Rug and Pillow Sale

We've gone in with our sharpies and significantly reduced many of the rugs and pillows on our shop site. They'll only be available while supplies last so come on over to take a peek.

xo,
Kate (and Franny)

Surprises

Today is actually warm enough to remind us that spring is finally on its way. Yay! Sometimes i wish it would just hurry up and get here already, but then i'd miss so many beautiful and poetic moments that happen at this time of year. Like when itty bitty green things start to push their way up through the cold earth showing us the resilience of Nature. It's amazing! Last fall, i planted over 200 bulbs (eek!) and all these months later i've pretty much forgotten what i planted and where.

bulb smorgasbord ordered from Brent & Becky's Bulbs

random mix of species tulips

Needless to say this spring will be filled with lots of surprises! This morning i went outside to poke around and i found these:

I'm actually glad i didn't take good notes or label things carefully because sometimes not knowing how things will unfold is itself a wonderful thing  (can also read this as: memory failure!). Once the bulbs start to bloom, i'll be sure to share (probably too many) photos on Instagram.

Last weekend, Pete and i went to the New York Botanical Garden with a couple friends to catch the annual orchid show. This year's sensational display of exotic tropical beauties was so inspiring that i wanted to share some of my favorites with you. I love that orchids bloom throughout the winter, in months when their color is an exuberant contrast to the bleak, snowy landscape. These rich, saturated colors

caught my eye...

... and so did these soft pastels...

... and the way the foliar colors accentuate and complement the lines of this orchid ...

... and the stark simplicity of the colors and markings on this one ... 

... and the complexities and details in the petals of this one ...

... and the dancing shape of this one ...

... so many varieties! It was a nourishing and beautiful day. Before we got back in the car to head home, we took a detour to peek in at the gift shop (who can resist, right?). Pete stopped in his tracks when he turned the corner and spotted one of the pillows i designed for Surya amidst a colorful display!

What a surprise! So as a special to welcome the longer, brighter, warmer days to come, we're offering 20% off all the pillows in our shop now through the first official day of spring, March 20th. Use code: spring20 at checkout.

Keep on the lookout for all the surprises around you!

xo,

kate

Sewing With the Underdogs

There comes a time in my designing life when i have to face the cold hard fact that some things eventually end up in the sale bin. But i learn a lot from digging around in there...like which colors didn't do as well as others, which patterns might not have resonated as i'd hoped, etc. etc. And it's really only because i try to improve what i do that i even go through the pain and agony of wanting to know about the flops and flounderers by taking a peek at what's been marked down, reduced, sniff sniff, or even slashed.

But there's a silver lining. You know how sometimes you're determined that the best things in a sale bin must be at the bottom of the pile, so you have to dig down deep to find them? That's what happened when i discovered the misfits from Fandango and made these...

Yes, i'm a little obsessed with zig zags these days. I can't help it — especially after stumbling across this clever tutorial for how to make a chevron pillow from regular ol' striped fabric. But then i thought...hmmm, why not make my own stripes first? So i did. And followed the rest of the directions as written. Well, amost...except that i made them as envelope-style pillow covers and modified the size to fit my pillow forms. As you can probably see, i made the stripes in varying widths and kinda wish i'd have made some really thick ones and really thin ones for more of a noticeable contrast — something for you to consider if you want to make any. I also pinned every zig and zag so the points lined up, which was a little time consuming but worth it in the end!

The sashing are strips from a Snow Bella Solids jelly roll (9900JR-11) that alternate with these prints:

Gold:

Castanet 27047-15

Simpatico 27050-15

Canto 27048-15

Celadon:

Seville 27052-22

Sand/Celadon:

Portico 27049-22

And here are a few online retailers that still have these prints available:

Material Lane

Be Sew Happy

Quilt Home

Hooray for the underdogs!