Step into my office

Little known fact- when it comes to computer stuff, I work exclusively from bed. I have a big old 700 sq foot apartment all to myself, with an eat-in kitchen, living room, office and bedroom but I can't kick the bed habit. Decadent, yes?

A week or two ago I got this pillow in the mail from Liane at enhabiten. It's made from an antique crazy quilt and its revolutionized my office. Even as I type this, I'm cozied up to that quilt and that pillow. This is where this (gestures frantically to your open internet browser) happens. You know, the magic and all that.

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Dock This Way

For those of us who use a universal docking station, we understand its benefits of a single USB cable to any computer to manage USB peripherals including additional displays, a less cluttered desktop, and a hot-desk environment for remote workers.

HP and DisplayLink have teamed up on a site that describes the benefits of universal docking, and why it can be one of the best additions to your notebook, netbook or PC setup. Check it out here:

www.displaylink.com/hp_microsite.

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Shout out, shops & shopping! !

Just wanted to give a shout out to the newest shops ordering and carrying Brassy Apple patterns!





All Above Fabric

Modern Organic Fabrics

Venezie Designs

If you are interested in carrying our patterns wholesale, apply here. If your shop orders through a distributor, you can currently find us with Moda/United Notions and CS Distributing.

~So that takes care of shout out and shops.....Now onto the Shopping! During the Holidays we were restocking our shop every monday. Now that the "mayhem" of the Holidays has passed, we will be restocking our shop at the beginning of each month! ~ Aprons, custom Shaggy Mosaic Jeans are coming back, DIY kits and some new designs plus new PATTERNS!!!! Check into the shop next week or join our mailing list for a reminder email! ~

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Rolling Homes, the sequel.

Remember this book that belonged to my mom? I still haven't found my own copy. I know it's got to be out there somewhere, sitting in a used book store with a $7 price tag. The thought of paying $50 on amazon or ebay is less appealing. Cheating, if you will.

When I visited my folks last week, I pulled out my mom's copy and took photos of nearly every home in the book. You can see them all here. This book still hits me hard, it was my favorite to look through as a kid and dream about all the wonderful places I'd go in my pickup truck turned Conestoga wagon. Sadly, my life's taken a turn for the more.... stationary and responsible.

But there's still hope, I'm only 25. I have many adult years ahead to shirk off "responsibilities", "student loans" and "income taxes" in my rolling home. The future looks bright.

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Party Box #3.......Create a Party/Holiday Pillowcase!

We have created a Party Banner, a Party Chair cover and talked about storing it all in a box for quick access. We have created our items with a Birthday Party theme in mind.

A great tradition to start for your children's/grandchildren's birthdays is to create a Birthday themed pillowcase that they get to use for the week leading up to their birthday!

Then when it is put away after the big special day it will be looked forward too again the next year. OR, create a couple different custom pillowcases for the Holidays that they can use the month or a few weeks leading up to the Holidays. Holidays like Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, etc. AND if you "plan" enough in advance you can get some great fabric on clearance prices just before the Holiday hits or after it's passed. So think ahead and snag some fabric for cheap!

Let's get started!

Materials:

1 yd of cotton fabric

measuring tape

pins

iron

thread

sewing machine

Step 1: Fold the fabric right sides together, lengthwise. Serge one end and down one side. If you don't have a serger, sew the 2 sides with a straight stitch and go back over it with a zig zag stitch to keep the edges from fraying when washed.

Step 2: Fold back the open end of the fabric 4 inches and press. Fold over a second time and press again. This will create the finished casing at the open end of the pillowcase.

Step 3: Pin and sew. Turn right side out and press for a crisp pillowcase! Your kiddos will be so excited to have a special pillowcase to use for whatever the occasion!

linked up with DIY day on A Soft PLace to Land and Get your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog!

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Bridal bouquet

There's a certain terror that comes with handing over a bouquet to a bride. You want it to be perfect and her to love it etc... but she normally just looks a little shell shocked. She's thinking, Oh shit. This is really happening. In like 20 minutes. You're thinking, Oh god. Please say you love the flowers.

It's funny. I've only done it twice now, but it's pretty amazing to witness that moment in a stranger's life.

This week I made my first ever bridal bouquet and I was internally hyperventilating the whole time. But Sarah is an amazing teacher. Seriously, she could teach a rock to arrange flowers beautifully.

Did you know she and Nicolette teach flower arranging classes at the shop? During the class, I man the front while cadres of cool girls line up and drink bubbly and play with flowers in the studio. Then I take photos of their arrangements and secretly develop a complex because they're total novices but their arrangements look better than mine would.

