ribbons for spring

I spent the afternoon yesterday updating my website to include 7 new ribbons for spring. It is always somewhat arduous to do and I feel like shouting from the rooftops when I finally mange to pull off a new look or add new items. For those of you who don't know me, I have a sort of crazy determination to do everything -- except change the oil, mow the grass, and vacuum the house -- for myself. Not knowing any HTML, keeping a website is a tough proposition! It means stretching the tiny confines of the stiff little templates that come with the website admin package. I wish it were as easy as blogging!

So here are the new ribbons I added. I hope to add projects with them soon. Please comment if you enjoy them!

silverware rollup project

Stephanie Goddard has written an article detailing how to make a beautiful silverware rollup, featuring my Cutlery ribbon, in the current issue of Creative Machine Embroidery Magazine. Thanks, Steph! It is beautiful!

Holiday offerings

I have recently decided to begin carrying a far wider selection of LFN Artist's Ribbons on my website once again; I have missed the everyday commerce since I joined LFN Textiles Ribbons with Renaissance Ribbons, so I will once again handle retail orders from my studio. I am adding ribbons gradually, by spring hoping to be up & running fully. There are currently 46 designs available.

You can check there now for the full range of LFN holiday designs (and be sure to find related giftwrap and tea towels at Crate & Barrel!). I also have available the wonderful Auricula, and some of the fabulous Suzani ribbons I have written about here.

a Fun pairing

One of the best parts of getting new ribbons in, is the fun I get out of matching them to other fabric designs. This Auricula ribbon, for Renaissance Ribbons, looks quite wonderful with the new Hellebore pattern from Funquilts, part of their Wild Bunch collection for RJR Fabrics. Bill Kerr & Weeks Ringle, the team behind Funquilts, have been wonderful professional friends for a long time and I am delighted to share this little "collaborative" pincushion with them.

The ribbon is available at fine independent fabric stores nationwide, or at several online stores -- please use the links on my sidebars.

more auriculas

You can see from the last post how much I am still working with the wild and beautiful auricula flower motif. The towel coming out for Crate & barrel takes the flower more realistically (and you might remember the allover jacquard Auricula towel form the spring). We are also working on Auriculas for the fall Renaissance Ribbon line, though we are just now introducing the pattern at the Markets. So I anticipate both imminently!

fall flowers

I visited Crate & Barrel offices last week with a new portfolio of LFN designs -- I always love working with the buyers there. They are highly creative people and it is a privilege that they use my designs! In turn I was given some samples of new LFN designs which have just come out on the market:

Vegetables embroidered towel (it also comes in brown)
Arbor embroidered towel
Quinlan printed apron, potholder & mitt
Teapot embroidered towel
Stones pillows (there are 2 versions, the other is red chenille)
(You can find the Stones table cloth & napkins from this summer's line, on sale now)
Silverware towel (based on my Cutlery ribbon and on sale now!)
and the Tomato towel which I wrote about in my last post.

Here's the Auricula towel: such beautiful embroidery! The little bees are exquisitely detailed! But I am a bit ahead of myself here, as it is not online yet....

Midsummer Tomatoes

Another cycle feels complete. Before I have picked a single red tomato from my garden, Crate & Barrel has brought out a new towel printed with my tomato design. This is based on my wonderful Tomato ribbon (the very first ribbon I designed!), which in its turn was based on the many tomato tapestries I have woven over the years. I love all of the products I design with Crate & Barrel (the whole process is so very much fun!) but this one feels special to me.