Is that not the cutest picture of a baby checking out the action?

The March 24, 2011 Boston Globe Sunday magazize featured a terrific article on the resurgence of knitting, sewing and handcrafts. The photos of the shops were bright and vibrant. I misplaced my copy of the article and had to make due with this photo, which is not nearly as bright and colorful as the original, but the sweet baby makes up for the lack of intense color. The article reported on the growing trend of do-it-yourself handicraft boutiques and interest in all things hand-made and the shift of today's generation away from the 70's anti-hand-craft woman's work to the pride of home/hand made.

People are beginning to realize the importance of creating for yourself as our world becomes increasingly high-tech, digital and faster and faster and faster. The slow movement is a terrific counterpart to the fast-paced 24-7 world we live in today. I love the slow, methodical work of knitting and stitching; it is relaxing and satisfying. Hurrah for hand work. A fitting sentiment for earth day - getting back to basics - do it yourself kind of activities - slowing down - enjoying today as it is - keeping our world alive.

If you are in the Boston area, check out the knitting shops below.

J. P. Knit & Stitch - Jamaica Plain

Gather Here - Cambridge "stitch lounge"

Stitch House - Dorchester

Hipstitch - Newtonville

Craftland School of Craft - Providence

Post Script:

Here is part of an interesting interview with Lisa Borgnes Giramonti of A Bloomsbury Life - this excerpt dovetails with my comments on the hand-craft arts or "home-arts". I did a post on Lisa last year and featured her wonderful needlepoint tapestries that are very funny and creative - click here.

Full interview with Lisa Borgnes Giramonti on Yell Softly - here

You create modern, witty needlepoint art (a phrase many, who haven’t seen your work, may consider an oxymoron.) What drew you to this medium? I particularly love your piece “Perky Boobies;” do you think that we are returning to an appreciation of the “home arts” like entertaining, embroidery and gardening?

Oh, Sariah, I hope so. I think this recession has forced us all to turn inward and to realize that the It bag we all had to have five years ago is a hollow substitute for the pleasures of a meaningful life. In the last year, I have been much more conscious of living large on a small scale. Friends come over, we cook, we entertain, we talk, we laugh and we have a deep appreciation for each other’s company.

In terms of my textile work, my embroideries and postmodern samplers are a compulsion; I can’t not create them. My mother and grandmother both embroidered, and I grew up watching them, but they always worked from kits and that never appealed to me. When I saw the Bayeux Tapestry, I had a sudden epiphany that I needed to embroider MY life and my words instead of someone else’s. And that’s what I’ve done.

"Purly Wurly Takes a Picture," 1998

Redmond Aldrich

Design

Another example of how a designer uses an inspiration board; this photo is from the website of Redmond Aldrich Design and is a shot of her "design-kit". The kit is fitted out for an individual according to their design requirements; it allows an individual to use the firm's services without having the designer present - e-mail and telephone and this packet. Voila.

Inspiration boards and their uses grow...

A few weeks back I started to tell you about a woman who designed

perfect little houses

or

"in scale houses".

Her name was Barbara Garfield.

The houses are all clustered together in a seaside community in Connecticut

called Rowayton.

I was finally able to get some photos

and here is an old article about her work

and another article with more great photos here.

Each summer we attend Shakespeare on the Sound;

the production is staged in on a grassy hill next to the Five Mile River,

across the street from Jo's Way, the cluster of houses

designed by Barbara "Jo" Garfield.

And each year I peak through the hedges to get a better view

of these tiny treasures.

I love the long windows, french doors and compact and efficient size.

Her houses were generally 1600 sq ft.

I am a small house person; my house is 1,500 sq. ft

and it is just right.

My little antique has been home for 20 years.

Finally Americans are learning that big is not always better.

The country seems to be in a downsize mode these days.

The pendulum is swinging.

Barbara was ahead of her time.

She started designing these houses in the 80's

as "a reaction to the McMansions",

soon to be the white elephants of the 21st century.

The Style Saloniste aka Diane Dorrans Saeks conducted an interview

with photographer Vicki Topaz on her new book: Silent Nests. The interview is interesting and the photographs are beautiful, however, it was the author's description of a book that she is currently working on that captivated me; the book is called Silver: A State of Mind - here is what she says about it.

