friday link love....

Some of my favorite, most inspiring finds from the past week....

+ wanderlustin hard right there with Demure Folk for a caravan & life on the road in cozy home on wheels! Remember how psyched I was to stay at The Shady Dell, an all air stream motel?

+ just imagine stepping onto this fantastical Book Rug by Pamela Paulsrud via The Modern Mourner

+ godzooks! This image of Pendleton blankets- the colors, patterns and play of dark & light just about punched me in the face. Thank you Margie of Resurrection Fern - always inspiring!!

+ Back to the future, right!? This expensive little guy by Fuji can be shot fully manual & is just about the same mega pickles (12.3) as my Canon 5d. photo nerd alert!

+ Jeremy sent me this post by Short Street Cakes, who I had never heard of but really enjoyed hearing her story of growth in her small business...

....I have often operated under the assumption that I have to do everything myself- and have over-burdened myself in the past with other people's problems, the world's problems, and feeling that I had to solve my own problems without any help. But that is not the way the world works. None of us can survive without leaning on each other, and giving is a natural human tendency that wants to be received.

Hope you guys all have an amazing weekend!!

Co-Workers in the park + Abuelitas Modernas....

Imagine 50 to 80 degrees, gray and foggy to holy-hell-the-sun-is-out, from working alone everyday inside to creative ladies picnicking in the park.  A few local full time crafty ladies and I met up to Co-Work yesterday.  It was a bit of a debacle at first. We had to move our little picnic out of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, which is a clusterfuck on free Tuesday!  But after we finally settled into a  shady, cherry blossom tree covered area I got some work done. The hoards of screaming kids kept me from feeling the afternoon sleepies too... 

Our little outing reminded me of this group of stitchers. Completely smitten with these ladies, who call themselves the Abuelitas Modernas, or Modern Grandmas.       

via 3deseosymedio

Stitching with friends on a roof top in some foreign land.... i want to go there.  Would love to be in their circle of stitchers!! Their roof top scene was far more idyllic than ours was, but I so enjoyed the amazing company!!....    

vegan mini apple pies made by Michelle!

 

Amy of The Peach Tree, Me!, Laura of Fisk and Fern, Nguyen of Knit Knit, Virginia of Virginia Kraljevic, and Michelle of Myzoetrope

working in the park, I gotta say, however crazy, was really nice!  AND.... it was Virginia's Birthday - Happy, Happy Day (again)!!

Upcoming Classes at Pins & Needles....

Lets stitch together!! So excited to be teaching this spring & summer at a few different places. Here are some of the classes coming up...

What: Zodiac Embroidery Class
A super, fun and satisfying afternoon. We'll go over some basic embroidery stitches, and you'll even walk away with your own completed custom zodiac embroidery!
When: Sat. May 7th 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Where: Pins & Needles, 1045 Lexington Ave. 2nd FL NYC
How: Be in touch with P&N at 212.535.6222 or info@pinsandneedlesnyc.com or visit the shop!

&

What: Sampler Class

Another fun afternoon class. A beginner class covering the basics of embroidery - tools and materials, embroidery stitches, and you'll even walk away with your own completed custom embroidery!

When: Sat. June 25 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Where: Pins & Needles, 1045 Lexington Ave. 2nd FL NYC

How: Be in touch with P&N at 212.535.6222 or info@pinsandneedlesnyc.com or visit the shop!

More info here & visit the P&N site too! Check out how cute P&N is....

Hope to see you there!!

lately + this week

Feels so nice to sum up the previous week in pictures. I think I'll be doing that regularly now. Lots of cats! My furry co-workers, who are finally getting along for the most part. (Banjo, the white one, is our newest rescue from last Dec.)  I've been working on orders, making some new embroidery projects, and getting so antsy for spring, come on already!!  This weekend was a little work, a little wine, a little work, a little afternoon walk and vegan ice cream.

