(Inside A Black Apple)

Supplies and Fairy Stories

While I was putting away all of our trip-stuff, I thought I'd snap a photo of my crafty scores and the books I mentioned in my last post!

Yarn, fabric and Japanese craft books:

Vintage fairytale books (I collect editions of the Alice stories, and I found 3 versions I didn't have...including the one illustrated by Arthur Rackham, who is a favorite illustrator of mine):

I also found the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen collections with Rackham illustrations.
So happy.

Here are some selections from flipping through each book briefly to show to you guys (the new Alice editions are on the top row). You can click to make them larger!

Happy Weekend, my dears!

Squirrels in Love Pouches

This is the project I alluded to yesterday:

I wanted to make something little and Valentine-y for the update, and I had zipper pouches on the brain from the other day. I decided to go with the woodgrain, since it's a great fabric and I have a good bit of it, and then gocco a design in white onto the fronts.

So, squirrels in love it is! I'm really big on that heart-shaped acorn.

They are lined in a strawberry-red cotton with tiny white polka dots, and have a fray-resistant zipper pull made of the same:

I think these would be just the thing to slip a Valentine into on the 14th...and then it will hold your Valentine's pens, small notebooks, and lipgloss/chapstick for the rest of the year!

The Kids are Alright

I went to speak to my friend Robert's comics/cartoon class for teenagers yesterday, and we had a really fun time. The kids were really sweet, and it's very comforting that "the kids today" are pretty much exactly like they were when last I interacted with them as, well, one of them (7 years ago!).

I wanted to make them something for them, and I thought about bringing buttons or postcards or something along those lines...but then I thought that the boys would probably not go for that so much. So I decided to make them little pencil/pen zipper pouches, which would at least be useful. And I really love making zipper pouches. I have a quick n' dirty (aka cheater) technique that's very satisfying and still makes a nice little pouch. And I had a little help at the sewing machine yesterday:

I tried to make some "manly" ones (you know, because men like wood, and skulls, and tape measures). Sadly, the girls snapped up all the boyish ones for themselves, leaving the guys with owls and little red riding hood, etc.
The lesson here is make like 11 skull pouches next time (how did I not foresee that?).

I told them all about the shop, the way I work, infusing yourself into your work, personal inspirations, etc.  and they doodled and and were charming and a few asked questions and I really had a good time. The boys especially (kinda surprisingly?) were super-polite and sweet.
Even though they did end up with the girly pouches. Maybe it's because I also bribed them with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies?

Stationery Sets!

I'm so excited about these! Three new stationery sets are now up in the shop.

    

     

For a long time, I've thought it would be great to make a stationery set.

Then I decided that I would really love to have standard 8.5"x11" stationery, that would be safe to run through a printer OR write letters on the old-fashioned way. So, that's the way I went about it! Each of the sets include 10 sheets of illustrated stationery, with elegant rounded corners. The 10 envelopes (in corresponding colors) are the nicest I've used (Paper Source!), and close at the end for extra pizazz.

I am just buzzing right along in my new (feeling) white studio, making new paintings and keeping the wheels of the Black Apple turning...and plan on continuing on like that through the weekend. Hooray, stationery! Hooray, weekend.

Happy Friday, applets!

PS: Thank you, Jessie, for the spelling help ;)

Hello, Hello Birds

The mod new postcard pack is now up in the shop!

Knitting New Year

My New Year's daisies have just about had it...but they're still hanging on and cheering up my living room. Flowers (well, simple flowers) are such a cheap thrill, don't you think?

This year, my beautiful friend Jenny gave me what has to rank in the top 5 best Christmas presents ever: knitting lessons. In my quest to be a Renaissance crafter and know how to do most everything crafty-wise functionally well, I requested this present...and she even made me little knitted coupons:

Isn't that the sweetest present?

She is a top-notch teacher, and our lessons commenced last week. I already casted off on my "first real scarf", and gave it to Josiah, who kindly loves it (it is full of little bunches and bumps and things I'm pretty certain that most first scarves are full of).
After that, I started a second scarf for my sister's birthday (which was yesterday, by the way...along with her twin brother's) and I was really pleased with the way it turned out...the color alone is very beautiful.
It's narrow, and soft, and all the things I look for in a scarf myself (and you can't see here, because I had already packaged it up to give to her):

I really loved how it looked...like a nubby rosette. It was a hit, too!
She loved it.

Happy Wednesday, dear applets.

PS: Do any of you knitters out there have any amazing book recommendations for beginners, or in general? I'd love to hear about them!

