dance dance revolution

here's the story on this one: it was inspired by the two movies i've watched this week; "black swan" and "desperately seeking susan."
i've been wanting to do a few dance-inspired pieces, and i have several in mind, but haven't gotten to them yet.... because the images i have in my head require me to create new fonts, and that's not always my favourite task.... but this one, this one came about pretty easily; i heard the line in madonna's "into the groove" (which is in "desperately seeking susan") and almost immediately got to work on putting the letters together.
two fun facts about me:
one - dancing is probably my favourite thing in the world to do. i love a dance party like nothing else.
two - "into the groove" was the song for our pom-pom routine in 8th grade. that's right, i was a cheerleader. for one year. sometimes when i'm out dance-partying this song comes on and if i've had a few cocktails, the pom-pom routine moves come out.


with the "black swan" influence, i totally wanted to do the piece with ballerina-pink stitching instead of ecru, but i decided it's better to go neutral on these random pieces that i make.


(behind the piece, you can see that state that my living room walls are in at the moment. i finally found the right color, but haven't yet gotten to the painting....)

expect more dance-themed pieces to come!

i will follow you...

after months of being out of the shop, and getting several requests for it, the "listen to your heart..." piece is back!


i had to do a little rethinking/reworking after the frame size (to which i'd originally designed it to fit) was discontinued, but now, methinks it works super well in the 8 x 10 frame size.



and b, my wonderful photoshop-saavy boyfriend, worked a little magic to lay the text overtop of the photo for the etsy listing.


(i know, it's not such a difficult thing to do, but i tell you, i have NO patience for those design programs and i'm happy to have someone who can help me to make things happen. otherwise, this would be sitting on my to-do list for weeks.)

i designed this piece right after i made my decision to move out to california for a little while and then, once i put it in the shop, got several orders for all kinds of places -- some of the memorable ones were "sweden" and "hollywood" and "florida," which i *almost* sent out stitched up as "flordia," and i probably would have if it weren't for my lovely friend and sometimes chez-sucre-chez assistant nicole pointing it out to me! phew! i'm still thankful of that, nicole!
where has your heart taken you?

color conundrum

oh friends i need your help.
i got three new towel colors for my monogram towels, but i'm having the most difficult time coming up with truly descriptive names for these colors!
here they are:


the working name for this one is latte:


and seriously, the reason for that is simply because when i went to take the photos of these towels this morning, i just happened to put my mug of almost-all-gone latte down next to them and noticed that the color was pretty similar.
and then there's this one, which i'm currently calling cornflower -- but it's not quite cornflower:


i simply don't know how to describe/name this color blue! what the heck is it? it's not tiffany blue, it's not royal blue, it's not cerulean -- what is it?!
then the last one is this one, on top:


(i didn't get a good shot of that one alone....)
it's not off white, it's not beige, or tan -- what the heck do i call this one? maybe it is beige, or tan, but those are such boring names and i don't think they really are quite right for this color.
i don't need any fancy names like you'd see describing the colors of sweaters in a j crew catalogue -- i just need simple, true, descriptive color names that are also hopefully attractive sounding.
any recommendations?
ugh, i am going through color conundrum indeed! i'm also in the midst of trying to find the right color for my living room and that is driving me crazy, too. i'd been looking through paint chip samples for weeks and had my mind set on one, then i went and got a color sample of the paint yesterday (my past house renovation project taught me many things, GET A PAINT SAMPLE was one of the biggest: color *never* looks the same on a wall as it does on one of those paper paint chips) and i don't love it.


so now i'm back to square one. you'd think that with me looking at those brown/beige/greige/tan paint chips so much that i'd have plenty of color names in mind for these towels! but i really don't want to name the towel colors "mushroom bisque" or "almond whisp".... okay -- that's all for now. if you have any ideas for me, please send them my way! thanks so much!

