to market, to market

I'm in sewing production mode these days. Last week was all about cutting, and this week is stitch focused. I'm adding reinvented coffee sack market bags to to my product line. There have been far too many requests to ignore, and the farmer's market season is upon us out here in the northeast.

 I am currently only making items for the Squam Art Fair, but am hoping to do a shop update upon returning. There is only one to show you because making in multiples/mass requires a certain formula for maximizing efficiency. I completed this in one fell swoop, but my usual method involves doing each step over and over again for all like items before moving on to the next step. This means my studio has piles of different things at various stages of readiness. Not so easy to blog about... unless you'd like some tips on production sewing. You would? Great!

Production Sewing Tips:

1. Check your supplies ahead of time, and make sure you're stocked up. Who wants to run out of thread and needles when you're in your sewing groove?
2. Thread lots of bobbins before you begin. 
3. Cut everything first. Even if there are multiple projects, do it all at once.
4. Keep your iron set up and ready.
5. Sew in stages, as said above. Make all handles at the same time, sew zippers all at once, etc.
6. Snip obvious threads as you go, but leave the last threads on everything to do together as you watch a movie and drink a glass of wine (or whatever your preferred beverage is).

I'm sure I'm forgetting some tips... want to help me out? When you're sewing lots of things at once, either to sell or during gift giving season, do you have some good shortcuts to share? 

lilac love notes

Love can be simple. Especially a mother's love. I slip notes into my little girl's lunchbox everyday. Each morning for years now. I ran out of the little origami paper I had been using, so to make the last month of school special, I created tiny hand printed note cards. Sweeter for her and easier for me than searching for small pieces of paper during the early scramble. 

Lilac blossoms were my inspiration. Might have been the quickest stamps ever to carve... A fun small project that has big possibilities. The blossoms love to be clustered, and I could see them spreading around the hem of a skirt or covering the collar of a little blouse. Happy Monday! Happy lilac season!

en plein air

 There is very little I enjoy more than working outside on a gorgeous day.  This morning, while the birds sang and the lilacs cast their sweet fragrance across the yard, I set up my favorite cutting studio.

 Deconstructing coffee sacks at my picnic table is simply the best way to begin a burlap project. The stray fibers blow away, and the the jute strands get scooped up by the many feathered friends currently building nests. Team it with a cup of coffee and breakfast from my hens, I couldn't be more content. It's funny- cutting fabric inside feels so much more laborious... put me in the yard, and it's my own personal party!

Later today, there will be gardening and a return to the never-ending fence painting. Work or play? It all feels the same to me when my ceiling is the blue sky.

May your work and play be woven together seamlessly this weekend!

holding the light

 

 Last night, I carried my camera when I put the chickens in for the night. It was the golden hour... the magic time when the earth seems to be lit from within and everything is bathed in radiance.

 I've looked at these pictures over and over again throughout this morning. Trying to find some clues perhaps, to how I could be capturing such magic, while darkness was occurring on the other side of the planet to someone I care so deeply for. Kathreen Ricketson and her husband, Rob Shugg, suffered a tragic accident yesterday while on their epic family adventure that was part of their next book. I have been missing her writing while they were traveling, but had been keeping up regularly on instragram and had felt like I was trekking the Australian coast with them. I know many of us felt this way... which makes this loss feel that much more intimate.

 The world has lost a powerful force in the crafting revolution and the bright light of a family who truly lived what they believed in.  My heart goes out to their beautiful children that are such familiar sweet faces to many of us through their many family collaborations. Here's a link to today's post at whipup, Kath's blog, with the words that I cannot seem to find.  I will keep you updated when there are avenues set up for helping her children.

Sending love and light...

UPDATE: a fund has now been created for Kathreen and Rob's children. You can find out more and contribute here.

SFGBB and CB

image courtesy of SF Girl By Bay

Happy Monday! It's always so lovely to start the week with a bit of happiness... my first email of the day was a cheerful note from my friends and creative bug.  Two of my favorite hometown sites had just joined forces for a Monday blog post. SF Girl By Bay  is currently featuring not only creative bug, but also my newest workshop: the upcycled pouch. Seeing how my little yellow pouch was used for a contrast pop of color was inspiring, as well as exciting. All of the photos are just stunning. Do check them out, as I'm sure you'll want to make one of everything she highlights today.

SF Girl By Bay is also offering a discount to creative bug's subscription rate to all of her readers right now. It's a perfect time to join and learn how to make something new!  Hop on over- right here!

old::new

Another day of letting go... I was planning for a garage sale this weekend, but the weather forecast had me get a jump on it.  This pic was taken at 6:30 this morning! I'm writing to you from the shade of my front porch as sale-goers stream in and out... walking away with stories I don't need anymore. I'm much more interested in the story currently being written lived.

This weekend (if it's not too wet... crossing my fingers) I'm having a barn painting Mother's Day party.   Three mamas {all artists} with a paint sprayer, a barn and a bunch of kids running around... now doesn't that sound like the recipe for a great new chapter?

And for all of you lovely mothers out there... I hope you celebrate yourself! You're doing the most important job there is- helping your children write the beginnings of their own stories. What a great responsibility and a privilege that is.

brought to you by the letter "L"

 

For the past 5 years, the arrival of the lilacs has coincided with my happy anticipation for heading to Squam Art Workshops. One of the highlights each year is the Art Fair, and I have begun the process of making my wares. If we're lucky the luna moths and loons will join us at the lake, so I thought I'd make some little zipper pouches inspired by them. They turned out so sweetly that I'm now prepping lots more and asking all of my friends for their extra Tyvek mailers!

