unalone

this one just sold:


i stitched it up last week or so and didnt get around to posting it. i had seen the quote/line on some blog (i cannot for the life of me remember which; i'm sorry!) a few weeks back and it stuck in my head. i thought it'd make a good little piece. i'm happy with the colors -- so loving that platinum colored aida cloth these days! anyways, now it's off on its way to missouri; hooray!

piggies at market

last week i sent another batch of piggy totes to terrain and now they're being sold both at the brick and mortar store and online. (there they are, on the front page of the shop site!)


hooray! (want one? get it here.)
mmm, that photo of the tomatoes is making me super-psyched for my trip back east in just a few days...

soaking it up

super huge thanks to design*sponge for posting about my new work yesterday!


i woke up at 7am to find my phone a-buzzing with emails and orders and tweets and immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the computer to find all the hubub. wow! it's a great little boost in busy-ness; i've got lots of stitching to do! see the full post here.

max and the bears

i've just completed my first specially commissioned piece for a nursery:


i'm thrilled with it.
thank you, stacy and devin, for giving me the opportunity to stitch up such a sweet piece. they came up with the concept, (a little tweak on a line from "where the wild things are") and we worked together on the colors. this photo is pretty dark -- the stitching is blueish grey on a background of a light buttery yellowy ivory.
so sweet. i should have waited to get better photos, but i was just so excited to share this one that i couldnt wait for better light!

a rare moment of proud contentment

i must admit, i am feeling REALLY good about my etsy shop right about now. they've changed the shop layout/design a bit and i've been working my behind off to get new items stitched up, photographed, and listed in the shop. this is the first in a long time that i can say i'm pretty darned psyched on how my shop is looking. check it out -- it looks like two etsy treasuries:



so, if i can just figure out how to get back to getting noticed -- i havent done any PR/marketing work in a looooong time, i may be starting to get chez-sucre-chez back on track!
please take a look for yourself (here), and if you've got any advice for getting my shop some more traffic (or, well, say, you want to blog about it or something like that...) please let me know!

show a little faith...

...there's magic in the night.


my good friend dana had this as her quote or whatever on myspace or facebook for the longest time - and i loved that. then, the other night as i was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, this song (thunder road, bruce springsteen - just in case you didnt know...) came on the radio and i got it in my head that i needed to stitch it. so i came right home and plotted out the pattern. and then stitched it. ta-da! i did it more just kinda for the heck of it, rather than as something that i wanted for myself. so i went ahead and listed it in my etsy shop. if you want it - go on and get it!

holla day

it's a happy day when i find that chez-sucre-chez has gotten a sweet little write up somewhere on the web, like this one, from the folks over at holiday matinee:


they were there at renegade L.A. this year and their booth caught my eye - on sunday morning as i was walking back in to set up. there was nothing even in their booth at that time but a single banner, or flyer, or some signage that said something awesome and amazing and positive (something along the lines of "if you see something cool, tell someone RIGHT NOW"). later in the day i met dave and got to hear about what they do; i was quite impressed with their wit and their smarts and their mission to promote good things that good people are doing. i think you should check them out - click here to do that. and while you are there, you can see the full post {and give it a little facebook thumbs up, and twitter it - please!} here.)

things in my kitchen...

...that make me happy:


my nesting doll measuring cups - a very thoughtful gift from a couple of very sweet friends (they're made by fred and friends - i've talked about products made by that company before here), and my cut-by-me papercut from a pattern sold by elsita (see the other one i did and find link to the item in her shop here.)
and today, figs and lavender that i harvested from the yard this morning:


also in my kitchen making me happy: my dutch heart tea towel by sara smedley, my crocheted pot holder by emily sparks (which i bought at renegade L.A.), and my borrowed kitchen aid mixer (mine didnt make the trip out here...) i attempted to get all three of those last items into a photo, but there was just too much going on in that shot and i couldnt get it right....
i hope you are all having a happy day. xo.

kind of like a fred perry, for your wall

here's a grouping of new pieces:


well, the white one isnt so new -- i did that one a few weeks ago...


but the other two are. i stitched them up over the past couple of days.
i had seen these old wreath-like motifs in antique pattern books. usually they have a monogram or word in the middle of them, but i was interested in doing them on their own. they definitely remind me of the fred perry logo - and i like that; makes me think of the days that my friends and i all rocked those shirts and looked so dang cool.



all three are listed in my etsy shop!

new work (and some not so new...)

i'm working on photographing and listing my newest work today. this is the part of the process that always seems to take the longest and to be the most frustrating... hopefully i'll be sharing the links sooner than later!

mogollon love

this latest piece was inspired by my good friends francisco and monica, the amazing creative genius behind nyc design company mogollon. see the inspiration here.

happy morning

breakfast is served:


i am so loving the fig tree outside my door.
(and this little tulip plate i scored at a thrift shop!)

mushaboom

you may remember a hint of this project a way several months back; it's been a long time in the making but today, i sent 36 pretty pink mushrooms out in the mail on their way to terrain.


making them was kinda fun - as it was an item that i had never done before. i enjoyed the challenge of figuring out a pattern, and then putting the idea together and playing with fabrics in different prints and colors. (this post here has the original prototypes)
fulfilling the order was a bit more labor-intensive than i had anticipated, but i enjoyed working out the process and systems to make the job easier. (i felt like a chemist using my specially purchased funnel to fill the stalks with a lavender (for scent) and rice (for weight) mixture.


the idea was theirs, the design, construction, and labeling mine, and they are orchestrating the beautiful packaging.


i can't wait to see how these look in the shop! i just sent them out, so it may still take a couple of weeks, but if you happen to stop in sometime after that, keep an eye out for these little guys and let me know what you think!

caught it

last night i happened to have logged on to etsy and saw one of my items on the front page:


hooray! i never catch that stuff when it happens -- it's pretty cool.

making the cut

this is making me really excited:


i bought myself a little present from one of my very favourite etsy shops. elsita makes some of the most beautiful papercuts i have ever seen. i love her series based on classic fairy tales and when i saw that she put out a do-it-yourself package of four little papercut patterns that includes peter rabbit, little red riding hood, alice and wonderland and pinoccio, i was psyched. i'd always wanted to buy one of her pieces, but now to be able to purchase her designs and do it myself?! brilliant!

red and blue and white and butterflies and heart and arrows

i like this little collection together:


the reel around the fountain piece is being mailed out tomorrow morning, but the rest are mine for now....
you'll be seeing more of those hearts and arrows in the coming weeks...
have a good weekend, all! i'm heading down to huntington beach to see some surfing. (what is california doing to me?!)

piggy goes to market

in yet ANOTHER way.
my butcher-cut piggy totes are now being sold at terrain.


hooray!
i brought a few of these with me to LA renegade and heard over and over again, "oh, that's so mean." i know. hey - i've been vegetarian for nearly twenty years. and i just finished reading jonathan safran foer's "eating animals" oh man, it's brutal; nothing i didnt know but really, people -- factory farming is bad news - really bad news. dont eat that stuff. but go on ahead and buy the tote. it's a conversation starter; get people thinking and talking about where our food comes from.