Happy Halloween!

I'll post our own silliness later, but for now, if you need a little Trick and Treat...
check out Ruby's blog for a happy Halloween tale!

Be THANKFUL

Thanksgiving is my 2nd favorite holiday! That means you get to celebrate, because I'm thankful for you, blog friends! Use THANKFUL as a coupon code for free shipping all month!

Home furnishing for the soul

I drove past this store today on 3rd street in LA- I drive past it often.
And the tagline hit me... "home furnishing for your soul"... Though I agree that my soul feels at rest when I am in a room that feels right, "mid-century modern" does not do it for me... And that's actually what I grew up with...
But I'm kind of thinking about how design is good for the soul - and yet different styles are so different and affect people differently...

For me, I love vintage, but not super old or with too much rust. I like shabby chic, but I don't love white. I love a riot of color and pattern, but I want clean Craftsman lines on my furniture. A little bit of art deco is good, but too much and it feels stuffy and formal, to me. I enjoy looking at scandinavian design, but not living in it. I like some kitsch, but not too much. I'm not into straight up traditional of any kind. And there has to be room for stacks and ollections. And I hate carpet. (says the girl who spent 6 years as a carpet designer)

Which design is good for your soul?

The book is done!

Pajamas and tired eyes included... I still don't like photos of myself, but I had to share my news... My book is done! It's super super cute and I'm totally proud of it. 20 pages of
preschool butterfly happiness.. (now I just need to make a customized version for my kids as a
Christmas gift... With their photos instead of the school friends... That will be fun!)

site updated

so my very busy hubby... while working late on his show... managed to update the website.
we have had to replace 2 patterns, Original, and Fall Springs... with new patterns - as they have discontinued fabrics in them.
We've replaced them with new (beautiful) patterns.
The replacement for "The Original" is actually the same print that you'll find in Sweet Tea, but in red and (get this) chocolate brown... it's gorgeous.The replacement for "Fall Springs" - the windmills pattern - is actually one I'd never planned to use for skirts. I had made curtains out of it for my living room and so many friends came through asking if they could have skirts made from the curtains, that, well....
And then... we've got the recently named: CARAMEL LATTEand also... another new one... AT THE DINER (It has a little tiny reference to my being a PepperDINER... and this being in our colors...)
And (drum roll, please)
another naming game! woohoo!
(Sheac Yee... did you ever receive your gift from me? please let me know if I forgot it in the midst of the robbery and all that junk...)
What are you friends suggesting for these two?prizes will be given to the winners... keep up the inspiration gals! I love that you are now inspiring me!

Spinny Skirts are up

Thanks to all of you who've expressed interest...
the spinny skirts are uploaded to etsy now.

I've also just created a facebook page for the business, where you can share photos and dialogue and all that jazz.

Happy Sunday night.
your friend,
libby

Mama spinny skirt outfit

I hate getting my picture taken, but I wanted to show that I finally found a good way to wear the mama spinny skirt today... With a really long tee (confession: it's a maternity shirt , though I'm not prego, I liked the length. LOL... I never fit this type when I was pregnant since I was so huge immediately!)

Happy Anniversary

So, there are a few things that are hard when you call two towns (LA and Chicago) home.

LA - I grew up in and live in now, but never have felt like I fit in... so in addition to the obvious LA complaints (traffic, smog, superficiality)... other than family, you could take it or leave it with me. But, my entire family is here. And I LOVE family.

Chicago - Spent 5 of the more foundational years to becoming myself there. But, alas, no family, though I left many irreplacable friends there. And I ache, missing them.  I also miss the seasons, the arts culture, the architecture, Oak Park, the forest preserves....

Yet, I call both "home" - Chicago tends to adopt people. It adopted me.
The biggest problem is that no matter which one I am in, I feel a little homesick.

Tonight helped out a lot.  To celebrate our 8th anniversary (Tuesday) - J took me to Silverlake - a great part of LA only 15 minutes from our home - that has more of a Chicago flavor than anywhere else... great boutiques, fabulous food (Cha Cha Cha - YUM!), and best of all.... our very own Intelligentsia Coffee store.
We were seriously geeked out when we walked in, as we've been shipping ourselves their brews for fun treats and special occasions since we left... and I was given the most lovely latte ever known to me.
We sat. We sipped. We waxed nostalgic.
We celebrated.
What a sweet and happy moment.
Sweet like...  cream, no sugar necessary.

(Happy Anniversary, sweetie. You're still my hero. ...and thanks for the coffee.)

Mimi and mama

Today our new tags and stickers arrived for our girl projects. "mimi and mama"
I'll try to post a better picture later. This is still a first draft, as I will eventualy have time for some original artwork for the tags. (the last non-backed up artwork on the stolen computer was an adorable set of labels and designs for this. I haven't yet had the heart and time to redo them, so I used vistaprint (again) to get something done quickly. These will do for now. They're cute.
The text at the bottom reads, "this special item was made for you by our own 4 hands."

On another note... The book nears completion. Everyone around me is pulling weight so I can get it done (thanks!). I read it at the school today to the class and have already had requests to make custom versions of it for other kids... This could get interesting.
(if any of you readers have good recommendations and/or experience as to what type of fees apply to something like that, I'd love to hear. This is a totally new area for me.)

