After All Designs

Studio Transition

2009-11-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

Last spring I moved both self and studio from a country location in Charlotte, Vermont to an urban setting in Burlington, Vermont.
The space is great, with enormous ceilings and so much light; but getting things set up in a workable manner in a new space has been very challenging. It has slowed down my actual craft work a lot. But I am beginning to sense what hasn't worked comfortably in the set up and over the next few weeks can make some revisions.

The building is an historic renovated Bus Barn, where the Vermont Transit buses used to spend the night, and is just a fabulous space! My newly rescued cocker spaniel, Miki, loves spending time in the window (particularly watching for me if I go out and leave her).

Apron Garden

2009-09-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to daughter/artist Becca, who scolded me for not keeping my blog more up to date...Well, THAT is another story. But she just took the most beautiful photos of some of my aprons in her garden, enjoy!

First Snowfall

2008-11-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

This week has been unseasonably warm, and it lures one into complacency.
Last week, two days before Halloween, we woke up to our first snowfall. My heart had fallen the day before when I received my weather.com alert for "winter driving conditions".
The snow fell only on those of us in higher elevations, though, and when I drove into Burlington with snow still remaining on the roof of my car I was greeted as a novelty. My grandson's came to the window to see their grandmother's snow covered car, and a neighbor asked if she might "borrow" some to make snowballs.
It WAS lovely, but I admit I'd just as soon not see it again for a month or so.

Voting Day

2008-11-04T05:01:00.000-08:00

I had expected to awake with anxiety this morning. It is a big day, and I'm one of those who has been following this election for two years.
I find instead an unusual warmth outside for a Vermont November, more typical of early October when summer resigns itself to fall. When I look west to the lake there is a haze over it, but it is haze mixed with soft sunlight and particularly beautiful. I hear that many parts of the country will be oddly warm today...in Chicago they are expecting the temperature to reach 70.
I voted on Friday. I like the sense of community that comes from going to the polls, but I was anxious that something might come up so I quelled my anxiety by voting on Halloween. I remember now that it was a Halloween over 40 years ago that I first moved to Vermont.
My pregnant California daughter wanted to vote on Saturday but the early voting line was so long, and the rain so intimidating, she will go to the polls on tired feet after a long day at work. She will not be the only tired person there, I am sure. Tired feet have changed this country before...remember Rosa Parks.
I am so impressed by the television pictures of the long lines at polling places across the country. My local daughter tells me of the enthusiasm and dedication to vote by absentee of the patients in the hospice where she works. Surely the massive interest in this election, the enormous numbers of people voting, are going to cause polling place problems in some locations.
What stuns me about this as I think about it this morning is that we as a nation have "earned the right" to be cynical, to be disengaged. For the 50 somethings of my generation we have gone through the Cold War, Vietnam, Watergate, and 2000...and yet we think, whatever our political stripes, it can and will be different. We have been disappointed by Clinton and by Bush, but we think it will be different, or at least we think it CAN be different. As a child I was deeply impressed by the photos in Life Magazine of the civil rights struggle and the voting rights struggle. I read Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer and watched women burn their bras.
While our society and our political process are full of imperfections, I am profoundly impressed this morning by the changes I have seen in my lifetime. And I am even more impressed by the "audacious hope" of the American people to stand in line, on tired feet, to exercise a right which has, in my lifetime, become almost universal in this country.

3 Kitchen Tips I Learned in Girl Scouts, Plus 1 More

2008-10-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

The other day I was baking some cookies - yes, baking cookies, something I thought I'd put behind me years ago, but Becca and her boys are such an appreciative audience I've begun to do it again - when I realized I had carefully put aside the wrappers from the sticks of butter to use in greasing the cookie sheet. It occured to me that is a tip I'd learned as a Girl Scout so many years ago, in Winnetka, Illinois. I realized also that my habit of wiping the top of a can with a dishtowel before opening it also was something I'd learned in Girl Scouts. Jane Strong, who seemed to have an extended career as our girl scout leader, always wiped the top of a can before she opened it...we used to tease her she was afraid of "Jewel dust" - "Jewel" or the Jewel Tea Company being the name of the area supermarket chain. So, while we teased her about "Jewel dust", I've carried on that habit nearly 50 years.

From our day camping experiences to the Skokie Lagoons came the recipe for "Campfire Stew", or "Camper's Stew", or "Girl Scout Stew" which was a staple in our household when my girls were growing up, and which every so often I still have a hankering for today:
In a skillet, heat a little oil and then lightly saute a chopped onion. Add about a pound of ground beef and brown, then add a can of Campell's Vegetarian Vegetable soup (the "alphabet" soup). I'm pretty sure we served in on hamburger buns then, but now I prefer it on buttered egg noodles.
Now for a kitchen tip I learned recently, when you have brown sugar hardened in the box - it works for white sugar as well - pat a little water on the outside of the box and stick in the microwave for about 10 seconds. The moisture released breaks up the sugar clumps.

