belle epoque

holidays, New Year etc! I’ve had such fun catching up on all of your wonderful holiday projects and New Year’s reflections and resolutions. I didn’t expect to take SUCH an extended break, but it was lovely. I went to visit my family in NYC where I bought fabric and yarn

visited favorite places with favorite people

saw LOTS of movies, namely The Golden Compass (good), Sweeney Todd (better), and Juno (best), and read a bunch of very good books, though the one I was utterly taken by was Susannah Clarke’s The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which was a Christmas gift from the fabulous Lauren (who, by the way, is going on a book tour for her latest book beginning in February–I’m super excited that she’s coming to San Francisco, and I urge you to see her if she’s in your town too!).

Then I came home to sunny San Francisco for a few lazy days with Moondoggie, who got me an iPhone (among other very nice things) for Christmas! So now I’ll be able to browse blogs and send e-mails no matter where I am (given decent WiFi and a strong AT&T signal!). Very exciting. I also got my hands on the latest Marie Claire Idees and had to immediately make the darling patchwork star ornament, despite being post tree-decorating time.

It is a great use of favorite scrappy bits (the pieces really are tiny), and I’m thinking I might like to make a stack of them and then just put them away to give as gifts next year (when, I imagine, having a 9-month-old might complicate handmade holiday plans a bit!).

I am feeling and looking more like Tweedledee every day, and getting inexplicably, yawningly tired after doing very little indeed, and starting to feel anxious about buying and assembling baby furniture (we have exactly nothing at the moment). But I shan’t let that stop the crafting around here– I am determined to at least make the quilted wall hanging from Last Minute Quilted and Patchwork Gifts for the baby’s room asap!

I hope your New Year is starting off well and happily!

It has been quiet around here, I know! I’ve been on the road, visiting my parents in Key West, Florida. They do have WiFi, but with family chatting and NaNoWriMo going on, my blogging time has been more limited than I anticipated. But I did want to pop in and tell you about CRAFT’s Apron Contest. If I was home with my machine, I would be busily making something to enter before the November 12th deadline. As it is, I’ll root for you, and in the interest of inspiration, show you this darling one from a shop here:

All you need to do is send a jpeg of your apron creation and winners will be featured in the Curio section of CRAFT!

There are so many creative, talented artists and artisans here in Key West, just peeking in gallery windows and shops on walks around town fills me with crafty inspiration. The shop House Key contains the amazingly well-contained workbench of owner/designer Johnathon Hoendcheid. I love seeing crafty workspaces, and his is remarkable for the smallness of the space (a single desk) and the scale and number of pieces he makes. He does INCREDIBLE things with shells, found objects, liquid nail (crafty tip: apparently it works like hot glue without the gun and the stress!), mirrors, chandeliers, lamps, you name it. I covet his driftwood chandelier, which looks just like a walk on the beach. I chickened out about asking whether I could take a photo of it in the shop, so I can only point you to the pictures on the site (it is hard to do the pieces justice in 2-D). He even covers the lightbulbs with silicone to give them a whimsical wind-swept quality.

I could go on and on about the neat stuff I’ve seen here every day, but I’ll spare you (for the moment). Hopefully I’ll manage to pop in once or twice before I head home on Tuesday, as I have some travel crafts (made on the plane) to show you too!

I know, it has been about a million years in blog-time. After moving in and the unpacking frenzy (that pile of boxes is a lot smaller now, if not totally gone), I hopped on a plane east to visit my family for two weeks of relaxation by the sea. My mother is my great inspiration in craft, and she taught me how to rewire a lamp (we added a three-way switch!) and make an ice cream cake from scratch (not the ice cream part, but the crust and the layers of different flavors etc). I also took a ton of pictures in her garden, and on walks around town. If you’d like to take a little virtual walk through them, click on the photo below to go to my Flickr photo set of the trip!

Now I’m home, and as of yesterday have lovely wireless all over the house. I have so many new crafty ideas, and even a tutorial or two up my sleeve for you. So if you’re still around, thank you for not abandoning me, and stay tuned!

