{ ever so slightly } considering

Remember how I used to have an etsy shop?  You don't?  I don't blame you.  It was eons ago.

Never you mind.  I've decided I need to shoo away the dust bunnies and open the windows, wipe off the cobwebs and create a fantastic mess in my studio.  I am cautiously optimistic about being able to stock a few items over there.  

On Thursday, I spent a few hours listing, planning, scheming, and organizing.  Then I rolled up my sleeves and cut out some tablerunners.  Gosh, it felt good. The need to MAKE remains strong. I'm going with it. I started with some cream burlap table runners trimmed with cotton eyelet. I found a yards of this stuff on some vintage curtains last year and have been saving it for something like this. 

Hope you're having a good weekend, friends.  It's beautiful here and feels like autumn is approaching. That feels good, too!

xo

{ one year later }

I'm working tonight on getting things in order for our first Friday weekend at the store.  The shop has been a blessing in so many ways.

But the hard fact is that I wouldn't be doing it at all if, one year ago, things in my life hadn't come to a complete, heartbreaking stop.

These days are hard.

The trauma of what we endured keeps replaying in my head.  Conversations with doctors.  Driving in the car.  Sounds.  Silence...  Every single minute of those horrific days is still crystal clear. 

Occasionally someone will ask me about my shop name.

The thing is, (and Jane Austen fans will know this already) Pemberley is the name of the Darcy family estate in my favorite novel, Pride & Prejudice.  And so my work at Pemberlie is dedicated to my little Darcy, the one I held for three hours, one year ago tomorrow. The perfect little sister with a knot in her cord.

Tonight and this weekend I am working as hard as I can.  I need to be the best version of me.  For her. 

I welcome a full day of work tomorrow and this weekend with the same arms I held my sweet angel August 3, 2011. 

Good night, Darcy.  You are loved.

{ the shop } updated with schmancy bags

Psst!

We're updating this week ... stocking the shop with lovely vintage handbags and things!

{ thrifting } destined for the shop

I still have an etsy shop.  I really do.  Still thrift a few times every week.  And I am still amassing a pile of goodies to share. 

This weekend I hit a jackpot of vintage handbags.  And there is no way I can use them all.  I already have a fairly impressive collection of vintage going-out clutches.

 

These beauties are just waiting for another night out.

Soon, dearies.  I will list you in my little shop as soon as I can so you can once again be out on the town!  (Apparently I have to squeeze a rather lengthy photo shoot into this week.  I'd hate to disappoint them.)

Sometimes I can't believe my luck.  When I saw this little stack of sparkly coasters sitting, untouched, on the shelf, I couldn't believe my eyes.  They must have just been put out. Tiny jewel-like coasters.  I'm going to have a hard time parting with these.  

----

That's about all I have today.  My mind is mush as Wonderbaby lost her pacifier in the crib around four this morning and spent so much time looking for it that she decided she might as well just get up.  This didn't bode well for mama, who stayed up late toiling in her studio, gambling on a 7am wake up call.  Oy. 

How about you?  Any fancy luck at the Thrift lately?

Happy Monday!  xoxo
~miss chris

{ shop } there's new stuff over there

Tonight I am taking a break from sewing and cleanup up plastic eggs and shredded paper grass to update my etsy shop.  The thing is, all this wonderful stuff is taking over my studio. 

 

I have the best luck with linens, I tell you.  Wish I could keep them all.  Don't you think those two towels would make the perfect gift for a bride-to-be?

There is also possibly the most disorganized and random assembly-line project of mass pj bottom making in the studio.  I have these crazy plans to have a few ready for mother's day.  I know.  Crazy, right?

Good night!

{ shop } spring stuff

Despite the umpteen feet of snow that blanketed good old Kansas City and the rest of the Midwest this weekend, I have set my sights on spring.

Here are a few of the latest items added to the shop.

Here's to warmer temps and more sunshine.  I know it's coming.  I can feel it.  (Even if I can't feel my toes at the moment.)

xoxo

===============

PS: The canisters have sold already -- wow!  The description was my favorite of the ones I wrote today, so I thought I'd share it here, anyway:

Fran was my grandmother's neighbor and best friend. She was a whiz in the kitchen and would drop by with special treats for us when we were visiting. Cookies and crumb bars, muffins or breads, whatever she was in the mood for and her pantry inspired that day.