(the new colors, by the way, are available for order through the shop!)

let's juice!

here's me (making kind of a crazy face) on the set of a little video shoot i helped to do for my friend robyn's website grow indie, which is a fabulous resource for gardeners; whether you have a few containers on your fire escape or a full-on victory garden in your yard.
we were doing a demo video for a wheatgrass juicer and i got my first taste of wheatgrass juice. holy cow, it's good stuff! for the video we did wheatgrass and spinach juice, and that was surprisingly delicious and made me feel like i had taken some sort of pac man power pellets. i brought one of the juicers home with me and made apple/wheatgrass/parsley juice and that is amazingly delicious, too! i think i'm hooked! have any of you ever gone on a wheatgrass kick? do you have any favourite juice recipes/combos or suggestions or recommendations?

see you on sunday?

on this coming sunday, october 9th, i'll be hawking my chez-sucre-chez goods at this event (above) in lancaster, PA. three of my z-town gals, karen stanford of skylark studio, melanie linder of spread-the-love, and jen lindsay of jen lindsay designs, will also be there. we're not sure what to expect, as it's only a 4 hour event at a museum we've never been to before, but i'm looking at it as potential exposure to a new area and a reason to get my indoor show set-up fine-tuned before the holiday show season sneaks up on me. if you're near the lancaster area, come on out and say hello!

sparkle and shine

Inspired by this wonderful feedback;


"I have been desirous of one of these cloud embroideries for years, so I was very happy to be able to purchase this little collection. It looks just perfect in a corner of my new house."
(big smiles from me -- i love my etsy customers!)

I've been spending this cloudy week stitching up a new batch of clouds (among other projects):


i recently found this EVER so light blue aida cloth in my collection -- i have no idea where it came from or what this color is called, but i love it for these clouds. the color is SO subtle that the silver lining jumps out much more prominently than with the other colors i use. usually i prefer the subtle lining, like a little surprise that you see after you see the cloud (just like the metaphor), but i'm really liking these ones.



i've got packed-full days of things to do and people to see tomorrow and friday, but i expect to have some new clouds, including a grouping or two, in the shop next week.
have a great rest of your week/weekend!

fairy teeth

my niece is about to lose her first tooth so, as i did for my nephew, i'm sending her a tooth buddy:


i've been told that she's got another wiggly one as well, so i've gotta get crackin' on making up some more! (they get one for each of their four front teeth...)
happy wednesday, friends!

all for fall

the air is crisp, the leaves are starting to change colors, apple season is upon us - autumn officially begins tomorrow.
it's time for a little sale, don't you think? i do...
today through sunday night, take 20% off your order from the etsy shop with coupon code CELEBRATEFALL2011 - hooray!

frame thy fearful dissymmetry

continuing on my yellow kick, i bring you a new kit!


i'm calling this one "ring around the posy" and i've got to admit, i'm thrilled with it. this pattern and the colors of the materials are so different from my other kits, i think it's a really nice addition to the collection.


i'm so feeling this yellow on the cool modern grey! it feels so right for the season that we're entering into here. and these goldenrod flowers are all over the roadways here in eastern PA --- i think they've maybe worked themselves into my subconscious and that's where all this inspiration is coming from!


i enjoyed creating this pattern, and trying something a little different from my normal - i specifically designed it NOT to be completely symmetrical. oh, look at me, gettin' all crazy.
other happiness of the day: canon made good by sending me a brand new camera! i sent my old one (the one with the spot behind the lens) back to them to have fixed under warranty, and today i received a new camera. ta-da. hooray. all is good. thank you, big company, for being good to me.
see/purchase the new kit here.
have a great weekend!

some pulp

a custom order going out today:


(lyrics from pulp's "something changed")


happy wednesday!

aprons up!

making kids' aprons has been my outlet and excuse for fabric-buying for the past couple of years and although they sell well when i bring them to craft fairs, i've rarely offered them through my shop, primarily because it's such a pain in the hiney to photograph them for the listings.
last week, however, i planned ahead -- knowing that i would be seeing my neice over the weekend, i whipped up three new aprons, in three adorable prints that i bought over the last month, with the hopes that i could convince her to model them for me.

haha -- her idea of modeling sure has changed in the two years since i last had her do this for me. this was then:


gah! i can't stand the cuteness! (and there are more here.)
and here's what modeling means now:



look at that sass! ha -- adorable. she's awesome.
here are a few of the other shots and the other aprons:




cuteness! i love them. i love her.




hey lookie - there's our house! we live up on the third floor -- my studio is the window all the way to the right.

the three styles of aprons are up in the etsy shop (here) and they're available sewn-to-order in a variety of sizes (2T, 3 -4 years, 5 -7 years, and 8 - 10 years) check them out and if you happen to know someone with a little one who loves to bake or play dress up, please send them the info; thanks!

cutting the mustard

i saw this color tea towel at my favourite mennonite dry goods store the last time i was there, and i passed them up. then i kept seeing "mustard yellow" trending all over etsy and totally regretted not getting them. so, i picked some up while i was there on saturday and each time i look at them, i love this color more and more.