Wee Red Houses

I'm really mad for these little scalloped-shingled cottages lately. I've been drawing them, painting them, screenprinting them...

I finished packaging the newest batch of tea towels, and I'm really pleased with them. They are perfectly imperfect, and very homey (excuse the bad pun) and cozy.
Here are a few more images:

Mine, in action:

They'll be up in the shop on Monday!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you soon.
And, hey! Thanks for all the Hello-bird love. It's so nice to stretch my legs a little in another direction and get such sweet feedback.

xoxo

By the Chimney...er..Doorway

I can't believe Christmas is so soon!
Why is it that you always feel you're so on top of things, and then suddenly, it's only a week and some change away?!
This apartment is very excited about Christmas this year...very.

And I do mean all of us:

The stockings were hung (the sweatery and the personalized) the other day, and they really sweetened up the already sweet + cozy living room.

I made these felted-sweater stockings last year, so they might look familiar!

I didn't have a stocking here (I have one that my mom made me that lives at her house), but Josiah did, so we needed to fix that pronto. I put some pretty polka-dot cotton and red wool felt together (making it resemble a sort of giant sock) and embroidered the pieces. After it was all pinned together, Josiah sewed it up...it was his first time using a sewing machine, and I must say, he did a top-notch job.

Here are the two "real" stockings:

I made Josiah's last year...it's made from suiting fabric and a beautiful red velvet.

*Sigh*
It's really here, folks (Christmas, that is).

The Black Apple is still busy, busy trying to get out holiday orders...but I'm going to sneak in plenty of gift-sewing and podcast listening today. I am very excited about this prospect.

PS: Thanks for all the embroidered-poppy love!
I'm glad to hear that french knots have given others the fits before. There were lots of requests for the lucid diagram I used, but I honestly couldn't find it. However, as suggested by Jill, there is a magnificent french knot diagram over at the lovely Primrose Design (right here). What a great resource!

 

The Saga of the French Knot, or, Felt Poppies

My Christmas gift-making is in full swing right now, and I have one completed gift under my belt. It's for someone who I don't think really reads this blog, so it seems safe to show a little snippet of it:

I really love the big roundy-mod flowers, and I thought it would be neat for some of them to have little french-knot speckled centers (so they would appear like seeds).
Embroidery stitches are, for me, the opposite of riding a bike. If I haven't done one in, oh, say the last week, then I have likely forgotten the "trick" of each one.
I worked on this present last Thursday night whilst watching a movie, and executed some lovely little french knots with minimal blood, sweat and tears involved. So naturally, when we went on a long car trip the very next day, I though I could take the project along and embroider while in transit. And I totally forgot how to do the darn french knot and spent, I AM NOT KIDDING HERE FRIENDS, the next two hours attempting it with 0% success! I worked til' my fingers were bruised and my resolve was gone (and we finally reached our destination).

Upon returning home, I went through every french knot diagram I could find, both in my books and online (including a really unhelpful Youtube video tutorial).
Finally, it happened.
I found a really lucid, non-nonsense diagram that illustrated it perfectly, and I did it! I made like, 20, just to be sure I had the hang of it.

But, you know...that was 5 days ago.
I'm pretty sure I've forgotten the darn thing again.

Happy Wednesday, sweet applets! I hope everyone's Christmas plans are coming together nicely.

Two Kinds of Trees

I don't want to cut-off the discourse that's going on from yesterday's post...there are so many thoughtful, affirming things being said about an important issue!
But I do want to show you some cute things I made. After a monster-trip to the Post Office yesterday, and about 24 hours consumed with nothing but preparing for said trip, I felt like I deserved to come home and make a few Christmas crafts.

I had this idea swimming around in my brain for Suessian, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"-ish felt trees to sit on tabletops/my imaginary credenza. Yesterday, I stole a few hours to try my plan out...and they turned out so quirky and...well..just like I imagined (which doesn't always happen with abstract plans, as I'm sure you know).

The base/core of each tree is just one of those floral-foam cones you can grab at most craft stores, wrapped with many, many strips of felt. I just used cheapy, 20 cent, acrylic felt, but you could certainly get fancy and use wool felt (I mainly went for cheapy since I didn't know if it was going to work). I really love them, and think they would look lovely in white, teal, or...even green! Or maybe tipped with some glitter, who knows?!

Here's a slightly more close-up photo of how the strips are constructed:

And what would a crafting Christmas-tabletop-tree party BE without stitching up a few of the ubiquitous Stephanie trees?  I used some of my favorite polka dot cottons, and weighted their little bottoms with rice.

Merry, merry, merry indeed!

