Color
Serendipity

A fortunate and unexpected bit of colorful beauty amongst my overgrown, unweeded, as yet, perennial border.

Isn't it marvelous?

Thanks to Whip Up

First Australia gave us sheep, then Jo Sharp and her wonderful yarn and books, and now it's Whip Up! Handcraft in a Hectic World. First of all, I love the name. It's a happy-go-lucky word I've used for most of my life. My mom, sisters and I were always "whipping up" something - batches of cookies, embroidered pictures, little dresses on Mom's old tan Singer sewing machine, messes, and lots of parties with all our like minded crafty friends. I'm still whipping things up - just for magazines and companies to sell to people like you.

Whip Up! is a craft blog like no other. (It probably isn't actually a blog but I don't know what else to call it!) There are contributing writers from all over the world who love all kinds of crafts. Daily, there are posts from these designers, along with from the Whip Up! creator/editor Kathreen Ricketson. The content is all top of the line but approachable. I especially love it because it covers many of my interests - sewing, felting, paper crafts, dyeing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, cooking, fabrics, kids crafts and more. There are tutorials from many different disciplines and interviews with designers. Daily I am amazed by what the web geniuses find. And it only began in January 2006.

In April I had a copy of Colorful Stitchery sent to Kathreen because she expressed interest in reviewing it. I was so excited because as you can tell, I looooove this site. The review just hit and so publicly, I'd like to thank Kathreen for doing such a nice job on it. I'm so happy she liked Colorful Stitchery and I hope her readers will too.

Quality and creativity - you'll love it! It is now one of my daily reads. Check it out today and everyday!

Growing, Growing, Growing

At this time of year, it is hard to get it all done. Before you know it, everything is out of control, growing faster than anyone can manage. The garden, the pastures, the animals, and even the grass on the front lawn – it is utter chaos. What’s a farmer to do? Call in the lawn mowing service! Here’s our solution for neatening the lawn this weekend. They are much quieter and more picturesque than a metal thing.

Paisley - In Memorium

It has been one year since our first Border Collie Paisley died. Paisley was fourteen and a half; her loss was not a surprise. For the last year of her life, she had been slowing down. Then one evening exactly one year ago, she didn’t seem right. She was lying on her spot on her favorite Persian rug; her breathing was difficult. I took Julia to the store for dinner fixings. When I came back, Mark was sitting on the front stoop and Paisley was next to him. He was patting her. He said she had come to see him. I didn’t know how she could have gotten there. But he was her boss – he and the sheep were her reason to live. She wanted to be near him.

We started with four Romney sheep in 1979 – Betsy, Putney, Frieda and Alfie. Then we got the ram Zeno. Every year we had more. We went to Scotland a few times and watched the farmers on their hills with their dogs by their sides. The black and white dogs gracefully rounded up the sheep and brought them to the farmer. It was all too romantic and beautiful – a farmer, his sheep, and his dog.

Soon we had fifty sheep. We were living in eastern Massachusetts and our sheep were living on Mark’s family farm in western Massachusetts. Mark organized the sheep so he could leave them fenced and fed for a couple days until he could make it back out west to tend to them. As our sheep numbers increased, it became clear that a dog would be helpful. Although Mark and I made a humorous site -- running around, waving our arms, and trying to corral fifty sheep, we truly were ineffective. Mark decided it was time for a dog. I let him decide. Getting a Border Collie is a huge time committent; it had to be his decision (even though I was dying for a new dog). So we found her. She was beautiful – a fluffy, speckled Border Collie with spunk. Her spots reminded me of paisleys, a favorite motif from textiles. So we named her Paisley.

It soon became clear that Paisley had talent. At our old place in eastern Mass, we had chickens. Paisley never left the side of the fence, she just stared at them and chased along the side of the fence. Most dog trainers say this will ruin a dog. Lucky for us, it didn’t ruin Paisley. When we would take her to the sheep, she became possessed – as only a Border Collie can. She would crouch down and slowly walk up. She would dive. She didn’t know why or what she was doing, she just knew she had to.

Mark took a few lessons so he could try to understand the mind of a Border Collie. He read a lot of books and watched a lot of Border Collie videos. Slowly he figured out what she wanted for commands. They became a team. They were inseparable. I loved her too, but he “was it” for her.

