hand drawn note cards

there is something that makes me very happy when I get an actual handwritten note - and nothing more gratifying when I get the chance to write out a few of my own to send to friends. These are simple little paneled note cards with little hand drawn sprouts along the bottom edge, with matching envelopes that I've sprouted along the flap edge.

take out a black pen or marker and make your own note cards from blank paper and envelopes - they make a perfect last minute gift.

Illustration Friday - Renewal

what better to start the year out with than a renewal of love!

I'm very lucky to be able to say I'm Matron of Honor for my sister's upcoming nuptials this summer! This excitement of sharing in my sister's wedding planning combined with a few bridal shower invites to do.... has me making bridal shower illustrations galore. i love sharing the love!

this piece is ink and marker- affectionately titled, "the love jungle"

Wishing you all good things this New Year!

poppy garden

Illustration Friday - Contagious

i find paisleys are really contagious - i draw one, and then that one, through some strange form of fusion, or osmosis, spawns another...and another, and another- till the whole page is teeming with them...development of a periodic chart of paisley anyone?

flowering...

My walk went well, I found the small grove of native White Wild Bleeding Heart- also found the painted trillium growing like mad as well. the wild strawberries are flowering too - how i love spring.

also I found this sweet red spotted newt. three newts came round in one day!

shadowbox spring day

the work days always seem most fulfilling to me - waiting for the weather to warm sufficiently, patience i have not.

the manure is raked thoroughly through the garden, waiting for the veggies to be transplanted...the beds are watered...the lavender is coming back of its own accord. the native strawberries are flowering - so much life and growing going on everywhere.


you know it is spring in vermont when the violets and trilliums have popped.


i love making violet sugar and sugared violets this time of year. we have many violet species, purple, white, yellow, and combinations thereof. the baby violet leaves are great salad greens.



Trillium erectum are pictured here, a native VT purple varietal. sad to not see any of the white Trillium grandiflorum, or the painted trilliums on the land so far, but i'll be happy with what i have. it is so exciting to see everything coming to life once again.

i'll be taking a walk to a favorite hiding spot of native white bleeding hearts and jack in the pulpits today or tomorrow....pictures to come if they are around!

Talisman - Illustration Friday

most things in nature are talismans for me - i do love the little stuff. especially fiddleheads.
drawn with ink and markers.

reupholstering vanity - chair that is.

my dear gram gave me this chair years ago - and as you can see, the seat & fabric have seen better days. It was a part of her vanity set as a girl, so it is quite important to me, and took me a while (years) to find a fabric worthy of replacing it.

i found this fabric on my last trip to NYC. Mostly because i can't visit NYC and NOT shop the garment district, luckily. this bit of pretty was in a remnant bin right at the entrance, under a pile of crazy fabrics i had positively no interest in. i scoured that whole store, and as i was getting ready to leave, caught it out of the corner of my eye. i knew what it was for the instant i laid eyes on it.


i'm so pleased with how it came out. if you have never re-upholstered, do not be afraid, it is easy! google it as a how-to, you will find a million ways to do it. i was able to salvage the seat padding and tiny little tacks the original furniture maker used, which made me quite happy. One day i will re-finish the wood as well, but until i get one of my woodworking friends to assess the inlay on the back rest, i won't touch it.

now i'm thinking a gorgeous little purse with the leftover fabric scraps....

puddle ducks for spring!

Mud, rain, ducks, sprouting plants all about. I'm in love with Spring. To commemorate my happiness during this most hopeful of seasons and in tribute to one of my favorite authors, Beatrix Potter, I've designed & created a very cute leetle French puddle duck hand knit toy.


This particular series of ducks are very special! This yarn is a pure 100% cotton bouclé yarn from France - in the softest sweetest spring colors. Each puddle duck averages 12" wingspan, and also 12" from head to webbed toe. I use multiple strands of yarn to knit each duck, then stuff them with more of the same matching yarn... 100% cotton toys make me happy! These techniques allow for each duck to feel like soft terrycloth.

