Working away in the studio 

still busy as a bee

the weather will soon be 

chilly

I will need tea and my mini heater and will unroll

 the fleece curtain over the window to block the cold wind from the north.

 A new addition this season

 will be my fingerless gloves

My daughter says I look like I stepped out of Oliver Twist or La Bohème.

I also wear a fleece pull-over with a fleece vest

remember, the studio is in the garage!

Books on tape or NPR complete the setting.

Currently listening to The Years by Virginia Wolff

and enjoying it very much.

Other books I have listened to while working this autumn:

The Great Fire 

by Shirley Hazzard

set at the end of 

WWII in the far east

written from a male perspective

history and a little love story - perfect

The Tipping Point 

by Malcolm Gladwell

fascinating

how little things tip and become big things

I love to cook and enjoyed this book

about Julia Child and her husband and their life together in France.

I was disappointed when I discovered that the audio version was abridged.

I listened anyway.

I have the book on my library shelf waiting for the long cold winter.

I have listened to two other books this season

Martha's Rules

informative

with a great story about the creator of purlsoho, 

the wonderful yarn and fabric store in soho, of course.

Joelle Hoverson started out at Martha Stewart Living.

And I listened to a chic lit story by Jane Green for something light.

It was set in a Connecticut town, modeled after a town not too far away.  

a room with a view

the studio aka garage

getting ready for the season...

the leaves are turning and falling

you can see the bright colors through the window

luckily I haven't had to rake yet

left that to d.h. last weekend

the trunk shows and boutiques are fast approaching... 

...first one is this week

IF YOU LIVE ANYWHERE NEAR 

WESTON, MASSACHUSETTS

STOP BY AND SAY HELLO

HERE IS THE INVITE

looks like I am taking a snooze - spent 6 hours toiling away in the studio on Sunday

here is a better picture, even if I blinked as the shutter clicked 

GOT MILK

one of the last fabrics to arrive for the 2008 fall line

cow hide

a friend tells me cow hide was everywhere at the ny gift show

After you take a peek at more of my new fall line below

pop over to Annechovie

where you can read an interview she did with me.

My first interview. Wow!

Thanks for the pop Anne!

Handsome rather than pretty styles 

from the Fall 2008 line

Rosewood and maple faux bois 

Sophisticated green and browns

The green and white Quadrille fabric

was created for the 12 board members of the 

2008 NYC Garden Conservancy Spring Luncheon Committee

Red cane fabric 

two views

Anna Griffin fabric

Anna Maria Horner's Up All Night Garden Party fabric

with velvet

More Anna Griffin fabric

I have noticed  the left geometric design style

 in a lot of fabrics this year.

Quadrille, mentioned above, and Anna Griffin below

Two handsome navy frames both with velvet ribbon

Kaffe Fasset on left - called paperwieghts

and a batik on right

More of the Fall 2008 line-up

fancy fruits

good n'plenty

remember those lozenge shaped licorice candies?

happy gingham check

with the standard top-stitch or the skull and crossbones

happy discs

lifesavers and decals

love these colors

celadon green and robin's egg blue

the ribbon has both colors

Hello friends.

I am back from a wonderful two week break from my usual routine.

It was such a boost to my spirit and energy.

We started with some fun at the beach.

The weather was glorious.

Thanks to Jim for letting us stay at his house.

It was PERFECT.

the waves were fun

the water temperature was just right

then the jelly fish arrived

we bicycled everywhere

and performed a very interesting experiment -

more on that later in the week

  I got all sorts of projects done after

 a few restful days at the beach.  

The studio is shaping up - more organization, less clutter. 

 I even hired three great helpers. 

 I am so happy about this development. 

Lots of new frames in production.

Cake Rock Beach fabric designed by Joelle Hoverson

Did you know that Joelle is the founder of Purlsoho?

Joelle's sister Jennifer handles all of the fabric from the West Coast.

And did you know that Joelle was senior style editor 

at Martha Stewart Living?

I listen to books on tape while I work on the frames.