For thirteen years, Paisley and Mark moved sheep around. From field to field, the sheep clipped the grass. After the field was finished, he and she would move them again. I loved watching – I clearly was not part of it. Mark would send her out to find the sheep. She liked to run wide – very wide. She would disappear. Then suddenly, I would hear it – hundreds of little hooves barreling towards Mark with the dog in hot pursuit. Every time I watched, it made me smile and I was amazed. In the sheep would go, just where Mark and Paisley wanted them.

After fifteen years in Eastern Massachusetts, we found a place of our own five miles from the farm where the sheep lived. We moved here with our not yet year old daughter, Julia. By then, we had another Border Collie Phoebe. (Unfortunately, sweet as she is, Phoebe isn’t interested in sheep! Chickens are her thing – I’m her boss.)

One hot late summer day, Mark told me he was going to bring the sheep up from the other farm to our new place to begin grazing our overgrown pastures. I figured he would spend the day with the dog, loading sheep into the rickety trailer and hauling them up to our new farm. He had different plans. He, the eighty sheep, and Paisley were going to walk. Paisley was about ten years old and beginning to slow down. The road was busy one, but it was a weekend. People could wait – after all, this is the country. Part of the way was unpaved - it wouldn’t be too hard on the sheep’s feet. Off they went. I waited at home with a one year old listening. It took them four hours. They all made it – Mark, the sheep, none of whom had never walked that far in a day, with Paisley behind them. It was such a great day – such a lovely feeling of success with a dog and a bunch of unruly sheep. Neither of us will ever forget it.

Nor will we ever forget Paisley. She died the next morning in her favorite spot. It was her time. She had a good life. She was never sick a day. She lived and worked hard. When we found her, we didn’t know what to do. We cried. We drank some coffee. We had to decide where to bury her. Mark said she needed to be in a field near her sheep. She loved her fields and her sheep. Later that afternoon, we dug a hole with the bucket of the tractor in my perennial garden overlooking her fields and buried her. I planted a white tree peony above her. The tree peony is blooming today. Paisley had a good life.

Casamood

I found this ad in the latest Elle Decor. I know nothing about it. To me, it is just beautiful - all the geometric shapes making a perfect photo.

Here's what the ad said:
Casamood is the new colour project of floors and coverings by Casadolce casa: coordinated stoneware, glass, paint and grout/adhesive to achieve new harmony in the home.

But what about the skirt, the tights, the shoes??? I knew it had to be Italian. The Italians do it beautifully all the time.

Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival

The Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival is this weekend May 27-28th, 2006 in the lovely town of Cummington, Massachusetts. Cummington is west of Northampton on Route 9 - not a long trip from Boston and definitely worth the ride. It looks to be good weather too!

I like this show because it is very friendly but there is still plenty to see. It has a very family-ish atmosphere - with plenty of interesting fibers, sheep dogs, people and, of course, sheep to entertain you, your friends, and your family. The price is right too - only $5/carload. After a few hours at the Fair, it won't be too late to visit Northampton or North Adams.

A Knitted, Felted, Embroidered Tea Cosy for Knitty!

For quick summer knitting, I designed a felted tea cosy for Knitty!com, that hip knitting website out of Toronto. This was my first experience of designing for the web and I am thrilled to be included on their virtual pages. I think what the virtual Knitty group to the north is doing is so much fun. They're really helping to spread the knitting love. Thanks Amy for letting me be included!

After I had Julia in 1998, I continued to work for Classic Elite for a couple more years. We moved to our farm and I telecommuted. Things happened, mostly lots of surgery for Julia, and I just didn't have the strength to come up with all I had been coming up for sixteen years, over and over and over, season after season. So I stopped and began doing the book thing - First Knitting for Baby with Melanie Falick, then Kids' Embroidery, and now Colorful Stitchery. (See all the books here.)

And then knitting became hip and the internet happened - simultaneously! And I missed it - not totally - but kind of! Twenty years of working in the business - yikes. Not the best timing. Sometimes you do things for other reasons and you don't look back.

Now I'm back with my lovely signature "Julia" Yarn from Nashua Handknits and my Stitchery Collection for JCA. Look for a bunch on new knitting and stitching projects and kits I designed this fall and editorials in a bunch of the knitting magazines. I'll be posting the photos as they hit so check back if you like my style.