Each duck is a very limited edition, one-of-a-kind hand knit toy with vintage yarns- once each yarn(color) is gone, it is gone. If I cannot meet your first color choice, I will be in touch for a second choice. Every single toy is handmade by me here in Vermont.

So far I've made one color puddle ducks and two-color puddle ducks.
The colors currently available are butter yellow & mint green, or all butter yellow, or all mint green. Contact me if you would like a custom color/size.


My leetle French Puddle Ducks can be bought for $50 each, with shipping included to anywhere in the US. Need yours in time for Easter Basket delivery? Please be sure to order by April 1st so I can whip it up for you in plenty of time.

Color options

Butter Yellow $50.00 Mint green $50.00 Butter yellow & Mint green $50.00

fiddlehead soup recipe

I'm a seasonal food person for sure, and have a serious penchant for fiddleheads in spring.
fiddlehead soup. it is still too cold here for the fiddleheads, but I keep one serving frozen from last season just for this recipe, when I need a serious dose of spring memories. like last week.

this is a simple recipe, I make it to taste, not by measurements, so try it out and have fun!
fiddleheads frozen, thawed (fresh works too, be sure to boil to soft consistency)
milk, cream or substitute
romano cheese
garlic, chopped/diced - if you dont care for chunks, garlic powder does the trick too.
pinch of salt



Directions: cook it all up, dont get it boiling, there is milk in there :) then eat it.

this is also an amazing sauce to put over pasta - the ferns uncoil to make little green noodles.
I'm sure you could also puree this whole mix to make baby food or insanely awesome bread dip.

fiddleheads are the delicious edible fern coils that have a short spring season. I'm very lucky to know a couple folks here in southern Vermont who hook me up so I'm not foraging high and low for them, all I need to do is grab a bag and start prepping. Lots of prepping. but these little green guys are fresh only a few weeks out of the year, so enjoy it! Trim off the ends of each fern, pluck /rinse away any debris. It is easiest to think of fiddleheads in terms of pasta - in order to get them to edible state, you need to soften, at the very least par boil them to freeze for later. Oh, and salt the hell out of them. Boiling takes the bitterness and the extra brown stuff off. The water looks um, well, gross when you're getting close to done - I like my fiddleheads "al dente" in pasta terms....others like mushy and soft - I get you! my favorite recipe with fiddleheads include sliced oyster mushrooms, garlic, some good butter, white wine and a saute pan. thats it.


PS - if you want to go foraging for your own, that is awesome! keep check on how many you forage on any one plant, 3 heads max on a plant or you may do damage to the future health of the ferns.

NEW TOY: handknit mermaid art doll

Madame Mermaid is 100% hand knit and felted wool -
Her hair has been hand dyed and hand spun by me on my spinning wheel.
This doll has a lots of hair - I like being sure every doll I make has tons!

This Mermaid art doll comes with a 100% wool, free form crocheted mermaid tail, a 100% wool skirt to match her hair, glass bead bathing top, and a little seaweed boa.


She also has a hand decorated box she travels in - you can check her out in person at Manchester Hot Glass studio & Gallery starting this weekend - or feel free to email me for more details on the Mermaid, or how to get a doll made of your very own!

Vase Sale at Manchester Hot Glass

Large or small, all in-stock flower vases 25% off!
In honor of winter fading slowly away, from now through April 12th 2009,
mention this post at Manchester Hot Glass Studio & Gallery,
and SAVE 25% off all flower vases in stock in the shop!
From Marbled to Flat bud vases for a few stems or web vases for huge bouquets,
to the luminous cylinder vases or striking etherial ones,
he has the right color, size and shape in stock for you and for gifts!

Illustration Friday - legendary

i positively LOVE this week's theme, legendary! mostly because i love to read folk tales, legends, and stories passed down to us from well beyond our years.... much of my personal illustration reflects little worlds i've built up in my mind from every sweet and scary tale i've read. this particular illustration i call mountain village - a sleepy little place full of adventure potential for a folk character to run a muck, or save the day!

NEW designs on cafepress!

