(Inside A Black Apple)

Cocoa Rosettes

I've decided what I will be, should the artist/illustrator/whimsy-stitcher thing not work out in the long haul:

A Chocolatier.

On a recent excursion to Atlanta with the Squirrel Mother and our best Andy, we went to brand-new F.C.S. (Fancy Cooking Store), where I scurried around excitedly and acted like a loony...grabbing things here and there and emitting little yelps of glee. One thing I grabbed (and promptly paid for) was a heavy-duty bon-bon baking/chocolate molding tin. It is a really beautiful object itself, and as you can see, even more beautiful, tasty things come forth from it.

I think that most chocolate molds these days are flexible, thin, plastic...and though they are probably easier to work with, I think I would be hard-pressed to find one that makes such beautiful candies. The floret-mounds (there are two on the left) are my favorite, I think. Or maybe the wee star.

I filled them with various good things that I whipped up in tiny quantities...quite a few had tasty peanut-butter candy centers (just small balls of peanut butter mixed with a tiny bit of butter and lots of confectioner's sugar) and the others had mint and orange cream fillings, respectively. Mint, because there are NOT ENOUGH milk chocolate/mint combinations. I can never find them! And orange is just so lovely with chocolate. The creams were confect-ed of milk, butter, generous amounts of confectioner's sugar, and extracts of peppermint and orange. We surprised our dinner guests with them, and I think they were a hit.

I've got a bit of work ahead of me, so I'll stop going on about candy-making. But it is so fun...I could go on for much, much longer!

Happy Saturday, dears.

I wanna live with a Cinnamon girl...and Nutmeg. Oh, and Licorice, too.

These are the three fall sweet-peas that will be for sale in the shop in a few hours...Licorice, Cinnamon, and  Nutmeg.
They are all dressed in their autumn finery, with brown dresses all 'round!

See you soon, and Happy Friday my sweet applets!

Lucy, on a windy day

Lucy, on a windy day     11"x14"x2"     Acrylic on canvas

She'll be in the shop , tomorrow, at 2:00 Eastern. See you then!

Ric-Rackety Napkins

This is a little bit of a detour from the stuff that's in store for the shop update Friday, but I just finished washing and pressing these little napkins I stitched up! They're from a tutorial in the October Martha...and I couldn't resist. I have an irrational hatred of paper napkins...plus, it seems wasteful to go through so many of them.

The raw materials, before heading off to be pre-washed (I think that wooden duck-on-wheels is a little jealous of my cool fabric):


This project severely depleted my stockpiles of ric rac. I thought I had more, but it seems I wasn't as rich in vintage ric rac as one might hope. These are the colors I chose for the napkin edges:

I stitched them up last night and this morning, and they're so cute! A few are a tiny bit wonky, but who cares? Here they are, drying out:

I think that the red/white polka dots with jumbo pink ric rac is my favorite. Or the burgandy with the cherry red trim...

I'm so excited to set the table for tonight's dinner guests with these little pretties!

Patchy

I need you I don't need you      9"x11"x1"     Acrylic and fabric on wooden plaque

Weekend Recap + Update on Friday

(Including new original paintings, a fresh batch of Cameo Pins, dolls, jewelry boxes, a new postcard pack, etc!)

I had a nice stew-making, cake-baking, painting and chatting and magazine-reading weekend. So, really, an almost perfect weekend. I just wish that the fall weather that stirred hope in my heart would return...it's back to the 90's and I've just decided to live in denial about that.

Two new little folks finished yesterday:

If I was Paul Bunyan      9"x11"x1"    Acrylic on wood panel

Famous Blue Waistcoat    8"x10"X2"    Acrylic on canvas

They are both  (as you might've already guessed) allusions to songs: Magnetic Fields' "Grand Canyon" (one of my favorite, favorite M.F. songs) and the incredibly sad and incredibly good classic, "Famous Blue Raincoat", by Mr. Leonard Cohen. Both are terribly romantic in different ways, and both had been sticking in my head as seeds for paintings.

Miette says "Mmmrreow" (thank you very kindly) for your nice well-wishing. He's doing very well, and is sweeter than ever. Josiah said yesterday that he's my "familiar" the past few days (he sat by my side the whole of yesterday while I painted, and he's sleeping a few feet behind me, curled up in an old dress he's claimed as his own, as I type this).
I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful little cat.

I'm off to be a good black apple employee for the rest of the afternoon...shipping, etc.

Happy Monday!