In the meantime, check out the new project on the Knitty!com website. I'm trying to become a little more web savvy (this blog!) and also trying to stay creative, keep knitting, painting, and stitching. It's a giant juggling act - but what isn't?

Brattleboro Book Signing

I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon with some interesting women at the Book Cellar in Brattleboro, VT who wanted to learn embroidery. I taught them a bunch of stitches and we all made some beautiful bookmarks (that's them in the photo). Bookmarks make an easy first project - the instructions are in my new book Colorful Stitchery. They are lovely to send as a little gift in a letter or to tuck into a book you are giving to a friend.

But here's my question - and maybe someone out in blogland, can answer it. I am having a hard time understanding why knitters are so afraid of embroidery? Every knitter (well, almost every knitter) I speak with says "Oh no, I can't embroider." I don't get it? Maybe noone is interested in embroidery yet? Are they all trying to learn crochet - since it is the newest thing?

I can't understand why knitters fear embroidery - the dreaded duplicate stitch, the elusive french knot. With embroidery, you can be brash, mod, delicate, colorful or demure. The sky is the limit and your imagination can take embroidery places your knitting never will be able to go. There isn't a mass of stitches on a needle to count or drop. It's free and easy. Don't get me wrong - I love to knit too - it's just a different frame of mind that I put myself in when embroidering.

Combining embroidery with knitting can take your knitting to another level. Transform a plain piece of stockinette stitch fabric in about an hour by adding some simple embroidery stitches. It beats following an intarsia or Fair Isle chart. I have also done embroidery on old sweaters from the thrift store which I felted.

I'm hoping embroidery on knits is a new direction. Look for editorials in the Fall 2006 issues of Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, and Knit It that I designed combining embroidery with knitting. I'd love to hear from you with your thoughts on embroidery.

The swatch below shows some embroidery stitches -- outline stitch, chain stitch, lazy daisy, fly stitch, french knot -- all on a simple checked Fair Isle background. It's a swatch I loved - but no editor loved. So here it is in my pile of sweater ideas that never happened. I still love it. All the stitches are in Colorful Stitchery so you too can make something like this.

A welcome surprise in the mail

I love to pick up my mail - sometimes if I'm lucky, there is a present in the box in the form of a new magazine mixed amongst the many bills and pieces of junk mail. Yesterday, I was totally shocked. I received the newest issue of Rowan Yarn's Knitting Newsletter which goes to certain subscribers throughout the world - it is called the Rowan International Knitting Club. And guess what? There I was in a two page feature called A Day in the Life of Kristin Nicholas.

Now, it shouldn't have been a total surprise; somehow they had to find out what a "Day in the Life" here on the farm was like. I wrote the piece back in March (I think) but I was two months past the due date. I sent it in anyway and never heard a thing. I figured, oh well - missed the date. That procrastination thing got me again! But I guess I wasn't too late. And it is a real thrill for me.

For years I have admired what those folks do over in Holmfirth. They put out beautiful yarns and their photos and books are styled so creatively. While I was working at Classic Elite, I never looked too hard at what Rowan was doing - I didn't want to be too influenced by them. I wanted to have a clear vision of what I wanted to do for my American customer. Now, I can look all I want because I don't work for anyone anymore, except myself. I do what I want and hope people like it.

Thank you Rowan, from me, and from all the knitters who you keep inspired.

More Art in Everday Life

Down the street at The Twilight Tea Lounge, here's a beautiful sign painted on the cement wall outside the door. Doesn't it make you want to sip some tea and stay awhile?

Art in everyday life

I love discovering art in everyday life. In Brattleboro, VT, there is lots of it. Mocha Joe'sis an institution there. Named for the cobbler Joe who used to inhabit an underground basement space on the main street, Mocha Joe's roasts their own coffee and ships it all over the world. The two chalk boards here show their drink lists - I was there one day with Julia when a young woman was lettering them. Aren't they lovely?

A great spot to knit or stitch

After my booksigning on Saturday, I wandered down the hill in Brattleboro to the River side of the street (the Connecticut River runs through Brat as it is known in these parts). I visited a favorite spot of mine and took these photos for you. It's the Twilight Tea Lounge and it's owned by a cooperative of women. It is in an underground space that used to be a barbershop. It is cozy - with colorful tables, wooden chairs, a big overstuffed couch, and a great checkered floor - a lovely place to spend the afternoon knitting with a bunch of friends. They even have wireless internet service. They serve over 100 different teas and lots of homebaked goodies. Visually it is a feast for the senses!

