rostitchery

ridiculous chocolate

today i want to share with you the story of a family that i know and love.  mandy is a homeschooling friend of mine who lives with her husband and three children just outside of nashville.  i’ve written about their son before:  his name is hunter, who little over a year ago was diagnosed with leukemia.

part of the process of bringing hunter to healing was that his very little sister ronin became his bone marrow donor.  this tiny child courageously and selflessly committed to an act which many people avoid, but which saved her brother’s life.

meanwhile, during this ordeal, the baby, drayken, has still needed a mother, still needed a father, and still needed someone to keep him from climbing chairs and kitchen cabinets on his quest for the amazing treats his mother makes for the family.

which brings me to ridiculous chocolate.  this is the company that supports this young family.  and the chocolate is utterly, ridiculously, fabulous.  it also reflects their belief that treats can be healthy and wholesome, while still being TREATS.

 

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 Raw Organic Vegan Diabetic Chocolate, so good it's Ridiculous!

You may be asking yourself, how can anything this natural be so healthy and taste so good? We're glad you asked!

Michael and Mandy Jones have a deep passion for healthy, great tasting sweets. After many trial batches, we created what we believe to be a perfect blend of healthy, delicious chocolate. We use only organic and raw ingredients to create this ridiculous treat.

What makes our chocolate so unique?

Well, it's raw (meaning not cooked or heated above 105 degrees and therefore the ingredients all maintain their healthy and lovely beneficial properties), organic (which means the ingredients were grown without using chemicals and pesticides), low glycemic (meaning the sweetener we use, agave nectar, will not make one's blood sugar spike... we have many diabetic customers who say that our product is safe for their diets), and vegan (meaning we don't use any animal products).  As a matter of fact, our product only has three ingredients.  It's simple.  It's delicious. It's "green". And it's good for you!

Our chocolate is sold in ice cream containers and that is appropriate as it must remain in the freezer at all times.  But never fear... no thawing is necessary.  The product is designed and intended to be eaten directly from the freezer.  Just try not to eat it all at once!

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ridiculous chocolate has a “green chocolate” commitment, which is reflected in their eco-friendly shipping policy:  everything they send you can either be eaten, reused, recycled, or is 100% biodegradable.  so readers that are not in the middle TN area, you can have your ridiculous chocolate too!

if you are in middle TN, you can purchase ridiculous chocolate at the roasterie in murfreesboro, TN.  you can contact them directly by email at [email protected] or by calling 615-691-2899 or 615-642-7956.  they will have ridiculous chocolates at a few more locations in the area soon, including the nashville farmers market.  please, friend them on facebook.

then stop by hunter’s page and wish him the well on this special day:  today, hunter is celebrating his re-birthday.  this is the day one year ago when he received his sister’s generous gift and began the enormous task of becoming whole again.  he’s not completely there yet, but he’s on his way, and his journey has inspired a whole league of people thru his mother’s telling of their story.  HAPPY RE-BIRTHDAY, HUNTER!  i wish you hearts and stars and rainbows and ninjas and astronauts and legos and the One thru whom all good things are made possible.

 

*how about a little something extra for this family:  do you know an investor who might be interested in getting involved with ridiculous chocolate?  how about a local merchant that might want to add ridiculous chocolate to their offerings?  you know, even access to a larger commercial kitchen would be a huge help.  it’s the time of year when people are in a giving mood—let’s put our heads together and see how we can give ridiculous chocolate a boost!

who are the people in your neighborhood?

there are a lot of local and regional vendors i still want to tell you about, and a lot of great events coming up, but i've heard from several readers who are getting discouraged because the holidays are quickly upon us, and things are tight all around--and let's face it, whether you do it yourself or buy it from someone else, handmade ain't cheap.

so today i want to share with you some thoughts about what “buy local, buy handmade” can do for you.  and it has nothing to do with buying presents.

when you take your car in for service to the local auto shop down the street--you know, the one that is in an old warehouse and was started by the father of the man who runs it now--you're putting your money into the hands of someone who lives where you live, shops where you shop, sends his kids to the same schools you send your kids to.  that money ends up helping your neighborhood stay healthy and vibrant and attractive to live in.

the same goes for every little, independent, locally-owned and operated business in your town.  the local hair salon, run by the single mother who is raising two smart, funny, well-behaved kids and keeping them on the right track--the local garden center where you get your flowers and bulbs in the spring because they know their stuff and they know your name, and they want to make sure you leave happy and tell all your friends --the woman who cleans your house, the kid that cuts your grass--these people need you, and you need them too.

