a good excuse for new fabric purchases

a couple of weeks ago, i was at "home" visiting mom and pop and i spent some time with my dear nani (grandmother) too. she'd seen the bowl cover that i made for my mama and thought it was just so clever (her words!) that she wanted a bunch as her go-to wedding gift for the season. i thought that was very sweet.

nani asked that i do them as sets of three; a small, medium, and large. i didn't have the heart to tell her that i really only did them as sets of two (medium and large), so i let this motivate me to make a pattern for a small size cover, too.

since i didn't have any bowl covers left in stock (they were the unexpected super-seller at renegade; i sold all but three on the first day!), i had to make them all and, rather than working from my fabric stash (oh my goodness, i have so much fabric), i treated myself to some new yardage for this project. new fabric is almost always more fun to work with, isn't it? a new joann fabrics just opened down the street from me and though i was in the mindset of thinking that their fabric selection was a little generic, i found some really sweet prints! i hadn't really looked at their selection in a long time and i was happily pleasantly surprised. with the store less than two miles away, i have a feeling i'll be going back for more sooner than later...
this way, too (using new fabric), i know that i can replicate a set if need be.. which makes me think, i should put these in the shop! hmmmm. i think i'll do that (soon).

they're on their way, nan!

he said the world was as soft as lace*

yesterday i designed a new pattern, and started stitching it up to be able to photograph it and list a new kit. it was partially finished by the evening and then b and i went for a walk in our local town park and discovered this:

i hadn't taken my phone with me, but went back first thing this morning for a little walk and a couple of instagram shots. it was only once i was back at the house that i saw the uncanny connection; i fell in love with this field of queen anne's lace, and i'd just made a lace-inspired pattern.
funny, eh?

i stitched the sample one up as white on black, but i'm putting these new kits together in a few different color options. i'm not sure how quickly i'll get to stitching samples of the other options, and i have a feeling i may add new color combos somewhere down the line, but currently, they can also be ordered in grey with ecru stitching:

and, in a really really limited quantity, white stitching on this beautiful lilac colored aida:

isn't that so pretty? i only have THREE pieces of this aida. not three big pieces; three kit-sized pieces. it was four, but one of them sold already! the new kit is in the shop here. if you'd like one of the few remaining lilac ones, hop to it! also, my dear blog readers, if there's some other color combo you'd like for this one, get in touch -- if i have the aida and the floss color, i'll put it together for you, because i like you and i know you'll come up with some good stuff. there are so many color combinations that would be great in this pattern. pink on white? white on blue? black on platinum? think about it. xo.

*i've always loved that line from the belle and sebastian song, "i don't love anyone."

summer sale!

more sale items are up in the shop!
i've been making progress towards cleaning up my studio and photographing some of the pieces that have been around for a while and that i really should have put in the shop long ago.
here's the batch that went up today:

more to come!

shine like a new pin

if you subscribe to my twitter, instagram, or the chez-sucre-chez facebook feeds, you may have already seen this. i was quite tickled with it when i finished and framed it up.(i still am completely tickled with it.) in all my busy-ness with renegade, though, i never got around to posting it here, and i just realized that today. oops!

so you know that i've been on the "stay gold" streak. i've long loved the quote (from the movie "the outsiders") and i've worked with these words before.

the first "stay gold" piece i did sold at my little exhibit at THIS gallery in los angeles.

the second was waiting forever to be framed. i finally finished it up just before renegade brooklyn this year and it went to a sweet guy who came back to my booth three times before he pulled the trigger. he put up an instagram of it later that day, but for some reason i couldn't access the page. boo.
here's that piece a few days before renegade:

it's framed in a custom-built whiskey and chocolate frame. (it was an odd size.)

and then the shiny metallic gold stitching on the beautiful blue-grey aida is my latest. i love love love love love it.