Market Transitions

2008-10-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Not all market changes are in the stock market, here in Vermont our farmers' markets are transitioning too. Last Saturday was the last day of the Shelburne Farmers' Market for this season. Since from June through October for two years I've spent my Saturdays between Shelburne Farm's stand and Palmer's Maple Syrup, I'll miss it this winter. I'll miss my weekly chocolate chip from Vermont Cookie Love (though they will be opening a shop in nearby North Ferrisburg around Thanksgiving), and my occasional jar of Sonia's Salsa (available also at the Shelburne Supermarket). Most of all I'll miss my regulars, who stop by every week or two to see what is new, and my out of state customers who are now returning on their vacations a second year.
This weekend I'll close out Richmond Farmers' Market's season, and make an appearence at the Middlebury Farmers' Market. Soon, I'll be starting the new Winter Farmers' Market seasons. At the Burlington Winter Farmers' Market I'll see Tasha and Annie from Shelburne Farms and Beth Whiting from Maple Wind Farms.
Here are a few of my favorite new items I'll be vending at farmers' markets this weekend, which are also available at http://afterall.etsy.com. I'm crazy about the little clothespin apron in vintage clothesline fabric. I've added a "farmers' market bib" and a great bunny print one. New aprons include some fabulous Asian and Provence prints.

Cedar Waxwings

2008-10-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

I ran across a bush full of cedar waxwings in the yard today, and as usual, they stopped me in my tracks.
Not only are cedar waxwings lovely birds, worthy of a long look, but they bring back a visceral memory...of late winter seven years ago, standing outside the Vermont Respite House with my good friend Susan Hartman, as my mother lived one of her last days inside. That day the a tree was full of cedar waxwings and we paused at it a long, long time. It is a bittersweet memory, of life and of death, but as is in most things the message of life comes through the strongest.

Local Color

2008-10-15T04:53:00.000-07:00

Last week found me telling out of state friends and family there was very little fall foliage apparent in the Champlain Valley. From here at the Mount Philo Inn on the west side of Mount Philo, looking west to Lake Champlain, the view was predominently of greens and yellows.
However, Friday I drove to Richmond for the Richmond Farmers' Market and to my surprise very quickly as I travelled east the colors became more intense, and by the time I got to Richmond the leaves were in full color. At home, seemingly overnight the reds appeared, especially in the sumac, and by Saturday and the last Shelburne Farmers' Market the colors, if not at peak, were very pleasing.
Here are some photos I took around the Inn over the weekend, as well as a couple new aprons in autumn colors which I have listed on my etsy shop.

Computer Meltdown

2008-10-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

Oh, my dear, I haven't posted on this blog for over two months! I'm not a faithful blogger but that is ridiculous!!!
A good part of the problem, besides competing demands on my time and attention, was a computer meltdown several weeks ago. My faithful laptop got infected with a virus and after trying first aid on it myself it completely went down.
If you live in the greater Burlington, Vermont area the answer to this kind of problem is Pierre at Recycle North. He is terrific, a magician, in fact, particularly when it comes to older computers such as mine, which was daughter Liz's when she was an undergrad. I have a sentimental attachment to it, and while old it works just fine for me and I don't need anything fancier. Anyway, Pierre took it into intensive care and it lives to fight another day.
In the meantime, however, my email got backed up, and I have lots of photos etc. stored online that need to be downloaded once again, so I've been avoiding the computer as much as possible since it returned...just opening it up reminds me how much work I have to do. Well, I'll try to be more faithful.

Shelburne Farmers' Market & The Weather

2008-08-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

David Palmer, the maple syrup man, says it never rains Saturday on the Shelburne Farmers' Market. That is pretty much true. This year, the first market was rainy, and some Saturdays the showers move in slightly behind market's end at 1pm, but so far, so good.
The Shelburne Farmers' Market is a great market. If you live in or visit Northwestern Vermont between now and mid-October, be sure to stop by...fresh veggies, flowers, breads, sweets, meals and snacks of all description, and great crafts. My stand is on the south side between Palmers' Maple and Shelburne Farms vegetables. If you are in Burlington on a Saturday and don't get south to Shelburne, get your veggies at Digger's Mirth's stand at the Burlington Farmer's Market.
On occasion when there is a vacancy you can find me, my aprons and things at the Richmond Farmers' Market Friday afternoons; and I'm trying to vend on Wednesday morning at the mid-week market in Middlebury at the Marbleworks, but so far the weather hasn't been too co-operative.
The weather...ugh! I can't remember a recent summer when it has rained this much...it even rains when the sun is shining! Sitting outside I've never seen as many slimy, snail and slug like critters as I've seen this summer. My cairn terrier is taking a lot of coaxing to get out the door, he doesn't like the rain and he isn't fond of getting his paws wet.
Anyway, the Shelburne Farmers' Market is Saturday on the parade grounds, right off of Route 7 just south of the light in Shelburne Village. 9AM to 1PM.

A Morning at the Farmers' Market

2008-08-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday mornings find me at the Shelburne Farmers' Market in Shelburne, Vermont. This is my second year there, and I love this market (I'll post some pics later). What surprises me each week is what sells or doesn't sell, and I have to say my sales pattern seems a little odd. The market starts at 9AM, and I seldom sell anything before 10AM, sometimes 11AM. Busy time for me is 11:30 to 12:30 or closing at 1pm.
Here are some pics of what sold this week:

Also some headbands, which I never bother to photograph. The yo yo block was sold as a quilt for a doll bed!

So, more on life at the farmers' market another time.

