orchids, poinsettias, and turkeys...

a muslin and cashmere orchid, just posted in the shop... hand stitched using mostly recycled materials, including pure felted wool, cotton, and burlap... in vintage stoneware pottery

i should have a poinsettia garland finished and ready to add to the shop in a few days as well... 

**p.s. if you're looking for a few, fun, family-friendly holiday projects this week, check out etsy's round-up of ten thanksgiving inspired tutorials (you may just see the needlefelted turkey tutorial that cary and i did back in 2008!)

happy tuesday

saturday shopping list, november 19th...

€45,000 eur 

the sword. skinny tie necktie (cranberry red), by underthepyramids

"it's mornings like this;

the stingy sun trying to hold back

even the warmth of its reflection

flashing coldly in the lake.

when november leaves drop in sudden gusts,

like a red and yellow flock of birds

swooping at once to ground.

or even nights:

when winds reach wet hands

to take you spinning with random paper

down back street gutters, under straining bridges

to clogged rivers.

it's this:

the time of year, along with spring,

when poets must take care

not to sing the same old songs

stolen from tribal memory."

~  'autumn caveat' , thomas r. drinkard

   { click on the price below each picture to view the listing on etsy, and on the shop names to see what other lovelies you may find!}

$57

deluxe - i am here - your neighborhood custom map play mat, by boardstiff

$99 

toddler bedding set - white. light grey little houses print. ivory ribbon, by colettebream

$38 

girl's legwarmer leggings... grey with black and white stripes, by lillipopsdesigns

$12.50 

festive holiday flour sack towel with christmas trees, by besty

$60 

large antique frame chalkboard, by rigandtwig

$350 

original painting fine art painting portrait original art drawing, by thehauntedhollowtree

$20 

prep bowl in white, by clamlab

$59 

flower girl dress in natural ivory. eco wedding. fleur (organic cotton). hand crocheted, by purepixie

$5 

greeting card - lady with village on her head, by sandraeterovic

$130 

a n t i q u e  german hymnbook of 1885, from mablum

$26 

small set of royal china dishes with classic sherwood design, from timevalley

$7

writing with sylvia journal, by literaryluxe

175.00 chf

sewing pattern lamp, by umbu

$20 

totoro - pendant necklace, by munieca

happy saturday

listening...

{ 'wherever you wanna go' ; aunt martha ; facebook ; twitter }


another monday, and november rolls on...

had the great pleasure of seeing aunt martha live last week... the kind of night where each and every song is special in its own right, and accentuated by the incredible venue, grocery on home.  an intimate, quiet, and unforgettable gathering place, right on the other side of the park from my house.  i have to say, i'm quite enjoying living in a neighborhood that is so supportive of the arts!


and here are a few more 'listens' for the start of the week...

{ 'fortune's fool' ; hiatus & shura ; hiatus facebook ; hiatus twitter ; shura facebook ; shura twitter }

{ 'fools gold' ; tin sparrow ; facebook ; twitter }

{ 'ragdoll' ; tom the lion ; twitter }

happy monday

weekend thrifting...

yesterday, my sister and i made our way over to junktique, a favorite annual event for thrifting... which, once again, did not disappoint.  so, i thought i'd share a few captures i took this morning of some of the weekend thrifting finds (and a few from around the house)...

above:  two never-used restoration hardware lampshades (two for $2) ; a pair of glass bottles, which apparently were salvaged from the river thames ($1 a piece) ; and a lovely framed antique photograph ($5)

i'd been searching for a glass house terrarium for quite a while now, and was excited to find this lovely yesterday ($10)... i will try very, very hard not to neglect (and murder) any and all future plants it may hold.  in the meantime, i think i will put in a few of my textile plants... honestly, it seems a safer alternative for a serial plant-killer such as myself

a laundry hamper has also been on my list of must-haves... this old hamper, with just the right amount of character, was only $8!

and then, as if these treasures were not fulfilling enough, i stumbled upon this wooden ikea bar table on my walk home from the farmer's market this morning... with a big free sign on top!  it's exactly what i've been needing in the kitchen, so i quickly ran up the street, threw my bag of produce in the car and sped around the corner before it could be claimed by someone else.  not only free, but already assembled as well!!...  saving me from losing my mind and yelling inappropriate things at an inanimate object (which is just an inevitable part of assembling ikea furniture?  right??)

