chez sucre chez

one day, three ways

2012-01-31T16:46:00.003-05:00

well, three photos, anyway.
the latest custom job stitched up and being sent on its way across the sea:

and, i finally got around to taking a photo of a "home is..." piece in black and white done in the new 8 x 10 format:

this one's getting packed up and sent away, too -- but not across the sea... just to seattle.

ho-hum

2012-01-27T09:04:00.004-05:00

oh my it is a grey and dreary morning here in south eastern PA. it's too dark to take any new photos for the blog, so i'm posting a snapshot i took last saturday, after breakfast:

i wish all this rain was snow! the snow from last weekend stuck around for maybe two days and then it was gone. i've been feeling really cheated by the winter so far this year; more snow days, please!

my friend jill brought me these beautiful tulips:

i love the little lines of red on them.

now back to stitching for me... several custom orders in the works and another couple of sets of L.O.V.E. letters for terrain.
have a good weekend, all!

while speaking of love...

2012-01-24T10:21:00.006-05:00

here are a couple of pieces that i did a few months ago for one of my favourite client couples:

last year, donna contacted me and we worked to create this piece (my first 8 x 10) for her husband as an anniversary gift.
well, this year, wasn't i pleased as punch (and swooning over the sweetness) when her husband contacted me about doing a piece for donna this year. (how sweet, right?!)

(jason's gift to donna - lyrics from "you've made me so very happy" - the lou rawls version.)

just wait -- it gets even sweeter. while jason (husband) and i were working out the design and details of the piece to be made for donna, donna contacted me about getting another (surprise) piece for jason. HOW STINKIN' RAD IS THAT?

(donna's gift to jason - lyrics from "you're the the best thing" by the style council.)

and that both pieces feature such totally awesome lyrics makes me wish that donna and jason lived closer so that we could be friends.

i love getting to do projects like this!

a lot like love

2012-01-19T08:29:00.007-05:00

my l.o.v.e. letters have hit the (virtual) shelves of terrain!

i like how, on a very stark white background, they show/suggest how they can be arranged on a wall stacked, or horizontally.

(they're actually stitched on linen, not canvas...)

here they were stitched up and ready to be trimmed:

trimmed, labels getting affixed:

and here's how i had them bundled for shipping:

do you love them? i'm not sure if they're being sold in the store -- this might be an item that's only available through terrain online. i'll check today -- the store is only a couple of miles away (yes, i'm lucky) and i've got errands to run in the shopping center nearby anyway. so perhaps there'll be an update here?

candygram

2012-01-17T09:36:00.002-05:00

what a lovely sweet endorsement from daily candy for chez-sucre-chez cross-stitch kits! (see here.) i'm tickled pink with the short little description --- happy to see that others like what I do.
this week I'll be doing lots of kit-making --- chez-sucre-chez has some new retailers, meaning you'll be able to find my kits at shops across the US. i hope to be adding to my list of retailers this year - if you've got any suggestions for shops where you think my kits would fit, please let me know!
happy tuesday!

a sunrise, a walk, a fire, and a preview

2012-01-08T16:49:00.007-05:00

just some random things for you today...

first, this sunrise:

b gets credit for the photo. at that hour, he's awake and up and taking real photos out the window (lifting the screen), while i just take camera shots out the window from my pillow. (you may have seen some of those on my twitter over the past couple months.)

second, two snapshots from our saturday walk - through woods and fields:

close to where we live is a really wonderful collection of nature preserves. we've been picking different ones to walk on weekend days when the weather's nice. (this one was cheslen preserve.)

third, saturday night backyard bonfire:

(goodbye, chrismas tree. and goodbye, old chez-sucre-chez display boards!)

and last (and more relevant to usual blog posts here), little hints of what i've been working on. you'll be seeing more of both of these projects soon!

beautiful ladies' hankies:

(oh my goodness, i'm so excited to show you what i've got up my sleeve with these! they're done - i just need to take the listing/post photos! soon?!!!?!!)

and lots of love letters coming off the hoop:

(you've seen these from me before, but you'll hear more about where these ones are headed soon!)

i hope you all had a delightful weekend!

glitter and berries, a bird and a tree

2011-12-31T10:32:00.003-05:00

oops! the last day of the year?! well, here's one more holiday season post before we ring in 2012.

glitter+felt stars+cranberries+popcorn = xmas decor:

the cranberry popcorn strings were a bit too much for our little tree, so i hung them up outside on the hedges that flank our walkway. hours later, i awoke to the sound of pouring rain. the popcorn didn't look so good in the morning. oh well, i tried.

and here's our "tree:"

i was so on-the-fence about getting a tree.... we spend the days before, of, and after with our families, so we really weren't going to be around to fully celebrate and enjoy a decorated tree. but still, i kind of wanted *something* to decorate.
the saturday before christmas, i met my new friend jill over at terrain and of course seeing all of the beautiful festive decorations and breathing the smell of evergreen only made me want a tree MORE. and then luck struck.
as i was walking to my car, there was a handsome young man cutting the lower boughs off of christmas trees and, as he was throwing the large green branches into a big wooden bin, our eyes met for a second and we exchanged friendly smiles. i walked about three steps more and then turned right around, pulled out the old girlish charm, and sweetly asked if the boughs were sold after being cut. he said nope and to go on ahead and take them if i wanted. hiphiphooray; that's exactly what i wanted to hear!
so i went home and arranged the the boughs into a wonky treelike shape and felt happy.
with a bird for the top branch and a nest (that i found out in the yard the week before) cradled in one of the branches, i think all it needed were the little sparkly stars.

it only takes little things to make me happy.
thank you, all, for being here with me this year. you make me happy. you keep me going.
let's all hope for an even brighter 2012. happy new year! be safe!

spirit of giving

2011-12-27T09:25:00.005-05:00

happy post-chrismas, friends! i hope you all had a really lovely holiday. mine was wonderful -- i have such a loving and fun family, and with an eight year old, a five year old, and a teeny little two month old baby, it was that much more special.

this year, i felt super good about all of the gifts that i gave. i hand-made most of them and actually had them done and wrapped BEFORE leaving for my travels! (all but two; that's an amazing accomplishment for me!) here are some of the ones i had finished and wrapped while it was still light enough for photos.

i made tiny baby shoes (using this pattern) and a little hat for baby Elvis:

(the hat's a little too small. i'll make another for next month, when he's grown out of it.)

a super cozy cowl for sis and fingerless gloves for my brother-in-law:

(i made the fingerless gloves for lots of other people on my list, too. i hadn't knit up a pair for years, and forgot how quick and easy and satisfying these are! here's a link to the basic pattern, which i modified for using extra bulky yarn.)

a pretty felt flower headband for niece bella:

(inspired by my much-loved rosette fascinator by giant dwarf and using the flower patterns found on the purlbee here.)

wine coaster thing-ys for the ladies-of-the-house on my list:

i had seen these *somewhere* but could not for the life of me figure out where -- i searched martha and purlbee and BH&G and courtyliving with no results. in the end, i did them how i remembered them to be, and using different color stitching on each to make them kind of like those wine charm things. honestly, i thought they were a little cheesy, but kinda just a little cool, too.
packaging them in fruit boxes upped the presentation points.

paperwhite bulbs (from ever-inspiring terrain):

i also did a few as single bulbs, placed in a small-size mason jar with white buttons at the bottom instead of stones. those turned out really sweet -- but i didn't get a photo of them.

home-made caramels using this recipe:

the orange-wrapped ones were fleur-de-sel, and the blue-wrapped ones were lavender. ( i kinda went a little overboard on the lavender -- they were a bit too floral-y, even for me who loves that flavor...)

one sack of caramels packaged up for my wonderfully friendly postal clerk:

and lastly, cookies:

two kinds of biscotti - one dairy free, for my lactose-intolerant landlord:

and the rest were either finished after-dark (more pairs of fingerless gloves, containers of paperwhites, and neice and nephew's custom-covered sketchbooks), or at the last minute (nani's felt flower wreath), or vintage (mom's yellow-ware bowl), or storebought (b's camera, dad's bar glasses, ed emberly books for bella and aidyn).
totally satisfying.
and i was a lucky little lady in terms of the gifts i received! vintage pyrex from b, this book from santa, snowshoes, a gift certificate to my favourite fabric shop, many exciting new dishes and gadgets for my kitchen, and so many other thoughtful and sweet surprises. i'm a lucky little girl -- my family and loved one mean the world to me, and that i get to spend my christmas with them -- perfect.

holla daze

2011-12-19T16:08:00.002-05:00

oh my goodness what an insanely, intensely, wonderfully busy few weeks i've had with chez-sucre-chez; stitching up dozens of tea towels, running out of them and ordering, laundering, ironing, and stitching those ones, too; packing up scores of boyfriend hankie kits and working all hours to keep on top of my shipments to go out -- all to ensure that my customers would get their orders in time for gift giving. it was a wild, wonderful time. but now i get to breathe (a little) and jump into my own holiday gifts! i've got five days to make and bake my little butt off to get it all done. there'll be knitting, and sewing, and cards and caramels and felt wreaths to make, cookies to bake, packages to wrap, and a tree to trim. hooray! thank you all for a wonderful year. i hope that i'll remember to snap some photos of all of these projects over the next week -- if i do, i'll certainly post. if i don't, i hope to meet back up with you here soon! happy holidays, friends! xoxo

pressed handkerchiefs

2011-12-14T10:13:00.003-05:00

phew! it's been a whirlwind couple of days! i returned from my trip to nyc (the Divine Studios sale was divine, as usual!) completely exhausted and was stirred from my zombie-like state on Monday night by an email from a friend letting me know that my boyfriend hankie kit was featured in an etsy newsletter of "gifts for the mysterious man," written by the wonderful jan, of poppytalk.

of course, i was ill-prepared and only had a handful of hankies/kits in stock. eeks! i debated whether i should just let them sell out, or if i should spend half the day driving to restock on hankies. i opted to restock. (it was a beautiful day for driving, anyways...) so now -- all colors of hankies are now back in stock and i'm madly putting together new kits to fullfil the orders that have come in so far.
i'm super grateful to jan for picking this up as a featured gift item -- this really is one of my favourite chez-sucre-chez products and i'm glad to see it getting discovered! want to stitch one up for your man? head to the shop -- i'm selling them with and without a hoop. i'm making post office runs every day from here through next week so get those orders in and i'll send 'em on out quickly so you get them in time for stitching and giving.
now back to the madness of my studio. (good golly it needs a good cleaning after all this craziness! next week... next week..)

