Lovely Little Thing

The past few weeks have creeped along, as days seem to do here in January and February but in the last week or so I've felt a noticeable change of the pep in my step with the days becoming longer. It makes such a huge difference to me when it's not completely dark at 4:30pm! Light! Bring on the SUN! Ahhhh. Keeping busy is the best cure for the winter blues, I think. I finished reading Life After Life, which was wonderful. I've also been doing the usual crafting. Finally finished a simple scarf and now I've started sewing the quart coat but I probably should have done that in the autumn because now I'm feeling a bit over winter and would rather sew summer dresses. I made a detour for a while to make some of the Purl Soho City Gym Shorts. Love those, but I must finish the coat! I also have a few little Easter dresses in the works for the girls. AND it does help to have some lovely press about your life and work from wonderful magazines to get you through a winter funk.

In Bloom

I love Christmas and the weeks leading up to it--the ornament making, cooking baking, tree decorating, shopping, wrapping, Christmas music, seeing family and friends, food, food and more food--I love it all. But I'm equally over it almost as soon as 25 December passes! I'm ready to put all the decorations away, clean out closets and cabinets and think of things I want to accomplish in the new year. I don't make resolutions as such, but I often make a list of things I want to get done around the house and goals I'd like to achieve. This year some of those include ordering many photo books and yes, I've made a long list of them. Lois is now 7 and I've only been meaning to to that for all of those 7 years! (Only just today I uploaded her 5th birthday photos to an album online.) I want to organize and clear off the 2,000+ photos on my phone and about a bazillion on my computer, which I have a hard time keeping up with regularly. I want to keep challenging myself with new sewing patterns. Though I still haven't knocked out the quart coat it's next on the sewing table, yay! Ah, there are really so many things on my list! I'm sure it would be a bit boring to hear me rattle on about too many more of them, but one crafty thing I'd also like to learn is how to make beautiful paper flowers, and I think it would be a fun activity to do with the girls as well. I've made some basic paper flowers in the past but never detailed, intricate or particularly life-like flowers.

My Book! London Stitch and Knit

Lately I've been working on a big project that I'm super excited about. I'm writing a book! It's a guide to London's fabric, knitting and haberdashery shops and will be published this autumn. I'm also doing the photos for the book, which is wonderful because I get to go to so many amazing shops and capture how beautiful they are. It's been hard though to keep my wallet from jumping out of my purse at every shop! I've had the idea for the book for a while and I'm really happy that it's now a reality.

A Bright New Year

I hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year! We had a wonderful time visiting family in the US. I tend to post everyday pictures regarding what I'm up to on Instagram, much more so than on my blog, so if you're interested in seeing more of our daily lives, feel free to browse my Instagram feed. I have some pictures from our recent trip to the US there. It's always hard to come home after the holidays. I think I'm fortunate in that I love my family and love being around them, and I miss them even if I've just seen them. So when I know I have to come home, living so far away, I always like to have a few things to look forward to. One of those things this time was finishing up our house re-arrange and buying some last pieces to complete our colorful sitting room downstairs. I've made some good progress since we returned home because I was able to bring home our new Lulie Wallace painting that I had shipped to my mom's (it's the floral painting on the right in these photos.)

How Fabric Is Made

This week the fabric label Cotton and Steel revealed their first collection at quilt market. Headed up by Melody Miller whose own line of fabrics has been so popular in recent years, Cotton and Steel is a new kind of fabric company, which includes designers Melody Miller, Sarah Watts, Rashida Coleman-Hale, Kim Kight, and Alexia Abegg. Before starting C&S, Melody considered what wanted to do next. She had an idea for a unique fabric company, one that was collaborative and would highlight various designers' individual styles while also working well as a comprehensive line of fabrics. She approached RJR fabrics who loved her idea agreed to produce it. The result looks great from what I've seen on their instagram. This video is a wonderful introduction to C&S. They recently also released a behind the scenes look at how their fabric is made in Japan. I love fabric, and I love to see how things are made. I think most of us often take for granted how and where things are made, as if we're so detached from how things are produced that they just appear like magic in stores. I found this brief look into how C&S fabric is made very inspiring and thought you might enjoy it too. I'm looking forward to seeing Cotton and Steel fabrics in stores soon. (Images here from the C&S instagram feed.)

