make your own home sweet home

here's the latest chez-sucre-chez do-it-yourself cross-stitch kit:


i created the piece a couple of weeks before going to chicago and decided to turn it into a kit just days before the trip. i like that it's a really simple design and that the colors are different from my other light-color-stitching-on-black-fabric kits. the color combo for this one and the little red heart flanked by doo-dads was inspired by a ribbon design that i remember from my childhood. i thought i had a little scrap of that ribbon to photograph and post, but it seems i dont... hmmm, i'll have to keep my eyes out for it. i'm sure you know what ribbon i am talking about, though -- very folk-y looking- white ribbon with red and blue and green and yellow "embroidery" design on it. if i find some i'll post it here later. anyways, that was the inspiration behind the original piece and then i thought i liked it so much that i wanted to share.


so that's where the kit came from. it comes with the pattern, a four-inch wooden embroidery hoop, blue aida cloth, red and white floss, and a needle -- all packed up in a little draw-string pouch that i've sewn up.



kits available in my etsy shop and soon in my bigcartel shop.

pretty in prints

new sammy wrap prints!
super-helper ellen and i went to the local fabric store earlier this week and picked out a couple of new prints for the sandwich wrappers. i'm gonna be stitching up a bunch and marketing them as a back-to-school necessity in the coming weeks, so i wanted some fresh material to play with.
here's the first:


i'd been eying this material for weeks, but wasn't sure how well it would translate as a sammy wrap. i don't know why i was so wary of the fact that it's transparent -- regular baggies are transparent, so why was i thinking that it wouldn't work? ellen really liked this print and i am glad that she convinced me to get it, because the finished product looks awesome. unfortunately, though, it doesn't look so awesome in photos. i had to try a few different settings:


i like how the textured print almost gives it a quilted look.



but i am not completely psyched on the photos -- they're okay, but the real thing is definitely better-looking. i do, however, enjoy the way that my afternoon dc and the strawberries worked as props.
and then here's the other new print:


i'm calling this one "the modernist picnic." i don't have a good name for the other one -- any suggestions?




i've listed the transparent geometric overlapping circles print wrappers (see!? i need a new name for it!) here and the modernist picnic print wrappers are here.

*rather an aside, but in reference to my post title; i recently came to the realization that i think "pretty in pink" by the psychedelic furs just may be one of my all-time-favourite songs. yep. so there you go.

looking for someone to love

i know i said that i thought i was going to keep those extra toothmen around to keep me company in the studio, but this one particular guy was giving me the feeling that he really rather wanted to maybe find a new home:


look at that face! he wants to see the world, or at least be united with someone (besides me) who thinks the world of him. he's got some love to share.


so -- i set him up as a listing on my etsy shop as a tooth buddy. he'll be mailed with some little coin envelopes stamped with the words "tooth fairy" so that he can help out with tooth fairy duties if called upon. the child could put his/her tooth in the envelope and put it under the pillow and then the tooth fairy can leave the loot in the same envelope or in one of the spares or however else he/she sees fit. i've thought a lot about (and had many suggestions to do so) how i could make these guys into tooth fairy pillows and this is what i've come up with so far. i know i could sew a pocket onto the backside of them, but i just dont want to -- i think it would detract from their charm. a tooth fairy pillow is only used so many nights in one lifetime -- i want my toothmen to be adored ALL THE TIME.


so -- check him out. (here is the listing.) snap him up for your favourite five year old (or thirty-five year old, or sixty-five year old.... ).

**whoa! one day later and he's already been scooped up! toothman is off to live in salem, mass. lovely! so now his buddies are eager to see if they can find new homes, too. i've just listed another (here). we'll see how it goes!

so berry sweet

after receiving so many nice comments and compliments on the strawberries that i took with me to the recent craft fairs, i decided to make some more. this time, however, i filled them with dried lavender instead of just with scraps.
so now they not only look cute, they also smell pretty, too.


they can still be used as pin-keeps. (though i know, the traditional ones are filled with emery sand -- these, obviously, arent, but they'll still hold a pin!)


or they can be thrown in a drawer to make your clothes smell pretty and to help keep them free of moth holes. (lavender is a natural moth repellent.)
or they can be used as play food for little kids who are old enough to know not to actually try to eat these berries. or you can just put them on a pretty little dish or anywhere else and leave 'em out as decoration.


so there you have it. i listed them in sets of four (here) and six (here). if you'd like more or less, be in touch; we'll work something out.

letter(s) go

also now in the shop:
the monogrammed towels that i had stitched up as display samples for the recent craft fairs. i usually do these as custom orders, but these babies are in the shop at 15 bucks each and they're pressed and folded and ready to go to you.

