Paper Quilt #1

 

I've always loved quilts. I had one on my bed growing up that was from my mom's family & now have & treasure in my own home. I have a couple small ones framed from a dear friend & quilter, who also made one for Griffin. I love them on the walls, on the bed, on a side chair. Anywhere. I just love the way the patterns come together. So when our misprint bins (our big collection of unsellable paper) starting filling up, I started thinking about what to do with all that paper. We've made flower pins, tags, little book covers, sold them during Craft Bin Sales, & use them for writing thank you notes that we include in every order. Then I got an idea for paper quilts, as I call them, last summer. I've been thinking about, talking about, planning & swatch-prepping these quilts ever since.

Today, I'm very pleased to introduce to you one of my first finished & framed paper quilts made from this unsellable paper: The Seaside Quilt. It's got whales & sailfish from the 2012 Calendar, Blue Zig Zags from 2008, and Sailboat Flats from 2010. The quilt would not be complete without a proper home - a gorgeous walnut frame, custom-made from Bellboy - a good friend & Brooklyn-based woodworker.

It's always a little scary putting something new out there. Something you dream up in your head to be great. And when it's all said & done, you love it. It's exactly what you imagined. But will other people resonate with it as I do? (It's sort of how I feel going into the Stationery Show every year.)

I've got one more framed quilt that I'll show you later this week, as well as a finished but unframed "Baby Quilt" I did for Griffin. Not your traditional baby quilt, that is for sure. So stay tuned. And... do you like?? I'd love to hear what you think!

From the Desk{top} Fridays: Minted

I recently submitted a few designs to Minted for its Holiday Gift Tag Challenge. I ran out of time to submit more (darn it!), so there are just three up there, but I really like each of them & am happy they're all different. I think the Watercolor design above & the Inky Chevron design below are great for holiday because they're festive & fun, but can be used after the holidays too - a little multi-purpose element I always appreciate. And the Merry Merry design at the bottom is a great photo tag option - just nice & simple. I love gift tags & am so happy Minted has introduced them! Head over to Minted to check out all the designs - or click on the individual design here to take you directly to the voting page to vote for me! If I get enough votes & the designs get chosen, you'll able to buy them on Minted very soon! So fun, huh?

Also, just yesterday, I found out that one of my holiday card submissions, Handlettered Merry Christmas, is a winner! It came in 13th out of 2251 submissions. Hooray!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Egg by Susan Lazar

 Egg has some of the best kids clothes around. Period.

[images courtesy of Egg]

From the [Freezer] Fridays: Steve's

I love ice cream. Love it. Always have multiple pints in the freezer. Eat it on sweltering days & freezing cold nights all the same. I gave up alcohol for 9 months (really, closer to ten - am I right mamas?!) and found that challenging. Giving up ice cream for that amount of time would be nearly impossible for me. So, when I tried Steve's (that I originally bought for the pretty packaging) I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary. I'd tried it all; this was just simply changing up for the night. Ohhh how wrong I was. Instead, I had found it. The best ice cream in the whole wide world: Salty Caramel by Steve's. If you haven't tried it, find a place that sells it and tell me that's not the best thing you've ever had. (No don't, actually. I won't think of you in the same way.)

And! Fellow Brooklyners, they're opening a location on Atlantic Ave. Hooray!! (And uh oh.)

New Headers

 

I've added some new headers to the website for Fall. And as you can tell, I'm continuing to work in watercolor & ink, which has been such a fun & freeing departure for me. I'll keep going til I get bored. But that seems far off.

Surfing USA

Wish I could have seen this Quicksilver Pro surf competition at Long Beach last week. 21 year old Australian Owen Wright won the biggest prize check in pro surfing history — $300,000. Check out the slideshow here.

[photo courtesy of Barton Silverman/New York Times]

Ten Years

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11th. I wasn't here in New York, but my dad & brother were and have pretty scary memories of that day - as we all do, really. Thinking of everyone lost on that tragic day & wishing us all the strength to keep on keepin' on.

Early Bird Gets the Worm

The L&H 2012 Calendars are now available online! And psst, you can get 15% off if you order by Friday. Just use code EARLYBIRD upon checkout. Happy shopping!

Hanna Anderson for Serena & Lily

Swedish company Hanna Andersson makes the best children's pajamas. They're footless (perfect for growing limbs) and they zip (easy for changing fussy night-timers & dirty diapers). So it's no surprise that they have collaborated with the line Serena & Lily on a new line of baby sleepers. Love these stars & stripes ones.

[images courtesy of Serena & Lily]

From the Desk Fridays: My Wall

We're going to be reorganizing the L&H office in the upcoming weeks, including this wall above my desk. So before it's rearranged, I thought I'd take a few shots of it. I didn't realize it until now that there's a lot of red, and there's three pictures of me & my dad. I didn't know I was so drawn to red. I did know I'm drawn to my dad:)

Happy holiday weekend, everyone!