Meet Wallace Yikai Chen

Wally! Born March 1, 2012, in Brooklyn NY at 5:26 am, 6lbs 13 oz. 
Everyone is healthy, exhausted and proud as can be.

Wallpaper for a Snowy New England Day

“I love colors and shapes and if I have a choice I want to make them beautiful.”- Catalina Estrada

I think Barcelona based Catalina and I could be friends, we have a lot of loves in common.

Dense, lush, colorful her wallpaper seems to say come closer and play with me please.

Her wallpaper designs are especially suited for environments where there is lots large windows, letting in light and breezes. Perfect imagery to get me out of the February funk I'm in this morning.

Check out her website here and her photographer partner, Pancho Tolchinsky, here. Hmmm... a designer and a photographer nice symmetry there :)

Ryan Gosling Hey Girl for crafters

I just love these.

Bruce Michael Winn 1959-2012

Holding an object in your hands often makes an abstract idea real. I lost a dear friend recently and it wasn't a reality till I held the bookmark for his memorial service in my hand today.

Bruce Winn had the biggest and strongest hands I've ever seen. Which made perfect sense because he was a ceramics artist. He worked in clay with a textile designers sensibility. Lush, intricate patterns rippled over his thick, sexy slabbed clay. His love for asian color balance and William Morris pattern was evident in all his fine art and production work. 

Bruce and his husband Mike, were clients first and friends immediately after meeting. Talented in so many ways, one of Bruce's best art forms was picking friends. Interns from over 25 years ago are still part of the family of artists he's nurtured with Mike. The choices he made in friends showed the most in his last year of life. When hearing the news of his cancer a steady stream of peeps made their way to his sunny bedroom in Tiverton to help, hang out, quilt, read, eat, and paint. While holding court a floor away from his kitchen, Bruce knew it's inventory and took care of guests as he always had. "I think there's a few more slices of banana bread left" or my favorite "I think Grey's ice cream doesn't close for an hour. Chocolate would be nice with the orange zest cupcakes"

My times with him in the last few year were underscored with his gratitude. Whether we were reading, drawing, or watching Glee he often turned to me and said "Thank you so much. This is so wonderful to be together. I love you"  He taught me many things but maybe the most cherished, is artists have to create to feel alive. Even when they are knocked off their feet. And creating things for friends to see, hold, taste and enjoy may be the best reality we have. 

His memorial celebration will be held February 12 at 1:00 on the first floor gallery space at 1 West Street, Fall River where Bruce, Mike and many of us share studio space.

Bruce, Mike and a few pals were patient models for us at shoot in the church, just after Bruce was diagnosed. So happy we have these to share.

Lovely Threads by Yumiko Arimoto

I love the idea of an abstract drawing, made with thread, that's wearable. 

Must be meditative to do. You can find more of Yumiko and her brand sina here.

Oh baby baby baby

It's baby central here at the church with my second grandchild due to arrive next month. Tiny things are so satisfying to make, same amount of achievement with 1/4 of the work and materials. Here are some things I've been busy with in the last month.

The quilt I made was inspired by a mini Flying in Formation quilt by Jaybird Quilts and can be found here. Julie Herman, the designer and quilter helped me find fabric online in the same color range she used. My friend and client John Kubiniec from Big Rig Quilting was kind enough to help scale the quilt pattern to a crib size.

Folkware Patterns, my favorite when my children were little for sweet little shirts and dresses is still around and has an amazing array of authentic historic and ethnic patterns. So the Mexican baby shirts I made have been created for 100's of years by Mexican mamas and grandmothers. I went with flannel and my own embroidery.

Lastly the baby shoe tutorial, so quick and easy you can make 2-3 pair in an evening, came from Heather Bailey. She has a flickr site you can upload your finished product to. She just asks you use it for personal use only. 

Lively Lovely Letterform

I can't seem to get enough of Maricor/Maricar. Twin sisters from Australia that make letterforms especially cozy. Thanks Grace, nice posting.

Sweater Babies

While editing some piles for the new year, I came across a basket of old sweaters. I got inspired to repurpose them and I've made a little gang of squishy, soft, cashmere, marino wool toys. With a new grand child on the way, it's been a nice sit by the fire project. So much fun, I can't stop. And yes, I went a little nuts with the embroidery.