A world of soft and pretty...

.

{flowers, feathers and ruffles...oh my!}

Hello, dear hearts.
How is your week going for you?
Beautifully, I hope!

Thus far, my week (+ last week + the week before that +...)
has been awash in colors.
Soft and gentle.
Brave and bright.
Clear and saturated.
Understated and muted.
And, of course,
textures.

Not only are my waking hours spent
thinking of colors...
Many of my sleeping hours are spent
dreaming of colors.

In other words,
I'm in my particular kind of heaven!

Working on my
soon to be revealed
Fringe Spring/Summer Collection
has been a flurry and a whirlwind
contrasted with
slowly and carefully.

I find that I alternate between several emotions
while working...

I'm exhilarated and thrilled,
completely joyous,
 and my heart races
with
all the inspiration and ideas.
They flow like water these days.

On the other hand,
My heart is fairly aching with the realization
that I only have so much time
each day to work.

It's frustrating.
Sometimes maddening.
Sometimes discouraging.
Mostly because the ideas come
fast and furious,
and I'm just one girl with only two hands,
and many commitments.
Yet I want to make it all.
Right now.
There are some ideas in my sketchbook
that have been patiently waiting for me
for months.

Thank goodness for my sketchbook.
Sometimes ideas come one right after the other,
if I don't write them down, they're gone...
to make room for the next thought or vision.

You may wonder what inspired my upcoming
Spring/Summer Collection.
That's a loaded question, yet
it's at the same time quite simple.

I am inspired by nature, mostly.
Music comes in at a close second.

Regarding my musical inspirations.
I will let you in on a little secret.
I'm creating an entire line
around music.
Music which has deeply touched me.
That's all I can tell you at the moment,
but you will see what I mean in the (hopefully) near future.

Now.
Back to my Spring/Summer Collection
and what inspired it.
Nature was the greatest player.

Nature always inspires me,
and if you've been following me here
you already know that.

Just a trip to my backyard will bring about
wonderful, glorious inspiration...



Just look at all the beauty!
It's all around us.
Vibrant color.
Texture.
Contrast.

These elements inspired many of the shapes and colors of
Fringe Spring/Summer.
As does the scenery I absorb on my every day walks.

I'm also very much inspired by the visions of
who will wear a particular piece.
What type of woman.
How I envision a certain design should be worn.
I picture the entire setting around a Fringe piece.

And the colors.
Colors are so very important.
The color of a Fringe piece will dictate
the entire mood of an outfit.

And so you see,
I have many aspects to my creative process
and the resulting line of
Fringe Spring/Summer
will reflect them all.
They will be little pieces of me.
What I see and feel.
How I want to make each person
who owns a Fringe design
feel confident, beautiful, happy 
and above all,
loved.



Thank you so much for spending part of your day with me.
Your interest in my work means more than I can express to you.
It's the greatest inspiration of all...

Much love!
xo




.

Color...

.

.

I've been (maniacally and joyfully) working on the
Fringe Spring/Summer Collection.

There will be a great deal of glorious color.
Oh my, yes!

Coming soon...

xo



.

Ardith...

.


Hello, my dear friends.
Today is a bittersweet day for my family.
It's Ardith's birthday.
This photo of her is sitting on my desk.

Usually, I check in on my computer
the first thing in the morning,
and the last thing at night.
So you see,
she's here to greet me as I start and end each day.

I don't know what it is about dates...
When you lose someone you love,
and those meaningful dates come around,
they seem to make the loss stronger.
Your lost loved one claims that date in your heart.

What a miracle it was that Ardith was born.
Her life led to my dad's life.
Which led to my life.
That circle of life, you know.
For this reason, and many more,
I will celebrate Ardith's life today.

I thought perhaps you'd like to know a few tidbits about her...

She was a magnificent cook and baker.
Her pies were like a poem.
She had a wonderful sense of humor and an easy, contagious laugh.
She had a keen fashion sense and loved Italian shoes.
Her middle name was Belle.
She was a bit of a lead-foot driver.
Her favorite color was green.
She was a voracious reader.
As a young girl, she saved her babysitting money
to buy her little brother his first bicycle.
~

As you've probably already heard,
today is also the last day of Elizabeth Taylor's life.
A woman who never stopped giving. 
Rest in peace, beautiful Liz.
I'll leave my thoughts of her for a future post.


