Winter Whirl Collection

It's late August, it must be time for Christmas! I'm so happy to announce the arrival of my Winter Whirl tabletop and giftwrap collection. This design is a contemporary take on a traditional holiday, available in plates, napkins, tissue, guest towels and more. All coming to an upscale store near you, and also available for purchase here.

MoMA Card and Ornaments

I am delighted to announce that my Holiday card for the Museum of Modern Art in New York is now available! I am honored to be a part of their card program. The award-winning MoMA holiday card program has been in existence for more than a half century. Initially, the Museum invited artists whose work was represented in the collection to create original designs, including Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, and Andy Warhol. They have expanded the program over the years to include images from MoMA's permanent collection as well as new designs by talented contemporary graphic artists, illustrators, and designers. In addition to my boxed Multicolored Snowflake, the museum has also made felt ornaments out of the design.

Flea Market Find #2: I Know You're Jealous...

A commemorative plate of the New Jersey Turnpike! Yes! Construction of the 122-mile-long Turnpike took 2 years, from 1950 to 1952. Rest stops include: Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, Thomas Edison and Alexander Hamilton. Simon and Garfunkel referenced it in the song, "America", Harold and Kumar speak of the Turnpike, and both Al Gore and Bruce Springsteen have traveled its byways. You yourself may one day "enjoy" a ride on one of the most heavily traveled highways in the U.S.

Autumn already!

I'm not ready for Autumn yet, but I am excited to see these samples which arrived in the mail today. My Autumn Leaves garden flags available at a Lowe's near you!

Garlic Scapes

Ok so I bought these at the farm market out of curiosity. Garlic scapes, apparently only available for a few weeks each year, are the stem from which the seed head of the bulb is formed. The scape grows, becoming loopy and floppy and delicious to eat. People use them in dips, pasta, soup, salads, you name it. The ones I bought here proved too tough to eat, sadly --notice how straight the stems are... and tough, woody :-(. But I did make a pesto out of the tenderest of them, with pine nuts, olive oil, parm and a few basil leaves, these scapes added the mildest and freshest garlic flavor I've ever had.

Kutztown Folk Festival

Every year, we go to this Pennsylvania Dutch Festival in Kutztown, PA. It's not your normal summerfestival: it features traditional crafts, German Orators, Cloggers and a small farm engine demonstration tent. Here are some suggestions of cool things to do when you are there:

Have a Hickory Smoked Sausage and a Homemade Root Beer...

Eat some of the giant roast Ox (thankfully out of the picture)

Check out the staggering number of quilts in the Quilt Barn...

Try your hand at Wheat Weaving....

Or have your photo taken with this dude. What a blast!

Creative Problem Solving

I'm a firm believer in the power of the imagination. Every problem has a solution, although it may not be apparent at first. Sometimes you have to really stretch your mind to see something in a different way. Take for example, a pig -- this view of the pig is ordinary. But what happens when you start to think about it from different angles?