you need them to buy candy bars and raffle tickets from the PTA at your kid's school.  you need them to pay sales taxes in your neighborhood so your town can hire enough fire fighters.  you need them to eat at the local diner and to have enough cash to tip the server well for refilling their coffee cups over and over while they monopolize the table for two hours entertaining out-of-town guests.

you need them to keep that money right there, in your neighborhood and community--not send half (or more) of it off to big-box retailer’s expensive corporate offices in east somewhere-you-don't-live.

because the powers-that-be at big-box retailer’s corporate office in east somewhere-you-don't-live don’t care about your kid's PTA, they don’t care about your fire department, they don’t care about that waitress who is saving every dime so she can start her own sewing and alteration business down the street.

they don't know your name and they don't give half a flip whether or not your neighborhood is clean or safe or whether there are still even any jobs there.  they don't care.

but your local merchants and service provides do.  they want to build a relationship with you, and you need to build these relationships, because these people are raising your children's’ peers, they are making decisions about your town’s development, and they will show up at your doorstep with a meal or a tool box when your whole town is under 8 feet of water.

so stop feeling bad about whether you make all your christmas presents, or whether you are cleaning your own home, or which percentage group you belong to.  YOU have the power to be a job creator, right where you are, and YOU can do this all year long.

 

*later today i'll start slinging more nashville/middle TN vendors, crafters, and arts events your way! i also have a surprise announcement coming tomorrow. :)

david f. huestess and follow the spiral studios

continuing my series on “buy local, buy handmade”, today i’m featuring a friend who continues to evolve and surprise me!  david huestess is a clay and fiber artist in nashville who makes ornamental objects using clay, bead work, holga photography, glass and almost any textile medium.

real friend connection:  david and i go way back.  we first met about 25 years ago, when both of us were still dancers and rehearsing a show that never went up.  LOL  we crossed paths again about 10 years later when we were teaching artists for the tennessee performing arts center education department, and not long after that, david began his journey away from the stage and into the world of creating with his hands. 

david has opened a studio called follow the spiral, which he describes as follows.

 

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I studied clay and textile arts at the Appalcahian Center for Craftes and graduated with a BFA in 1995. I started directing Sarratt Art Studios at Vanderbilt University 8 years ago and this gave me the opportunity to learn more about photography, glass, bead work etc. I've slowly begun to appreciate the meditative state that I achieve when working with materials, especially tiny, colorful beads. Since I also study yoga, I enjoy making connections between my practices. In the studio I enjoy making objects for people to use in their homes and daily lives and spending time to explore the expressive nature of the materials that I have come to know and appreciate.

I started Follow the Spiral Studios to offer workshops led by artists that focus on meditation and spirituality through art making, to promote my own art work, and to network with others who make the connection between art and spirituality.

Currently, I am working on reliquaries and vessels that employ the use of off the loom bead weaving techniques. Some pieces are pretty straight forward bead work and others will incorporate other mediums as well. I'm spending most of 2011 and 2012 developing these peices and they will be on display in summer 2012 at the Sarratt Gallery. My sculptural work is an expression of my interests in religious artifacts, nature, and the human figure.

For December, I'm making functional pottery and printing some photos from my Holga camera series to sell at the Sarratt Holiday Arts Festival. This year marks the 21st birthday for the event held in the Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt. The show is open daily from 11 am - 7 pm December 1 through 10 and open 11 am - 5 pm on Sunday December 11. The show features wonderfully handcrafted items from 20 artisans in the middle Tennessee region. Our goal is to make unique and affordable gifts, prices may begin as low as $8.00, and to showcase or show off some of the finer work that we explore. Find Sarratt Art Studios on fb for more information and for special events throughout the week.

I can be contacted by email - [email protected]
or
[email protected]

and by phone
Sarratt Art Studios - 615.343.0491

 

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*buy local, buy handmade buyer hack:  arts festivals at colleges and universities are one of the best places to find unusual work at a great price!  the student market is notoriously broke so the vendors adjust their prices accordingly.  however, if you find an artist whose work you really like, feel free to offer a little extra as a sign of your admiration.  :)

natural materials nativity wreath

in summer, the west side of our house is covered in vines.  i don't know what type they are.  they are pretty but irritating and they are probably destroying our house. 

 

in the fall, they start to wither like most green things do, so we pull them off the side of the house and leave them on the ground to dry.

when they seem dry enough but are still pliable, we start making wreaths.  there is no formula to this--we just grab vines and start winding.  when a wreath looks big enough or full enough, we stop. 

