London Stitch and Knit: You're Invited

I have quite a bit of catching up to do on my blog. We went fruit picking a few weeks ago and the girls had a blast and I have some really pretty photos to share, and last week we few to the US for a wedding, which was super fun but a bit tiring to go so far with the tots for just a few days. We've been home four days and still struggling with jet lag, argh! But before I can get to those things I wanted to announce my book launch dates, one of which is at the Decorative Living Fair next week. I'm so excited to be doing this fair! It's a favourite of mine. Here are a few photos from two years ago. I've been busy stitching on price tags (going a bit overboard, perhaps!), making fabric bookmarks, pin cushions and a few more little sewn bits to sell alongside the book. And my mom has been making things as well and will be with me at the fair. I'm so excited she's coming in town to help me. Stag and Bow will also have quite a few beautiful haberdashery bits for sale with me. For my other book launch events, I'll be at Fringe and Stag and Bow on the 17th and at Rye Books on the 18th. Hope to see you on one of these dates! Yesterday I got to see my book for the first time and I was over the moon! I'm so happy with it and hope you will enjoy it too. I've posted a few photos of the interior on my instagram. 

In Love Sewing

Life is whizzing by, and as usual I feel like I'm having a hard time keeping up! I have a backlog of photos I want to post on my blog but they need editing first, and there's projects to tackle, things to sew, lists of stuff to get done, a wedding in the US next week to plan for. I know some people who manage to do IT ALL like Alicia and Artemis, two of my greatest inspirations, but alas, I'm afraid that as hard as I try to get a lot done, I never seem to get nearly as much done (or so well) as they do! Honestly I feel like most of my waking hours (if I'm at home) are spent picking things up and putting them away--I guess that's the life of a mother consistently distracted by clutter and mess. I always try to remind myself of one of my favorite quotes: "a perfectly kept house is the sign of a misspent life" which is also the title of a favorite book by Mary Randolph Carter. Clutter or no clutter, I keep trying to get a lot done...

Workshop Update to Come

I'm just back from Hawthbush Farm where I assisted Beatrice Peltre in one of her food styling and photography workshops. We had an amazing week, and of course I have so many photos to share! Today though I was rushing around getting our house ready for my mom, who's coming in town tomorrow. Not much time to rest! I'll sort though my photos in the next few days and write a longer post later in the week. Until then, here's an Instagram pic of mine, a sweet peek of a pavolva our amazing chef, Alison, made for the group. In the photo it may look like it's small, but it's actually quite large with a huge serving spoon from Zara Home's picnic line. More soon...

Food Styling and Photography Workshop with Beatrice Peltre

What a beautiful photo, don't you think? It's one of many incredible photos from food stylist and photographer Beatrice Peltre, a great inspiration to me and writer of one of my favorite cookbooks. The last few months I've been working with her to put together a food styling and photography workshop this summer here in England and I'm so excited to be able to share that today! We will be staying at lovely farm to host the workshop. How amazing is this kitchen we will be using?!!

(photo above from farm)

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.

Decorative Living Fair

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of going to the Decorative Living Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall, hosted by Caroline Zoob. It was like going to a wonderful antique mall with the best selection of vendors. Normally held in Kent, this year's event was in London, so I made arrangements to go, (which means I hired a babysitter so I could go solo!) and had a few happy hours browsing beautiful vintage housewares and some really great handmade items as well. I met so many nice people and bought a few trinkets. Here are some snapshots from the fair. I liked so many stalls, but it was quite busy when I was there, and it was hard to squeeze into many of them to get photos. But here are a few! Photos above, in clockwise from top left, are from Blue Linen Cupboard, Old Rectory Sales, Lois Kirsten, Gazehound Vintage, Old Rectory Sales again, and Sam Lindsay.

Colour Makes People Happy

There are a handful of places in our neighborhood that I really love, a few little gems that sparkle in the otherwise dullness of a series of mini-marts and banks. One of those places is a paint shop. I've just been in a few times as I'm not often in need of paint, but this is really so much more than a paint shop, and by far THE best paint shop I've ever been to. It's just paint, right? It could be. Just like everything else, I guess. But Simon, who owns Colour Makes People Happy takes his paint shop over the rainbow. He wanted a shop that sold paint, and just paint, where people could engage more intimately with color.

Pastel Pretties

Whew, that was a fun weekend! Selina Lake's Pretty Pastel Style book signing and fair was wonderful as was the Selvedge fair, but first Selina's day! I had never been to Kingston Upon Thames, which is quite a distance from our neighborhood, but one bus and two train rides with baby in tow were worth it. When your toes are almost numb and your skin feels like a tight rubber band from freezing wind whipping it, nothing's better than being greeted with a room full of tea and cake that's coated in soft, sweet colors, filled with flowers, draped in cheerful bunting, and packed with pretty handmade gifts of all sorts. And of course it was great to meet Selina and get a signed copy of her new book! The book is so pretty and filled with inspiring ideas. Here's a peek into my pretty pastel visit...

