New & Improved

I paired my special finds from Liberty of London with fabric from Purl Soho, and sewed a nifty shoulder bag that holds just the right amount of things I need-- the things I actually need.

When I was living in Park Slope I bought a very similar bag from Nest, which is sadly no longer there. Jess has the same one. We both were smitten with the illustration on the fabric by Japanese artist Shinzi Katoh. Unfortunately, I hardly ever use mine due to the fact that the handles are white (not very practical for an artist) and there is only one small pocket inside.

So on my version I sewed mutliple pockets into the lining: one for my iPhone, one for my mini planner, one for my keys and the two for a pen & pencil. I added natural colored handles to camouflage day-to-day dirt and to pull out the warm tones in the floral printed lining. Happily, I found a use for the fabric-covered button I picked up in London, though I think a zipper would have been more practical. All in all it has been my favorite new accessory this fall.

London Calling

I've been a fan of Liberty fabrics for a long time and finally visited the department store during our recent trip to London. Not once, but twice! I picked up a few fun items and would have gone nuts had the rate of the pound not kept my wallet in check.

Office Space

The other place in our apartment where I like to set up shop.

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.