Thoughts at the Kitchen Sink

I've been thinking about work and the way that it is often so tempting to get a job done quickly without too much effort. When there are endless jobs to be done and the promise of some time to not do anything, it seems to make sense to choose ease and convenience. They are, after all, what everyone wants most, along with instant gratification. As someone who tries to make instead of buy as much as possible I shouldn't be drawn to doing the bare minimum and calling it good. But when someone comments on the food I have prepared or something I've knitted or sewn, my first response is, It's really easy. I say this because I want you consider trying to make something yourself, too. I say it because I don't want you to think I've gone to a lot of trouble or that I am insane to take all that time to make something when I buying it would be easier. I wonder what would happen if I said, I put a lot of time and effort into it and that's why I like it so much.

There are daily and weekly tasks that I don't want to linger on and there are meals that I rush to prepare and sometimes rush to eat. But I find that when I gloss over things quickly it encourages me to keep doing less instead of engaging in a task. When I go deeper into cleaning, making, listening, I feel more connected, grounded, and appreciative. It is certainly not always possible to do this but I remind myself that these moments are all we have and I'd like to enjoy experiencing as many as possible. I don't plan to take more time and care with scrubbing the shower but I do want to remember the satisfaction of a job carefully and thoroughly done.

P.S. This article is not entirely related, but I really loved it.

Shop Update

I printed postcards of some of my recent stitched collages which were inspired by a few of my favorite recipes. They are for sale in my shop as sets of six different postcards. I am also offering a free postcard set with any purchase from my shop through December 8. I'm excited to share some of this two dimensional work and to do more as time goes on (hopefully the calendar will be back next year!).

The shop will be open until December 21 and then I will close it for the foreseeable future. Thanks for supporting my creative work!

To go right to the shop, click here.

In Case You are Interested

 

I'm getting ready for the next session of my class about creativity and making more with your hands every day. If you would like more creating and hand making in your life, join us for the next six weeks of creative ideas, challenges and getting our hands dirty. It's a chance to face your fears, try new things and reconnect with your own creative practices. The class starts on Monday and there is still room for you. Find out more here.

 

Some Color for Your Day

In the midst of all this gray weather (and snow!) I got to work on a fun and colorful project which helped to brighten the day. This is a custom order for cloth napkins to go with an assortment of Fiestaware dishes. I love the idea and can only imagine how vibrant and beautiful this combination will be on the table.

Work In Progress

Since January I have cut back drastically on the amount that I am working for other people. I spend a day or two each week at a local bakery but the rest of the days are for me to use as I wish. I try to use them as wisely as possible and I have the to-do lists to prove it. I also have the hours of dreaming, scribbling, stitching, writing. The moments when an idea goes from a random seed to a sprout to a viable growing thing and the satisfaction that these breakthroughs bring.

I am lucky that I have the chance to try and do something but I am surprised by how little of what I want to do gets done and how easily things can get pushed off to the side. Often this is a result of uncertainty, fear, lack of confidence. Not so much in my ability to do things but in the shadows of doubts that creep in and make me wonder if this is ever going to work. Realizing just how tiny my voice is in this crowded sea of creative, beautiful, and inspiring work is daunting. Not knowing if I have what it takes to make a living from my creative work feels like walking along the edge of a cliff, uncertain if I will get where I want to be or if I am teetering too close and might fall.

I was inspired by this quote from Julian Fellowes, the writer of Downton Abbey, that Sarah shared  in a recent post (check out Sarah's blog, too, it is beautiful and delicious) and it really resonated with me so I wanted to share it.

I’m always a bit nervous about speaking as someone who is successful, but I suppose I’m allowed to. Actually, tenacity is the quality that you cannot do without. I’ve known very talented people who do well and I’ve known very talented people who do badly, and I’ve known not very talented people who do well or badly. The one quality that all the ones who do well have is tenacity. They just don’t give in, and they keep plugging away.

There are moments when you do feel very desperate. You just think nobody is ever going to respond to your work, that it’s never going to happen. And somehow you just have to push through that whether you do it with a big whiskey, or taking a day off, or whatever. You have to push through that sense of not being valued...I think the danger for the young is that they lose faith in the quality that their work has. And yet, that nugget – whatever it is – that is the nugget that will make it happen if they are to be successful. I mean, it’s easy to say, and it’s hard to follow through, but again it comes back to having belief in yourself.  -Julian Fellowes

Studio Update

I've been meaning to share a studio update for a while now. I've been busy at my sewing machine making new portable placemats, aprons, and I just finished a new series of linen tree bags.