This week....
+ I'd like to make some time for this diy doliy project. I got all the makings for it.  Just gotta make some time with my boo, cause I want to do it together (insert, "aww" here)...
+ I'm gonna challenge my outta shape self to exercise at least 2x this week. Hold me accountable, ok? thanks!
+ I'll be having a crafty lady Co-Worker day at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Picnic + warm weather + crafternoon- bring. it.
&
+ I'll be announcing some big news this week! I know I keep saying that, but it's a big one...

Hope you had a great weekend!!

camera love...

It's a vintage book.  It's a camera. It's a pinhole camera book! If you know me you know that I love photography and these repurposed books from engrained fill my photo nerd heart with joy.  I have so much expired film just collecting dust that begs to be shot. I'd love to shoot with one of these guys! My birthdays in October y'all....

Hope you are having a great weekend!!

friday link love....

My favorite, most inspiring finds this week:

+ I was lucky enough to meet Tara Gentile of Scoutie Girl at her Etsy talk, The Dare of DIY. It was inspiring to hear her story! I came away feeling excited about my work & proud to be a maker is this very DIY time. There's no rule book. It's all about the challenging- What can you do? How far can you take that knowledge? Making mistakes and learning from them fuel your process, and it's all about the process for me! Grrrr.....

+ the new Edible Selby is killing for me. I love it on the NY Times Magazine with the interactive feature. I'm a sucker for hearing a persons voice, hearing them talk to me, and then seeing the pictures really gets me. Also this feature is from NY'ers who moved to Tulum, Mexico. I've been there it's amazing!!

+ this video of a baby deer or elk stomping in a puddle just about made me melt with all it's cuteness via Bona Drag

+ good things are brewing I've got BIG NEWS to share soon. Teaching dates and a big project on the horizon.... more soon!!!

The Planet On The Table

for April's National Poetry Month I've been sharing some of my favorite poems....

Installment 10 by Toni Pepe from the series The Gesture of Tradition

The Planet On The Table
by Wallace Stevens


Ariel was glad he had written his poems.
They were of a remembered time
Or of something seen that he liked.

Other makings of the sun
Were waste and welter
And the ripe shrub writhed.
His self and the sun were one
And his poems, although makings of his self,
Were no less makings of the sun.

It was not important that they survive.
What mattered was that they should bear
Some lineament or character,

Some affluence, if only half-perceived,
In the poverty of their words,
Of the planet of which they were part.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A note on the photograph, I went to school with Toni and she is a dedicated, passionate artist. I love her work! I'm like the president of her fan club! You should totally join too...

Hope you are enjoying the poems- I didn't realize I posted them back to back, but I'm really loving pairing the imagery with words....

Secrecy

for April's National Poetry Month I've been sharing some of my favorite poems....

Secrecy
by Margaret Atwood


Secrecy flows through you,
a different kind of blood.
It's as if you've eaten it
like a bad candy,
taken it into your mouth,
let it melt sweetly on your tongue,
then allowed it to slide down your throat
like the reverse of uttering,
a word dissolved
into its glottals and sibilants,
a slow intake of breath—

And now it's in you, secrecy.
Ancient and viscious, luscious
as dark velvet.
It blooms in you,
a poppy made of ink.

You can think of nothing else.
Once you have it, you want more.
What power it gives you!
Power of knowing without being known,
power of the stone door,
power of the iron veil,
power of the crushed fingers,
power of the drowned bones
crying out from the bottom of the well.

Images: top, Sally Mann "At Warm Springs" 1991via NYTimes
bottom, Sally Mann "Untitled (#30)" 1998 From the "Deep South" series © Sally Mann via Art21

remember me....

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Just set myself up on Bloglovin, hence the prefaced text & link.

Spent the day all over the place running errands.  I've got lots of projects I'm working on and will be teaching, more on all this soon.  Bopping around on the interwebs today I came across this post by Holly on Decor8. She writes in the last paragraph...

 I have come to realize over the past five years that blogging with intention, with heart, with passion is always my goal — it is so much more rewarding over simply tossing up posts for the sake of writing something. For me, a blog is a place to communicate feelings, a vision, talk about inspirations, ideas, goals, dreams… I think that is what makes a great blog, well, great. What do you think?