New spinny skirts

Okay... So I got a bunch more skirts this morning.... These are all in that size that should fit all sizes between 3t-5t... (I've got some 2ts on order)
This design rocks... The others I got today are the red gingham like Lily's skirt... And also more Blue Sky Girl skirts (blue/brown) with either the dots or the damask. Email me if you're interested. I need to get them onto etsy, but with the book and the retreat decorations
(I'm also doing all the nametags) and also Halloween... I'm slammed this week.
Will try to get them up soon as they are perfect for holiday gifts!

Signs of October

Imagine the World Series in the background... As I make these on the couch tonight ...
I've been drafted to help with centerpieces for our church's fall retreat. These were, by no means, my idea... I was literally told how to do them... But they are so cute, I had to pass them off to you...
Along with instructions...
1. To make 4 pumpkins, you'd need 4 rolls of toilet paper, 8 sheets of tissue paper and one yard of fabric... And a brown paper bag (Anything more than 45" width should work for the fabric.)
2. Fold the fabric into quarters and cut.
3. Wrap the toilet paper rolls verticaly with 2 sheets of tissue-
around the bottom and tucking the ends of the tissue into the hole at the top. (this rounds out the shape a little).
4. Do the same with the fabric, hiding edges and tucking corners in by folding them into the same hole.
5. Make a stem with brown paper bag pieces, wrinkled and rolled to look lime a stem and stuffed into the top, too.
All done!

The end.

The book... Sneak peek

Not that I will be publishing it, but I've been putting enough work into this that I SHOULD!
It's a story about a caterpillar (made up of little preschool faces) who does really cool preschool things and dreams while in its cocoon about all its warm caterpillar memories, then flies away with all of the kids imprinted on it's wings.... Never forgetting where it came from.
(I wish I could keep it!)

Mimi & mama

So, the design director and I are having a brain storm session. I was showing her how to use her new journal like a sketchbook for her design ideas... I love this kid.
We got our new labels and tags for the mimi & mama venture... Which is basically all of the projects that she REALLY helps me with... I'm really excited about this.
She wants to be a designer when she grows up. She already is one.

You know you can't resist this one!

Lily's other skirt

The design director and Lily, and Sof all get these... And I'll have one waiting in the wings for another little birthday girl cousin soon! :)

Lily's birthday gift

My niece's birthday party is today. And along with an original "mimi & mama" purse, and a second skirt, she's getting this fabulous one...  Complete with "auntie lala's" (that's me) signature red with white polka dot trim.
(I'm jealous, I want to wear it!)

More scrap skirts

This is one of 5 going into a "basket" for the auction...
Soooooooo very tired now. Must sleep...

Onesies

I needed to whip up some quick baby gifts for my Mothers of Preschoolers meeting (MOPS) tomorrow, so these were tonight's project...Well, that is, after walking the dog, painting and grounding 20 pages for a one of a kind book I am writing and illustrating (more on that
later, I guess!) and making and packing up a bunch of orders for skirts and charms...
Ay yay yay... It's late.

Spinny skirts

I'm not sure if the photo shows how pretty this shiny pink ribbon
is... It's a little girl's dream....

Hey, Momma, I can match you now..

Just in time for holiday photo shoots....if you are interested, send me an email! (still not fully set up on the computer to be able to do etsy quite yet)

New pockets

Already filled with cars... Daddy thinks they look pretty sweet on...
Even if he didn't love them at first. We won him over.

Sewing therapy. (a new project)

So... Or should I say "sew"...
I needed some therapy tonight and tried my hand at something for Z instead of his big sis. I like how these turned out, though Daddy doesn't love the pair on the right...
Sewing boys' clothes is way different!

Starting the healing process

So many thanks for all of you who've commented and emailed your good wishes, prayers and offers for help. I feel surrounded by good in spite of the bad that happened.
Monday I was in shock.
Tuesday I felt weepy and vulnerable.
Wednesday I got back on the horse. (we had an alarm installed, contacted german shepherd rescue, got quotes for a higher fence in back and some security screens for a few vulnerable windows. Swept and mopped the house.)
Today, I am ready to start blogging again. I am also meeting a very generous friend who happened to have an old computer around that will do me just fine. (thank you, friend!!!!)

Please keep the warmth coming, things are still spooky, and my plants in the back yard haven't been watered since Monday... As I can't quite tell when is safest to do it...
But I am a practical woman and am shaking off the dust and fear, cleaning off the fingerprinting dust that the police scattered through my home, and am ready to reclaim my life and home.

Oh, and I finished the load of laundry that I was doing on Monday...
That felt good.

Sent from my iPhone

Thanks for understanding.

For those of you who are personal friends, you'll probably have read my other blog about what happened yesterday.

For those of you who are just learning now, Z and I were home yesterday when our home was broken into and robbed. We were (gratefully) unharmed, but my computer was stolen along with our cameras.

Please bear with me as we try to find a way to continue to process orders in the midst of this trying and scary situation.

thanks and blessings to you all.
liberty

Modeling spinny skirts

Little girl spinny skirts

Hooray! I have someone to help me sew my scrap skirts for little girls... Which means we will be able to make them available! Here are the first ones we have... check for them on etsy soon - they'll be $37 (if you're interested now, email me and I'll give you a discount off that price for being an early bird) ... The bottom two are 4T and the top is around a size 5.

The design director turns 4

It's her birthday today...
thanks to ruby for the amazing crown!

Celery

As a textile designer, this is one of my favorite natural patterns...
It's the stump of a stalk of celery cut off, but is the most lovely
hint of a rose.
We've used them as stamps before...