Coffee or Tea?

New embroideries in the shop:


It's so hot here today! Tomorrow is going to be 102! In the Pacific Northwest. It's supposed to be cooler here.

New Look

I thought it was time to freshen up this little blog. The banner design is doubling as packaging for brooches and pendants.

On another note, I had no idea I would become a such a chicken nerd. We will be going on the Tour de Coop tomorrow along with a large percentage of other Portlanders who have taken the chicken keeping plunge. In case you're wondering, the Tour de Coop is where you can go to about 25 different homes to see their chickens and coops. What fun! What? This doesn't sound fun to you? For shame! I was delighted to chat with a fellow chicken nerd at a party recently. See, most people have about a 3 minute chicken conversation tolerance. But us chicken nerds, we can discuss for hours. Really, no question is too silly. How big is your run? Do your chickens like zucchini, because mine won't touch it? How old were your chickens when they laid their first egg? This is a sampling of the questions we ask each other. I feel like there should be a secret society for us c.nerds so we don't bore others to death.
Here are some new pictures of the cutest flock in town:

chickens on deck

Millie, Petunia and Freckles

in the run

Petunia, star of the chicken show

Happy Weekend!

Summertime Crafty

We will be all set up at Crafty Wonderland tomorrow! If you happen to be in the Portland area, it's supposed to rain - perfect for an indoor craft show.

Some new illustrations are in or headed to the shop:

Etsy-versary!

Hey! Guess what! Wednesday is my 4 year Etsy anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been 4 years since I discovered the wonderful world of Etsy. To celebrate I'm offering free shipping on all purchases made July 8th on domestic orders, and half price shipping on international orders ! Use code "etsy4" in the checkout and then wait for the revised invoice with your shipping discount. Hooray! The shop is chock full right now, so it's a great time to shop.

I've just posted some of my newest project 'cheap ass art'. I'll be doing some simple illustrations on lovely beveled matboard for only $5! It's bargain city here at Chet and Dot headquarters.

Summer Sunday

Today was just lovely. It started off with coffee out watching the chickens (the best!).

We went to the farmer's market in the morning to get berries for

pie!

felted bowls drying in the sun

Tonight it's off to dinner at a friend's where I will pick raspberries until the sun goes down.

Craft Sale

Just a quick note to let you know that I'll be selling at a craft show/food drive tomorrow (Saturday the 27th) at Urban Outfitters in NW Portland.
Stop by and say hello!

Coffee

I'm waiting for the second pot of coffee of the day to brew so I thought I'd share some thoughts on coffee.
Coffee is good. Stumptown coffee is very very good.
My favorite way to brew coffee is in a stovetop espresso pot. I use a French press sometimes, but the stovetop pot, brews good strong coffee really fast, which is important.
I made some new coffee cup (or tea if you're so inclined) cozies.
I forgot how satisfying these are to make. They're a quick project and great way to use up sweater and fabric scraps. These are in the shop. Which, by the way, now has over 400 items! I can't believe it.



On another note, the weather has been positively dreary here in Portland. The chickens don't care for it one bit. As you can, see it's best to stay close to the coop in case of a downpour.

Now I feel that donuts are in order. Yes, coffee and donuts.
Happy Weekend!

Prints

I have been going through some of my sketchbooks trying to sort through and pull out ideas I like or drawings to use for embroideries or prints. It's always interesting to look back at older work and see how my art has changed and improved. Some of the older drawings are so crude, but I remember just being happy they resembled what I had in mind.

These prints are in the shop. They're my first new prints since we got our new printer (which is awesome). I'm really happy with the results. Yay for good printers!

Elephants!

The shop has just had a delivery of elephants!
I have had this elephant stamp that I carved a few years ago and today I decided she needed a bow. Then it became clear that a banner was in order. So here's the new and improved elephant design. I'm thinking these would make sweet baby shower invitations or maybe first birthday party. Fun!

Chickens, Gardening and Notecards

The title should give some insight as to what's been on my mind lately. Our chickens are growing big and are hilarious! It's so nice to look out the window and see a flock of little chickens pecking and digging and chasing each other. I love that having chickens gets me outside so much more. I can keep a close eye on the garden progress that way.



the coop is almost done, it just needs the roof and run attached


Miss Millie waiting for some yummy worms


Millie and Honey in the herb garden

There are several short videos of chicken antics here, if you're so inclined. We have one blue egg layer, which I'm so excited about. Blue eggs! It's hard to imagine that soon I'll have my own egg supply right in the back yard. I'm expecting the 2 older hens to start laying around September and the others in October.

I've got some new block printed notecard sets in the shop. I'm anxiously waiting for my hydrangeas to bloom, so I thought I'd carve a stamp in the meantime.

Life with Chickens

I thought it was time for an update on life so far with the chicks. We diagnosed two of the five as roosters, and they have gone to live with a nice family who were looking for just that sort of rooster. Now we are left with what we believe are 3 hens. It's so funny because we were really unsure if we wanted to get chickens, even on the way home after buying the chicks, we weren't sure we wanted to raise urban chickens, but they are so much fun, I'm sure we made the right choice. I spend way more time than I should watching their silly antics. Every time I sit down to watch them, they are doing something new and crazy. They all have different personalities and have grown attached to us as well. They'll be going outside in a couple of weeks, and while I'll be happy to have the dining room back, I will miss having them so close by. It's amazing how fast they grow too. They are already getting to the awkward chicken teenager phase. This is the 3 girls perched on their box today:

I have managed to get a lot of sewing done in the past few days in spite of the chicks. In fact, my Etsy shop has a record number of items in it. 301, to be exact! I've just added these sweet friends and some new felted houses. I also carved a new stamp with a little house on it. I'm excited to print some new house cards.




Happy Weekend!

The Babies are Here!

We picked up our chicks yesterday. We had to get 5 so that we could increase our chances of getting the 3 hens we want. We suspect one is a rooster but it's far too early to tell. Meet the new family members:





We haven't named them yet but we've got some ideas in mind.

Wooly Goodness

There has been lots of needle felting going on here lately. I am very fond of this little owl. It will be hard to let him go:

Easter Delivery

The Easter Bunny has just been to the shop.

More Cake

This weekend Jenny's mom was here for her birthday, which was a perfect opportunity for yet another layer cake. This one is a 4 layer lemon mascarpone cake. I used an epicurious recipe but I don't think I would make this particular cake again. The cake itself was a bit dry and spongy, and not as moist and springy as I would have liked. I made a lemon vanilla buttercream that was just lightly sweetened and balanced out the lemon curd-mascarpone filling which was very sweet and tart. I am always happy for a chance to practice royal icing flower making:

It ended up being a perfect early Spring birthday cake.