black friday

howdy! i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. (i'm still full from dinner at 2pm!)

just wanted to let you all know that it's sale time in the shop! for one day only, enjoy 15% off all items in the shop that are black.

(that includes the newest diy kit -- deer in the night.)

the sale is going on all day -- no need to wake up and get into line at some ridiculously early hour in the morning. (unless, that is, you want to be one of the few to snap up some of the limited number of stitched-to-order pieces....)

have a great weekend!

holiday wind up

little by little, i'm getting the shop ready for the holiday marketing/shopping season. yesterday i posted a new photo of my red striped monogram towels.

i wish i had time to bake for real, and not just make a baking-like set up for a photo!

related to baking, i (with a little layout help) designed a set of recipe cards (like the one in the photo) for you!

i hope that you will print them out and use them this holiday season. here's what to do: go to this link (googledocs), where you'll find the pdf. you can download and print from there - easy as that!

do you have a favourite recipe? i know i shared one of mine years ago -- great aunt mary's black pepper cookies. check it out, it's worth revisiting!

lately i've been more into bread-baking than sweet-making. i'm hoping to jump back into it next week and bake up a couple more baguettes -- they're so delicious (and not that difficult)!

happy weekend, everyone. remember, if you're in the philly area, to come on by the art star holiday bazaar!

fair play

philadelphia locals, here's another chance to do some craft-fairing, shopping, browsing, meet-and-greeting, and early holiday-spiriting:


this friday (night), saturday, AND sunday is the first ever art star holiday craft bazaar, being held at the 23rd street armory (23rd street, between market and chestnut). friday night is an early bird party - just meaning that you have to get tickets to it, but there's gonna be food, drink, music, free stuff and a photobooth! craft fairs are fun, yes - but add cocktails and music to the mix and it becomes even MORE fun. check it out here. but then saturday and sunday will be the regular old good-times-to-be-had thing, too. i'll be there sharing a booth space with pal melanie linder. i forget our booth number, but just look for the tent, INSIDE, and you'll find us underneath it. (HA! another reason to come by -- to see our crazy rad set-up!)
i had such a great time at last friday's event at paradigm gallery. it was a small event in a small space, which gave plenty of opportunity for mingling with the other vendors. i feel like i don't do that at the larger affairs for several reasons; one, i am usually setting up until the last possible minute, and then still fiddling with stuff for most of the first few hours, two, i'm kind of a nut about being in my booth to talk to my customers, and three, i'm actually quite a bit more shy than i am outgoing, in terms of meeting and hobnobbing with other vendors. i think i probably come off as a snob, but i'm not!

come on out this weekend if you can. stop by and say hello. introduce yourself. i'd really like to meet you.

now i gotta get back to crackin' on my preparations! i've still got a ton of work to do. (sigh.)

little bits of life

sometimes, i do take a break from work.
here are some little bits, captured less-than-perfectly through the lens of the camera on my phone. sadly, i've gotten out of the habit of taking my good digital camera around with me on adventures....


lately, b and i have been really into exploring the walking/hiking trails of the local nature preserves. this was a shot from today's walk. on this walk i found my first hen-of-the-woods; too bad it was past its peak/season.

then we discovered baldwin's book barn --- possibly the most beautiful bookstore i've ever visited. it's five floors of books in an old house/barn!




the majority of the stacks on the upper floors are made from old fruit crates; beautiful!


on the way home we passed this sight:


only in pennsylvania.... (right?)

rewind a few weeks; we carved pumpkins; (can you guess which one i did?!)


and then the next day it snowed on them. (crazy!)

the next week, niece bella and i used skewers dressed up as flags to save nephew aidyn's birthday cake from slippery doom:


(we called it the muddy river cake. it may not have been my prettiest, but it was darned delicious!)

and lastly, one of my latest little joys; watching the sunrise from my pillow;


sometimes emil watches it with me, too.


that's it for now! hopefully on my next post i can give a little recap of the art/craft fair i did this past friday night. til then, ciao, friends!

art et joie

if you are local to the philadelphia area, or within driving distance and looking for something to do this friday night -- come to this event! art et joie is going to be a one-night-only trunk-show event featuring seven artists who will be showing and selling their work. there'll be refreshments! it'll be a sweet opportunity to browse and purchase some lovely handmade art and gifts and to meet the artists who created them.
the event is being held at paradigm gallery - 2020 south street, philadelphia -- between the hours of 7 - 10. i've already got my set-up all worked out (currently in my living room) and i'm greatly looking forward to it.

virginia evans, one of the artists, created an etsy treasury of a sneak preview of the work to be shown/seen:


(see it here.)
see you there?

a little birdie (or two)

here's one of the custom jobs that i shipped out last week:


it was for a customer who had ordered from me i think over two years ago -- it always makes me over-the-moon happy to see customers come back to my shop to get more work done. and i love that i remember every piece that i stitch and the back-and-forth emails that it takes to complete an order. connection with my customers is one of my very favourite parts of my job -- it's so super satisfying!

this is the project that inspired the newest kit (the lovebirds kit) -- but i wanted to do it in a size that would compliment the letters that went along with it, and so stitched this one double-size, creating a bigger version of the original pattern.

there are so many ways that these pieces could be arranged and hung -- i love the difference that a little ribbon makes. i would have liked to have tried more set-ups, but these shots are all i had time for...


congratulations to the newlyweds to whom this collection was shipped, and thanks to amanda for having me create it!

oh - and speaking of birds - a bird somehow got into my house about an hour ago and was flying all around! this is the second time it's happened; i think they squeeze in through a space under the screen door. all is fine though - i got him/her out safely and kept emil the cat clear away from the excitement. phew! at least it wasn't a bat.

please... lightened up

oh my goodness, i've been a bad blogger... sorry, i've been working lots and lots of custom orders. soon i'll post photos!

here's the latest listing in the shop:


i stitched it up almost a month ago, but just got it photographed and listed. the design is familiar, yes, but this one is in a one-of-a-kind colorway. i'd love it if someone with dark walls (like charcoal grey!) bought it, but i'll be content sending it to any happy home.



today is one of those beautiful sunshine-y fall days here, so i'm going to try to finish up my work and get out there for an hour or two! i hope you're all doing swell. xo.