Designing Invitations and Stationery for Friends...

(or husbands) ...is one of my most favorite things to do. It gives me a chance to make artwork for - and about - the ones I love. My dear friends Alli and Scott are expecting their first baby in a few short weeks, so I offered to do an invitation. I insisted, really. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't even give them the chance to say no. Alli and Scott have an aging but spry little french bulldog who has been their only baby for about six years, and who I fear will have more adjusting to do than the new parents. I thought it only fair to put him center stage in the artwork. 

Ever since I made my wedding invites and was horrified by that years postage stamp selection I have been ordering my own stamps online here. Take a minute to look through the catalog online, its amazing. I chose an assortment of bugs and reptiles, birds and flowers for Allis invite. I printed both the envelopes and cards with my epson R300. Nothing fancy.

Here are a few more recent invite projects:

This was a party that Alli and I planned together for a group of friends but that had to be cancelled.... I was planning to make this dish, with a few variations, which I highly recommend.

And this one is a sketch that didn't make the cut for an invite that has yet to be mailed, for a very creative company that throws a big summer party every August in LA. It was meant to be a riff on the "plus one" that gets stamped onto so many summer invites, and imagines what would happen if a mermaid needed a date in a pinch. It also reminds me of how every summer includes one event that you can't wait to go to but that your date is desperate to leave.

And this one was for my niece Quinn, who wanted a Webkins themed party a few years ago. She chose the font, which I thought worked perfectly. Looking at it makes me realize that Quinn is much more grown up now and how happy I am that I saved a bit of proof that she was once this small. I really look forward to busting it out at her wedding and humiliating her like a proper aunt.

Reasons to Love New York and Magic Markers

Mystery Girl, corner of Chamber St & Broadway, with her dachsund in the basket

I am so utterly in love with this city right now. The weather is ideal, even the rainy days. I took a bit of a break from drawing on my Mac this week and did some old fashioned artwork with some artists markers that I had forgotten I had and hit the streets with my moleskin sketchbooks and mechanical pencils, plus my camera to record color. I walked and shopped and gazed and sketched, then came home and sat at my kitchen table in the rain yesterday and today and colored. My self imposed assignment: to record things that make me happy in a perfect-bound book. Book of Happy. I just came up with that right this minute. Here we go:

Oh, and if anyone can tell me the name of the woman who rides around Tribeca with her dachsund in the basket of her bicycle, please forward it. would like to give her a copy of this sketch. I saw her for only a moment: and yes, her dog did close his eyes as his ears were lifted by the wind. I think he must have been daydreaming about flying.

 I have dusted off my tennis shoes and started playing in the leafy little park near my house, which conceals one of the many lovely public tennis courts in NYC. A single $100 permit gets you court time all season, first come first serve. And on Wednesdays? The same park hosts a farmers market that currently has peonies, freesias, daisies, and sunflowers. 

My friend Kerry taught me about garlic scapes. If you chop them up super-fine and mix them with olive oil and salt and spread them on pumpernickel bread with a little ricotta and sea salt? Oh. My. God. Get them now, for a very brief time, at your farmers market. 

I have also discovered this wonderful paste, which marks the end of all of those little half-used tins of tomato paste that have always crowded the condiment shelf in my fridge. I have to confess, everything this company makes is so delicious and beautiful, I buy the canned tomatoes and stack them on my kitchen island just because. 

 Wild and Tri Star Strawberries, actual sizeWhen I was very small I would crawl around the horse pastures and roadsides hunting for wild strawberries. It was a little labor-intensive, admittedly, but they were the most wonderful, most sweet thing ever. Last week Lobo and I were walking around on the Irish Hunger Memorial and came across a few, growing wild in the tall grass. I never expect to see them outside of northern Vermont. Then, this morning, I stumbled across a vendor at the Union Square farmers market who picks them in his own fields and sells tiny baskets of them. He also sells a variety of strawberry called "Tri Star", which he tells me is a cross between the Wild Strawberry and the variety that we get at the supermarkets. I am in the midst of a taste test and will report back. Lobo, for one, prefers the wild.

With the Greatest of Ease

TC turned thirty something on Saturday. I surprised him with tickets to a very funny afternoon off-broadway show and dinner at his favorite restaurant, plus a set of wine glasses to replace the ones that I have broken since his last birthday, and thanked him for being such a great husband, especially this last year. He thought that was it.

