My Little Orange Kitchen

Vintage Sweetness

I've been finding a lot of mod pattern vintage gift wrap lately, but today while putting it away, it was the old fashioned sweet wraps that caught my eye.

I went to farmer's market this morning and scored pea shoots for only $1.00 a bunch. If you've never had pea shoots, you must try them at once! If you have a local Hmong community as we do, you will usually find bunches of pea shoots tucked away on the side of their vendor tables because they are not in high demand and usually sold to one another...get in on this...really...ask for them. The internet is loaded with recipes and nutritional information, but you'll have to rely on me to tell you how delicious they.

Selkie and I are on our own today....heading out to garden in a minute or two and then it's back inside to shell peas, wash new veggies and hull strawberries. I hope you have a peaceful Saturday.

Are You Up To It, Mr. Keane?

I watched this movie on her suggestion and wow. It's wonderful. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. It's a movie filled with sweet surprises. Please watch it. Please?

It's streaming on Netflix now.

Here is a my favorite line:

Dance is a very powerful drug Mr. Keane. If embraced judiciously, it can exorcise demons, access deep seated emotions and color your life in joyous shades of brilliant magenta that you never knew existed. But, one must shoulder its challenges with intrepid countenance if one is ever to reap its rewards.

Are you up to it, Mr. Keane?

 

Self-Study Sunday

I thought I'd share a few of the books that are inspiring me these days. I'm stoked (Mark thinks stoked is a hopelessly outdated and nerdy word, but it works for me!) over the self-study course I've embarked on and the fact that I've designed it for myself is probably why I'm not losing interest.

Each picture is linked to more information and reviews on Amazon. However, if you are inspired and can wait for your local book store to order copies for you, please do. Indie stores need our support more than ever now. Speaking of which, and this is for the Manitowoc locals, I do hope you stop in at The Turned Page, let's do what we can to keep this used bookstore going, we need one in our area.

  Things are a little crazy with Selkie (our new puppy) and life in general. Since coming home from New York it's been a little hard to get in the groove, however, I have some projects planned for tomorrow and I'm just thinking of how to complete them without a wiggle worm extra hyper boxer puppy under toe!

I'm also behind on getting my NY photos together for sharing!

Little Lady

I almost never open up my sketchbooks to sharing, but when this little watercolor lady suddenly appeared I could hardly hardly hide her away. I am not sure why, but I think she's simply adorable. Do you ever fall in love with the littlest of things? I love her little face!

Charley Harper

I love Charley Harper and one of my finds of all finds was this book at the famous Strand Books.  I'll let the images speak for themselves. It was such great price that I picked up one for my friend Kelly who sent me a Charley Harper holiday card last year.  I love how he told Todd Oldham that when drawing birds he didn't count feathers, he counted wings when asked about his minimalist style.

I also found two juice glasses with his designs on them at Fishes Eddy  which was a fun store to browse around in. 

Textiles & The Little Orange Bus Shop

Well, I'm back from Manhattan and in spite of being knocked out with a terrible cold, I did manage to see some great things. The sad part is that my luggage is still missing (along with my laptop) and I cannot share photos with you today. Let me just say that I love Central Park. Love. Love. Love.

I had a few epiphanies on the trip and one of them was after visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and waiting fifty minutes in line to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit. It was life changing. I can't do myself justice when I try to explain why, but let me just say that it sealed the deal on what I've known for a long time. I missed my calling and should have gotten into textile design years and years ago...but, in fairness to myself, I didn't realize it was an option for me. Why? Who knows? I just didn't.

So, after seeing the exhibit and confirming my love of patterns and colors and well, the history of fabrics and paper, I decided to set about a little self-study and learn more. I have ordered books from the library and have added a couple to my collection. That is another goal...to have one of the most extensive collections of books on fabrics and pattern design in the world. Yes, I know I just wrote...in the world. I want to know all and have all at easy access. 

I am not sure where I will take my knowledge and my own designs, but I do know that I am changed. I have little interest in fashion design, but lots of interest in fabric and paper pattern design.

One of my stops in NYC was at the famous ABC Carpet store...which is 2 buildings of housewares, gifts, imports, jewelry, vintage, and new gorgeousness...everything thing from throw pillows and bedding to jewelry and imported essential oil blends. Well, I got lucky in the vintage area. I was able to choose two vintage fabric stamps from India...the very day after deciding that I'd like to stamp my own paper for wallets. The very day. Let me tell you this...the Little Orange Bus Shop is going to be loaded with equal parts bath and body and paper goods. Throw in locally made jewelry and you have the kind of shop I'd like to walk into right now!

The book at the top of the post is now in my collection, but let me share some others...really, pouring through these pages is heaven for me. I have always joked about being someone who reads cookbooks like novels and now that I have food under control in my life, I've found another passion...reading textile books like novels! I cannot get enough and the best part is that you can't gain weight from fabric inspiration!

Note: These types of books can be pricey, so if you have any that you are thinking of getting rid of because they just sit around, please let me know and I'll pay your postage if you ship them to me!