A Cardboard Stampeed

One really fun thing Lois and I made a while back with a little friend of hers were some of Ann Wood's cardboard horses. In 2006 Ann Wood created a cardboard stampede of horses as a daily creative exercise. She made one a day until she reached 100 of them. She has the template and instructions here if you'd like to make them as well. Lois recently asked to make them again, and I was also reminded of them earlier this week when I saw that Ann Wood has listed a few of the original collection of 100 horses in her shop.

Selvedge Report

Two weeks ago I went to the Selvedge Fair and had a wonderful time. I love the Selvedge fair! I'm sorry I'm only now getting around to posting photos. It's been a bit busy around here as I imagine it is for most people this time of year. Selvedge is more in the art category in my mind as far as art and craft fairs go. I marveled at the craftsmanship and the amount of thought and time that must have gone into so many of the beautiful creations I saw. I left feeling incredibly impressed and inspired by so much of what I saw there.

Forgotten Stitches

A few weeks ago I was at Brixton Village Market and spotted some amazing dolls in a shop window. I love dolls and had to get a closer look at these beauties. Just look at her eyes and hair! The detail and craftsmanship is amazing. The tags said the dolls were by Forgotten Stitches. I snapped a few photos and came home to look up who creates these lovely ladies. As it turns out, it happens to be someone I see a few times a week!

New From Jessie Chorley

I recently had the pleasure of doing some photos for Jessie Chorley, one of my favorite crafter-artists. She wanted some photos of new products to add to her online shop and we had a fun day chatting and shooting. Of course since these items are for sale, we needed to get nice full crisp photos of the products (all in a vertical orientation because that's what is needed for her site platform), but Jessie and I both really like the soft touch of an open aperture and I think the dreamy quality that results in a wide open aperture suits her style.

Follow Your Heart

Although we've lived here 3.5 years, I still feel a little out of place sometimes, or rather just not quite at home. This is due to a variety of factors, I think, but when I'm not quite feeling at home, I remind myself of all the things I love about living here, and one of those many things is Jessie and Buddug's shop. I definitely feel right at home at their shop. Both Jessie and Buddug have so many new things since I last visited. And they are busily working on stocking the shop for Christmas. Last week I went to their annual tea party and had a wonderful time looking around the shop.

Lise Meunier for 91Magazine

I'm very excited to have another article in the UK based 91Magazine! This might be my favorite issue yet.  It's really a wonderful magazine packed with wonderful articles and lovely photos on all things craft and vintage. Here's a peek at my article on Paris ceramicist Lise Meunier. You can read the full article here on p48. You can see more photos from my photoshoot of her work and home here.

Carry Me: Swarm Bags

I've coveted Leslie Oschman's painted canvas bags for quite a while now. I thought I'd take a peek to see if she had any new ones posted on her site and I saw these great, new bags that she's made. They're made from vintage fabrics and linens, with vintage embroidery hoops as handles. I just love them! So now I want one of these too. Images from the Swarm web site. 

What a Doll!

I've been meaning to make Lois a doll, for about, oh, 3 years now so I'm always noticing cute dolls for ideas. Some dolls I especially love are Alicia Paulson's dolls, Jess Brown's dolls, and Emily Martin's dolls. I also like the fairly simple dolls in the Martha Stewart craft book (and online here). I was back to thinking about dolls recently, so I thought I'd take a peek at Emily Martin's dolls again. I remembered she made them on the Martha Stewart show, so I wanted to re-watch the video. But once I went to her blog, I saw these two ADORABLE dress up dolls, which I had not seen before.

Tea Party on Columbia Road

Last Saturday I went to Jessie and Buddug's summer tea party at their shop on Columbia Road. It was great to say hello to them again, and I got to show Jessie my embroidered Amsterdam in person, which was nice since we could only get so far in class. The shop looks wonderful, and as usual, is filled with beautiful and inspiring creations by Jessie and Buddug, including a great dollhouse. Jessie's dad custom built the dollhouse, and Jessie and Buddug have filled it with handmade miniatures. It's beautifully displayed in the window.