I agree!  Holly inspired me to put a little more of my voice here.  I read a lot of blogs, mainly I browse, I guess, looking for inspiration, checking what's going on right now, and seeking some sort of connection to the craft community I'm part of.  I do sometimes feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of visuals and text and, I'm kinda ashamed to say it, but it can stress me out. There are so many talented, creative, inspiring people out there! It's like going to a museum and looking so closely at everything. After awhile it's information overload and I don't "see" anymore.

That said, I'm so grateful to the people who visit my blog, who are reading this now, Hello. Thank you! It means a lot to me to be able to have a voice in this virtual community and share a wee bit of my work & life. I hope that I can share something with you that is inspiring, or that at least brightens your day a bit.

muzaks is good....

The colors, kids and unabashed funny faces made me love this TUne-Yards video. It reminded me of this  Fiona Apple video for Paper Bag with lots of dapper youngins' dancing too.

via Bust via @yellowowlwkshop

Happy Monday!!

happy weekend link love

My favorite, most inspiring finds from this week:

+ this quilt is blowing my mind!

+ how did I miss this show?!   Infinite Variety, by the Folk Art Museum, 650 (!) red & white quilts from one person's collection. Seriously, how? via



+ Bees.... always thought I'd like a bee or bee wing tattoo...


+ Balthus is straight scandalous, but I'm enamored with his paintings...

+ and for laughs. I think I've watched this, like 20 times. The song gets in my head all the time now too...
you are warned...

Happy weekend!! Any good plans? Any great links you've found?!

NY days & this post (kinda) contains male nudity (NSFW?)

This pic has to be my favorite from the weekend. The towel image itself was shot by my bf's boss, Marcelo Krasilcic for a project with Butt Magazine and American Apparel. The towels always get a good laugh from our guests. You can see more fun pics on Marcelo's blog.

Sorry about the NSFW thingy in the post title. Since I've never posted a nude pic on this blog (even if it's just a representation of it), I thought it'd be wise to warn you a bit. (Aside, in graduate school, a student was told to take down a male nude image in a show where the school's president was to visit. Said show also contained female nude images. So wrong! It's just a penis. So what.)

Anyways, isn't my cousin the cutest!? She works for Lululemon so she's always got the best clothes and she's pretty much the sweetest person ever. I wish my family wasn't so far. I always miss them...

The Museum of Stones....

I'm sharing some of my favorite poems for April's National Poetry Month....

The Museum of Stones
by Carolyn Forche

This is your museum of stones, assembled in matchbox and tin,

collected from roadside, culvert, and viaduct,
battlefield, threshing floor, basilica, abattoir,
stones loosened by tanks in the streets
of a city whose earliest map was drawn in ink on linen,

schoolyard stones in the hand of a corpse,
pebble from Apollinaire's oui,
stone of the mind within us
carried from one silence to another,
stone of cromlech and cairn, schist and shale, hornblende,
agate, marble, millstones, and ruins of choirs and shipyards,
chalk, marl, and mudstone from temples and tombs,
stone from the silvery grass near the scaffold,
stone from the tunnel lined with bones,
lava of the city's entombment,
chipped from lighthouse, cell wall, scriptorium,
paving stones from the hands of those who rose against the army,
stones where the bells had fallen, where the bridges were blown,
those that had flown through windows and weighted petitions,
feldspar, rose quartz, slate, blueschist, gneiss, and chert,
fragments of an abbey at dusk, sandstone toe
of a Buddha mortared at Bamiyan,
stone from the hill of three crosses and a crypt,
from a chimney where storks cried like human children,
stones newly fallen from stars, a stillness of stones, a heart,
altar and boundary stone, marker and vessel, first cast, lode, and hail,
bridge stones and others to pave and shut up with,
stone apple, stone basil, beech, berry, stone brake,
stone bramble, stone fern, lichen, liverwort, pippin, and root,
concretion of the body, as blind as cold as deaf,
all earth a quarry, all life a labor, stone-faced, stone-drunk
with hope that this assemblage, taken together, would become
a shrine or holy place, an ossuary, immovable and sacred,
like the stone that marked the path of the sun as it entered the human dawn.

happy weekend...