Fran's kitchen had yellow cabinets and a speckled Formica counter that sometimes picked up the sunshine. Her avocado green appliances all matched and had fancy detailing on the chrome, and the oven had a tiny clock on the front that was always off by a few minutes. The stainless steel sink had a window above it that was flanked by tiny shelves attached to the sides of the cupboards. She kept her trinkets and toothpicks up there where little hands couldn't reach.

There was a set of canisters like these in her tiny sunny kitchen. I was convinced as a child that they were filled with all sorts of special ingredients. There was no way *Fran* used ordinary stuff like flour and sugar in her treats. They were much too extraordinary for that.

Some poor tired soul might have dropped the coffee tin in a stupor early one morning, for there is a small dent on the bottom edge of that one. But they have otherwise aged very well and are good vintage condition.

The flour tin is 9" tall by 6" wide. The smallest tin, Tea, is 6" tall by 4" wide.

=======================

Those tins are off to Alaska!!!

{ sewing } the vintage pillow redux

Once upon a time there was a standard white cotton pillowcase with a pretty blue flowered edging.

Grandma spent hours stitching the delicate flowers and petals before setting it on the bed her granddaughters used in the guest room. Secrets traveled in whispers over these flowers as the girls tried hard to keep their voices down, but they were far too excited to sleep just yet.

Tomorrow, Grandma had promised, they were going swimming at the lake. They were going to look for treasures in the soft sand and gather wild blueberries on the way back to the car. They could almost smell Grandma's Ban de Soleil already.

---------------------
A few decades later, I stumbled upon this pillowcase at a thrift shop. Cast aside, it sat there just begging for me to take it home and make it useful again.

And so I did.

The front is made of layered hand-ripped strips of the pillowcase fabric, and the aqua cross-stitch is centered. The back has a zippered closure and has a contrasting gold honeycomb print.

And now it's in my etsy shop along with a couple other new items.

(but it's hard to let this one go....)

Oh my Goodness!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! 

I am so genuinely flattered and encouraged by all of the sweet comments and support I've received since announcing the shop.  Really, it's quite overwhelming for a person like me who has great difficulty with change and branching out and and taking chances and, if we are being 100% honest, confidence. 

Things like estimating shipping costs are tripping me up.  I have taken a loss a couple times there already; there has to be a better way to ship that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Shipping costs shouldn't be a deterrent, you know??  Any ideas there??

Also, packaging.  I thought for sure there would be enough boxes and whatnot around here for shipping, but I was wrong.  Does that mean purchasing real shipping supplies?  Where do you etsy veterans get yours?

I'm also kind of obsessing and stressing about getting to the post office immediately.  With the baby.  In the bucket carrier.  And the boxes.  In the snow.  And ice.  And what have you.  Not entirely sure I picked the best season month of my life to jump in, but what the hey.

New in the shop this week:

( Oops.  The syrup dispenser is gone already.  Wow, that was fast!)

But really, this little shop has been so much fun.  And I'm thrilled to say that I've actually sold stuff.  What a thrill!!!  To Japan and the UK, even.  I'm global, baby.  hee.

Gosh this is fun. 

The dorkiness is at an all-time high. 

Just in case you were wondering.

Which, I'm sure you were not.

So, thank you.  Thank you so much for just stopping by and making The Shop feel legit and all. 

xoxo

she closed her eyes and jumped

So once there was this girl who made stuff out of the things her mom tried to throw away.

She stole little bits of fabric scraps and thread from the sewing bins and made barbie clothes.  She made furniture out of discarded Pringles cans and cereal boxes.

When she went to college, she took her mom's old Singer so she could 'taper' the ankles of her jeans.  It was the early nineties.  She was stylish.

The next twenty years were a blur of curtains and pillows and baby blankets and slipcovers and girl clothes and princess dresses and costumes and bibs and duvets and pajama bottoms.

Until now.

When opened her own etsy shop.

Friends, I am stepping out of my comfort zone.   There is a new little shop at etsy where I've hung my shingle.  I'm slowly adding items -- both vintage and handmade. 

I'm still quite uneasy about the whole thing, but it should keep this momma busy.  Stop by and mingle for a bit, why don't you?  xoxo

p.s.  I just had my first sale! 

p.p.s. This is so exciting. 

p.p.p.s.  I'm a complete dork. This I know.