Thanks to Jane at Yarnstorm!

Thanks to Jane at Yarnstorm! She wrote about my new book Colorful Stitchery here. Jane's blog is lovely - her photos are inspirational and her writing divine. She enjoys many of the same things I do and it's fun to hear about life across the pond.

I discovered craft blogs in March. Yes, I know, I must have been under a rock. I read about Julie Powell in the NY Times and her Julie/Julia project last summer but never looked into it further. Was this woman nuts? I would never have the strength nor the "stick-to-it-ness" to cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I do have my favorite recipes from there (the apple tart and the leg of lamb). All my Julia Child's are even autographed to me (my old boss used to be her neighbor in Cambridge). I went to a book signing of hers once in Lowell and brought her some of my chicken's eggs. Julia was wearing a pea green suit (I named a La Gran Mohair color after her - Julia's Pea Green). She was in her early 80's. She was kind to every person that spoke with her. She must have had the looney groupies!

My friend Cathy gave me Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen for my birthday and I finally got around to reading it in January. I thought it was hilarious - but a tad bit strange that she was letting the world into her life. But what a marketing opportunity (yes, I've always been the queen of self-promotion) and maybe it would be fun - maybe I would meet some interesting people. The idea of a blog about our farm simmered for a while. Did I have anything interesting to say?

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of the Yarn Harlot knitting blog came to speak at the Fiber Art Center in Amherst, MA last fall when At Knit's End came out. I went to hear her read. She and I have the same publisher and they alerted me to the event. I had never even heard of her, nor her blog, but they told me I would enjoy the talk. I met her and she seemed okay - and the knitters that came to see her talk seemed okay too - maybe a little bit excessively crazy over knitting - but okay.

My writing skills were a bit rusty. I picked up a copy of Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. That helped me to get over my fears and all the memories of term papers in Mr. Sutton's Senior English Class at Dover High School - I wasn't exactly the star of the class. I began in March and hoped noone would read it. Then this blogging thing started to be a bit of fun. I started to think about what was interesting in my little life and what other people would find interesting. Anything? Or were we just one odd family living on the fringes of civilization in western Massachusetts?

My husband and I have always been magazine addicts. Our house is literally piled with disheveled leaning towers of magazines (the one here in the photo is a neat one). His are Farmers Weekly, Stockman & Grass Farmer, Sheep, and the Premier Fencing Catalog. Mine are Elle, Vogue, Bazaar, Bust, Country Home, British Country Living, The World of Interiors, Selvedge, ME Home Companion, House & Garden, House Beautiful, Elle Decor, Martha Stewart Living (you get it - mostly shelter mags with a little fashion thrown in), Interweave Knits, and Vogue Knitting. (Notice, I get more than him.) My dream job of late has always been to edit a magazine - but that's not going to happen anytime soon - I think I'm too old and I don't live anywhere near any magazine publisher and I just don't have the time. So here's my magazine - Getting Stitched On the Farm. I can say anything I want and noone has to read it. I don't have to worry about what the advertisers think. I can be my own photographer with my little digital camera. It's kind of fun. We'll see how long I have time for it. But for now, here it is.

Now, thanks to Jane at Yarnstorm, some new readers have found me! Welcome. I hope you won't be bored.

The Giant Blue Egg

Look what one of my hens gave me on Tuesday! This giant blue egg. To give you an idea of the size of this thing, I photographed "the Giant" next to a normal - but "jumbo" size egg on the left - that's what the hens usually give me. The egg on the right with the pointy tip is from one of my guinea hens. They have incredibly hard shells that you practically have to sledge hammer to open. Guinea eggs taste the same as hen's eggs - they are usually much more orange in color though. When I first starting getting guinea eggs, I wasn't so sure about eating them. But then, I heaved myself over my NJ roots and said "what the heck."

I wonder which brave little chicken pushed that thing out - it had to be painful. I put it on the scale and it weighs 125 grams - in yarn terms - 2 1/2 skeins of Julia Wool/Mohair/Alpaca! Wow! It must be a double yolker - or maybe a triple yolker. I don't have the nerve to eat it. Maybe someone has an idea what I can do with it!