The Bobbin, Burlington Vermont

2008-07-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

Do you want to learn to sew (even just for one project) or need use of a sewing machine? If you live in the Greater Burlington area, The Bobbin is the place it's at. Here you can rent time at the sew bar or take classes or private instruction, or come in for group time with like minded crafters. Upcoming classes include sewing basics, t-shirt transformation, and a wonderful class by my wonderful daughter, designer Rebecca Mack, in how to alter clothing, particularly thrift shop finds.
The Bobbin is located in the Old North end, and you can visit them online at www.thebobbin.com

Easy Hummingbird Nectar

2008-07-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Few things lift my heart the way the sound of the hummingbirds coming to my feeder does. The feeder is located about 8 feet from the back door, and when I sit out on the stoop with my coffee the visit of a few hummingbirds is practically a sure thing.

I once suffered under the illusion that many people do that to attract hummingbirds one needed to purchase nectar mix. Not so! Mix 1 part sugar to 4 parts water...I usually do 1/2 cup sugar to 2 cups water. Heat on the stove until the sugar totally disolves, which will happen before the boiling point. Cool. Fill your feeder and store any leftover nectar in the refrigerator.

No, it isn't necessary to add food coloring, it is a myth that hummingbirds are attracted to the red in premade nectar mixes.

Easy Yo Yo Tutorial

2008-07-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

As anyone visiting my blog can quickly see, I am not a faithful blogger...However, here is something I have been meaning to post for a while...

I started making yo yos a couple of years ago to give me some hand sewing while doing craft fairs and farmers' markets. When I went online to learn how to make them, I found many of the instructions quite complicated and overly complex. So would-be yo yo makers, forget looking for a compass left over from high school geometry, forget cutting a die from cardboard, finding a water soluble marker...all of that - go with the flow!

A typical yo yo begins with a circle of fabric 4" in diameter. You can make them smaller or larger, but a 4" circle gives you a yo yo approx. 2" in diameter, a traditional size and good for piecing or embellishment. I use fabric scraps from my abundant source, but in the depression it was popular to make yo yos from pieces of worn out clothing, which is a nice way to recycle. I recommend a cotton which is not too loosely woven, like quilting cotton. Home decor weight fabric is a little difficult to manage making yo yos, and very loosely woven fabrics tend to fall apart. Silk would also be nice to embellish with.
The plastic lid to a coffee can is 4", so I use those as my template. I mark the wrong side of the fabric with whatever is going to be easily visible for me...chalk on dark fabrics, but pencil or ball point pen on lighter color fabric. Even felt tip pens are fine, if your marking leaves a good deal of ink simply cut just inside the mark and you won't run the risk of ink later staining your yo yo.
Hold the circle of fabric toward you with the wrong side facing you, and turn over approx. 1/4 inch as you sew the edges with double thread. I find it easiest to draw up the yo yo if I begin with the knot on the inside and tie it off on the outside. The 1/4 inch hem needn't be too precise, just fold as you go and if it reaches 1/3 inch sometimes remember a yo yo is very forgiving.
When you have completed your long running stitch around the yo yo, stitch just past where you began and bring the needle and thread to the right side (I find a slightly long needle works well). At this point gather up your yo yo and flatten it with your fingers. Tie it off with a double knot as tightly as you can pull it.
If I am doing a block, I make up a small bag full of yo yos and then begin stitching them together...my habit is to sew four together, then two strips of four to make a strip of eight, then stitch two strips together, etc., until I have a block the size I want. Do what works for you. I also use single yo yos as embellishment on aprons and other work, or sew them onto hair bands as pigtail holders, or sew three onto a barrette or pin back. Larger yo yos, using a saucer as a template, make a nice size to embellish hats.
See some yo yos in action in my Etsy shop at http://afterall.etsy.com

A Visit to Shelburne Farms

2008-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I've been waiting since my twin grandsons were born 15 months ago to take them for a visit to the Childen's Farmyard at nearby Shelburne Farms...We have been practicing "Old MacDonald" and animal sounds for weeks!
The day was glorious, the weather perfect, and no place is lovelier than Frederick Law Olmstead designed Shelburne Farms.
The Children's Farmyard was delightful, full of kids, school groups, parent, teachers, grandparents...and chickens! Chickens of every stripe and color...plus sheep, goats, pigs, cows, bunnies, donkeys, well, you name it.
Forget what you know about petting zoos, Shelburne Farms is perfect - clean, educational, environmentally sensitive, and so beautiful it can take your breath away! If you live in or travel to Vermont and have young children, it is a must. If you live in the Chittenden County area, check with your local library as they may have a day pass you can borrow for the day.

Sew Many Blessings

2008-05-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've quite surprised myself with how much fabulous inventory I have right now. Just thought I'd show it off by posting a larger mini.

Raining Cats and Dogs!

2008-05-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

Some of my new aprons feature fantastic prints of dogs and cats. I'm a real snob when it comes to cat and dog prints, and most I see are definitely ones I want to "pass by". These, however, I think are great. They feature pet characters we know and love.

Available on http://afterall.etsy.com/.