 

we started making this year's wreaths yesterday and for some reason, when i finished the first one, it looked like a place to me.  i can't explain that.  it just did.

so i went to our nature box--the one where we dump all the random but not special stuff we find when we're out on walks or playing in the backyard--and i pulled out a few pieces:  a tall pine cone, a short round one, a little curl of bark--a few pine needles and a tiny nut from a tree where our homeschool group meets--and i hot glued it all to the wreath.  i added a leaf to the top and it was complete.

 

mary, joseph, and baby jesus in a manger:

 

the star is one perfect leaf that somehow made its way to the top of the leaf pile that ella was raking for jumping-into purposes.  i ironed it gently so it was flat and dry, then i pressed it between two pieces of waxed paper to preserve it (the wax paper isn't permanent--it is just a wax delivery system).  i'm going to try to find some glycerine, which i think makes a better preservative--the leaf stays supple and doesn't end up crumbling.

 

*ella LOVES collecting items from nature!  what kinds of projects would you do with all this stuff?

a little fixer upper, totally rejected

here’s a gift project that takes just a quarter yard of fabric and can be completed in an hour.

my friend jen’s little girl has a dolly that she calls baby.  baby was getting ragged, so jen asked me to make her a little cover up.  but as all mothers know, you can’t just send a dolly away for fittings without completely wrecking the harmony of the home.  so jen got an identical dolly for me to use to make the cover up.

 

using a piece of pink fleece and a scrap of lace, i made a cover up that i thought was adorable and in keeping with the spirit of baby.

 

jen’s little girl is having nothing to do with it.  LOL  which just goes to prove that kids love their babies warts and all—just like mamas do.

it was a very simple outfit and the next time i make one i’ll take pictures to show you.  in the meantime, the basics of the outfit are just 7 steps:

1. cut a rectangle that is long enough to go from wrist to wrist, and wide enough to go from under the arm in front to under the arm in back.
2. cut a slit up the back and a hole for the head.
3. add elastic to the wrists, then sew the sleeve underarms.
4. cut a body rectangle that reaches from the bottom of the bodice to just past the foot—and wider than the circumference of the doll (the exact amount wider depends on the fabric—if it is thick make it less wide, if it is light, make it more wide).
5. gather the body rectangle to the opening of the bodice, leaving a bit in back ungathered to allow for closure.
6. add closure (i used hook-and-loop tape cut into small pieces)
7. add embellishment as desired.

 

 

 

*buy local, buy handmade buyers hack:  most of us want and/or need to make some of our gifts, so i encourage you to think about what you want to make and get started NOW.  remember the rules:  choose projects that you can start and finish the same day, and as much as possible using only items you already have on hand.  don’t make it hard on yourself.  resentment does not promote good holiday spirits.  :)

angel funk of stumbles & stitches

isn't that little fairy beautiful?  you know you want her.  she and others like her are available this weekend at the 15th annual elves faire, hosted by linden waldorf school, 3201 hillsboro pike, nashville, TN, 37215.  the faire is tomorrow, 5 november, 10am-4pm. there will be games, food, storytelling and music, but the main reason i'm telling you about it is the vendors, specifically my sweet friend angel funk, who will be selling her gorgeous hand-crafted fairy dolls, playmats, felted stones, christmas ornaments, felted acorns, gnome homes and a lot more!

real friend connection:  angel is an east nashville neighbor who i met when i was pregnant with ella--her sister was our childbirth educator, and angel did my prenatal massage.  since then, angel has become a mother of two precious boys and has blossomed into a fabulous felt artist and is the co-author of one of my favorite blogs, stumbles & stitches (i'll write about her blog partner and her blog later in this series).

here is a sample of some of the other items angel will have available at the elves' faire this weekend:

 

 

 

 

angel is available for custom orders, and will move all unsold items plus some new things into a soon to be opened etsy shop this weekend!  you can contact her through the blog email address. [email protected]

 

here are the details on the elves' faire from the linden waldorf school facebook event page:

 

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Come be part of the magic as Linden Waldorf School hosts its 15th annual Elves’ Faire Saturday, November 5, 2011 from 10 AM to 4 PM. This enchanting festival features more fun than ever for the whole family. General admission is $5. Children under 3 are free. Crafts and games are ticketed. Most are $2 to $3 each.

NOTE:  You can see Angel and the rest of the Artisan Village for free. They are right before admissions...but its worth it to see everything else as well!!