Adivasi

Diana Vreeland once said "Pink is the navy blue of India." I have always loved that quote and have longed to visit India ever since I began studying world textiles when I was an undergraduate. Maybe someday - but not now. As for my hankering today for all things Indian, I visit Adivasi in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Stepping into Adivasi is like stepping into another world -- far, far away from mainstream USA. It is owned by a lovely American woman Elissa and her Indian husband Schram. The store is a visual feast for anyone who is a color and textile junkie. Stocked with herbs and spices, incense, vintage saris, old prints, bells, antique furniture, statues, blockprinted fabrics, silk covered journals, jewelry and more, I just love this place. The owners, who are frequently there with their two beautiful daughters, truly know how to make someone feel welcome. Each wall is painted a different intense color - yellow, orange, blue, red - it almost makes your head spin from over-stimulation. And how about that incredible cow - isn't she exotic? The prices are reasonable. When I buy something from Adivasi, I know that the people in India are being paid fairly and reasonably.

Visit them soon - you won't be sorry.

Pom Poms for lamp pulls

This idea probably wouldn't be high on the fire department's list of best uses for wool but I think it is pretty cute. I just love pom poms! They remind me of the pom pom bedecked knit hats my sisters and I wore when learning to iceskate on the Minervino's pond in Randolph, NJ. Lately, I have been including pom poms on many of my knitwear designs. They have such a sculptural and textural feel to them and give a festive, fun look to anything they are applied to.

I have made pom poms using a piece of cardboard to wrap the yarn around - I give directions for them in Colorful Stitchery. (In C.S. I attached pom poms to pillows.) I also love my Clover pom pom maker. When I first saw one of these contraptions, I wasn't sure I needed it - something else to take care of. But my good friend Cathy Payson told me that I just couldn't live without it - and I can't. The set I have had 4 different size "molds". Unfortunately I broke the second smallest one. They don't make it anymore but they do make this one which I haven't invested in yet.

To make a multi-colored pom pom, just wrap varying amounts of different colors of yarn around your mold or a piece of stiff cardboard. You can also wrap two colors together to make a tweedy pom pom. I have found that it's fun to try out new color combinations on pom poms because they are quick to make. Pom poms "eat" yarn - the larger one here weighed 50 grams when it was finished - but I used up lots of odds and ends from my knitting bag.

To make my lamp pulls, I tied the center with 6 ends of yarn that were about 20" long. I braided the ties together and somehow attached them by wrapping the ends to the lamp chain. Because they are wool, they resist catching on fire - but I am pretty careful to turn the lamps off every night.

Jeremy the Guard Llama

Last summer we "lost" 15 lambs and ewes to coyotes in a matter of three weeks time. Mark is usually pretty patient with the wildlife, knowing that they need to live too and that sometimes some of "our" sheep are "their" food. But last year was too much. We have thought about "guard dogs", but steered clear of them because we aren't always where our sheep are and "what if" the dog did something wrong.

At the Franklin County Fair in September, we met a sheep farmer who swore by his guard llama, and so, because we felt helpless and had to do something, we went in search of a llama. That led us about 4 miles down the road to Julie who was downsizing her herd of llamas. We brought home "Jeremy" and he has been with the sheep ever since. So far, so good - no losses to coyotes. He walks the fenceline and keeps watch over everything. He's not so sure about dogs - which is good. Our two border collies Phoebe and Ness are okay because he knows them - but he is always "on guard."

Thank you Jeremy!

The Chicks have Arrived!

Every day, after school, Julia and I have to do some kind of activity. It runs the exciting gamet of going to the Fedex drop box to mail off a project that must be at a photo shoot the next morning, going to the post office hoping to find an order in our PO Box, running to the grocery store - the stuff of life. But today, we went to pick up our brand new chicks at the Bernardston Grain Store. Picking up chicks is one of the "funnest" (is that a word?) things I do every year.

Walking into the Post Office or the Grain Store and hearing the deafening "peep, peep, peep" is a sound I wait to hear. The girls boxed up our assortment of Aracaunas, Buff Orpingtons, and one lone Brahma and we were off. We set them all up in a smallish box with some grain, some water, and a clip light to keep them warm. Our biggest challenge will be keeping the kittens, Cookie and Ginger, at bay - they are fascinated! Tomorrow I will find a larger box and they'll have some more room to run around. Today we're just worrying about keeping them warm.

