Tiered (skirt) pants

I have pair of tiered pants that I wear that get a ton of compliments every time I wear them - I bought them from an importer of Indian clothing... they're the most comfy things ever and I love how the bottom is swishy like a big skirt....
so I finally got around to making another pair last night... J says they remind him of ABBA, which is not a good thing in my book, so I am hoping that I can style them so they look more modern than retro... we'll see.

I'm thinking maybe the next pair will be solid.... still, I like them.

Jumping Jack pants

The Design Director has been begging me to make her some wide leg pants from the scraps of the ones I made recently for myself. I finally finished them last night...
She put them on and immediately began to jump. "These are jumping jacks pants!"
I tried to get her to sit still so I could take a photo... these are the best I got.
(as I type this, she's chanting in the background, "bouncy bouncy bounce!")

Favorites from yesterday at the beach

Ever since I've been with J, I've put my interest in photography on the back burner. He's an excellent photographer, with a very unique eye and I've kind of left it up to him.
I took his camera out yesterday, though, just have fun and get inspired.... here are some of what I came away with...

Journal, favorite bag, open beach, winter afternoon

There we go. This is what I needed.

Winter sunlight

On my way to the beach, alone.

While we are at it... Another spinny

I love this pattern... It's in the etsy shop now.

Hold the door

I'm so happy to announce that I've got the beanbag doorstops back in my product line. I took them out of my etsy shop as they were a modified version of another designer's pattern... But in all reality, they were too close for comfort to make me feel okay about selling them.
So I have been thinking up my own original design for a while and was able to make it tonight.
Here it is! (you like?)

BDJ Designs

Oh... do I love my two new sweaters that I bought from Barbara De Jounge at the Pasadena Bead and Design Show! I've already worn each of them twice this week. But do they really count as sweaters when they are more like flexible use accessories that you play with when putting them on? The wool is fabulously bright and sumptuous - the shapes are totally outrageous... they each come with an initialed pin (BDJ) that you can use to shape the sweater to the day's liking. The tomato red one that I have pictured can be worn so many ways - even upside down for a totally different look.
(I love clothes that DO things. i.e. reversible skirts!)
Barbara struck me as a true "artiste" - she is pleasant, warm, and elegant - but there is something distinctly otherworldly about her. She makes outrageously fun necklaces out of rubber bands and other office supplies (I'm not kidding, they're cool) - and I have to admit, her color sensibility even made ME feel like a color wimp. I went for two pretty subdued colors from her line - tomato red (shown) and a minky mocha brown color. My new friend, Christina, chose a HOT lime green coat that had all of us around oohing and ahhing.
The thing that was so much fun about the BDJdesign line -was appreciating each detail - an extra hole here, a dart there... somehow each piece looks like someone had a LOT of fun making it. and that's what it's all about, right?
take a peek at her site - and take notice that most of the retailers that carry this fabulous line are actually museums.

(ps - a huge thanks to J's mom for the early birthday money to buy these with!)

Here's a petition to sign for CPSIA

Reform CPSIA HR4040

I found this site to be really helpful for explaining the politics of trying to get the CPSIA overturned and they have a petition that you can sign (it definitely needs more signatures!) that doesn't require you to sign up for any additional info.

Please sign. This is really important...

Indigo Crane

One of my very favorite things about doing any type of show is meeting the artists around me. It's often hard to resist spending all my money on their wares! This past show that I did wasn't outrageously successful, (it wasn't horrible), but I just adore the artists that I met. I think that this was the most talented group of women artists on the whole that I have met in one place. Pretty much every single artist that I took the time to talk to and learn about was so unbelievably fabulous... I was seriously stunned.... Though I will do my best to blog later about Semilla Designs, Leluxe Clothing, GRAU, and LoriMarsha - here are their links now so you can at least get a sneak peek...

I wanted to write about AnnaKatherine and Indigo Crane.

AnnaKatherine was trained as a graphic designer at RISD and worked with Dale Chihuly for 10 years before leaving her job with him recently to take her business and her mothering (she has 3 kids) to new levels.  She has the most amazing techniques of felting wool and silk together to make remarkably sumptuous scarves.  I was mesmerized by her color and texture and the infinite amount of ways she has at looking at a scarf as a blank canvas.

Her etsy shop and flickr pages show off her remarkable versatility.

and besides all that talent - she's really sweet. All the more reason to check out her great stuff!

(oh, and in doing this blog... I saw that she makes purses and really cute felted soaps that I didn't even know about... )