nyc, see you soon

2011-12-07T15:56:00.003-05:00

all this rainy day i've been running around getting my last minute materials and supplies to work on my display for the above event. if you are in the nyc area -- please please please come by! sunday, dec. 11th, 11 - 6pm, at 21 east 4th street (4th & Lafayette). i didn't do this one last year, but i did it the year before that and the year before that and i tell you, it's exhilarating - all the talent and personality packed into that little room. if you are at all a fan of the martha stewart living magazine, and the whole MSLO brand in general, you should be sure to come on out to this -- take a look at the vendors and compare them to the masthead of the magazine; you'll see what i'm talking about.
okay then, see you there? xo.

to the letter

2011-12-06T09:49:00.004-05:00

here's a grouping of letters i did as a custom job for my aunt susan, who is giving them as gifts to her nieces. i actually really enjoyed stitching these up; it'd been a while since i'd done any letters like these. i took the listings for custom-stitched letters out of my shop well over a year or two ago but have, since then, continued to collect patterns . it was nice to finally stitch some of those patterns up, and in fun colors for girls of a range of ages.

i liked the G so much, in fact, that i put that one up in the shop as an option.

i think it'd be better suited in a hoop that is one size larger (a seven, rather than six-inch hoop), but i love the lettering style and can see it looking great in any number of colors. it does look particularly festive all dressed up with a bow, too:

home is - a little bit bigger now

2011-12-04T14:03:00.002-05:00

i finally got to stitch up, photograph, and update the listing for the new 8 x 10 size "home is wherever i'm with you" piece.

stitched-to-order as always, with choice of colors, this design has been one of my biggest sellers and i'm happy to now offer it in the larger size and with the nicer frame. that's it - just wanted to share that. i hope you're enjoying your sunday!

monogram madness

2011-12-02T12:21:00.004-05:00

sheesh --- i've been terrible at posting lately.

the reason is, i've been pretty much non-stop stitching up monogram towels, since they appeared in better homes and gardens magazine a bit over a month ago.

i'm super happy that they've been so well-received. and they're keeping me busy.

this is today's lot to be shipped out:

good times! keep those orders coming -- i can handle them -- just please be sure, if you are planning on ordering a towel or two or two dozen, to get those orders in as early as possible (here!) - some colors are running out and i've only got two hands, so i may have to put a cap on orders at some point in the month. so far, so good though - hooray! happy weekend!

black friday

2011-11-24T23:09:00.005-05:00

howdy! i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. (i'm still full from dinner at 2pm!)

just wanted to let you all know that it's sale time in the shop! for one day only, enjoy 15% off all items in the shop that are black.

(that includes the newest diy kit -- deer in the night.)

the sale is going on all day -- no need to wake up and get into line at some ridiculously early hour in the morning. (unless, that is, you want to be one of the few to snap up some of the limited number of stitched-to-order pieces....)

have a great weekend!

holiday wind up

2011-11-18T07:20:00.004-05:00

little by little, i'm getting the shop ready for the holiday marketing/shopping season. yesterday i posted a new photo of my red striped monogram towels.

i wish i had time to bake for real, and not just make a baking-like set up for a photo!

related to baking, i (with a little layout help) designed a set of recipe cards (like the one in the photo) for you!

i hope that you will print them out and use them this holiday season. here's what to do: go to this link (googledocs), where you'll find the pdf. you can download and print from there - easy as that!

do you have a favourite recipe? i know i shared one of mine years ago -- great aunt mary's black pepper cookies. check it out, it's worth revisiting!

lately i've been more into bread-baking than sweet-making. i'm hoping to jump back into it next week and bake up a couple more baguettes -- they're so delicious (and not that difficult)!

happy weekend, everyone. remember, if you're in the philly area, to come on by the art star holiday bazaar!

fair play

2011-11-16T08:28:00.002-05:00

philadelphia locals, here's another chance to do some craft-fairing, shopping, browsing, meet-and-greeting, and early holiday-spiriting:

this friday (night), saturday, AND sunday is the first ever art star holiday craft bazaar, being held at the 23rd street armory (23rd street, between market and chestnut). friday night is an early bird party - just meaning that you have to get tickets to it, but there's gonna be food, drink, music, free stuff and a photobooth! craft fairs are fun, yes - but add cocktails and music to the mix and it becomes even MORE fun. check it out here. but then saturday and sunday will be the regular old good-times-to-be-had thing, too. i'll be there sharing a booth space with pal melanie linder. i forget our booth number, but just look for the tent, INSIDE, and you'll find us underneath it. (HA! another reason to come by -- to see our crazy rad set-up!)
i had such a great time at last friday's event at paradigm gallery. it was a small event in a small space, which gave plenty of opportunity for mingling with the other vendors. i feel like i don't do that at the larger affairs for several reasons; one, i am usually setting up until the last possible minute, and then still fiddling with stuff for most of the first few hours, two, i'm kind of a nut about being in my booth to talk to my customers, and three, i'm actually quite a bit more shy than i am outgoing, in terms of meeting and hobnobbing with other vendors. i think i probably come off as a snob, but i'm not!

come on out this weekend if you can. stop by and say hello. introduce yourself. i'd really like to meet you.

now i gotta get back to crackin' on my preparations! i've still got a ton of work to do. (sigh.)

little bits of life

2011-11-13T21:31:00.009-05:00

sometimes, i do take a break from work.
here are some little bits, captured less-than-perfectly through the lens of the camera on my phone. sadly, i've gotten out of the habit of taking my good digital camera around with me on adventures....

lately, b and i have been really into exploring the walking/hiking trails of the local nature preserves. this was a shot from today's walk. on this walk i found my first hen-of-the-woods; too bad it was past its peak/season.

then we discovered baldwin's book barn --- possibly the most beautiful bookstore i've ever visited. it's five floors of books in an old house/barn!

the majority of the stacks on the upper floors are made from old fruit crates; beautiful!

on the way home we passed this sight:

only in pennsylvania.... (right?)

rewind a few weeks; we carved pumpkins; (can you guess which one i did?!)

and then the next day it snowed on them. (crazy!)

the next week, niece bella and i used skewers dressed up as flags to save nephew aidyn's birthday cake from slippery doom:

(we called it the muddy river cake. it may not have been my prettiest, but it was darned delicious!)

and lastly, one of my latest little joys; watching the sunrise from my pillow;

sometimes emil watches it with me, too.

that's it for now! hopefully on my next post i can give a little recap of the art/craft fair i did this past friday night. til then, ciao, friends!

art et joie

2011-11-10T09:44:00.004-05:00

if you are local to the philadelphia area, or within driving distance and looking for something to do this friday night -- come to this event! art et joie is going to be a one-night-only trunk-show event featuring seven artists who will be showing and selling their work. there'll be refreshments! it'll be a sweet opportunity to browse and purchase some lovely handmade art and gifts and to meet the artists who created them.
the event is being held at paradigm gallery - 2020 south street, philadelphia -- between the hours of 7 - 10. i've already got my set-up all worked out (currently in my living room) and i'm greatly looking forward to it.

virginia evans, one of the artists, created an etsy treasury of a sneak preview of the work to be shown/seen:

(see it here.)
see you there?

a little birdie (or two)

2011-11-09T10:27:00.004-05:00

here's one of the custom jobs that i shipped out last week:

it was for a customer who had ordered from me i think over two years ago -- it always makes me over-the-moon happy to see customers come back to my shop to get more work done. and i love that i remember every piece that i stitch and the back-and-forth emails that it takes to complete an order. connection with my customers is one of my very favourite parts of my job -- it's so super satisfying!

this is the project that inspired the newest kit (the lovebirds kit) -- but i wanted to do it in a size that would compliment the letters that went along with it, and so stitched this one double-size, creating a bigger version of the original pattern.

there are so many ways that these pieces could be arranged and hung -- i love the difference that a little ribbon makes. i would have liked to have tried more set-ups, but these shots are all i had time for...

congratulations to the newlyweds to whom this collection was shipped, and thanks to amanda for having me create it!

oh - and speaking of birds - a bird somehow got into my house about an hour ago and was flying all around! this is the second time it's happened; i think they squeeze in through a space under the screen door. all is fine though - i got him/her out safely and kept emil the cat clear away from the excitement. phew! at least it wasn't a bat.

please... lightened up

2011-11-03T13:58:00.003-04:00

oh my goodness, i've been a bad blogger... sorry, i've been working lots and lots of custom orders. soon i'll post photos!

here's the latest listing in the shop:

i stitched it up almost a month ago, but just got it photographed and listed. the design is familiar, yes, but this one is in a one-of-a-kind colorway. i'd love it if someone with dark walls (like charcoal grey!) bought it, but i'll be content sending it to any happy home.

today is one of those beautiful sunshine-y fall days here, so i'm going to try to finish up my work and get out there for an hour or two! i hope you're all doing swell. xo.

love you tender

2011-10-19T12:55:00.003-04:00

sorry for the lack of posts lately, but i've had a busy weekend/week!
on monday morning, i welcomed my new baby nephew into the world.

(here's his foot after making his very first piece of art)

wow, witnessing birth is exciting. both he and my sister and the rest of our family are doing great and we're all very happy that Elvis is here at last. (yes! it's a perfect name for him!)
i'll be back to regular work and posting in a few days! xo.

love birds

2011-10-13T16:49:00.004-04:00

it's another new kit!

i know - i've done maybe too many kits with two little creatures and heart over top of them, but really, with this one, i just couldn't resist! these sweet birds sitting on their branches looking at one another; i had to do it.

i dug up these little birdies while doing research for custom order request - i had used them on a piece that i did long ago, and almost forgot about them. i'm so happy to be seeing them in this new light! and then, when it came down to choosing colors for the new pattern, i went with my love of godard's palette of french blue, white, and red. i like the folksy look it brings to the piece. i hope you agree. i've only got a small amount of this fabric color, so i'm thinking this one is going to be a limited edition... unless it goes over well and i can get my hands on more of this color? we'll see....
it's in the shop - here.

i'm signing out for the week, i think... my sister is due to give birth to baby number three any time now, and as soon as i get the call, i'm running out the door! my bags are packed and i've been watching my phone like a hawk. it's amazing how productive i've been thinking that i have to use every minute i've got to make things happen in my studio before being away from it for a few days to a week. (those of you with custom-orders in, don't worry, i've got all of my supplies and materials in a go-box, ready to go with me! same goes for regular shop items.)

have a wonderful end to your week and weekend, all! xo.

dance dance revolution

2011-10-13T11:03:00.004-04:00

here's the story on this one: it was inspired by the two movies i've watched this week; "black swan" and "desperately seeking susan."
i've been wanting to do a few dance-inspired pieces, and i have several in mind, but haven't gotten to them yet.... because the images i have in my head require me to create new fonts, and that's not always my favourite task.... but this one, this one came about pretty easily; i heard the line in madonna's "into the groove" (which is in "desperately seeking susan") and almost immediately got to work on putting the letters together.
two fun facts about me:
one - dancing is probably my favourite thing in the world to do. i love a dance party like nothing else.
two - "into the groove" was the song for our pom-pom routine in 8th grade. that's right, i was a cheerleader. for one year. sometimes when i'm out dance-partying this song comes on and if i've had a few cocktails, the pom-pom routine moves come out.

with the "black swan" influence, i totally wanted to do the piece with ballerina-pink stitching instead of ecru, but i decided it's better to go neutral on these random pieces that i make.

(behind the piece, you can see that state that my living room walls are in at the moment. i finally found the right color, but haven't yet gotten to the painting....)

expect more dance-themed pieces to come!

i will follow you...

2011-10-11T13:29:00.005-04:00

after months of being out of the shop, and getting several requests for it, the "listen to your heart..." piece is back!

i had to do a little rethinking/reworking after the frame size (to which i'd originally designed it to fit) was discontinued, but now, methinks it works super well in the 8 x 10 frame size.

and b, my wonderful photoshop-saavy boyfriend, worked a little magic to lay the text overtop of the photo for the etsy listing.

(i know, it's not such a difficult thing to do, but i tell you, i have NO patience for those design programs and i'm happy to have someone who can help me to make things happen. otherwise, this would be sitting on my to-do list for weeks.)

i designed this piece right after i made my decision to move out to california for a little while and then, once i put it in the shop, got several orders for all kinds of places -- some of the memorable ones were "sweden" and "hollywood" and "florida," which i *almost* sent out stitched up as "flordia," and i probably would have if it weren't for my lovely friend and sometimes chez-sucre-chez assistant nicole pointing it out to me! phew! i'm still thankful of that, nicole!
where has your heart taken you?

color conundrum

2011-10-06T10:46:00.007-04:00

oh friends i need your help.
i got three new towel colors for my monogram towels, but i'm having the most difficult time coming up with truly descriptive names for these colors!
here they are:

the working name for this one is latte:

and seriously, the reason for that is simply because when i went to take the photos of these towels this morning, i just happened to put my mug of almost-all-gone latte down next to them and noticed that the color was pretty similar.
and then there's this one, which i'm currently calling cornflower -- but it's not quite cornflower:

i simply don't know how to describe/name this color blue! what the heck is it? it's not tiffany blue, it's not royal blue, it's not cerulean -- what is it?!
then the last one is this one, on top:

(i didn't get a good shot of that one alone....)
it's not off white, it's not beige, or tan -- what the heck do i call this one? maybe it is beige, or tan, but those are such boring names and i don't think they really are quite right for this color.
i don't need any fancy names like you'd see describing the colors of sweaters in a j crew catalogue -- i just need simple, true, descriptive color names that are also hopefully attractive sounding.
any recommendations?
ugh, i am going through color conundrum indeed! i'm also in the midst of trying to find the right color for my living room and that is driving me crazy, too. i'd been looking through paint chip samples for weeks and had my mind set on one, then i went and got a color sample of the paint yesterday (my past house renovation project taught me many things, GET A PAINT SAMPLE was one of the biggest: color *never* looks the same on a wall as it does on one of those paper paint chips) and i don't love it.

so now i'm back to square one. you'd think that with me looking at those brown/beige/greige/tan paint chips so much that i'd have plenty of color names in mind for these towels! but i really don't want to name the towel colors "mushroom bisque" or "almond whisp".... okay -- that's all for now. if you have any ideas for me, please send them my way! thanks so much!

(the new colors, by the way, are available for order through the shop!)

let's juice!

2011-10-05T09:19:00.003-04:00

here's me (making kind of a crazy face) on the set of a little video shoot i helped to do for my friend robyn's website grow indie, which is a fabulous resource for gardeners; whether you have a few containers on your fire escape or a full-on victory garden in your yard.
we were doing a demo video for a wheatgrass juicer and i got my first taste of wheatgrass juice. holy cow, it's good stuff! for the video we did wheatgrass and spinach juice, and that was surprisingly delicious and made me feel like i had taken some sort of pac man power pellets. i brought one of the juicers home with me and made apple/wheatgrass/parsley juice and that is amazingly delicious, too! i think i'm hooked! have any of you ever gone on a wheatgrass kick? do you have any favourite juice recipes/combos or suggestions or recommendations?

see you on sunday?

2011-10-03T08:45:00.002-04:00

on this coming sunday, october 9th, i'll be hawking my chez-sucre-chez goods at this event (above) in lancaster, PA. three of my z-town gals, karen stanford of skylark studio, melanie linder of spread-the-love, and jen lindsay of jen lindsay designs, will also be there. we're not sure what to expect, as it's only a 4 hour event at a museum we've never been to before, but i'm looking at it as potential exposure to a new area and a reason to get my indoor show set-up fine-tuned before the holiday show season sneaks up on me. if you're near the lancaster area, come on out and say hello!

sparkle and shine

2011-09-28T16:27:00.003-04:00

Inspired by this wonderful feedback;

"I have been desirous of one of these cloud embroideries for years, so I was very happy to be able to purchase this little collection. It looks just perfect in a corner of my new house."
(big smiles from me -- i love my etsy customers!)

I've been spending this cloudy week stitching up a new batch of clouds (among other projects):

i recently found this EVER so light blue aida cloth in my collection -- i have no idea where it came from or what this color is called, but i love it for these clouds. the color is SO subtle that the silver lining jumps out much more prominently than with the other colors i use. usually i prefer the subtle lining, like a little surprise that you see after you see the cloud (just like the metaphor), but i'm really liking these ones.

i've got packed-full days of things to do and people to see tomorrow and friday, but i expect to have some new clouds, including a grouping or two, in the shop next week.
have a great rest of your week/weekend!

fairy teeth

2011-09-27T12:55:00.003-04:00

my niece is about to lose her first tooth so, as i did for my nephew, i'm sending her a tooth buddy:

i've been told that she's got another wiggly one as well, so i've gotta get crackin' on making up some more! (they get one for each of their four front teeth...)
happy wednesday, friends!

all for fall

2011-09-21T16:19:00.003-04:00

the air is crisp, the leaves are starting to change colors, apple season is upon us - autumn officially begins tomorrow.
it's time for a little sale, don't you think? i do...
today through sunday night, take 20% off your order from the etsy shop with coupon code CELEBRATEFALL2011 - hooray!

frame thy fearful dissymmetry

2011-09-16T15:52:00.002-04:00

continuing on my yellow kick, i bring you a new kit!

i'm calling this one "ring around the posy" and i've got to admit, i'm thrilled with it. this pattern and the colors of the materials are so different from my other kits, i think it's a really nice addition to the collection.

i'm so feeling this yellow on the cool modern grey! it feels so right for the season that we're entering into here. and these goldenrod flowers are all over the roadways here in eastern PA --- i think they've maybe worked themselves into my subconscious and that's where all this inspiration is coming from!

i enjoyed creating this pattern, and trying something a little different from my normal - i specifically designed it NOT to be completely symmetrical. oh, look at me, gettin' all crazy.
other happiness of the day: canon made good by sending me a brand new camera! i sent my old one (the one with the spot behind the lens) back to them to have fixed under warranty, and today i received a new camera. ta-da. hooray. all is good. thank you, big company, for being good to me.
see/purchase the new kit here.
have a great weekend!

some pulp

2011-09-14T11:21:00.003-04:00

a custom order going out today:

(lyrics from pulp's "something changed")

happy wednesday!

aprons up!

2011-09-12T11:45:00.008-04:00

making kids' aprons has been my outlet and excuse for fabric-buying for the past couple of years and although they sell well when i bring them to craft fairs, i've rarely offered them through my shop, primarily because it's such a pain in the hiney to photograph them for the listings.
last week, however, i planned ahead -- knowing that i would be seeing my neice over the weekend, i whipped up three new aprons, in three adorable prints that i bought over the last month, with the hopes that i could convince her to model them for me.

haha -- her idea of modeling sure has changed in the two years since i last had her do this for me. this was then:

gah! i can't stand the cuteness! (and there are more here.)
and here's what modeling means now:

look at that sass! ha -- adorable. she's awesome.
here are a few of the other shots and the other aprons:

cuteness! i love them. i love her.

hey lookie - there's our house! we live up on the third floor -- my studio is the window all the way to the right.

the three styles of aprons are up in the etsy shop (here) and they're available sewn-to-order in a variety of sizes (2T, 3 -4 years, 5 -7 years, and 8 - 10 years) check them out and if you happen to know someone with a little one who loves to bake or play dress up, please send them the info; thanks!

cutting the mustard

2011-09-06T21:34:00.006-04:00

i saw this color tea towel at my favourite mennonite dry goods store the last time i was there, and i passed them up. then i kept seeing "mustard yellow" trending all over etsy and totally regretted not getting them. so, i picked some up while i was there on saturday and each time i look at them, i love this color more and more.

look how good it looks with grey stitching! and today, just minutes after i did the listing, i got an etsy convo asking if i could do this color with peacock blue green stitching, and i realized, THAT would look fantastic, too! they're here.

keeping with the mustard kick, i did some zippies with mustard yellow zippers.

i bought the zippers a long time ago, with this exact combo in mind, but then i second guessed myself and i thought maybe it wasn't as cool as i thought it was.... but now i think i was maybe right in the first place. i like them. i'm happy with them.

i also really like this photo -- even though zippy pouches have no context next to tomatoes....

i did two sizes:

one's the size that i usually do for zippies -- about 7 x 5. it's good for use as a wallet/purse sort of thing or little makeup bag.

and the other's a little deeper - which makes it a great project bag! it fits a five inch hoop easily - making it a handy little catch-all for your latest work in progress. throw it in your tote bag without worry about your embroidery floss getting all tangled up in your hairbrush and keys. organized = good. i'm getting there -- little by little....

wind and rain and balloons and buttons and pies and bracelets and more

2011-09-01T19:45:00.007-04:00

man, i was on such a roll with posting, and now, oops, it looks like i've fallen behind... sorry! i've been busy busy with custom jobs and other little things but here's a run-down of some of the other happenings since my last post:

i became obsessed, for about four days, with friendship bracelets.

two weekends ago, b and i spent some time with my family down at the beach and i brought my floss boxes with me so that i could organize them, and because i had it in my head to make friendship bracelets with my niece. i figured, heck, i've got about every color imaginable in this floss collection of mine; there's plenty here for bracelets!

well, the bracelets didn't happen that weekend, but when i mentioned my idea to b, he was just about as psyched as i was. so, the next weekend, as hurricane irene soaked the east coast with rain, i knotted strands of floss together to make a total of six of those grade-school-favourite accessories. b now wears three of them, i sent a couple to some boys in nyc, and i've got one here in the studio waiting for a friend...
and then i got over that kick... for the time being.

i sent out a mailer about the urban outfitters thing and my red-balloons-for-good project and then, about 30 minutes later, the electricity went out in our house, and stayed out for the next 22 hours.
in that time, the initial two balloons that i had listed in the shop were snapped up, and i was grateful to your positive response to my project. i stitched up three more and then photographed and listed them when the sunshine and electricity returned.