Feng Shui Quandry

2008-05-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have no more than dabbled in feng shui, but I do find many of its principles attractive. Who wouldn't want to attract more prosperity, energy, and good fortune?
I receive Vicky White's e-newsletter "Life Design Strategies" (http://www.lifedesignstrategies.com/).
While perusing it the other day, I decided that the place for me to start was to rid myself of the old junk mail, old bills, papers saved, etc. around my desk and workspace. I began the project, but then this question began to haunt my mind....
"If I rid myself of old junk mail and old bills, does the chi unleashed bring me happiness and prosperity, or more junk mails and bills?"

Creative Luxury

2008-05-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had the good fortune to "inherit" a lot of fabric from Peter's mother, who was moving. And I mean a LOT of fabric. Bags of it. She, like many of us who sew and craft, always had another project in mind, and to her detriment for a long time she had plenty of room to store her stash and over 80 years to collect it.

What this windfall has done for me is opened new doors. When I purchase fabric, I do so carefully and selectively, and the fabrics and designers I love are relatively expensive. I usually purchase and sew with a market or show in mind. Now, with all of this new fabric, even though most of it is not what I would have chosen, I am free to experiment, and luckily I have daughters who always love things that I make even if they aren't perfect, so I have a ready test market for new things I try.

Last week's experiment was a new style of half apron and the recipient was my daughter Becca. Her husband immediately pointed out that he does most of the cooking, so I'm starting one for him tomorrow, putting it together in a slightly different manner. Then one for Liz and Carl, to make use of some fabric scraps from making them napkins and placemats...though their patchwork may be different in size. While the patchwork on these aprons is relatively time intensive, it makes good use of my generous store of little pieces that are "too pretty to waste".

Mending Things

2008-05-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

Mending things is a little art, a little science, and a lot about the inclination of the heart. It is the heart which determines what objects are worthy of the attention of repair, and what find their way to the recycling without a second look.
Generally I have a "mending pile" which serves sort of as "death row"...there clothing languishes for months, sometimes years, before its end is finally determined. Other things are carefully and lovingly mended much sooner on, they are my objects of affection.
I learned about mending from Grammy Danley. I never saw her sew anything new, though I'm not sure she didn't dabble in embroidery occasionally, but our long afternoons were often spent mending a variety of treasures. She mended socks...any sock. I still have her darning eggs. She mended silk hosiery, and in my mind's eye I still see a little piece of cardboard with various shades of skin colored silk threads wrapped around it, so that the proper match could be made. I have her enameled green Chinese jar in which she kept recovered buttons.
Her greatest skill was in mending china and porcelain. She had quite a collection, mainly blue and whites, the family heirlooms indistinguishable from orphans of the Christ Church, Winnetka rummage sale. These pretties were lovingly mended, not with museum quality restorations, but with a pretty good eye and a little ingenuity.
I still have a number of these pieces today. One doesn't notice the cracks and the glue first, but when you do you can practically hear an appraiser say out loud "Worthless because of the repair". There is one blue and white ginger jar that is particularly interesting... I inherited from my mother, who in turn inherited it from Grammy, and it was probably in my possession ten years before I noticed that part of the porcelain lip of the jar had broken off and long ago been replaced by a carefully crafted bit of putty.
Currently I have two pairs of blue jeans in their final stages of life...little holes and areas of wear have been patched by swatches of some of my favorite French Provincial fabrics, which only makes me more attached to the jeans. But the fabric is getting so threadbare there will be little patching on the horizon.
Yesterday I went to glue a trivet. Peter had accidentally sent it plunging from the kitchen counter a couple of weeks ago, and I told him not to worry as it was only a little thing I'd picked up on sale at TJ Maxx. He was greatly relieved it wasn't an heirloom. Yet, TJ Maxx or not, I couldn't quite put the broken pieces of this Provence knockoff in the trash, and yesterday looked for glue. All the superglue and all of the household cement in the house were as dry as a bone. I plugged in a hot melt glue gun, which had only limited success with one broken edge on the trivet. So I put the unrepaired pieces away, and found a little broken Portuguese ceramic on the way. This little dish has been mended a dozen times if it has been mended once, but I wouldn't in a million years discard it, even if pieces were missing. And yet I have no idea where I got it, or when.
It is nice when ordinary events bring back memories of loved ones departed, as this little TJ Maxx trivet brought back a flood of memories of my grandmother.

Tissue Paper Flowers - Easy Tutorial

2008-05-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

I am almost embarrassed to call this a tutorial, as it is so easy and once you begin doing it is so familiar. So maybe it is just a "reminder".

I used about 2 sheets of gift wrapping tissue per flower. Lay one sheet on top of the other and cut the majority of the tissue into squares approximately 6 inches. Then cut squares approximately 3 inches, and lay those on top of the 6 inch squares.

Fold up stacked tissue like an accordian...I think my folds were probably around 3/4". When folded, find the approximate center and cut a "V" on both sides...if your scissors are dull and you can't quite get a "V" a cut in the tissue will do. This notch allows you to tie the flower a little better.

To tie up, use pipe cleaners, floral wire, craft wire, or, as I did, twist ties from loaves of bread. Then open out the "petals" on your flower one by one. Don't you feel like you are in first grade again? Puff, it goes from a pile of tissue paper to a carnation, rose or poppy.

You can decorate your flowers if you wish with a little glitter glue, or glue and glitter, or a bit of market adding color here or there on the edges. Once complete you have options: hotmelt glue on a backing, such as a pin backing or barrette (pin backs and you can put them on hats or curtains), or, if you don't have "stems", add a stem now with wire of some sort. If you have any green felt lying around you can do as I did and cut out "leaves", cut a little snip in them and put the "stem" through the leaves.