Sheep Grazing

It's mid-May and this is what it looks like on our hill. What I love to look at is all the different shades of green that the trees are. As we look farther up the hill, the trees are barely in bud - they are a greyish-celery color. The evergreens on the right are always this shade of mossy green. The orchard (down at the bottom just behind the sheep) is tinged with white - those trees are old apple trees and in a few days, the whole thing will be white with blossoms. Springtime really is glorious.

Purple and Orange

I picked this bunch of lilacs the other day. I set them down on my grandmother's old "pantry" that I painted a great shade of flaming orange. I walked by a few minutes later and just said "wow!" What a great combination - LILAC AND ORANGE! It makes me happy and cheerful on Day #3 of rain, rain, rain. But for sure, the rain will make my garden grow and for that I am thankful.

I ended up with Gram's pantry because I was the only grandchild with an honest to goodness farmhouse. I know it is from 1920 because that is the year my grandmother married my grandfather. I bake some (not nearly as much as my gram) but mostly I use the pantry to store pans, muffin tins, notecards, rubber stamps, the checkbook - whatever doesn't fit somewhere else. It has an honest to goodness flour holder with a built in sifter in it which is super helpful and fun to crank. Every time I twist that crank, I think of my German grandmother Frieda baking Christmas cookies, stollen, and apple cake. I learned a lot from her and feel so fortunate to have had her be a big part of my life. It makes me sad to think that Julia, like most children her age, lives so far from her extended family. Julia has only my mom Nancy left now and we don't get to see her as often as we should. There's a lot to be said for the old-fashioned way of having multiple generations sharing the same house taking care of each other - a way of life that, in America, has practically vanished.

Brimfield

I'd like to say I had a really great time at the first Brimfield show of the year but it was miserable. There was a forecast of rain but that never deters me. I went dressed in my Scottish wax coat and hat, wool sweater, and red Wellies ready to face the weather. But let's just say it monsooned. The fields were full of mud. The vendors were trying to keep warm in their tents. There was no unbounded joy of the hunt or the sale. It just wasn't any fun in the rain.

I met up with my sister Laurie and friend Clara, drank some tea and then tried again (in vain) to find something fun to buy. I came home with some vintage embroidered pillowcases, a pretty floral frame, and a piece of pottery. Oh well, there is always July. I got these little vintage embroideries last year. I especially love the top one - it must have been some kind of pre-pack kit - the fabric is printed with green and red and then the stitching was done on top. It gives me ideas for combining fabric painting and embroidery in a new way.

More new green!

New York Times article features needlepoint

In an article in the Thursday Styles section of The New York Times entitled "Forget the Book, I'd Rather do Needlepoint", the Critical Shopper Alex Kuczynski talks about her love of needlepoint. Can "free-form" embroidery be far behind? I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Here's the link: NY Times Needlepoint article

It goes off-line in a week so if you want it later, you'll have to pay through their archives.

Article: Forget the Book, I'd Rather do Needlepoint
by ALEX KUCZYNSKI

Published: May 11, 2006

Green - my favorite color - and it's back!

Brattleboro Book Signing - May 20th

I'll be at the Book Cellar in Brattleboro, Vermont for a book signing and informal stitchery lesson Saturday May 20th from 2 to 4 p.m. Here's a photo of the window display they made with pillows and things from my new book Colorful Stitchery. I'll have lots more things from the book with me that day.

If you haven't ever been to Brattleboro, you're in for a treat. Just off Route 91 at the first exit in Vermont, the downtown has a quaint, late 1800's feeling with beautiful brick architecture. The town was built on the banks of the Connecticut River. The stores, restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, book shops (new and used), and the Farmer's Market (Saturdays 9 - 1) are all worth the trip.

For textile junkies, there's some great stores - - -
Delectable Mountain Fabrics - a fabric store like none other
Adivasi - Indian Imports
Beadniks
Not Just Yarn - a nice yarn store north of town
Two thrift stores
"Boomerang" consignment store
The Brattleboro Food Coop
Green Mountain Spinnery is just up the road in Putney

Hope to see you there!

