Pickle People

I can count on my dad to share my appreciation for pickles, whether it be kosher dills or French cornichons. For his birthday I made and packaged him a batch of his favorite, Sweet Pickles.

Baby Face

Last July 4th I drew my nephew Théo for the first time, just a few hours after he was born. He's almost a year old now and has changed so much since his initial portrait. He has four teeth coming in, blows kisses, and has already taken his first steps by himself.

For Théo's 1st birthday I made a cut-paper portrait out of Color-aid and framed it for his bedroom. I would love to create an annual portrait to commemorate each birthday, varying the mediums from year to year. It'll be quite the collection by the time he's 20!

Room with a View

Our balcony garden is starting to fill in nicely. I chose a cooler palette for the window boxes this year: 'black heart' sweet potato vines, purple ageratum, miniature yellow petunias and and the one boxwood shrub that survived my winter garden experiment.

I added a few more edibles too: kale, red mustard, frisé, strawberries, 'white currant' cherry tomatoes and cucumber. The cucumber is by far the most entertaining to watch. It's taking over the balcony railing and is already bearing dozens of small prickly cucumber buds.

Keep Calm and Carry All

Ronak and I got engaged in March and spent the whole month enjoying the afterglow and resisting every urge to start planning. Since then we've been taking everything in stride and have made a lot of progress on the wedding plans.

I'm realizing that being organized is a good way to stay calm throughout the whole process. One of my favorite things to do at this stage is gather inspiration and sketch project ideas. I made a carryall to stash wedding related material and I think it will come in handy when I visit the florist, caterer, dress shop etc... The tote is made of a natural-colored linen and lined with a cheerful geometric voile by Anna Maria Horner.  The webbed cotton handles are super sturdy and an excellent time-saving substitute for handmade ones. For a bit of color on the neutral exterior, I top-stitched the edges with bright yellow thread and sewed on a tomato-red vintage button.

Field Trip: Lotta Jansdotter's Studio

Today I had the opportunity to visit Lotta Jansdotter's studio in Brooklyn. It was an exciting experience for me since it was her books, patterns and playful illustrations that inspired me to pick up sewing again. I enjoyed seeing her on-going projects and even got a sneak peek of her new line of fabrics that will be released in November. Can't wait!

After chatting with her I found out that she doesn't yet have a line of dishware, so who knows, perhaps we'll have a chance to collaborate in the future...

Ahoy, it's a boy!

On June 27th (give or take a day), Kari & Brian will welcome Baby Strong into the world. Yay! In the meantime they've been busy settling into their new place and putting the finishing touches on the baby room. I embroidered this whimsical whale scene to help them fill some of the remaining wall space. 

Making a Mark

Popsicle sticks have always reminded me of arts & crafts and glue-covered fingers. But now I look at them and think "plant markers."  To make these I bought a bag of wooden sticks (the tongue-depressor size), carefully cut the bottoms into points and painted them with chalkboard paint. Done!  Or so I thought... I took it one step further and used rubber stamps & a white ink pad to label the plants I'm growing this season.

**Bundled up, the leftover markers make a great little gift for my fellow city gardeners.