New Aprons

I made this apron for my sister-in-law.  She's the one who gave me the little beaded critters to use on my bag zippers.  Marianne has worked hard all of her life, raising three wonderful children, and building her bead business.  She became a widow within the past couple of years and sent her youngest off to college half way across the country.  I decided to make her an apron that she could wear at shows, with the OM symbol on it because she is someone who has that peace about her, in spite of everything.  I was delighted to make it for her and I hope she loves it!  It goes in the mail tomorrow!

This one I made for my daughter, Leila.  She's learning to be a cook (actually she is a very good one already.)  She works in a Hospice cooking for the residents and their families and she makes wonderful things especially for them; whatever they want is just what they get!  Everyone who knows Leila loves her, and I am certainly high on that list.  She wanted a red apron and she is not a "girly girl" so I made her this tailored one.  It's going in the mail tomorrow, too!

Finally, this last one is one I made with the material I got on my recent trip to the fashion district in New York.  I am thinking very seriously about making a bunch of them for the "Cupcake Festival" in Gardiner coming up in May.  I'll have to see how many I get made by that time.  It's a cutie, though, isn't it? 

The Nest Pretty Thing

OK, you see this little birdie?  I just had to have him, because as you can also see through my car windshield, spring is not yet upon us.  Mostly, snow is upon us.  So I grabbed this perfectly charming "dream catcher" from Tamar over at Nest Pretty Things.  She makes these and wonderful jewelry, paper items and hair decor, plus she has delectable photos of her home there.  Ms. Tamar lives in my old stomping grounds of Shelburne, VT.  No wonder she makes these chirpy, cheery items...a long Vermont winter REQUIRES a bit of uplifting at about this time!

Shopping (sigh!) again

I had some time this week and stopped in to visit my lovely friend, Heidi, creative proprietress of HiHo Home. She had her trusty sidekick, Humphrey with her to greet all comers properly.  (With a bark, yip and a scamper, once he is sure you are properly frightened.)  I have to say that Heidi is a dynamo of a woman, filled with helpful ideas for any business and the energy to stay up until midnight helping friends with their online dilemmas and hauling home her latest auctioned find.  In short, she's a peach! 

This is the outside of HiHo Home, which houses both antique and new items, displayed in the most enticing and creative ways. 

Here is my favorite room, a sort of Shabby Chic area filled with a pastel palette and all sorts of feminine lovelies. Heidi even has her own line of bath soaps, lotions and bubbles in several yummy fragrances!

She also has a kitcheny room done in greens with local honey products and other funky decorative things. Then there's the baby room! Heidi's got an entire collection of "Little Golden Books"...remember them? The Pokey Little Puppy and the whole gang are here. If you know someone who has a little one, there is plenty of nostalgia and fun in this little room.

You'll find this fireplace at the top of the stairs.

 

And just in case you want to get a jump on next Christmas, she has this homey ol' fashioned shop/room set up 365 days a year. It's very twinkly!

This is just a quick tour of HiHo Home, one of my favorite places.  I'm really a sucker for environments that are fun and creatively done, and Heidi is one of the best at it.  Plus, her prices are entirely reasonable.  If you are in the Gardiner, NY area and want a really special experience, be sure to check out HiHo Home...you'll leave inspired.  And just in case you have a need for an occasional dog "fix" you can get that there with Humphrey, too.

City Day

My daughter and I planned a day in the city to have lunch, visit Anthropologie with her birthday discount and our holiday gift certificates, and hit the fashion district to buy supplies for sewing.

While we were there, I took some pictures of architectural ephemera that makes the city so interesting. I wish I could have taken some photos of the Rockefeller Center Anthro--two whole floors of mind boggling creativity and wonderful things to buy, but they frown upon that. Here's what I loved, though: window displays of colored cut up liter soda bottles made into huge flowing flowers, a chair made of radiators, and a peacock made of plastic spoons, forks and packaged chopsticks. I mean, who thinks of this???

Now there's a mind I'd like to climb inside, like Alice fell down the rabbit hole.

Isn't this just the best? I love this needle and button on the corner in the fashion district.

I don't even know where I saw the rest of these beauties, but I had to look up to see them. Good thing my daughter was with me so I didn't wander into traffic while I was looking .

Here's some of the loot I came home with, (not counting what I bought at Anthro.) I brought a rolling cart with me that I bought for the occasion. I figure, I'm old enough now, I've earned the right to drag an ol' lady cart along with me. And really, we were dang lucky to have it by the time we finished our shoppage! Now on to the sewing...

Apronologie

This is an apron I made for my friend Michele, who gave it as a gift. She wanted something bright and a little modern looking. I thought this fit the bill. Ihave gotten particularly attached to the orange polka dots lately--they seem really comical and light. I made the ties extra long because I like to wrap them around to the front sometimes. This time of year, who couldn't use a little cheering up with some bright flowers and polky-dots?

Red Royalty

I finally finished this bag yesterday after working on it for a week. The fabric was very shreddy and got all over the place!

I do like it though and it's very roomy and has a lot of pockets on the inside for stashing things. My husband foolishly commented that now I would not have to buy any more bags since I do such a good job of making them. Right-0!


I'll be going to Burlington, VT in a few weeks for some oral surgery and I'll be getting a bunch of fabric to make spring and summer bags. Probably my next project will be an apron that I promised to my former sister-in-law. I much prefer making things for other people anyway.

Looking Up

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions; seems like a waste of time. But this year I got into an interesting frame of mind.

I was thinking about personal power and how to conserve it.

Creativity and how to grow it.

What I realized is that gossip is kicking my feet out from under me. Not the kind that one ordinarily thinks of, hanging around the water cooler yapping about some silly nothing. What I more was thinking was talking about someone else who isn't there, with let's say, a less than noble intention. You know what I mean...talking about your mother-in-law and how she drives you nuts or how the plumber charged too much and what a rip-off it is; that kind of stuff. Those conversations that I am too scared to have with the right person. I started to realize that if I wasn't willing to go straight to the person who needed to hear what I was saying, I was just spinning my wheels.

Whining.

Focusing on the negative.

Very uncreative stuff.

Stuff guaranteed to keep me stuck in crabola mode.

And I made a resolution to make a concerted effort to stop gossiping and to not participate in anyone else's. This is going to be a lot harder than losing weight, that's for sure.

Forcing myself to either deal with what I was upset about or just changing the channel in my head and thinking about something else puts me in the power position of either solving a problem or starving it to death and not being a voluntary victim any more.

And getting more energy.

And looking up to see THIS, which I would never have noticed while grumping away on my cell phone. Isn't this the most delightful architectural eye candy? I have probably driven by this about 50 times and just never seen it because I was too sunk in my own boring brain. I mean, lOOk at those charming curves, those crooked stairs, that wrought iron porch. There must be a fairy princess in there somewhere!