For a Mother's Day gift for my daughter I took a recycled parmesan cheese can, threaded the stems through the holes on the top, and wrapped fabric around the can. Presto! I think I'll make some for myself now, as the tulips and jonquils have passed and the lilacs aren't quite open outside.

Lost Sock Memorial Day

2008-05-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

My friend Linda writes on her blog that Friday, May 9th is Lost Sock Memorial Day, the day we remember all of those lost socks whose return we await year after year.http://spottedcowsoaps.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-contest-for-lost-sock-memorial-day.html
Well, I immediately thought I'd better blog about it, as Friday May 9th is my daughter Becca's birthday and Becca has been, for about 15+ years now, the style maven of mismatched socks. I can't remember whether she got away with it in Catholic school, but by the time she entered high school she'd hit her stride and was forever wearing socks that didn't match. Any lost sock in the household immediately found a new mate of a different color in Becca's wardrobe. Soon she was the envy of her classmates.
Do you know there is a Vermont company that makes mismatched socks?
Last year I was actively thinking of making little laundry bags for holding mismatched socks...I wanted to print the French phrase for "mismatched socks" on them, but our Paris contact told us that there wasn't really an equivalent phrase, it would come to something like "sock which no longer has partner", not something in common usage. If any reader knows better, let me know!

Essex Spring Craft and Fine Art Show

2008-04-27T05:49:00.000-07:00

My days are busy getting ready for the Essex Spring Fine Art and Craft Show, a juried show sponsored by Vermont Craft Workers, coming up Saturday, May 3rd and Sunday, May 4th. A local tradition, it is held at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, Vermont.

This is the largest show I've participated in, so I'm trying to judge how much inventory I'll need, and my scissors and sewing machine are buzzing...I've had new fabric coming in for the past few weeks, some favorites of my customers last year, and some irresistible new designs. One of my favorites in this version of Denyse Schmidt's "Flea Market Fancy", this in pinks and orange.

One Fabric, Two New Unmet Friends

2008-04-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

I'm something of a francophile when searching out new fabrics, and last summer I picked up a small bit of fabric with French names of soaps and illustrations on it. I loved it, and it has brought me two new friends.

Carrie/Gigi is an artisan of soap and other delights from Maryland. We met through the community on Cottage Living. Carrie bought a pillow I'd made in this fabric, and, lucky me, I was the recipient of her swap package this spring in the Cottage Living community. Among the many great and useful gifts were a number of her products which she presents under the name of "Under the Willow Gifts". Her website is http://www.underthewillowgifts.com/, and you will want to check it out if you are jealous of my new crocheted face cloth, lavendar linen spray, chocolate lip balm, Maryland Crab Soap (I can't wait to try that!), and soap in Willow Spice. Carrie blogs at http://underthewillowgifts.blogspot.com/.

Sylvie is the moderator of the message board in our new Vermont Etsy Street Team. Sylvie creates natural skincare and body products and lives in a jewel of Vermont, the Lake Champlain Islands. I've been commissioned to make aprons for Sylvie and her husband Bob to wear at their local farmer's market, and as luck would have it, I was able to search out and find a few more yards of that French soap fabric. Ironically, it turns out Sylvie is from Montreal! Her original products are marketed at http://sylviel.etsy.com/.

Vermont Etsy Street Team

2008-03-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

For lovers of all things Vermont and all things handmade, we now have a Made in Vermont Etsy Street Team, a group of Vermonters marketing their arts and crafts through etsy.com.

You can preview our new blog at http://vermontetsystreetteam.blogspot.com/, or look for us on etsy.com!

Spring Sale!

2008-03-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

From now through midnight March 31st take 15% off of your order (does not apply to shipping). Shop, put items in your cart and before check out convo me and I'll adjust you invoice. You may take this additional reduction on items already on sale, too.

After a successful sale and the beginning of my craft show/market season you will begin to see new product lines...more children's items, aprons and clothing, new organic fabrics, and hopefully some new finds from vintage kimono and sari fabrics, french textiles...and new items. Also a more contemporary line!

Fabric Scraps..."Too Pretty to Waste"

2008-03-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

I am a lover of all things fabric, and have been as long as I remember. I like seeking it out, purchasing it, laundering it (in Seventh Generation detergent), ironing it (well, as long as the piece isn't too many yards..), rolling it and adding it to my stash. I also love the little pieces left over when a project is completed, and save every bit of worthwhile size, finding them "too pretty to waste".

My daughter Becca, who makes brilliant hats and quilts (check out her barn swallow motif on http://flyinghen.blogspot.com/), recently asked me to bring her some scraps. "No problem," I thought, since I have so many. But then she asked specifically if I could spare a scrap of a green vine print designed by Densye Schmidt for Free Spirit's "Flea Market Fancy". I paused for a minute, remembered she is my daughter, after all, and agreed to share...Some fabrics, I think, are even more beautiful as little pieces than they are as yardage. This lovely print is, and Becca is also in love with it, and has even spotted it used in quilts in magazines. Another print which I treasure every little piece of is by Mary Engelbreit and has little girls reading books on it. One little fragment left over from making a child's apron showed a little girl reading Little House on the Prairie. Oh, how I loved that book! So I took this little piece and recovered one of my aging pincushions.

