pre- MAMMA MIA

here I go again........... my my, how can I resist you?!?!?!?!? this has been a honey of a day. the kids were easy as pie + exceedingly cute. bean + I are about to set out to see MAMMA MIA. I am SO excited. jittering with anticipation, infact.

I'm trying to think of a cute little good bye present for the preschoolers........... ideas? nothing too complicated, because I will be making 14 of them. ANYWAYS, much love, many rainbows + refreshing storms. xoxo m

LA LA!

saturday's trunkshow was a great success. We had a lovely group of dear dear friends and it was a blast! here is the statement that I wrote for the show + it is very true of this moment in our lives..

betty+isabel. high summer. 2008.
Much of our world is comprised of loops, links and tangles. Each thread and every color seem to have their own intuitive route. Birds migrate the same route every year, intuitively. I try not to interrupt the intuitive and the naturally occurring, but to internalize each loop and link, to really know every tangle. The name betty+Isabel, comes from an e.e Cummings poem about patterns which simply happen, and we may not know why or how, but we accept them. We accept them as we do everything which we have made by hand or know by heart.

Anyways, I'm getting back into this one thing at a time groove. it's feeling pretty great. the day ends when it should and I am making specific things for specific people. I am finding that life as a maker is rather like life as a farmer. you have to make different types of work at different times, forming a cycle in order to stay alive, awake and excited......... just like the wisest way to farm is to switch up the crops in your field from time to time.
I feel pretty relaxed and just pretty happy. here are some ingredients for that:

- simon + garfunkel -- first thing in the morning + in the car
- these amazing chocolates from my friend Kait which were waiting for me in my cubbie at the preschool today
- good talks and cute phone messages from/with dear friends like Jen, Nora, Joellen, Djerba, Lexi + Jess.
- RIVA, world's greatest dog
- my wonderful Mummay
- these glorious, sunny days

Ian Hundley

Neuringe Red, 2003. made from cotton corduroy.

okay, I know that in the slew of things I posted yesterday, there was a link to Ian Hundley's site, but his quilts are SO amazing, intricate and beautiful that on this rainy wednesday they are worthy of an entire post. Here are a few of them:

Oberg White, 2006. made of cotton, wool, silk and linen. Bierbergen Oedelum Black, 2006. made from cotton, wool, silk + linen.

these are totally beautiful, and I think that I am all the more intrigued by them because my friend Emma, who sent me the link to his site also sent me a link to the site of photographer Todd Shelbey, who recently documented Ian Hundley in his home. I have become fascinated by material, and how we choose to sort and categorize it. I found on a recent artist studio tour that I was as interested in each studio space as the work coming from it. I think that it's important to consider the spaces that we inhabit and the objects which co-inhabit our homes. I find that I must continuously ask myself to define my belongings and think twice about if I actually want to have them in my home. stuff, things, belongings. I wonder what stories they carry about us, because they must indicate soemthing about us-- just as we carry them and their stories. At this point in my life, I want to minimize my belongings and organize and sort the heck out of whatever is left. check out http://theselby.com/ --- Ian Hundley is the first collection of photos, at the very top.

wool yardage/ Marimekko

a new material has recently caught my eye. that is : wool yardage. it's a very nice sort of thin but full bodied felt. I bought a yard at Valley Fabrics yeserday to back some coasters that I'm staring to make. it is beautiful, and loves to be serged!!!! it was a bit expensive, i was just doing a bit of web research looking for a larger scale supplier. found one!!!

check out: http://www.prairiepointjunction.com/woolfeltyardage.html --- cool wool+ felt business.

also yesterday, I just broke down and bought myself ann incredibly beautiful piece of MARIMEKKO:

my piece is actually a blue and yellow colorway.... I couldn't find a photo of it online. ANYWAYS, it's totally beautiful. I think that a new quilt is in the future for my dear bed!!!