Diane Dorrans Saeks: What are you working on now?

Vicky Topaz: My current work, entitled ‘Silver: A State of Mind’, is a series of portraits of women who possess one of the most distinctive outward signs of aging--silvering hair. The project deals with the transformative and challenging aspects of aging and aims to reveal the core energy, vitality and allure of these women and how they are moving through this time in their lives. I find the silvering of hair is an entry point to a diversity of thoughts and ideas on the subject. This is a different sort of "landscape"--women who are aging and the vistas they inhabit.

So today, my birthday, I am reflecting on my age. Awhile back I made the decision not to change the color of my hair - I am aging as God intended - silver sparkles in my hair now. I like it and I love the idea that "the silvering of hair is an entry point to a diversity of thoughts and ideas on the subject".

When I turned 50 my dear friend June said to me: "50 allows us to say and think whatever we want - we have earned it". So silver shots in my hair and lots of years, I have earned it. And you know what? All the hairdressers love my shimmery silver - mixed in with my light brown.

And my body thanks me for it - no chemicals. And Mother Earth thanks me too.

Read this NYT piece by Dominque Browning of Slow Love Life blog. It is about long hair on older women but also about graying hair.

A post for my darling daughter miss is - happy birthday sweetie pie.

I hope you get to see this film.

It is playing in Central Square in April.

love m xoxo

I cannot wait to see this documentary. Miss Is and I are fans of "On the Street" and this film is all about Bill Cunningham as he is "on the street". If you do not know Bill, he is an 80 year old style photographer for the New York Times and rides around Manhattan on a bicycle to capture the street styles and fashions. I have never actually seen him in action, but if I spent more time around 5th and 57th my chances of a sighting would be greatly improved.

I want to be riding my bicycle at age 80!

The Sunday Styles is one of my favorite sections of the Sunday Times; yes, I do read the other news, and I love the book review, but I devour the style section. Delicious, as Diana Vreeland would say.

Click here to find out more about Bill Cunningham and the documentary

SPRING

Everything will be greening up soon.

Hooray!

I just discovered a wonderful new blog via design*sponge. It is called bbbcraft sisters: three sisters living in three cities who are all creative and have a very creative mother, who must have inspired them along the way.

Here, here to mothers.

I have so many glass jars in my laundry room.

I save them for Christmas presents:

to use as containers for spicy nuts and chocolate sauce.

But here is another idea.

Knit a decorative collar

&

a glass jar is transformed.

Photos from bbbcraft sisters via design*sponge

These are a few of my favorite things

Kaffe Fassett is now creating ribbons.

A terrific addition to his needlepoint and fabric creations.

Beautiful upholstered chairs made from Swan Island blankets.

Read about Swan Island weaving here

Weaving - the process, from the sheep to the dying bin, to the loom, to the bed.

Slow life, slow process, and a beautiful result.

Read about the picture above here -

This room was part of a designer showhouse in Camden, Maine designed by Deborah Chatfield

The chairs remind me of my daughter's desk chair. I love the effect of using multiple fabrics on the same chair to create an object that is fun, happy, colorful, and functional all at once.

Slow, local, organic, are popular words these days.

According to the Writer's Almanac, Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse 29 years ago. Lots of slow motion there...slow cooking...slow life...

If you are interested in learning more - click here - go to August 28th entry.

LINKS - can lead you down the blog hole to new and interesting places -

just like this quote I read today on swissmiss:

"One aspect of serendipity to bear in mind is that you have to be looking for something in order to find something else." Lawrence Block

More on the idea of slow life tomorrow...

"Young Velvets, Young Prices" photographed for Vogue, 1949, from the roof of the Conde Nast Building.

(All images copyrighted Norman Parkinson Ltd., provided courtesy of the Norman Parkinson Archive, London. Norman Parkinson: A Very British Glamour, by Louise Baring, Rizzoli New York, 2009)

This is one of my favorite images. I bought this postcard when I was a young twenty-something, just new to NYC. It was always posted in a prominent spot in whatever apartment I was living in at the time. I worked on the 6oth floor of 30 Rock for 12 years and this was my view of downtown, except of course, with the twin towers.