I keep adding items made from fabric scraps to my product line. I make note cards from fabric scraps, which I call my "Too Pretty to Waste" line. I started making headbands last summer, and those have been very popular. What fascinates people the most is my utilizing scraps to make yo-yo's. I'll blog more about yo-yo's another time, and include instructions, but for now let me say they are really magical...they bring back memories of grandmothers and great aunts, they gather up and change their design identity in the process, and seem to particularly fascinate babies, boys, and men! I have some small table covers in my etsy shop. I also make pins and ponytail holders from yo-yo's, and have made some toys for my grandsons, but haven't listed those yet.

Road Less Travelled and Little Shop of Horrors

2008-03-10T01:49:00.000-07:00

The little, one lane private country road that we live off of ("within spittin' distance" was one of my midwestern father's favorite expressions) holds many charms...unfortunately, most of them are seasonal.

It has been a long, hard, snow-drenched winter this year in Vermont, and "cabin fever" is rampant. The only winter sport I have been able to "enjoy" is the one of watching our neighbors try to drive their cars up the hill ("will he make it? no, he won't!") and hoping they don't end up with one or two wheels in the drainage ditch.

The drainage ditch has a brief life as a stream in springtime, assisting the snowmelts past neighboring basements and down the hill. Later, and through summer and fall, it is inocuous and covered in vegetation. It is only in winter it emerges, in my mind at least, as the Little Shop of Horrors. It is hard to believe that so many cars, SUVs and trucks would accidentally slide from the road into the ditch...no, I suspect there is a fiend-plant force there at work, pulling vehicles in and keeping them bound.

A couple of weeks ago our car broke down in Burlington and needed to be left for repairs, so we took a cab home ($70.00 for a cab ride!). The driver, a personable older fellow, we gave specific instructions to do not try to back your cab down the road from here, or you will end up in the ditch. He did, and he did. I offered the driver what help I could, which is very limited. "Once you are in the ditch," I told him, "you can't be pushed out. You can call your dispatcher to send a wrecker, or you can stay right here...you are blocking the road with your taxi so eventually one neighbor or another is going to come by in their truck and have no choice but to pull you out so they can get by." He opted for the later, and was out in 15 minutes or so. Good choice, for our little road is not beloved of the AAA tow truck operators, some refusing to come at all, some finding themselves stuck in the process of helping others, or they work so long they forget and run out of gas.

They say spring always follows winter, but the ice storm of this weekend was particularly a bruiser, and I'm beginning to experience doubts this winter will end, at least not anytime soon. I don't trust the Little Shop of Horrors, so more often than not I've been leaving my car at the foot of the hill. It sits there now with the remainder of my grocery shopping from a couple of days ago still in it, plus the recycling bin. I'm thinking if I put the kitty litter, birdseed and other grocery items in the recycling bin, and take a long dog lead and wrap it around the bin, I can drag it up the icy hill as if it were a sled....

Temporary E-mail Difficulties

2008-02-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

It appears that my e-mail address of afterall.designs@yahoo.com has temporarily disappeared! Yahoo is working on the problem. If you have sent me an email in the past few days, you may or may not have received an error message.
For the time being, please use my home account of maggies3@yahoo.com to send or resend messages. Thanks!

Pillows

2008-02-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

After All Designs
Signature Two-Faced Pillow

Two faced…not something you want in a friend, but very desirable in a pillow. Our two faced pillows are made of coordinating and complementary fabrics to give you two decorating options – use them both!

Pillows are the most versatile and fun decorating option, like a blind date, they allow you to play with designs and colors without making a long term commitment. Use them everywhere, not just the sofa and the bed, but on chairs, piled on the floor, in baskets, under the cat. A pillow in the boudoir can hold a lady’s broaches. On a chair, it raises a small child to better see the world, placed under the feet of a reclining elder, it provides relief to tired legs. Pillows can be tossed in jubilation and rest our heads in times of desolation. If you think you have enough pillows, you aren’t dreaming enough.

After All Designs pillows are “piecefully handcrafted” at the foot of Mount Philo in Charlotte, Vermont, by an urban refugee. I have been called an artist with fabric but I am really just a matchmaker, a “yentl”, who falls in love with fabric and brings pieces together. The fabric I select are all cottons (and an occasional cotton blend), and are top quality home décor and quilting fabrics. Pillows are double stitched and all fabric has been laundered at least twice in Seventh Generation laundry products before leaving my home for yours to remove finishes, preshrink and test for fading.

Aprons

2008-02-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

So many women have an aversion to aprons, recoil at the idea of them in fact. I think it is because they fear that donning an apron would turn them into Donna Reed or a Stepford Wife.

In fact, aprons are making a big comeback, and they don’t just belong in the kitchen anymore! Whoever has found their spaghetti sauce suddenly erupting like Vesuvius, or opened a rocket disguised as a bottle of seltzer will want one, but aprons are needed everywhere accidents happen! Drivers who drink latte on the road need not worry so about potholes with a pretty apron in the car…keep one at your desk at work and you may be able to go into the afternoon’s meetings without vinaigrette on your silk blouse! Whether housekeeping, petkeeping, gardening or baby tending the protection of an apron shouldn’t be missed, that’s why After All aprons are so attractive you can where them anywhere.

