Poppytalk Handmade Market

I'm back in the Poppytalk Handmade Market. It's always such a wonderfully curated group of artists and this one is no exception. Here are some of my favorites this month:

Repeat's Nasturtium Fat Quarter

I've been a fan of Arounna's work for a long time, and I'm loving her collaboration with Roisin just as much.

My friend Allison Tauber's Foliage Cotton Scarf. It seems like the perfect amount of warmth for this in-between season days.

My love of birch is no secret and I've been coveting this print by Lisa Congdon since seeing the original painting in a sneak peek of her apartment. I would definitely not be disappointed if this ended up in my stocking this Christmas....

Eikcam is new to me, but the combination of beautiful jewelry, ceramics and bits of nature have me hooked.

Oh, and you can check out the Jewelweeds table here.

caught in the act

I wasn't kidding. Can you see the acorn in his mouth?

(I got my picture downloading issues worked out, but it involved getting a new computer (yay!) but that means a big mess of virtual tidying...bear with me, I have lots of exciting things in the works)

wedding bells

I've had a number of wedding related custom orders lately. One of my favorites, and something I wish I had thought of for our wedding, is a chuppah printed with a cascade of maple seed pods. I love the tradition of chuppahs—they are a symbol of the new home that a marriage creates. I also love that it is something that can be re-purposed after the wedding. It can be used as a wall hanging, or a tablecloth to be used for anniversaries or special occasions. 

I won't be listing more in the shop because it's such a specialized item, but if you are interested, please feel free to get in touch, I'd be happy to collaborate on one for your wedding.

Another great idea that I can't take credit for, is sachets as bridesmaid gifts or favors. Again, feel free to contact me for custom quantities and colors, but please be sure to allow enough time for production. I don't really keep large quantities on hand, but I'm happy to create an order for you.

antique lace

Some bits of lace that I bought at an antique mall in california. The top piece is a collar that almost perfectly matches a different collar that Tracy and I bought in NY to use as a cuff for her wedding. Someday I'd like to learn how to crochet this kind of lace. 

You can see one of the two (!) figs growing on little tree at the bottom of the picture. This excited me beyond belief! I never thought that it would fruit so soon! Oh, and my mother confirms that my great-great grandfather was indeed a fig, olive and date specialist, so it truly in my blood. Now I just need date and olive trees and my heritage collection will be complete, well, those and a greenhouse. Someday...

new design

Wow, I never meant to be gone so long. And I can't believe that it's already close to the middle of September. Part of the reason I've been so absent is that we took a really lovely and needed trip to California. The main reason for the trip was a dear friends' wedding, but we stayed a bit longer and got to have some adventures on our own. Ben had never been to California, and I hadn't been back since I moved back east, so we had a wonderful time discovering new things and seeing old friends. Part of the reason I haven't posted about it (even though we took about a million pictures) is some really geeky computer data management issues. I have about half a gig left on my computer and I'm too lazy and overwhelmed by it all to figure out a good (and more permanent) system for downloading and storing all those pictures. Boring. Anyway, when we do figure something out, I'll be sure to share because we saw lots of great and inspiring stuff.

In the mean time, I wanted to share my new acorn design which will soon be adorning sachets. I've been wanting to add a third design to the sachet repertoire because three's are much better than two's for a collections sake. The acorn was part of an all-over print design I made last winter that never really went anywhere, so I decided to put it into action on it's own. That, and I was reminded when our frisky squirrel neighbor started to try to bury his acorns in our window boxes again yesterday. Which reminds me that I should go and close the screen that I left open when watering the plants. We've already had an almost squirrel break in, and cats have tried too. But that's a story for another day.

(the print in the pic above is just made with a regular old pigment ink pad, which I use to test the print while I'm carving it, haven't had a chance to print it for real. I like to wait until I have a bunch of stuff to print before breaking out the brayer so I don't waste ink. I'll be sure to show you the real thing soon.)

filed under: things I have no business doing right now...

I'm almost finished with a largish project, one that unexpectedly took priority over the last week, but I made time to put this little bit of crocheted art together. It really only took about 20 minutes, but it was definitely not something that needed doing. If you know what I mean. But sometimes you need to just do something that makes you feel good. 

I got the little crocheted piece a few months ago at the Chelsea flea, and had been hanging onto it, not really sure what what it was it was destined to be, until I saw Laura's post on Design*Sponge a few weeks ago. Don't know why it took me until then to figure that out, I've admired Laura's crocheted pieces for a good long while.

I just stitched it onto a scrap of linen with the aid of a small embroidery hoop and then stretched over one of those mini canvases. The whole thing is only 3" x 3". And it makes me happy.

I've listed more maple seed pod tea towels in the shop. Will have them in mustard as soon as I can take some pics.

Giveaway Winner!

I had such a good time doing this giveaway! It feels right cleaning out and finding new homes for my goodies. I'll definitely be doing this again soon. Thanks for everyone who participated, it's very exciting to see all your corners of the world.

The winner is G! (look for an email from me, so I can get your address)

Here are some pictures of the stones on the beach at my favorite place in world.

I have a bunch of new projects to share with you soon. Hope everyone is having a good midsummer. Can't believe it's August already. I swear July is the fastest month of the year.