30-Day Challenge:: Hinting

New palette chosen. Selected designs weeded out from rejects. New collection just about ready to be sent off. I used my macro lens to give y'all a hint without hopefully revealing too much.

30-Day Challenge:: Le Dejeuner en Blanc

Yes, I know. I've got chutzpah making this post part of my 30-day challenge when I haven't posted for a week. Well I do have chutzpah, no doubt about that.

These are images from an event I attended this past weekend called Le Dejeuner en Blanc. It was described as a flash mob lunch in white and was masterminded by one very clever gal who I'd never met before. I was invited as someone's guest, but the locale of the lunch was a secret to everyone but the coordinator until the very last minute.
What we were told was that we were to dress in all white, bring tables, chairs, food, wine, and flowers, meet at a specific address and await further instructions. Once gathered at that address, our table head received a text letting him know where we were to proceed to set up our table and begin the lunch.
It was fabulously orchestrated, unique, and just so much fun.
It turns out the woman who masterminded it was celebrating her birthday, wanted to do something unusual, but didn't want to make the event exclusively about her birthday. It was brilliant!

30-Day Challenge:: In Praise of Stock Photos

...stock in the sense that I've had this photo for a while and just didn't post it. Along comes this morning when I realize that I have now missed 2 days in my 30-day challenge and, voila, stock photo becomes today's topic. I'm not berating myself though for lagging behind in my challenge. I do yoga and we are repeatedly told to have compassion on ourselves and I am a firm believer in self-directed compassion.
Anyway, this scarf, crafted out of bias cut strips is inspired by knitted scarves like this one. I think I've mentioned this before, but just in case, I'm often inspired by other textiles, but especially knits. This scarf was created as a magazine design, but, alas, did not make it in. No matter. I'll probably write up the pattern and sell it myself or add it to the classes I teach at Stitch Lab or both. For today, it definitely served its purpose: something to post about here in my little corner of the internet.

30-Day Challenge:: Why I wasn't meant for dental school

My buddy, Jeff, took some pictures of me the other day and, other than the typical profile shots there were some opportunities to be silly. So, first off, I'm just pretending to be angry in this picture. Secondly, and perhaps a little sadly, this is the face I made when Jeff told me to show him my fangs. I'm not sure why I stuck out my bottom teeth in response to that prompt, but I obviously was not meant for dental school.

30-Day Challenge:: Noticing

It's short and, hopefully, sweet today folks because, sometimes, when you stop talking, writing, and thinking and start doing, you might just see something quite beautiful.
I was doing something as mundane as pulling fabric out of a discharge bath when I noticed how amazing it looked doubled up so that the pattern from the other half seemed to form a ghost image and the light from outside filtered through the fabric. I'm not going to pretend that I have my camera ever-present to record these kinds of images, but it was certainly nearby and knew grabbing it and shooting a few frames was worth the effort.

30-Day Challenge:: Selling Like Hot Cakes

On Monday I got an email from Leslie Bonnell, owner extraordinaire of Stitch Lab, letting me know that some of my newly arrived prints were already sold out. I assumed she was referring to the stock at her store and replied that I was very happy to hear that. A couple of hours later she sent a second email to clarify the first. The prints weren't sold out at Stitch Lab; they're sold out nationally. That's all over the freaking country, people!
Tonight, as I was teaching a class, Leslie looked up the status of my fabric line online. Then she called me over. I was blown away by how many of the prints and even a few solids are listed as out-of-stock. I don't remember what the Moda policy is on re-prints or if they hold some stock back. All I know is the fabric hasn't been in the stores for more than a week and it's going pretty darn fast.

30-Day Challenge:: Abi's Baby Kimono

I was chatting with someone this morning about the role of handcrafted items in contemporary lives. As a sidebar: this was part of an official interview, not the stuff of everyday banter. Anyway, I was mentioning how valuable crafting for ourselves and those we love is, especially in our get-it-super-cheap-at-Target world. That's when I remembered a wee, little wrap shirt that I over-dyed a few weeks before my youngest was born over 14 years ago. I embellished this top with the intent that she wear it home from the hospital. And she did. And it was a bit too big, so she got to wear it a few more times. And then I made another one for the next door neighbor's baby who came along six weeks later. And that's how a stitch in dye was born.

And now it fits easily in the palm of her hands.