they're in the "red balloons for good" section of my shop, if you're interested....

also in shop news, i added a new section, which i'm calling "add-ons;" the idea being that these items can be added to an order with no additional shipping fees.
i added hoops:

i am a huge fan of these hoops that i've been using -- they're SO much better quality than the ones found at the usual craft stores, and i often get requests for additional hoop purchases from customers who've bought my kits and used them. well, now they're easily available through the shop! i put up a listing for the 3 and 4 inch hoops, and if that goes well, i'll probably add additional sizes.
i'm also thinking it's good to have the hoops in shop as an additional item option for the boyfriend hankie kits; it really is a heck of a lot easier to successfully do that project if you use a hoop. i don't include hoops in with the kit, though, because i figure that a lot of people have them already, or they can borrow them from a friend or a grandma who does -- and by not including them, i'm keeping the cost of the product down for my customers. well, now there's an easy way to add a hoop onto that item if a customer needs one. hooray!

also in the add-ons section, i'm putting together little bundles/packages/collections/selections of trim and notions. i've got A LOT of really pretty ribbon and trim and rickrack and vintage buttons and such and, even though i realize that i couldn't possibly use it all in my lifetime, i can't stop buying more when i come across it. SO -- i'm going through my collection and making nice little measured-out bundles and listing them in the shop. i put together and photographed two listings when my back-up camera died on me. (my regular camera has developed an annoying spot on the inside of the lens.)

that new add-ons section of my shop is here. check it out often to find more treasures!

on tuesday, i baked this pie:

peaches and blackberries soaked in bourbon and vanilla - yum, but i didn't cook it quite long enough... the bottom crust wasn't *quite* crisped enough. but what i DID do right was put the bourbon/vanilla/peach juice that was drained from the fruit before it went into the pie into a cocktail -- mmmhmmm delicious.

and lastly, today, i finished and framed this piece:

obviously, i'm going to need better photos. i'll be on the phone with canon tomorrow, hoping to get mine fixed through the warranty... ugh.
have a good long-weekend, everyone!

red balloons for good...

2011-08-26T08:33:00.001-04:00

...are back!
it's that time again and for the sixth year, my mama is cycling 150 miles over two days as part of the city-to-shore ride to "create a world free of MS." that's 75 miles a day and it's all for the cause of raising money and awareness toward research and a cure of MS (multiple sclerosis). my mom's pretty great, huh?

two years ago, i started stitching these red balloons and listing them in my shop as my way to contribute to my mama's fund. half of the price of each balloon is donated to the fund.

last year i had it in my head that i was going to do the 99 red balloons -- but it turned out waaaay to ambitious a project. i didn't get anywhere even close. this year, i'm planning on just stitching them up whenever i can and listing them in my shop with the hopes that people appreciate their simple charm and the chance to score a sweet little piece of home decor while contributing to the greater good.

you can read more about the beginning and purpose of this project here, in this post from two years ago.

and now, the first two of this year's balloons are stitched and photographed and listed in the shop. please check them out if you have a chance, and, actually, even more important, please help spread the word if you are interested. i'm hoping to list several more pieces in the coming weeks - and it'd be super great to see them all go and then to have a nice little sum of money to donate to the cause! here's the shop section where the balloons will be listed.

ps -- related but unrelated -- my camera has developed a spot. very annoying. it seems to be a piece of dust trapped INSIDE the lens, and now every photo i take has this spot on it. this is very uncool. does anyone know anything about this? how to get rid of it? it's a canon -- i think i'm going to call the company tomorrow. very annoying.

apple peaches pumpkin...

2011-08-25T09:29:00.002-04:00

good news to those of you who are liking the little pumpkins i've been posting about but are too far away to make it to terrain to scoop up a jar of them; they're now available from terrain online! i love seeing them as part of the autumn harvest collection on there! here's the direct link.
but while you're there, you should really poke around the site a bit - i just noticed that they've got a recipe of the week section! and this week it's for apple spice cake?! dang! i love apple spice cake!
oooh, we've got a big thunderstorm rolling in to this little part of PA right now -- fun!

peanut, peanut butter

2011-08-20T15:02:00.002-04:00

b and i hosted birthday brunch at our house this morning.

he and his family are all peanut butter maniacs, so i made this cake:

being not such a peanut butter person, this was new territory for me. i searched around for recipes and this one, posted over at smitten kitchen, came up looking like the best bet. oh my goodness, it may well have been the most rich cake i've ever baked.
the recipe is amazing -- super straight-forward and easy peasy, and it sure as heck makes for one deliciously intense cake.
there were six of us, and this is all the dent we were able to put in it:

phew! who wants to come over to help finish it?!!? have a delicious weekend, friends. xo.

samples stitched

2011-08-19T12:40:00.004-04:00

little things that happened over the last couple weeks; one, i finally took a better photo for the embroider-it-yourself boyfriend-hankie kit listing in my etsy shop. the one i had up there for well over a year was terrible! a few weeks ago, i got a new batch of hankies and the prettiness of seeing them all spread out before me as i made up the kits inspired me to take a new shot:

i'm not sure if it totally shows the product -- this kit, and the cross-stitch kits, too, is kind of hard to capture in one photo!

also stitched up and photo'd a sample of the new sage green tea towels that are now available monogrammed-to-order:

and then there are the new stripes; i like these a lot!

and this one i just stitched up for fun:

i got these towels in because i love the simple retro style of them (and they are SO soft!), but i'm not quite sure what i want to do with them yet... this was the first idea... not sure if i'm going to go with it or not. comments? suggestions? opinions?

until i figure that out, though, i've got a home-sweet-home for this particular towel. lots of friends have moved into new homes lately, and i love sending out mail, so...

more in store

2011-08-17T12:10:00.003-04:00

remember these?

i gave you the teaser for them here a few weeks ago, but now they're out; they've hit the shelves at terrain!

this was another one of our collaboration projects. they got in touch with me with the idea of doing pumpkins, like we had the mushrooms and the strawberries, and then i figured them out and made them and they did the packaging in the lovely little weck jars.

if you haven't been to terrain yet (and you're somewhat in the area), i highly recommend a visit. i love that i now live less than two miles from here. i can walk here if i want! it's a seriously great place to while away an hour or two looking at all of the inspiring cookbooks and checking out the beautiful selection of house and garden plants. i keep coming home with new ferns for my bathroom (and, last time i was there, i came home with a chipmunk door stopper for my bathroom, too -- we needed one and i couldn't resist)!
they have a beautiful little cafe, too. seriously, you should check it out! if you're too far away, though, no worries -- you can still at least browse the online shop. (unfortunately, my little pumpkins aren't on there.. it's usually only a small selection of the goods that they carry in the shop...)

sweet home dreams

2011-08-16T13:13:00.006-04:00

one of my current favourite pieces made it into an etsy treasury this morning:

and i realized/remembered that in that listing, there are sneak peak photos of my studio! but... (whisper whisper hush hush) they were set up to not look like a studio, but rather, just a regular old bedroom:

but here's what that side of the room usually* looks like:

with my beloved vintage ironing board "shipping station" pushed as close up next to the bed as possible and my stitching chair over in the corner by the window, under the wall that i set up to house my current collections of work, as they wait to be shipped to new homes.

see, when we came to look at this place, i was psyched that it had three bedrooms. two of them are exactly the same size, exact mirrors of one another, and then the other is a little bit smaller and has a closet in it for the washer and dryer. originally i planned to have my studio in the smaller room, and then the other bigger room would be the guest room-slash-b's-extra-space room. once i started moving boxes in, however, i realized that the light and layout in this room is better (it has two windows, the other has one), so i opted to take this one and put the bed in here anyway. (*to be honest, the bed is usually piled high with ironing that needs to be done and fabric that needs to be folded and put away. but friends, whenever you're ready to come on out to visit, just let me know, i'll have it cleared off and magically transformed into the happiest little guest room you ever could want.)
the other side of the room is strictly business, but it's still not photo-ready... it's getting there, though.. you'll see it soon.

and, since we're on the subject of home-sweet-homes - here's another sweet little treasury that popped up today, featuring one of my home-sweet-home kits:

i've been enjoying setting up my home-sweet-home. it's nice to have one again, and to have my two biggest inspirations, home and love, all happy and right here in one place. (finally!) makes me a happy girl.
so - my newest home project is a quest for rugs... i love this one, and i've found a lot on etsy (like this one), which is great, because i love shopping as much a possible from etsy, knowing that i am supporting a human being and filling my home with quality handmade goods. but does anyone have any suggestions for other place to look for simple, not-too-pricey rugs? let me know if you do! happy tuesday!

let's hear it for new york

2011-08-15T10:02:00.003-04:00

friday morning, i took the bolt bus from philly up to nyc. my first order of business was to check the 14th street and 6th ave urban outfitters store to see if they had the chez-sucre-chez pieces; they did!

i was very happy to see that they looked great. the quality of each piece was better than i expected and there were even a few great surprises -- like the stand that was affixed to the back, making them not strictly wall art, but also a piece that can be displayed on a shelf or table-top. i was thrilled with the quality of the hoops they used and the way the fabric was secured within the hoops -- it wasn't flimsy at all. each individual piece (besides the samples on display) is packed flat and wrapped in plastic. i was afraid maybe they'd just be open and that they'd easily get damaged on the shelves from a lot of people handing them - nope; even the samples look great, and i assume that they've been picked up and handled more than once or twice.
i was also thrilled to see how they had done the tags. they really did replicate the way that i do my tags! hip hip hooray!

they really looked great and it was definitely exciting to see my designs in the store along with all of the other hip urban outfitters products. there in the store, they were still full price ($18 each), but on the UO website, they're marked on sale -- I'm going to order a set as soon as i finish this post. maybe you'd like to do the same?! (if you were just going to go for one, i recommend the deer one -- it looks particularly great. the owl one is the largest and the squirrel one is the smallest.) ordering info is here.

then, after meandering the streets of a city that i used to call home and thoroughly enjoying a day to myself with no agenda and no pressure to get work done, i met up with great pals claire and jeremy for the opening reception of the "these friends" show at the ace hotel. that, too, was a smashing great time.

the show, and all of the collective pieces that comprised it, fit the space perfectly. (sorry my photos aren't so good...) the ace is charming as heck and i got to see a lot of really good friends.

the show is up for a month, so if you're going to be in nyc, stop by and check it out! more info here and here.

chez-sucre-chez for urban outfitters

2011-08-10T10:44:00.005-04:00

yes. yes, chez-sucre-chez for urban outfitters; this started so long ago that i forgot to be checking in on it and i almost missed it!

