A little nip…a little tuck

(before)
I have this Mexican flour sack dress and I wear it even though it swallows me up whole. I wear it because it makes me feel like a designer and artist…which I am, of course. But it sort of makes me look the part. Every time I wear my flour sack, people stop me to tell me they like it and the other day a friend said: “you look like the definition of summer.” My husband has never been a fan of my flour sack and he was right–it was just too boxy and big. That is…until today. Now, he says it is really pretty. It was just a rectangle before, so I took it in all the way from the sleeves to the hem to create a more feminine shape. And I created a more flattering neckline. And you know what? Because of this dress, I ate watermelon for dinner and cucumbers with lime juice. I swear I can hear faint castanets even as I am typing this. And doesn’t everything just look better with an Anthro belt? (after)

Hot off the presses!

Here they are, smokin’ hot off-the-presses and still steaming– two new patterns from SUCH Designs! These feature a design by guest designer, Cyndi Coon. Read the earlier post about our fun photo shoot here.

(These are the pattern covers. They fold in half, so the back cover is on the left and the front cover is on the right.)

They will be coming soon to my Etsy shop and a store near you! And, by the way, come take our T-shirt yarn class next Wednesday, June 22nd from 6-8 pm at Bernina Connection. Click here for more info. It is loads of fun. Bring young girls, teen girls, young women or your mom. It is fun for all ages and the results are amazing. All you need are your ugliest old 5k t-shirt, scissors and Tacky glue (available at Bernina.) Don’t have old t-shirts? Raid a thrift store. The real problem is that this is so fun and addictive you might start cutting up favorite t-shirts from your closet! read more

New greeting cards released!

And speaking of stamps, Wishfulls.com has just released three lines of greeting cards based on my artworks! I feel really honored that my work will be going to so many strangers. I just love stationery and especially greeting cards. When I was young, my mom always had a file full of greeting cards. I used to dump them all out, spread them on the floor and look at each one. It was the 80’s so there were many sarcastic, funny, hand-drawn, cartoony cards of women with pointy b o o b s and beehive hairdos. She collected them so that she’d have that perfect card for the perfect person. Wishfulls™ is a local start-up and I am one of the six women helping to build it and create products for them. Wishfulls products are designed to acknowledge the people you love by recognizing them for their unique and special qualities. Our signature Full words are used to convey these special qualities…to be soulFULL says so much more than soulful, doesn’t it? I created the art for the greeting card lines, and in some cases, I left the words off and our incredible graphics guru, Flip, added them. It was a great collaboration. For the Garden Road collection, I created paintings to illustrate our Full words by representing them as a neighborhood of kindness. There are more to come…but, umm….I’m a wee bit busy at the moment:
The Modern Quilts collection is based on small quilts that I created to illustrate each of our Full words. Forgive the cropping on the photos, some are not final images:



The Reflections collection is an artful line based on my abstract paintings and evoking each of the accompanying Full words. I chose meaningful quotes for the interiors: Interior: “Dwell in Possibility.” ~Emily Dickinson
Interior: “Follow your bliss.” ~ Joseph Campbell
Interior:

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ~Pablo Picasso read more

T-shirt Yarn, anyone?

So my friend, Cyndi Coon, is a making, blogging, artsy, craftsy, chefy, supah-stah. She’s a writer, designer,promoter of all-things-craft, a marketing whiz and all around cool person. I adore her and have done so for a long, long time. She is a real, live human– real the way you wish everybody could be. You can see her blogging about craft here and here and visit her website here. Now, I’m no dummy…and I can see a good thing when it is staring me in the face. I saw one of her tutorials for creating jewelry from old t-shirts a while back and I just couldn’t shake it. It is so good. So simple. So fun and easy to make something that looks fabulous. I thought about her amazing and addictive T-shirt Yarn jewelry tutorial and collaborating with her somehow (read: vulturishly profiting off of her talent and/or promoting and supporting her by publishing and selling her pattern so we can both become rich beyond our wildest dreams off of recycled t-shirts.) And I just had to ask her if she’d like to be a guest designer for SUCH Designs. To which she said yes. So, SUCH Designs’ two newest patterns featuring Cyndi’s designs will be coming out in the next two weeks! These are kits including the items you need to create your own jewelry and hairwear. Check back at my etsy shop to buy yours soon! I will give you a sneak peek of our incredible…nay, words-cannot-describe-the-greatness photo shoot with the mind-blowingly talented photography duo behind www.jillandjill.com (Jill McNamara and Jill Richards or rather, Tall Jill and Short Jill, as they call themselves.) In an effort to promote all the people I adore, let me just say: hire these women to photograph your life, your business, your kids, your house, whatever…just do it…you’ll be glad you did. So, Cyndi wrangled up some models (who are not models) by simply putting out a call to her friends on Facebook. Little did we know that we would get the three perfect girls on the perfect afternoon with the perfect photographers with the best T-shirt Yarn jewelry this side of the Mississippi. Allow me to stop writing so you can see the splendid fruits of that day.




Wonky Little Houses :: Classroom

Today, I taught my Wonky Houses pattern over here. I swear I learn WAY more from my students than they do from me…but we all have a good time. Every time I teach I am amazed by people’s innate talent, and their spunk, willingness, and creativity. The best part is seeing each person’s vision. Every single Wonky House quilt is completely unique and a reflection of its maker. No matter what me make, it always becomes a self-portrait– but this is especially true in sewing. In four hours, most people only finished two or three houses so these are very much in progress. Just look at what these women (and one girl) created. We had sisters, a mother and daughter…it was a really fun day… read more

Pink Penguin pix



all images from the Pink Penguin

I am a sincere Japanophile and have been for most of my adult life– from Zen (which I briefly practiced but stopped because I felt like a phony during the group meditations) to wabi-sabi (my all-time favorite spiritual aesthetic concept) to Japanese package design to zakka to the food, architecture…even that Scarlett Johansson scene in Lost in Translation in which she wanders around from temple to cherry-blossom to eatery doing just about everything I’d like to do. read more

Ode to the Apron



I am and always have been a huge fan of the apron. An apron says, “I am a maker of things.” An apron says, “I am working.” Put on an apron and you are automatically up to something good: welding, baking, pottery, painting, cooking, cobbling, carving, caning, canning, you name it. An apron speaks of industry and creativity…it says, “I am going to make a mess because I am creative, and yet I am thinking ahead and trying not to get this mess on my clothes.” I have always liked the idea of the person who walks around carrying an umbrella on the if-come of rain. I am not that person. I schlep usually under-dressed children around with me in the rain…not if-come umbrellas. But I like the idea that in wearing my apron I consummate that umbrella idea…because I have planned ahead. My clothes would-have been ruined…would-have been splattered…but they are not. read more