent sogginess, and a little ice-pack to keep the mayo fresh... wow.), trail mix, pretzels and a peach. it kept me from realizing how really really terrible road food is; until the ride home, that is, when for breakfast i ate the worst egg-and-cheese-on-a-bagel that i've ever had (i havent had too many in my life, but this was bad.) and for lunch/dinner i had a way-bigger-than-should-be-allowed medium milk shake. booooooooo.
**also thank you to grade/high school friend megan, who made the trip down from michigan to spend a good part of the weekend with me. we got to catch up on a lot of years of history over dinner and wine and she helped me SO much with my saturday night/sunday morning set-up and break-down and general craft-fairing. thanks so much for the company and the help, meg! this was the view out the window of our borrowed condo:



**jacob - you are super-duper craft fair neighbor.
**lisa, it was great great great to meet you!
**the whole renegade shop and event team are awesome. thank you danny and kate and sue. chez-sucre-chez products are now available in the brick-and-mortar renegade shop there in chicago. yay!
**pennsylvania is an absolutely gorgeous state.

on the road

i'm going on a little solo road trip adventure to chicago to do renegade. i'm feeling pretty good about it - though i'm exhausted right now... gotta get some zzzzzzz's before heading out in the morning!
if you are there, please do stop by and say hello!
i'll post photos when i get back. have a good weekend, friends. xo-k

fall collection 09

i havent done one of these in a long while:


it's my current collection of cross-stitched pieces. some of them are already promised away, but the rest are going with me to chicago. papa bear and i are going to be making up a new display system for them tonight. more photos of the collection are here, on my flickr page.

last week's news

i didnt get to post on these as i found out about them, but chez-sucre-chez got mentions on a few blogs and etsy treasuries last week.
the first came to me from sarah, who pens the blog apothecary fox. she included my schoolhouse script home-sweet-home sampler in a weekly round-up. (here)


that one was cool because i was sharing the spotlight with my gal pal melanie linder, of spread the love, who's work was also featured.

i also got notice from hollie of etsy shop blueberry shoes and blog mermaids closet that she had included my please please please sampler in a morrissey-themed etsy treasury. i was too late to see the treasury (they expire after a few days) but i did see the screenshot on her blog. (here)

and lastly, i got a note from erin, of the blog slipcover your life, letting me know that she had featured my cross-stitch pieces. (blog post here.)


lovely!

thanks so much for the mentions and for the notes to let know about them, ladies!

pig piles and lots of letters

i'm stockpiling inventory for renegade chicago:



holy crap - i leave in a week. i hope i'll be ready.

class notes

i received an email last night from nicole, of the blog kirei nest, letting me know that she had featured chez-sucre-chez on her blog.


when i clicked over, i was delighted! it's a beautiful round-up of school-themed/inspired works and products. she's done a lovely job of putting together a beautiful little collection. check out those "old macdonald" linens; the print reminds me of the folk-print fabric i'm in love with and using for my zippy pouches -- ooooh, pretty stuff.
see the post here. thanks for being in touch, nicole!