My favorite, most inspiring finds from this week:

+ Tina Fey has a new book out!! This is perhaps the best "praise" for a book I've read yet! I heard the Audible clip for the book, which she reads & is funny! It'd be great to have Liz Lemon, errr, Tina Fey read to me while I work....

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BOSSYPANTS:
"I hope that's not really the cover. That's really going to hurt sales." (Don Fey, Father of Tina Fey)
"Do not print this glowing recommendation of Tina Fey's book until I've been dead a hundred years." (Mark Twain)
"Hilarious and insightful. Laugh-out-loud funny—oh no, a full moon. No! Arrgh! Get away from me! Save yourself!" (A Guy Turning into a Werewolf) 

+ Elsie of A Beautiful Mess is becoming a style icon and is the epitome of diy for me. I loved reading about how she balances a business she truly loves .... On being a workaholic & still having a life...

+ Have you heard of "Type -Ins"? The NY Times article Click, Clack, Ding! Sigh.... is all about the growing popularity of typewriters with lots of great quotes, like "One reason I type is it simply makes me feel closer to my words..." and you gotta check out the slide show too!

+ A 4x5" diy camera made of.... LEGOS! pretty damn cool & it makes fantastic images too...


hope you guys have an excellent weekend!! any great plans or crafty projects you're working on?

Bright Objects Hypnotize the Mind....

April is National Poetry Month. I'll be sharing some of my favorites throughout the month. I love this poster designed by Stephen Doyle - the swampy setting (NY Botanical Garden!), neon signage, and reflection in the water. The poster is an interpretation of Elizabeth's Bishop's poem A Word with You....

A Word with You
Elizabeth Bishop

Look out! there’s that damned ape again
sit silently until he goes,
or else forgets the things he knows
(whatever they are) about us, then
we can begin to talk again.

Have you tried playing with your ring?
Sometimes that calms them down, I find.
(Bright objects hypnotize the mind.)
Get his attention on anything –
anything will do – there, try your ring.

The glitter pleases him. You see
he squints his eyes; his lip hangs loose.
You were saying? – Oh Lord, what’s the use,
for now the parrot’s after me
and the monkeys are awake. You see

how hard it is, you understand
this nervous strain in which we live -
Why just one luscious adjective
infuriates the whole damned band
and they’re squabbling for it. I understand

some people manage better. How?
They treat the creatures without feeling.
- Throw books to stop the monkeys’ squealing,
slap the ape and make him bow,
are firm, keep order, – but I don’t know how.

Quick! there’s the cockatoo! he heard!
(He can’t bear any form of wit.)
- Please watch out that you don’t get bit;
there’s not a thing escapes that bird.
Be silent, – now the ape has overheard.

muzaks is good....

On constant rotation lately is Holly Golightly's Truly She is None Other.  It's that wall of sound goodness + a bit o'country.  You can listen to a bit of the songs here. Try Walk a Mile, Time Will Tell, It's all Me, Tell Me So I Know, ahhh, seriously listen to them all!....

hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Let me know if you likes the Holly Golightly. Let's nerd out!

happy weekend & a wee NY Love letter...

This random sidewalk sale on Canal St. reminded me what a crazy, amazing, ridiculous, wonderful place New York is...

Since my beautiful cousin, Nicole, arrived in town Friday to visit for a week, I'm looking forward to showing off this city to her.  I feel blessed to experience the hustle and bustle here. There are so many creative, enthusiastic and entrepreneurial souls here.  Lots of energy!

I think I'll start our days playing this song. I dare you not to dance...

Hope you have a great weekend!!

NY days...

exploring the High Line...

the High Line was a once street level subway that was moved above ground subway system, because it was so dangerous. The history is pretty interesting - concrete cowboys, Death Avenue. The subway went right through buildings too! You can see the original train tracks in some areas. Great views, lots of lounging and I can't wait till the park extends the all the way to 34th st. Right now it stops at 20th St. ....