The Toymaker

Marilyn Scott Waters is an amazing artist who has a website full of paper toys you can download and print - The Toymaker.com. It looks like her work is done in watercolors. Some of it is a little reminiscent of Beatrix Potter in a very nice way. She also has a lovely sense of typography, lay-out and color. I thought Julia would love making these but they’re still a little difficult for her to cut around finely. Soon, I'm sure.

The “toys” are definitely for young and old. Have a peek and have some fun. If you sign up for her newsletter, you’ll receive notices of new toys for all kinds of holidays including St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and the upcoming, all important, Mother’s Day!

Sheep Eating

To feed our sheep when the grass is growing (April to November), we practice "rotational grazing." This is a fancy term for - when there is no more grass left in the field, The Farmer moves the portable electric fence and sets up a new "dinner plate" for the flock. In the springtime, the grass is growing at an unstoppable pace. You can practically watch the cells divide. It is hard for the sheep to keep up with the growth.

When the sheep move to a new piece of grass, I love to sit in the middle of the field. (Guess there isn't much to do here, is there?) After a couple minutes, the sheep don't know I am there. Last night I was surrounded by about 60 lawnmowers -- chomp, chomp, chomping away. It sounds so pretty - all that diligent work and the smell of the fresh clipped grass. Here's what it looks like from the point of view of the grass.

That Day

Every spring there is that one special day when the green is so pure and fresh and new and beautiful against the blue sky. I long for that day for weeks and months. Today was it.

Brimfield Opens Tomorrow - May 9!

I'm really lucky to live only about 1 1/2 hours from Brimfield, Massachusetts - home to one of the best and biggest flea markets in the USA: Brimfield.com. It runs for a week in May, July, and September. I try to go on Fridays and meet up with my sister Laurie and friend Clara who come from eastern Massachusetts. I get up at an ungodly early hour of the day/night? and sneek out the door - hopefully not waking anyone. My sister Laurie always beats me though. (Clara is super organized and picks her up probably when I am just climbing out of bed.)

Here are the dates for Brimfield for 2006:
May 9 - 14
July 11 - 16
Sept 5 - 10

We hit J & J - really good quality antiques - but most of the prices are steep (for me). And then after we look at the good stuff, we seek out the other fields where I always find lots of bargains. It is fun to meet shoppers and vendors from all over the world.

I found my first gingham embroidered aprons shown here a few years ago for $2 each. They went on to inspire cross stitch projects in Kids Embroidery and Colorful Stitchery. I always return from Brimfield jazzed but exhausted - with lots of ideas for new projects and stuff to do them with.

Photo by Kevin Kennefick from Colorful Stitchery.

Maira Kalman Embroideries

Maira Kalman has always been one of my favorite illustrators and children’s book authors. When I found out I was pregnant, one of the good things was, I didn’t have to feel guilty buying every new Kalman children’s book. I would have someone legit to share them with.

Last summer I was really excited to see that a profile in I.D. Magazine about Maira and her new embroidered illustrations! Wow, maybe Maira and I were on to the same thing. From what I can gather, since I have never met her (nor do I have a chance of meeting her) stitching was part of her family tradition – just like mine (and probably yours!). She came upon it naturally as a sort of homecoming and created some great stylized embroideries on antique fabrics.

Here’s a link to the embroidered pieces she had at a show at the Julie Saul Gallery in NYC last fall: Maira Kalman Embroideries Although the show is gone, you can still see the wonderful work she embroidered in her own whimsical, illustrative style on this gallery website.

Here’s where you can find out about all her beautiful children’s books: Maira Kalman’s Children’s Books

Sampler Exhibit at Historic Deerfield

Last November I did a fun stitching class for kids and their parents at Historic Deerfield in conjunction with the fabulous exhibit Embroidered History - Stitched Lives. This exhibit shows needlework done by girls from the 1600's to 1830. The pieces - mostly samplers - show many styles of stitching, fibers, and motifs. There are some pieces of clothing also. The work is very fine. It is hard to believe they didn't have electricity and that all the fabrics and threads were handspun.

Visiting the exhibit reminded me that stitching was such an important part of everyday life for the early settlers. There were no stores to buy finished clothing or yarns, no photography to hang on the wall. Needlework told complete family's history and was proudly displayed on the settlers walls.

Here's the link to learn more: Embroidered History. The exhibit will be up until the end of 2006 so if you get the chance, arrange travel plans to attend. There is so much to see at Historic Deerfield - historic houses, museums and more.