Very exciting news - my work has been published...in Sis Boom's new book: Girl's World.

Run out to your favorite book store and get a copy or buy through Sis Boom's website.

Here is a quick peak

voila

The book is chock full of great sewing projects for girls with patterns included and the most beautiful photographs.

Each year MRR DESIGN grows a little more; publication of my work is another notch on the pole. It makes me so happy and proud and is testament to slow and steady wins the race. My race anyway. As I pass the three year mark of the blog, I note that the blog is the tool that ratcheted up the business. The blog allows me to showcase my work, and to communicate with other folks about what inspires me. It motivates me to plow ahead...to stay focused and informed. And to have fun.

Over the years I have done a lot of work with Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom fame. This is Jennifer's first book and I am delighted to be part of it. It is full of how-to projects for all you crafty folks and seamstresses or just plain creative folks. You can see some of the other projects that I did for Jennifer here and here. And while my business is bumping along, Jennifer's is on the speed way. When I first met Jennifer she had two or three sales a year at her house; she got some great press in Country Living and then she got the dream of a lifetime: to design fabric. I think Jennifer has about 8 different fabric collections so far - check out her website. You will recognize many of Jennifer's fabrics on my frames.

My piece is on how-to make a quilted memento board - go to pages 158 - 163 -

and then read the rest of the book.

I was never a fan of the big box book stores. I am not surprised that they are having a hard time.

Some Connecticut book stores that I enjoy are places like Diane's Books in Greenwich and R. J. Julia's in Madison. Other book shops I like are a Bunch of Grapes in Edgartown, Nantucket Bookworks or Concord Bookshop, all in Massachusetts. Whenever I travel, I find a bookshop and explore the shelves. I also explore online, like the Tattered Cover Book store in Colorado.

Just look at the difference in the logos.

I love walking around independent bookstores, reading the labels that the staff place on the shelves, asking for suggestions, looking at the masses of books piled on the floor at Diane's ( a sight to behold). A lot of other people like it too because these book shops are still in business.

At Christmas and birthdays, I always support the independents when buying books as presents. These days I am a heavy user of the library; in fact I always have been a huge library fan, even during my days in NYC. There was a nice library in midtown not far from my office. When I moved to the Connecticut town where I now live, one of the first things I checked out was the library. I couldn't imagine living in a place with a mediocre library. Our library is wonderful. It is a vibrant, busy place with people of all ages using its books and services. It is a happy place. . Reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom and The Sun Also Rises now.

Slow life continued...

the garden

Giant sunflowers at the local grange fair, August 2010

Inside the exhibition hall

Hand knit: slow life.

Not first place, but a ribbon nonetheless.

It was the grange fair that motivated me to finally finish this sweater

which has been on my needles for, dare I admit, four years.

Reading outside on a summer day: slow life

stopping all chores and plans

devouring a book in an afternoon

That is just how I enjoyed Dominque Brownings's new book,

Slow Love.

I absolutely loved it. It is a great follow-up to Eat, Pray, Love.

Browning continues writing about slow life on her blog,

Slow Love Life ,

of which I am devotee.

This idea of slow life brings me back to yesterday's Swan's Island post. The Swan Island newsletter reports on Dominique Brownings's visit to their studio. I encourage you to read the newsletter. click here.

The owners of the Swan Island Studio say this:

"Our approach for the past 20 years has been the same:

do things right, slowly and with love,

and the rest will somehow fall into place."

I tried to slow down these past two weeks. I was on vacation from the day job. The plan was to get my daughter off to college and then to work in the studio to prepare for the autumn MRR Design season. Sometimes things just do not happen the way you expect; life intervenes.

My true passion for creating things has nothing to do with what I do daily to make a living. MRR Design is my escape from my daily work routine. I create one object at a time, by hand. Nothing high tech about it. I am trying to build the business but it is hard to do 2 days a week. But I will persevere. I am good at that.

I will continue to pursue my passion at night, and on the weekends. Especially now that Miss Is is off to college, my days of daily, active mothering are over. Sad indeed, but exciting too. Life is evolving. It is thrilling and rewarding to watch Miss Is grow. I tried to do things right, slowly and with love as I raised Miss Is. I think it worked; Miss Is is blossoming into a young woman. Everything is falling into place. So now I have to work on myself, to do things right, slowly and with love. And hope it all falls into place.

