Color Inspiration: Arietta

I love the strong colors and quilt-like look of this oil painting by Yoko.  There are a lot of colors in the painting, and I played around with a bunch of different combinations, before settling on this one.  I think it's so fun and fresh.  Great colors for a girl without being over-the-top girly. 

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

I almost broke up with Target this weekend. We’ve been teetering on the brink for a while now. When I first started shopping at Target, I was in love with the innovative products, the clean stores, the wide aisles lined with neatly arranged merchandise, and—perhaps most of all—the smiling, happy people sales associates, who were eager to walk to the other side of the store to show me where to find the obscure brand of whatever I happened to be looking for.

But lately, the fairy tale has been much darker. Particularly in the D.C. area, the stores are always a mess, the lines are long, and the people who work there are apathetic at best and more often outright surly. Yesterday, as I tried to maneuver a cart with a broken wheel through a store that looked like a tornado had just blown thrown, I was ready to throw in the towel for good. “If I can’t get it online,” I thought to myself, “it’s not worth having.”

Then . . . I wheeled the cart around the corner and came face to face with the vintage-esque Mountain Dew T shirt I’ve been looking for forever. (Yes, I admit to having an unhealthy relationship with Mountain Dew.) As I snatched up the T shirt, I was suddenly back in love with Target. And as I waited patiently, ninth in line to check out, I admired my new find, and all of the crowds and noise and confusion faded into the background.

It wasn’t until much later that I paused to ask myself: “Am I really that fickle?” Guess so!  Should I be ashamed of myself?

Junior Junior Varsity

Just finished up this custom order for Trish's son.  I love the way it looks a little like a varsity sweater with the stripes on the sleeves.  I continued the sports theme with the baseball buttons at the shoulders, and I'm just so pleased with how it turned out.  

(Speaking of varsity, I can't help but notice that the colors call to mind the blue and maize of my alma mater, the University of Michigan.  Go Blue!)

The Bus Stops Here

I love the old-timeiness of these bus scrolls from Transit Design and think they would be such a clever way to memoralize one's past "bus stops," so to speak. 

Here's where I've stopped:

Sewickley

Evanston

Pittsburgh

Cambridge

Ann Arbor

Memphis

Washington, DC

It's been quite a trip.  What would your scroll say?

Feral Houses

Almost a year ago I blogged about the 100 Abandoned Houses project.  James Griffioen's Feral Houses express a similar sentiment, only perhaps even more starkly.  These houses aren't just abandoned--they're wild, they've reverted to nature.  There's no domesticated bliss here anymore.

If only the walls of these houses could talk.  I'd love to hear about the people who lived there--about the good times and about what caused the residents to walk away from their houses without handing them off to another set of caretakers.  And about what's happened since then--as the ivy started to creep around the window frames and the saplings squeezed between the floorboards.  I think there would be many stories to be told.

Featured on Cuteable!

I'm excited that the Chesapeake Street sweater is featured today as a "cute find" on Cuteable.  Go check it out--and be prepared for a ton of cuteness.  The blog is aptly named!  I read it regularly and I'm aways excited to see what new things Lynsey and Matt will find. 

Fall Fashion Colors

It hurts my ears to hear the words "back to school" because they signal the end of summer.  But alas, it's getting to be time to face the fact that summer won't be here forever.  So, for those of you who are already planning for the fall and the colder (sweater!) weather, here are Pantone's fall colors. (In the interest of full disclosure, these were announced during Fashion Week back in February, but I couldn't bring myself to focus on them until now.)

What do you think?  I love that there are some pretty summery colors mixed in with the more somber neutrals.  Actually, the more I look at them, the more I really like them. 

This is a good time to remind you of the offer of 10% off for sweaters using honeysuckle.  See here for details. 

Fiber Art

I'm always intrigued when artists take tried-and-true techniques and put their own twist on them.  I recently purchased a bracelet that was "knit" using metal wire.  I thought it was so cool that I went looking for other examples of knitted and crocheted jewelry.  Here are some of the awesome things I found.  This is not your grandmother's knitting!

Fun earrings from JewelryByAmyT

Love this necklace from Inbar Shahak Textile Jewelry



Gorgeous bracelet from Lapis Beach

Tell her you love her with a crocheted "diamond" solitaire ring from Wrapped by Design