squirrel power!

before i got onto the royal crown and animal motifs, i stitched up some new squirrels.


i am reeeeeeeally loving this new blue-grey cross-stitch fabric that i found. anyways, my return to squirrels was partially inspired by christine, of wonting, who uses them frequently in her work. christine and i applied to get a table together at this summer's renegade craft fair in brooklyn. let's keep our fingers crossed that we get in!

(btw: christine recently featured my house project on her blog; check it out!)

royally re-inspired

i thought that i was over cross-stitch. i did the initials series. i did the silhouettes, the clouds and the coral. i felt like i had done all i wanted to do. i was bored of it.
but now my love for turning x's into shapes has been renewed. my house, the royal, and my new surroundings, the land of the pennsylvania dutch, has given me new inspiration.
here's the first of what i believe just may develop into my most accomplished series:


expect to see more frequent posts and updates here on chez-sucre-chez.

sprouted

here's another photo that was sent to me of a little chez creation in use:


(it's my friend jack's nephew -- jack bought the hat for him at a hearts and crafts affair - and i have had this picture for so long but forgot about it! thanks, jack!)

chez in other people's chez

i have been meaning to do this post for a long time...
beautiful and amazingly crafty emily, from the black apple, bought a few pieces from my etsy shop and then took this photograph of them hanging on her wall and posted it on her blog.


i love how her wall is painted the same color that mine was in my brooklyn apartment. the lighting in that room was so bad, however, that i never got a decent picture of my framed art wall. this is the best i got:


(uhg -- what a terrible picture! -- but note -- flying bird skeleton artwork by dana b!)
anyway -- emily's post drove a nice little surge of traffic to my etsy shop.. thank you so much, emily!

stephanie, from the living room floor, was one of the peeps who was driven to my site/shop by emily. she then photographed the piece i did for her and put that up on her blog:


it looks so pretty! thanks to you, stephanie!

and just today i received a photo from Steff, for whom I just did two custom initials.


(and i do believe that that is a emily/black apple painting hanging there next to my initials.)

clouds are lifting (slowly).

it is definitely taking me more time than i had anticipated to get back into my normal creating and crafting mode after my recent move. three weeks later and much of my art and craft supplies are still in boxes, the studio is nowhere NEAR being ready, and i am still feeling preoccupied with the priority of creating livable kitchen, bathroom and bedroom spaces.
but it is starting to fall into place.
prompted by a request for a custom initial, i've created a comfortable spot where I can do some work and I've broken out some of my supplies.
i'm hoping that as the weather warms, so will my spirit and productivity.

wigging out (am i really leaving this as the title?)

im working away at the royal -- but found a moment to reference a classic french film -- cleo from 5 -7.
here's my recreation of one of my favorite stills (of which i posted a screen shot on here long ago).


see what is happening at the royal: www.threadandbutter.blogspot.com

heart-felt

big kisses, love, and good fortune to all who check in on me through my little blog and to all whom i love so much.
(these felt fortune cookies were in the february issue of martha's "Living" magazine -- they are so cute and so easy! oh -- and, speaking of martha -- greg worked it out for us to go see a taping of the show -- it was rad! watch it on friday and maybe you will see us in the audience (even though we were hiding from the camera).

by ganache i think i've got it

here's an update from last night's baking disappointment.
i covered the animals in ganache... i'm not sure if it successfully covered up or eliminated the vegetable oil taste, (i haven't tried one yet.) but this definitely gives them more of the kind of look i was hoping for.
okay, so now i know what i need to do next time. and oh, there will be a next time.

cast menagerie

i scored this absolutely beautiful cast-iron cookie mold at a back-woods thrift store -- months ago -- and i have been trying to use it (successfully) ever since.


ugh. this has been a project.
it had some funky spots when i got it. so i scrubbed it. and then i tried to season it, and i made a test batch of cookies and they DID NOT come out of the mold -- i had to scrape them out.
so i reaseasoned it. and reaseasoned it.
and then i reaseasoned it again. (and i wasted a batch or two of cookies in the processes.)


