I Heart Quilts (Quilts Heart CarSharing)

I think about quilts. I have an internal file of new ones to make.  I make little sketches and buy fabric.  Sometimes I spend a few weeks making lots of little quilts. I listen to VPR and new music from Drew. Sewing and cutting and getting lost in stitching.

They're not all great and they're not all hand quilted, but a day spent like that always makes me darn happy. Then suddenly a year passes and I haven't done any quilt sewing. I walk by my little stacks of fabric. They move increasingly into their corners. I think "I used to make quilts." 

Last year, about this time, I had an idea to make a quilt with lots of hearts all fluttering around, barely sewn down. I didn't wonder how I'd wash it.  I just wanted to make it. Little sketches tucked in my pocket (or,  crumpled in the bottom of my bag) I bought fabric, cut and started piecing it together.

But then I hung it on my studio wall, and sort of liked it there. Enough to leave it up, indefinitely.

Recently some friends were looking for art donations for Carshare, a great new local organization. They have a fundraiser upcoming. It has a heart filled theme. I remembered that partially pinned quilt on my wall and thought I should anti-procrastinate and finish it up. Instead I started over (mainly because said studio is an hour away. oh Middlebury, why are you so far from Burlington?). I thought I should give it to someone, like the carshare people. Especially because we drive so much (though we try to car share, we can't always). So this quilt is like my personal carbon offset for all of the miles Drew and I drive (wherein I have thoughts about quilting and valentine's day card making. I wager most of Drew's are spent thinking about Mad River Glen). Someday soon, we'll drive less.

Here are a few images from the piecing process and machine sewn rows of top stitching. It's almost done. If you are local, you can swing on over and make a bid!

Good night quilt. Thanks for being made.

If only I had 85 vintage napkins

Oh right, I do. And until Sunday they all sat 1/2 un-ironed in a laundry basket raising a preverbial eyebrow at me. And then on Sunday I took a fabric printing class at Nido (fabulous new fabric and fiber arts store in Burlington).

So much fun.


I did a few drawings of the moss after a hike up Mt. Abe last fall and I used this for my design. Contact paper and an exacto knife is all you need.

A little fabric paint.

and voila.


So, now I have my eye on that pile of napkins for a new life as valentines.

Just you wait...

millions & mountains of thanks

This fall I split time between my sewing machine, typewriter and antique stores. I put a lot of hours into our wedding, but the sweet bow tied on the evening was how well everything came together and how amazing our vendors were. I wanted to stay local and handmade and was surprised at how easy it was to find incredible resources close by. The candle light and open space at the gallery, beautiful touches, incredible food and drink and our amazing photographers all made for a blissfully warm night in the middle of a snow storm. I wanted to share our vendor info and encourage anyone to use them for any event:

Photography: Shem Roose. All images in this post are credited to him and we couldn't be more thrilled. Might I add that there's little wedding photography section on his site. I kind of loved that. He just has some great wedding shots mixed in with other striking photos. Perfect for people like us, who wanted someone with a great eye to capture warm and unique moments.

Space: Firehouse Gallery, Burlington City Arts. The Firehouse Gallery was the perfect location with the fireplace we piled with candles, to the strands of lights throughout. It was an enchantingly warm treehouse. And the downstairs gallery provided a nice change of scenery for our cocktail hour. Plus, Lisa, Mallory & Kim were wonderful to work with.

Caterer: Catering By Dale. Just absolutely superb food and an incredibly organized staff.  Chicken wrapped in prosciutto, risotto balls and a warm wintery salad. Our friends are still raving about the food.

Flowers: Stray Cat Flowers. I called Diana two weeks before our wedding and she didn't blink an eye at how little time I gave her. I sent her a few images, we met and she created the most fluttery perfect bouquet of ranunculus, peony, hydrangea, greens, berries and a few ostrich feathers I ordered frome etsy.com.

Bar: Fluid Bar Service. Ryan & staff kept our glasses full, dabbed red wine out of my dress and even hopped in to our photo booth. 

