house wren studio

living in blue

Read this post on my new site at www.housewrenstudio.com!

I'm listening to the Canada geese flutter and honk out back on the mill pond. They are making their plans to share the water, the air, the shore. Won't be long before the season changes again. Up here in the studio, I feel it too. 

The summer was full of blue and white, inside and out.

My work table is heaped with pieces of dyed remnants. 

I stitched up a new bag from some of the pieces I indigo dyed and repurposed the strap from a bag I wore out. And it's just what I hoped it would be.

It has been such a sweet summer with my family and friends. I didn't get to tell you about Mo and Matt's wedding, the delightful June retreats with Jenn McGlon and August Wren. Betsy's first birthday. (Maybe you saw some images over on Instagram.) Thank you for staying with me here though.

Vermont life is so good. I am grateful every day to be here! 

girlfriends weekend in Vermont

Read this post on my new site at www.housewrenstudio.com!

Just for the fun of it, I hosted a girlfriends craft weekend here in Vermont. Robin drove up from Boston area and Melinda came from Philly. Meleen joined us and my daughter Erin came over too.

Because it was almost Valentine's Day, I suggested we make tagbooks like this one I made years ago for Mary's magazine. Everyone brought personal photos and bits to add in and I have so much stuff in my studio to share. Wow, it was a crazy, fun craftorama.

We built the books from scratch making pockets to tuck tags into. Click here for another look at the book I made for Mo. (BTW our little Mo's getting married in June!)

Melinda brought this pretty stack of wool and the vintage card - her cats are actually named Bubble and Squeak!

Meleen filled her book with clever tags for recipes.

Robin delighted us with her cute bunny ears!

There was a fair amount of hanging out with mugs of coffee, simmering meals (and a Dutch Baby) and comfy evenings relaxing while catching up. 

Southern Vermont is such a magical place and I love to share it. Having this happy group of crafty women at my home was such a treat for me. Soon the weather will let us be outside on the deck where we can stir up a pot of indigo and dip dye our tag sale finds. We can explore the back roads of paradise. And when we've made the most of the day, we can build a campfire at the pond and let the laughter fly up to meet the stars.

If this sounds like fun to you, email me. I'm an AirBnB host and would love to create a special girlfriends weekend experience just for you. Summer is so sweet here!

eastering and bunny lumps

It's a gorgeous spring day here. My art classes today were clay-based. We made pinch pots, trays with embedded figures, owls, boxes with lids, wild critters with donut eyes, and slab tiles with texture. It was so much fun to watch the children build.

I know that everyone has a lot to do to prepare for Easter, but if you are looking for a simple project, this is it. You could make these bunny lumps out of so many things. I used paper mache pulp but air dry clay would be fine too. All the directions are here in this former post. You could make toothpick flags with names for placecards. 

Wishing you a joyful celebration of spring this weekend. xoxoC

february loves

I had a chat with a new friend yesterday about social media and its place in our lives. There are so many platforms available now and it's increasingly easier to just point, click, post and move on. This blog was my first online home. Ten years ago! I used words mostly. I wasn't a photographer and words were my best tool. Over time, I sharpened my basic skills with photos and increasingly leaned toward images. I'm a visual person. Words are harder to come by, images are everywhere for the taking. 

That said, I miss writing words and the larger story. That's my new challenge. Write. Craft. Teach.

This has been a transitional time for me. I'm really happy in this new home and love the time I get to just be here. I'm inspired to make things, push furniture around, hang art on the walls, cook, bake, entertain old and new friends. After a long hiatus, I pulled out my wool stash and rug-hooking tools for the winter. There's that enormous rug in progress that I've been dragging around for years. Still have a long way to go, but I am working on it. Never knew where it would go, but I have a spot picked out now.

When I packed and moved the wool stash, I got the idea to use it for more projects. It will be incorporated into the spring retreat with Jen from Noodle and Lou (sold out) as pet portraits, but I'm also using it to make tiny houses in hoops to hang on the wall. Loving the use of small pieces of wool and embroidery. There are a few in my Etsy shop. 

But the biggest source of joy has been joining up with an arts organization and teaching art to children at the village school. They are so much fun! The excited buzz in the art room, the adventure of art-making without brakes or self consciousness. Wow. So inspiring!

{Next post is about the making of this fantastic Emperor Penguin.}

It's the season of valentines and home-made art. Remembering the valentine boxes we made in school long ago. That was my favorite part. Decorating that shoe box, watching classmates drop messages into the tiny opening. Looking forward to making valentines with the children at school this week. Who doesn't love a paper heart? Scissors? And a glue stick?

And a length of yarn?

Sending love to you and hoping you find moments of heartwarming joy to cheer the spirit. xoxoC

this book was a tree

Before I say anything about this fantastic book, I should start by telling you that Marcie is my neighbor and friend. I've known her for several years and can't say enough about her engaged and intent spirit, generous, caring nature and all around adorableness. And I love her blog! I am so excited for her - for this opportunity to share her authentic point of view and knowledge though her first beautiful book. (I mean, watch that trailer about the book on her site! You'll see!)

The first time I met Marcie, she was with her two daughters. They were collecting materials for a nature craft they would later make together at home. Everyone in our village is accustomed to the site of Marcie and her girls walking through town, stopping to visit with everyone on the way, adding some found treasure to a basket of bits, inspecting a nearly bursting flowering tree branch, spying a new nest up high, sounding out a familiar birdsong. The delight in her everyday life is enthusiastically shared with all of us - something marvelous and inspiring to behold.

I'm honored to be the first stop on her blog book tour kicking off today with the launch of This Book Was A Tree. The full schedule is posted at the end of this post and also on the site. What a great endorsement and line-up of bloggers!

To the book then. 

It's like taking that walk with her. Start to finish, Marcie talks the reader through a series of projects, thoughts and inventive ideas to help us explore the natural world we are surrounded by. Consider the everyday events occurring in our yards. Where does the chipmunk scurry to? How does a crow make and use tools? What am I listening for when the world gets very quiet? How can I make the natural world more relevant to my family? Given her background in science and art, she opens the secret door to knowing so much about who we are because we understand the natural world a little better. Dig in, find out!

There are instructions to make a terrarium, a seedbomb (!), a bee coop and a perpetual ecological calendar. Make a nature journal from an upcycled book, turn that old sweater into something pretty and hip. There are suggestions for any number of ways to engage our creative selves. A modern handbook for outdoor and personal adventuring.

For our winter Vermont retreat, Marcie generously made little felting kits and felted pins for each attendee. There was an extra kit with a finished pin which is offered here as a giveaway. Leave a comment about your favorite backyard critter or outdoor discovery. A winner will be chosen and I'll send it out next week. 

I hope you get a chance to see the book. Marcie will be on a book tour here in the northeast and the blog tour as well.

“Marcie Cuff makes nature even more fun than the way you find it. This is a book about imagination and creativity—and getting dirty. The projects in This Book Was a Tree remind me of the dozens of ways we can all connect with the natural world on a daily basis. And since Marcie writes from the heart, you can just feel the satisfaction and even joy you’ll get from connecting a little bit more with the world around you. She has ideas that everyone can try alone or with friends or family. She’s going to make a lot of lives simpler, happier, and more plugged in to the world that’s all around us.”   —David Yarnold, President and CEO of National Audubon Society 

 

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE:

Week One:

4/1 House Wren Studio

4/2 Mindful Momma

4/3 The Long Thread

4/4 Maya Made

Week Two:

4/7 Rebecca Sower

4/8 Sara Bakes Cakes

4/9 Donuts Dresses and Dirt

4/10 Tinkerlab

4/11 Resurrection Fern

Week Three:

4/14 Small Measure

4/15 Lil Fish Studios

 

december notes

I know what my new year's resolution will be. Get back to blogging! But for now, here's a little review of the last many, many days including that wonderful trip to Mohonk! 

Mohonk was fabulous, decorated for the holidays and full of busy, excited guests. My fireside craft workshops were a great success with many talented students and a flurry of inspired creations. Two of the participants were middle school soccer stars who discovered the first workshop and then came back for every one after. Boys who sew! And think it's fun!

{Nakoa's mother, Sascha Zuger is a travel writer and she sent me a link for the piece she wrote about the weekend adventure for Parade magazine.}

We've had quite a bit of snow. Watching it come down and transform our little part of the world is such a dramatic invitation to be out in it. 

Good for a girl who spends too much time indoors.

