If you live near Bethesda MD stop by the Azalea Festival

April 30, May 1 & 2

Here is a list of the vendors

Lots of great stuff

and beautiful plants

Monograms are the rage these days.

Custom made decal above -

forget where I found this image.

Monogrammed cocktail napkins

as seen on Habitually Chic the other day.

the tini tables by oomph!

and my own contribution to the craze below

Ribbons ready for frames

Off to a show this week in Bethesda, Maryland

at the

Landon School.

The AZALEA FESTIVAL

Please stop by if you live nearby - I here it is a wonderful show.

I cut up old school uniforms for these frames.

ACK

perfect if you are visiting a friend on Nantucket

A day in the studio with my four-legged friend.

Meet Libby, the black mound of fluff

that you see on the first page of the blog (to the left).

She is a pack animal - must be in the thick of things.

Sometimes she hangs out in car while I am working;

other times she likes the full sun where she can play sentry.

She likes soft places to sit - notice the felt disc on the garage floor

This is an old halloween costume - an oreo cookie that

works well as a pouch puff

No sun this day - so she opted for the car

cozy

Basking in the sun

Oh what a life.

and here is the dog-mistress in my spot after I leave for the office!

Great article in the New York Times on April 9, 2010 - Talent and Grit and Circumstance

This resonated with me...

"all those things that unlock talent, including grit, self-discipline and confidence.” quote from Angela Duckworth, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Grit is what Professor Duckworth calls perseverance or, as she defines it, “the capacity to sustain effort toward a very long-term and challenging goal.” Her studies have shown that grittier individuals thrive in extremely challenging situations, and that grit is quite distinct from talent.

Shortly after reading the Times article, while producing the Spring 2010 Collection, I listened to Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - an interesting book. Gladwell writes about outliers - why some people succeed - he suggests: talent plus circumstance, sometimes luck, and other advantages of place and time, plus determination and perseverance and practice, practice, practice.

That's why I work so hard...nothing just happens...so my hours in the studio year after year are producing good results. It is hard, often back breaking work, but the work gives me such pleasure. I like the results. I like growing this business from the ground up. Each piece is hand-made, starting with raw materials.

Working for yourself is exciting and lonely, rewarding yet challenging, with flexible but long hours, but I still do it. I wear all the hats of the business. It is difficult to do it all. I keep saying I will slow down, but each year I grow the business a little bigger. Sometimes as I work in the studio, aka the garage, I get down in the dumps looking around wishing the studio were brighter and warmer. I would love to spend some of my profit on fixing up the studio - but not yet...I have my priorities, so I listen to books on tape while I work and build a tower of color around me and keep that mini heater on HIGH. Sometimes I blast music and belt out the words at the top of my lungs from songs like the Black Eyed Peas "Tonight's gonna be a good night...."

Why I am writing all this, because the article on grit and perseverance and persistence struck a nerve. So just go for it ... keep going... don't give up... and remember this quote from Calvin Coolidge - 30th President of the USA - a Vermonter born on July 4, 1872. We passed his homestead every summer when we took miss is to camp -

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

and then blast tonight is gonna be a good night and dance around the room with a big smile - drive in your car with the song blasting and honk the horn... and smile...

Ta-Da

Spring 2010

V & A reproduction prints - straight from England.

Just love these

Blue frames are my all-time biggest sellers

1. V&A Blue seaweed (front)

2. V&A Flower posies (back)

Pinks are always popular...

3. Pink dandelions (front)

4. Pink discs (back)

5. Peacocks - pink and aqua (front)

6. Peacocks - brown and pink (back)

Dots, dots and more dots

7. String of dots - pink & green (front)

8. String of dots - pink & brown (middle)

9. String of dots - green & brown (back)

10. Dotty stripes - blue & brown (front)

11. Dotty stripes - pink & brown (back)

Beautiful blue bubbles

12.Kaffe Fasset buttons (front left)

13. Bubble striae (front right)

14. Snorkel (back left)

15. Striped bubbles (back right)

16. Dot in a square (front)

17. Watermelon dots (back)

18. Pink dots (front)

19. Striped dot - green & blue (back)

stripes, stripes and more stripes

20. Candy pink stripes (front)

21. Aqua stripes (middle)

22. Green stripes (back)

I call these my Johnny Apple checks.

Named after the NYT's writer R.W. Apple

who always wore checked shirts.

Johnny Apples

23.Red & blue (front left)

24.Brown & blue (front right)

25.Red & white (back)

Baby checks

perfect for a baby picture or a birth announcement

26. Blue check (front)

27. Pink check (back)

Summer Seersuckers

28. Pink seersucker stripes with pink, green or navy ribbon

Also available in blue seersucker.

29. Brown seersucker stirpe

Perfect for monogramming too

30. madras patchwork

31. Green & white seersucker stripe

32. Green & white seersucker check

33. Nantucket red

34. Blue chambray

Another great choice for monogramming

35. Simple white and brown garden

36. Bumble bees - green (back)

37. Bumble bees - red & black (front)

I saw this over at mackin ink not long ago

in the very hand of the very t.ruffles lady called karey

love the quote - should remember it - i am going to post it on my office wall

check out her blog...

A blog is a broadcast, not a publication. If it stops moving, it dies.
- Andrew Sullivan

I just read this quote on swissmiss

and realized that this blog has slowed down...

due lots of terrific distractions

and lots of demands on my time.

An energy burst is coming...I can just feel it...

stay tuned .

I like flowers and I like cake

and I cannot believe this blog is two years old.

enjoy this gorgeous weekend

and have a wonderful Easter if it is your celebration

otherwise, happy spring from my house to yours

We are macaron maniacs.

Love them.

This lovely box just arrived from Switzerland

via a special friend.

Delish

Perfect for Easter - colors and taste.

Not April fool's day

but

April Food Day

This is the second annual April Food Day

It was started in 2009 by Easy Elegant Life and Pigtown Design

Remember the old adage

can you spare a dime

how about a few dollars?

Donate here

Donate to a soup kitchen

Volunteer in a soup kitchen

There are a lot of folks out there who need our help