The next open class is about combining flowers and herbs in arrangements. Plus you get to plant a window box of herbs for your kitchen. Guaranteed, the best way you'll ever spend a sunday afternoon. I'm sorry, but did I mention champagne? Right. Champagne.

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Birthday Foxes

On my mom's birthday we went for a walk to the bay. All was normal till we got charged at by a pair of red foxes. Foxes so close you could have reached out and touched them. On the beach. It was amazing. My camera was put away and I barely had time to pull it out and take the lens cap off, turns out it was on manual. National Geographic, here I don't come.

We were glowing with adrenaline after. It is, without a doubt, in my top 5 favorite wild animal encounters. (Others involve carrying a wounded fawn and having a bullfrog jump into my kayak.) My mom immediately asked me if I was going to blog about it. The Merricks operate on the birthday month principle, so whatever mamma merrick wants, mamma merrick gets. Til jan. 31st.

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DIY crafting......sharing a "secret"......

It's great to sit down and create something. Something that you have created to make life simpler, more beautiful, more organized, more fun...........DIY crafting is usually an inexpensive way to achieve any of these things! Especially if you are re-purposing an old item or a great yard sale find into something new!

One of the "secrets" to keeping costs down for your projects to create a Craft Supplies Box. I know this isn't any new concept to some but it may be to others. When I taught a summer fun class this past year this was one of the points I mentioned. It's so much easier to sit down with your kids and craft up something to beat boredom when you already have supplies on hand! and kids can pretty creative with box full of supplies at their fingertips too! :)

Now don't go out and spend a lot of money buying up papers, glue, glitter, paints, etc. If you are just starting to create your "stash" pick a project that you'd like to do and purchase the supplies. Then designate a spot for crafting supplies to be stored - a specific cabinet/cupboard, drawer, basket, plastic bin, etc. Whatever works for your lifestyle. This way when you find yourself needing to craft up something fun, all your supplies will be easily found! You can even designate craft supplies for kids and crafting supplies for YOU!

You will find several items will be used over and over and many projects will get created from a single purchase.

So have fun! Create a space for your craft supplies and keep your supplies limited to that space. If it starts to get overly full, maybe it's time to ditch something you haven't used in ages! Try swapping out with a friend who could use it!

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My favorite

I bought this dress on ebay for the price of a steak dinner and a bottle of wine. When I opened the package, I swayed in place. My cheeks flushed. When I tried it on, I went light-headed.

I am beyond taken with this dress. Far and away, my favorite of favorites.

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A call for artists!.......

Fabric designer Genevieve Gail is looking for artists that want to donate an item(s) to their wonderful benefit coming up next month! She's got all the details on her site so be sure to pop over there and check it out! As times are tough for soooo many right now and we are all giving wherever we can, here is yet another chance to help out..........open your hearts and open up those crafting materials and see let's see what we can create!

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Fall In Love with Your Notebook Again

Samsung Lapfit is an innovative form factor monitor that is designed specifically to add workspace to your notebook computing experience. With a simple USB cable, gorgeous multi-display productivity is at your fingertips.

Check out this fun YouTube video to see how you too, can fall in love with notebook computing again.

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Party Box....#2 - Chair Cover Tutorial

Last week we created a Party Banner, and this week we will feature a Chair Cover. We created ours in a theme of HAPPY BIRTHDAY. A special way to designate where the birthday boy/girl will sit for their special meals, etc. It also comes with a pocket on the backside for birthday cards or special notes from family members. A fun little pocket to hold all the birthday love sent their way!

Let's get started!

Materials:

3/4 yd of fabric

Extra Wide Double folded bias tape

scissors

measuring tape

thread

sewing machine

iron

Step 1: Because all chairs are different shapes and we are currently not using our usual set, we will be creating a cover that should work for all types! Measure the width across the back of your chair. Decide how wide you want your cover to be. Measure up and down - from the chair seat to the top and double that measurement (this way it will cover the back of the chair too). Add in enough room for seam allowances as well.

Step 2: Cut out 2 rectangle shapes from your fabric that you took measurements for above. We chose to create the reverse side in a different fabric (one boy fabric/one girl fabric). If so, cut 1 rectangle from each fabric. Set aside

Step 3: Depending on the width of your chair cover your pocket size will vary. Our finished pocket size is 4 inches small than the total width of the cover and about 6 inches tall.

Decide on your measurements and cut two pieces of fabric. The fabric can be the same at the cover or contrast it as pictured below.