Loving lilacs, loons and lunas... 

paint party

 Hello again friends! The amazing weather we've been having has made it challenging to stay inside at my computer. Even setting up an outside office isn't as enticing as planting my garden or attending to all of the backyard jobs I only dreamed of tackling when snow covered the ground. This happens every year... the call of the wild (outdoors), but these days I have an added incentive. This is MY home. That is both exciting and daunting. There is no one else, but me to get it done... well, I can always wrangle up a few assistants.

So, I'm doing what I know best- reaching for paint brushes and having kids over! Really, nothing freshens up a space and makes it feel better cared for than a new coat of paint. Loosening up on perfection and keeping expectations light makes for happy helpers!  And the two on fence duty (that have known each other since they were toddlers!) were quite the "Tom Teen Sawyer" team!

So here's to my new favorite equation!

paint + friends + lemonade = community & productivity

I think I know just how I'd like to spend Mother's Day: another paint party please!
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(and here's another little take on our fence over at honoring hope)

cups of light

Happy May! We are having the most glorious spring in memory. This year's weather has provided the perfect conditions for a spectacular showcase of blossoms... and each day is more stunning than the previous. What a contrast to last year's tragic ice storms, which impacted every shrub and tree. It's hard not to feel that the earth is singing with me as I emerge from the shadows of my darker days. As soon as I push "post", I plan on dancing out into the garden in my shorts and farm boots to clear more beds and just enjoy the beauty of this moment.

YES! 

 Sure- there is the checkbook to balance, camp details to plan, e-mails to return, laundry to hang... but I will be doing it all OUTSIDE with a glass of ice tea...  and barefoot! Oh May, I have never been happier to see you! And I gathered this morning's sunlight in cups of tulips to send to all of you!

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good tired

Art, dance, friends and lots of sunshine! This weekend held an abundance of it all. I feel so proud of my shy and quiet youngest, who has discovered her confidence. What a talented performer she is. Her teacher says that she lights up the stage with her smile. This is true, because from the moment she steps out into the spotlights she can't stop beaming and making eye contact with the audience as she dances each step.  What a contrast to her more reserved side. I foresee more spotlights and stages in her future.

In between, costumes, wigs, and gillies there was lots of art being hung. I am constantly falling in love with this school of ours. After eight years, it continues to be a source of inspiration, community and most of all a celebration of each child.

Because of the gorgeous spring weather, the children lived outside wherever we were. They only came in for snacks or bandaids for scraped knees. 

A friend stopped me this morning when I dropped my daughter off at school. "Are you wiped out yet?"she asked knowing my weekend.

I said no... tired, but GOOD TIRED. Exhausted and wiped out are words I think I'll reserve for those moments that are truly hard. There was too much goodness in the weekend for that. These were deliciously long days... filled with beauty, nature, creativity, children- and lots of friends. Hope you have some GOOD TIRED days too.

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it takes a village...

We have officially moved into the crazy "end-of-the-year-event season". It usually doesn't hit until May, but here we go charging into a weekend filled to the brim. My daughter's Irish step dance recitals are in the evening, and installation of our huge annual school art show extravaganza will fill the days. I help coordinate the hanging, so I will be there the entire time. We threw a sleepover into the mix, just to make it interesting. 

It's a whole lot of choreography. Being a mother often feel like a giant dance...  filled with carefull planned steps and a bit of improvisation. Being a single mom? More like dancing on a tightrope! But guess what? I've got great balance these days! I really do... it's hitting me that this new life of mine, even with all of its pitfalls, is totally manageable. I've got this! I'm healthier, stronger and wiser than ever before. And I'm discovering a new equilibrium... with my friends. I've always been blessed with a wonderful circle, but it's widened this past year, as I learned to reach out and ask for help. In return, I'm making myself more available for them.  I'm investing much more time into the real and beautiful people that support me, love me and make me laugh. My children are enjoying this amazing net of community... and as we dance on the tightrope together we can look down and know that we'll be caught if we fall. It takes away the sting of solitary parenting and puts a bit of grace into each day.

And what does this little mini iPad cover have to do with everything? Well, I do keep finding stolen moments to say hi to my sewing machine. And this is little something I made for one of those dear friends that has been supporting and loving me- and definitely making me laugh. Including during the making process. Let's just put it this way, she had some very particular specifications... even chose and ordered the fantastic Julia Rothman fabric herself. 

How is your net theses days? Needing some fortification? Don't wait until you desperately need your community- start investing in it today. Make a date with that friend that you keep saying you'll have coffee with. Whip up a little something special for the one that's going through a tough time right now. Just do it! 

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upcycled pouch::creativebug

I am so excited to announce my latest online workshop with creativebug!

This upcycled pouch has to be one of my favorite projects ever, and I'm positive you're going to feel the same way about it. They're reinvented out of Tyvek mailers and inspire total customization. Look at the three samples above... each one is totally unique, no? Make them in any size, shape, or color... and print to suit your mood and style. The options are truly limitless... you'll find you can't stop stitching them!

 Last summer I taught this workshop at Teahouse Art Studio and loved showing even the novice sewists how to install a zipper by hand. Everyone was thrilled at what they could create without even a sewing machine! Now I can teach YOU... even if you're half way across the world! That makes me incredibly happy! I love how creativebug makes it possible for us to "hang out together in your home"... just add paint and a zipper or two!

You can now sign up for one workshop at a time (a la carte)... the upcycled pouch is only $9.95! This is a sweet deal- and I can't wait for you to start zipping up a bunch of pouches for all of your little necessities... and couple for your friends too! Want to watch the video intro (where I tell you all about it)?  Click here.

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