One of my most distinct memories of childhood is that of a little apron I was given, so I enjoy making aprons for children, too. Girls aprons which are sweet and feminine, and gender neutral aprons for the child who wants to help cook, assist with the housework, or whose artistic temperment is apt to leave paste and paint splashes here and there.

This year's line will offer more variations in styles in women's aprons, more aprons for men, gardening aprons, and aprons designed for craft show/farmer's market/flea market vendors.

Reader's Appreciation - Take 1/3 Off Your Order on my Etsy store!

2008-02-17T08:28:00.000-08:00

It's time to start believing spring is on its way so I want to move some inventory and thank my readers...For the balance of the month of February, take 1/3 off any item or items -excluding baby blankets - in my shop at http://afterall.etsy.com/. Discount does not apply to shipping. This is not a public sale so email me or, through etsy, convo me that you read it on the blog and I'll adjust your invoice. You may make your purchase first and the adjustment will follow.

Then Came Baby Bibs

2008-02-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

My older daughter got married a lot that year. She was, in fact, something of a seriel bride, but since she was marrying and remarrying the same fine man it provided us amusement and entertainment and not concern.

In January she married him three times...a private civil ceremony to make it legal, then a day for the immediate family which included two ceremonies - one in English, one in Tamil, and two receptions. In April a large celebration for family and friends on the groom's side in Nashville, and a few weeks later a trip to India which included - I've lost count - one or two wedding celebrations. By the time they had their big, outdoor celebration here in Vermont in August they were expecting their first child. So all of those fabric scraps I'd been saving from making dog scarves soon were earmarked to make baby bibs.

Soon they learned that they were expecting their first children! Twin boys! So the reversible bibs I was making and had tentatively called "two faced bibs" began and remains my "twin faced bibs".

I know many people are attracted to baby bibs with characters, bunnies, sports teams or funny baby sayings on them, but I'm in business to work with fabric I love so my bibs are fashioned from complimentary cotton fabrics of the highest quality and design. Bright colors, beautiful florals, French and African designs...whatever suits my fancy. My latest and most popular bib to date features an out of print farm pastoral on one side and an out of print Laura Ashley design of children playing at the beach...I call it "Summer in Vermont". Another favorite design of mine refashions vintage, monogrammed damask napkins into bibs...I love repurposing vintage linens!

The Great Dog Scarf Enterprise

2008-02-13T05:22:00.000-08:00

As spring turned to summer that first year, the flower beds filled in and I filled about every container I had of any kind to bring posies near our doorway, I became more serious about setting out to form some kind of business crafting with fabric.

My first project was boutique dog scarves. I had done no marketing research, had no marketing plan or even a marketing notion. I just loved dogs and sewing and thought it would be a good idea.

I collected marvelous cotton fabrics...toiles, designs of Provence, florals, an out of print line of quilting fabric designed by Susan Sargent, and began making reversible dog scarves/bandanas. My own dogs, Maggie the elderly cocker spaniel and Toby the terrier were happy models. The dogs of neighbors and family provided models of different sizes. They were great, colorful and fun but I found myself hesitating whenever anyone asked me what I was up to these days to say "Oh, I'm making dog scarves".

A few problems began to emerge. The first, and most serious, was that as the scarves were cut out I realized the designs caused a lot of fabric wasteage, too much was falling "on the cutting room floor". The second, my own fault, as that as I went to adjust patterns when I determined one needed to be resized, or have longer ties for tying, is that I tended to save both the old pattern and the new without properly labeling them, so I often ended up confused as to which I should be working with. Finally I consulted with a dog groomer on sizing and found her recommending more scarves for toy sized dogs and some for giant breeds. The tiny scarves ended up being too challenging for my somewhat arthritic hands, and the scarves for giant breeds were so enormous that I knew that there was no way to sell them at the price required to make a profit. So, at a point about 12 dozen bandanas into the process, the enterprise lost its appeal.

While I often feel like I don't care if I never see another of these dog scarves again, and never marketed them to pet shops or grooming parlors, they have ended up being something of a success. Whether at farmer's markets or craft shows I always manage to sell a few. Sometimes people buy them for their dogs, sometimes as kerchiefs, to tie on packages or suitcases or gifts, even as baby bibs. But their greatest benefit to me has been as a marketing tool for the kind of fabrics I use. People love to pour through the bandanas and say "Oh, I love this fabric", "Could you make me placemats out of these fabrics", etc. etc. So the dreaded dog scarf enterprise has been a succcess, in its own way, after all.

Forgetful Blogger & All in the Family

2008-02-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

I don't think I was born for blogging...I've just remembered to add two areas to my layout. First, where to find my work online. Second, a list of my favorite links...that is where the "all in the family" part comes in, as the first two links up are those of the older of my two extremely talented daughters, Rebecca Mack, who manages to crank out all kinds of arts and crafts of endless imagination while raising two infant twin boys. Check her out at the Flying Hen. The other of my first links is the website of Peter Kurth, the talented writer with whom I live.

