WREN handmade

Happy Spring!

We hosted an Easter brunch yesterday which was quite festive and fun. Surprisingly the weather was very warm, in the 70's and all the trees and plants are in bloom in Brooklyn. What a nice celebration of spring.

I cut some flowering pear branches from the tree outside for some last minute arrangements.

I decorated eggs this year with a wax stylus, traditional Paas dyes and a few darker Ukranian dye colors. I drew freehand patterns and also made "placecards" using eggs for each person attending. The stylus is a little tricky to make perfect lines, so I decided to embrace the wobbly lines and more organic look.

Each person got a hard boiled egg with their name on it, to eat then or take home.

I was happy to set the table using my LuRay dishes which I think looked very Eastery in the pastel shades.

The napkins are from Winter Water Factory and the linen runner is from Dwell Studio.

Our friend Katie brought a nice assortment of cheeses and made these cute labels for them.

I made orange poppy seed cupcakes from the May issue of Martha Stewart Living. The whole poppy story is really inspiring!

All in all, a nice afternoon. Sorry I didn't get any shots with the actual people, it's always a whirlwind once the party starts when you are hosting. Hope everyone had a nice Passover or Easter!

Red and white quilts

On Tuesday Leo and I saw this show. It was an amazing display of quilts. The presentation and range of designs made it totally worth the trip. Unfortunately it was only up for a few days. Leo also seemed to really like it since he likes to look up at graphic things and lights. If you can believe one woman collected all these!

Baby blocks

Leo is now really into playing with toys interactively. I thought he would enjoy playing with soft foam blocks. I had foam cut to 4" x 4" cubes and sewed covers. One nice thing about this project is you can use up all your small scraps of fabrics from previous projects. Below is a little how to. So far they are a hit!

Cut the squares 4.5" x 4.5" for a 4" cube.

Sew the 6 squares together in a cross formation with a 1/4" seam allowance. At each corner stop 1/4" from the edge. Then sew the sides and top leaving one edge open.

Turn right side out, stuff the foam block inside and hand stitch closed.

Oilcloth placemat

Now that Leo has started eating food (and making a mess of it!) I decided to make an oversized oilcloth placemat. When it's time for him to eat I can just slide the whole thing to the edge of the table. I ended up using Nani Iro oilcloth from Purl. It's a bit of a splurge but they are such beautiful florals. I bound it with homemade linen bias tape, easy to make with this gadget by Clover.

Indian block printing

Very talented photographers, Gentl and Hyers, made this video of Indian block printing for West Elm. It's so beautiful, their process and craftsmanship.

Hope everyone is having a happy new year so far! It's been very snowy around Brooklyn, making it hard to get out with a little one. I know I'm looking forward to nicer weather and warmer temperatures.

4 months.

Today marks Leo's 4 month birthday. How time flies! It's strange how it feels like he's been with us for so long at the same time. My friend Shannon, who I worked with at Martha Stewart, makes these special onesies to mark the occasion. Her company is Culpeper General. These would make a great gift for someone expecting.

Mini shop update!

I've updated my Etsy shop with more crochet items and garlands, check it out!

Patchwork pillow

UPDATE: the Crafts Department blog has a post about the making of the pillow plus some shower pics!

We're currently anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little guy. A few more weeks, and it can't happen soon enough for me!

I've been lucky enough to have had 4 baby showers. Each one had a different feeling and I've enjoyed all of them. The latest one was given to us by my old friends at Martha Stewart Living. I will share more photos of the amazing gifts and decor but first I wanted to share the group gift. They each embroidered a linen square and then sewed them together to form an alphabet pillow. I love how they all look together!

A few new dolls.

Hi,

Not too much to report but I have finally made a few custom dolls lately. Seems it's getting harder and harder to be totally productive with a big belly. Oh well.

baby thank you notes

Recently I had one baby shower and before this baby comes I'll have 3 more. I wanted to make some personal thank you notes that go with the color palette I've been using for the baby stuff I'll been collecting and making. I got the template here from an old birth announcement story.

My color palette...