PinkLemonadeBoutique

Well it's finally feeling a bit springlike here in RI, can you believe it actually snowed last week? Yeah, I thought I might kill myself, then reconsidered as that might have been a wee bit drastic.  So instead I fled to my studio and sewed up some very springlike bags.

 

 

 I love the Japanese granny bag style. Easy, but a bit time consuming with all the binding detail. Plus being as it's bias binding, you have to interface the strap part so it doesn't stretch. Maybe I'll post a tutorial on how to do it, anyone interested?

In other exciting news, I'm not sure if anyone remembers that I participated in the block party quilting bee last year and the soon to be released book about it, but here's a little sneak peek  of what to expect. I'm the one sitting on the floor in the heap of scraps with cast on my arm. Broke my wrist last summer, but I still managed to sew despite limited use of my left hand.  

So that's all the heart stopping excitement around here. Looking for something fun to do this weekend, as we generally have one or two night free to ourselves because Olivia who is now 10 usually spends a night with my MIL...last week we went to see Duran Duran at the MGM grand at Foxwoods Casino in CT...then we went and had some drinks and met some very funny and very drunk people in a bar  that had also been at the concert.  We all got very silly reminiscing about the '80's and...omg am I that old?   

The Wedding er...First Anniversary Quilt

So as you can guess from the title I'm referring to a quilt that was supposed to be a wedding gift for my stepson and his wife. That was the intention anyway. Of course as so often happens with me lately, I start gung ho on a project and then burn out. Don't know why.  I used to be so much better at finishing things! Anway, they were married in November, so I think I have plenty of time to finish, as I understand it, technically you have a year to give a wedding gift.   So I think I like it.

 

 

I'm hoping one the border goes on it won't look so busy. The border fabric is a soft gray with scattered pinkish flowers spaced far apart, so there's lots of space to rest your eyes. Not sure how I'll quilt it yet.Any suggestions?  
 

Hello? Anyone here?

Ok. Well. So consistency isn't my strong suit. Obviously. So I'm not going to start this post with a declaration that I'm going to blog more consistently. We all know what happens with that sort of thing. But I have really missed blogging and connecting, and so here I am again. The end.

Yesterday my friend Sarah from Hanami Gallery came over yesterday and we swapped services. I was her hair model

and she helped me revamp my blog. Still working on my banner, which is why I have that pretty but generic one up there. So I'm just dipping my big toe back in the blog waters for now, but I'm looking forward to full immersion very soon! L.

Great weekend kickoff.

So a fabulous Friday it was. The highlight being able to join and attend the first meeting of the New England chapter of The Modern Quilt Guild  in Boston. Arlington to be exact, in the delightful Fabric Corner, owned by the equally delightful  Mark who was so incredibly accomodating and offered us fabric at a discount. There were milk and cookies, lots of bonding a fabric swap and of course much fabric buying. I came home with some gorgeous 1/2 price Amy Butler Love home dec fabric (which i had no idea it existed) and Love flannel (ditto) omg. The rest of Nigella Grandiflora on the bolt, which admittedly might be my favorite fabric of all time. And I bought some incredible Echino fabrics, double OMG. Oh, and some Kona cotton just to keep it sensible. 

Then this morning we were up and out the door by 8:30 (why I don't know) and went to Borders and I splurged on my beloved Maria Claire Idees and a splendiferous book on how to make stuffed animals. I never have the time to make any, and so far the books I have collected on them outnumbers the actually number of stuffed animals I've made. I just can't seem to resist them. And with the cuteness contained in this particular book, I dare anyone to put it back on the shelf and walk away. Plus I had a 30% coupon.

Let's take a peek inside shall we?

I don't know about you, but I think that is a mighty fine looking lion, and the fox is killing me with his lanky stride. Olivia has requested the sleepy beagle replete with a pink twirly skirt. I may have to take a break in "work" sewing and just do something fun like that.

As if it could get any better, last night we were watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Guy Fieri was visiting his wifes hometown of Providence RI specifically the Liberty Elm Diner. He was chowing down on the fresh roasted turkey sandwich with pea shoots tomato and mayo...mmm. So we marched right down there this afternoon and ordered us up some of that goodness and it was delish. Great diner, great staff, great food, great vibe.    

I don't know what is wrong with me that whenever it's time to make a shopping list for the week and decide the dinner menus, I draw a complete blank and cannot recall any recipe that I have ever made. Even though I LOVE to cook and do so almost every day. So in an effort to get organized and streamline this whole process I have created a recipe binder. I know this is not a revolutionary idea, but it's pretty life altering for me. Plus I have some sort of romantic notion of my progeny  some day pouring over grandma's recipes and thinking what a talented and organized lady she was. So I took a utilitarian binder, some plastic sleeves and tabs, and made a pretty little cover in this fab. retro print.

This is such an easy thing to do, and I cover every book that isn't pretty. If anyone would like a tutorial on how to do this let me know, and I'll post one.

It's been a great weekend so far, and I think I just heard my husband walk into the kitchen with fixin's for lemondrop martini's...
   

 

  

 

  

Technicolor shades of gray

I hate to start this post off with the proverbial weather talk, but I can't resist grousing about the solid week of rain/sleet/snow (sometimes all in one day) we've been experiencing here in New England. Of course weather wise I know we have nothing to complain about compared to other parts of the country, but still. Luckily I have been cheered very much by my current project. It's sooooooo exciting. I haven't shared it here yet, but if you hop on over to block party you can read all about it.  For the past year or so I have been engaged in a virtual quilting bee, and now the 12 of us are working on The Book. Currently we have 2 more weeks until our blocks are due and it's been soooooo much fun! 12 little packets of differents fabrics/block designs are sent to us to make up with our own interpretation of the block since all the blocks are modern twists and leave room for improvisational design. Then they are collected and sent back to the person who picked the pattern/fabric for the quilt to be constructed and quilted. So despite the gray weather I have contented myself with beautiful fabrics of which I can only show some snippets since I am sworn to secrecy until the book is published.