Embroidered Storybooks with Jessie Chorley

I've been in an embroidery mood lately. I wanted to make some days of the week tea towels, but I didn't want the usual kitchen / household motifs on them, so I started to go with a Paris theme, but they looked boring and Paris is not boring, so I scratched that idea. Then I went to Anthropologie to look at their tea towels because I always love their embroidered tea towels. I got some good ideas there and made a few tea towels (maybe I'll post pictures of those soon), and I've been on an embroidery roll since. I've mostly been looking through embroidery books, like Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion, A Rainbow of Stitches, and Doodle Stitching, and seeing what I can find online. One of the most inspiring embroidery artists is Jessie Chorley. You might remember her work from my post on her shop. Her style to me is dreamy and whimsical and magical. So while I was stitching away at one of my tea towels, I thought of her work and thought I'd see if she had any upcoming workshops (I had read a while back that she hosted workshops) and lucky me, she was having a storybook workshop. It was wonderful. She showed us some of her storybooks, talked to us about gathering ideas for a theme, ideas for constructing the books, and showed us some of her stitching techniques. She set up the table in the middle of the shop and we were stitching away in no time, and sipping tea and nibbling cake of course. Here are some pictures from the dreamy afternoon. These first 4 images, including the top image, are examples of Jessie's work. (Also, it wasn't really this dark in the shop, that's just the way I processed these photos.)

Our beautifully messy table, tea and cake included. I love craft mess.

I decided on an Amsterdam theme for my storybook. I'll post more pictures when I have more done.

What the other women were working on...

And what Jessie worked on while we were there...

I hope I can take another one of her workshops with my mom one day. She will love it! If you're in London, here's her workshop information. Happy stitching.

Print Workshop at Urban Outfitters

My friend Chris from San Francisco will be in town soon promoting her book, Print Workshop, at the Spitalfields Urban Outiftters. Chris will be signing books and demonstrating some of the great at-home printing techniques featured in the book. I'll be there too, so if you're in London, mark your calendar for Thursday, May 19 at 1PM. Chris is awesome and so is her book, so don't miss it!

Swarm at Anthropologie

We're headed to Amsterdam soon, and one place I'd love to visit while we're there is Leslie Oschmann's studio, Swarm. It's by appointment only, so I don't know that I'll be able go, but I did recently stop by Anthropologie on King's Road here in London to see her current exhibit there. Having worked for Anthropologie for 8 years, and leaving as the visual director, of course her creations fit right in in their gallery space. I love the way she finds so many ways to rework old canvases, from her bags, to the great collage in mismatched frames (above), to her new series of plates. But I think my favorite piece in the exhibit was a book-nook of a chair. Two chairs, re-worked into a chair and bookshelf all in one. Creative indeed. So if you're in London, go check out the exhibit this week (it's up until May 10).

Kicking Back with Papier Mache

A while back my friend MN over at Interior Divine told me about Papier Mache magazine, a quarterly online Children's magazine. I've been wanting to make Lois a doll and remembered seeing some really cute ones in one of their magazines. I thought I'd peek back for some doll-making inspiration, but then I just got lost in reading the magazine and looking at all the pretty pictures! It's a very fun, creative magazine. Don't you think so too? These images are from issue three, where I saw those cute dolls made by Jess Brown. A handful of the first images here are from an article on her, her work, and her home. And I could just look at her web site and blog all day. I'm in love with all of her dolls! 

This image above is from Jess's blog. The dolly on the right is wearing the Liberty fabric I just used for coasters. Looks very cute on a doll. And the images below are just a few other random images I like from issue three. 

Swarm

Leslie Oschmann's work has made the blog rounds for quite a while now (on Decor8 a few years ago, and more recently places like SFgirlbybay). I try not to rehash products that have already been featured by other very popular bloggers, but I just love everything Leslie makes! She gives new life to old artist canvases by repurposing them into great bags and beautiful chairs. Check out her web site, Swarm, to see more of her great work. Anthropologie carries her bags and chairs, which I saw in person over the weekend, and now I love them even more.