wise craft

two bits of news

I am at a photoshoot for the book all day today. These are incredibly fun, but suck up lots of time, so not much time to spare today. I wanted to let you know about two things-

Wendy Crabb, friend and very talented artist, is part of an incredible Peter Pan-inspired art show, Little Stars, opening December 1st from 2-5 pm at Cera Gallery in Los Angeles. Here is the full press release from the gallery. It will be in interactive show for children and adults, with a storytime. Wendy's statement about the show says it all:

As a girl I loved the story of Peter Pan simply because the girl's name is Wendy and there was magic and fairies. But I have continued to love the story because it has this beautiful sadness, especially with the female characters. They all give a piece of themselves to Peter, who cannot return it.  I find it beautiful and tragic.
But then, there are also the Lost Boys (Tootles is my favorite) who just want to be loved. The Lost Boys represent pure innocence to me. They aren’t trying to hang on to childhood like Peter.  They are like children - completely in the moment. Whether it’s pretending to hunt animals on the island or getting tucked in at night with stories told by Wendy, the Lost Boys live each day filled with wonder and excitement.
Peter Pan is a story about magic, imagination and childhood and hanging on to all of the amazingness that goes with it. I am hoping to create a little fun and magic with this show by making the art touchable or at least hoping to make you look at the pieces in a different way.

Pieces will be available online as well as at the gallery once the show opens. Wendy, I so wish I could be there!

 

Our friends at Sweet Paul will be doing an in-store event at Terrain in Westport, CT on Sunday December 2nd. They will be handing out samples of our very own little chocolate brand, Komforte Chockolates at the event, and bars are also available at Terrain, so if you are in the area and have a moment, stop by! 

Which reminds me, I haven't told you about our newest flavor, Movie Night. It's soooo good! More on that soon.

november inspiration

You didn't think I'd forgotten this month's inspiration image I hope. I have been down with a head cold all week, a functional but slower and more forgetful Blair does not get much done. Today I will take it slow, have lots of tea, and rest up. Its quite dreary outside, a really good day to sit with some handwork.

I have listened to the news all week long about the damage from Superstorm Sandy and I hope that everyone on the East Coast is getting all they need and are recovering.

I took a walk this morning to gather these leaves, I knew they would be my inspiration image this month and I wanted to grab them at their most colorful. As I reached out to tug at the leaves on my Japanese Maple in the back yard (the ones on the left), they came off with barely a touch. It seems my nature walk was not a minute too soon. What are you inspired by this month? There was a time I was not inspired in the least by Fall colors, but there's really something about how they glow here in the Northwest, against the rain and the mossy rocks. They are beautiful here... but they are beautiful everywhere.

Download your full size inspiration image here. See all of 2012 inspiration images here.

Couple of things to note:

- There will be some exciting new things added to the shop next week! Honestly I can't wait to share them! I think the sketchbook project sketches I've done spawned the idea of this new collection, in a way, but then again its something I've had in my head for a very long time. You can always sign up for my newsletter and get news of when the shop is stocked for the holidays.

- My quilt pieces are hanging up at Artstream for their small works show entitled "Home". There is a reception this evening and if you are local to them I do hope you'll stop by. I've said it many times by now, but I am honored to have had my paintings travel across the country to hang for this show. Thank you Susan!

- I am working on a new set of paintings that will be part of the Ballard Artwalk and hanging at Drygoods Design in December. I had a dream about what I wanted to do for this show the other night and got so excited I almost got up to start painting at 2am! More soon. (Does this mean I'm an artist??)

- I will be doing a craft workshop at Urban Craft Uprising this year. More details on that soon, but I can't wait. This show has lots of good energy, great place to holiday shop for some handmade unique gifts.

- I am still working on my book, it is very much alive and kicking. Writing a book is such a labor of love (I thought I had some idea, but who was I kidding). I am excited to share details with you as they emerge, but if I ever disappear for a few days from the blog and am NOT sick, I probably have my nose deep in book writing. Right now the publication date is set for Spring of 2014. That's a long ways away so I won't bore you with book talk anymore for a while.

I was going to leave you with a list of links, but I think I may go rest now.

Have a great weekend everyone! Stay safe!

 

ds quilters quarters

I'm in love with Denyse Schmidt's "DS Quilter's Quarter's". One yard gives you 4 different fat quarters of DS Quilts fabrics, a line exclusive to Joann's. My local Joann's doesn't carry these, but I found them at Joann's online. I had to get all 4 versions, I love the quirky colors in Denyse's fabric prints.

Some other good things this week-

- I want Emma to hurry home from camp because I think she will love trying this how-to for heatless curls.

- I love this simple way to add a little neon around the house from Brett Bara.

- There are so many gorgeous quilts I want to make, but I think my next one will be a version of a classic Lone Star.

- Our little chocolate company, Komforte Chockolates, has a new flavor coming out very soon, stay tuned!

- A dreamy video of Etsy seller and artisan Yokoo, very inspiring to think in the terms of her days in the midst of a very fast paced world. This video is a little old, she's hand made more like 3000+ knit scarves! Enjoy!

recent instagrams

20 minutes of quiet time, before the crazy afternoon school pick up shuffle...

1st pedicure of the season (the season finally warmed up enough to wear open-toe shoes)

 

Emma and I stopped in Fusion Beads over the weekend to, um, "kill time" and dropped more money than I'll admit to. Love that place.

 

We got a new sofa in our family room!!! But that's for another post. Here I am, the one day I could enjoy it (I don't think I've sat on it since because 3 others in the house are hogging it).

 

Emma and I treated ourselves to Bubble Tea at the Jewel Box.

 

Coming soon! T-shirts!

 

There was also some granny square instagramming over the weekend, which turns out is actually a great way to "see" what the questions are. You post your photo to illustrate your question, caption it, and add @blairs so it will show up in my feed, and I will answer as best I can. (Also, add the hashtag #grannysquaresampler so we can all see what everyone is doing. Its so fun to see all the different color combos used by everyone.

Did you notice that the Granny Square Sampler project now has its own page, you can find it by clicking on the crochet sampler image over there <--- on the left sidebar. All the posts on this project will be linked to on that page.

For those of you who are on Ravelry often, I have set up our summer granny sampler project up over there as well.