order in the chirp & bloom studio!

I just completed a major deep cleaning of the studio! I just can't think when there's too much chaos, and I need order with the busy fall I have ahead... I just was notified that I am showing at the Clover Market in Ardmore, PA three dates this fall: September 18, October 16, & November 6. And I'm waiting to hear from an additional show somewhere else in October. I'd also like to do a show or two for the holidays. That means a lot of sewing & new designs ahead. I also have the finishing touches to put on our attic guest room renovation which has been dragging on forever and a flower girl dress to make for a family wedding in September. A clean studio is essential.

My fabric piles are the first to get out of hand.

I'm trying something new: using a folding board. The kids actually thought it was fun and wanted to help. For regular yardage, the procedure is to first fold the fabric lengthwise, selvedges together. Then fold the other way until you have an easily manageable piece roughly the size above.

My board is just a scrap of foam core that happened to be 1/3 the width of my fabric shelves, so it makes pieces that fit 3 stacks per shelf perfectly. I also have a smaller board for fat quarters and small scraps. Now all you do is fold the fabric over the board, and pull it out.

 

Fold the piece back on itself one last time and that forms a nice clean edge that will face out on the shelf.

Voilà!

And while I'm at it, it just feels satisfying to put my bobbins and thread in color order.

And why not the embroidery floss? There's just something about rainbows...

What the heck, here's a tour of the rest of the studio... Newly unearthed, a place for a friend to sit, visit, and peruse back issues of Marie Claire Idées and Domino

I've added a dedicated shipping station, so everything I need to send packages is in one spot. It can get crazy around the holidays and I'm determined to stay on top of it.

Individual bins for projects in progress keep things orderly. Each bin holds all the elements for one item, so labels & trims stay with the right piece. If I have more than 6 projects going at once, I know I'm in trouble.

Finally, a clean sewing station. I learned my lesson about the importance of a clean sewing area the hard way. It only takes one dirty smudge on an almost finished garment. I just don't have time for that!

lavender lemonade (small batch) recipe

Ever since the PA Lavender Festival, I've had lavender lemonade in the back of my mind. Today I noticed we had a few lemons lying around, so why not try making some? My boy loves to use the manual juicer, so I let him go to town.

Here is my small batch recipe- which makes only 2 or 3 glasses- adapted from the larger batch recipes out there:
1 cup hot water
2 TBS culinary lavender
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (from 3 or 4 lemons)
1 cup cold water
ice (duh)

I bought a few bags of culinary lavender on our trip to Willow Pond Farm.

The first step is to steep the lavender in the hot water until it cools. Strain out the buds, then dissolve the sugar in the lavender water. Mix in the lemon juice and cold water and serve over lots of ice.

This drink may be my new favorite, putting the Arnold Palmer in the #2 slot. Oh, it is so good!

vintage embroidery love

The family's been enjoying another quilt from Mom's stash of Grandma's handiwork. Someone in the family needs to do an official count of how many quilts she's made- starting with at least one for each of her 25 grandchildren.

Mom & I are a lot like Grandma in that we always like to have a project to keep the hands busy. I feel restless if I sit down to watch a movie and don't have any hand sewing to work on.

This quilt was probably made in the 1970's with Grandma's 1940's sensibility.

The charming naiveté of the motifs makes me think of the 1940's.

How busy farm women like her found time to do quilting & needlework is a mystery to me.

She also made day-of-the-week dish towels for everyone, but I'm afraid mine are in bad shape from use.

I've been snapping up embroidered dresser scarves and hobby embroidery with a similar feel whenever I see fun ones at the vintage store. I think they will make great pillows. Who uses dresser scarves anymore, right?

I was procrastinating doing the backs because I don't love doing buttonholes. Then Mom had the idea of using the plackets of dress shirts (of which I have plenty). SHAZAM! It works perfectly and adds an element of surprise.

And while I'm on this recycling kick, why not repurpose my serger scraps for pillow stuffing?

I'll get some listed in the shop soon hopefully. I think they'll go over well at my upcoming craft shows too!

collage poetry for kids

I'm trying something different with the kids this summer. I did not sign them up for any day camps like I usually do. I realized last summer that I was doing almost as much running around, picking up and dropping off for camps, as I was during the school year. It didn't feel like much of a summer break when we still had to be out the door by a certain time, and the kids weren't available to do anything spur-of-the-moment. Plus, I was tired of them coming home from camp with stupid "crafts" made from that sticky-back foam from the big box craft store that comes pre-cut into shapes so you don't have to think to make something.

