damariscotta day

emily invited me on an outing last week that was a perfect distraction for me (from my constant "what-is-zoë-doing-right-now?" thoughts as well as some stitchery work that i was very happy to put off for a day). i drove to her house in topsham and then she drove us to to alewives fabrics, where i wandered aimlessly, admiring and stroking the beautiful fabric (emily was more purposeful, but she also spent more money than i did!). afterward we browsed at maine coast book shop and had coffee and scones and chatted for a long time. it was such a lovely day.

and below, please join me in admiring emily's crochet skills. this photo doesn't quite accurately capture the gorgeous contrast of her blue scarf against her sweater. i am inspired to learn how to crochet, and i know just the person to teach me!

is it not meningitis?

(the alleged last words of louisa may alcott.)*

and speaking of illness, my girl has been sick in thailand. she even had an adventure at a thai hospital, where max and tang took her after she was pretty dehydrated. she is feeling much better now, though max got sick last night and is now doing his own recuperating. they are staying at a comfortable guest house in chiang mai where they can just rest and relax until they feel up to more exploration. i am so very thankful for skype, which makes it possible for me to talk to them practically in person, and to see that they really are okay.

back at home, isaac and i have been on our own this weekend while mark works at a trade show in atlanta with a consulting client. yesterday isaac participated on a panel at the great northeast radio rally. he spent the entire weekend working on it with the blunt radio team, and yesterday afternoon he presented his greenwashing piece before an incredibly receptive audience. i watched his panel, and it was really great!

*stitched, by the way, on a piece of an old pair of isaac's pajama pants!

last words

as a good friend of mine puts it, "one person's deathbed is another person's craft fair." he refers to my current personal stitchery project (i.e. the thing i idly do while i'm watching movies but i'm not sitting at the sewing machine getting actual work done or eating an entire bag of trader joe's spicy flax seed chips). i'm collecting famous last words (apocryphal or not) and embroidering them. so far i've done james joyce and emily dickinson (and i bet you can guess which is which!), and i'm working on robert louis stevenson. this kind of thing can be a little addictive...

stitchery

it's fun, every once in a while, to use the sewing machine for a non-work-related project. zoë and i treated ourselves recently to some gorgeous fabric from z fabrics in portland which we then craftily stitched up into the cutest aprons you ever saw.

we both agreed that we should get right to work baking something equally adorable. like cupcakes, or tiny tarts. or maybe this, which isn't so much adorable as delicious-looking.





















next up on our project list: ruffle tees.

inspired

pardon the sudden nudity on the previously decently clothed mean mama. i just happened upon meagan ileana's gorgeous blog, threadbare, and i am incredibly inspired by her embroidery. just look at this gorgeous piece, called freedom.

wrapping

my favorite thing, even more than choosing what goes inside the packages, is when i force myself to slow down and wrap them carefully, each one especially for its recipient. i love to use maps. this year, i made some felt pom poms, which are not nearly as goofy looking as i'd imagined.

in my stitchery

my perspective this week, mostly:






























we're working to finish several orders before we take off for christmas in carolina 2009™, so i've been spending a lot of time sitting here, in my corner of the living room, with my sweet old sewing machine and my favorite embroidery scissors.






























also, i tend to watch things on tv whilst i'm stitching, so i would like to announce that i am totally caught up on lost, the office, and glee, and i've started dexter (which is essentially the anti-glee. no singing, no dancing, lots of blood).

s is for so much fun

s is for sale went on last night at jen's house, and it was a smashing success. probably a couple of hundred people came through, ready to shop! they had some amazing things to choose from, too. i was tempted to spend all of my proceeds immediately, but i restrained myself to an annabelle-drawn coloring book, swallowfield christmas cards, and one other thing (a little secret. unless i decide to keep it for myself). also, it couldn't have been a nicer group of people to hang out with for the evening. i can hardly wait to do it again next year.

my table:























the scene from my corner of the dining room:























jen's table:























melissa's table:























nicole's book nook:























officially the best craft fair ever.

scenes from a craft fair

in sepia tones. hmm. the actual craft fair was brighter and more colorful than these pictures convey.

















it was a fun day with m and mama d, who should seriously get a commission for the sales she made at our humble table.

















if you missed this craft fair, we'll be doing another one at north yarmouth academy on december fifth. also, what will definitely be the most fun and fabulous fair of all, at jen's house on december tenth!

how a sewing machine works

head over to dossier studio to see exactly how it works. so cool.

a method to my madness

this may look like a random pile of green fabric, but actually it's a bunch of long, soft, gorgeous milo in maine scarves in the midst of being stitched with rock colors. i'm listing them in the etsy shop and there should also be a nice pile of them for picnic portland!

what i'm s'posed to be doing right now

sewing,
























sewing,
























sewing,
























labels in little fishy/lobster onesies headed to whole foods portland and bliss. i'm just pausing for, like, five minutes to write this blog post. honest.

knit

bean's my knitting coach. i've known how to knit for a long, long time (as in, i can make a "knit" stitch. i can make a long, long, endless scarf, for example. i've made many of them in my life, but i've never finished a single one). finally, i am determined to complete a project and figure out enough about this knitting stuff so that i can fix mistakes. at this point, i need bean's help for this -- if i mess something up, i generally pull the whole thing apart and start over again, but she's one of those expert knitters who can examine the stitches and see just what happened and how to fix it.

anyway, bean knitted miss gliss some lovely armwarmers for christmas, from a book i gave her for her birthday, one-skein wonders. i was inspired (plus my arms were chilly), so i'm working on these navy blue arm warmers -- i finished one! i kind of messed up the thumb hole, but it's close enough to perfect for me! now to attempt to get the second one to more or less resemble the first...