On Sunday we had vague plans to leave town. He thought we were taking the train up to Beacon for a bbq at Melanies house. He thought our friend Stephen was coming over for breakfast beforehand. He got up, walked the dog, and when he came back I told him that there was an emergency at Patchwork, I had to go and unlock the door for another teacher and would be back in forty-five minutes (full disclosure; I am usually the teacher who gets locked out at Patchwork and needs someone to come and save me) and to be ready to head to the train station. Instead, I went and picked up a happy little bright yellow convertible Mini, and with the help of our doorman (who rang TC and told him he had a delivery) and Stephen (who followed TC out with a bag packed for the day), scooped up a very surprised TC and headed north. He had no idea where we were going, which was funny because he was driving. 

This is where I need to tell you something about Melanie Falick. As most of us know, she is the amazing editor behind STC Craft by day. But by weekend? She flies through the air. With the greatest of ease. Accompanied by her amazingly athletic son, B., who has over the years become one of my favorite youngsters. When I was telling Melanie about TC's birthday she suggested that we surprise him with a trapeze lesson, and I thought that sounded perfect. TC, after all, is Mr. Up For Anything. 

We drove north for about two hours and exited the highway near New Paltz, NY. About five minutes after turning onto a narrow dirt road we were there:  a towering system of poles and wires, and trapezes, a trio of ebullient instructors, and a simple picnic table with umbrella for shade, all sitting peacefully in the middle of a sprawling green meadow. Oh, and TC's classmates for the day: a little girls birthday party. That was pretty much my favorite part: watching him practice squats and positions with three ten year old girls. "He is always the tallest in his class", I explained to one of the moms. He did really well. By the end of the day (the session lasted about three hours, including one short delay brought on by a passing thunderstorm) TC was hanging by his knees, executing simple flips, and, most impressive of all, was even "caught" by an instructor who was hanging by his knees on another trapeze, which involved some pretty perfect timing.

These pictures sort of speak for themselves, don't you think? And that smile on his face in the last shot? It was still there this morning when he left for work.

Yes, actually. I AM wearing this dress every day this summer.

Melanie, about to be caught

B., letting go

TC, about to be caught

TC, smiling after being caught!

Pittsburgh Quilt Show Report!

When I first heard that the 2009 Spring Quilt Show was going to be held in Pittsburgh, PA, I wasn't sure what to expect. Denyse and I decided right away that we had always wanted to road trip through Pennsylvania Dutch Country so we made the decision to drive there without so much as looking at a map. Heres the thing about Pennsylvania: its enormous. It is also, unfortunately for those of us who prefer to eat our way across a state, effectively closed for business on Sundays. Other than that? Its fabulous and wholly road trip worthy. Its back road route options are endless, its country-sides are filled with perfect farms small and large, and its cities seem to be remarkably preserved. And like so much of the Northeast, it is so rich with living history that it makes you want to read everything you were supposed to have read in college US History classes front to back. What really blew us away was how beautiful the convention center in Pittsburgh was, designed to stretch out over one of the cities two rivers with views of its many bridges and beautiful buildings. The whole show was filled with natural light instead of the expected flourescents (that alter color dramatically and make everyone look and feel tired by noon), which is every fabric designers dream. 

We arrived on Friday morning after spending the night on the road. A lack of planning (we have both been so solidly busy) resulted in our sleeping in what is perhaps Pennsylvania's only ugly small city and eating Skittles for dinner. The upside was that our only option was eating Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, without being forced to acknowledge the actual caloric content of every thing on the menu, which is the curse of every New Yorker since Mayor Bloomberg instituted strict disclosure rules on New York City restaurants. That Bloomberg. He is like that strict father of your best junior high school friend, the one who won't let you do ANYTHING fun. Still, I love him. Without him, I would not know that a Low Calorie Blueberry Muffin has 410 calories while an Old Fashioned has only 180. I KNOW.

Any-hoo, First stop was Kokka / Seven Islands, my new home in the world of fabric design and one of the prettiest booths at market. They had a gorgeous little booth-ette set up for me with sweet little clothing samples made up in my Far far Away line everywhere and a great Weekend Sewing display. I was on the schedule for three signings, all of which were so much fun. In betweens I dashed over to say hi to Jeffrey at Westminster and Amy Butler, who always has big news. She was showing her very cool new line of bags, designed for crafty girls and full of great details. Her new catalog included lots of news: a bedding line launching with Welspun, some really great rugs, and much much more. Anna Maria was missed, her booth is always full of good ideas and comfy chairs and that adorable doting husband of hers. Checking her blog daily for baby news....

One new and very exciting development was a Liberty of London booth! This cult status favorite has a new US distributor and BIG news: they are launching a lower priced cotton sheeting for the quilting market! I have had no qualms spending $40 +/- per wide yard season after season on their gorgeous printed "Tana" lawns, but am equally excited to see this stuff. I gushed to them about my wedding, which was a parade of Liberty right down to the ties that the guys wore, and was even wearing a Liberty of London shirt. It was very cool to see them there, and to know that more and more US stores will be able to carry their lines now.

