Fragrant Garden Roses

Good Monday morning. We've had a bit of nice weather this weekend and it has cheered me up immensely!

As a promise to myself, I have been keeping my little heirloom vase full of beautiful flowers. Gosh, it really does do a person some good to have them around.
Starring in this arrangement are some fragrant garden roses (not from my garden---if only). They were a great find at the local Central market here in town. And boy do they smell great.

Usually supermarket (and even wholesale) roses just don't have a fragrance. These however, smell just like you would dream a rose would smell, like a perfume that you want to put on right away.

So for this Monday, I have stopped to smell the roses, and I challenge you to do the same.

Watercolors

After receiving Sarah Midda's South of France: A Sketchbook as a wonderful gift from my pen pal, I did a few little watercolor cards. I love her whimsical style and was inspired by all of the shades of colors and her little sketches of produce.

Hooray for color other than gray.
It has been so mediocre here in Austin the past while.
I'm wanting vibrant shades of summer colors.

New little treasure

I am enjoying this new little gold Seiko watch more than I would have ever imagined. I have a strong draw to watches of all kinds but there is something so ladylike about this one. It was $20 at the Assistance league shop on Burnet road...one of my favorite thirfts in town.

Off for more frilly and romantic ventures ahead.

Heirloom

This year, for Christmas, I received a little flower vase from my grandmother, Viola. The story goes that they had this vase on their family farm in New Sweden, Texas and that it belonged to my grandmother's mother and then her sister, Ethelia. After Ethelia's passing, my grandmother got it.

I have received quite a few little heirlooms from my grandmother and they all mean the world to me. I made a promise to myself to keep it in my studio full of flowers so that I can enjoy my heirloom and the happiness of fresh flowers every week.

We often live such hurried and frantic lives that I want to stop to see and smell the flowers. My little heirloom will help me do just that.

It's design is interesting and in all my antiqueing and estate sale adventures I have never seen a vase like this. Certainly, they don't make them anymore in this design. It is a fluted bowl, that has a lid with holes where you thread the flowers through. It makes flower arranging simple and lovely. I am throuroughly enjoying the results of my gift and my labor.

Thank you Mema.

Penny Kay

Yesterday, I went to brunch and ran errand with my mother, Penny. She wore the sweater that I made her for her birthday this past year. It was a monumental one (I'll let you guess) so I wanted to commemorate it with something that was handmade. It is truly where my knitted with love theory originated, in that I really wanted to give her something that had my love in it.

I couldn't think of anything more appropriate and seeing as she had been eying my sweaters for a long time, she finally had one all her own (although I do on occasion borrow it).

The pattern is one of my tried and true which I am constantly adapting and changing to suit different yarns, proportions and seasons. This is my fourth of this sweater to make and I think that everytime I make another, it's better than the last.

It is loosely based on a pattern idea by Lily Chin. I have never seen the pattern but use her construction method to suit by own body type.

Knitted with Love

A sneak peak into Amon Design Studio for the coming year.

After graciously asked to create a baby hat by my boyfriend's mother, I constructed this little gem. Unfortunetely, I do not have a baby laying around to model the hat but imagine how sweet the little recipient will look in it as it keeps her newborn head warm.

The tag that I hand lettered with the care instructions, also has the saying above. To me, things that are done by hand with patient skill are well worth the effort.

I really do believe that I have given forth my love into this little hat and therefore it will give more warmth and blessing than anything that you could possibly buy in a store.

This mantra carries over to most things in my life.
And I strive everyday to make the choices that support craftsman, artists and farmers. Because to me, the fact that they have cared for, touched and loved what they have done to make the end product, it will in turn, nourish my body, mind and soul during my consumption.

Dreamland

It is cold here now. All I find myself wanting to do bourough like a hybernating animal and wait for spring.

I have dreams and plans for the sunshine, of planting herbs, sun on my shoulders, of outdoor painting. But for now it remains only a dream.

I must be comforted by cups of hot tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Slow roasted meals of animal and earth. Of piles of yarn ready to be knotted and knitted into practical objects made to keep winter's frost off of delicate skin.

And when summer's heat drives near to insanity, I will have dream's and plans for winter. Of hot chocolate by the fire, stews and roasts of knitted hats and scarves.

I must think in the here and now and dream in the there and when and somehow, someway, make them see eye to eye, so that I may forever live in a dream.

2010

I can not believe that another year has already gone by. It is amazing how much faster time goes when you are surrounded by family and friends.

2009 was a memorable year for me. I finally decided that Dallas was not home and moved back to Austin to be closer to my family. Enabling this transition was the opening of Amon Design Studio, a business that is focused on calligraphy but is ever evolving and expanding wherever my mind can take me. I have had the opportunity to be taught by some of the most inspirational and experienced calligraphers of the time. People have welcomed me into their homes and lives to create heirloom pieces that mark a special occasion. 2009 taught me about event planning and floral design...who would have known? And the kicker is that I love them both! I do miss the activity of creating arrangements for beautiful homes in Dallas but for now my home will have to do.
The last few weeks of 2009 brought opportunity knocking on my door again as I began cooking dinners for a family in Westlake. Anyone who knows me, knows my passion for food so I was more than eager to begin. They embody the same food philosophy as I, so I am able to create fresh and ethical meals to nourish their bodies and support local agriculture.


As fulfilling as 2009 turned out to be for me, I look forward to and welcome 2010. I am pleased with my life and my career is headed, I am content and moving forward to my goals peacefully. This year I have no resolutions. It is kind of a freeing thought.