Showing posts with label Rose and Duke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rose and Duke. Show all posts

Friday, February 20, 2009

On the mend

Have you heard the one about the disappearing blogger?
Tea towel made as a surprise for a friend

When it comes down to it, I really can not do it all. As much as I, and every other mother I know wants to, it's just not possible. So there are choices. And they need to be prioritized. When I began this blog I did so in the hopes that virtually keeping track of my projects would help me finish them, and help me stay in touch with other bloggers who enjoy making things, baking, and taking photos of their accomplishments.
Pants made for Harlan this month. They were not intended to look like M.C. Hammer pants, but they kind of do.

What turns out to be possible, is that I eek out precious bits of time to make things (without keeping track of anything,) I bake things constantly (despite theoretically being on the Weight Watchers points diet,) I sit down to read my favorite bloggers' blogs, and keep in touch with them through commenting on their blogs, and I continue to take photos on a daily basis.

detail of pocket. Train fabric from Leslie.

When it comes down to my own blog, life seems to get in the way most of the time. Since moving to Austin a year and a half ago, I have not gone more then four weeks without any allergy symptoms. I do not mean a few sneezes and watery eyes either. We're talking sore throat, coughing that ends up in loud fits of gagging, partial to total loss of my voice, and completely blocked nasal passages that force me to sleep sitting up like the elephant man did (for some reason the one thing I always remember from the super tragic movie is that he had to sleep sitting up due to his messed up breathing issues). Do I sound like an old kvetcher, ready to move down to Boca yet (I wonder how the allergies are down there)? To add to all this glory, the state of being allergic so often has generally lowered my immune system and made me more vulnerable to infection. Since November, I have been fighting a sinus infection that has given me fever and chills, and body aches and exhaustion. It took me three months of living like this (with two brief periods of feeling well mixed in there) to finally stop and consider that maybe it wasn't just allergies that were bothering me. And now, on a ten-day course of antibiotics, I feel like a new woman. I am also seeing an allergist about taking weekly shots to stave off allergic reactions. I'm telling everyone this because I have basically been spending the last couple of months just going through the motions. There has not been enough time to get work done, let alone blog about what I am stitching while laying on the sofa with my eyes propped open. And now I feel that I am coming out of a tunnel and hopefully rejoining the land of the living.

Truck pants made for Harlan last month, using really expensive black stretch denim that I got in NYC to make a skirt for myself with. I have no idea why I blew it on these pants. I guess I didn't realize that one could not get similar fabric at local fabric chains like Jo-Ann's.

Moving to Austin may have given me massive allergies that will require weekly shots for a very long time, but honestly I fucking love it here. Winter with the sun shining almost every day, and warm enough weather to play outside is really the antidote to a lot of things in my book.




I recently just managed to get some of the vintage pillowcase dresses up in the shop. It was not easy to get fantastic photos of the dresses due to their being white and flowing. I'm working on getting better shots, but for now, click on the photos and check out the detail shots which I think came out quite nicely with my macro lens. Also, check out the new sleeper sets and romper dresses.
Long-sleeved onesies are still available for a couple more months too!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

3 is the magic number

Once again I've been a bit scarce around blogland for the past month. After Maker Faire (which went really well by the way, see here and here for a couple of shots that are better than my own) we had Harlan's third birthday to celebrate, and then I dove right back into production mode for the upcoming Blue Genie Art Bazaar, which is a three week long sale of items made by local artists.

With less than twenty hours a week to devote to working, blogging is put on the back burner once again. Here are a few shots to keep all my dear readers in the loop!

Harlan's third birthday on Nov. 1:
I think this is my only photo pose. Every photo of me since Harlan was born looks exactly like this. Here is the birthday boy being asked to pose:


We had a little party for Harlan and some of his pals at a place filled with inflatable jumpy houses. Some of them were so large that they had slides and ladders (inflatable too) inside them.



I updated my deer and tree applique designs. I'm now hand dying the blanks in vibrant, more "punchy" colors, that come out somewhat variegated. Instead of hand painting each shirt, Joe drew a deer that I'm silkscreening (and I added a small batch of a big bad wolf version). Silk screening goes a lot faster obviously, and it feels great to be able to produce the clothes a little faster than I was doing so before. Lastly, the tree appliques remain the same except that there is now only one tree per shirt.

I am making most of the trees with my traditional ric-rack, and leaving some with raw edges for a more "manly" look for little boys who don't rock the ric-rack.

This shirt is Kelley green, although it looks more yellow in the photo:


These little romper/dresses are new too, and come in a variety of colors:


Also new are these sleeper sets. The hats will be sold with the nighties (don't these things remind you of Sweepea?)