A Little Sewing Mouse

I actually wrote this post yesterday, but Typepad kindly ate it, so here I am for version 2.0! So, Sunday night we went to my mom's to pick out and decorate the tree. She always gets us each an ornament, so I thought that this year it was high time I make her one of her own.

This tiny spool of thread was kicking around my studio, and I knew that would somehow be a part of it...

Voila! A little sewing mouse is born.
I felted her body out of mousy brown-grey wool, and sewed the mini apron out of vintage findings. The eyes are just straight pins (ala Sarah's snowman project) and she is mounted on a sweatery button.  I ran a big piece of embroidery floss up through the felted body and secured it in a loop (for hanging purposes).

I really love her.

You know who else I love? Nigella.
You know that...and there is a fighting chance that you love her, too. Or that you care about and are concerned for women in general. Either way, this is absurd and made me rant and rave for oh, about an hour yesterday. What kind of a culture-damaged person would demonise a Nigella? And I don't really give a fig about this person, but what the heck?  Leave the girl alone.
I know this isn't a new war, but it's really making me sad lately. It's like the women who complained that those "controversial" Dove ad campaigns didn't "give them anything to strive for" (I can't find a link right now, I'm sorry!).
I would be so happy for my potential daughter, thin or chubby, to see Nigella on television...someone bright and lovely and talented and beautiful in her own, self-possessed way. I don't like that saying: "real women" have curves, because it's exclusive and inaccurate...I think real, happy women are active, try to love life, and don't base it on denying themselves. And they are all sorts of sizes. Thank you for listening about this...it's really weighing on my thoughts right now.

Happy Tuesday!
Tell all the girls you know that they're the kind of porridge Goldilocks would eat.

Sewing is Believing Totes + Prints

Here they are!

I sketched these out quite a while ago, and I'm so excited to finally be able to put them in the shop! They're so sweet and sturdy, perfect for market shopping and library book hauling. They'll be posted later this afternoon. (UPDATE: They're all sold out! Thank you so much! We'll be packing them up tomorrow)
Aaaannnndd....

There is a really great print that will be packaged with and available only with the totes! It's essentially the same design, only smaller, and with a pretty, kraft-colored border:

It's printed on smooth stock and signed and dated. The image area is approximately 7"x8",  with a white border for framing!

This will be a limited run of both the totes and the prints, in an edition size of 32.

Happy Tuesday!
We're going to bake a cake today in honor of a certain milestone in ye olde shoppe. ;) 

Little Preview

Here's a little preview of a new item I'll be debuting in the shop tomorrow afternoon. I'm so excited about these! It will be this "mystery item" (which I'm sure some of you can discern) + another, "related" item packaged together as a great gift for the sew-ers in your life. Or maybe for the stitcher you know best (your self!)

More tomorrow, when hopefully the light will be better. It's so wintery and cozy and grey...good for snuggling, bad for photographing.

Now you can send Black Apple-ish Mail

As promised last week, all of the label packs are restocked in the shop, and there is a new one also! I get so many emails and compliments about my mailing labels...so...
Fresh from the printers, there is a sweet pack of 20 mailing labels that are almost exactly like the ones that I use for all the official Black Apple mail.

Happy Thanksgiving, sweet applets!
Enjoy everyone near to you tomorrow, and have far too many rolls if you want to. I'm so excited to see my family (we're traveling home tonight to my mama's house) and to bake a pumpkin cheesecake with ginger-snap crust. And I'm excited to go on a Thanksgiving walk. And to see how ridiculous the parade will be in the morning.
Okay, I'm just excited about everything.

xo

Applehead-ish, Creeping, Doll-filled Update Day!

Don't those applehead ornaments just kill you?! They kill me...all lined up like that.

Well, lots of festive, sweet and creepin' things just flew out of the shop! Thank you so very much for all of your sweet words, support, and love of The Black Apple.

All the Winter Sophies...each dress is made from a repurposed bit of clothing, and each is sporting a little scarf!

Creeping Dunce Red    11"x14"x1"   Acrylic on canvas

Creeping Dunce Grey    11"x14"x1"    Acrylic on canvas

Again, at the risk of being maudlin and gushy, thank you to everyone who came to the update today, and everyone who sends their words of support and love.
And for anyone who missed the update, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that will be landing in the shop next week, in plenty of time for Christmas shopping (or yourself-shopping)! The two label packs will be restocked, also, along with a brand new one.

Anyone in the area, come visit tomorrow at ICE Atlanta! Josiah and I will be there with our wares (although you guys nabbed most all of the original stuff today ;).

Happy Friday, and again...

