27 May, 2011

big deer little deer


these little pretties are going off to scarsdale new york today. there, they'll join the original deer in the snow/stars piece that i did and they'll hang in a group with the large one in the middle and the two small ones on the sides - fair isle style. cool right? the idea was that of mara, a client who who saw the original piece on one of my sites and contacted me to purchase it. once she got it, she said she liked it so much that she wanted more pieces to make a collection, and then she came up with the fair isle concept. at first, i was a little wary (not of her wanting more pieces, of course, but of the challenge of creating the same piece in a larger size), because i didn't know how the larger stitches would look (i used four squares on the aida instead of one to make each stitch) but now that i've done it i think you can expect to see a lot more of these big stitchings on chez-sucre-chez. hooray and thank you to mara for challenging and inspiring me to do new things!

25 May, 2011

may spawned a beauty


this one's the latest. it's a quote from morrissey's "november spawned a monster" but i can't take the credit for thinking to do this quote; it was the brilliant thought of one of my clients. i love how sweet the quote is all isolated and out of context. one who doesn't know the reference would never anticipate the stinging line that follows -- but that's what i think i like most about using these quotes as i have been. i love pulling these brilliant, sweet, witty little lines and putting them into the context of an old fashioned-inspired needlework piece. so, thank you joel, for inspiring me (via morrissey).

24 May, 2011

f yeah!

yippity yippity there's a new book out on the stands this month that features a photo of one of my little stitcheries.


i'd been contacted looooooong ago by lark, the publishers of this book, asking my permission to include one or more photos they'd found on my flickr page. of course i said yes and now, here it is:


my pretty little f piece out there for all the world to see.
and i'm so happy that it's got me listed as a resident of kutztown.
the book is a collection of photos of individual letters, and it goes from a though z. it's a sweet collection, and interesting to see where the photos came from. wanna see/read more? here's a link for you, and here's a little video preview.

18 May, 2011

two lumps please...

i posted this yesterday on the chez-sucre-chez facebook page (what, you don't know about it and "like" it already? well click on over and do that, then!) and i was hoping that i'd be able to get better photos today, but with the gloom and torrential rain that's been happening all day so far, i don't think that's gonna happen....
so, here it is; the latest custom order:


even more lyrics from "reel around the fountain," yeehaw!
i love my smiths-loving clients and the requests that they send my way. it's super fun to have reason to design and stitch these pieces!


i'm currently working on a custom piece with some david bowie lyrics... awesome. keep 'em coming!

16 May, 2011

untitled


thanks to everyone who came out to see us at art star in philly this past weekend and to the weather for not really affecting us so much as the forecast made us believe it would! this week i'll be doing lots of website and shop updating.. not so exciting, but essential... have a good week! i'll be back to stitching up and posting about new work asap!

09 May, 2011

art star 2011



this week, i will be busy stitching my little fingers off in preparation for the 2011 art star craft bazaar -- being held on penn's landing in philadelphia on may 14th & 15th. help me out by crossing your fingers that it won't rain and, if you're in the area, stop by and say hello; i'll be at booth number 4 with my pal melanie of spread the love. i hope to see you there!

04 May, 2011

miles and miles of sky

i've just returned from my trip back across the country - whoo-hoo - another good one. now i'm back on east coast soil and working on sorting my things out; getting organized and back to work all at the same time as looking for a home and studio. life is exciting.
this past trip across (going west to east) was absolutely inspirational in a totally different way as the first trip (going east to west).
on the first trip - i was completely infatuated with the sky of this great big country of ours. i took TONS of photos of it; some still and some through the window while driving. here's just a small selection of them:


(these first two are from some stretch of route 66... i don't remember where, exactly... maybe oklahoma?)







texas?




utah





and then the work that was inspired by all this:


in the months after the trip, i stitched lots of new silver-lined cloud pieces. i'm working on finding a home for this particular group; i think i've got an idea.
i'm also now working on a series of pieces inspired by the recent trip.... i'll post them as soon as they're ready... (hopefully it won't take me a full six months like it did with this last one!)

20 April, 2011

my, my, my serpentine

i stitched up this one and added it to the shop a few days ago:


it's quite cool, right? the pattern came from an antique border pattern that i found and adapted to the 5 x 7 frame size. i thought it was striking enough on its own and didn't need anything in the middle.


i had actually stitched one up very similar to this one for my show at the THIS gallery in december. but then, B liked it, so i gave it to him... i'm funny that way; i don't keep any of my pieces for myself, but then i like to give away my favourite ones to people who i like -- it sorta feels like keeping them close to me.
(below is a photo of my wall at the gallery -- i realized a while ago that i don't think i ever posted a photo of it!)


(ps - those two plants in the top two photos are the fabulous work of my friend claire. she's great.)

19 April, 2011

sale on

now thru wednesday around 5 pm, custom-stitched monogram tea towels are on sale for just $14 each (regularly $18).
holy shazaam, that's a deal! (they're hand-stitched to order, my friends.)


snap 'em up quick if you want 'em! the deal applies to both the stripes and the solid color towels that i have in stock.
(this was a collection of colors that i did for an order of 14 that were ordered as gifts for a family girls' weekend - sweet, right?!)


after wednesday, i'll be in transit and won't be taking any more orders for these for a few weeks, so think ahead - mothers' day, weddings, housewarmings, birthdays, thank-yous -- they make really good gifts! get 'em in the etsy shop. if you're looking for a quantity of more than 1 at this price, or, if you don't do etsy, contact me directly and i'll work up an order for you. but the wednesday evening cut-off date is firm, so do it asap!

16 April, 2011

another dutch-y square completed and framed:


i love this one so much. (and, in case you do, too -- it's in the shop here.)


i hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

15 April, 2011

hoping something good


this is the piece i finished a couple of weeks ago. i've been doing a lot of framing/finishing work over the past couple of days and now this one is ready to go. i'm very pleased with the way it turned out.
i'm really feeling the saying on this one. i did another version of it many many months ago (here), inspired by my friends francisco and monica, of mogollon. i had the great fortune of being able to work with them in helping to run their amazing little powerhouse of a design (and so much more) company. those months were super inspirational to me and i love that the three of us have remained close and continue to motivate and inspire one another. beyond creativity, we often get to talk about the business aspect of running a small company and how frustrating but also thrilling it can be. this sentiment, "something is about to happen" powers us through the slow weeks/months.... the determination that with ever harder work and persistence, that we'll one day, soon maybe (hopefully), be able to come to a point where it's not so difficult and that the stars align in just the right way that we get to carry out the brilliant vision we have in a way that's less of a struggle. that's the hope, anyway....

08 April, 2011

going (back to) dutch

pennsylvania dutch, that is.


i've been very much neglecting my bigcartel shop lately, and that's probably not good of me so today, i added a brand-spankin' new item. i'm making up a few of these PA-dutch-inspired squares to take with me to the philadelphia art star craft bazaar the weekend of may 14-15 and this is the first one that i've finished.


it's finished in one of these custom-built frames by my friend brian of whiskey and chocolate, which makes it one-of-a-kind; pretty special, right? so, it may get scooped up off the bigcartel shop, but if not, you should stop by and see it in philly in may!


have a great weekend, all - i'm headed to death valley!

07 April, 2011

more to give

call me crazy, but i'm doing another give-away!


this time it's in partnership with rebecca over at the ardent sparrow, and the prize is one of my custom hand-embroidered monogram tea towels (stripe or solid). she's doing a whole week of giveaways from a lot of really cute shops, so if you want a chance to maybe score some free goodies, just for leaving a wee comment on the blog, then you should definitely click on over.


click here for the whole week of giveaways, and here for the chez-sucre-chez feature. you've got one week to enter. good luck!

02 April, 2011

greetings from palm springs (CA)


stitching by the pool - just finished this one, for my good friend francisco.
now work is done and ladies weekend is in full swing; sunshine, martinis and trashy magazines - woohoo! (i hope you're all having a great weekend, too! xo!)

30 March, 2011

color pop

please excuse a momentary break in the usual subdued color palette of chez-sucre-chez.
today is the birthday of one of the most very special girls in the whole world, my miss bella jean.
tomorrow (because i am a dum-dum, and although i made and packed it all up to be ready 3 weeks ago, i sent it out a day too late...) she'll be getting some fun in the mail.
inspired by this, i made her a little mini-garland:


the "flags" are kind of a funny shape, but i wanted to use my fancy circle cutter:


and they're strung together with baker's twine:



inside a brightly decorated box which i forgot to get a photo of, there's a set of those felt rose barrettes:


we drew roses together months ago when i last saw her and i've been told that she's had a thing for roses ever since. so cute.
happy birthday, bella.

28 March, 2011

oh will you take me as i am...


i know - i know, i know; i stitch this up just as i'm almost packing up to leave my temporary home of california to go back east to my real home. i know, my friends out here are going to give me mega-*$@! for this.
but really - it (california) is SUCH an amazing place. just three hours ago, i was tromping around in snow up in the mountains. next weekend, i'll be sipping cocktails next to a pool in palm springs. and the weekend after that, i'll be trekking through the desert in death valley -- all within three hours of here. this place is incredible! but my home is back east....


anyways, one night last week, this song (these are lyrics to joni mitchell's "california") popped up on my random ipod shuffle mix and i had that "i've got to stitch this" feeling.
so there it is.


available in these two color options, or stitched to order, in my etsy shop.
(thank you, mister jones, for reintroducing me to the music of ms. mitchell.)

24 March, 2011

tcb


my tax documents are completely in order and in an envelope on their way to my accountant. earliest ever, for me. phew.

23 March, 2011

recent mentions and free stuff!

if you are linked up to the chez-sucre-chez facebook page, you may already know this, but this week, i've teamed up with bradford (aka uncle beefy) to do a giveaway of two totes on his WONDERful blog, the bedlam of beefy.


i'd never done a giveaway before but in the interest in clearing out some of my excessive amounts of supplies and stock before packing it all up to move back east, i thought this would be a great time to give it a go. i approached bradford with the idea a few weeks ago and i'm so happy we've made it happen. look at how beautiful he made the post!


if you want the chance to score one of two free totes, get over there and enter the contest! (it's easy, i swear) if you don't want a free tote, you should check his blog out anyways - it's pretty great.

chez-sucre-chez has popped up elsewhere on the web recently, too.
yesterday i got a note from brianne, of petalpetal and modern child vintage, to let me know that she'd featured my little mushrooms in an urban/country chic round-up on petal+handmade=love:


(see the post here.)

also, i found that my little mushrooms that i sent to paris to be sold in the boutique les fleurs evidently made it there safely; they're now up on the shop's website:


hooray! i love seeing them being called champignons! see for yourself here.
now - back to stitching for me; i've got at least three different projects in the works. my goal is to finish them all today!

21 March, 2011

minding the gap

long ago, i worked at the gap. yes, yes i did. i was in college, "reality bites" was still one of my recent favourites, and i landed the position of visual coordinator. disappointingly, it was not a very creative job... it was more about making the windows look like pictures A, B, and C sent from corporate. i did, however, become an ace iron-er, and the job also probably played some role in the development of my skills in making things look nicey-nice.
aaaaanyways... once a year, and i think it was right about this time - in between winter and spring, there was a mini-season called "nautical" or "cruise" or something like that. the clothing was always navy blue and shades of white and i remember liking it quite a bit. i probably liked how classic it was. well, here's my nautical/cruise season line (er, um, item):


an absolutely simple, classic, practical yet ever-stylish tote. hand-embroidered, of course, with navy floss on canvas.



(special thanks to claire for snapping the photos for me!)
also, maybe in an attempt to round out the "line" a little, i brought back these:


i still really like them, just as much as when i first made them. (please note, however, that i'm now using a lighter blue towel than the ultra-dark navy that's in the photo.)
the nautical line can be found in my etsy shop.