I really love the way blue dye came out, but it shows the most variegation of any of the colors I've tried so far. It's a bit trickier to work with and I had to scrap a pretty big batch of blanks unfortunately.
I'm hoping to put some of these in the shop, but that is pretty neglected these days as well. If you are interested in a particular size or design to purchase, feel free to e-mail me and I'll send it to you instead of putting in the upcoming Art Bazaar. I'm also making some great stockings with the woodgrain fabric, some Japanese import fabrics, and some linen ones with the deer. I hope to post again soon, but if not, please know that the comments you all leave and the e-mails you send really mean a lot to me.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Sneak Peak #2

Twenty two totally unique hand-embroidered dresses are ready to debut at the Maker Faire on October 18th. So far I have figured out how to make them in a few sizes ranging from 0-3 months to 4t. I choose the size the dress will end up being based on the embroidery and trim of the original pillowcase. Here is a sneak preview of a few of the dresses:



So, it's not the easiest feat in the world to photograph some of the designs on these in a short amount of time (which is the only amount I seem to have for every task these days). I just realized that I chose two green and yellow dresses out of all the different color combinations. There are many different colors, believe you me!

And now, if you are dying of suspense about who won the ticket drawing for the Maker Faire tickets, the winners are:

shewolfnm: Two adult tickets and one child ticket

and

Solotko: One student ticket (can be used by a child)

and

Jen-uh-four: One student ticket (can be used by a child)

Congratulations! The way I generated this drawing was by placing the names in two bowls. One bowl had the name and ticket request number of everyone who asked for adult tickets, and the other had the name and ticket request number of everyone who asked for children tickets. No one asked for student tickets, but the Maker Faire will admit children under 3 for free, so all other children are students right?

Please feel free to stop by the Rose & Duke booth in the Bizarre Bazaar and say hello when you come to the fair.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Almost Famous



Rachel Hobson of Average Jane Crafter interviewed me for her column on Craft Magazine's website. Thanks so much Rachel, you rock!

The dress is a sample that I made recently, but there should be about twenty unique dresses in time for the Bizarre Bazzar at Maker's Faire. Each dress is made from a vintage hand-embroidered pillowcase, and is fastened with vintage buttons. This is my first step away from hand embroidering items myself, and moving into producting garments that can be made faster, but are still special and different from other items usually found in children's clothing stores. As many of you have probably figured out by this point, hand embroidering isn't exactly fast, and therefore is not very cost-productive. I hope the dresses are a hit!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Abby Don't Look

I know this is lame, but I'm posting a photo of a birthday/housewarming gift before I mail it. So, Abby stop looking (or else look if you want to know what is coming your way soon). Here is what I made last week. With help from the Goddess of Vintage Embroidery Patterns, I was lucky enough to score a set of the busy bees transfers. There is a tee towel with an additional busy bee coming next, but I couldn't wait to show this one off. I used some Japanese bee fabric to contrast with the plain muslin.


Bathroom #1 is complete and I need to figure out a way to photograph a very tiny room in order to show it off. Bathroom #2 is on hold as my contractor called this morning (the day bathroom #2 was supposed to be demolished) to tell me he has a hernia on his leg (?) and he would like to start the bathroom next week. I don't know what to expect, but I sure am happy to have at least one excellent place to bathe.

Rose & Duke got a good review this week on the celebrity baby clothes blog.

Breakfast of the week:
This oat bran banana bread is some seriously good shit. Let me tell you, if you like banana bread, this is the way to go. Take your old bananas and follow this recipe. However, and this is important, substitute raisins for dried cherries, and be sure to dump in a good amount of the secret ingredient garam marsala.
My friend Jen. W. back in Brooklyn taught me this tip, and I must say that garam marsala in oat bran banana bread is to regular banana bread as watching regular t.v. is to watching t.v. with Tivo: Once you've had the new version, you're never going back.

P.S. Austinites: Did you know that a loaf of banana bread costs $12 at Texas French Bread? Are they F'ing kidding me? I don't even think that the obnoxiously overpriced Dean & Deluca in SoHo charges that much. If this kind of price inflation is a result of New Yorkers moving to town, I humbly apologize, and offer you my secret banana bread recipe as a peace offering.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Second post in two days!

I forgot to do self-promotion last night.

This past week, Rose & Duke was featured on the blog Cuteable:



I was also asked to participate in Funky Finds' March Giveaway of handmade baby items. One lucky winner will receive a Rose & Duke gift certificate for any shirt or onesise.


Be sure and enter the contest :)

Friday, February 15, 2008

Drumroll please....

Rose & Duke is open for business!



I love the way the site turned out, and I have more products that I'll be adding to the site when they're ready.

Today I was thrilled to see that Rose & Duke got a mention on my favorite blog about web shops for kid's stuff: Bloesem kids.

I must warn you to hide your wallet before checking her site out. Every store she highlights sells the loveliest handmade items for children. It's addictive for shopaholics like myself.