The tree bags are all made from linen which gives them a casual elegance. Their simple shape is large enough to hold several books, knitting supplies, groceries, your keys, wallet, phone, camera, water bottle, yoga mat and whatever you might need to carry. But the bags are not huge so you won't be weighed down by carrying too much. Each bag features a winter, spring/summer, or autumn tree and the straps are lined with a color that matches the leaves.

A number of the placemats and aprons I have made recently are now for sale at I Like You in northeast Minneapolis. Of course there are still plenty in my shop as well. There are still calendars available as well. I really hope all of these things will find good homes, soon!

This week I am transitioning to holiday preparations. I have gifts to sew and bake and find and decorations to brighten our living room for this glowing season. We had a big snow storm yesterday so everything outside is white and sparkly and looking perfectly like December. I hope your holidays and preparations are going well and bringing you joy!

P.S. I recently had the opportunity to share a story if my early days in food. You can read it here.

In the Studio and Elsewhere

 

I've spent a lot of time this week getting back into a sewing routine and getting ready for the HandmadeMN Fall Market that I will be part of tomorrow. Above are a few of the new aprons I have been working on. I'm looking forward to spending the day meeting other crafters and sharing my work with a new audience.

I haven't made anything new in the kitchen lately but I did make this pumpkin cake into delightfully spiced cupcakes.

Have you read this article about parts of the world where people live longer and some of the reasons why? While longevity is not necessarily a focus of mine, I was inspired by the simple and beautiful life they live. There are many elements of their healthy lifestyle, like a relaxed pace, good food, and community that I want to continue to incorporate more in my life. 

Just a few thoughts from this week. Have a good weekend and if you're looking for something to do in Minneapolis, be sure to stop by the market.

Finally Ready!

I couldn't decide which to share with you first -- the postcards or the calendar. They are both printed and ready to mail (you can find postcards here and calendars here). This project started back in the spring as I began to work on some two dimensional fabric pieces. Creating images in fabric can be a challenge and it is fun to play with shapes and colors and stitching that is more for the way it looks than for its usefulness. 

Turning the large fabric images into square perfect prints on paper was the hardest part. My graphic design skills are sadly basic and it took me way to long to find places that could print the quality that I wanted at a reasonable price. I'll cut my dull story of the challenges short because I am really excited to be able to share my work in new and different forms. 

It is always scary to invest so much in a project without any certainty of whether anyone else likes it even a little bit. I hope you'll take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Images from Calendar

This Week in the Studio

I've spent the past few weeks finishing the sewing for my Eat Real Food series of wall hangings or fabric collages. I am now in the process of turning them into prints for postcard sets and a calendar.

I am planning to have these ready for sale soon in my shop as well as local stores. If you like the idea as much as I do, sign up here so you'll be the first to know when they are available.

Also, I am having a sale in my shop with discounts on lots of favorite items. I am hoping to find good homes for some older items to make room for new things this fall.

Pause

In modern life stopping for meals is not an absolute necessity. But, while chewing and sipping on the go are pretty much normal, I like the idea and practice of pausing for sustenance. A meal is an opportunity to let go of other tasks and responsibilities and tend to our simplest or deepest needs. We can fuel our bodies with carrots, strawberries, cheddar cheese, roast chicken, tortilla chips, mashed potatoes, or chocolate mousse and nourish our spirits with the connections and conversations that come from sharing food with others.

I enjoy the days when I can leave my work and spend time making dinner. Sometimes it is an involved process other times it is uninspired or thrown together. Still, I value early evening in the kitchen and while I listen to the news I strive for a pause from to-do lists and a chance to connect with my home, myself, and the food I am preparing.

It is easy for me to romanticize cooking and eating for myself and my husband. Our dinner table rarely looks like anything magazine, pinterest, or even blog worthy. Ray and I both have busy schedules so eating dinner together is less a ritual and more a hope that we will have one or two nights each week to meet at the wooden table in the corner of the kitchen.  Before we sit down I set out plates, napkins, forks, glasses.  It usually takes a few increasingly louder Dinner’s Readys before he appears in the kitchen. We catch up on the happenings of the day and try to have meaningful conversation. Even though it isn’t perfectly idyllic, I still treasure the evenings when I can cook dinner for us to share.

