protesting the sweat shop

i have a confession; this is where i worked for much of the day:


i thought of this at about 6:30 this morning, as i lay in bed already feeling the sweltering heat of the day. i had bought the wood last weekend (to become a shelf in the kitchen for my cookbooks) and i had a feeling that it was probably the perfect width and length for a bathtub worktable. i'm glad i was right.


i spent the day getting in and out of the tub. i'd get in, soak a little, stitch a little, and then once i was cooled off, i'd get out and get back to my computing work (i'm working on a very exciting new project, which i'll probably have to wait a while to tell you about!). then, once my bathing suit dried (yes, i wore a bathing suit - i thought it'd be a little weird to be working nude, right?), it was time to get back in for another soak.


it got up to 102 here today, which it still is, but now it feels like that temp is at least thinking of going down. dang! how hot did it get where you are? how'd you manage to beat the heat?
stay cool, friends! (this is the one thing that i do like about this heat wave, that i've been signing all of my emails "stay cool," like i'm sure i wrote in yearbooks and autograph books on the last day of school when i was a kid - pun intended.)

blue, white, red

here's a progress report:


(and then another shot - with shoes)


(i was setting these photos up with godard's rule in mind -- always include blue, white, and red.)
now that i've gotten past those horrible mistakes in starting, i'm sailing through this one! i've got to put it down for a couple of days to focus on other work but i'm hoping to maybe have it finished by the end of the weekend? maybe....
forecast is calling for a high of 101 today. erg.

(this)

is the beginning of my newest and most ambitious project yet.
it's actually the THIRD time i'm beginning this piece. many mistakes have been made, and i've done a whole lot of cursing about it. there's even a mistake in it now, as shown in this photo. the T is messed up. but i'll fix that. it's nothing compared to my first two mistakes; once starting and getting almost a whole word completed to then realize i started it on the wrong color fabric, and then starting it and getting three words done to realize that i'd been following an earlier version of the pattern i had settled on. that was yesterday; dangit i was mad!
but i am determined. if i can get through this (which i can), it's gonna be pretty awesome. 11 x 17 -- that's the biggest size i've done yet.
and it's all for this:


i'm very excited and flattered to have been invited to be a part of this show. my good friends from los angeles who run the gallery THIS are bringing their talents and their peeps together for a show at the ace hotel in nyc in august. i'll be there, will you? (find more info about the upcoming show here and here. and stay tuned, i'll be giving updates on the piece as i get through it.)

an early bumper crop

of pumpkins!
i don't know if i can tell you where these are going quite yet, because it's still a few more months 'til pumpkin season, but i just sent out a whole big crop of pumpkins:


sweet as pie, right?!

here are a few photos of them in the making:



they're stuffed with lavender and sawdust -- makes them smell so good!



et voila! i'll let you know more when they pop up in the fall. happy weekend, all!

(new) favourite places

settling into the new home and the new studio has been wonderful.
the only thing is, i haven't taken many photos yet; i've been so consumed with setting up and happily creating my new systems and routines that i haven't paused long enough to document along the way!
here are two things that i can share right now (though neither of them are stellar photos):
one - my new favourite spot to stitch:


i set this chair up next to one of the windows in my studio; it looks out on a wide open patch of grass. (unfortunately, there's the neighbor's house, too - but i can crop that out of my view.) usually, there's a pretty great breeze that comes through the window. but sometimes, there's not - and with the weather that we've been having here (hot, humid, and still) i'm glad to have this other new favourite spot:


this tub is fantastic! filled with cool water and a lush bath bomb, it's my new happy place. the forecast is calling for some 97 degree days this week --- i'm wondering if i can bring my stitching in here with me?!
keep cool, friends!


(those are flower petals from the bath bomb on the bottom of the tub there -- not dirt!)

breathing

there's still work to be done, but behind this door (not the one with the beautiful clawfoot tub) is the new studio of chez-sucre-chez. i can't wait to share it with you --- but i am... it's so close to ready to show, but there are a few more details that i want to work out first. this is exciting stuff. i feel like i've been holding my breath and living and working way below my potential and desire for well over two years. and now i'm settling into a place that makes me very happy... i'm excited for what's to come and i'm excited to share it with you. thank you for following me and supporting me through this in-between time. let's get ready for the good times ahead!

just three more days!