Outdoor activities will include archery, jousting, Jacob's ladder, jumprope winding, face painting and a magical garden for the youngest visitors. Crafts include trusted favorites like woven wands and beeswax candle rolling and dipping alongside new crafts such as origami, silk knot dolls, parachute toys and wood spinning tops.

Entertainment features puppet shows and storytelling, plus an expanded line up of traditional music and dance performances on an outdoor stage. Shop for handcrafted items in the Elves' Den boutique and expanded artisan vendor area as your little one shops for handmade toys and gifts in the children-only Angel Room. Watch for Pockets the Elf who strolls the grounds passing out small treasures to the children.

Enjoy Bongo Java coffee, homemade baked goods, fresh juice and purified water throughout the day. The lunch menu features a choice of smoked chicken or black beans with rice, fresh greens and butternut squash soup, all lovingly made with organic and primarily local ingredients. The event will be virtually trash free, with recycling and composting receptacles available throughout the site.

For more information call 615-354-0270 or visit www.LindenWaldorf.org. The Elves' Faire was a 2009 Nashville Scene Critics Pick.

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*buy local, buy handmade buyer hack:  faires like this one have a huge fan following and the vendors often sell out quickly.  go early and check out the booths as soon as you can to ensure you get your choice of items before they are gone!

stick it in your window

stacye wilson is the creative genius behind stick it in your window, an etsy store where stayce sells her one-of-a-kind glass suncatchers. 

real friend connection:  stayce is a neighbor, but we originally met in the melting pot that is facebook.  stayce is one of those people who, when you read her comments to other friends, you just WANT to be friends with her too so you can be in the cool kids group.  i am the proud owner of one of stacye's beautiful suncatchers (thank you, stacye!), and if it weren't for the fact that i like to open the windows from time to time, i'd just have her come over and do up all the windows in the house. 

 

stacye is also the director of volunteers for magdalene and thistle farms, both of which i'll write more about later in this series.

 

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“Hello from Nashville's East Side, a vibrant community where art is absolutely everywhere! I specialize in making happy, delicious, one of a kind, sun catchers from found, salvaged, broken, and glass items. Art upcycled! My pieces hang in some of the most beautiful windows in this historical area and beyond.
I do mostly special orders for a wide variety of gift giving occasions. Let's talk about what your personalized piece might look like.

“Facebookers: "Like" me at "Stick it in Your Window" for news, specials, and other fabulousness.

“Improve your view, Stick it in Your Window.”

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*buy local, buy handmade buyer hack:  if you find an artist whose work you like but you don't see exactly what you're looking for, go ahead and ask if he/she can make something just for you!  more often than not, artists and crafters are happy to oblige, as it gives them an opportunity to expand their work and their creativity.  stacye will gladly incorporate your own materials into a custom design, so feel free to bring her those sentimental pieces of jewelry or those little bits of broken nostalgia that you can't bear to just toss into the trash. 

craftville

 

today's featured middle TN maker is a collective of makers called craftville. shannon smith is the director of programs and outreach for craftville, and was the person who first introduced me to the group. 

real friend connection:  shannon was rudi's stage lighting student when she was in high school!  she is also a neighbor and friend, and one really neat person to know.  

after you read up on them here, be sure to visit the craftville blog for a sampling of the fabulous projects and events they offer.  and now, in their own words, please meet craftville!

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Who are these Craftville people? Craftville is a Nashville-based not for profit organization dedicated to nurturing the craftsperson in everyone. Through conversation, encouragement, and education, we provide a nest for Nashvillians to create and share their handmade goods. Our dream is to be the heart of the city's crafting community. Our ultimate goal is to open a physical location to host a creative gymnasium of workshops, studio space open to the public and affordable retail opportunities for local crafters and artisans. Our programs and events are growing by leaps and bounds through out the city! C'mon down to Craftville!

Join us at http://www.craftville.org

Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Craftville/136887959724521

 

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craftville has several upcoming events, so if you are in middle TN you have lots of opportunities to meet the team and find out more about what they do.  the first event is coming up in a couple of weeks, it’s a pop-up shop at porter crossing art market on saturday, 12 november, noon-9pm.  they will have multiple local vendors, DIY craft tutorials, music, food, face painting and more.  drop in and make an autumn wreath using natural elements and recycled materials (suggested donation of $3.00).

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*buy local, buy handmade buyer hack:  start your handmade holiday shopping now!  custom, handmade gifts take time to create, and the really good makers book up fast.

buy local, buy handmade

the blog theme for the month of november is "buy local, buy handmade". keep your money as close to home as possible!  not everybody is a crafter or artisan, but if you have a gift list for the upcoming holiday season, you are ready to play.  for more details, visit "putting my blog where my mouth is."

it's all over but the glitter

right on schedule, ella figured out what she wanted to be for halloween.  she wanted to be a character from one of her favorite shows, because she found a pink wig.

this was going to be great for me, because it meant that i could just run out and buy the costume and be done with it.  we could then spend our time making halloween treats, which we’ve never done before.

then ella discovered that you could just run out and buy the costume, and she was having none of it.  she decided instead that she wanted to be a shooting star.  she gave me a sketch:  her body would be the night sky, her head would be the star, and her cape would be the star’s tail.

 

 

the fabric she wanted for the body didn’t have much stretch, so i made a pattern that was more like a jumpsuit and made a muslin.  which didn’t fit.

 

so i adjusted the pattern and made another muslin.  which didn’t fit.

 

so i adjusted the pattern again and made another muslin.  which didn’t fit.

 

so i adjusted the pattern again and made another muslin.  and it fit.  and there was much rejoicing.

 

 

the jumpsuit pattern was created using wild ginger software’s child’s play patternmaking program.  the reason the first three patterns didn’t fit is because i had not allowed enough ease for the fabric—three times.  it needed much more than i expected because she needed to be able to wear something warm underneath for trick-or-treating.  the pattern is the raglan jumpsuit, back zip, turtleneck (neckline lowered 1/2” all around), 10” ease allowed in chest and hips.

the headpiece is made of what ella calls “foam cord board”, with shimmery organdy spray glued to the front and back.  we left a margin of organdy all around the star to give it some extra dimension.  the lights are a set of battery-operated christmas lights, with the battery pack tucked into a pocket on the back of the jumpsuit.  i just poked holes into the foam cord and stuck the lights in—sure, the cord shows in the back but she can’t see it, so it doesn’t bother her.  :)

the tail is more organdy, attached to a pony tail behind the star.

there was absolutely no stash reduction whatsoever on this project, and i couldn’t care less.  after all, halloween comes but once a year.

 

*tomorrow starts my series on middle TN crafters and artists!  i’m also highlight online crafters and artists too, so if there is someone you want to make sure gets included in the series, let me know!  the more the merrier.

putting my blog where my mouth is

so much for posting every day in september.  LOL

october has been full—and of course, it is two days before halloween and i’m semi-frantically trying to finish ella’s costume.  i’ll post about it when the rush is over.

i’m about to make a partial about face on my stance against holiday crafting.  or rather, i’m about to make that about face on behalf of local and regional crafters and i hope you’ll join me.

the difference it makes when you place your cash into the same hands as the ones that made the thing you’re buying is profound, especially if it is someone from your own town, your own neighborhood, maybe a friend you know in real life.  you establish a relationship of trust, of mutual benefit and support,  which imbues the transaction with meaning well beyond the simple acquisition of goods or services.

my family has experienced this over and over—by purchasing our beef from a farmer we know, whose family has been in our home and with whom we have a relationship.  we have visited the farm where our CSA vegetables were grown, have had our vegetables placed in a box for us by the farmer himself, have carried the box of fresh peppers and eggplants back to our car past the rows and rows of fresh peppers and eggplants still growing on his land.  we have, of course, made many, many gifts, and have delighted in the hours of contemplation on the person we love so much that we are willing to invest hours of work to make something just for them.

so what i’m proposing is that we all stop, as much as possible, offering our hard-earned cash to big-box retailers, stop giving away our precious financial resources for cheap trinkets, and take it all back home, by either creating our own gifts and providing our own events and services or, perhaps better yet, by putting our gift and service dreams in the hands of people who can make them come to life.  i’m proposing that we buy local or regional, or if you must go afield, to consider places like etsy, where crafters and artisans make their goods available to the whole world.

so--for the month of november i’ll be featuring nashville/middle TN crafters and artists, as well as online makers for those outside middle tennessee.  i believe you’ll find someone, or several someones, who can provide the type of handmade craftsmanship that is worthy of your cash and of the recipients of your thoughtfulness.

if you want to be featured in this series, send me a detailed email at [email protected], with information about your product, service, event, etc.  i want to include as many people as possible, so don’t wait--the first week of listings is already full!

 

*please feel free to share your own stories about buying locally, as well as links to artists and craftsmen in your area.  i promise, word gets around, and there is power in numbers.  :)