roll call

okay, so we have had so much fun doing this blog... but let me tell ya, it is an effort keeping up with our own ideas, all the amazing artists we support and love, and the clock, as it tick tocks each passing week. what we want to know is IS ANYONE READING IT? not to shout, but we ARE dying to know if it is fun to read and if anyone outside of our lovely fan base (but please you write too) is reading and enjoying it. this would make it all worth it. SO, we are asking for anyone who reads and enjoys our blog to say as much. if you are shy, just say "HERE". i know it will take an extra sec but we would be sosososo appreciative to know "who goes there?"

love

suz

what a hoot

so who has not noticed, owls are everywhere? we are no exception, but the difference is, we have always loved our owlies. i remember growing up with owls in the 70's. my sister loved them, so my mom would decorate with owls. i vaguely remember a print of an owl that my mom had framed. i would love to have that print now. anyhoo, we have lots of owlies to share with you at the shop and here are some our favorites:


i won't list the obvious, but i will say that the owl tee for toddlers, by fauna, and the owl onsie, by foxy and winston, are awesome for small peeps. the magnets, made by ipop with boy girl party graphics are so fun. all of the owl stamps are regular's at o'suz. i am always looking for more good ones so that we can stamp our bags at a moments notice with any manner of owl. owl decal by one up designs, which is so cute if you put it above a light switch plate like he is perched, owl art by cabin and cub and sally bennet, and a book on owls called sightings that we just got more of yesterday!


more favorites include owls by bla bla and igolfini, owly tee and snap pouch by nicole larue, owl print by alena hennessey, an owly birthday calendar, owl pads and cards by all kinds of peeps and the best, an owl on a pogo stick pad by seltzer goods..... and finally the owl hand puppet who failed to look up for this photo, by dwell studio. anyhoot, we got owls and lots of em!!

xo suz

more new goods fresh in!

around here, our 2 favorite things, other than perhaps coffee and sweets, are doing fun fresh displays and getting shipment. but we aren't greedy, i'm here to share some tidbits with you.

first up, monday we got tikoli teatowels, modern textiles for the kitchen. this is our favorite:

lots of others came too, in blues and greens. they are 12 each and such a sweet gift. we also got french bull. they introduced some new patterns in the salad servers which is exciting because they too are only 12 for a set and such a great gifty! also, back in, are the sippy cups which are A-dorable. here is my mini man with his, long before he was even using it.

note the tummy. yummy.eh?

just yesterday we got fluffy co. t-shirts for little peeps and bigger ones.
the new ones they make are so new there are no images yet but here's a peak:

owlies, yeah!


i snagged this one for red!
it's red and black and spoooky.

today, was no different. we got goodies from scotty and none too early. we got the new
lotta jansdotter shipment!!! for you lotta fans, it is sad, but good to note, that she has tightened her line up quite a bit. as a result, in my opinion, her offerings are that much more precious. here are just a few treats we got in:

good lord, why can't we all wear these.

we can all tote this baby though!

this yoga bag is the coolest around.

2009 fabric calendars

we got lots more but we need to save some stuff to surprise you when you come in.
see you soon,
xo
suz

october love it...moontea artwork

moontea artwork has been a favorite of all the o'suzannah ladies and our customers ever since we first found it at the stationery show in may 2007. as everyone who's visited the store knows, we love all manner of stationery, but when we spotted oregonian kristin loganbill's bold images and patterns, printed on both paper and fabric, we knew we had found something special. as i was thinking about this post and pondering what it is about moontea that really drew us in, i was (rather nerdily) reminded of a statement made by an art historian (i wasn't kidding about the nerdy) in the wake of the increasing industrialization of our existence. i'll spare you the quotation, but i think it is the incredibly personal and handmade character of moontea that we find so compelling. i love that kristin designs the images and patterns, block prints or screen prints on a soft hemp/cotton blend fabric, and then sews this same fabric into bags, pouches, and petite sachets. it makes me feel like i know something about the past life of the treat i'm holding in my hand, which is a rare thing these days! kristin was kind enough to answer some questions as our october love it feature, so please enjoy this window into her art and life!

pocket book purse with eucalyptus print

What was your first job, and how did you end up printmaking?

I can't say that my first jobs (babysitting and cleaning house) led me to printmaking! I have worked a lot of retail, and I worked as a massage therapist for some time. Working in retail probably led me to want to have my own business. I also loved massage, but at some point I knew I had to try to do my own art- I figured it was better to try and fail then to wonder what would have happened if I had tried! I've always done some sort of art- but printmaking just resonated with me- I just love seeing the method in the art form- it just begs to be touched, if you know what I mean. Plus I like the quality of hand printed items- they just look so perfectly imperfect!


What is your favorite piece/group/series among your own work?

At the moment I am particularly fond of the Stones cloth. I also printed Stones on paper with silvery metallic ink, and love how it turned out. (see photo) It may seem egotistical, but I really do love all my prints- it makes me happy when I am surrounded by them.


Who, past or present, most inspires you?

My favorite artist is Rufino Tamayo, he was a Mexican artist from Oaxaca. The colors he used are earthy and rich, and to me show where he was from and what he loved. Also his subject matter often had a bit of humor in it.

What 3 websites do you visit daily?

Maybe not daily... but I do like to keep up on the blogs "How about Orange?" and "Cicada Daydream." I also like to see what is going on on Flickr. (In addition to your lovely blog, of course!!) (ed. note: kristin has a blog, too, where i learned she has seven llamas!)

Describe your perfect Sunday morning.

Lots of scenarios would work for this one, but a few perfect elements would be: 1. cup of chai tea 2. being caught up with work (so the mind feels free) 3. going on a hike on the coast, or walk by the creek 4. making some little drawings for future prints.


What do you see outside your studio windows?

I am lucky to have lots of windows in my studio, so I see lots of trees and hay and llamas (eating my garden) and cats, birds and our barn. Here have a look for yourself!


Thank you all for taking the time to share my life with me!


we're so glad to have kristin and moontea on the blog this month, and just a few weeks ago we received a new box teeming with new bags and pouches! come check them out at the shop -- see you soon!

sale continues and NEW GOODS JUST IN!

so the sale has been fun and successful. lots of goods going and gone! still lots of bags though and some good paper goodies and candles so come on by, we're open 12-5 today, sunday.

as for new goods, lots of new bla bla came last week and new susan fleming jewels that will take your breath away.  oh and some totally cute bags from pillow pillow!  also just in are the most amazing wooden calendars from night owl. they are so sweet and such a beautiful gift. lots more came but on the fly so come in and see us soon,

xo

suz

turn those frowns upside down...

so we love our new space, it feels incredibly luscious and fresh. it's so rewarding to hear all the reactions from the peeps coming in. thanks so much to everyone for the great feedback and for being so loyal and positive. we know these are tough times though, and that so many of us are feeling cautious. that's why we've decided to have an impromptu SALE!!!!!  by noon tomorrow, if not sooner, we should have completed a fresh new sale area right up front. the sale will include some super cool bags by holly aiken, deadly squire, crispina and queen bee. it will also include zents candles in earth, petal, water and fig (great to stash as xmas presents). in addition there will be journals, notepads, books, cards and so on marked down for your shopping pleasure.  we will ALSO have a baby/kid sale section, in the back, on the left. included in this sale section are some baby products, books, pixel organics goodies, makie sleeper in cream, and a few other fun treats to scoop up as gifts or for your own wee ones. 

 

*if you know our sales, you know we always add goodies (to the sale) so we can subtract goodies(from the sale) so we can add more new goodies to the shop. make sense? it does to us.

hope we see you soon,

xo

suz

tiny naturescapes by polli

we love our jewels around here, and we are always on the lookout for cool new lines to carry in the shop. about six months ago we picked up a new line of jewelry from australia called polli, and we are absolutely in love with these intricate organic shapes. we each have a set of earrings and a necklace, and it's hard not to snag more! the piece that first caught our attention was their iconic elm necklace:

i mean, holy moly, who wouldn't love this stunning tree?

or these earrings, a personal favorite, with little birds perched on the tree branches?

one of the coolest things about polli is that the shapes are etched from stainless steel, which allows for the high degree of detail and the incredible weightlessness of the work. (all of the chains and the earring hooks are sterling silver, fyi.) just this past week we got a new box of polli goodies, complete with a chocolately caramel australian treat that was a welcome delight on a thursday afternoon. i saw the new designs at the gift show in august (where they also hand out chocolatey caramel australian treats), and it was so exciting to get the new work in the shop. here are a few of our faves from the new additions:

this is a more compact and robust version of the popular succulent pendant. i love the way this piece evokes a lush, squishy-leaved plant but is also really light and delicate.

how lovely is this necklace, called magnolia? it's a little bit of a departure from polli's usual shapes and is so sweet with the two little birdies sitting side by side. when it comes to earrings, we couldn't resist these tiny saplings:

the only downside to this post is that even these photographs, graciously lent by polli, just can't do these babies justice, which means you'll just have to come check them out for yourself. you won't be disappointed, i promise. xoxo, jessica

new in the shop this week!

so we got lots of treats last week from our favorite delivery guys. included in these boxes were halloween stamps, which we are waiting to debut later this month,  some new cards from fiddlesticks, smudge ink and modern printed matter, little otsu planners and 2 new calendars, with a railways and a treehouse theme, more twine t's made of bamboo by nikki mcclure (2009 calendars by nikki are also in),  all kinds of new supercool ipop magnets and bob's your uncle, oldies and new goods.  the BIGGEST shipments were highway and queen bee. highway has new colors and styles and we gottem'all, and queen bee has new bags that i can't wait to see in person. 

even more exciting is what will come this coming week so stay tuned folks, or better yet come see us. xo suz

 

"love it" for september: AARON WINE of sew seamless

aaron, holding red, at my house

so we were racking our brains for an artist to feature in september, when all along she was right under our noses: our very own, aaron wine, artist extraordinaire and lovely lady. aaron has been creative since i met her years ago when she came to work for me at the elliewood store. she loves textiles and paper and she LOVES color. she is, in one word, amazing. you should have seen the look on my face and tears in my eyes when i opened her baby gift to red at my shower. he loves it and will have it for as long as i can preserve it.

it was by far the most incredible gift i have ever received. i was gobsmacked, and still am, at the talent aaron has. she is also very resourceful with what she makes. she never wastes a thing. she often uses the scraps of bigger projects to make the quilts she has become famous for.

then, there are her latest creations, colored pencil rolls, which we are carrying at o'suz.

here is one that made it's debut in the window of the new shop when we opened with a back to school theme. bubbles makes good use of it after hours when we aren't watching.

the ones shown are just a few examples of the rolls we have in the shop now. they range from $60 to $100, depending on size and they are incredible. if you're not in the market, at least catch a glimpse of them in person. they are so beautiful, like aaron, the girl who made them.

here is an interview with miss aaron:

What was your first job and how did you end up making goods?

My first job was teaching dance at the studio where I grew up dancing. I taught ballet, kinder dance and jazz classes to young ones and have been dancing ever since. I have a degree in dance and I feel so lucky to be dancing and performing in the rich arts community here in Charlottesville.

My mom made me beautiful dresses growing up and I learned to sew through osmosis. My dad bought me my first sewing machine in college and I started making quilts for friends and the fam. I have made some crazy costumes for dance shows too, including a dress made out of pink bubble wrap (that i collected from the store) and a leather costume for fire dancing. I am quite fond of collecting fabrics and Sew Seamless came out of a love of putting fabrics and color together.

What is your favorite piece/group/series among your work?

I am really thrilled with my pencil rolls. It is so nice to make something functional that can inspire some creative expression! I love color and it is so fun to match the colored pencil to a perfect piece of fabric. I especially enjoy making a pencil roll or quilt with someone special in mind!

Who, past or present, most inspires you?

Andy Goldsworthy... his open air sculpture is stunning
Mary Oliver.....her poems are my mantras
Feist......her voice fuels me

Which 3 websites do you visit daily?

NPR All Songs Considered
How about Orange?
Facebook
Describe your perfect Sunday.

Sleeping in... having tea and eggs with toast with my man, Moriah. Some reading, some sewing, and a nice walk in the woods. In the evening out to my friends Korina and Ethan's for an outside steam bath and a sit around a fire. And oh yes, chocolate cake, I love chocolate cake!
What do you see out your studio windows?

When I gaze out my windows I see a huge oak tree up on a hill. My garden that grows herbs, kale, lettuce, arugula and tomatoes. I like nothing more than to go outside and eat right from my garden. I also see my new pergola (it's a cousin of an arbor) that my man built over our deck that has cucumbers, clematis and morning glories winding all around. I can't wait for it to be completely covered with flowers and veggies!

gift fair, take one

while most new yorkers are fleeing the oppressive heat of the city during the first few weeks of august, thousands of professional shoppers descend on manhattan for the new york international gift fair. the javits center plays host to countless aisles of vendors, selling everything you can imagine: books, bags, product, baby gear, jewelry, tableware, and so on. this is one of the ways we keep up with what's new from our current peeps and also find new lines that we love. between placing reorders and new orders, collecting catalogs, fiddling with the calculator, chatting with our o'suz pals, and trying to remember to eat, it's an absolute whirlwind of activity! in other words, it is SO much fun.

definitely one of the best parts of the gift show is discovering new lines and meeting people whose wares you've only ever heard about on the internet or through word of mouth. (also, i should say there are some 'celebrities' at the gift show. for example, thomas paul was actually working his own booth, and i was so starstruck by his natty style that i was dumbfounded into silence.) we wanted to give our faithful readers a little sneak peek into some of the new delights that will be popping up in the store this fall -- we hope you'll be as excited as we are!

(photo courtesy of pillow pillow pillow)

one of the products i'm most excited about is the tote bag group from pillow pillow pillow. while i can't actually show you the tote bags (no photography is allowed at the show), i can tell you that these bags are painfully adorable. as a hardcore lover of the mighty boston terrier, i can assure you that i will be sporting my 'otis' all over town. fyi, all the dogs in their line are actually modeled after real life pooches, and they are always on the lookout for new pups to lead double lives as pillows.

we love our jewelry at o'suzannah, so we are forever scoping the scene for beautiful and fun new lines. this time around we found several new possibilities, but we can tell you for sure that lucid new york will be debuting in the shop soon. (check out their site for images!) we're getting a few of anna's classic pieces and several others from her 'charming' collection, which are all sterling silver single charm necklaces. as you know, we love the proud and prickly hedgie here at o'suz, so i was pleased as punch when a good friend gifted me with lucid's hedgie necklace last christmas. however, we know that not everyone is as enamored by the hedgehog as we are, so we also ordered a nice selection of her other charms -- horseshoes, keys, birds, wishbones, and so on.

(image courtesy of the lomographic society)

on the giftie front, we're excited to introduce a few cameras from the lomographic society. they've not only invented some new cameras in the last decade, but they've also brought back some of the most iconic cameras of the 20th century, among them the lomo, holga, and diana. we'll be getting a few of the newer cameras, like the actionsampler, but also the classic diana, an all-plastic camera introduced in the 1960s. the diana is a great experimental camera and produces more lo-fi imagery. all of the lomographic society's cameras come with modern instructions and tips for getting exciting photos. no one would ever call me a photographer, but i do own a few of these babies and have a lot of fun experimenting with the end products.

(image courtesy of third drawer down)

one of the hands down coolest things we got at the show comes from australia's third drawer down. they print contemporary artists' work on household linens: tea towels, handkerchiefs, aprons, pillowcases, and so on. continuing one of the most dominant themes of 20th-century art, these objects encourage a dialogue between art and everyday life, which is a project i personally find extremely compelling. all of their textile projects are editioned works of art -- it's up to you how you use them, whether they're hanging on your oven door or mounted on stretcher bars in your living room. this is an incredible way to bring art into your home and to support contemporary artists. i can't wait to get my hands on a camilla engman tea towel!

these are just a few of the new lines that you'll see in o'suzannah in the coming months -- there are so many more en route, too! stay tuned for the second part of my gift show post, where i'll let you know about some of the new goodies from our old friends. xoxo, jessica.