cross-stitch love: tinymodernist

(This is the second cross-stitch love post. Check out the first post here.)

After my involvement with the traveling exhibition Birth of Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury (I gave a gallery talk on midcentury pottery and ceramics), I've developed an appreciation for midcentury modern furniture; hence, my attraction to the amazing cross-stitch patterns of the tinymodernist that feature modern chairs, including these:

Set of Four Modern Chairs

Eames Shell Chairs

Eames Lounge Chair

I also love these phone patterns (my family had a beige rotary phone, similar to the red one below, up through my high school years):

Set of Four Retro Phones

For more cross-stitch patterns (and super cute baby clothes featuring midcentury furniture silhouettes) check out the tinymodernist Etsy shop here and the tinymodernist blog here.

All images used with the permission of tinymodernist.

bookpros[e]: unnecessary capitalization

Rounded font and random capitalisation, originally uploaded by alexandra666.

Do words randomly capitalized in the middle of a sentence bother you as much as they bother me? Well, in case they do, here's a BookPros[e] post about capitalization I wrote back in July that you may appreciate.

calendar swap: what i sent

This past month, I participated in the calendar swap organized by Design Crush and i am a greedy girl. Jennifer was my swap partner, and she sent the following suggestions on what she was looking for:

*wall calendar
*something with letterpress (though not necessary)
*something with her favorite colors, teal and gray
*something that incoporates minimalism, geometric shapes, and patterns

I browsed through the calendar round-ups on Design Crush and did some searching on Etsy, and decided on this calendar:

It's a wall calendar printed by Customized Stationary and includes both patterns and geometric shapes. Score. 

Luckily for me, Amanda, the lovely gal behind Customized Stationary, is currently offering a 20% discount on holiday purchases. Since this put me just under the suggested $20-$30 price range for the swap, I decided to supplement Jennifer's package with a little bit of handmade goodness. Plus, I wanted to give her something that incorporated gray and teal, her favorite colors. And so, I made her a little tissue holder:

 

Stay tuned to find out what calendar Jennifer sent me.

cross-stitch love: andwabisabi

Since I started cross-stitching again a few months ago, I've found a lot of excellent cross-stitchers doing fun and unique work. Over the next few weeks, I'll share some of my favorites. 

First up are designs from andwabisabi. Grace is the gal behind andwabisabi and her Etsy shop features a variety of cute and quirky patterns (like glass beakers, hamburgers, and soy sauce bottles). What I especially love are Grace's simple text and heart designs...

i heart u.

 

M is for Mom 

...and her use of colored fabrics for backgrounds.

Lowercase "w"

I'm also completely smitten with these covered button magnets:

 

Spell out your love.

I love the idea of cross-stitching on small and unexpected surfaces. These designs would also be adorable on pin-back buttons.

All images used with the permission of andwabisabi.

sewing project: lunch tote

I recently checked Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing out from the library for the pillowcase swap that I'm participating in. One of the many simple patterns in the book is for a lunch tote, and since Elton (the crazy puppy) recently chewed through the straps of my current lunch bag, I thought it'd be a useful pattern to try out.

The pattern was pretty straightforward (though the book did list the wrong measurements for the handles, which I was luckily able to catch before cutting). The bag features two handles, one long and one short, that can be looped through one another.

The interior and back of the bag are the same charcoal gray canvas-like material (a thrift store find) I used on the handles, and a small pocket, made of the blue ticking, is on the inside. I added a red plastic button (another thrift store find) to the outside of the tote.

Overall, I think the tote turned out nicely; however, I should have checked the pattern's measurements before I started sewing. It turns out the tote can't fit more than one Tupperware container, and adding a piece of fruit to the mix is really pushing it. It looks like I'll have to give lunch-bag making another go.

bookpros[e]: a dialogue about dialogue

Coffee Malt Shake @ The Counter, originally uploaded by siyg.

Over on BookPros[e], the BookPros editors hang out in a malt shop and discuss ways to write effective dialogue. This is the first post in the new Grammar Rules! series. Check it out here.

austin makes a book!

Live in Austin? Want to publish your work? Check out Austin Makes a Book, a crowd-funded book project being organized by Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists. For $30, you're given your own seven-by-seven-inch page to fill with whatever you'd like: a poem, a recipe, a short story, a photo of your dog or latest cross-stitch project...

The project is open to the first 100 people who submit their work (there are about 40 spots left), so send something in soon if you want to participate.

bookpros[e]: exclamation points!

Excellent pin-back buttons by Leah Mackin

Check out my latest post on BookPros[e] about exclamation points. It includes clips from Schoolhouse Rock! and Seinfeld. How can you resist?

cross-stitch project: por vida

At their wedding over two years ago, two of my friends handed out buttons to their guests which read "Por Vida." (A button which is impossible to photograph, by the way.)

So as a recent gift to them, I decided to cross-stitch their phrase and frame it.

The colors for the stitched phrase were loosely based on the colors of the original button, and the lettering was taken from my trusty booklet of cross-stitch alphabets. The frame is an inexpensive one from Ikea that I painted black.

austin monthly: dean fredrick

For the October 2009 issue of Austin Monthly, I did a "Designer to Watch" profile on the local jeweler, Dean Fredrick. Fredrick is known for his skinny stack rings made from colored diamonds. If you're interested in checking out the article, copies of the issue can be ordered here.

free stationery from avie designs

Through noon on November 18, Avie Designs is giving away free stationery; all you have to do is pay $3 for shipping.

Avis is the lovely designer behind Avie Designs and her work is amazing. (I own quite a few sets of her stationery and she designed the rehearsal dinner invitations for my wedding.) 

You can view all of the available stationery designs in either Avis's Etsy shop or on her web site.

holiday sneak peek

Here's a teaser for a project that I'm currently working on...

I'll reveal the finished piece after the holidays.

apron by little suitcase

Back in September, the lovely Toni of the blog Little Suitcase hosted a giveaway for an adorable apron she'd made, as well as the craft book Pass Me a Smile. I actually won the giveaway (!) and a few weeks later, this beauty arrived on my doorstep:

The apron is made from vintage material, with lace and ribbon edgings, and is absolutely gorgeous.

 

austin monthly: the wondercraft

If you're interested in learning a bit more about the Austin craft scene and the recent launch of The Wondercraft, you should check out my article about both in the August 2009 issue of Austin Monthly. Back issues can be ordered here.