in case you hadn't heard --- i'm having a moving (and birthday - now post-birthday) sale! it started last friday and it goes til the end of this friday. and then i move and i'll maybe be a little disorganized for a wee bit.
here's the mailer that i sent out:



(it's tiny text here, i know....)
if you didn't receive the mailer and you're thinking, "what, how did i not know about this?!?!" then perhaps you should click the box on the left hand column of this blog and join the mailing list! i promise not to bombard your inbox with a bunch of junk. i only send out big emails every few months, and really only if i've got something exciting to share - like a sale. wanna view the email? it's here.
anyways -- you've got three more days! pre-embroidered monogram towels are on sale, all in-stock kits are $1 off, select cross-stitch pieces are on sale (some have already gone, but there are still some really good ones, to be had!) and there are new goods in the shops that you might want to see. the sale is going on in both the etsy shop and the bigcartel shop.
please help spread the word if you can and if you'd like! i've got to move all of my stuff up three steep flights of steps, so anything that i can ship elsewhere before saturday would be a great help! (if you click here, you can twitter it or facebook it or forward it to a friend. hey thanks!)
thanks for your support! here's looking to many more exciting projects and products once i get settled into the new studio. i'll be sure to keep you updated with photos and stories! ciao 'til next week! (oh, and have a happy holiday weekend!)

clouds up (in the shops)

i got such wonderful feedback for my silver-lined clouds at renegade brooklyn this year and i heard over and over again, "you don't have these in your shop often, do you?" and it made me realize, darnit, i should be better at putting clouds in the shops!
so i did.

there's this lovely grouping - an instant collection:


and then, for those wanting to start out small there's this guy:


and this one:


and this one:


here's hoping that your weekend is full of blue skies and fluffy white clouds and pleasant surprises. xo.

sale time is coming!

in less than two weeks, i'm going to be moving into a beautiful new home and studio. (oh my goodness you don't even know how excited i am.) as i'm preparing for the move, i'm looking at all of my stuff, both personal and chez-sucre-chez, and i'm feeling a little overwhelmed, so i've decided it's time to have a sale, right?!

i'm going to be adding things and marking things down in the shops (both etsy and bigcartel) over the next few days/week, and then i'll send out a big email when it's all ready.


one category's all listed and ready to go, though, and i figured i should let you all know first, since these are one-of-a-kind (for the sale, anyway) items and when they go, they're gone; pre-embroidered towels are on sale! these are the towels that i've stitched up either as samples for my listing photos, or to send to magazines for photos, or as stock for craft fairs. they're all prewashed and dried and ironed and stitched and re-ironed and ready to go! click on over and see if your letter is there! (there are also a few surprises listed at the bottom.)

the zips

also new -- screen-printed zippy pouches!


i had them done up in two colors -- both with red printing but some on this gorgeous blue and some on my old favourite plain natural canvas. i'm thrilled with both versions!



i love how the ink is raised - making them look almost like actual stitches.


with these, too, matt did a great job with aligning the print. i gave him strips of fabric that i had precut from which i'd make the zippies. it was a breeze sewing them up because the prints were all in just the right place!


bravo!


these are up in the etsy shop. if you love them, go on and get one! (one customer at renegade brooklyn this past weekend was very excited to find that these fit a kindle with just a bit of room to spare. she'd found that most zippy pouches were too small - but these ones fit the bill, and they look a lot cooler than most of the kindle cases out there on the market.)

and, the week before renegade, i whipped up some other zippies and adorned them with some of the vintage trim from my slightly-too-out-of-control collection. several of them were sold at renegade, but these pretties are still with me. i'll be adding them to the shop as i get time:






happy wednesday!

something new

last week, i worked with friend of mine from grade school to come up with something new:


chez-sucre-chez designs screen-printed onto towels (and more, which you'll hear about later). yeehaw, this is exciting stuff!


i've been wanting to do this forever, but it's taken me until now to make it happen. and i'm so glad it's happened. i think i may be hooked. excited by the results of this first project, i want to print so many different designs onto so many things! i've got loads of ideas just waiting to happen!