I am trying to find balance. I am looking for answers. I am trying to rejuvenate my spirit because my happy demeanor has taken a few hits lately. So I scrapped the idea to work hard in the studio during my two-week break from the day job. I wanted to relax. To sit quietly. To think. Often my reverie was interrupted. But I kept trying. I simply sat down and decided to finish knitting a sweater that I started years ago. The goal was to finish by the grange fair. And I did. Slow life in motion. I started with skeins of yarn and two needles. Steady and slow like the turtle, then voila - a beautiful, cozy sweater. It is a bit short, but I am pleased. Every time I wear it, I will feel happy and accomplished. So now on to sweater #2, on the needles for 6 years or more. I am determined - it will be done by Labor Day.

Note the pink and white blanket pictured in the middle of this post; it looks like a Swan Island blanket. I found the blanket on Martha Stewart's now-defunct shopping site years ago. Maybe Martha was inspired by the originial Swan Island blankets.

I saw this image over at booktryst, via little augury,

and was intrigued.

I picked out the "cod" right away.

It is actually a leather bound book with the coast of Massachusetts as its design.

Beautiful in its simplicity.

Doesn't the land mass of the cape

look like a finger beckoning you to come visit?

I have had a few quick trips up to Cape, Islands and Maine this summer

A quick change of scenery, even if just for 36 hours, does wonders for the spirit.

Please continue to visit;

I know my posts have been sporadic,

but computer issues have made posting more challenging.

This beautiful book binding was done by Denise Lubet; it covers an edition of The Pilgrims Fathers.

MISS RUMPHIUS

Do you remember this wonderful book.

When we drove miss is to camp, there was a spot along a back road in New Hampshire where we spotted lupine - masses of the flowers - it made me smile -

and think of Miss Rumphius spreading happiness and beauty with her flowers.

I try to do that when I plant my flower urns

by the road and by my door.

To carry on with the Children's Book Week theme....

Have you ever read the Inchmark Journal by Brooke Reynolds?

It is wonderful...

Periodically, there is post on library books

Here are some sample pictures from a recent post.

I love to follow the small hands

and imagine these sweet children reading their library books.

Takes me back to the library visits with Miss Is.

Our public library is a terrific resource.

library book photos from Inchmark Journal

Last season, I made these terrific frames and memento boards...

piles of books with titles like Good Night Moon

and

the wonderful zzzzzzzzz

I have lots of this fabric left

and

I have a great idea

I am going to make library book bags

a great way to tote all those great picture books home

and

a great way to keep them organized at home so they do not go missing...

more to come...

a summer project.

Finally, to end Children's Book Week, I toast my Hermione!

WELL DONE!!!

WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU.

Fun alphabet font I spotted on swissmiss

a few months ago.

So I did little cutting and pasting today

in honor of Children's Book Week

which I learned about via the Tattered Cover.

Then I saw this advertisement and

did a double-take

a new kind of story hour on the ipad?

I prefer reading the actual book...

I read to Miss Is every night.

We started with Mother Goose;

10 pages of rhymes a night

because rhymes help develop language skills.

Miss Is became quite a talker

and then a voracious reader...

another favorite...

it was especially fun to touch and feel the sculpture

of the ducklings in the Boston Public Garden

How wonderful is this photo?

Miss Is at Squam Lake.

We have books crammed into bookshelves all over the house.

It is still fun to pull out the old picture books.

Blogs have taken over a lot of my reading time.

It is nice to remember all the time I read to Miss Is when she was a little girl.

I just finished a very good book: Little Bee

Compelling and hard to forget.

I highly recommend it.

Each year I cull the shelves and donate to the library.

Got to make room for more books.

So many books, so little time.

Read and read and read to your children.

A gift that keeps giving...

Here is a good article from the New York Times - click here - about reading and life's distractions...the first few paragraphs are spot on...i am always saying: gotta go read that book...but in reality, I will not have time for a book until well into January...then the long-awaited hibernation... mrr design takes a long winter nap... to recharge the batteries...wish i could turn off a few other obligations...

illustration from NYT

The Gotham Book Mart was famous for its literary eminences. A December 1948 party for Osbert and Edith Sitwell (seated, center) drew a roomful of bright lights to the Gotham Book Mart: clockwise from W. H. Auden, on the ladder at top right, were Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, Delmore Schwartz, Randall Jarrell, Charles Henri Ford (cross-legged, on the floor), William Rose Benét, Stephen Spender, Marya Zaturenska, Horace Gregory, Tennessee Williams, Richard Eberhart, Gore Vidal and José Garcia Villa. (Photo: Gotham Book Mart)

So many books, so little time

Years ago I read this wonderful quote at the Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan.

I loved that book store.

The shop was stacked floor to ceiling with books, manuscripts, literary papers

and was a haven for book lovers for 87 years

until its inventory was sold at auction.

