dear strawberry

I swear, I do still make things. But these days I've grown increasingly devoted to images that make my heart flip flop (in the least indecisive way). This is probably due to my camera - my husband's brainchild of a perfect gift this Christmas gift.  I never had any interest in taking photos, I just wanted to make things. But something about this camera, makes the image collection almost as fun.

So I'll start to post things made again soon, but in the mean time:
strawberries distract.

It seems I've begun a series of letters to food that I love. A series it is.

more, tulips, more

I have a series of forest posts en route, but the tulips interrupt.

I'm going to keep going

because I saw these in the grocery store

and almost didn't give them a second look

brought them home; snipped, pulled-leaves, watered, vased.

and they showed me.

for anyone in the mood for a still life, they're available.

Revisited

...or, "how I'm finally realizing the benefits of spending months pouring through antique stores in search of the perfect blue and clear bottles."

I rewarded my spring cleaning efforts with a bouquet of spray roses - the perfect fillers to a handful of the glass bottles I collected for the wedding.

I bough two or three antique glass bottles at a time throughout the fall, falling in love with the subtle differences in glass color, shape and the antique advertising of different potions and remedies in raised letters and decorations along the glass.

Not only do these make the sweetest mini-vases, it's an excuse to spring-clean the generic vases we have lying around. 

Wouldn't it be great if wedding rental businesses had vintage sections? (pssst, hi Grace!)

Finders Keepers

 

I had a banner day at the Quechee antique store.  I was picking up a few odds and ends. Actually, I was picking up a wedding band, which is neither an odd nor an end, and is sweet as can be (in addition to being a platinum steal!).

On my way to the jewelry case I found some of my new favorite things: Glass bottles and tins and pony shoes, oh my! And a 1950s cocktail dress that fits like a glove.

Everything looked so great together. As they were wrapping and ringing me up,  I couldn't wait to get home to unwrap and photograph. Once again, our painfully creamsicle colored dining room transforms into a divinely muted color when photographed in the afternoon light. Frankly, I think it's magic that these photos aren't a blurry mess. I like magic.

Smith Corona Typewriter (perfectly usable for $30!)

Added to the collection of bottles... (the little blue one says 3-in-one potion!...why oh why do we package everything in plastic.)

Plus some old tobacco tins. Pictured here with all of the pony shoes because they just seem to go together like peas & carrots.

If only I had been able to find a "Quechee is GORGE-ous" Tshirt, the day would have been complete.

Buy your Linen, Rent your forks

In the early days of wedding planning I swore I could get it done for $5000.  I was quickly disabused of this notion. But it made me mildly nauseous as I realized how much money could be spent for a few hours of our lives (even if it will, blah-da-de-blah, last forever in our memories). So I made a few early decisions which I'm fairly certain, kept me to only doubling, not infinitely multiplying, my original figure. Here are the wedding planning rules I lived by: 1) I'll make what I can 2) I'll buy local and antique whenever possible 3) Instead of renting, I'll buy things we'll want to keep.

Aside from loving Drew to infinity in the eyes of the State, item #3 brings me to my favorite part: I'm doing my own linens. The theory being: 1) Renting linens is insanely expensive and generally uninspiring 2) If it's fabric, I can reuse or re-purpose it, 3) Vintage cotton and linen are outstandingly lovely and create exactly the aesthetic I want. More proof?

That said, I had planned on buying my forks too. Oh, and all of the china. Can you imagine dozens of sets of mismatched silver plated silverware and a variety of vintage china on the linens above?
I can.
But I had to stop somewhere.

Peonies: Real & Sewn

I bought peonies a few weeks ago. I love bulbous fluttery flowers and peonies never let me down. I snapped a few photos to catch them as the petals started threatening to fall:
They managed to photograph with a lot of fluttery drama, which is saying something considering the lame cantaloupe color of our kitchen (of which I am really not a fan) and the fact that in person they were well on their way to decay. Never underestimate the beauty you can get with $9 at the grocery store.

Since taking them, I've wanted to recreate some textile peonies in some way and started a little project. First up, some 3-d petals wired together to make flowers (or, more accurately: A flower)
Project two: sewn peony pillows. They took some planning, but managed to stay pretty organic and roughly formed:

Each petal is topstiched to the linen. Here's a shot of the underside that belies the process a little: