Sun and Sprinkles

While on a walk in a new-to-me neighborhood I found many interesting and colorful contrasts. Old, tall trees perfect for climbing, towering over dusty, sprawling cacti along the ground and sidewalks. Stucco covered, tiled roofed homes alongside a Starbucks. It struck me as odd. Perhaps this photo I took will illustrate my thoughts better than my words.

Contrast is a theme in the pillows I make and in every other art form I do. So instead of being so one-sided, (I don’t want to be selfish) I’m going to share the other sides of my creative personality on this blog. Stay tuned and enjoy!

Spring is coming!

My city has been grey and stormy lately. Cold wind, heavy rain. The combination that makes you want to cozy up with a good movie, book, blog, what have you. But I know Spring is on the heels of those storm clouds. And with Spring comes color! Fabulous new colors and patterns and… fabric.

I’ve begun my first Spring plantings with a collection of bright, vibrating, playful and of course, unsuspecting pairs. Honor the old and nurture the new. I had to share the wonderful new colors I’m working with so a photo was in order. I had some grey seamless, which matched the skies wonderfully. I turned it into a tree blooming with new color. Spring has sprung.

I hope my newly hatched creations will make their way to your nest soon.

~SP

May Good Fortune be upon you and 2010..

Good Fortune.

In any business venture, and in life in general, we all need good fortune from time to time. I have had much good fortune in the last few months while starting SoSweet – from chance meetings and opportunities to my friend’s support and kind praise.

My sweet, sweet best friend supports me most. Late night detanglings of thread that’s bound itself up in the sewing machine and fixing the zippers I’ve just broken, to making me a snack when I haven’t left my work table all day, my best friend is at my side offering a hand. Like the perfect assistant or vendor – they just “get it” and know what to do.

When we exchanged our holiday gifts I was overcome by how much good fortune I’d been given this past year. They were not extravagant gifts, nor will they require months of payments to a credit card, but what they were, was perfect. The “get it” kind of gifts -a sketch pad for new ideas, a book of beautiful inspiration, a lovely decorated and monogrammed cup for my favorite indulgence -coffee, and a Maneki Neko – The Beckoning Cat of Japan – a lucky charm so to speak. (most Maneki Nekos are left-handed – hmmm.)

Good Fortune Gifts

The product! The product!

Ta-dah! A little bit of a whole lot more to come.

Why do I do this?

What happened this last year with the financial collapse of our nation’s economy and well, the rest of the world’s too, enlightened me. I’ve always thought of myself as a conscientious person. One who thinks before she speaks, tries to put others before herself and does things for those less fortunate. This past year made a LOT of us less fortunate, but this is not “misfortune” in my book.  I was given the opportunity to give in ways that got me back in touch with who I really need and want to be…but more importantly HOW to be it. Not that she had been forgotten, but perhaps just a little mislead.

In my many days of plodding around the wood floors of my studio, I’d pick up various snidgets of who knows what and lots and lots of fur-balls. My two kitties would follow me around, meowing for a treat or some love because they knew I’d give it to them. As part of my morning practice and ritual, coffee with cream and sugar and the saying of 5 things I was grateful for to take the focus off of what I wasn’t getting, a paycheck. And each and every day, those two cats were in the 5. They have so enriched my life. They ask for nothing but food, water, and yes, I believe affection. I’m happy to give it. I’m not a crazy cat lady, just a person who believes in the importance of nature and it’s voice, it’s presence and it’s preservation. There is no room for intentional cruelty in mother nature’s world, nor should there be in man’s.

Hence, why I do this. 10% to my furry friends. Each and every sale.

Oh hai!

Tag. You’re it!

Aren’t they lovely?

Identity continued.