One of the books I listened to this summer was

The Martha Rules; 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You

Start, Grow or Manage a Business

Martha writes about her experiences and other entrepreneurs such as Joelle.

It was fascinating to learn about Joelle Hoverson and how she built her business, 

purlsoho, a hip yarn store in NYC.

If you have not been to purlsoho or heard of it - 

check out the EYE CANDY on the web after you finish reading this post.

especially for those of you with fabric or yarn fetishes! (like me)

It is a worthwhile book to read if you are building a business.

 

Remember the woodgrain frames I showcased in early August.

Check out the pink woodgrain - fun

here it is in light pink

and a wild and bright fuchsia (not the best photo quality) 

The frames look great in person!

Faux bois is everywhere, on everything.

I just replaced my faux bois bag from FLEE

I liked it so much I bought the exact same one for this fall/winter.

I use a FLEE bag all summer too.

I will have lots of new frames on Etsy in the next few weeks

You can also find my frames in these wonderful boutiques

Sea Beans, Wilton, Connecticut

Mrs. Monogram, Bedford, New York

M Milestones, New Canaan, Connecticut

All She Wrote, Chicago, Illinois

All She Wrote, Winnetka, Illinois

The Fuchsia Frog, Birmingham, Michigan

The business is growing.

I have a design patent pending for the frames.

All very exciting.

If you know a store that I should pitch to, please let me know.

You can always contact me directly about purchasing frames.

I am very excited to be on a quasi-vacation,

from the office, that is....

got lots of work ahead me for mrr design.

Check out my new fabrics.

Anyone with a fabric fetish like me knows about purlsoho.

Purl has a beautiful website with delicious yarns and fabrics.

Cake Rock Beach, pictured above, was designed by Joelle Hoverson, the founder of Purl.

Here is my expanded faux bois collection. 

I highlighted the maple and rosewood last week.

The pink pine, fushcia and light pink, are fabulous. 

I was so excited when they arrived - all the way from Nebraska and Oregon. 

and the red cane (not quite faux bois, but ...) 

Remember Good & Plenty candy?

that is the name of the two middle fabrics pictured below.

Can you just taste the old-fashioned soft and chewy licorice candy, 

first made in 1893!

The other two dots are fun.

The elongated dots on the right remind me of the 

 double oo in the word look

that my daughter would color to look like eyes

when she was young. 

Isabel's relatives thought it was very funny 

when they received a thank you note with the 

colored-in look eyes.

Wish i could manipulate the computer to color the oos

 

fancy fruit will make great frames with pink or brown saddle stitch ribbon

and my geometrics 

The fabric on the right is by Anna Maria Horner

called

up all night garden party

Was she up all night designing with all the colors of her garden swirling in her head?

some handsome damask and some very mod damask 

busy few weeks ahead 

stay tuned for lots of new frames

I always order too much fabric;

too many choices for my customers.

But I can't resist.

Still more to come from Heather Bailey,

who has a wonderful new collection.

ps.  i almost forgot - today is a very good day

8-8-08

A very good number, 

so lucky that the Chinese changed the Olympics to start today,

precisely at 8:08 pm on 8-8-08.

something about those double oos - 

around and around - no end - continuous loop

great if it's a loop of good fortune!

I think there is a lot of good karma in the loop.

 enjoy

check out hidden in france 

talk about the power of 8 in her life!

Blog friends - your opinion please...

I told you yesterday that I was going to try the 

 faux bois with suede trim

What do you think?

Which do you like better?

grosgrain with saddle stitch or suede?

the rosewood still looks more orange in photo than in real life

another new fabric

wild zebra

with black suede trim

with cherry red suede

and vivid pink velvet

which trim do you like with the zebra?

I spent hours pouring over fabric swatches

for the fall line.

Here are two great new fabrics:

the faux bois collection

maple

and rosewood

the color isn't as orange as it looks

so real looking - quite the conceit-

soft wooden frames

Suede trim will be used too.

for a good contrast, what do you think?