I've been working on these designs for a month or so now - starting with my dear sister's request of a gardening tshirt. Most are combinations of my illustration and text - Take a gander over at my place on cafepress, I'd love to know your thoughts!

illustration sneek peek

just a taste of a few new original ink illustrations, coming soon!

springing forth!

amazing what a few days can do...




snap peas going wild!!

Illustration Friday - Breezy

This is my first ever Illustration Friday post!
This Friday's theme is Breezy - which it sure is today in southern Vermont!

Here is my interpretation of Breezy - an original digital illustration with all the pieces and parts vectorized from a couple of my pen & ink paisley drawings.... Happy FRIDAY!

seedlings!

In the midst of the very snowy past few days, I took it upon myself to start up some seedlings. Just a little wheatgrass and some snap peas(thanks to Jenna on the snap pea idea!) to give me something to tend until I can go whole hog in another month or so with the cold frame and garden sowing...or maybe it is just to spite the seemingly infinite winter we're having up here.

The snap peas are soaked and planted, but will take a while to see them pop.
I started & kept the wheatgrass on paper towel under cloches for a few days until they started getting a bit too big for their britches - they have been in these little pots for two days, isnt it amazing how fast they grow up? I can't wait to see a full bed of it soon enough.

Lavender is up next ...what a finicky seed they are, but the flowers soon make me forget all the trials!

my favorite Handmade dress Makers

All courtesy of etsy! This handful of artists are just a sample of the amazingly talented independent clothing designers out there that I love, particularly for dresses. These are all handcrafted clothing shops, perhaps offering new product with your custom measurements, or inventively re- and up-cycled from vintage pieces galore! Many of these products are very eco and environmentally friendly too!

gaiaconceptions.etsy.com
ArmoursansAnguish.etsy.com
CrowsCloth.etsy.com
econica.etsy.com
kimenna.etsy.com
hollystalder.etsy.com
malphi.etsy.com
trapperjane.etsy.com
missbrache.etsy.com

find designers who's taste and style you love, but also keep in mind your body type. We all have our own unique figures - show it off the best way you know how! Dresses are so much more forgiving than pants - you will never have the dreaded muffin top with a dress, I assure you. Also, ask yourself if the frock you pick out can be used in more than one season- whether it is seasonless, or through layering! I like trends as much as the next girl, but when it comes to clothes, I like to keep 'em simple, stylish and modular. I find working trends with layers or accessories tends to be a little less painful on the wallet.

Bees ordered!

2009's bees are ordered!

Two hives in this case equals six pounds of bees - 25,000 honeybees and two Italian Queen Bees.
One hive for me, one for my Dad - bees are a great christmas gift, what can I say.
my Dad really is very excited for his first hive ever - on the farm there are tons of berry brambles, hay fields to preside over, along with the orchard of pears, apples and grapes - oh and the vegetable garden too! We can't pick the bees up until May, it needs to be warm enough and have stable weather over a period of time for the bees to travel this far North from Georgia.

the sunflower handspun beret

From the top down it resembles one, doesn't it? Some in part to the colors, but mainly got its name from the textural pattern of the staggered fishnet lace.



the top part of the hat is fine commercial wool, beautiful heathery browns, flecks of reds - the funky thick and thin green/amber/blue is hand dyed, hand spun yarn. the second it came off my wheel i started knitting with it...this yarn knew exactly what it wanted to be when it grew up...part of a gorgeous little beret!

thick and thin handspun yarn looks amazing used in simple lace patterns with big needles. cozy, funky, but also delicate and pretty. it begs to show off, so i let it!

Want to know more? Email me or visit my online shop, where you can view details sizing, see more pics, buy this exact hat, or custom order one of your own!

spring fever

i've got a fevah - for spring.

spinning and snow

it is a lovely snowy day here in southern Vermont - spinning some green yarns to remind me of what is under that sweet white wonderland out there.

come to think of it, i think i'm going to spin up some winter white and sparkles in honor of the white magic.

in the meantime, enjoy the greens!

a note to Punxsutawney Phil

Hey Phil - If I wish hard enough, will you please bring spring now? - Love trish