Not every pause from our busy routines must center around food, but I like that preparing and eating a meal is a way to let go of everything else. A time when I can try to be thankful for what we have and come closer to being in the moment. 

How do you pause?

This Week in the Studio

 

Chickens! For as long as I can remember my Dad has had chickens at his house. When I was young I would hold out a handful of food and feel the gentle scratch of a beak as a chicken ate my offering. I was always afraid to reach under them to collect the eggs they were sitting on, though. The chickens he has are bantams, a smaller type of chicken which lays eggs about half the size. There have been generations of chickens in the coop his house with many different colors and feathers.

Inspiration has struck and I made a few more chicken bags and some zipper pouches (which will make an appearance at a craft fair on July 7 in Kennebunkport, Maine).

Happy Friday!

This Week in the Studio

Every week is a mix of sewing, photography, some cooking, writing, trying to get some exercise and maybe read or work on a project just for me. I wish I could share great tips on how to make it all work or the best ways to be fulfilled, successful and make some income with creative work. I am enjoying the process, but I don't really know what I am doing or how to make these things happen.

There is, of course, satisfaction in the creative processes, but I am very happy when I can enjoy the results just as much, if not more. I made market bags this week and had a lot of fun with them. They seemed much easier to sew and when I was finished I realized that I had cut and sewn them a completely different way than the ones I made last spring. A silly mistake, but one that I am very happy with. These bags can still fit plenty, but I think they have a nicer shape and I really want to start carrying one around. There are few others in the shop, too!

Happy Weekend!

This Week in the Studio

This week was all about finishing napkins. Here are a few ideas for how to use them, but I bet you have more. Feel free to share! Happy Friday.

Join Me at the Table

I finally got around to making a few improvements to the Seedling Design website. A few months ago, I realized that I wanted to integrate Seedling Design more fully with my passion for food and creating in the kitchen. It only made sense for me to focus on the kitchen, table, and eating related items that I make because at it's essence my goal is to bring everyone to the kitchen and the table to share the food, stories, community, creativity and joy that happen there. Seedling Design is just one of the many ways I aspire to do this. I wanted to share my updated version of what my business is about: 
 
I want you to feel at home in the kitchen. Whether you've just mastered boiling water or you make it a habit of cooking three course dinners for friends, I want you to enter the kitchen with confidence and delight. You know there is something special in that space where simple ingredients are turned into a nourishing meal. It is a place where you can embrace creative abandon and be close to the ones you love. If making a meal took you twenty minutes or two hours, it was time well spent that deserves a pause in your day and a gathering of loved ones at the table.

You know that good food nourishes more than your body. Friendships flourish around the table. A well-loved apron, like favorite recipe, can be passed down for generations. You want your friends and family to know the taste of lovingly prepared food. It's not about impressing anyone. It's not about perfection. It is about joy.

You don't have to build your dream kitchen or set the perfect table, but I want you to have the right accessories to feel at home wherever you are. A set of napkins that add something special to everyday meals, a sturdy bag for carrying your farmer's market haul, the apron you wear when making your family's favorite pasta sauce. I love combining vibrant colors, fabric patterns, stitching, and appliqué to make something that you will want to use all the time. I choose quality fabrics and carefully sew each piece to make sure it will last for years.

I am passionate about food and greatly value the time I spend in the kitchen. I want to share this with you by making things that are part of the rhythm of growing, cooking, and eating. Please join me at the table.

Thanks to Ray for creating and updating the website for me. 

A Mid-Week Picnic

One of the benefits of not working a Monday through Friday nine to five schedule is that you can sneak away midweek for a picnic with a friend. It was actually a 30 hour getaway to a spot in Wisconsin that is half way between my apartment and my friend Emily's in Milwaukee. After we both drove a few hours to get there, we were eager to break out the picnic basket. waOn the menu: goat cheese, crackers, tomato jam, fruit salad, a roasted carrot and avocado salad, spiced walnuts, and chocolate souffle cupcakes.



Our picnic site was in a state park, near a lake. It was the company not the setting, that made the picnic perfect. We were mostly oblivious to the intense winds and clouds that kept us from the sun's warmth as we brought each other up to date on our lives. The picnic fueled a few hours of walking along the lake shore and through the forest as the sun came out and we took off jackets and sweatshirts.