Making things. Little Santas. You've seen these before, but it still thrills me to bring them out. (Use this process but skip the ears and adjust placement of the stuffing bits.)

Other exciting "making" news is that my rug design and article are published in the new issue of Taproot! It looks amazing and I'm so honored to be included in the pages of this fantastic magazine. I've been a subscriber since the very first issue. This issue is themed to the word reclaim. Perfect for this hooked rug since I make mine from old wool clothes. Like quilting, it's one of the oldest forms of upcycling.

And ... Taproot is also one of the sponsors for our next Vermont getaway! Happy to say that our weekend is sold out and while we are busy pulling together the details for that special event, we are also planning the next one. Again, if you would like to join us in the future, please email us at fallvermontgetaway(at)gmail.com to get on the list to notify. 

And finally - especially!! - one day I came home to a box on the doorstep from my dear pal, Pam Garrison. Inside was the sweetest and most unexpected gift of a quilt she made for me, using my fabric collection from Blend and all the gorgeous Pam-style extras she stitched on top. It is a work of art. So much love! 

And that's where I am now. Sitting under this cozy crazy quilt. Time to move over to the sewing machine. Things to make. Work to be done.

Such a happy time of year! xo

december makings

December!

This week I'm preparing to go back up to Mohonk Mountain House and lead a few holiday fireside workshops for the guests. We'll be making this and maybe this too. And some of these. Or these. Love looking back through my December archives from all the years gone by and seeing some of the old favorites. They always inspire me again.

Time to use up some of this crafty stuff and make pretty things for the season. It's going to whisk by super-fast this year!

well, hello again

And suddenly, it is August. Busy days, lazy days. 

Gladiolas! Paints and threads. Pattern and color.

Our dear friend Lynne moved away so we had a farewell craft night and decoupaged a keepsake trunk.

Found an old, old, old book in my stash and discovered that there were state maps inside. We used all the states she lived in and then added copies of my vintage NY postcards. I printed the backs too and added messages to Lynne over the faint handwritings from the original senders. Really pleased with the finished trunk, but I'm so sad to see her go!

Finally finished this and reloaded the Etsy shop.

And then - and then! - Meleen and I went up to Vermont to begin prepping for the Fall Getaway. Oh, how I love it there!

We prettied up the rooms.

Stitching up curtains, digging through treasures, hanging pictures (and vintage pillowcases).

We took time off and wandered around the scenic country roads.

After all, it was village tag sale weekend. Every corner was dotted with signs, every road led to a sale.

This photo is all I took away from this barn sale, but I'm so glad we went. Seriously spectacular.

I came home so excited and inspired by our plans for the weekend. It sold out very quickly and we still have lots of inquiries about openings. Thinking we'll do it again at another time of year, possibly late spring or summer 2014, so if you might like to join us, email us at fallvermontgetaway{at}gmail.com. 

Hoping your summer is creative, busy .... and a little bit lazy too. 

I'll be back here Sunday night with a give-away for you. See you then!

rainy nights in june

This isn't exactly a summer craft, but more than once, it seems I'm most inspired to hook in the summer. 

It's coming along. 

Using some thrifted red wool I've had for a long time, apparently sold at Macy's first. I'm old enough that I can miss the days when we bought fabric at the department store. I don't think I was here though when it was 3.29 per yard for 100% wool "dress goods".

Hook in hand, I'm loving a crackling fire on a cold June night with the rain pouring down.

Happy summer, everyone. July is coming around the bend!

early spring, little things

Made my annual visit to the farm to see the baby lambs. They were doing this when I got to the barn and it's really true that they skip, kick up their little feet and bounce when they play just like the storybook illustrations!

Here at home, I enjoyed a bunch of pink ranunculus - right to the very end of their run. 

Mr. America had a nice splash on Feeling Stitchy. I was unfortunately out of stock in the shop, but then set up a preorder for those to come. (Thanks, Julie, for letting me know!)

One of my own lambs came home for a visit.

Sweet friends - the same adorables that inspired Josie Bunny - joined us for the day at the farm. They have grown up so!

Have been stitching and finishing a new sampler almost ready to share. I think you'll like it.

And lastly, I upcycled my mandarin orange bag into a thread keeper. Works perfectly with a little clip at the end and the threads spool out through the mesh without tangling. Pretty darned clever, if I do say so myself!