Bring on the Holidays!

Last week, I went up to NYC to lead a workshop at the American Folk Art Museum.



It was delightful!
For the past few years, I feel like every trip I've taken into the city has been rush-rush, full of traffic, and so busy that I don't get to enjoy just *being* in the city. Well, this trip was different; I took the train in, and gave myself plenty of time - getting there early enough to walk from Penn Station to Lincoln Circle, stopping to shop, and look, and eat along the way.
That particular route really isn't the best of NYC (in my opinion) but it is close to where I lived for much of my time in NYC, and so I had a lot of routine spots and shops that I stopped in on along the way; the shoe department at Macy's, the big H&M on the corner of ___ (what is that corner? I forget!), the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle. Unfortunately, I never found any independent little gems in that part of the city... I walked past my old gym(s), one of my old office buildings, the street on which I used to live. Oh, memories.
And then there was the Folk Art Museum! I got there early so that I could see the current exhibit and oh-my-goodness - it was wonderful! The current show is called alt_quilts, where three artists show their works inspired by the traditional American quilt. The work of one of these artists, Stephen Sollins, knocked my socks off! Sollins creates "quilts" entirely out of paper - and the results are absolutely stunning. Here are a few snapshots I clicked with my phone:
Here's one of them from afar:

And then you get close to it and see it is made up entirely of envelopes -- the inside security patterns making up the color blocks.

Oh my goodness, right? I couldn't get enough of this piece. I took a ton more photos, but really, if you are in NYC, you really should go see it yourself. It is so wonderful.
Then there was another by the same artist - a wedding ring style piece, made entirely of Tyvek (think Fed Ex and Priority Mail) envelopes:

Love! I am a sucker for an all-white quilt as it is, and this one had me swooning.
In addition to the works by the three artists, the exhibit also featured some traditional American quilts from the museum's collection. This was my particular favourite:


The curved lines of triangles of color and pattern look so much like little bunting banners.
One day, I will own a beautiful old quilt like this. There actually is one at a local antiques shop, and I am SO in love with it, but it's $600! $600?!??!! Yikes... that's way out of my budget. But look at how amazing it is:

Oh swoon. Those old prints/fabrics, that hand-work, all that white...
So I go and visit it every so often and always hope that it'll still be there.

Aaaanyways. My workshop at the Museum was great, too! I had such a wonderful bunch of ladies and it was really fun to share the project with them. We did the Elegant Ornament project and although it was too complicated of a pattern to finish in the 1.5 hours of the workshop, I hope that they all got the guidance enough to finish it up on their own.

The other thing about my trip to NYC was that it definitely made me realize how close the holidays are! I had my first Peppermint Mocha drink (guilty pleasure!) and I could feel the energy of the holiday hustle-bustle building up.

So --- here's a little preview of chez-sucre-chez holiday. I had these things ready to go weeks ago, but I was trying to hold out until it really was about holiday time.

Holiday kits are in the shop -- the Elegant Ornaments (available in three colors) and Night Deer:


And "Cheers!" tea towels and napkins are stitched up and ready-to-go:

I'm really liking the "Cheers!" tea towels wrapped around a bottle of wine or other spirits; this is going to be my hostess gift of the season. :)


More to come! I rocked through all of my open orders yesterday and cleared my worktable so that I could whip up a few more seasonal goodies today before it's time to start working on my Thanksgiving feast contributions for tomorrow. Hoping to add more goods to the shop later today or late tomorrow. (Hoping.)
I'm sending you all the biggest warmest wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. I am so thankful for YOU.

PS-- Yep, there will be some deals in the shop for this holiday shopping weekend. Keep your eye on the social media outlets and the shop for coupon codes and announcements of deals! xo!