A good friend, good food, and a lots of time to wander are just the right ingredients for my perfect picnic. I'm so glad I've had a chance to do some picnicking and adventuring already this spring. What would make your picnic perfect?

This Week in the Studio

This week has been, well, freakishly warm here. After a winter that never really came it seems like we skipped spring and found summer in March. I think it is still too early to plant seeds outside, but I've been working on more fabric gardens. The plants I've chosen here are companions, which means they are good to plant near each other and have been shown to help each other grow. I love simple words paired with a great image but I don't think I've been able to achieve that in my work yet. I want to keep trying, though.

I hope you are enjoying the whatever season you are experiencing where you live!

This Week In the Studio

Washing, ironing and cutting fabric. I made and shipped this custom order. Then I cut more fabric and matched it with other fabric for more placemats.

I love working with these beautiful fabrics and it is quite fun to choose which ones to put together.

After many placemats in the past year, I am happy to finally be very proficient at making them and I love the way they are turning out. It is gratifying to know that my work improves and that I actually have some skill at sewing.

I've been very slow at getting new items in the shop, but I plan to make that happen next week. Happy Friday!

This Week in the Studio

I've sold quite a few napkin sets so I decided to make a few more along the same free form stitching lines that I used on the bags I showed you last week. I found some of my favorite bright colors in a lovely soft cotton. I've gotten a lot of feedback that people prefer darker colored napkins so they don't look too messy while in use, so I've been trying to keep that in mind when choosing colors.

With these stitched sets, each napkin has the same basic design. Because I sew them "free hand" each leaf or vine comes out slightly different. When it comes to patterns, I am always most intrigued by the ones that don't repeat themselves perfectly. Floor tiles, quilts, weaving, patterns in nature -- the ones that vary slightly capture my attention more as I try to make sense of the pattern that varies too far out of the way. This is how I see the leaves and vines on these napkins. A repeated pattern that is not perfectly the same every time. It also reminds me of heirlooms made before mass production that often have small details that are not quite the way you expect them to be.

These were my last big project for the shop for this year. Now I need to focus on making Christmas gifts, getting packages together, and having more time to do what I please. I definitely would like to make more napkins sets like this, if they are well received, but I am looking forward to devoting more time to enjoy the holiday season and relaxing a bit in the next few weeks.

What have you been working on? I hope you are enjoying the season!

This Week in the Studio

Earlier this week, I made a few sets of vegetable ornaments. I made a bunch two years ago for a holiday sale and thought it might be fun to make a few this year. They're just like the veggies on my aprons and bags, but they are two-sided.

I normally try not to think about Christmas until it is December. This year, though,  I have started thinking about Christmas quite a bit earlier than usual. I've realized that time goes by so fast and it is more fun to have plenty of time to prepare for and enjoy the Christmas season. Thanksgiving deserves plenty of celebrating, I'm not trying to rush things. I am just happy to be in this season of holidays and looking forward to more preparations and celebrations.

Two year ago we had a Christmas branch. Last year we hung our ornaments on the mantle piece of the (non-working) fireplace in our apartment. I'm not sure what we'll do this year. These ornaments don't have to be for a specific holiday, they are good for any festive time when you want a few more veggies in your life :)

I know that a lot of people call today black Friday, but I like the idea of plaid Friday. Have a good weekend!

This Week in the Studio

This week I did a quick project for our house. Using a piece of gray linen that I originally thought might become a skirt, I hemmed a simple tablecloth. I love the neutral, but beautiful, gray that compliments and contrasts the bright colors of our dishes.

I was going to write up a more specific tutorial, but this is an incredibly easy project. I find it handy to use an iron to fold over the raw edge of the fabric and then fold it over and iron it again so there is no longer a raw edge. Then sew the folded edge. I sewed around with orange thread three times so there are three uneven and meandering lines of stitching. It isn't noticeable from the top of the table, but I love the look of lines of stitching.

You can pretty much hem any piece of fabric to make a tablecloth. This one fits our table when only one leaf is open (which is how it is usually set up for just the two of us) and that works just fine. We don't use tablecloths often, but I am looking forward to using this for holiday meals or every day dinners. It's really nothing fancy, but it's fun to set a festive table mostly using what we've already got and makes our dinner table feel a little more special. Have you done anything lately to make your home more festive?

P.S. I am so happy to finally have lots of aprons in the Seedling Design shop! And you can now follow seedling design on twitter.