on inspiration

i know that it may not seem it, because i've been blogging so infrequently lately, but i've felt the most creative and inspired over the past few weeks than i have in a long time.
maybe it's the season, my favourite, and the weather, which has been absolutely perfect in my opinion these past few weeks. maybe it's that i've been spending more down-time outdoors; between a little mini-vacation with my best girl friend on the delaware in beautiful bucks county, and few days at the shore with my family, i've been soaking it in and doing a pretty darned good job of leaving work at home. or perhaps that's just it -- that i've been more relaxed about the pressure of working and making enough to keep it all going.... i'm sure it's a combination of lots of things (including the fact that i cleaned my studio!!!), but i've been feeling good and happy in my creativity. and i haven't been stressing about photographing and documenting it all. which is a bummer, because i'd like to share it all with you. but then, maybe that's why it's felt easier....
i'll work on getting some snaps of some of the projects i've done recently. a lot of them are for upcoming projects and the fall and holiday markets, so you'll see at least some of them, sooner or later.
in the meantime, here are some photos i took this morning of some treasures that i found -- the luna moth wing at one of our local nature preserves and the blue berries on a walk through some woods last night. i don't know what those blue berries are... surely not edible, but the color of them is blowing me away. i have a pretty good feeling that these colors will work their way into my craft somewhere...

whoo-ee i've been a terrible blogger! sorry! in between making the most of the summer days, lots has been going on here with me and chez-sucre-chez, but i have been terrible about taking the time to take photos and post blog posts.... oops.
this may not be the most exciting, but here are some tea towels done recently. i've had a few orders for white tea towels with various color monograms. dang, stitching looks great on these crisp white towels.

come mid-late fall i'll be gearing up for the holiday gift-giving season and will have new photographs and listings for the monogram towels (and napkins!) in the most current colors.
i'm hoping to do another post or two this week -- until then, have a good one!

crusader

i've got a new item in the shop --- reusable produce bags.

another product created by my intense disgust of wasteful plastic use! as i said in my etsy listings for these, i've been using tote bags for many many years, and i'm pretty crazy about it. if there were a sound board of the ten things i say the most, "i don't need a bag; i can put it in my tote," would certainly be one of them. i'm such a freak about not taking/using plastic shopping bags that i'm that person who won't let friends who happen to be shopping with me get bags. i butt in and tell the cashier, "we don't need a bag, he/she can put it in my tote." or, on those days that i purchase more than what will fit in the tote(s) i brought, i might walk to my car with a pack of toilet paper or a box of tampons under my arm, a carton of eggs in one hand, and anything else i can possibly carry in the other.
but those plastic produce bags -- i often find that i don't plan well enough and end up needing one or two on a shopping trip. and i feel crazy guilty every time i take one, even though i always reuse them or recycle them.
so -- i'm working to correct that. i made up these reusable produce bags with the intention of just making a few for myself. not even half way into the project, though, i was so pleased with them that i decided to try them out in the shop. i really really like them and i want you to, too!

i made them in two different sizes. the one is small/medium, it's perfect for most produce shopping needs, fitting at least six large apples, or a bunch of lemons, or three or so average size zucchini or cucumbers. it's also great for herbs or delicate little lettuce mixes. and then i made a larger size one, which is great for bigger heads of lettuce like romaine, or for bunches of kale or collard greens, or beets or carrots with the greens still on them.

i gotta admit, i felt pretty darned cool walking out of the store with one of these bags full of lettuce and the other carrying apples and lemons.

each is embellished with a row of a machine-embroidered leaf pattern.

and the top is a drawstring of vintage ribbon that matches the embroidery. it's knotted so that you won't loose the string in the laundry machines.

what do you think? is this the kind of thing that you would use? or would you get them and then forget to bring them along when you went shopping? i'm certainly excited about them...
see the details in the shop, here. ciao!

new edit --- i made more - a lot more! yesterday i got on a kick and was having so much fun letting my sewing machine do all of the fancy stitchwork that i just kept going. here are some of the new colors and patterns:

yeah!

summer look book

Open publication - Free publishing - More craft

hey friends, (with a lot of help from B.) i created a little look book of some of my most recent projects and products. i love the way it looks all nicey-nice and pro. please check it out, share it if you so feel inclined, comment, etc. etc.
next up -- i'm working on a holiday look book. holiday?! already?! my thoughts exactly.