Appletops

Whatever could they grow into? Something lovely for the update tomorrow, I'm sure!

You are Lovely Labels

I'm pretty smitten with the phrase, so I thought it would be nice to have some pretty stickers that say it as well! They're for sale, 20 stickers each packaged up in pretty glassine envelopes, in the shop.

Pins & no needles

All of you cameo pin fans are in luck, because there is a big ol' batch that is almost ready! There are a few new designs this time around, too, which I'm excited about.

They'll be part of an update next week.
Happy early weekend...we've got yet another wedding to go to, so I'll be back in a few days!

xoxo

Ornamental Appleheads

I just finished up these wee apple-head ornaments:

They're for Art Star's upcoming ornament show! I think it's so great that they do a little holiday themed show with cards, stockings + ornaments, and I'm very happy to be contributing this year.

They hang from the ubiquitous peppermint string:

Finishing up Sunday...my, how the weekend flies!

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!

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!

Creeping Dunces

I'm posting a shop update next week, on Tuesday at 2 ET (New York time). If anyone needs any help with the time zone thing, here's what looks to be a helpful converter. I'm going to have quite a few originals (in addition to The Quiet Room, Illustrated Girl, and the Outlaw Diptych, I have some other new paintings that will be ready to show over the weekend). I'll also have a big batch of Sophie dolls (my other weekend project) aaaaanndd a gaggle of those little guys pictured up top.

These are the project I was alluding to mysteriously the other day.

I'm so very happy with these. I love the old duncies, and I'm sure I'll make more in the future, but I wanted to make a doll that was a bit more soft-sculpture. They are free-standing, weighted with a bit of rice, and comprised of wool felt (caps and backs), red and black striped quilter's cotton, and this beautiful, printable cotton that is so soft and really doesn't betray that it's printed (the faces really look painted).
I have this great vision of there being a whole herd of, say, 20 of them the next time I have a proper art-show. I'm going to finish two more black-capped ones for the update, so there will be three of each.

Happy weekend, my dears!
xoxo

A little beginning

This little drawing is the beginning of a new design/project that I'm really excited about. Prototypes and patterns have been made, so it's only a matter of honing it all now...

Just have to get a bunch of non-fun (packing + shipping) done today, and then I'm free to get back to working on this new idea. AND get cracking on a couple felt insects, since my Hillary-patterns came in the mail today. Lots of fun sewing to be done...I better keep the sewing mojo I'm feeling right now going strong.

Happy Tuesday, my sweet applets!

PS: For folks who are curious about the chicken + sauce + rice dish from this weekend, I'll try to get around to posting the recipe soon-ish, promise. Stay tuned!

A blossom of buttons

This little embroidered number (I'm SUCH an embroidery novice, so don't chuckle) is wool felt with vintage buttons mounted on an old brooch that had an unfortunate cabochon.

I made this little brooch late last night after a fun + exhausting dinner & movie (I made this summery, chicken + rice dish with a crazy-good sauce). The sauce is one of those things that can't help but be delicious because it is comprised of such tasty ingredients...white wine, chicken broth, cream, onion, garlic, lemon...mmmm.
We went to see Superbad (along with every person under the age of 20 in the Athens area, by the looks of the packed theater and obnoxious lines) which was mostly funny and good. Not Supergood...but who doesn't miss George Michael now that Arrested Development is no more? I know that I do.

I also finished up this little girl yesterday:

She's a gift for a very lovely lady and some equally cute little girls in the UK, who did a very special favor for me, and she'll be jetting off to her destination soon.

Enjoy the tail-end of the weekend!
I'm trying to figure out how to spend it...

Lotsa dolls and lotsa books

Redhead: "I TOLD you it wasn't a good idea for all of us to try to squeeze into this cardigan!"
Blondie: "But I was hoping it would bring us all closer together."
Ms. Black-hair: (Rolls eyes) "Oh, what does it matter. We're going off to different homes soon anyway."
Pinkie: "Don't be so cynical."

A batch of new, pretty, personality-filled Sophie dolls for the shop update tomorrow! Remember, it's 2:00 Eastern time (I think I said EST, but we all know I'm just a forgetful Fran and it's actually EDT).

Also pretty:

I could no longer resist the stack-of-books bookshelf from Design Within Reach (or as I like to think of it, "Design Mostly Way Out Of My Reach"). I thought about it a great deal, and I was so pleased when it arrived today. I really love the illusion of an enormous stack of books, while also maintaining the function of, well, actually being able to get to one's books without having to un-pile the enormous pile..

Josiah says it looks like we have some sort of magical books, and I heartily agree