There had been a series of unfortunate events that led to its downfall

click here for the story

But the generosity of one anonymous person, who bought the inventory from the landlords,

was amazing; he donated the collection, worth several million dollars,

to the University of Pennsylvania.

A great ending to a sad story.

Second and last owner around 2006.

The original owner died at age 101 in 1989.

Last night at my book group - we have been meeting since 1998 -

well we were talking about a lady in the neighboring town who started reading a book a day

on October 26, 2008 followed by a brief review on her blog

and then she would start again.

Check out this NYT article

and now take a look at her blog.

So Many Books, So Little Time is more my speed.

I can't imagine reading a book a day.

Each time book group day comes around I must "power read".

since I fall asleep as soon as start reading in bed at night...

I wake up early on Sunday and plunk down on the cozy couch and read all day...

phew... I finish in just the nick of time too.

So glad I do finish (most of the time) because book group is rather dull if you can't contribute...

But there is no way I could read a book a day for 356 days...

simply too many books, too little time

So here, here to Nina Sankovitch!

and thanks to Nina's blog my reading list is chock full of new titles

and

will be a wonderful source for books to listen to while I create in the studio...

Last year I provided you with a run-down of my reading & listening lists here.

More to come from the last 12 months.

Diligent Joy

Two blog posts inspired this post: the profile of Anne Morrow Lindbergh by Jill Krementz on New York Social Diary and Liberty Post's entry on Eat Pray Love - the movie. I am not sure how Eat Pray Love, the book, will translate into a movie - it really needs to be read, and maybe read again...

So what is diligent joy you ask? I first came upon this term in Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I underlined it and it has stuck with me.

"Joy is not something easy to come by. It requires diligent pursuit to attain, and diligent nurture to maintain it." - Elizabeth Gilbert

Here is another quote: "Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls" -

Mother Teresa

In 2008 a friend invited several women together to discuss the book - Eat Pray Love. Some of us were acquainted with one another but not good friends, others did not know each other at all - the tie that bound us together was our mutual friend E. Our first meeting was a success and we all agreed that we wanted to continue, but it was not to be a book group - but more of a spiritual group where we would discuss various topics on life and balance and love and energy and passions - our discussions and activities cross between health, spirituality and creativity. We gather about 4 or 5 times a year. These days have become little treasures - I love the group and our discussions. After our first gathering we came up with the name Diligent Joy - taken from the book Eat Pray Love.

This summer we had a reading assignment: A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, an all-time favorite of mine.

photograph of book shelf in Anne Morrow Lindbergh's writing studio

Darien, Connecticut

I discovered The Gift of the Sea in my late twenties and I have reread it with each passing decade. Yikes, I sound old. It is one of my favorite presents to give to friends. The book always inspires me, guides me, and supports me. This passage in particular rings true today:

"One never knows what chance treasures these easy unconscious rollers may toss up, on the smooth white sand of the conscious mind; what perfectly rounded stone, what rare shell from the ocean floor. Perhaps a channeled whelk, a moon shell, or even an argonaut.

But it must not be sought for - or heaven forbid! - dug for. No, no dredging of the sea-bottom here. That would defeat one's purpose. The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for the gift from the sea."

I was happy to see the ribbon inspiration board 

on the jacket of Martha's latest book:

Encylcopedia of Crafts

A little different than mine but ribbon and board, nevertheless.

If you go to sis boom's blog here you will see one of my creations

(look at 2nd picture)

I just gave this book to a friend

and how I wished that I had more time to look at it myself.

It will be at the library soon enough!

Felted Wonders

Cover of Betz White's latest book

Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed & Organic Materials

Betz White came up with these great felted cupcake pincushions.

I found directions are on her blog

and made a felted cupcake for my niece

who loves to sew. 

Then I paired the cupcake pincushion 

with a gift certificate to J Caroline Fabrics

for her birthday.

I have been saving sweaters to make a few more.

(no picture because I had not gone down the blog hole yet!)

Check out this draft stopper!

You can read an interview with Betz White on True North here

Purl Bee also has a story here

Betz will be teaching a class at purlsoho in nyc

on April 18 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

you can learn how to make these pins

Today is my father's 80th birthday

Happy Birthday Dad!

xoxo 

 Dad and Grandchildren at his 70th celebration

He loves books.

Dad is an historian and retired professor.

When he moved from his house to an apartment last year

there were 5,000 books!

He kept 1,000 and we donated the rest to Got Books?

a fun photo of Grampa with his Grandchildren

on Christmas a few years back

and Dad with almost the whole family 

and don't forget

The last Friday of the month is

Pursuit of Happiness Day

jump over to the NYT 

to enjoy Maira Kalman's blog

here is a teaser...