good long while

don't forget....

the online portion of the summer social sale is open NOW! Quantities are limited so the early bird definitely catches the worm. I had a hard time picking which items to include above because there is a lot of really great stuff. One thing that I like about this sale is that you have the opportunity to select items from a handful of artists and pay for it all on one bill (with one shipping fee).

My etsy shop will probably not be restocked until next week. It was a hot and busy week here so I'm a little behind on my to-do list.

Happy weekend to you all.

summer social: recap + online sale

The summer social was a really fun event. I hardly took any photos, but lucky for us there is a flickr group with other people's images. There were so many cute and thoughtful details, a talented group of vendors and good times too.

I've been busy working away in the studio this summer and showed up to the sale with lots of goods. So I still have a great selection of items after the summer social. Abby is organizing an online version of the sale for those who weren't able to attend. The online shop opens officially this Friday at 10 am PST and will be open for only two weeks. More items will be added over the coming days including some of my work.

Also, I'll be re-opening my etsy shop soon (it's in vacation mode right now). I'll keep you posted on when that happens.

hello

Wow! I'm back in Ashland after an absolutely jam packed weekend and it is quite hot outside. The summer social was a really sweet event. I'll post a little more info about it soon. A bit of rest and cooling off is on the top of my list right now.

Here are a couple photos from a motel that is right off of I-5 somewhere between Ashland and Eugene (I know that's not very specific!). It always catches my eye when we drive past.

 

two for the road

I thought I'd be able to squeeze in lots more photos of what will be appearing at the sale but I ran out of time. But before I pack up the car and make my way to Portland here are two departing images. I picked this apron and this pillow to show you because I only made one of each and these were the two things that I momentarily considered keeping for myself.

I hope to see lots of you Portlanders on Saturday. It will be fun to meet some of my internet friends and also to spend time with some old pals too. Please come by and say hi if you can!

micro farm

Well, we're not exactly self-sufficient yet, but I do enjoy our small harvests. Here is the bounty from yesterday. The garden experiment is off to a great start. We've gone through our first round of lettuces, arugula and basil. I've got some new seedlings taking over their former spots. The tomatoes and zucchini are just starting to ripen. I've already decided that next year's garden will be bigger.

The hens have been laying more eggs than I can eat so I've been leaving some in front of our house for neighbors to help themselves. It was funny to watch a jogger run down the street with a carton of eggs in his hands. I was thinking that his eggs would be pre-scrambled by the time he made it home.

summery pouches

I made a few more pouches for the sale today. After I finished this batch and looked at them as a collection, I felt like they had sort of a "summer cabin" feel -- nature inspired, a little bit of a vintage fabric character, simple, bright and definitely summery.

fig

Last summer I grabbed a leaf from a fig tree while I was on a walk. Something about the shape of a fig leaf holds a lot of character in my mind. Maybe it has something to do with the curvy outline and the lack of symmetry. Anyway, when I got home I sketched the leaf and cut out the shape. That cut out has been pinned up in my work space ever since.

This weekend I was making a screen for another design and had a bit of space leftover. So I grabbed the leaf shape and finally painted it on my screen. Here is what it looks like printed on a natural linen napkin with green ink.

printed & patterned napkin sets

I'm not a real matchy-matchy person. Fashion-wise I generally try to avoid outfits that look too put together. I don't necessarily like crazy combinations - maybe more of a similar-but-not-congruent kind of look. I have a similar approach with setting the table. For me, a little bit of variation goes a long way to keep things looking interesting and inviting.

For awhile now I've had my eye on a few different striped and checked 100% linen fabrics. I thought they would be a really nice compliment to my hand-printed textiles. Instead of just ordering enough for myself I decided to buy a little more. At the sale I'll be offering sets of napkins and tea towels that I think work well together. I'm calling them printed & patterned sets and I hope people like them!

The images above show two of the napkin sets. I'll try to post a photo or two of the printed & patterned tea towel sets too.

more of the blue

Just one image today. I'll be bringing a few of these blue tea towels with the pebbles design to the sale. The pattern is so simple but it's definitely a favorite of mine.

sale sneak preview

Here is one glimpse of some items that will be heading with me up north to Portland next weekend for the summer social sale. I'll post a few more peeks over the next week of what I've been making.

The top photo shows a batch of zipper pouches that I sewed over the weekend. You can see the new blue linen that I just started using. The bottom photo shows a handful of the many catnip mice I've made. A few of the mice have rattles - something new that I've been experimenting with. Also, the mice are now filled with bamboo fiber and they still have a good dose of the potent organic catnip that I've used in the past.