i love the way the colors and the style go perfectly with the vintage frame. this is one of these pieces that i love so much, i almost don't want to offer it up for sale. but, heheheh, i *do* happen to have another frame exactly like this one, so if i get to missing it too much, i could always recreate it for myself.

stay gold, friends, and have a great weekend!

baking up a sale

my summer shows are all over, and my studio, as i think i mentioned in some recent post, is still in a state of absolute disarray. i just have too much stuff!
so -- to help make room for fall and holiday projects and products, i'm putting some of these goods up for sale.

screen-printed towels are on sale!

i made these a while ago, but didn't have them in my shop for very long. now i only have a few left and i'm ready to let them go at just about what they cost me to make.
see that listing here. (i only have one left of most colors!)

and, all of the monogram towels that i stitched up for my summer shows are on sale. it's so hard to guess what letters and colors people are going to want. sometimes i get it right, sometimes i don't. this year, i did pretty well and these are all i have left. if your letter and color are here, you're in luck! (listing here.)

(update: G -- SOLD!)

yeah, that's a lot of fresh-baked sweets i have in the house. yesterday, i simply could not get motivated to do anything else productive, so i baked my butt off. i figured the peach pie and cinnamon raisin bread would make good props for product shots, and we have guests coming in to stay with us tonight, so, it's all good.

also new up in the shop -- custom-stitched monogram napkins:

i ordered these really lovely hem-stitched cotton napkins a while ago and never got around to doing anything with them. well, it's time to put them into motion! they're all pre washed and dried and ironed and waiting for stitches. wouldn't these be fun for more casual style every-day dining, especially for a family with younger kids. i imagine them done up with the first letter of each family member's name; something a little different. (they could even be done in each family member's favourite color!) but also, of course, they stand up beautifully for elegant festive dining tables, all done up with the family monogram. check them out here.

mint and pink lemonade

it's a new color-way of the borderlines kit.
choose from fresh minty aqua blue green:

or pretty pink:

i haven't yet had a chance to stitch up a sample in pink... not sure i'll get to it anytime soon.... but here i am, in a snapshot that b took, stitching up the mint sample:

the new kit is now up in the shop. xo!

nothing's gonna take away these golden years

"nights are warm and the days are young" (bowie - golden years)

i know i've said it before, but man, i love summer! b and i have been taking advantage of the long days and warm nights and we've been getting out and trying to make the most of them.
the night before independence day, we made a plan to see some local fireworks - without the crowds. b scouted a perfect spot for this, on a big hill of one of our local nature preserves. it was great. we had the whole park to ourselves and, as soon as we were finished devouring our picnic dinner, the light turned amazingly golden and i jumped up for an impromptu chez-sucre-chez photoshoot. this was exactly the light that i wanted for the stay gold totes, and i did have mine with me. hooray!
here are some of my favourites:

pretty great for an unplanned shoot, right? b's been killing it...

and, since i didn't post them already, here are some of the general product shots that i took for the new totes:

i am SO psyched on these totes. i worked with masthead print, in philadelphia, to do the printing. it was super fun, and i LOVE the way they turned out.

the idea is that you can leave the tote as it is, screen printed with metallic gold ink, or you can stitch over top of the screen printed x's, like i did on my pink sample tote. (i decided to give the pink sample tote to myself as a birthday present.)

blue stitching looks great, too. floss packets (and a needle) are included with the totes -- choose bright pink or ice blue. on the pink tote, i used three strands of the 6-strand embroidery floss; on the blue one, i used two strands. it does make quite a difference -- the pink one is more textural and the blue one shows more of the gold peeking out beneath the stitching.

the totes that i used for them are of excellent quality, and they're made in the usa! i sourced them specifically because they're the same ones that THIS gallery & incase used for the giveaway totes at our gallery shindig, and i really like the size and the quality of that one; i've put it through A LOT of use and it's stood up beautifully. it's a great size for groceries or a day at the beach or a weekend in the city. check them out, they're in the shop!