with the bar table in place in the kitchen, i was able to move this table (a junktique find from two years ago, ironically) into my studio space, to be used once again as a desk...

a quick hanging of an ikea lantern (which may or may not have involved me standing on a a rather unsteady pile of objects to reach the tall ceiling) over the table, for light

and just a few more pictures from around the house (i'll share more images of the overall progress soon), including a newly sewn kitchen curtain (made from an old curtain panel and vintage buttons)

 the bottles fit in nicely with my ever-changing collection on the mantle

the large, old, black-framed beveled mirror was a thrilling thrifting find from a few weeks ago ($12.50)

and a little peak of what the world is looking like just outside the house, here in atlanta in mid-november

happy sunday

poinsettia...

stitching and painting poinsettia leaves this november morning, for holiday garlands and textile plants... from recycled wool and linen fabrics, in various shades of red and white

i'm having quite a bit of fun playing around with texture, with various painting techniques and fabrics, and with shaping each leaf using a wire core... this is proving addictive!

(as i was stitching these, a man strolled down the sidewalk by my house singing 'i'll be home for christmas'... nice of him to create a bit of ambiance while i work)

happy wednesday




**update: adding more 'in progress' photos on flickr

listening...

{ 'lion's mouth' ; young rebel set ; facebook ; twitter }


perhaps it's the november air 
temperatures rising and falling, pulling me out. pushing me back in. 
as the sun teases with unexpected warmth...
only to dance around the clouds that float in on northerly winds; 


but it feels, lately, as if i'm constantly in some state between savoring the coziness of home and a desire to travel the open roads.  maybe a longing for something... that's leaving me unsettled? or just the cycling nature of a changing season? who knows...  it's in these little moments, however, that i find myself turning on music and diving into a new project.  pulling out a few fabrics and a needle and thread, and setting off on an unknown journey into something new


sooooo, after that bit of rambling, here are some of the sounds of my night... lovely rhythms for my fingers to move to.  i can't even begin to express how much music inspires and influences my creative process as an artist

{ 'sorry soldier' ; 1,2,3 ; facebook ; twitter }

{ 'the trawlerman's song' (vashti bunyan cover) ; daniel martin moore ; facebook }

{ 'prescription' ; peasant ; facebook ; twitter }

happy monday

dame's rocket (hesperis matronalis)

a new piece for the shop... a 'dame's rocket' (hesperis matronalis) textile flower spray, in an antique medicinal bottle  each petal on each blossom and bud was hand painted and hand stitched, on to individual stems, before being stitched on to the branch...

happy sunday

saturday shopping list, november 5th...

$195

antique rustic small farm table, from enhabiten

"the sky is streaked with them

burning hole in black space -

like fireworks, someone says

all friendly in the dark chill

of newcomb hollow in november,

friends known only by voices.

we lie on the cold sand and it

embraces us, this beach

where locals never go in summer

and boast of their absence. now

we lie eyes open to the flowers

of white ice that blaze over us

and seem to imprint directly

on our brains. i feel the earth,

rolling beneath as we face out

into the endlessness we usually

ignore. past the evanescent

meteors, infinity pulls hard."

~ 'leonids over us' ; marge piercy

   { click on the price below each picture to view the listing on etsy, and on the shop names to see what other lovelies you may find!}

$70

little christmas deer in wool and linen, by littleloveblue

$15

city night / country night mini print set, by ybryksenkova

$95

1980's red plaid dress with pockets, from tomorrowisforever

$14

linen white stripe half yard (59 x 18 inches), from cottonholic

$200

farmhouse quilt cotton colorful and charming, by chasinglightningbugs

$38

vintage wooden sock stretchers or forms, from oldschoolfarm

$22

milk bottle wall vase in classic whitewash, by maryober

$79

ready to hang made to order quotable canvas wall art, by nativevermont

$20

2012 calendar wall art, by bookhouathome

$8

oswood cookie molds sweden, from albrechtsantiques

$75

hand carved copal wood deer bowl set, by mexchic

$6

the best pencil set, by oneupdesigns

$8

brown bag cookie art cookie mold sheep, from plumkrazy

$125

matryoshkas cloth nesting dolls set of 5 / hand embroidered, by sewnnatural


happy saturday