Why the Name "After All"

2008-02-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

I think that many of us go through periods of time that are rough, or disappointing, where it seems like something has been lost or a dream we've had hasn't come true. I had been through such a time two years ago when in the spring of 2006 I suddenly found myself moving to a new home in the country and setting up household with a man I'd first met and fallen in love with in 1969, when I was a freshman in college and he was a high school junior with braces on his teeth.

I had never actually thought of living in the country...I thought I was an urban/suburban "girl" at heart, who liked the convenience of running out to buy a quart of milk any time at all, who didn't take too well to country roads or how dark it was when the sun went down. Nor had I given any thought a life with Peter in many, many years...we had married and divorced other people, gone in different ways, though somehow our hearts and heads had remained unmistakably linked through the years. We had gotten back in touch the spring before, and it was as if the years of separation hadn't happened in many ways, except to give us much to talk about. And we found we both needed new places to live at the same time...

It was Peter's idea we find a place in the country. I was agreeable, though I said I'd prefer a place that had neighbors around, as I knew he'd be traveling frequently and I still found the idea of darkness and isolation in the country disquieting. We saw an ad and that afternoon called on it, and ended up driving out and meeting Dave and Jane Garbose and the carriage house apartment they had for rent in an old inn in Charlotte, adjacent Mount Philo and in a beautiful setting overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. I'm not sure which we fell in love with first - Dave and Jane or the apartment. But when we left it didn't take us more than a hundred yards of discussion in the car before we knew that was the place for us.

So we came to set up our country household, bringing together our total of four black cats, a black dog, and a dog of a different color. (One black cat had a marvelous summer as a country kitty, only to grow too familiar with the main road and be killed by a car in late summer. The black dog, a cocker spaniel, lived another year to the age of fourteen, and on the first day of autumn passed away in our arms. They are both buried here in this glorious setting, and a new black kitten joined our household last year.) When the morning light came over the mountain that spring I'd take my coffee outside and watch the birds and think about the nature of nature, the nature of relationships, the nature of life.

How is it I came to live in the country after all I've said to the contrary, I thought. How is it that after all these years I came to live with Peter? The year before health issues had caused me to leave a career and a company that I loved, working as a real estate agent. These morning musings reminded me that time after time during those years people had said "Susan, you really should be doing something more creative." I began to realize that this was the time to experiment, to nourish my creative side, and slowly I began to conceptualize a handcraft business sewing with fabrics I loved to find and collect.

So, in these quiet mornings where I watched the birds, greeted an occasional neighbor on the little lane we face, and saw spring become early summer the phrase that kept going through my head was "after all". I believe that no matter what twists and turns, bumps and bruises, and surprises life delivers, eventually we come to that place we were supposed to be, though perhaps didn't know it, after all.

Beginings

2008-02-09T02:30:00.000-08:00

I am, quite simply, a lover of great fabric. Fabric, like art, has the power to inspire, to evoke memories, to cheer or calm the spirit, to ease troubles. I sew only with fabric I have fallen in love with. I stumble across it, I search it out, and I have almost tireless energy to find out of print favorites. Many of the things I sew incorporate two or more fabrics, either as twin faced or reversible articles, or as embellishments. I also have treasured vintage pieces that come out to add a pocket here, trim there, to add not only color or design but a sense of history.
I grew up in a large Victorian home on Chicago’s North Shore. It was my grandmother’s home, and her parent’s home before that, and so on. It was filled with heirloom furniture and art and also many things of undistinguished ancestry. It was the floral upholstery and wallpaper that left their most indelible impressions on me, though, that and my grandmother’s penchant to paint almost any wooden surface a bright apple green. There was a crazy quilt – she never owned up to its history, and my mother suspected it might have been a rummage sale find – that combined fabrics of various prints, velvets, satins, and that quilt captured my imagination in a very strong way; when I napped under it I’d map it as I fell asleep, sure that I could teach my fingers with my eyes closed to sense the difference between red and blue, floral and stripe. It was there, literally at my grandmother’s knee, that I first learned to sew…to darn socks, to mend, and occasional little pieces of hand sewing. These skills were learned amid her tales of shipwrecks on Lake Michigan, of early settlers and Indians, of family fortunes made and lost. I still dream in chintz.It was by an accident of circumstance that I learned to sew anything else. I was in college, an aspiring actress, and a play came up in which I did not get cast. The theatre had become my new home, and I couldn’t sit out a production, so I volunteered in the costume shop, explaining I could sew on buttons and perhaps turn a hem, nothing more. An hour or two into my first evening there as a volunteer the costume designer told me more was needed of me, and in about 10 minutes, perhaps 15, she showed me how to use a sewing machine and cut a pattern. By the end of the night I’d fashioned a gold doublet. That was my formal sewing instruction.My craft business has its roots in those early experiences, and is inspired also by the beauty of the natural location we are fortunate enough to have surround our country home. I sew in essence because it is my chosen way to do what I love to do, surround myself with fine fabric. I believe fabric can have tremendous effect and appeal, and I have become a “fabric hound”, collector, aficionado. I find fabric in many places, and search long and hard to find just what I am looking for. Some of the fabrics I select are by contemporary designers, and I love to use fabrics designed by Vermont artists April Cornell and Susan Sargent. Many of the fabrics I select are out of print or vintage pieces. I have a particular fondness for French and Provence designs, and you will see them frequently in my work.

Please visit my shop anytime at http://afterall.etsy.com/