This is just a small sampling of the sublime colors and fabrics I have been playing with. And even though I am quite comfortable combining quirky colors together, a couple of the blocks have been a surprise to me. For example, I opened one packet and out came animal prints in shades of brown, and then hot pink, orange and yellow solids...and I thought huh? Then I started to cut, snip and sew away and what transpired was one of the most beautiful blocks I have ever put together. I couldn't stop staring at it. Later on out of the blue I remarked to my husband over drinks and dinner, "You know, all colors look great together, you should see my wastebasket." He said "huh? Oh ok hun." I think he thought it was just the Margheritas talking.   

 

Just a few new things....

Hello friends, thought I'd pop in and show you some new purses I've made over the past few days. I know that these fabrics are totally familiar, but I just got them (owing to my self-imposed fabric buying moratorium of 2009) so I was totally thrilled that some of my faves from last season were still available. Also, I used patterns for 2 of them. Which is  really wacky for me considering my pattern following disability. The scenario generally goes like this: Wow, love this bag, I'll buy the pattern...looks simple enough...get pattern...scares the hell out of me with all the official looking directions and measurements and all...study it for a few days...finally decide to go for it...walk into the studio...sneak up on pattern...spend 10 hours making bag while referencing directions about 100X. This is not an exaggeration. So without further ado, the bags. This first one is a pattern by the lovely and talented Lisa of Uhandbag.

I altered it slightly by adding a zipper and zipper charm made by my talented friend Paula of the Venerable bead  she supplies me with the most beautiful borosilicate bead pulls, similar to these:

She makes these skeleton key necklaces also like these:

Gorgeous right?

Another one of her charms adorns this new bag of mine:

Pattern courtesy  Napkittenpattern

This bag is my original pattern done up in the incomparable Amy Butler fabric:

Love this fabric. My absolute fave. Maybe of all time. I'm on the hunt to buy all the remaining yardage in eexistence. I have also listed a bunch of new wristlets in the shop , all fresh and lovely for spring. Which seems so very, very far away at this point! 

Maybe you've noticed some new style product shots I've been taking...I don't know. Is it working? I do know it's alot of work coming up with these setting and various outfits. It's kind of fun, but takes of lots of time. Ohe well, we'll see how long it lasts. Which I predict not much longer lol.

 
 
 
 

Oh yes he did.

It's mine! Really, it was meant to be. The painting also shows my beautiful diamond engagement ring, which I lost a couple of weeks ago, right in the middle of Julie painting it. Sigh. But it makes me happy everytime I look up on my wall and see the painting. I am so touched by it, and love my sweet husband for buying it for me. Thank you honey!

My friend Felicia is having her first baby, and I sewed up these cute little bibs. They are made from natural linen, and hand appliqued.  

It's never too young to start good eating habits!
   

Yes, this is a painting.

I'm still in awe over this beautiful painting by my friend Julie Beck. Her paintings are technically impressive, aesthetically unique and beautiful, and sometimes haunting. This is her first painting of 2010, and I am so honored to have played a part in it. Here is her painting:

And here is my original photo:

It's crazy amazing right?

I'm officially in hibernation mode.

The snow is unstoppable, the bitter cold unrelenting and merciless. If it can't be done indoors I'm not interested. And if it can't be baked in these darling porcelain ramekins I'm not cooking it. Today, shepards pie, and apple crisp.

Tomorrow, chicken pot pies with puff pastry crusts...oversized pots de creme. Other trivial matters amusing me to no end  are citrus in crates.

And this devilishly spectacular concoction:

It's infused with black tea and elderflower, and it's green in honor of the green monster at Fenway Park.

But lest you come to the perfectly reasonable conclusion based on the aforementioned items that I am determined to transform into an obese alcoholic, I have been fixating on other matters besides food and drink.  I'm currently working on a baby quilt, here are the fabrics

It's for a boy obviously. And although quilting is a good deal of fun, math is not. And for some inexplicable reason I am again tackling those 60 deg. diamonds that I love so much. I cannot for some reason wrap my head around how many to cut, in relation to the finished size. Which is not an efficient way to piece i realize. Something I do know how to do however is make purses with nary a frustrated grumble. Here's the latest bag.

 

I also acknowledge the gratuitous shoe shot...but because I'm not putting shoes on till spring, I miss them so!

Twenty Ten

A new year, a new blog. Well not really technically new, but new in the sense that I am going to make a concerted effort to actually do some consistent posting. But there is a good reason for my long blogging lapse. Insanity. Because you'd have to be insane to do 21 days of shows in one season. Something had to give. So the blog was first to go, followed by my neglected etsy shop. Followed by my regular hair trims. So here I sit on the cusp of a new year full of promise, shaggy haired and anticipating my trusty sewing machine about to take it's last stitch. Luckily, a new industrial one is on it's way.  Just in time too...I've decided to launch a new line of LUXE bags comprised of the most divine and sumputous textiles adorned with chic hardware and leather components. Stay tuned!

This beauty is currently available in the shop.

I did have a tremendous amount of fun this year doing all my shows.

Making pretty things...

And even got a henna tattoo at the SOWA show in Boston

But in the end it was too much of a good thing. So this year I resolve to strike a little balance between work and family.

So hello to all my old blogging friends, and a warm welcome to any new ones. That's it for now. Happy new year.