i thought about giving up -- but look at those animals! they are fantastic! a walrus! and look at that pig, and the weird sad bison! those animals had to be worth the effort.
well, this time i've almost got it right...
the cookies came out, but 1 -- they taste like the oil i used to season the mold (vegetable oil -- yuck!) and 2 -- they don't look as good as i wanted them to.


so - there will be a next time, and i will post when that happens. when it does, i think i am going to use a chocolate dough, and i am going to press it more firmly into the mold -- to eliminate the air-bubble effect and to make the relief detail a little more apparent. oh, and i am going to use butter on the mold, instead of the oil.

object of my affection

i told you i was distracted.
i'm sorry. i havent been posting.
i havent been making.
i havent been drawing.
i havent been sewing, or knitting, or stitching, or cutting, gluing, tracing or pasting.

i've been dreaming.

(i told you i'm in love.)

chez-sucre-chez is about to take a much deeper meaning for me.
it's brick and mortar now.

home.
sweet.
home.

keep track of it:
www.threadandbutter.blogspot.com

sweet mad-e-line

(sung to the tune of sweet caroline, of course).
laura bought me a madeleine pan... so sweet.
let me tell you, these things are delicious. (and oh, so easy!)

sweater all better

this brand new j.crew sweater lost an arm in a tragic accident.
but i liked the sweater too much, so i turned it into a project...

with yarn, i stitched up the sides,


stuffed a pillowform in there,
used the sweater's buttons to make the closure,


buttoned the buttons,


et voila --
a new pillow.

(coral) reefer madness

i've finally finished a new batch of coral cross stitch pieces. these have been in the works for a while and it's taken me way longer to finish them than i had anticipated... i think i am done with coral for a little while -- my time's pretty short these days and i think i need a break from the shape -- i probably won't get to another batch until at least march. most of the pieces in the photo are available on my etsy site, so if you are interested, click on over!

squealing with delight

the totally awesome sarah b brought me a present today.
she saw this perfect little piggy cookie cutter and bought it for me. how rad is that?
i have seen pig cookie cutters before -- but seriously, never one so great as this.
i was so inspired that i made cookies with it tonight.


at first, i was content with the pink pigs just as they were - straight out of the oven.
but that satisfaction faded as i was just about to put the cooled cookies away and call it a night.
i've come to realize something about myself: rarely do i do something just once and walk away satisfied. more often, i like to do things multiple times, each time tweaking, improving, and pushing the envelope of inspiration.
so -- i whipped up some cookie icing and gave those little piggies some definition.


and then, as the creative process usually goes with me, it is usually after a few times at something that my true brilliance really hits me (um, okay -- brilliant to me .. hey - it's 1:45 in the morning....)
here is where these ended up.


and while i still dont think they are perfect (the lines could be thinner and more perfect -- but the icing wasnt the right consistency and i wasnt about to turn on the kitchenaid at this time of night) -- i think they're cool enough that i can sleep now.

resolution

new posts soon -- i promise. i've been working on no less than five (literally -- no exaggeration) big projects at once these past few weeks -- picking up one, working on it, putting it down, picking up another, putting it aside, going back to the first, moving on to a different project... been feeling a little scattered.. lots going on..
check back in on me in a few days, though -- i've got a goal to finish at least two of these projects before the new year (tuesday?!) and i'll post them as soon as they're complete.
happy almost new year!

chimney sweeps, pipe cleaners.. there's a thread here, right?

i had no idea that pipe-cleaner crafts could turn out so cool. these reindeer really arent that complicated, and they turned out way better than i expected. my mamma had printed the instructions from ms. martha's site (brilliant, as ever) and bought the supplies as an activity to do with the wee ones...
very cool. i highly recommend you try it.

one of my favourite things

popcorn and cranberries


plus needle and thread


equals one of my favourite xmas decorations ever.
sweet baby aidyn and i watched mary poppins on television last night (that movie rules). afterwards, we made strings of cranberries and popcorn garland to decorate the trees outside -- a little xmas gift for the birds. it's raining today, so we can't hang them outside yet, but when we do, we'll be singing "feed the birds, tuppence a bag - tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag..."