Despite a minor setback (accidentally drinking decaf) we made it the show by the crack of eleven. We were just in time for my second book signing and to meet some online (TC calls them imaginary) bloggy friends in person, which is always lovely, and to sign a few more copies of Weekend Sewing. I also found myself explaining the theories and uses of Double Gauze, the fabric that Far Far Away is printed on. I love this stuff. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you have made and worn a blouse or dress made from the stuff, I promise you will be a convert. In fact, the dress I am wearing on Martha tomorrow is made from the same weight that Far Far Away is printed on. Its the Mendocino Sundress, still available as a free download on this blog. I live in this dress, I even wore it as a skirt at the show on Friday even though I had taken a four hour nap on the sofa the day before  in it and hadn't had time to wash it. Its really great stuff.

I spent the afternoon over at Oliver + S, now a neighbor of the famed and gorgeous Kokka booth, where Liesl and Todd were showing their extremely popular pattern lines and showing samples made up in the Far Far Away prints. I ate most of their jelly beans. Thanks guys. We all went for dinner at the odd but fascinating Church Brew Works brewery, which is housed in an old church, and drank beers and talked about how much we missed Brooke, who is usually at the show, and the ever changing retail landscape in this age of internet commerce. I love being around with Liesl and Todd, and look forward to watching their business grow. Oliver + S is still quite new but already setting a new standard for sewing patterns. I would like to be the first to go on the record by saying that their vision will shape this market dramatically and they are the ones to watch in the coming seasons.

Sunday was a long drive back to the city with much giggling and junk food. We managed to score some bonnets at a gas station to remember the countryside by, and wore them while driving through the Holland Tunnel. We took them off before emerging in Tribeca, where we knew they would be underappreciated. There is always that moment when a road trip ends. Its before you get home, I think. Its when you turn onto a street that is within your daily or weekly radius, at that specific intersection where crazy hats and junk food suddenly seem less appropriate. 

From the streets of Ecuador to a guest spot on Martha. We did not see this one coming.

lobo and benito, asleep on the sofaA new management company has been hired to oversee operations in our building. We love our doormen and everyone who works here and would hate to see any of them replaced, but there is a tiny part of me that would really like to live in a building where nobody remembers our first fifteen minutes as tenants when our 23 pound  "cat" unburdened himself onto the lobbys shiny marble floor as we introduced ourselves to the staff. It wasn't at all his fault. We were way past the time of day (pre-siesta, post claw sharpening) that he usually disappeared into his litter box. Benito had instead spent the entire day locked in our bathroom while a burly troupe of movers packed up our old place and then twenty anxious minutes in the cab as we sped downtown, during which he stared out the window like a golden retriever while the actual dog lay on the floor with his eyes closed trying not to throw up. He was really wanting out of my arms by the time we arrived, and the introductions were really dragging on with him digging into my shoulder. I thought we were home free when suddenly, he relaxed his grip.  And then our new doorman was pointing at the floor around my feet and yelling "look what is happening!" The rest is an ugly blur. An entire roll of paper towels, a half gallon of disenfectant, and four months later and I can still barely hold my head up when I walk through the lobby six times a day.

When TC and I had to present letters to the condo board in our building in order to be considered as tenants (don't even get me started on what is considered normal in this city) I hadn't even mentioned the cat.  I was asked to also send in photos of both of us, our pets, and descriptions of our lifestyles, achievements, and goals. Rather than focus on TC and I (apart from the obligatory assurance that at least one of us has a real job), I wrote this. We were approved. I really did not think it necessary to mention our cat or his enviable regularity. And just for the record, the little bad-weather booties that I bought for Lobo in an effort to keep my floors clean lasted about two days. I don't want to know what happened to them, My best guess is bad enough.

While I am exceedingly proud of how far our little family has come in terms of language barriers, socialization and being almost completely housebroken, I know that the majority of us Ross / Flemings will likely always be at least partly feral. Its more of a compromise for TC than it is for me. I have certainly never been accused of being overly polished. In fact, a college boyfriend used to hum the theme song from "Born Free" whenever he watched me eat. But even TC had resigned himself happily to living in "an endless episode of Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom". So, you can imagine our surprise when, along with Valentino and his diamond-clad pug and Frederick Fekkai and his darling spotty little spaniel, Lobo and I appeared on the "Guest Stars and Their Pets" section of Martha Stewarts website today. Of course, had we known what the photo was for we might not have submitted this particular shot, which is of the post-nap self portrait type, but we'll take it.

If his old friends in Quito could see him now. Hanging out with Martha and napping with cats. And yes, I will be a guest on the Martha Stewart Show (without Lobo, sadly) on May 19th!