Rentals: Vermont Tent (& the especially lovely Grace!). I will admit, the I-can-make-it-I-don't-want-to-buy-it side of me was not thrilled about the thought of spending lots of money on tables and plates, but Grace's event planning know-how was worth every penny. She also let me cart my boxes of vintage jars, candles and horse shoes in for a mock set up two weeks before. (And in the end, I probably should have made less and rented more.  Never underestimate the thrill of not having to lug your own things around).

Cake & Cupcakes: Designed and handmade by my lovely friend Sarah who knows her way around the kitchen and unique flavor pairings (cinnamon, coconut, Bailey's & white chocolate icings on vanilla, mocha and spicy chocolate cakes)

Soapy Favors: Baudelaire soaps. The richest imported soaps with heavenly flavors and feel. A little company started by my very own dad and his friends a while back. (arriving with their soap will make you the best house guest ever).

My Dress: Saja Wedding. I didn't make my dress, but received many inquiries on where it was from. Saja, is a gorgeous, affordable designer in SoHo, NYC. I had already purchased a dress, but when I tried on Yoo Lee's silky ethereal dresses on a last minute trip to NYC with some girl friends, I knew I'd found my dress.

From me to my vendors, family & friends who tied, stuffed, cut, arranged, loaded and created ~ a million thank yous!

Clean & Thank you

For wedding favors, I used the delightful & delicious soaps from Baudelaire Soaps, a company that my dad started with several friends when I was a little girl. Not only are the soaps heavenly and natural, the mini honey comb soaps from their Apiana line melded right into the snowflake and white decor.

They looked good enough to eat in the lion's head bowl I found a few weeks before:

Winter Flowers

Stray Cat Flowers grow their summer bouquets at the Intervale in Burlington and sell sweet quirky bouquets at the farmer's markets. They also generously donated flowers to our Cinderfella event.  I didn't realize they could do winter flowers as well.  I sent Diana a few images of what I liked and we met at their great new design space on Intervale road.

She dropped the flowers off as we were whirling around the Firehouse Gallery setting up on Saturday afternoon. I was in love. Ranunculus, peonies & spray roses in pale pinks, blushes and whites with the grey green lambs ear and a few ostrich feathers. Elegant and whimsical, I just can't say enough about how fluttery perfect they were.

My only disappointment is that I only held them for about 2 minutes, so they followed us around from the Burlington hotel to Stowe to home. And I had my new camera* to keep them alive a little bit longer.

*Remember how I hadn't been holding my breath for a new camera? I didn't, but one showed up under the tree anyway. I was completely surprised and love love love it!

Bridal Fingers

I found this great old Smith Corona at the Quechee antique store a while back. It worked. And it weighed about 10 lbs to my Royal's 50. Perfect to bring to the wedding. The ribbon was a little light, but my dad found me a new one at a typewriter store. So I went about replacing it.

Eventually I looked down, and realized that this might not be the best activity to attempt so close to the white-wearing.

In the end, I wore gloves but still couldn't get it quite right, so the Royal was lugged up stairs, into cars, into elevators and through doors. It worked out just fine.

Type. Print. Stamp. Love

We got married. Outside it was busy snowing 33 inches. Huge, perfect flakes of snow. Inside we had candle light and cupcakes; dancing and an abundance of warmth.

My typewriter joined us. So did my stamps. So did many of our favorite people in the world. I'm still filled with so much bliss, it bounces around. Luckily Valentine's Day is coming and I'm pretty good at sending mail.

Here is one of my favorite shots from our photographer. He brought his wife and they were the best.* All photo credits in this post & our thanks to them! www.shemroose.com

* not the best like "hey these people take good pictures," the best like: when my 5 year old step-son was in a funk and followed us outside into the snow, she put him on her shoulders and let him hold the flash until he was beaming, then ran him inside when it got too cold. That's the best. 
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A few more from www.shemroose.com:
fireplace mantle where we got hitched & the kids starting off the photo booth. 

on church st after the ceremony:

typewritten notes: