We're back from our New Hampshire weekend getaway...it was great! The weather was beautiful and crisp on Saturday. We spent the entire day in downtown Keene, New Hampshire. There was food, crafts, free non-stop vintage cartoons at the theatre on Maine Street, singers, face-painting, caramel apples, a costume parade, a seed-spitting contest, fireworks and a whole lot more to entertain the estimated 70,000 visitors. I am now overloaded with all things Autumn and it's not even over yet, yay! There were some VERY creative jack-o-lanterns. The scariest, pictured above was the H1N1 jack-o-lantern!!! As I walked around checking out all of the pumpkins I wondered what the heck happens to them after the festival. After all, there were 29,068 lit pumpkins this year (the population of Keene is 23,000). I found out that all the pumpkins are donated to local pig farmers, so today there are some very contented pigs in New Hampshire. Keene and the surrounding towns are quaint little New England towns...think soaring white church steeples, antiques shops, country stores, diners where you can get order yummy breakfasts...the one we ate at had menu items titled "The Garbage Plate" and "I Ate it All" (and if you actually DID manage to eat it all, the reward was a 50% discount!) Alas, we did not attempt to conquer the dish, maybe next year. We stayed in Fitzwilliam, NH at an absolutely charming guest cottage called The Little House. And indeed it was...little, sweet, warm and snug. When we arrived, a dish of apple crisp was waiting for us along with a cozy fire in the living room. We couldn't resist dancing to the 40's radio station that was piping throughout the house. Before shutting our eyes to go to sleep, we marveled at the bright shining stars outside the window...can't see stars like that in the suburbs! All in all a great weekend....next up....Halloween!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pumpkin Festival
We're back from our New Hampshire weekend getaway...it was great! The weather was beautiful and crisp on Saturday. We spent the entire day in downtown Keene, New Hampshire. There was food, crafts, free non-stop vintage cartoons at the theatre on Maine Street, singers, face-painting, caramel apples, a costume parade, a seed-spitting contest, fireworks and a whole lot more to entertain the estimated 70,000 visitors. I am now overloaded with all things Autumn and it's not even over yet, yay! There were some VERY creative jack-o-lanterns. The scariest, pictured above was the H1N1 jack-o-lantern!!! As I walked around checking out all of the pumpkins I wondered what the heck happens to them after the festival. After all, there were 29,068 lit pumpkins this year (the population of Keene is 23,000). I found out that all the pumpkins are donated to local pig farmers, so today there are some very contented pigs in New Hampshire. Keene and the surrounding towns are quaint little New England towns...think soaring white church steeples, antiques shops, country stores, diners where you can get order yummy breakfasts...the one we ate at had menu items titled "The Garbage Plate" and "I Ate it All" (and if you actually DID manage to eat it all, the reward was a 50% discount!) Alas, we did not attempt to conquer the dish, maybe next year. We stayed in Fitzwilliam, NH at an absolutely charming guest cottage called The Little House. And indeed it was...little, sweet, warm and snug. When we arrived, a dish of apple crisp was waiting for us along with a cozy fire in the living room. We couldn't resist dancing to the 40's radio station that was piping throughout the house. Before shutting our eyes to go to sleep, we marveled at the bright shining stars outside the window...can't see stars like that in the suburbs! All in all a great weekend....next up....Halloween!
Friday, October 09, 2009
What Big Ears You Have!
I just got a shipment of fabrics from Timeless Treasures, Inc. containing my latest collection, Little Red Riding Hood. It was really a treat to design...I think the little girl in all of us secretly wants to skip through the forest in a snappy red cape. Minus coming across the big bad wolf...I made the wolf in this story think he is scarier than he actually is. If you look closely, Little Red Riding Hood looks more amused than frightened of Mr. Wolf :-) I've designed a few more fun tales that will be coming out soon, I'm just waiting for the samples...I'll keep you posted!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Oh Happy Fall!
It's October 1st and I'm in Halloween-mode! I've already been apple picking and to the pumpkin patch, (not to say I won't go again, there's nothing like warm donuts dipped in hot apple cider). Big orange mums and gourds are standing guard on the front walkway and the inside of my house is beginning to look very spooky indeed. This summer was so....uneventful! First we had more rain than Noah followed by a nasty heat wave...and before I even realized it, summer had come abruptly to an end. Now it's Fall and I'm happy. But already getting a little sad because even though it's my favorite time of year it is so fleeting and a harsh winter (as predicted by the Farmer's Almanac!) is lying in wait for that last little orange leaf to flutter to the ground!!! Ugh! But I'm going to enjoy the heck out of the next couple of months...I FINALLY managed to get a reservation at a B&B for the Keene Pumpkin Festival after three years of trying (ok, maybe at the last minute each time). And I'm so excited! Anyway, in other exciting news fate led me to meet artist-extraordinaire Kate Spain who has been in the same business as me for a few years...and she happens to live just blocks away from me! She's awesome and so is her work. Which, by the way, is going to be featured on all kinds of cool products this Spring at Crate and Barrel! Check out her beautiful work and beautiful garden HERE.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Humpty Dumpty sat on a Wall...
Wow, I've been gone a loooong time. Hello everyone! I hope you've had a wonderful summer so far, I can't believe I'm already starting to think about Halloween costumes. In fact I caught myself this morning thinking about heading to Michael's craft store to see if Halloween products were out yet! But it's still 80-something degrees out there so...back to reality.
I had to share these beautiful photos with you! Jim and Kathy Lucas were kind enough to send me photos of a quilt that Kathy pieced together and sent to Siriporn Hollar to be machine quilted for the arrival of their first grandchild! Its gorgeous! And it makes me sooo proud and happy to know that there's a brand new little baby boy in the world drooling on one of my designs! Love it!!! Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful work with me, I think it looks amazing, and BIG congratulations on becoming grandparents! I have a feeling he is going to be one spoiled little boy :-)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Mermaid
I am finally fixing up my office after living in my house for over a year! And that means cleaning out the old junk in closets, very very zen and feng shui...lots of good energy flowing all around. I dug up my old portfolio from The Fashion Institute of Technology and found all kinds of treasures from my college days. Here's a pouty mermaid I painted. Most of my girls ended up being red-heads, probably because I wish I had been blessed with long, flowing auburn tresses. Sometimes I forget that I'm not actually a red-head. (I discovered the perfect real-looking shade of red long ago, thanks L'Oreal) Also some of my absolute favorite art comes from the Pre-Raphaelites who painted sirens, witches, goddesses and Shakespearean characters alike with gorgeous coppery hair. Years ago I was in London and went to see a special exhibit at the Tate dedicated to the Pre-Raphaelites, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. When I saw 'Ophelia' by John Everett Millais I had to fight every impulse to throw myself against the wall so I could rip it off and bring it home with me! Here's to all red-heads...as I dig up more from my files I will post them over the next few days.
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