'tis the season

xmas bats and rats...





thanks for the help this year, young french.

twitterpated

this is a portrait of a girl falling in love. it's scary, it's exciting. it's got me on pins and needles.
this is way more than i would usually share, but my head isnt right these days. and, i've got no new craft projects to post (though i have pLENTY in the works)!
please send me your good thoughts -- keep your fingers crossed for me -- hopefully soon i can fill you in on at least some of the juicy details.

sorted out for E's...

another custom initial going out in the mail tomorrow... hooray!

red letter day -- er, "A"

as an english major on a cross-stitch kick, i couldnt resist the urge to make a scarlet letter A. ... really, who doesnt love hawthorne and his ms. prynne (okay, a lot of people...)


seriously though, friends -- today was a pretty big day. "A" for amazing, awesome, adventure, apprehension, anxiety, a-little-crazy, anticipation, ... if all goes well, you'll hear more about it soon.

hearts and crafts recap

last weekend was the holiday edition of the hearts and crafts affair....and i'm just now getting to recap. (things have been busy - in a really good way.)
well, first of all -- a big thank you and hooray to the wonderful miss kira b. ( http://www.missbirney.blogspot.com/ ) -- that girl sure knows how to organize and throw a craft fair; at the end of the fair, as the vendors were all packing up, we were chatting and all agreed that hearts and crafts is the best craft fair around. (it may have helped that kira busted out and started serving a case or so of champagne somewhere around the four o'clock hour.)
anyway -- i had a great time, as usual. i felt really good about my work and the haphazard presentation of it that i threw together.


i chatted with a lot of very nice people (including some who found me/sought me out from the post about me on decor8!! http://decor8.blogspot.com/{check the november archive}) who all said very nice things about my work, a lot of my friends stopped by, which is always sweet, and i met some really talented artists/crafters.
marliyn has done the last few hearts and crafts affairs, and i always liked her crafty work, but what is REALLY great is her paintings -- she has them hung in cafe grumpy this month and they look BEAUTIFUL -- check them out - i am really hoping that she gets the right attention - her work is great. http://marilynglinka.com/
barbara was my neighbor for the day and it worked out swimmingly - her drawings and my work hung on the wall next to each other looked so cool -- we had similar color schemes and themes going on (red and blue and ponies and other animals --i wish i had a picture of both of our walls together). her drawings are really very special; take a look: http://www.mylittlepictures.com
betsy was across from me and had a lovely display. betsyply.etsy.com
andria takes photos and makes clocks and she's always fun to talk to. newyorkclocks.etsy.com
and roxanna makes the CUTEST sock elephants and kitties and puppies. i hope she creates an online site or store soon, because her work is really great and her line is so polished -- she'll be a success, for sure.
thanks to everyone who stopped by to see me and my stuff!

elephants in the room

best day at work -- (ever?)


working a 9 - 6 day job (where i have no access to my personal email or files) has been a challenge -- especially as all has been going so well with the chez... i find dylan's words rolling on a constant loop in my head sometimes, "i've got a head full of ideas, and it's driving me insane." but i can't quit maggie's farm quite yet.
today, however, was a fun one. i got to make an elephant trunk and ears for the president of the company.
with the help of the fabulous jenny wong (on quick-stitch detail), kristy humin (headband/ear-attachment engineering) and jessica stahl (snout extraordinaire) we whipped up a pretty sweet elephant costume on very short notice.
our very fun president was psyched with our creation - and she actually wore the ears and the trunk during the company wide meeting -- to make the point of addressing the elephants in the room.

i wish i were a bear

this blustery cold weather has me wishing i could just snuggle under blankets next to the radiator with plenty of yarn and fabric and cookies and cocoa -- and maybe not leave my house until the cold weather goes away.

once apron a time...

i stitched these up at the last minute before the hearts and crafts affair.



a found a use for some of my embroidery experiments -- pockets on aprons.


modeled by the lovely janna

sun shines brightly...

...through my window today...


how can i not be happy and productive when i wake up to this?