As ever, I am supplied with Amazing links from my friend Emma. here are the amazing quilts of Ian Hundley... http://ianhundleystudio.com/quilts.php

cheers.

HAPPY SUMMER DAY

Tina says: Positive energy. Bubbling and brewing, it starts from within and changes the world. For real. Feel it!

it is good to hear such true, happy, kind words............................. even thru cyberspace!

today, I feel great. the kids we're so awesome --- despite high heat + dust on the playground!
today has been a day with much love. I hope that it sustains us as we are now, divinely imperfect + messy +fun.

come to the trunkshow next weekend, we will be there and overjoyed. send us some of your beautiful artwork, if you wuld like to show it!

(OH YEAH: we will not be at Boltwood tomorrow. BEAN returns at 3pm. hooray hooray.)

PJ DAY!!

well, I finally sit + write to you on what is not only the 17th day of july, but is also PIJAMA DAY in group A! We all sported our favorites.... some of which were quite fab and well coordinated! (my personal favorite was the cinderella night gown, with matching cinderella socks and a suspiciously cinderella-ish headband AND some magical golden slippers!) I wore some pj pants that I bought las week, thinking I could wear them as regular pants anyways + an old t shirt of Tim Shafer's.

ANYWAYS, much much in the way of news+ happenings. let's see:

well, last weekend we went to the Boltwood Market to find no one else in sight... we set up just the same and sat around a while until someone actually tried to STEAL something. oy vey. at that point, we went home......... I think we may infact skip it this week. check back here for an official update tomorrow.

In the way of good news: I bought a serger, which just arrived on monday! I've been wanting one for years and this puppy is everything I could have wanted... EVER. and we're chugging along, getting ready for the BIG SUMMER TRUNKSHOW!!!!!!! I've been working on some new repeats and making new(+ somewhat chic!) new cards out of them. for example:

little birds for cards + here is a little piece from an old repeat...... recognize it? black + white is impeccably in right now...Also, I've been making some little prints of my drawings. here is a draing which I did a while back as a study for an entirely peach based project......this is just a little section:

much love + hope you're laying out someplace, enjoying these beautiful long summer days.

Early Morning Rain

well, even after we had packed up the car to a T last night, we all decided that this was not good weather in which to do an outdoor show ! SO, we won't be going to the Boltwood Market today. oh well, maybe next week. right now, I'm prewashing fabric! + getting ready for a relaxing day of FUN errands and design work. hooray for saturday.
much love.

[1. be impeccable with your word
2. don't take anything personally
3. don't make assumptions
4. always do your best]

bang bang bang, july fourth

oh happy day! this morning I met up with Djerba, of REPRODEPOT, at the warehouse in easthampon! let me tell you, it was a fabulous fabric candy store experience. here is just a bit of the goods that I came home with

***tons of Kaffe Fassett, Alexander Henry, Robert Kauffman and japanese imports! amazing, beautiful stuff..... so amazing + exciting that today just had to be the day that I bought a BRAND NEW SERGER!! a serger is an incredibly useful + practical type of sewing machine which cuts a nice straight edge and binds the fabric in a cute little finished edge!!!! MAJOR TIME SAVER, and majorly helpful in creating neat, clean seams! Placemats, pillowcases, bags.... are on the way, in a mojor way!

I had a day off from work on tuesday and went shopping for display racks + cases, one of the coolest finds was this formerr casette tape shelf from salvation army ($3)

which just so happens to be the perfect note card showcaser. cool cool cool......... good old SalvArmani.

feeling pretty ready and excited for the first of the BOLTWOOD MARKET days, which is tomorrow. I just finished making these magnets. they're mostly composed from things I founf on the street. I'm still waiting for the right title to come up.

some ideas= starland district magnets, east side magnets, jefferson park neighborhood magnets, e. 35th street magnets ---- probably one of the latter two.

hope we see you tomorrow at the market 9am-1pm.

oh yeah, happy 4ththhthththhhhhhhhhhhhhh of july. hope it's been grand.