over a year ago, i was contacted about having chez-sucre-chez designs licensed to be produced by urban outfitters. we worked out the details and in the end, i created three designs for them and advised on how to have them produced.
the original idea was to have them stitched, much like mine are, but honestly, i was really nervous about that idea for two reasons - one, i was nervous about what the quality would be like and two, i wasn't sure how i felt about having pieces LIKE mine but not mine done in a large production run and offered at such a smaller cost than what i charge. in the end, i recommended that they have them screenprinted on fabric to have the same look as the stitched pieces, but at both a lower production cost and a lower and more attractive cost to the consumer. this would also make them a different product than what i offer, so that they weren't in any way "competing."
so that all happened, the contracts were signed, the designs handed over, i received a check for my licensing fees, and then months and months and months went by and i didn't hear anything! really, i had begun to think that they maybe were over the idea and ended up just scrapping it...
and then yesterday, i got an email from my contact on the project and i found out that they've been "in the shops" for several weeks now! of course i screamed a little and jumped up and down and was ready to grab my keys and hop in the car to drive to the closest UO. instead, i looked them up on the website and found them. and then i started making calls to the nearest stores to see if they had them... which, disappointingly, they didn't. (sad face)
one of the fellows that i talked to sounded like he knew what he was talking about - and said that most of the stores no longer receive the wall art and many of the other homegoods -- that they're mostly just sold online anymore. of course i had to see for myself; i'm pretty stubborn. so i dragged b down to the main store on walnut street in philly and lo and behold, they guy on the phone really did seem to know what he was talking about... they weren't there, and it definitely looks as though the shops are indeed cutting back on the housewares department; there weren't many to be found, just a teeny little section in knicknacks.
so -- have any of YOU seen them? my friend laura says that she saw them in the 14th st & 6th ave store. i'm going there this weekend, so i'll be sure to check. otherwise, you can find them on line. and, they're on sale! (of course i don't want to see that --- i would have liked to have had them sold out the first day rather than to go on sale... but this makes it good for you, right?)
if any of you have ever wanted a chez-sucre-chez "owl love you always" piece, but at a fraction of the cost, here's your chance! of course it's not QUITE the same... but still...
all in all - my experience of working with UO was a good one. i know they get a lot of %$@& for ripping off young designers and for a bad reputation in their business dealings with people like me, but i have nothing but good things to say about how this project went (except that i would have liked to have seen the project in person!). i thought the compensation to be fair and they even notified me to let me know that they'd run more of the product than originally intended, and had me invoice for that extra amount.
exciting stuff, huh?! my fingers are crossed that i'll see some of the pieces in the nyc shop.. otherwise, i'll probably order a set! it's so hard to tell from the photos what they're really like! i do like the looks of the hoops they used, and the way they did the tag on the back (they had me send them images of how i mark/tag my work). if any of you happen to be near one of the shops, stop in and check for me!
here is a link to them on the UO site.
(phew! this was a long post!)

spread the love*

2011-08-09T12:14:00.005-04:00

i stitched this one up last week.

and listed it in the etsy shop. i gotta admit, i'm really pleased with how my little shop is looking these days...

and, in other etsy news; two of my items have been featured in very cool treasuries this week. check them out - there's this one, with a dutch theme and the "if you ain't dutch, you ain't much" tagline:

(true, me and my z-town girls are used to using this to refer to pennsylvania dutch, and not netherlands dutch, but still, the colors and items are beautiful!)

and then there's this one, with a pretty in pink theme:

how perfectly well curated! everything is like right out of the movie. great work, sara! you've inspired me and i've been listening to the soundtrack on repeat for the past hour or so.

(*of course the title is an intentional reference to my friend melanie and her wonderful shop!)

scratch my name on your arm...

2011-08-08T08:29:00.002-04:00

on sunday morning, b and i went to the brandywine river museum (just 15 minutes from our home!) and admired the collection of paintings and other works by members of the wyeth family. we walked out so inspired that we high-tailed it to the local art supply store and came home with a shared set of watercolor paints, brushes and paper as well as each purchasing our own sets of pens and inks. i got writing/calligraphy supplies and b got a new sketchbook and drawing pens and ink. as it turns out, it was just too muggy and overcast for us to be feeling so inspired to use the watercolors. so, we sat on our patio and b sketched the trees and our garden plants and my funny little feet while i wrote him love letters that i tried to make look like they were written in the 1800's (even though they were written on paint chips).
(no i'm not going to show you the love letters!) but i'm working on my handwriting -- penmanship was so much cooler fifty plus years ago. using pen dipped in ink certainly helps, as does really concentrating on the letters... i think i just need to write more letters so that i can practice. friends, do i have your addresses? get them to me. i wanna send you mail.

wildflower wishes

2011-08-06T14:11:00.002-04:00

two things making me happy this saturday early afternoon: this bouquet of wildflowers i picked on a walk last night, and having finally gotten a shelf hung in my studio. it's all coming together.
happy weekend, everyone. i hope that yours is filled with wild beauty and pleasant satisfaction.

this land (with corn!)

2011-08-05T09:53:00.003-04:00

b and i went out a few nights ago to get a few last shots of this piece before i had to send it off to nyc. this one was my favourite. i love living in rural PA!

supplies, supplies

2011-08-04T13:15:00.005-04:00

happiness is a new shipment of supplies.
a fistful of zippers:

(from fleishman's tailor supplies, in philadelphia) this means that i'll be making more zippy pouches soon!

and lots of tea towels - ready for monograms!

living further away from my beloved mennonite fabric shop, wooden bridge in kutztown, PA, i deemed it necessary to do a big order of tea towels so that i don't drive myself nuts worrying about not having towels in stock and ready for stitching should i get orders for them.
they came in a few days ago and i'm thankful for this cooler weather so that i can put them all through the washing, drying, and ironing process that i do prior to stitching. it takes a stupid amount of time, but for some reason, i really really love that process, especially the ironing of each towel. am i crazy?!
i ordered a few new colors -- sage green (third one in in the top photo) and these two new stripe towels:

ooooh, i'm excited about them.
i'll be sure to post shots as soon as i get some samples stitched up with these new color options.

frustratingly, though, i learned that one of my favourite color options for these towels is now discontinued, as are a few others.
the pretty buttery yellow stripe, as seen here under these little tea cakes that i baked months ago in los angeles:

it had become my second favourite (after the red stripe, which, thank goodness, is still available). i hate when companies do that! i've got ONE left in stock -- if you want it, hop on over to the etsy shop and place your order!
also discontinued were the green stripe towels and the blue stripe towels. so mad-making!

i have a few of each of those in stock, but once they're gone, that's it; bummer!

AND - i also learned last week that the totally weird frame size that i use for my "home is wherever i'm with you" piece has been discontinued. man, oh man, that's so no bueno.

i created the pattern specifically to fit that frame size, and since it's so unconventional, (6.75 x 9 -- it was one that was made to hold two photos) i don't have any replacement options. so -- that piece is going to have to be retired. another bummer! i've got ONE white frame in this size, so the listing is up now for a white frame option only and then that, too, is done. grrrrrr!

let's end on a good note. the last time i was at wooden bridge, i got some beautiful new fabrics to make more kids' aprons. i'm hoping to be able to make that happen sooner than later and then to convince my little bella to model them for me so that i can get them in the shop.
happy day, everyone.

america and back

2011-08-02T09:52:00.002-04:00

c'est fini!

finally, my biggest project to date is complete and i couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out. this piece has been in my head for over half a year, since my first trip driving across this big amazing land last october. i did one rendition and felt good about it for a moment, but i knew it wasn't what i intended. then on the way back across (from los angeles to philadelphia) in april, the vision became a little clearer and now that it's complete, i'm quite happy indeed.

i took it out to get photos last night, but we'd just had a thunderstorm, so the sky was a little too dark and the ground everywhere a little too wet. i was imagining a shot of me holding it in front of a cornfield.... maybe i'll get my chance today, but it's got to get mailed out!

it's headed to the ace hotel in nyc for the show that i told you about here. there's been a slight change, however: the opening reception is now on friday night (the 12th) - not thursday night. if you're in the nyc area, i'd love to see you; stop by if you can!

protesting the sweat shop

2011-07-22T18:26:00.004-04:00

i have a confession; this is where i worked for much of the day:

i thought of this at about 6:30 this morning, as i lay in bed already feeling the sweltering heat of the day. i had bought the wood last weekend (to become a shelf in the kitchen for my cookbooks) and i had a feeling that it was probably the perfect width and length for a bathtub worktable. i'm glad i was right.

i spent the day getting in and out of the tub. i'd get in, soak a little, stitch a little, and then once i was cooled off, i'd get out and get back to my computing work (i'm working on a very exciting new project, which i'll probably have to wait a while to tell you about!). then, once my bathing suit dried (yes, i wore a bathing suit - i thought it'd be a little weird to be working nude, right?), it was time to get back in for another soak.

it got up to 102 here today, which it still is, but now it feels like that temp is at least thinking of going down. dang! how hot did it get where you are? how'd you manage to beat the heat?
stay cool, friends! (this is the one thing that i do like about this heat wave, that i've been signing all of my emails "stay cool," like i'm sure i wrote in yearbooks and autograph books on the last day of school when i was a kid - pun intended.)

blue, white, red

2011-07-21T07:52:00.002-04:00

here's a progress report:

(and then another shot - with shoes)

(i was setting these photos up with godard's rule in mind -- always include blue, white, and red.)
now that i've gotten past those horrible mistakes in starting, i'm sailing through this one! i've got to put it down for a couple of days to focus on other work but i'm hoping to maybe have it finished by the end of the weekend? maybe....
forecast is calling for a high of 101 today. erg.

(this)

2011-07-20T08:57:00.003-04:00

is the beginning of my newest and most ambitious project yet.
it's actually the THIRD time i'm beginning this piece. many mistakes have been made, and i've done a whole lot of cursing about it. there's even a mistake in it now, as shown in this photo. the T is messed up. but i'll fix that. it's nothing compared to my first two mistakes; once starting and getting almost a whole word completed to then realize i started it on the wrong color fabric, and then starting it and getting three words done to realize that i'd been following an earlier version of the pattern i had settled on. that was yesterday; dangit i was mad!
but i am determined. if i can get through this (which i can), it's gonna be pretty awesome. 11 x 17 -- that's the biggest size i've done yet.
and it's all for this:

i'm very excited and flattered to have been invited to be a part of this show. my good friends from los angeles who run the gallery THIS are bringing their talents and their peeps together for a show at the ace hotel in nyc in august. i'll be there, will you? (find more info about the upcoming show here and here. and stay tuned, i'll be giving updates on the piece as i get through it.)

an early bumper crop

2011-07-15T16:18:00.000-04:00

of pumpkins!
i don't know if i can tell you where these are going quite yet, because it's still a few more months 'til pumpkin season, but i just sent out a whole big crop of pumpkins:

sweet as pie, right?!

here are a few photos of them in the making:

they're stuffed with lavender and sawdust -- makes them smell so good!

et voila! i'll let you know more when they pop up in the fall. happy weekend, all!

