cake & pie

Procrastination

If I were as excellent at sewing and letterpress as I am at procrastinating, I would be a human handbag/note card factory. But since, for the moment, I'm not, and procrastination does get the best of me on occasion, I thought I would share with all of you some of my favorite sites to visit when I'm busy doing nothing...

Petfinder: There are so many homeless dogs and cats in need of rescue. I have been looking to adopt a dog, (preferably a Westie, but I'm open to any small-ish fluffy dog,) so I am on Petfinder quite a bit.

Flickr: Browsing Flickr is an excellent way to kill a few minutes, or many minutes, or hours really. I love looking at everyones amazing photos and handmade goods.

From L to R photos from simply photo, birds & trees, and dressform.

Lotta Jansdotter: I wish I had pretty much everything in her shop, especially the lisboa tote in mustard, that I have talked myself out of buying about 10 times now.

Reprodepot & Purl Soho: I am becoming a fabric addict...browsing these two sites helps to fuel my addiction.

Night Owl Papergoods: I love finding new letterpress shops. This one my friend Colleen emailed me about. I love their everyday note cards...especially the woodgrain card:

Images from nightowlpapergoods.com.

I always like to stop in and see what my other favorite letterpress shops are up to too—including port2port, elum, and snow & graham.

Looking for (affordable) art is another favorite past time. I frequently browse Kitty Genius (most prints are $20 or less); pushmepullyou design (most prints and posters are $20); little paper planes—they have a great variety of prints; the amazing art at the beholder, that will hopefully work into my budget someday; and Diana Fayt's ceramics...one of her pieces is definitely on my holiday wish list! I have been loving all of Maria from port2port's affordable art posts on the design*sponge guest blog this week. If you haven't checked them out yet, do.

Above L to R: a Tiny Original from Kitty Genius that I bought a little while ago for just $15 (love it); and a print from Rachel Sumpter called "Stay Warm" available at Little Paper Planes.

Well, I suppose that is quite enough procrastination for today. Back to work...or back to staring out my studio window...

I hope you all are having a productive Wednesday!

Back home

I am staying in my childhood home for the last time. My parents retired last winter and recently sold their house on Long Island, so I am feeling a little nostalgic. All of my childhood memories are here, but things change, and it is time for my folks to move on. Today I spent the afternoon with my lovely friend Sue Ptacek. We had lunch and got a chance to catch up on lots of things, so that was a lot of fun. When I got home I decided to walk around with my camera and take a few detail shots of the house...

I love being able to take the time to just really look at things. The lens somehow makes familiar things, like the tiny tiles on the bathroom floor and the kitchen cabinets, seem farther away. There is a beauty that I never really appreciated. I suppose they are beautiful to me because this was my home for so many years, and the memories are beautiful. You'll find a few more of these photos on my flickr site.

Tomorrow I am off to Manhattan for lunch with friends from Two Twelve, some fabric shopping with my friend Yvonne, and dinner at the fabulous Mary Ann's. Can't wait!