In mail news January was a pretty exciting month over here. I won a contest on Chet & Dot's blog and check out the booty I received from Jenn:
That's right gals! I got a free Chet and Dot drawstring bag, a kleenex pack holder, a scalloped-edge wallet, a mini spool of twine, a bookmark, and my favorite, a tiny penguin ornament. I tell you it was better than Ed McMahon showing up at my door with balloons.

But wait, there's more! Last month I fell in love with a new blog, Elsa Mora. I found Elsita through the flickr embroidery group, but she also makes spectacular porcelain sculptures, detailed dresses, jewelry, and prints. Anyhow, Elsa highlighted one of the prints she made on her blog (it's called Motivations) and I commented that I wanted to purchase it when it went into her etsy shop.

Instead of putting it in the shop she sent it to me! I got it to frame and give to Joe for his classroom, although I'm looking forward to the summer when I get to have it back.

Lastly, I had pretty much given up hope of ever receiving my swap package from the Montessori by Hand holiday traditions swap. I sent my package out on the mid-December deadline, and when mine hadn't arrived before I left town for the holidays, I wrote to my swap partner. She had apparently accidentally sent my package to the wrong address and it was returned to her. Anyhow, it finally made it to me in late January and inside were some recipes, some truffles, and this adorable acorn hat family. Emily also included an envelope with some other acorn hats so that I could make my own. I have to admit these were worth the wait!



And here's another reason for a drum roll, after staying home with Harlan full-time since he was born I've finally gone back to work part-time. Now that Harlan has acclimated to Montessori school, I'm going to work at my own school each morning. I'm tutoring junior high students at a near by public school in a rural area that I had never been to before. It's only fifteen minutes away from my central Austin neighborhood, but you would never know you were right next to a city based on all the fields that stretch to the horizon. The weird thing is that it's kind of a rural ghetto. There may be expansive fields on either side of the two-lane road, but every few fields there is one filled with something like a row of pink dumpsters, a gentleman's club, or a cluster of mobile homes with cardboard window coverings (and yes, they are occupied). I'll have to start taking some pictures to add to the rural decay flickr group. There are some truly spectacular shots in this group, like this one, and this one, and this one.

It feels good to be back at work, not just because it gets me out of the house, but because as some of you may know I was suffering from stomach issues and ensuing panic attacks when I was in graduate school (and pregnant with Harlan). I was tutoring at a public school back in NYC at the time and it became physically impossible for me to continue the work I was doing as well as attending my classes. I could not get on a subway. I was positive I was going to need a bathroom or that there would be a bomb on the train, or that there would be a bomb scare and the train would stop and I would need a bathroom and not be able to get to one. I could not stop thinking about the people who were on the subway both during 9-11 and during the blackout a couple of summers later when subway riders were trapped for hours. It was a very rough period in my life, both because of the physical and emotional issues I was having, and because of how difficult it was for me to get those around me to understand that I was in a legitimate crisis and not able to control what was happening to my body. While panic attacks are common, people who have never had one can't really grasp how terrifying they are, and how much they can limit one's ability to function. In my personal situation, the panic attacks were a direct result of the stomach issues I was having during my pregnancy, and once Harlan was born, the fear of having more panic attacks did not help my stomach functionality return to normal. It became a case of the chicken and the egg whenever I had to give up control and get on a subway or bus or in a car, and I retreated into a safe and wonderful world in Fort Greene where I was lucky enough to be able to surround myself with compassionate and intelligent mama friends. For Harlan's first year I was never alone, and I never had to explain to anyone why I couldn't get on a subway and come meet them. I was also lucky enough to have Joe support me and believe that I would get better. He never pressured me to get on a subway that I couldn't get on, or to "try this or try that" as many other well-intentioned loved ones suggested.

I was not a stranger to the world of panic attacks when I became pregnant with Harlan. Back when I graduated college and began my first job teaching at a school for children with emotional and learning disabilities, I experienced panic attacks for the first time. This first time too, stomach issues were involved, as was the fear of getting on public transportation. The school was two very long bus-rides away from my house and I was lucky enough to have a best friend who drove me to work at the crack of dawn each morning, even though she had no reason to be up that early. Our friendship ended years later, but I will always be thankful for her help during my first crisis. I suppose I have been very lucky during both periods in my life when I was full panic-crisis-mode. If I had had to experience either time without such wonderful friends and loved ones, I'm not sure I would have made it through to the other side. Anyhow, the point of my divulging all of this personal information to the world is that my being able to take myself to work each morning means that it's finally over, and that I'm officially back in the world of the fully-functioning. For the most part I kept my crisis to myself, because it was difficult to explain and also because it was shameful. In retrospect I can't understand why I felt ashamed except that I was afraid of being judged. I suppose I'm not anymore.