Thank you so much for visiting, lovelies.
You always bring happiness to my day...
xo





A perfect studio...

.



Do you ever fall in love with a piece of furniture? 
You see it and feel a pang.
Your heart beats faster.
Even if your home is filled with furniture, you tell yourself,
"I'll find room for it.  Not an issue."

Well, I do. 
I fall deeply in love with old furniture.
Not new furniture though
(with the exception of furniture Ron has made for me).
Odd, perhaps, but that's just me.

The above cabinet is the perfect example.
I saw it in Country Living and immediately felt
the little green monster of envy rise up against
the lucky woman who owns this piece.

I couldn't help myself...
Her studio should belong to me!
So should her study.
Can you imagine having a study and a studio
in your home
filled with these amazing pieces?


French mail bins...swoon!

Evil (I mean lucky) woman's studio.


Annnnnd...Her study.
Apparently, the previous owner left all of this.
Le sigh.


Excuse me while I gather my composure...

P.S.
Thank you ever so much, dear ones, for stopping by...
Much love and thank you for being you.
xo







Farmhouse Style...

.

Hello, darling dears!  Happy Monday to you all.

Today my decor feature on Lillyella is up!
I hope you will have time to stop by Nicole's beautiful blog.

My style focus is on


It was such a delight putting this post together. 
It certainly helps if you love what you're writing about, like I do.

{photos from Country Living}

The combination of textures,
old, worn and weathered objects
and
fresh paint and modern conveniences
 makes Farmhouse Decor the best of both worlds.
At least, in this girl's opinion.

~  ~  ~

A heavy heart...

I know you are all heartbroken over the unbearable loss and devastation in Japan, as I am.  Before we shutdown our minds from tragedy overload,

let's donate:

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 for the Japan disaster. http://bit.ly/cNuH67

Thank you for visiting...
Much love!
xo



.

Nine Horses...

.



Nine Horses by Billy Collins

For my birthday,
my wife gave me nine horse heads,
ghostly photographs on squares of black marble,
nine squares set in one large square,
a thing so heavy that the artist himself
volunteered to hang it
from a wood beam against a white stone wall.

Pale heads of horses in profile
as if a flashcube had caught them walking in the night.

Pale horse heads
that overlook my reading chair,
the eyes so hollow they must be weeping,

the mouths so agape they could be dead---
the photographer standing over them
on a floor of straw, his black car parked by the stable door.

Nine white horses,
or one horse the camera has multiplied by nine.

It hardly matters, such sadness is gathered here
in their long white faces
so far from the pasture and the cube of sugar---
the face of St. Bartholomew, the face of St. Anges.

Odd team of horses,
pulling nothing,
look down on these daily proceedings.

Look down upon this table and these glasses,
the furled napkins,
the evening wedding of the knife and fork.

Look down like a nine-headed god
and give us a sign of our displeasure
or our gentle forbearance
so that we may rejoice in the error of our ways.

Look down on this ring
of candles flickering under your pale heads.

Let your suffering eyes
and your anonymous deaths
be the bridle that keeps us from straying from each other

be the cinch that fastens us to the belly of each day

as it gallops away, hooves sparking in to the night.



.

A touch of spring at Fringe...

.

Hello, sweet friends and welcome!  How is your week going?
  Things are busy and great here.

Except for Ron having a nasty cold.
He's not a good patient.
He won't take his medicine.
He won't rest.
He's a bit of a stinker.
There. I said it.

On a brighter note, our peach tree is beginning to bloom.
Yay!


Also, two more bright spots in my week are of the wearable fiber art variety. 
A new Fringe design that I'm so happy about.

The Brave Feather Lariats.
Perfect for the softening weather.
Lovely, happy colors (more coming soon).
Two sizes to choose from.
Both are long and swingy, sexy and fun.

Go ahead.
Be brave.
Catch someone's eye...

Brave Feather Lariat in chartreuse


Brave Feather Lariat in teal

There are many new Fringe pieces available in my shop.
If you like, you can check them out here.

More to come this week!

Thank you so much for popping in, dear ones.
And thank you for being you...xo



.