The photograph reminds me of me and my sisters, there are five girls in our family and one boy. I remember wearing white gloves when I was a little girl; they went out of fashion when I was about 6 years old. The only other time I wore white gloves was at dancing school and Miss Is wore them too when she went to dancing school. Always a sweet image: little girl in white gloves.

Off to celebrate a 5oth birthday with 3 of my sisters ... escaping to Nantucket for a couple of days. I cannot wait for the mini-break... twin beds in ajoining rooms...talk, talk, talk...window shopping...bike riding...swimming...and an icecream cone or two!!

oh those red soles...

Christian Louboutin

as seen on parisbreakfasts

inspired by

this classic photo, i think

GIRLS IN THE WINDOWS

by Ormond Gigli

photographed in 1960

read more about it here

first day of summer

blue sky sparklin' day

Ambler Farm

If any of you readers have young children

you will love this cd:

blue sky sparklin' day by elizabeth mcmahon

One of the happiest group of songs

we listened to when miss is was a little girl

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.

Amusing, clever and so beautiful

Who ever guessed that samplers could be so cool and witty.

Click A Bloomsbury Life

to see all the samplers.

You will enjoy the pithy verse.

"Stitching up the Noughties"

Exhibit in LA

at the ACME Gallery

here is the loom

with sampler in process

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 .

UPDATE

The Artist Is Present

at MOMA

Two days ago that Miss Is and I visited MOMA

We did not have any one exhibit in mind

and stumbled upon The Artist Is Present

see earlier post

Miss Is remembered a New Yorker article on the exhibit

click here

We viewed the performance

then went on to other galleries.

Miss Is questioned me -

"aren't we going to the 6th floor for the rest of the exhibit?"

I was not terribly interested but said ok.

The exhibit was disturbing and challenging, yet engaging and interesting.

I am glad we viewed it.

The New York Times had a front page blurb

on the exhibit yesterday - click here

Excuse me I'd Like to See More

and so did we.

I am glad that Miss Is prompted me to see more.

Miss Is is glad we walked between the reperformance artists:

Who's Afraid of Marina?

Creative mannequins at Bendel's in NYC:

dresses of curlers, rock candy, cupcake and candy wrappers,

and hard candy wrappers.

More dresses of cards, felt roll-ups, and feathers.

We could not ascend the stairs;

top floors "closed for renovations" - hmmm

that is code for ...

did some research...

Bendel's gave up its clothing.

They only sell accessories, make-up and bags now.

Who knew?

For a ribbon aficionado like me, these mannequins were fabulous

these spiffy numbers are constructed with just ribbons.

beautiful 70°

our perch for lunch in Central Park

study in contrasts

sneakers - boots

white - black

hot-cold

a new discovery

Francois Chocolate Bar

we perched next to the large open window

on the 4th floor above Madison and 64th

enjoyed iced coffee and a delicous macaron

another view from our perch

blue sky sparkling day

final stop

MOMA

Saw two interesting exhibits

William Kentridge

and performance artist

Marina Abramovic

"The Artist is Present"

pi day

Read about Google's Doodle today

in the New York Times

Men's Fashions Magazine

article by Alice Rawsthorn

(link not yet available)

I love checking out the doodle.

It is fun, creative and gives me a little nugget of info to think about

when I do a search.

The apple falling from the tree is one of my favorites.

A couple of years ago I did a post

on the google doodle contents

click here

Another artist in the family; this is Liz's self portrait.

Liz, daughter of my sister B, whose work I featured here and here,

is also my goddaughter.

Hanging On

Liz graduates from college this spring.

She is a wonderful, happy, talented young lady.

Not sure whether she will be an artist or a social worker

or a sailing coach...or maybe she will continue her studies...

maybe all of the above...

Terrific work Liz.

Good Posture

Liz has sold a few paintings recently -

Congrats!

the one below is on its way to a NYC apartment.

Not sure if this is the NYC subway or the T

(9 ft long)

Check out Liz's blog to see more of her art - click here