Selling in Union Square

Summer bears many fruits.... and these are some of mine.  These pieces I consider my "fizzing berries rising to the top".  

I have been working on so many projects this summer that the best thing for me to do is to go down to Union Square to sell them.  I hope you can make it and I will let you know what day it will be.  

Cute, cute, cute!  Anything small is just adorable.  These are some thumbless mittens I made for a friend of mine who just had her first baby.  Totally easy, pretty quick and the yarn was a dream.  I did this with Koigu yarn, which is a handpainted yarn spun in small quantities.  My master knitter friend, Brooke always supplies me with great patterns.  My next project is something I can wear myself, however I am sick of doing socks, scarves and blankets.  I am looking to do a modern shaped vest with all the wool I got while I was in Italy.  

While I was in Umbria, I found a little knit shop.  Couldn't speak more than 10 words in Italian but managed to sit and speak with the owners on my many visits.  I even had a few conversations with "Mama", someone's mother who just sat in a rocking chair to have company during the day.  It always amazes me how language is not necessarily a barrier when people have the same interests.  Of course animated body language is a huge plus. 

Spinning straw into gold

I love these beads, they remind me of strawgold, a beautiful straw color with the luster of gold and luminousness of ribbon candy.  Putting these multi strands of beads onto the rings makes this a nice way to pair another texture to the beads, whether it is a textile or leather.  It also makes it convertible in length making it more versatile.

Paris flea find

Visiting Paris in 2005, I found these bronze cast claws and feet.  As soon as I saw them I knew what I wanted to do.  Of course I packed them away, moved and forgot all about them.  

Until this week.

inspired by AvroKO

Discover NYC when everyone is away

The city is so nice and quite on the weekends now, so we have been having a great time checking out many different spots in the city.  This past weekend was a trip to the Museum of the City of New York.  Here were paintings by ANDREW BERRIEN JONES, an artist from the West Village. 

I was just mesmerized by them.  What a simple concept, to capture these beautiful details.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  

Camo Ribbon Belt

I am something of a personal seamstress/designer for my friend Jen.  I love it when she comes to me with an idea for something that she wants but cannot find.  She LOVES camo, and wanted a fun ribbon belt for jeans.  

This is what I made for her.

This cuff makes a statement

I made this for a birthday gift.  

This is a 4" high cuff made of faceted glass beads, round glass beads and shells.

It may be a bit heavy because of the glass but it really does dress up the arm when wearing a simple summer shift.  

Wearing two will give you Wonder Woman powers. 

re-purposed shower curtains

This thing, the blog I mean, is like exercise.  You do it for a bit and it feels great.....then you stop for a day or two and bang!  It is three month later.  However it is not as if I haven't been busy so I am going to post a lot of stuff all at once.  For now I wanted to show the way for me to use up tired shower curtains.  Some of them are made from a nice sturdy cotton and after numerous washings they have a great faded look.  So just cut off the grungy bottoms and there you go, nice yardage for large MARKET BAGS.

I also use the nylon liner as a liner for the bag that way if any spills happen then it will be easy as pie to clean up.  

These are quick, cheap, easy and a great way to recycle a huge piece of fabric that one would otherwise throw out.  

Tank Top Jeans Necklace

 

After a little break from taking a trip out west I am back with a clear head and a lot to do!

I really wanted to finish this necklace and put these beads to good use.  The black beads are faceted glass that came from several different vintage necklaces, the large blue beads came from Paris and round lapis beads used as center accents.  

The color comes off much better in the second picture!