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Showing posts from February, 2009

Wink Juice & Nudge-Nudge Pizza

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(Entirely too coordinated today, Eleni requested a portrait by the cutting table upon completing her dressing.) Thank you, thank you a million times thank you! You guys are so smart and veggie-lovin , I knew all I had to do was ask. And I should have mentioned that I have skimmed through my friend's copy of Deceptively Delicious, which I think is a great concept, not a new concept (who among us doesn't sneak in a smidge of strained spinach with every spoonful of strained sweet potoates that baby will tolerate?), but really a great concept for a cute book. The reason I haven't purchased it, is because so many of the recipes are for dishes I couldn't get Joseph to eat whether or not they're made with a sneak of veggies. In addition to being adverse to vegetables, he is just sooooo picky. No grapes, oranges, berries of any sort, watermelon, sauces (unless on pizza), meatloaf, raviolis, soups (except broth from chick-noodle) etc. etc. Clearly his don't list is

More fun than necessary

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I had waaaaaay too much fun taking these photos yesterday. I musta changed around that journal "quilt" configuration and taken a picture of it about 64 times. Proof being a dead camera battery, of course (charging now). I worked on these new goods last summer with a huge amount of giddiness due to being such a sucka for blank sheets of pratically anything....journals, stationery, sketchpads, notecards, recipe cards, etc. I think the obsession might be akin to the sticker love and pencil love I know so many of you can relate to. I'll hopefully be getting all the goodies loaded into the shop today and sending out an emailing to the list once they're there. Now then, onto more important things. Eating your vegetables. I found what I thought would finally be that one thing that our son Joseph would be tricked into eating. Amazingly yummy and and slightly salty and very crispy veggie chips. And not the tri-colored dehydrated potato chips that you can get, bu

Model Employee

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And chapter 4 in the sewing pattern chronicles. We have our dear Allie, whose job description here in the studio did not mandate being adorably photogenic, however she is overqualified. I do think I hired her because she has red hair though. One day last fall, I walked up behind her at the cutting counter and held a few different fabric samples up against her locks in the sunshine, just having a look. Unbothered, she kept cutting and folding with only a slight glance over the shoulder and an eyebrow raise at my scheming. I just smiled and walked away. Long before I was envisioning the cover shoot, I envisioned the Ruthie Clutch. In thinking about clutches, I thought about the sensibility in a bag with no straps and handles and the person who doesn't mind what some others might consider inconvenient. But I kept seeing the clutch shape as a very sensible thing somehow, due to the size that most clutches are. They are not overwhelmingly huge like so many bags that we carry a

Love

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Tell me how I could have let this skip out the door without journaling the fabulousness of the combination here? Indie dressing at its best. This is what childhood was meant for. She is happily in charge of her clothes. Every day. As a matter of consequence and preference you will not find a spit-shined child in this house. They just look happier like this. We do brush her hair, honest, it just looks like that again really fast. I can find 1000 things I love about this photo- the messy perfection, the proud grin, the twinkle in her eyes (not to mention of course she stands on new studio floors which I love , and in front of new built in studio shelving which I love -more on that next week), but of course mostly, I love her . Theme-appropriate for her party at pre-school today are the Valentine tights, naturally. A perfect pairing with the painted-on boots. And a wrinkled Bo-Peep skirt? Yes. (where is that iron?) Sigh. What was I saying? Oh yes, love . I love the beard.

Studious Sewing

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Reveal 3. The Study Hall Skirt. When I was a kid, and sewing, my mom (the consumate 4-h seamstress) encouraged me to sew from patterns. Keep in mind I was likely not even ten yet, but I tried and became frustrated by the language and terms that where used that I had never heard before. The illustrations helped me more than the text, but sometimes they were more confusing. I can remember when I finally just stopped looking at the instructions, and instead looked at the pieces I had cut out. Cutting out was my favorite part because I knew I could do that. I loved the way it felt to push a straight pin through the delicate tissue then through the thickness of a few layers of fabric. It just felt right . Which was encouraging. But anyway. I looked at those funny shapes and started thinking about them in a new way. In a way that was maybe more like a young architect than a young sewer, and I eventually figured stuff out, and continued to sew pattern-free until I made my own patt

Squeezing a few things in ~or~ Squeezing into few things ~or~ Goody does Maternity

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I love that I get personal emails requesting a shot of my belly. You might imagine that my belly looking like this is hardly a new thing around here. In fact I was talking to my sister the other day and complaining that I wouldn't see her before the baby is born most likely and how she won't see me pregnant. Which was promptly answered with "uhh, I've sorta seen that Anna." She said it in the most loving way. Brewing #6 hasn't bored everyone around here though, as Eleni and Isabella give this belly its very own hugs goodnight before bed. Oh my gosh, what was I posting about? Oh yea-there's been lots of questions that I want to answer for you about oilcloth, patterns and such so I'll try to squeeze 'em in here. That's were the squeeze thing came, from, now I remember. N'kay: oilcloth: Is being rolled onto bolts as we speak which is fabric talk for the last thing that happens before it ships to stores. You'll have to check with

Multi-tasking, naturally

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And this would be pattern reveal part deux. I give you the Multi-tasker Tote. This sweetie has already been toted all over town avec moi (I'm sorry, I don't know where all the French is coming from today) and it is settling in to be my very favorite bag. For reals. Comfortable to have on the shoulder, easy to slip your hands in and out of the four outer pockets and firm enough on the bottom, to not have your contents on a constant spin cycle. Voila! More importantly, for a sewing pattern, it is so enjoyable how this one comes together, if I do say so myself, and I did. But one of my pattern testers said so, too. She said she felt like a magician putting in the side outer pockets, and my heart skipped a beat at the sound of that. I am really not so hard to please. No surprise I had to also whip up a few totes with Good Folks . But maybe, there is a surprise ..... Is that fabric lining the pockets and the inside a bit shiny ? Oh, why yes it is, how nice of you to not