almost one year later...

we have a baby!!

James Lawrence Robinson

born on January 18, 2012 at 11:17 pm

6 pounds 11 ounces

18 inches long

happy valentine's day, with hugs and kisses, from the Robinsons! 

more projects to come soon!  

my first project

well, technically this is not my first weaving project, but it is my first project on my very own rigid heddle loom!! how excited am i?

my first project will be placemats!

choosing the yarn is so satisfying. the coral yarn i dyed myself, and the lime green will both be used for the warp, and the deep plum will be the weft.

winding the warp (left). [[i would really love to get into the entire process of weaving, but i will gladly let Wikipedia do it for me!]]

the warp is all ready to go! (right)

with a little help from my husband, the warp is on the loom, only one more thing to do before i can start weaving!

and that's tying on. let's weave!!

it has definitely been a learning process, but i am so in love with it. i don't even want to get into how many times i had to undo what i was doing and start over, but i had enough yarn and the color combination is really nice. i started weaving this past weekend and it's been trial and error. i'm sure it will just take a little bit for me to get my rhythm back.

i'm not too crazy happy about these edges, but i'll get it right.

more updates soon!

weaving is happiness

i learned to weave in college. from the first time i sat at a loom, i knew i had found a true love.

[[tapestry projects from college]]

there is something so meditative about the entire process of weaving. choosing the yarn combination, the pattern, preparing the warp, setting up the loom. color and weave, and tapestry are my favorite methods.

[[my first tapestry sample decorating our "hallway" on the left. i found that embroidered piece on the right in a thrift store. it almost looks Indian in origin]]

when i graduated almost 5 years ago, i left weaving behind. looms can be a bit expensive and quite large, not very practical for a small NYC apartment.

[[a weaving and dying project, using a shibori technique. aka resist dying.]]

my brother wears a scarf that i wove in college.

a few weeks ago, i found out that one of my favorite online stores for yarn, KnitPicks, is now selling rigid heddle looms. i bought one immediately! the great thing about this type of loom is that it is compact and can fold up for easy storage and travel, even in the middle of a project. weaving can be done on a table top, or a stand.

putting it together today.

the finished product!

i can't wait to start a project, what will i make first?

treasures

it's been a long time since i opened the etsy home page on my computer. the lack of work to list there was almost a bitter reminder that my shoppe has been dormant for such a long time. not that it's really a bad thing, but my day job has just been so demanding, and my husband uses the studio/study much more than i ever would.

in other words, i have fallen in love with etsy all over again. not realizing how many changes they've made to the website, i've updated a few things and started surfing through my favorite places.

inspiration.

one of the changes that i really love about the new etsy is that anyone can make a treasury! when i first started using etsy, over 4 years ago, one had to wait for a slot to open up, and that was just too much work. so yesterday, i made my first treasury!

for you, my love. (click on the image to view it larger)

really made for the hopeless romantic husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, looking for the perfect gift. i'm working on another one right now. the idea of a treasury is to create a collage of favorite items based on a theme, either by subject matter, color, gift ideas, etc. no two items can be alike, and no one seller can be featured more than once. i love to use color and theme together, so focused on pale pinks, deep reds, white and gray but also trying to find items from my favorite sellers that could make wonderful valentine's day gifts.

you can visit my treasury by following the link above, "for you, my love".

what are your treasures?

happy new year!

the Robinsons wish you a happy new year from new york city!

New blog!

Hello family, friends and fans!

It's been awhile, I know. Crafting has been on the back burner for me since last winter, as my husband needed the second bedroom for his study.

[Brian in his study!]

I was realizing that this blog was turning into more of an everyday blog for what was going on in the life of the Robinsons! Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I decided to start a blog dedicated to just that!

[The Robinsons outside our apartment in Queens, our lovely new VW Jetta parked next to us]

You can see it here:

Meet the Robinsons

Stay tuned for more crafty updates!

not for the vegan hearted

memorial day weekend brought with it plans of relaxing.

plans of starting a garden in our apartment.

of roasting a whole chicken.

little did we know that some of these plans would not work out quite as we hoped.

or expected.

the garden is perfect!

it was the chicken.

using a recipe from a "Real Simple" magazine i bought a few weeks ago, i decided to roast a whole chicken, something i had never done before. on my own at least.

roasted with potatoes, onions, organic carrots and an entire head of garlic, i knew this was going to be fairly simple. the preparation was, and i really enjoyed it.

everything was ready to go, oven preheated, ingredients combined, chicken stuffed with fresh herbs from my windowsill garden and lemons. so i put the glass dish filled with yummy things in the oven to cook for the next 90 minutes.

an hour passed.

i decided to take a look at the chicken (by the way, i didn't smell anything cooking, and i was planning on removing a fully cooked chicken a half hour later). the chicken was still completely raw. not even warm.

ugh.

our oven was totally busted!

we called our Super to see if he could fix it. luckily he lives right next door and is such a nice man. he looked at it and realized he couldn't fix it and thanks to the holiday, we wouldn't be able to get someone in to fix it until Tuesday evening at the earliest. ugh again.

all seemed lost.

then, our Super was so nice to offer the oven in his apartment! we took his offer and ran the glass dish filled with a 4 pound chicken and veggies to his apartment in the building next door. i will admit that i felt a little strange about doing this. i didn't want to interrupt his schedule, and it seemed so out of reach! but we put it in his oven, and went back to our apartment to wait.

patiently.

about an hour and 25 minutes later, after running over to his place, we came back to our apartment with a beautifully roasted chicken.

and it was so delicious.

new look and more of a break than i thought

hello my faithful readers!