Just recovering a little

Miette currently looks like this, because he is recovering from his big day at the vet right now (he had the "fixing" surgery today) and a few other little, healthy, but never-the-less scary things done to him. So he's healthy, all stitched up, worn out and crashing on the record player.

I'm recovering from the Monday + Tuesday sale's orders (and will still be under the mail room pile for the next few days, though I can see the light now!).  A batch will go out tomorrow (as it did today, and yesterday) and then there will be one more big one for the weekend's duties.

I'm sorry it's so boring here right now...but I promise this won't turn into www.cutepicturesofmycat.com. Just bear with the cute cat pictures while I play catch up.
xoxo

The Birds and the Bees and the Sampler and some Cameos...

Bonjour, Applets!

So, I'm poking my head out from under the enormous piles of mailing there is to be done today...and tomorrow...and the next day.
I figured you needed to know that my oatmeal cookies from Sunday were extremely tasty and have officially vanished as of a few hours ago. A happy Sunday afternoon:

What better way to usher in early fall than cinnamon-y oatmeal cookies (these had shards of chocolate, too, making them extra good). I just use the recipe on the top of the oatmeal box, excepting two..er...three things. I add about a 1/4 c sugar, 1/4 c oatmeal, and subtract about 1/4 c flour...this makes for very satisfactory cookies. And I told you I was immersed in the amazing decorations of all the fall/Halloweeny Martha magazines...

This combination of textures and creatures really made me happy yesterday. I didn't even realize until I went to post  that I was exhibiting the birds AND the bees at once! So cheeky. Anyway, I replaced the buttons on this lemony sweater (don't worry! I saved the lemons for another day!) to make it a bit more fall-ish/switch it up.

I whipped up a batch of new cameo pins over the weekend:

They'll be included in the next shop update, which I'm thinking will be in about a week or week-and-a-half. I have to get all the sale orders shipped before I can finish up more work!

AND...Remember this little pretty tea-girl?
It's finally time that I can announce the Sampler's super-cool new product, The Sampler Select. This one is "home-y" themed, and SO lovely...I'm really tempted to get one for myself. It was curated by the sweet + creative Alison of Wonderland Q, and there are neat interviews with the contributers (you can read mine right here).   

Isn't that house-box the cutest?! They're right, it would be the greatest housewarming gift.
I heart the Sampler! Keep it up, Marie!

As Lou Reed would say...

It's such a perfect day/
I'm glad I spent it with you...

Well, I guess it's a little early in the day to be making proclamations like that. It's just that it is a beautiful day, all early fall and rustling and wonderful.
We just got back from a nice long run in the breezy coolness and now that I'm smelling nicely again, I'm a-blogging and (about to be) a-baking. I've got paintings to be painting, and a stack of fall magazines (including the incredibly fun Martha Halloween issue). Yesterday was kind of crummy, so I'm grateful that Sunday is making up for it with a vengeance!

I finished work on a new little gal yesterday...

Miss Lydia       8"x10"x2"     Acrylic on fabric, mounted on canvas

I think she's a perfect early-fall girl.

The eagle-eyed of you will remember that particular calico from this post a few days ago. I really, really love this fabric and have been hording my last half-yard for about 4 years. If anyone has any tips/sees it at their local fabric shop, I would be most grateful for your help. I think I just picked it up at a Wal-mart when I was in college...and I haven't seen it anywhere since!

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon, I'm off to bake some oatmeal cookies + do some painting.

PS: Don't forget, the first Black Apple Shop Sale starts tonight at Midnight!

Thank you + Sale Announcement!

Thank you guys, so so much, for all of the suggestions/thoughtful comments/etc. about the moving + new place stuff. You are such a great help to me! Please, please, keep it coming...I need all the help I can get when it comes to finding a new place for Myself + Miette to lay our little heads.

I cannot WAIT to be on the road again...on the way to a new place to call home. That entails applications/accept-ions to graduate school (Josiah, not me) and a few other things to consider. But it's mostly about finding a homey place that feels right.

So! I had been toying with an idea for a sale for a while...and I finally decided to go for it. Next Monday + Tuesday, there will be a wee sale in The Black Apple shop!

Please  feel free to email if you have any questions, and  tell any pals that have been waiting around to order that now is the time! Remember, the sale is MONDAY + TUESDAY (there seems to be a little confusion about that).

It's even the talk of the town in the painted Hedgie community.

I'm feeling all itchy-fingered and electric and creative, which is really good, because I was feeling the opposite of those things for the last couple days. So locked-in-painting/making/sewing/baking weekend it is! I cannot wait. I hope there are happy weekends in store for everyone, and I'll talk to you soon!