I feel like I’ve driven all over Northern California with my sister and my niece during this little blog break! It is so different visiting places with a child. Napa Valley in particular, because of course wine tasting is out of the question (unless you want one of your party to be extremely bored!). And you know what? I actually liked it even better this way.

We stayed in Calistoga, where I bathed in a huge tub of squishy, sulphurous mud, which was an entirely strange and unique experience. If you have the chance to try it, do, just because it feels so weird!

Calistoga was conveniently located for a visit to one of only three “Old Faithful” geysers in the world! It was awfully impressive:

And if the wonder of the geyser wasn’t enough for you? There were also llamas in residence:

and a pen of the famous Tennessee Fainting Goats:

They were uniquely unmoved by the geyser, and blithely ignored attempts to scare them enough to make them pass out. I was busy feeding one when a man came by and yelled, succeeding only in scaring *me*.

And right down the road from the geyser? A petrified forest!

The problem with pictures of petrified wood is that it looks just like bleached driftwood. But when you get up close and notice crystals growing in the bark and realise that in fact it is rock that looks exactly like a tree? And it is several million years old? Amazing. But sadly difficult to capture on film.

Of course we also did a lot of swimming in the hotel pool and very, very good eating (if you find yourself in Yountville needing a restaurant, do try Bistro Jeanty or Bouchon. You won’t be sorry!). I brought the girls to the airport this morning, and now the house feels so empty and quiet! But I’m heading to the Alameda Point Antiques & Collectibles Faire tomorrow with several very fun people, and I’ll be back in the studio (aka the guest room) momentarily to get to crafting!

Not much crafty going on around here the past few days!  I’ve been doing eminently productive but unphotogenic spring cleaning- lugging bags to the charity shop, and the trash.

But my wonderful husband got me a thrilling brand new camera that has all kinds of amazing features that are crying out to be used. Plus some of you, I know, are in places where spring is not behaving properly, so I went out on a walk and took pictures for you. Click on the picture below to pop over to the flickr set and browse around if you need a little dose of sunshine!

I plan to wear my tulip dress to a special dinner at Boulette’s Larder tonight. Inspired by Nancy’s news about the big bead expo, I broke out my jewelry supplies and made a pair of earrings to go with my outfit. And then made a few more…

Strawberries to go with dress, and oranges because oranges are great.

And some shell shoulder dusters, because once I got started I couldn’t stop. I definitely have more earrings than I wear, so the oranges and the shells will likely make their way up on to etsy sometime soon!

And because the macro feature on the new camera is so wonderful, a wee garden update. There are new colors of nasturtiums blooming every day:

bright yellow with a deep red center, and I’m waiting impatiently for this one, which looks like it will be a scarlet stunner:

Whew! That’s enough for now–I hoped to have time to make a little bag to go with my dress (it strikes me as a dress that can stand some matchy-matchy), but I may not get around to it…

And oh! I almost forgot– the amazing Emily of The Black Apple has started a new blog to track her outfits and clothing loves. I adore her mod-victorian-bohemian aesthetic, so I’ll be visiting as often as she updates! Do check it out.

Happy Weekend Friends!

On Friday Nancy and I had a lovely wandery day together eating, drinking and looking at pretty things. Our original mission was to visit the new Miette Confiserie in Hayes Valley. Nancy had read a glowing write-up and was determined to see it in person. It was as divine as promised. Outside? A stripey awning and a flowering cherry tree

Inside?

Sweet, sugary, pastel heaven! Nancy proclaimed the color scheme to be “Totally Nancy”- I know it is confusing, but she meant me, I think, not herself. The moldings on the walls were a perfect muted minty-green and the wallpaper?

Just this side of Art Nouveau and William Morris, perfect. And do you see the sweet illustration of dresses and skirts? Truly I could live at this candy store.

We also made our way over to the Mission where we met up with Camilla and shopped for jewelry bits and pieces at Beadissimo (you’ll see the result of that soon). Eventually we were all shopped out and stopped for refreshment and chatter at Que Tal

A perfect end to a happy spring afternnon!