(new) favourite places

2011-07-11T08:38:00.005-04:00

settling into the new home and the new studio has been wonderful.
the only thing is, i haven't taken many photos yet; i've been so consumed with setting up and happily creating my new systems and routines that i haven't paused long enough to document along the way!
here are two things that i can share right now (though neither of them are stellar photos):
one - my new favourite spot to stitch:

i set this chair up next to one of the windows in my studio; it looks out on a wide open patch of grass. (unfortunately, there's the neighbor's house, too - but i can crop that out of my view.) usually, there's a pretty great breeze that comes through the window. but sometimes, there's not - and with the weather that we've been having here (hot, humid, and still) i'm glad to have this other new favourite spot:

this tub is fantastic! filled with cool water and a lush bath bomb, it's my new happy place. the forecast is calling for some 97 degree days this week --- i'm wondering if i can bring my stitching in here with me?!
keep cool, friends!

(those are flower petals from the bath bomb on the bottom of the tub there -- not dirt!)

breathing

2011-07-05T13:27:00.003-04:00

there's still work to be done, but behind this door (not the one with the beautiful clawfoot tub) is the new studio of chez-sucre-chez. i can't wait to share it with you --- but i am... it's so close to ready to show, but there are a few more details that i want to work out first. this is exciting stuff. i feel like i've been holding my breath and living and working way below my potential and desire for well over two years. and now i'm settling into a place that makes me very happy... i'm excited for what's to come and i'm excited to share it with you. thank you for following me and supporting me through this in-between time. let's get ready for the good times ahead!

just three more days!

2011-06-28T20:17:00.003-04:00

in case you hadn't heard --- i'm having a moving (and birthday - now post-birthday) sale! it started last friday and it goes til the end of this friday. and then i move and i'll maybe be a little disorganized for a wee bit.
here's the mailer that i sent out:

(it's tiny text here, i know....)
if you didn't receive the mailer and you're thinking, "what, how did i not know about this?!?!" then perhaps you should click the box on the left hand column of this blog and join the mailing list! i promise not to bombard your inbox with a bunch of junk. i only send out big emails every few months, and really only if i've got something exciting to share - like a sale. wanna view the email? it's here.
anyways -- you've got three more days! pre-embroidered monogram towels are on sale, all in-stock kits are $1 off, select cross-stitch pieces are on sale (some have already gone, but there are still some really good ones, to be had!) and there are new goods in the shops that you might want to see. the sale is going on in both the etsy shop and the bigcartel shop.
please help spread the word if you can and if you'd like! i've got to move all of my stuff up three steep flights of steps, so anything that i can ship elsewhere before saturday would be a great help! (if you click here, you can twitter it or facebook it or forward it to a friend. hey thanks!)
thanks for your support! here's looking to many more exciting projects and products once i get settled into the new studio. i'll be sure to keep you updated with photos and stories! ciao 'til next week! (oh, and have a happy holiday weekend!)

clouds up (in the shops)

2011-06-24T11:15:00.003-04:00

i got such wonderful feedback for my silver-lined clouds at renegade brooklyn this year and i heard over and over again, "you don't have these in your shop often, do you?" and it made me realize, darnit, i should be better at putting clouds in the shops!
so i did.

there's this lovely grouping - an instant collection:

and then, for those wanting to start out small there's this guy:

and this one:

and this one:

here's hoping that your weekend is full of blue skies and fluffy white clouds and pleasant surprises. xo.

sale time is coming!

2011-06-22T11:35:00.004-04:00

in less than two weeks, i'm going to be moving into a beautiful new home and studio. (oh my goodness you don't even know how excited i am.) as i'm preparing for the move, i'm looking at all of my stuff, both personal and chez-sucre-chez, and i'm feeling a little overwhelmed, so i've decided it's time to have a sale, right?!

i'm going to be adding things and marking things down in the shops (both etsy and bigcartel) over the next few days/week, and then i'll send out a big email when it's all ready.

one category's all listed and ready to go, though, and i figured i should let you all know first, since these are one-of-a-kind (for the sale, anyway) items and when they go, they're gone; pre-embroidered towels are on sale! these are the towels that i've stitched up either as samples for my listing photos, or to send to magazines for photos, or as stock for craft fairs. they're all prewashed and dried and ironed and stitched and re-ironed and ready to go! click on over and see if your letter is there! (there are also a few surprises listed at the bottom.)

the zips

2011-06-15T09:27:00.002-04:00

also new -- screen-printed zippy pouches!

i had them done up in two colors -- both with red printing but some on this gorgeous blue and some on my old favourite plain natural canvas. i'm thrilled with both versions!

i love how the ink is raised - making them look almost like actual stitches.

with these, too, matt did a great job with aligning the print. i gave him strips of fabric that i had precut from which i'd make the zippies. it was a breeze sewing them up because the prints were all in just the right place!

bravo!

these are up in the etsy shop. if you love them, go on and get one! (one customer at renegade brooklyn this past weekend was very excited to find that these fit a kindle with just a bit of room to spare. she'd found that most zippy pouches were too small - but these ones fit the bill, and they look a lot cooler than most of the kindle cases out there on the market.)

and, the week before renegade, i whipped up some other zippies and adorned them with some of the vintage trim from my slightly-too-out-of-control collection. several of them were sold at renegade, but these pretties are still with me. i'll be adding them to the shop as i get time:

happy wednesday!

something new

2011-06-14T14:11:00.006-04:00

last week, i worked with friend of mine from grade school to come up with something new:

chez-sucre-chez designs screen-printed onto towels (and more, which you'll hear about later). yeehaw, this is exciting stuff!

i've been wanting to do this forever, but it's taken me until now to make it happen. and i'm so glad it's happened. i think i may be hooked. excited by the results of this first project, i want to print so many different designs onto so many things! i've got loads of ideas just waiting to happen!

i worked with matt woods, of printworld in west berlin, new jersey. he and i went to grade school together and i have two very specific memories of him from that time. one, in sixth grade he had the same vans that i found in a dead stock store (magic shoes in nyc -- sadly missed) and have been rocking the past oh, six or seven years. (these ones). we sat next to each other in mister keeler's class and he drew a picture of me poorly attempting to skateboard and wrote "kimboarding" under it. i think i got mad. and the other memory is from when i was the only girl who rode in a car-full of boys to his 3rd or 4th grade birthday party and all of the boys in that car were going on and on about how they went into the old abandoned houses in town and saw things like cats eyeballs and rats in there. of course i was saying, "eeeeeeew!" the whole time, which only egged them on. boys.
aaanyways, i knew that matt now has his own screen-printing shop so i looked him up and we worked together to make this happen. he did an amazing job. of couse, being little miss do-every-thing-by-hand-by-myself, i was nervous as hell handing over control and money to someone else to do something for the chez-sucre-chez line. but i am THRILLED with the results. matt paid such attention to detail from the way he lined up the prints to the type of ink and process he used. thank you, matt. (need screenprinting and you're in this area? look him up here.)

they're in the shop - check 'em out!

soon, too, i'll be showing you the results of our other screen-printing project!

gettin' squirrelly

2011-06-10T13:50:00.004-04:00

it's a new kit, featuring - squirrels!

squirrels sharing nuts! yes!
these new kits will be going with me to renegade, so if you're in the area, be sure to stop by booth 44 (right near the entrance at driggs and union) and get one! for those of you who are not local to nyc, i should be getting them into the shop next week. if i don't, and you're eager to get one, email me and remind me to make that happen. (i've got a big project for next week, so i may be a little distracted...) have a great weekend, all!

for a white wedding (shower)

2011-06-09T10:30:00.004-04:00

my best friend, dana b, is getting married later this summer and i couldnt be more excited about it! last weekend we had her shower and i made this little head thing for her:

unfortunately, the photo that i took of HER wearing it turned out totally blown out so that you couldn't see the head piece at all! but i assure you, she looked tres jolie.
the inspiration came from two places:
one, from the work of the fabulous sue eggen of giant dwarf. she makes just the prettiest adornments for the head and hair. i have one of her rosette fascinators and i absolutely love it. i had an opportunity to stop by sue's studio a few weeks ago when i was in philadelphia on the hunt for some nice felt and i was positively inspired by all the magic that was happening in there. you should check out her work and her shop.
the other inspiration for this piece came from this project on the purl bee. i've been thinking about those white felt flowers ever since i saw this project many moons ago. i printed the templates out months ago --the same time that i made the little rose barrettes -- but i hadn't gotten around to finding a reason to make those lovely white flowers until last week when i wanted to make something special for dana.
hooray! project realized!

home grown 'matos

2011-06-08T16:45:00.003-04:00

oops! i promised this post for tuesday and here i am, a day late. i swear it's only because there's so much exciting work happening behind the scenes! i'm gonna try to be better about posting about it for the rest of this week as i get ready for renegade.
anywaaaays, here's that new crop that i was telling you about:

tomatoes! i made them as practice/prep/pattern-working for ANOTHER project that i'm not gonna tell you about quite yet... but i had so much fun with the first few that i made that i decided to make a few extra. they'll go with me this coming weekend to renegade to sit alongside the strawberries and the mushrooms; it'll be like the chez-sucre-chez farm stand!

home again

2011-06-03T10:53:00.002-04:00

old design, new color:

this one's going with me to renegade brooklyn next weekend. new york locals, i hope to see you there!
and i hope you all have a good weekend THIS weekend. see you back here on tuesday with a new crop of cuteness!

do it for dad

2011-06-02T14:58:00.002-04:00

as i mention in the etsy listing, finding a father's day gift for my dad has almost never been easy. i see all of the cards and gifts that feature ties and golf accessories and just have to shake my head. that stuff is definitely NOT for my dad... my dad's more into tools and beer and mowing his immaculate lawn. but the thing is, he already has all of the tools, lawn things, and bar things that a guy could possibly need (except a riding mower, but chez-sucre-chez isn't bringing in enough cash just yet to allow that purchase...) . so, yes, father's day gifts are tough for me.
a couple of years ago, however, i embroidered a simple cotton hankie for him. it was nothing big, certainly, but it went over well. we spent the day together as a family and i gave him a simple little gift that i made myself. that's better than a riding mower, right?!
so, now i've put together kits for YOU to make an embroidered hankie for YOUR papa. they're in the etsy shop.. see the listing there for more photos and info. thanks! (and, by the way, these will be going with me to renegade brooklyn next week - stop by and get one just in time for father's day, which is the following weekend!)

just for one day...