look how good it looks with grey stitching! and today, just minutes after i did the listing, i got an etsy convo asking if i could do this color with peacock blue green stitching, and i realized, THAT would look fantastic, too! they're here.

keeping with the mustard kick, i did some zippies with mustard yellow zippers.


i bought the zippers a long time ago, with this exact combo in mind, but then i second guessed myself and i thought maybe it wasn't as cool as i thought it was.... but now i think i was maybe right in the first place. i like them. i'm happy with them.

i also really like this photo -- even though zippy pouches have no context next to tomatoes....


i did two sizes:


one's the size that i usually do for zippies -- about 7 x 5. it's good for use as a wallet/purse sort of thing or little makeup bag.


and the other's a little deeper - which makes it a great project bag! it fits a five inch hoop easily - making it a handy little catch-all for your latest work in progress. throw it in your tote bag without worry about your embroidery floss getting all tangled up in your hairbrush and keys. organized = good. i'm getting there -- little by little....

wind and rain and balloons and buttons and pies and bracelets and more

man, i was on such a roll with posting, and now, oops, it looks like i've fallen behind... sorry! i've been busy busy with custom jobs and other little things but here's a run-down of some of the other happenings since my last post:

i became obsessed, for about four days, with friendship bracelets.


two weekends ago, b and i spent some time with my family down at the beach and i brought my floss boxes with me so that i could organize them, and because i had it in my head to make friendship bracelets with my niece. i figured, heck, i've got about every color imaginable in this floss collection of mine; there's plenty here for bracelets!


well, the bracelets didn't happen that weekend, but when i mentioned my idea to b, he was just about as psyched as i was. so, the next weekend, as hurricane irene soaked the east coast with rain, i knotted strands of floss together to make a total of six of those grade-school-favourite accessories. b now wears three of them, i sent a couple to some boys in nyc, and i've got one here in the studio waiting for a friend...
and then i got over that kick... for the time being.

i sent out a mailer about the urban outfitters thing and my red-balloons-for-good project and then, about 30 minutes later, the electricity went out in our house, and stayed out for the next 22 hours.
in that time, the initial two balloons that i had listed in the shop were snapped up, and i was grateful to your positive response to my project. i stitched up three more and then photographed and listed them when the sunshine and electricity returned.



they're in the "red balloons for good" section of my shop, if you're interested....

also in shop news, i added a new section, which i'm calling "add-ons;" the idea being that these items can be added to an order with no additional shipping fees.
i added hoops:


i am a huge fan of these hoops that i've been using -- they're SO much better quality than the ones found at the usual craft stores, and i often get requests for additional hoop purchases from customers who've bought my kits and used them. well, now they're easily available through the shop! i put up a listing for the 3 and 4 inch hoops, and if that goes well, i'll probably add additional sizes.
i'm also thinking it's good to have the hoops in shop as an additional item option for the boyfriend hankie kits; it really is a heck of a lot easier to successfully do that project if you use a hoop. i don't include hoops in with the kit, though, because i figure that a lot of people have them already, or they can borrow them from a friend or a grandma who does -- and by not including them, i'm keeping the cost of the product down for my customers. well, now there's an easy way to add a hoop onto that item if a customer needs one. hooray!

also in the add-ons section, i'm putting together little bundles/packages/collections/selections of trim and notions. i've got A LOT of really pretty ribbon and trim and rickrack and vintage buttons and such and, even though i realize that i couldn't possibly use it all in my lifetime, i can't stop buying more when i come across it. SO -- i'm going through my collection and making nice little measured-out bundles and listing them in the shop. i put together and photographed two listings when my back-up camera died on me. (my regular camera has developed an annoying spot on the inside of the lens.)



that new add-ons section of my shop is here. check it out often to find more treasures!

on tuesday, i baked this pie:


peaches and blackberries soaked in bourbon and vanilla - yum, but i didn't cook it quite long enough... the bottom crust wasn't *quite* crisped enough. but what i DID do right was put the bourbon/vanilla/peach juice that was drained from the fruit before it went into the pie into a cocktail -- mmmhmmm delicious.

and lastly, today, i finished and framed this piece:



obviously, i'm going to need better photos. i'll be on the phone with canon tomorrow, hoping to get mine fixed through the warranty... ugh.
have a good long-weekend, everyone!