Hip Hop Hippity: Easter Rabbits in NYC

At Loopy Mango on Grand St in Soho or online

Love these colors! 

Everywhere in New York City I am seeing rabbits. Yes it is Easter time, as an animal rescuer I must plug in not to get a rabbit for an Easter gift.  Too many land at the shelter. Instead of buying, adopt or buy one of these cuties.  Some times the rabbits can look a little creepy so be careful. I think the ones here are all safe.  One of the nice things about Easter or Spring time rabbits is they can be created so many different ways and made into countless number of characters.

Marie Belle on Broome in Soho. Look at the chocolate rabbit in the window...
writing this just gets me craving chocolate.

This window is at All Seasons Florist on 8th ave at 53rd. They have great windows.
These rabbits look like they are ready for an Easter Parade. Love the traditional pastel colors.

Some cool Easter baskets. These are the kind I had growing up. I have 4 brothers and sisters and looking for the Easter Baskets was so much fun. 

My sister Tammy had this kind. I can't wait to tell my mother that these baskets are being sold on Etsy.

Handwoven basket by basketsbyrose on etsy



Love these traditional egg baskets.

If you are looking for some more Easter ideas check out this treasury I put together for the NewNew NYC Etsy Team called Down the Rabbit Hole
As I was looking for different type of Easter baskets I of course ran into some old Easter pics of myself that my husband was nice enough to email me so I thought I would share with you.
Hope you enjoy and have a lovely Easter.

Mod Mad Men Style

Mad Men is finally back after a long 17 months. It was great to spend 2 hours with Don, Peggy, Joan and the rest of Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce. Of course the story lines were fantastic! The year is 1966, and the clothes were looking great, neon pop colors, shift dresses and very cool aviator sunglasses.  Many styles that can be worn today.  My favorite dress that I would definitely wear is actually one of Peggy's dresses, without the buttoned to the neck look.

Ignore the cigarette in front of the baby's face and check out Joan's dress.  The print has a tie dye look and I love the wide low neck line with black piping. 

I went thru etsy last night and put together my own list of Mad Men inspired favorites. It's great to see that there is a huge selection of womens custom dresses to choose from. 

Hope you enjoy this treasury list.

Here are a few faves. 

Do you have any favorite characters or outfits?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75128368/pinup-dress-grey-dress-elegant-dress?ref=tre-2561065870-1

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49480857/pretty-pink-and-yellow-clutch-purse?ref=tre-2561065870-2

Modern Quilts....Denyse Schmidt

My mother is a quilter. I thought quilting was basically patchwork although this isn't the type of quilting my mother does. Since working at Purl I am slowly learning more about quilting. I have learned what my mother does is whole cloth quilting. I remember as a child she would have quilts set up in our living room and all the Polish ladies from the Christian Mother's (a PTA type group) of our school would come to quilt. My mother is of Polish descent, her mom and dad came over.  I was thinking the other day of a picture that was taken when I was probably second or third grade. I was wearing a bandana on my head and helping thread needles for the quilts. I guess this must be my first exposure to quilts. If I find the picture I will post it for you all. My mother is still quilting but her hands do bother her. She has made all of us, my 4 brothers and sisters, their children and numerous aunts and uncles quilts. I wonder how many she has made. I have two she has made for me. The latest one was a wedding gift, see below. Absolutely beautiful.

Oliver of course is happy to bless any new cloth item in the apartment.

 The edging here is all hand done.

I do want to learn how to quilt and it is much more complicated than I thought. Maybe my mother will give me some lessons over Easter weekend.

 Denyse Schmidt, a well know quilter based out of Bridgeport Connecticut, has come out with a new book. Her quilts are patchwork quilting. Her fabrics are gorgeous and there is a new collection we carry at work called flea market fancy. What a great name! I realized I actually have some of her fabric from a few years ago. They are colorful and sweet and modern. So I was quite excited when I learned Purl was having a book release party for her at the store on March 29th....and I am working at it!  If you live in NYC you should come by and get some inspiration.

LOVE!

Flea Market Fancy comes in 4 colorways.

The Design Files

I've discovered a new blog that I wanted to share with you,  The Design Files  It is written by Lucy Feagins who is a Melbourne set dresser and stylist.  The Design Files covers Australian design in all its forms – from architecture and interiors to art, craft, graphic design and illustration. I love looking at the beautiful pictures of color in all the homes. Since we will be moving soon to Brooklyn into our first home we have lots of decisions to make; wallpaper, paint, furniture etc....very exciting! Lucy's blog has become a source of inspiration. I hope you find it inspiring too!

I love the tulips in the hanging jar in this pic!

I could possibly spend all day perusing this site. Design files has many categories covering fashion, crafts, architecture, textiles the list goes on!

Emma Davies sculptural vases

Love of Liberty... Fabrics

Happy Monday! It is beautiful in NYC today, high 60's. Spring is in the air and I am feeling invigorated and ready to start planting my garden. But more of that later, in the mean time there is still a slight crisp in the air and I've come up with a new design, well not that earth shattering new, but an old favorite being revamped. The scarf bandanna. I mentioned last week or so that I made a large scarf bandanna for a colleague at Purl Soho.  Also, Shag, a store in Brooklyn who sells some of my items has requested some bandannas. They are the perfect, chic solution to this in between weather.
I've decided to use Liberty of London.
I'm becoming addicted to Liberty of London Fabrics.  They are known for little ditsy flower prints and beautiful soft cotton fabrics. In the past few years their designs are becoming more brilliant and beautiful. The fabric feels likes silk but it is 100% cotton, fine cotton.

                                         

Rich in history going back to 1875 and based out of London, Liberty puts you in the mood for being in England, having a garden party or sewing something up.  As a designer I admire the prints so much, you can see the talent and beauty in each one. Little flowers that aren't flowers but rather stars.

I picked up 2 new fabrics at Purl my new place of work. Of course it was hard to choose but I think with these ones I will be making a double sided bandanna.

I used a neon pink thread for the top stitching. 

So the bandanna is double sided and keeps my neck warm in the 40 to 70 degree temps. Also doubling as a head scarf.
I wore it to work yesterday and am on the fence of whether to keep it double sided. I think I probably will but also make some more that are single sided. I already have a single sided on which I do like alot.  These are easy to make, just a 19" square. That's all you need with this luxury fabric. Do you have any thoughts on single or double sided?
If you don't feel like making one stay tuned, I will be selling these beauties in my etsy shop!

2 Color Clothing for the new seasons - Rodarte, DVF at the GAP

Being a New Yorker fashion is everywhere, especially when it is fashion week (mid Feb).  The below picture caught my attention in my Thursday paper, which has the style section and also taken during fashion week.

Rodarte

The retro vintage inspiration of these coats I totally adore. Making them in 2 contrast colors I love! I was pleasantly surprised to see that Rodarte are 2 sisters from Pasadena. Yay! American designers! So many designers  are from Paris and London that I personally find it frustrating. It's a great welcome to see some American designers. As an old boss recently said to me a non American has trouble designing American Sportswear. Classic, cool coats for women, detail to design and something a woman of any age can wear.  So excited for Rodarte!

Some other 2 color items that I discovered in Instyle magazine this month are new girls dresses from the elegant and glam Diane Von Furstenberg. Creator of the wrap dress, Diane has come up with very cool prints for the little girls in our lives, being sold at the GAP starting March 15th.

DVF at the GAP? Is GAP trying to help it's sales by following Target's model using well known designers for one off collections? What do you think? Think the dresses are cute? Will they be a hit?