2011-06-01T12:31:00.005-04:00

another custom order completed:

it's flying off in the mail today to cross the country. thank you, susan, for being such a joy to work with!

big deer little deer

2011-05-27T13:20:00.003-04:00

these little pretties are going off to scarsdale new york today. there, they'll join the original deer in the snow/stars piece that i did and they'll hang in a group with the large one in the middle and the two small ones on the sides - fair isle style. cool right? the idea was that of mara, a client who who saw the original piece on one of my sites and contacted me to purchase it. once she got it, she said she liked it so much that she wanted more pieces to make a collection, and then she came up with the fair isle concept. at first, i was a little wary (not of her wanting more pieces, of course, but of the challenge of creating the same piece in a larger size), because i didn't know how the larger stitches would look (i used four squares on the aida instead of one to make each stitch) but now that i've done it i think you can expect to see a lot more of these big stitchings on chez-sucre-chez. hooray and thank you to mara for challenging and inspiring me to do new things!

may spawned a beauty

2011-05-25T10:52:00.003-04:00

this one's the latest. it's a quote from morrissey's "november spawned a monster" but i can't take the credit for thinking to do this quote; it was the brilliant thought of one of my clients. i love how sweet the quote is all isolated and out of context. one who doesn't know the reference would never anticipate the stinging line that follows -- but that's what i think i like most about using these quotes as i have been. i love pulling these brilliant, sweet, witty little lines and putting them into the context of an old fashioned-inspired needlework piece. so, thank you joel, for inspiring me (via morrissey).

f yeah!

2011-05-24T10:27:00.003-04:00

yippity yippity there's a new book out on the stands this month that features a photo of one of my little stitcheries.

i'd been contacted looooooong ago by lark, the publishers of this book, asking my permission to include one or more photos they'd found on my flickr page. of course i said yes and now, here it is:

my pretty little f piece out there for all the world to see.
and i'm so happy that it's got me listed as a resident of kutztown.
the book is a collection of photos of individual letters, and it goes from a though z. it's a sweet collection, and interesting to see where the photos came from. wanna see/read more? here's a link for you, and here's a little video preview.

two lumps please...

2011-05-18T13:26:00.002-04:00

i posted this yesterday on the chez-sucre-chez facebook page (what, you don't know about it and "like" it already? well click on over and do that, then!) and i was hoping that i'd be able to get better photos today, but with the gloom and torrential rain that's been happening all day so far, i don't think that's gonna happen....
so, here it is; the latest custom order:

even more lyrics from "reel around the fountain," yeehaw!
i love my smiths-loving clients and the requests that they send my way. it's super fun to have reason to design and stitch these pieces!

i'm currently working on a custom piece with some david bowie lyrics... awesome. keep 'em coming!

untitled

2011-05-16T10:38:00.002-04:00

thanks to everyone who came out to see us at art star in philly this past weekend and to the weather for not really affecting us so much as the forecast made us believe it would! this week i'll be doing lots of website and shop updating.. not so exciting, but essential... have a good week! i'll be back to stitching up and posting about new work asap!

art star 2011

2011-05-09T11:37:00.002-04:00

this week, i will be busy stitching my little fingers off in preparation for the 2011 art star craft bazaar -- being held on penn's landing in philadelphia on may 14th & 15th. help me out by crossing your fingers that it won't rain and, if you're in the area, stop by and say hello; i'll be at booth number 4 with my pal melanie of spread the love. i hope to see you there!

miles and miles of sky

2011-05-04T10:53:00.004-04:00

i've just returned from my trip back across the country - whoo-hoo - another good one. now i'm back on east coast soil and working on sorting my things out; getting organized and back to work all at the same time as looking for a home and studio. life is exciting.
this past trip across (going west to east) was absolutely inspirational in a totally different way as the first trip (going east to west).
on the first trip - i was completely infatuated with the sky of this great big country of ours. i took TONS of photos of it; some still and some through the window while driving. here's just a small selection of them:

(these first two are from some stretch of route 66... i don't remember where, exactly... maybe oklahoma?)

texas?

utah

and then the work that was inspired by all this:

in the months after the trip, i stitched lots of new silver-lined cloud pieces. i'm working on finding a home for this particular group; i think i've got an idea.
i'm also now working on a series of pieces inspired by the recent trip.... i'll post them as soon as they're ready... (hopefully it won't take me a full six months like it did with this last one!)

my, my, my serpentine

2011-04-20T16:56:00.005-04:00

i stitched up this one and added it to the shop a few days ago:

it's quite cool, right? the pattern came from an antique border pattern that i found and adapted to the 5 x 7 frame size. i thought it was striking enough on its own and didn't need anything in the middle.

i had actually stitched one up very similar to this one for my show at the THIS gallery in december. but then, B liked it, so i gave it to him... i'm funny that way; i don't keep any of my pieces for myself, but then i like to give away my favourite ones to people who i like -- it sorta feels like keeping them close to me.
(below is a photo of my wall at the gallery -- i realized a while ago that i don't think i ever posted a photo of it!)

(ps - those two plants in the top two photos are the fabulous work of my friend claire. she's great.)

sale on

2011-04-19T02:16:00.003-04:00

now thru wednesday around 5 pm, custom-stitched monogram tea towels are on sale for just $14 each (regularly $18).
holy shazaam, that's a deal! (they're hand-stitched to order, my friends.)

snap 'em up quick if you want 'em! the deal applies to both the stripes and the solid color towels that i have in stock.
(this was a collection of colors that i did for an order of 14 that were ordered as gifts for a family girls' weekend - sweet, right?!)

after wednesday, i'll be in transit and won't be taking any more orders for these for a few weeks, so think ahead - mothers' day, weddings, housewarmings, birthdays, thank-yous -- they make really good gifts! get 'em in the etsy shop. if you're looking for a quantity of more than 1 at this price, or, if you don't do etsy, contact me directly and i'll work up an order for you. but the wednesday evening cut-off date is firm, so do it asap!

2011-04-16T15:08:00.002-04:00

another dutch-y square completed and framed:

i love this one so much. (and, in case you do, too -- it's in the shop here.)

i hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

hoping something good

2011-04-15T14:31:00.003-04:00

this is the piece i finished a couple of weeks ago. i've been doing a lot of framing/finishing work over the past couple of days and now this one is ready to go. i'm very pleased with the way it turned out.
i'm really feeling the saying on this one. i did another version of it many many months ago (here), inspired by my friends francisco and monica, of mogollon. i had the great fortune of being able to work with them in helping to run their amazing little powerhouse of a design (and so much more) company. those months were super inspirational to me and i love that the three of us have remained close and continue to motivate and inspire one another. beyond creativity, we often get to talk about the business aspect of running a small company and how frustrating but also thrilling it can be. this sentiment, "something is about to happen" powers us through the slow weeks/months.... the determination that with ever harder work and persistence, that we'll one day, soon maybe (hopefully), be able to come to a point where it's not so difficult and that the stars align in just the right way that we get to carry out the brilliant vision we have in a way that's less of a struggle. that's the hope, anyway....

going (back to) dutch

2011-04-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

pennsylvania dutch, that is.

i've been very much neglecting my bigcartel shop lately, and that's probably not good of me so today, i added a brand-spankin' new item. i'm making up a few of these PA-dutch-inspired squares to take with me to the philadelphia art star craft bazaar the weekend of may 14-15 and this is the first one that i've finished.

it's finished in one of these custom-built frames by my friend brian of whiskey and chocolate, which makes it one-of-a-kind; pretty special, right? so, it may get scooped up off the bigcartel shop, but if not, you should stop by and see it in philly in may!

have a great weekend, all - i'm headed to death valley!

more to give

2011-04-07T14:45:00.003-04:00

call me crazy, but i'm doing another give-away!

this time it's in partnership with rebecca over at the ardent sparrow, and the prize is one of my custom hand-embroidered monogram tea towels (stripe or solid). she's doing a whole week of giveaways from a lot of really cute shops, so if you want a chance to maybe score some free goodies, just for leaving a wee comment on the blog, then you should definitely click on over.

click here for the whole week of giveaways, and here for the chez-sucre-chez feature. you've got one week to enter. good luck!

greetings from palm springs (CA)

2011-04-02T14:10:00.004-04:00

stitching by the pool - just finished this one, for my good friend francisco.
now work is done and ladies weekend is in full swing; sunshine, martinis and trashy magazines - woohoo! (i hope you're all having a great weekend, too! xo!)

color pop

2011-03-30T17:25:00.004-04:00

please excuse a momentary break in the usual subdued color palette of chez-sucre-chez.
today is the birthday of one of the most very special girls in the whole world, my miss bella jean.
tomorrow (because i am a dum-dum, and although i made and packed it all up to be ready 3 weeks ago, i sent it out a day too late...) she'll be getting some fun in the mail.
inspired by this, i made her a little mini-garland:

the "flags" are kind of a funny shape, but i wanted to use my fancy circle cutter:

and they're strung together with baker's twine:

inside a brightly decorated box which i forgot to get a photo of, there's a set of those felt rose barrettes:

we drew roses together months ago when i last saw her and i've been told that she's had a thing for roses ever since. so cute.
happy birthday, bella.

oh will you take me as i am...

2011-03-28T20:47:00.002-04:00

i know - i know, i know; i stitch this up just as i'm almost packing up to leave my temporary home of california to go back east to my real home. i know, my friends out here are going to give me mega-*$@! for this.
but really - it (california) is SUCH an amazing place. just three hours ago, i was tromping around in snow up in the mountains. next weekend, i'll be sipping cocktails next to a pool in palm springs. and the weekend after that, i'll be trekking through the desert in death valley -- all within three hours of here. this place is incredible! but my home is back east....

anyways, one night last week, this song (these are lyrics to joni mitchell's "california") popped up on my random ipod shuffle mix and i had that "i've got to stitch this" feeling.
so there it is.

available in these two color options, or stitched to order, in my etsy shop.
(thank you, mister jones, for reintroducing me to the music of ms. mitchell.)

tcb

2011-03-24T17:02:00.004-04:00

my tax documents are completely in order and in an envelope on their way to my accountant. earliest ever, for me. phew.

recent mentions and free stuff!

2011-03-23T14:10:00.007-04:00

if you are linked up to the chez-sucre-chez facebook page, you may already know this, but this week, i've teamed up with bradford (aka uncle beefy) to do a giveaway of two totes on his WONDERful blog, the bedlam of beefy.

i'd never done a giveaway before but in the interest in clearing out some of my excessive amounts of supplies and stock before packing it all up to move back east, i thought this would be a great time to give it a go. i approached bradford with the idea a few weeks ago and i'm so happy we've made it happen. look at how beautiful he made the post!

if you want the chance to score one of two free totes, get over there and enter the contest! (it's easy, i swear) if you don't want a free tote, you should check his blog out anyways - it's pretty great.

chez-sucre-chez has popped up elsewhere on the web recently, too.
yesterday i got a note from brianne, of petalpetal and modern child vintage, to let me know that she'd featured my little mushrooms in an urban/country chic round-up on petal+handmade=love:

(see the post here.)

also, i found that my little mushrooms that i sent to paris to be sold in the boutique les fleurs evidently made it there safely; they're now up on the shop's website:

hooray! i love seeing them being called champignons! see for yourself here.
now - back to stitching for me; i've got at least three different projects in the works. my goal is to finish them all today!

minding the gap

2011-03-21T02:44:00.002-04:00

long ago, i worked at the gap. yes, yes i did. i was in college, "reality bites" was still one of my recent favourites, and i landed the position of visual coordinator. disappointingly, it was not a very creative job... it was more about making the windows look like pictures A, B, and C sent from corporate. i did, however, become an ace iron-er, and the job also probably played some role in the development of my skills in making things look nicey-nice.
aaaaanyways... once a year, and i think it was right about this time - in between winter and spring, there was a mini-season called "nautical" or "cruise" or something like that. the clothing was always navy blue and shades of white and i remember liking it quite a bit. i probably liked how classic it was. well, here's my nautical/cruise season line (er, um, item):

an absolutely simple, classic, practical yet ever-stylish tote. hand-embroidered, of course, with navy floss on canvas.