So we kicked off the summer with a trip down to my parents for art "camp" in Mom's studio. Both kids had a good time making sculptures out of wood scraps and found objects. 

No, they did not get to use the chop saw!

Mom was working on some collages that Emma latched onto right away.

Rosemary Luckett

Something about the cut-out words makes the phrases more spontaneous. I liked them a good deal myself and think some version would be cool in her Etsy shop. Right now they are in book form.

Rosemary Luckett

Emma immediately wanted to try her hand at the word collage poetry.

It's actually the perfect craft to do at home or school. All you need are magazines or junk mail, scissors, paper, and a glue stick. It's even more fun than those refrigerator magnets with the single words. Cut out some random partial phrases, single words, and words like "and" and "the".

She came up with these delightful random mini-poems.

I think I like that last one the best.

pennsylvania lavender festival 2011

Today was a perfect day for a trip to Provence. Well not Provence exactly, but a reasonable facsimile a few hours away in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. Willow Pond Farm was hosting it's annual Pennsylvania Lavender Festival this weekend.

My festival-loving mother & sister-in-law had it on their calendars way back in January.

Dana swears she did not wear the purple shirt on purpose.

We were looking forward to the pick-your-own lavender event. They handed out clippers and let us have the run of the two acre lavender field.

I went a little crazy with the picking. I plan to hang it up to dry. Maybe make some sachets...

Over 100 varieties of lavender are cultivated on the farm as well as other culinary and medicinal herbs. This is the first year I am trying some in my garden. I have a hot dry slope where I think it will do well.

 

The owners, Tom & Madeline Wajda, also maintain an extensive demonstration garden.

Madeline's culinary training in Paris really came through in the lunch fare. No pizza, hotdogs, or sodas like at most festivals. Everything on the menu had a touch of lavender in it: the focaccia bread and jelly in the goat cheese & turkey sandwiches, the iced tea, the lemonade,

the cookies,

and the ice cream made by Bruster's. I had the black raspberry with lavender- oh baby! You wouldn't think it would go together, but it does. I was worried it might taste like soap, but the flavor is subtle and tasted like it belonged in everything we tried. I picked up some culinary grade dried lavender to try out in a recipe or two at home. I'll be sure to post the results...

clover market, june 2011

After the disappointment of a rainy Art Star show, I lucked out and was able to nab a spot in a lovely local show in Ardmore, PA this weekend called the Clover Market.

It's a smaller 60-vendor event that has shows one Sunday a month during spring and fall.

freshvintage

Unlike a lot of local shows, this one has a definite point of view: vintage! If you know me at all, you know I'm a sucker for vintage.

freshvintage

My neighbors down the aisle, freshvintage, showed up in a Tastycake truck and unloaded a perfect little 1940's homestead.

Poppy & Bean

Just the sweetest mismatched china & silverware ever from Poppy & Bean. Colleen's vignettes remind me so much of my cousin's wedding in Vermont and her selection of vintage clothing looks like it's right out of Brooklyn.

Brandywine View Antiques

Some awesome salvage from Brandywine View Antiques. They had so many great corbels and accent pieces with patina. I was sorely tempted...

Cherry Acres

At first I thought this large trough-like piece from Cherry Acres was some kind of African artifact, but turns out it's a dough bowl for makin' lots of bread. Totally American.

Circa Dee

I was actually too busy to venture beyond my aisle, but my husband is very good with the camera and went sight-seeing for me. What a cool scale from Circa Dee! I feel like I'm back in Lucketts, VA.

Salvation Nation

And some fun vintage broaches from Salvation Nation.

a lovely, little shop

Even sellers of new items, like this quirky jewelry from a lovely, little shop, displayed their products with vintage flair.

Kristen Solecki

All the vintage was rounded out by a sprinkling of modern, but handmade things like these original prints from Kristen Solecki which definitely have that indie feel.

Real Fruit Jewelry

My kids were enthralled by this jewelry made from dehydrated fruit coated in resin by Real Fruit Jewelry.

Marie's Soap Co.

Enticing handmade soaps tied up with string by Marie's Soap Co.

Cool belt buckles from joeyfivecents displayed in old narrow drawers of some kind- from a sewing table, maybe?

Not sure who's bucket this was, but my husband sure knows what I like. He ought to by now, I guess. It's our 13th wedding anniversary today!

And here he is minding the booth for me. Would you buy a onesie from this character?

The next Clover Market will be on Sunday, September 18th. See you then!