Cat

This is my newest sewing project, a request from one of my co-workers for her new niece. Cat pillow! You can see ones we've made in the past here and this is the very first one I ever made years ago.





–c.

yes, have some fruits and vegetables.

We've never done it before, but we've been reading and planning and organizing for weeks, and our very first garden is starting to come together (on paper, at least). This is the Spring/Summer/Fall where we work the land and reap the rewards, like we've wanted to for years. In total, we have nine gardeners who are going in on this project with us. Our first garden meeting is this Saturday and the agenda is chock full. Not to sound too much like city folk, but we had no idea how much consideration goes into a simple garden.

So far we've chosen the site (a perfect South-facing plot with sun-o-rama), made a gate for easy access, organized the participating parties, started a budget, picked out the fruits and veggies we want to grow, and our soil is being tested as I type. Next on the list is buying seeds, organizing our blocks with future crop-rotation considerations in mind, putting up a section of fence, tilling, planting and on and on and on.

It's borderline overwhelming, but the day we're laying on our backs in our overalls eating fresh, warm strawberries straight off the vine in the summer sun will be the day I happily forget all the planning and laboring.

The section of fence we chopped up and converted into a gate.

Our hopefully bountiful plot.

Stay tuned, sweet corn is on the way!

–a.

Woodwork

One of the many great things about living in Ohio is we finally have more room to make things. During the really cold months it's a little more difficult because the barn is too cold to work in for extended periods of time. We have a basement where it is possible to do work as well, but the ceiling is really low and Andrew has to duck every time he goes down there.

Last summer we found this school desk at a junk shop for $18 and fixed it up for our niece. The whole thing was covered in layers of paint and was all around ugly.



We stripped all the paint off the wood, refinished it, repainted the metal parts and added my nieces last name across the top corner. Voila! Brand new desk.



–c.

The Sound of Music

I love this photo. It was originally published in the December 1955 issue of House & Garden. You can buy a print of this Richard Rutledge photo (and many others) directly from Condé Nast here.

–c.

Ok, I'm obsessed!

If you've had a chance to see Coraline (and even if you haven't) maybe you've become as crazy about it as I have. I went through the entire movie site and found amazing videos about the making of the movie. I couldn't resist posting about them. Here are a few of my favorites, but you should explore the site on your own for more!







Enjoy!
–c.

Coraline

Yesterday we went to see the new Henry Selick directed movie, Coraline. It's an amazingly beautiful movie done in all stop-animation movie style. It took 3 years to make and involved some of the top talents of the field. And it shows. The details are intricate and spooky. The animation, seamless.

Not only is the look of the film fantastic, the story is great. It's based on a book by author Neil Gaiman, who is extremely talented.



Despite some reports, Tim Burton did not have a hand in making this film.

Go see it! Also check out the website for the film here. And the website of Neil Gaiman here.









–c.

Lewd

Edward Gorey is one of my all time favorites. His writing and his illustrations are fantastic. So, as you can imagine, I was delighted when a good friend of mine passed along this book. It's been making its rounds of the blog circuit of late but I've only just seen it today. The Recently Deflowered Girl by Hyacinthe Phyppe, illustrated by Gorey, is both beautiful, disturbing AND funny. It gave me a weird feeling, but I still enjoyed it.

I'm only going to show my favorite page so I don't get in trouble. I'm sure you can find the rest out there if you do a quick search.



• Thanks Toby •

–c.

Sewing

I've started a new sewing project (a request from a co-worker) and it inspired me to re-list some items in our etsy store. You can buy 8"X10" prints of these photos I took at my sisters old tailoring business.

Enjoy!

–c.

Thank Yous

The last element that I designed for the Dina Shower, that I previously posted about, the thank you cards.

I've been updating my design website with new work that I haven't had the chance to put up until now. You can check them out here.
–c.

LOOK Magazine

Paintings by Milton Glaser (LOOK Magazine, 6.14.1966 Issue)

–c.

“Instant Decorating”

Another thrift store find, this contact paper is from 1965 and it can be used to label anything from “poison” to “pork”.

–c.

Modern Vintage

I want to give a big thank you to two people, Wanwisa of Modern Vintage for posting about our wedding, and to Laura Budde for recommending us and for making my beautiful dress. You can check out Modern Vintage Designs for the feature or click here to go directly to the post.

Thanks again!
–c.

Dog

I crocheted this dog from a pattern in a Japanese crafting book. If you haven't looked through a Japanese crafting book, you should. And be ready for cuteness overload! I became obsessed with these craft books years ago and my collection has grown steadily. I've made more than a few items from these books but the one downside is they are almost all in in Japanese. I don't happen to read Japanese but luckily for me crochet patterns are universal and I can usually follow those without much problem. It is a little taxing on the brain, trying to decipher which pattern is for which part of the doll but in the end it works out.

I've gotten my books from a variety of places, mostly Japanese bookstores. Andrew used to live in Chicago and, during one of my visits, I stocked up at Mitsuwa. In NYC, my favorite Japanese bookstore is Kinokuniya, which is not only great for books but movies as well.

A few online sources that I've found useful are Crafting Japanese, YesAsia, and Amazon: Japan.

Here is the book that I got this dog pattern from: ISBN-10: 9784774750712



–c.