A Crafty London Weekend

This weekend is going to be packed with craft fair goodness, starting tomorrow with Selina Lake's book launch and craft fair. The Selvedge spring Fair is this weekend as well, actually Friday and Saturday, which I'm really looking forward to. Just check out these exhibitors! And then there's the Country Living fair. I probably won't go to that one as I'm likely to be pooped by then, but if it interests you, it looks like it might be fun. Photos to come...

Holiday Open House at The Pickled Hutch

Join Lisa and friends tomorrow night, Friday the 21st from 5-8PM, for some holiday fun at The Pickled Hutch. She's hosting her annual holiday open house along with three other antique stores on Palmetto Avenue in Pacifica. As usual she has a great selection of antique and vintage merchandise, and it wouldn't be a holiday party without a great selection of holiday decorations and merchandise. This year she'll also have a special treat for the little ones. And Santa will make an appearance as well! The participating shops are The Pickled Hutch, Coastside Consignments, Debbie's Attic, and Vintage Cove. Unfortunately I don't have any recent pictures of the Hutch because I've been busy being preggers and now with baby, and I haven't taken the time to get over there to take pictures, but here are a few favorite pictures from past Pickled Hutch visits. See you there!











The Pickled Hutch is located at 2021 PALMETTO AVENUE, PACIFICA,CA 650-359-2000

Maker Faire

Last Sunday we went to the Maker Faire, which if you don't already know of it, is part science fair and part craft fair from the people behind Make and Craft magazines. It was really fun. One of my favorite things was the cupcake cars. I want one! The one with the cherry on top, please.

The woodworking / tool shop was really neat. They had all kinds of neat machines on display that could cut a number of different things in intricate and crazy shapes.

Need a hovercraft?

I thought these light boxes were fun. What they had people do was jump around while they captured images of them and then you take that image and sit down to make your own light box. Like a little iPod / iTunes commercial of your own.

There were all kinds of fun things for kids to do. I think these were wood drum set kits that kids could put together.

Lego land was huge.

Taking Something Seriously?

WNYC is putting together a photo project related to the book Taking Things Seriously, which I wrote about a few weeks ago--maybe you remember, but if not, you can read that post here. WNYC's "The Leonard Lopate Show" is inviting people to post photos of personally meaningful objects and the stories related to them to the "Taking Things Seriously" Flickr feed. Deadline to post is tomorrow, Dec. 19, at noon. Lopate will talk about the most interesting submissions on-air on Dec. 21, and the show will be available as an mp3 shortly after. So go on and tell the world what things you take seriously.

Build a Nest

I've been super busy this week filling a few custom for kids orders and making more Christmas cards for a craft show this Saturday to support Nest. Nest is a non-profit organization that provides micro loans to women in developing countries to start their own craft based businesses. The funds are generated from independent artists and designers who give a percentage of their profits to Nest. So if you're in San Francisco, come to the show to support Nest and shop for great handmade gifts. Oh, yeah, and Christmas cards too! I'll have plenty. The craft show is on Saturday, from 12-5 at the Hardware Store Gallery, 3824 Mission Street, San Francisco. Below is one card that's new this year and made with some cute vintage fabric that Caroline gave to me. Then the other card is one of my new custom for kids cards. It's not online yet, but will be soon.

Holiday Fun at the Hutch

Join Lisa and friends (including me!) tonight at the Pickled Hutch from 5-8PM for some festive holiday shopping and tasty treats. The Pickled Hutch is located at 1605 Church Street (at 28th), San Francisco. Hope to see you there!

Mission Indie Mart

Something fun to do on Sunday if you're in San Francisco:

Grand Opening

The grand opening of the Curiosity Shoppe last night was great fun. So many people came--the shoppe was packed! Even Lauren and Derek's friend Todd Oldham came by to check it out.

A horseshoe above the door--a classic symbol of good luck.


Custom made chandelier (at least I think it was custom made--everything else in the shoppe was).


BATS! And lots of them. Handmade by Shawn Creeden.


More bats by Shawn Creeden.

Silhouette plates. My friend Carrie stuck a mustache on the boy plate. It looked so cute that someone wanted to buy just that one plate, even though the 4 silhouette plates come as a set.


The world's smallest whittling kit. And it is super small. The knife is about an inch long.


Crocheted octopus on a "book" shelf. I love those shelves.


More fun stuff, including chunky wood rings.

Custom built cabinets. They installed little lights in the inside of the cabinets so that the light peeks though the door holes. Also the interior rims of the door holes are painted a contrasting color. It's such a nice, subtle touch.


Todd Oldham. He's just as nice and laid back in person as you might imagine if you watched Top Design or House of Style back in the day.