you can get this stripe-y letter A monogram: (here)


how about this fancy red stitched H? (here)


this F can be yours if you act now: (here)


i only did a few of these dotty monograms, if you're a C, you're in luck; here it is:


love this L on the navy blue towel? get it. (here)


i've already got a couple of K's for myself. you can have this one if you want it: (here)


one more H, this one crisp black on white: (here)


i'll be doing more listings soon, but this is it for the ready-to-go monogram towels!

greg, don't look!

inspired by my good friends greg and alec, i've got a new tea towel design.


greg and alec just moved into a new place and i wanted to stitch them up something for a housewarming gift. as i was just there helping them paint a few weeks ago, i kinda knew their color scheme and was trying to come up with something that would work in either the kitchen or the bathroom. i didnt want to do monograms -- i wanted to do something new. and this is what i came up with -- the anchors:


and then once i did it, i realized that i kinda love it. i love it for the simplicity -- the clean dotted line and crisp colors.
and i do love that the design and the towels work for the kitchen:


and they work for the bathroom:


so i put the original set in the mail (you'll get it in a few days greg -- i know you didn't heed my post title) and put listings for the towels in my shops. you can get the blue towel, or the white towel, or a set of two (you choose the colors).

hold it

the first of the lobster pot holders is now in the shop.

mine swine

i got an email the other day from jessica, who writes the blog the window ledge, to let me know that she had featured my butcher-cuts piggy tote.


(see the post here.)
she created a round-up of piggy themed goods. i love that -- showing love to the hogs amidst all the swine-flu media frenzy. awesome. thanks for the mention, jessica!
also in positive pig PR: the regular piggy goes to market grocery totes are back in stock (after being sold out AGAIN!).


i just got a new shipment of tote supplies and i'm stitching up another batch. get yours here, before this batch is gone, too!

silver and gold

new silver and gold frilly print sandwich wrappers (which in my head i always call sammy wraps) are in the shops!




here and here.
c'mon buy yerself somethin' pretty for earthday! (one of these sandwich wraps -- it's a responsible purchase!)

where the wild roses grow

i tell you, i've gone gaga for stitching roses.


i've made up a whole bunch of new tea towels with roses embroidered onto them. when i did the first and second rounds (these and these), i was using a pattern that i traced from a photo of an actual rose. this time around, though, i doodled a bunch of roses freehand and then used different combinations of those drawings on the towels. i think i'm quite pleased with the results.



i'm really feeling the color combos, too... rather reminiscent of kath kidston, huh? it's quite a different palette for me, but i'm liking it.
i listed these in the shops as sets of two.


this set (above)


and this set (above)


and this set (above)

more rose items to follow...

leaves of grass

happy spring! i'm happy because i figured out how to more efficiently make multiples of my green grass totes and i like the way they've turned out:


since embroidering each blade of grass was just waaaaaay too labor-intensive, i went the route of making a stamp and printing them. i cut each blade of grass from that weird foam stuff (that all kids crafts seem to use these days) and then glued it to another piece that i used as the stamp mount. it worked pretty well!


i tested the stamp and printed some new spring mailing envelopes.
and then i did some tests of printing on fabric:


and then i moved onto the totes:



me likey.
the totes are now in the shop.

somewhere there's a feather

i had mentioned this project a while ago; it's been in the works for quite a few weeks, but i've only just today gotten to finish up and photograph the pieces i was working on. a return to a past chez-sucre-chez motif: feathers...




feathers on handmade linen hand towels:



i had made the towels, oh, um, i guess about a year and a half ago. there is a great fabric store for fine fabrics -- mostly linens and wools and shirting cottons and such -- in my old neighborhood of greenpoint and that is where i picked up the yardage of linen. (i just looked it up, the store is called tip top fabric. it's on calyer street at mcguinness. it looks like a weird place, it is a little weird, maybe, but it is full of REALLY great fine fabrics at very reasonable prices -- check it out! {wow, that sounded like an advertisement.... i swear they didnt put me up to it...}) i made these towels and few others and then one little one that i embroidered with the feathers for my bathroom at the time. i've been using that towel ever since, but i completely forgot about the other ones. well i found them recently and i was so impressed with my use of the selvage for the front hem. i thought its feathery, wispy quality would pair perfectly with the delicate fringe of feathers. it does, right?


but before this project was the pillows:


first this one:


and then this one, which i just finished today:



(i had fun doing product shots at my friends molly and dave's house. look at their dog, dot, in the background; she's so funny!)
and now, the feather motif projects are complete. for now, at least, until the next time i come back to them. i really really do enjoy embroidering the feathers, but it just takes a while...
schwew! it feels really really good to finish projects. dang, i love that feeling! (and then there's the photographing, and posting, and listing, and blogging about them, but now that's all done, too! hooray!)
both the hand towels and the pillows are now in the shop. check them out, here.
now i'm off to finish some more projects....