I've Moved

So it's time for a fresh face and a new home. So many things have been happening in and out of the studio that I haven't been able to blog. But this excuse is getting old and I miss blogging. So I'm trying again and we'll see how it goes. Hope to see ya there.

Studio

Some new things to come out of the studio this week. I'm so happy with them and their all recycled t-shirts. I plan on making a ton, especially if we get into the Philly Designer Sample show. And especially the I heart.... shirts, I am loving them a whole lot.

Wow, May 26th !

That was the my last post, May 26th, I should be ashamed. This little blog hasn't been far from my mind though. My excuse is that my computer has been in and out of the "shop" four times since we got here in April. Finally Hp sent me a new one, a brand new one. But really the reason for not blogging has been that I'm just too busy and I wasn't putting it very high on the priority list. But I vowed to start again, regardless of my busyness. What have I been busy with you wonder? Well lots and lots of sewing, mostly bags. Started some skirts, but the serger is not cooperating so that was put aside. I'm trying to get ready for two craft shows in September. One is just a regular type craft show the other is quite intimidating and is more like a trade show. It's for local Philly and surrounding area "fashion designers". The first hour is for retailers only and than it's open to the public. Hence why I was working on some skirts. I would love to get some into stores, but they just are not ready. I haven't work out all the kinks yet. This was a hard decision to make, 'cause I really want it. And I really want to get into this show, just for the experience. So I'm sticking to what works - my bags and T-shirts (I'll show them off as they get done). I think Andrew and I are going to share a spot, hopefully, so he can get shirts out there.

Other than that, we been painting/working. Doing lots of graphic work, lot's of weddings and baby stuff for friends. Real good experience. Gardening also, our garden is exploding. We have ourselves a tomato forest. Huge spaghetti squashs, lots yellow summer squash and pickles. We have these little yellow birds who sit on the sunflowers and eat their seeds, it's the cutest darn thing. All the pictures below random pictures of the garden, remember just a couple months ago?This what happens after a couple days of visiting from our little yellow birds. This is why I planted sunflowers, I was hoping they would make natural bird feeders. It worked!

tomato shadow.

huge spaghetti squash.

Heirlooms, they're so dainty.

Tomatoes reaching for the sun.

more heirloom tomato, kind of lost track of what kind this is I think it's a Rio Grande

tomato forest

New Links

I've added the Lansdale area links and here's a list of other crafties that were added::

The Worsted Witch - A green craftie
Momo - My swappin partner
sew green - a bunch of green crafters
Sweet Nellie - I LOVE her stuffies

You can now find all these newbies over there --> in links. Enjoy!

More to come......

Check my website

As some of you may know I've had the melissafrueh site up for a while now. Originally I had it up so it would be easier to find me, but now that I'm doing this craft show (hopefully). Now it's pretty and I think I should have a pretty site.
So go check it out!

We went on a field trip....

I'm finally bugged enough by Whole Foods to get back on buying locally. When we first moved her about three months ago I didn't know where anything was except Whole Foods plus it was the end of winter and no farm stands on the corners or farmers markets on weekend to get me in the groove. I never like Whole Foods, for me it was always the last resort. I was spoiled in California, first in the LA area there was a farmers market everyday of the week all year long. Then Arcata, had a great almost all organic farmers market for 2/3 of the year and an awesome co-op that carry most things locally. These last three months I've been almost shopping exclusively at Whole Foods and it's killing me. Not only are they ridiculously expensive but the milk isn't always fresh (you can tell when making yogurt) and lettuce was turning that red around the fringes only after three days. Much of the produce was coming from California, so I moved across the country to eat the same food. Anyway this wasn't supposed to be a rant about Whole Foods.
I'm excited to finally be finding local food. Starting with yesterday, we went to Hendrick's farm in Telford. We found raw cow and goats milk, fresh butter, yogurt, fancy cheeses, curds, ice cream, meats and soaps. Really, really nice people that were happy to take the time to tell us about the cows and how they are treated, how happy they are. You can pretty much see for yourself since they just hanging out it the fields just beyond the little shop. Really, a great place. And today we are off to visit and local bakery, yeah! a bakery. When we first got here I googled bakeries and found almost nothing , except in the city (too far). I want to talk to this bakery about their site, you can't find them anywhere unless you know their address, that's got change. We got a loaf of their bread yesterday on the farm. Awesome bread, really great flavor, good hard crush with a moist soft center.
Over on the side bar ---> in links I'm going to add a local links, so whatever I find locally I'll add over there. Hey may be someone like me will be searching around the Lansdale area looking for local foods and I can help the out a little. I also have a ton of new blogs to add, so look for them too. I think I'll post them first as a heads up than add them. It's endless with all these creative blogs.
Below are some pictures of our little farm outing yesterday. Enjoy!



This guy here was trying to wrangle up this little calf. It was pretty funny, this calf was certainly giving him a run for his money.

Well... Friends

For all those few who check in I'm awfully sorry, for I have been neglecting this little blog. I've been hyper focused on trying to get things made to submit pictures by June 1st for two craft shows in September. When I'm not working I'm working on prototypes and trying to get a product together. So far so good..... I have three different size bags and another idea for a forth. Making to first "real" bag today to be photographed. Lots of needle felting going on 'round here, lot's little fruits and veggies, acorns and little birdies. For me, needle felting in so relaxing it makes me sleepy and always in need of a nap afterwards. I don't know if I mentioned earlier but the big "theme" of all the stuff I'm making is..... Organic, natural or recycled. Means just what it says all the products will be made from either organic, natural or recycled and pretty much in that order. I found two great sites, one for the fabric - Nearsea Naturals and a great site for all your felting and wooly needs - Weirs Dolls. They carry 100% wool felt and roving both with plant dyes and many colors to choose from. Other non plant dyed felt and roving too, well go see for yourself.

Can you believe that those are plant dyed colors?

Let's see, what else.... Lots of gardening. Almost all my seedlings have come up. I'm a little worried about the tomatoes just cause they seem to have stunted. But we'll see, they're going to be potted up today. As you can see by the picture I've got lots of thing this year - tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, pumpkins, spaghetti squash, sweet potato squash, pickling cucumbers, peas, soy beans, sun flowers, lettuce, herbs like dill, parsely, cilantro, and catnip. All kinds of stuff, we're going to have ourselves our own mini farm.

Oh and all these seedlings are from heirloom seeds.


Well.... Must be shoving off to be a slave to my fussy sewing machine. I think it's time to take her in for a check up.

Spring has arrived

Sorry folks to leave ya hanging there...... That freak little snowy day came and gone and left us with Spring! We've had a few pretty hots days and the rest have been quite Springy. I haven't live in a four seasons area in seven years. I'm excited. Well, I don't know about you (the few yous who tune in) but I was sure tired of looking at that last picture. Here's a little sun shining in our window the other day ('cause todays a little rainy).


And little taste of what's been bloomin around Lansdale lately.

Oh how I love Spring, even on it's chilly rainy days.