i have been a bit MIA with the crafting since the holidays. they seem far away and yet really almost 6 months ago!

i've been taking a much needed break from sewing and making and creating, as the holidays were a very busy time for me. needless to say, i got a little burnt out and decided to let my listings on Etsy expire and start fresh! a new year, a new start. (that sounds familiar)

i have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head, most involving the decorating of our apartment. it's become a project and has taken over! the studio was going unused, and i was looking at my husband working day and night in our living room, distracted by my silly TV shows and knitting projects (yes, i still have those).

so i decided. to give him the studio to make into his study. a little moving around, a little organizing with plastic bins (i love plastic bins), putting them in closets and wallah! the clutter was gone and B has his own space where he can close the door and work quietly without hearing vampire slayage in the background (no, i'm not going to tell you what silly TV show i'm referring to).

see before as my studio. (what a mess!)

and after as B's study (B has a much hipper chair now).

this actually was finished quite a few months ago, in February, ugh! have i really been gone that long?

---------------

in other news, i really have not been crafting. other than knitting, i have been craft-less. my sweet mother who lives in Michigan visited the week after Mother's Day, and she stayed in the study. the sofa you see in the photos is actually a convertible sofa, and turns into a nice size double bed for our overnight guests. also quite comfortable i hear.

my real reason for posting today was to tell you about my "windowsill garden" that i've started in our apartment! i have recently been longing to live in a house, to have a backyard to call my own, to grow things. i read an article in my new favorite magazine, "Body + Soul" (which is changing their name to "Whole Living" from the website by the same name), a Martha Stewart publication. it was about a woman named Rosalind Creasy, a landscape designer in Northern California. she is known for her "edible landscaping." i was so inspired that i called my dad immediately to tell him about it! (my mom and dad are amazing gardeners, see my dad's blog here, he talks a lot about their garden, and my mom's blog here, she always posts beautiful photos of flowers and such)

(newest issue on the top)

i thought to myself. just because i live in an apartment in New York City, with no backyard to call my own, doesn't mean i can't grow fresh ingredients! i bought a basil plant when my mom was visiting, and it is the first plant in my new project. basil on the kitchen windowsill.

so this weekend, i think i'll venture to the local farmer's market in Union Square and get some edible plants that will thrive indoors! luckily this window gets a lot of sun during the day!!

i know i can be happy with this.

in the meantime

long time no blog!

i have a post in the works about what is going on in the life of lesley and Pink Graffiti, but in the meantime, take a look at some pretty things.

Brian's cousin Molly is getting married in June, we are so excited to take a vacation to Fort Worth to visit the family! but of course this was an excuse for me to buy a pretty floral dress (pictured below). i must say that the fashion and clothing in every store very much resembles what i see in the Anthropologie store windows, but for much more affordable prices! take Charlotte Russe for instance.

Floral Poplin babydoll dress

just one of many many dresses i fell in love with at Charlotte Russe. i even bought matching turquoise sandals to wear to the wedding!

Gorrill gladiator sandals from Aldo.

pretty shoes, pretty flowers and very very pretty colors. i think i even have a necklace to finish it off.

bubbles cluster necklace from Old Navy.

what are you wearing this spring and summer?

featured artist : Padmaja

Pink Graffiti is happy to feature artist Padmaja Chaluvadi! a wonderful textile artist and surface designer from India, Padma is a New York resident, with a studio in Brooklyn. a fascinating person that i am lucky enough to have met and call a friend, she is traveling in India at the moment, painting and visiting family.

Padma working in her studio. her Etsy shoppe currently sells clothing, home decor and accessories, all hand painted and printed in her Brooklyn studio. we actually met through my mother and her friend, Rauf, who lives in India.

Padma was kind enough to answer some of my interview questions:

Tell us a bit about yourself, your shop, what you design/create!

Well, I am an Art director/advertising by profession but always been drawn to fashion and textiles since childhood. So now my work has the mixed influence of advertising, fine arts, as in having an idea/concept/thought behind the patterns. As well as cross cultural iconography, indian motifs with a western twist, a western motif with an Indian subtext.

When did you start creating things?

Five years ago, one Fall day, just for fun, I enrolled in an evening class of experimental screen printing at FIT, and now forever got hooked on the tactile medium. The interplay of the substrate is simply addictive.

How do you like selling on Etsy so far? Would you like to start selling anywhere else?

I just started, and I like the venue very much, but all the sales I made so far are from my friends and family :). So, That's not exactly true measure of sales... Yes, I want to try other avenues, high end boutiques, museums and custom orders.

What kind of materials do you like to use? What are your favorite tools to work with?

Natural and eco-friendly materials. I really try to be a fair trader and use low impact resources in the production process. My favourite tool is a loaded brush:).

Do you enjoy any other crafts or hobbies? What do you do when you're not crafting?

A lot of photography (my main source of imagery), a lot of reading, 'looking' and painting.

Where do you look for inspiration?

Everywhere... Nature, literature, and new york city streets.

Any tips for other artists starting a craft business?

Don't give up on your dream, and don't give up on your day job until your dream becomes real/possible. Personally and surprisingly, I am more creative and productive when I know my bills are getting paid than being a full time Artist and I am a 24/7 worry knot.

Where do you see your business going? Any future plans?

I want to enter home furnishing and interior design market and explore custom designs for fashion houses.
Anything else you'd like to share?

Thank you Lesley for your time and interest.

thank you Padma, we are so excited to hear about your work! Padma and i have had lovely conversations about design and combining interiors and fiber design. we wish you so much luck and a wonderful, enriching time in India!

you can also see her beautiful hand-painted and silkscreened designs here: http://majastudio.carbonmade.com/