i worked with matt woods, of printworld in west berlin, new jersey. he and i went to grade school together and i have two very specific memories of him from that time. one, in sixth grade he had the same vans that i found in a dead stock store (magic shoes in nyc -- sadly missed) and have been rocking the past oh, six or seven years. (these ones). we sat next to each other in mister keeler's class and he drew a picture of me poorly attempting to skateboard and wrote "kimboarding" under it. i think i got mad. and the other memory is from when i was the only girl who rode in a car-full of boys to his 3rd or 4th grade birthday party and all of the boys in that car were going on and on about how they went into the old abandoned houses in town and saw things like cats eyeballs and rats in there. of course i was saying, "eeeeeeew!" the whole time, which only egged them on. boys.
aaanyways, i knew that matt now has his own screen-printing shop so i looked him up and we worked together to make this happen. he did an amazing job. of couse, being little miss do-every-thing-by-hand-by-myself, i was nervous as hell handing over control and money to someone else to do something for the chez-sucre-chez line. but i am THRILLED with the results. matt paid such attention to detail from the way he lined up the prints to the type of ink and process he used. thank you, matt. (need screenprinting and you're in this area? look him up here.)


they're in the shop - check 'em out!



soon, too, i'll be showing you the results of our other screen-printing project!

gettin' squirrelly

it's a new kit, featuring - squirrels!


squirrels sharing nuts! yes!
these new kits will be going with me to renegade, so if you're in the area, be sure to stop by booth 44 (right near the entrance at driggs and union) and get one! for those of you who are not local to nyc, i should be getting them into the shop next week. if i don't, and you're eager to get one, email me and remind me to make that happen. (i've got a big project for next week, so i may be a little distracted...) have a great weekend, all!

for a white wedding (shower)

my best friend, dana b, is getting married later this summer and i couldnt be more excited about it! last weekend we had her shower and i made this little head thing for her:


unfortunately, the photo that i took of HER wearing it turned out totally blown out so that you couldn't see the head piece at all! but i assure you, she looked tres jolie.
the inspiration came from two places:
one, from the work of the fabulous sue eggen of giant dwarf. she makes just the prettiest adornments for the head and hair. i have one of her rosette fascinators and i absolutely love it. i had an opportunity to stop by sue's studio a few weeks ago when i was in philadelphia on the hunt for some nice felt and i was positively inspired by all the magic that was happening in there. you should check out her work and her shop.
the other inspiration for this piece came from this project on the purl bee. i've been thinking about those white felt flowers ever since i saw this project many moons ago. i printed the templates out months ago --the same time that i made the little rose barrettes -- but i hadn't gotten around to finding a reason to make those lovely white flowers until last week when i wanted to make something special for dana.
hooray! project realized!

home grown 'matos

oops! i promised this post for tuesday and here i am, a day late. i swear it's only because there's so much exciting work happening behind the scenes! i'm gonna try to be better about posting about it for the rest of this week as i get ready for renegade.
anywaaaays, here's that new crop that i was telling you about:


tomatoes! i made them as practice/prep/pattern-working for ANOTHER project that i'm not gonna tell you about quite yet... but i had so much fun with the first few that i made that i decided to make a few extra. they'll go with me this coming weekend to renegade to sit alongside the strawberries and the mushrooms; it'll be like the chez-sucre-chez farm stand!

home again

old design, new color:


this one's going with me to renegade brooklyn next weekend. new york locals, i hope to see you there!
and i hope you all have a good weekend THIS weekend. see you back here on tuesday with a new crop of cuteness!

do it for dad

as i mention in the etsy listing, finding a father's day gift for my dad has almost never been easy. i see all of the cards and gifts that feature ties and golf accessories and just have to shake my head. that stuff is definitely NOT for my dad... my dad's more into tools and beer and mowing his immaculate lawn. but the thing is, he already has all of the tools, lawn things, and bar things that a guy could possibly need (except a riding mower, but chez-sucre-chez isn't bringing in enough cash just yet to allow that purchase...) . so, yes, father's day gifts are tough for me.
a couple of years ago, however, i embroidered a simple cotton hankie for him. it was nothing big, certainly, but it went over well. we spent the day together as a family and i gave him a simple little gift that i made myself. that's better than a riding mower, right?!
so, now i've put together kits for YOU to make an embroidered hankie for YOUR papa. they're in the etsy shop.. see the listing there for more photos and info. thanks! (and, by the way, these will be going with me to renegade brooklyn next week - stop by and get one just in time for father's day, which is the following weekend!)

just for one day...

another custom order completed:


it's flying off in the mail today to cross the country. thank you, susan, for being such a joy to work with!

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!

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).