(special thanks to claire for snapping the photos for me!)
also, maybe in an attempt to round out the "line" a little, i brought back these:

i still really like them, just as much as when i first made them. (please note, however, that i'm now using a lighter blue towel than the ultra-dark navy that's in the photo.)
the nautical line can be found in my etsy shop.

lifting clouds

2011-03-15T17:54:00.002-04:00

after quite a few weeks of s.l.o.w.n.e.s.s. for the biz, things are picking up and i'm finding myself happily humming along on a number of custom orders and fun little projects. hooray!
also filed under "hooray!" -- i received notification that i've been accepted to be a vendor at this summer's brooklyn renegade (june 11th & 12th - here's the link for more info and hey, look, that's me on that first page!) AND that melanie and i will be selling our work side by side under a tent again at art star in philadelphia (may 14 & 15 - here's that link). whoopie! see you soon, east coast!

huckleberry western

2011-03-11T16:18:00.004-05:00

inspiration can come from anywhere - and at the most unexpected times. last weekend i went to visit my grandmother, and my aunt and uncle with whom she was staying, just a few hours drive up the coast, in lompoc. after a day of sightseeing, we settled down to watch a movie together; tombstone. i admit, it is probably not one that i would have chosen, but it's one of my uncle's favourites and my nani (grandmother) is definitely a fan of the westerns, so that's how that came to be. well, i thoroughly enjoyed it. a good story. and this quote, "i'm your huckleberry" is spoken by doc holliday (played by dashing val kilmer) so charismatically that it stuck in my head for days after. and then yesterday i thought, heck, i'm gonna stitch it. so i did.
and then i looked back on the one photo i took from my little weekend trip (the area up there past santa barbara is BEAUTiful, but it was misty/cloudy and SUPER windy - so i wasn't too inspired to stop and take photos along the way....) and found that the colors are strikingly almost similar:

interesting... (to me, at least...)

young style

2011-03-07T21:57:00.003-05:00

i think i may have twittered or facebooked this, but i'm just now getting to posting it here...
while visiting my parents over the holiday season, i found this:

i made that barbie skirt when i was - oh, i don't know.... somewhere around 10 years old? i love it! i wish i had that exact fabric now; i'd make the same one in my size! i have a faint memory of my mom teaching me how to make and sew the super-basic elastic waist pattern. i probably did the same thing i do now; made one, but then had to make at least three more until i got the pattern and method down just right. i only specifically remember two of the others, though.... i love that my mama saved so many of the toys that my sister and i knew and loved when we were little. now my niece is discovering them and loving them all over again.
oh -- and that reminds me: do any of you remember "fashion plates?" and, more specifically, do you know where i might be able to track down a set? my sister is thinking that bella would be totally into them -- and since it was a toy from the 80's, the fashions may even be relevant now!

from the mouths of babes

2011-03-04T20:07:00.002-05:00

this one was stitched up as a custom job for my friends beth and christian. it's a quote from their three year old daughter bella -- i think she was actually only two and a half when she said it. awesome.
wishing you all a weekend of wonder. xo, k.

life imitates art

2011-03-02T14:31:00.004-05:00

the latest...

...is a quote from fellini's 8 and a half

i've got to be honest - it took me more than one stop-and-start to get through this movie - which is SO unlike me... maybe i was just tired... either way... it's okay. i saw this quote in the subtitles and immediately jotted it down. i like the way it looks and sounds in stitches.

just hatched

2011-02-28T18:17:00.004-05:00

more spring chickens!
now available in new colors:

white and the two different browns/tans - just like real chickens!

kind of liking this set-up of them all "roosting" -

available on etsy.

pst.. shhhhh whisperwhisper!

2011-02-25T00:00:00.004-05:00

soooo, i've decided that i want to try out etsy's new(ish) coupon-code feature to offer a little special savings to those of you who've been so wonderfully supportive of me and my little ventures with chez-sucre-chez. here's how it'll work: go on over to the chez-sucre-chez facebook page (here), and please click the "like" button. on tuesday of next week (3/29/2011), i'll post the coupon code (20%!) there on the facebook page and then you can use it to do a little shopping. (the code will be good for one week) please help spread the word! (you can click the little share buttons at the bottom of this post to twitter it or post it to your facebook page or email it or blog it - i'm so bad at all this social net-working and making it work for me, but i'm trying!) oh, if you don't have facebook, don't worry -i'm not going to leave you out of the fun! just send me an email (chezsucrechez at gmail) or leave a comment here on this post and i'll email the code to you on tuesday! have a good weekend, friends! xxoo.

my daily cuteness freakout

2011-02-24T16:18:00.006-05:00

these were the first images i looked at this morning, and my heart nearly exploded with joy:

my sister sent them to me; they're done by my FOUR YEAR OLD niece bella. (okay, she's almost five.) HOW FREAKING AWESOME ARE THESE??? in case you need explanation - they were drawn for my grandmother (bella's grandnan) for her birthday. the top one is a cardinal, one of grandnan's favourite birds - and the bottom one is grandnan and a cardinal. i don't know why there are such menacing looking grey clouds in that bottom picture, but i'm thinking it's because she was going for a color theme. i'm gonna have to ask her about that - and about all the magic fringe that seems to be coming from nan's dress.
wow. totally rad.
check her out in her "artist's beret" that she requested for christmas, and her smock that i made her, at her easel:

and here's the portrait she did of b and me on the chalkboard wall on christmas day:

oh, the details! my hair - all piled up on my head as per my usual style, my necklace, my eyelashes, b's beard. and then there's our shoes:

whoa. totally kills me with cuteness.
also killing me in the best way is this one by nephew aidyn:

that's me - in jean shorts with black tights underneath and a vest over my nautical stripe longsleeve shirt. can we all agree that the way he's done the stripes on the sleeves is absolutely brilliant?! (oh, and as he explained to me - the purple piece near my head is a dialogue bubble of me saying, "hi" and the red is a book in my hand.)
oh my, i love those little boogers.

stickin' chicken

2011-02-21T19:36:00.007-05:00

many many months ago, i took a trip with some friends to orange, california. that is where i found, fell in love with, and purchased this:

as soon as i picked it up i knew i had to take it home with me. filled with emery sand, this is about the cutest vintage pin cushion i have ever seen. working with pins and needles as much as i do, i can always use a pincushion. i've got pins and needles in champagne corks, in the arm of my couch, woven though my tablecloth -- all over.
once the little chicken was mine, i knew right away that this was something i had to figure out a pattern for so that i could make a brood of my own.
but it took me several months to get to that point.

after several tries, i came up with a pattern and a method that made me happy.

and then i had it, my own little clutch of chicks:

gah! i can't stand it; they're so stinkin' cute. sorry, i'm just very pleased with how they turned out. i wish i had better photos - you're gonna have to trust me that if you think they look cute here, they look even cuter in real life. (and if you don't think that they look cute at all, even just a little, then you are loco.)

i put them up on etsy, even though i'm still thinking the photos could/should be better....

i'd kinda like to see them go to a shop somewhere - somewhere where they can hang out together in a little cluster until they all find new homes. maybe i'll shop them around.

oh - here's more info on them (in case you're interested....)
they're filled with sawdust. i did a little poking around on the world wide web and found that sawdust was what many homesteaders and simple folk used to fill their pincushions. emery sand isnt exactly easy to come by, you know.
the sawdust has been provided by my friend josh, who is a super-talented carpenter/build-it-man. i guess you could say he's my dust-dealer. (that was his joke.) if you're in the southern california area and you need something built, call josh; he's your man. (find him here.)

i'm kind of in love with chickens a little. a few months ago, i experienced the dream-come-true moment of being able to hold a chicken in my arms:

oh my goodness, can you see the rapture on my face (even though it's a poor cameraphone photo)? i never wanted to let her go. but i did.
someday, i hope to own chickens of my own, like my good friend melanie linder.

i've taken lots of photos of chickens. here's one of my recent favourites, from the same day that i held the chicken:

and now you think i'm totally crazy, right? that's okay with me.

much in store

2011-02-20T12:39:00.003-05:00

holy shazaam, my etsy shop is loaded:

it's one of those not-all-too-frequent moments where i'm feeling really good about everything in the shop, and even how it all works together, too.
the thing is, i'm heading back to the east coast in a month and a half, so i've got serious motivation to use up all of my supplies, finish up half-completed projects, and to list everything finished that i've got tucked away in drawers and closets. expect a lot more to come....

happiness runs...

2011-02-18T19:15:00.002-05:00

...in a circular motion,

have a great weekend all.
listening to donovan in rainy l.a.,
-k

residual heart-shaped sweetness

2011-02-15T13:45:00.003-05:00

last night i baked up a batch of sweets for my far-away sweet:

they're the peanut butter and jelly (well, half are filled with strawberry jam, the other half are filled with nutella) sandwich cookies that i often make, but cut into heart shapes this time to go with the valentine season.

and that reminded me of some other heart-shaped treats i've made before and i decided that i'd go ahead and share:

Quick Tips: How To Make Heart-Shaped Cupcakes on Howcast

two notes: one - the marbles won't explode. i was worried about that, too. they will be very hot, though, so leave them in the tin until they've cooled! and two - that's not my voice.

love. love love.

2011-02-14T08:58:00.001-05:00

happy valentine's day, friends and followers! i hope that you are all reading this with happy hearts.
(click here for a vintage chez-sucre-chez valentine!)

a little bit of thanks

2011-02-13T14:44:00.002-05:00

thank you for your comments of encouragement on my last post; i really really do appreciate your support. i definitely tend to over-think things a lot, giving myself freak-outs and mega doubts. it's helpful to hear that people appreciate what i'm doing. thank you! here's a shot of my studio wall at the moment, displaying the current collection of cursive-style quote pieces. previously, they were all over the place, and then i arranged them that way this morning to take the shot. i LOVE the way the colors and size differences look in this grouping!