Place your pocket pieces right sides together and sew down 3 sides leaving the top open. Turn right side out and press. Fold the top edge under about 1/2 inch and sew closed. Place your pocket on your cover fabric and position in the middle. We placed our pocket 3.5 inches down from the top. Pin and sew in place. Repeat on the second cover fabric piece if your cover will be reversible.

Step 4: Attaching the ties. Cut 4 pieces of extra wide double folded bias tape to be 10 inches long. Place on the right side of the fabric in each corner about 1.5 inches from the top and bottom edge. Pin in place.

Step 5: Place the back/reverse side of the fabric on top with right sides together. Lining up the edges and smoothing flat, pin the two sides together. Sew three sides together leaving one end open for turning. Turn right side out, and press. Fold under the open edge about 1/2 inch, pin and sew closed continuing around the entire cover for a top stitched look.

Here is our chair cover - one side for a Birthday Boy and one side for a Birthday Girl!

optional: We created a button hole on 2 ends and attached ties on the other two to attach it to our chair.

Slip it on your chair for that special occasion! Can be created for other events as well! Pop the cover into your "party box" along with your Party Banner!

Upload and share YOUR photos of this project into the Brassy Apple Flickr Group!

Find the tutorial for the Party Banner HERE or hop over to the sidebar and find it under the my "Tutorials" section.

linked up with DIY day on A Soft Place to Land and Get your Craft on with Today's Creative Blog.

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Mom

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Micha and I are about to race down to Maryland to surprise her, last minute, of course. I'm not packed and don't think i'll even bring anything other than my camera and toothbrush. Got to run and beat rush hour traffic. Happy Birthday mom, see you soonish!

* Her internet is broken, so she won't be able to read this till after the fact. I was born to be sneaky.

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Clearing out!.....SALE time

If you follow my blog or frequent my shop than you know that my scarves are only available for a short season. Well...... that season is coming to a close so we are clearing out what we have left! Snatch up some for a great deal will plenty of season left this year to wear them! Also my pink grapefruit apron price has been slashed! take a peek!

New aprons coming next month and our scarves (bunchy/skinny) will be back in Sept. 2010!!

Sale will end without notice and merchandise is first come first served!

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10 weeks left and counting down

I've reached the point in mid-winter where I start getting cranky about having to put on my coat when I leave the house. I'm bored of boots and heavy socks are weighing on my soul.

Clothing anxiety aside, it's hard to suffer the usual winter misery when all day, every day you're working with flowers. Two weeks ago, I referred to some flowering quince branches as our "first quince of spring". Sarah sort of chuckled and said "umm, spring?". Oh right, the first quince of winter.

The shop has some amazing, riotous brights this weekend. Kumquats, oranges, hyacinth (oh the smell!) and velvety raspberry snapdragons. See why I get my seasons confused?

Winter has been good to me. I've become partial to dying tulips. Semi-dried ranunculus fill my kitchen table. I'm propagating miniature duckfoot ivy like there's no tomorrow. I've even managed to successfully BLOOM a cheapy grocery store rose bush inside my apartment. I'm wearing dresses again. Spring is ahead of schedule, if only because I'm willing it so.

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DisplayLink USB 3 on TV

Did you miss us at CES 2010?

If so, check out this simple snapshot of our USB 3.0 virtual graphics technology demo. That's right, a development system was running smooth, high quality video over USB 3.0 and displaying it on a 1080p HDTV.

You can view the CES demo if you missed it on a video by Synopsys.

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Rock the Dock

At CES 2010, HP unveiled its HP USB Media Docking Station with DisplayLink USB virtual graphics technology. This dock is a sweet addition to any laptop up to 17", featuring one simple USB connection to four USB ports, Ethernet, audio jacks for microphones and headphones, and a VGA monitor port. The entire dock slides neatly into the notebook stand to provide a sleek workspace and has four Altec Landsing speakers and a sub woofer for 2.1 channel high-def audio.

This rocking dock is available at http://www.hp.com/ in March for just $179.

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Colors in my studio.........

Things have been humming around here lately - both in the studio and in life generally. There is always something going on right? :)

I have been busily working on a few projects that I can't wait to share!! Patterns, new designs for the SHOP, tutorials......and the patterns in the works are for girls! *squeal* So - until then, take a browse around what my workspace is looking like this week.......oh the colors and textures.....it's been a fun week. And you'll even catch a peek of one of my very busy little assistants. *wink*................enjoy the weekend

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