Flower Field Trip

With snow in the forecast yet, those of us in the Northern hemisphere are longing for the beauty and warmth of Spring.

Since we're not getting it this week, I thought we'd take a virtual Flower Field Trip.

I missed the Philadelphia Flower Show so instead, I'm taking you to the Garment District of NYC to the home of M & S Schmalberg.

This field trip is courtesy of Allie Aller who took us there in April of 2011...

We were introduced to the owner Warren Brand and his son, Adam, who took us on full tour of the flower-making operations.

The company is fourth-generation,  family-owned and it shows in the personal, warm service that we received. 

I can see why Allie had been working with them for the past few years.  On this trip, she brought Warren a copy of her first book which she autographed and left with him...

Here's how it works.  You can choose fabric from their huge selection of silks, velvets, organzas, etc... or you can provide your own fabric.

Then a flower type and size is chosen from the hundreds of dies that are available...

Here are some of the smallest options that are available...



The dies are then placed on top of many layers of the fabric and cut out by using a large press...



Once the petals are cut out...

They head to another machine where they are put into a mold and pressed into shape...

After shaping, they head to the folks who assemble the petals into finished flowers...

What a job title...Flower Maker.



The flowers are all hung by their stems upside down on wire until the glue dries...

They are the prettiest rows ever.

The flowers are then placed in boxes to either be shipped out...

Or to be placed on the shelves...

Where beautiful people like Cathy Kizerian can shop to their heart's content...

We all had fun gathering flowers and planning our "gardens".  Allie uses hers in the quilts she makes and the classes she teaches...

If this all sounds like too much fun...you're in luck.  Allie will be teaching a class as part of the Quilt Alliance's Quilters Take Manhattan Event called Composite Flower Motifs at The City Quilter in NYC on Friday, September 19 from 1:00pm-4:00pm which includes a field trip to M & S Schmalberg.

Allie will also be participating in a Quilters Design Mash-up at the Event where, in an iron-chef-style smack down, designers will have fabrics thrown at them and only one hour to design a quilt top on a design wall.  I would LOVE to see that.  

If you can't make it to NYC for the Quilt Alliance event or to visit Schmalberg in person, you can always send them an email or call with special requests.

If you enjoy Allie and her work, her second book, Quilting: Just a Little Bit Crazy is coming out in May, details are here...AND she's on QNNTV teaching 3-D Fower Embellishments...details here.  

I hope you enjoyed my flower field trip today and that it gives you a bright start to your weekend.  

Happy day.

A Special Shopping Trip

It's not uncommon for people to travel to New York to go shopping for a wedding dress, for an engagement ring or for other special occasions.

Me? I happen to go there to look for the perfect sewing trim for a special piece of needlework.

Luckily, I live 3 1/2 hours by bus from NYC and its Garment District.

So yesterday, my friend Helen and I traveled to New York to find just the right ribbon to help me frame Audrey.

When I first pieced the block that became Breakfast at Tiffany's, it was years ago and I was just starting to crazy quilt.

At the time, I had no idea that this block would become the base for a chandelier, lace stumpwork flowers, a butterfly and for Audrey herself. I made the mistake of not giving myself enough of a seam allowance around the edge of my piecing...

I have a dream of framing this piece in a shadowbox...with the shadowbox "sides" being made of mirror.

My hope is that the mirror will reflect the light and will highlight the three-dimensionality of the needlework...

I can't put the mirror directly onto the edge of the embroidery or the frame will overshadow the stitched area...so I set out to New York to find a wide ribbon I could add around the edge of the work to extend it.

Convinced I would have lots of choices, we went to Mokuba first.

The only ribbon I found there that might work was this velvet...

I left Mokuba liking it, but not sure if it was the right thing...

Next stop was Tinsel Trading...

Tinsel Trading is a feast for the senses selling both contemporary and vintage millinery, ribbons, trims and other fripperies.

It just seems to get better and better there. I love it all but I'm particularly attracted to their special area of expertise, vintage metal ribbons...

Metal trims....

Metal fabrics...

And metal threads.

Most of the items were manufactured in France in the 1930s and are not being made anymore. You can read the history of this family-owned store here.

I looked around for a while by myself, seeking something I might use to extend my Audrey block...

And I didn't see anything so I enlisted the help of Linda Ashton who has been working at Tinsel Trading for as long as I can remember .

Linda is an artist and a milliner.

As President of the Millinery Guild of New York, she was raving about the show, Hats: An Anthology by Steven Jones, at The Bard Graduate Center. I'll have to travel back to see the show before it ends on April 15, 2012.

Anyway, Linda found this vintage row of chevron silver ribbon. It had enough of a textural interest that it just might work...

And we liked it. It seems to unify the silver/mirror frame.

Today, I brought out both to compare and I think I need to sleep on it.

I like the velvet...and I like the silver...but I'm thinking I might need a combination of the two...or that I should cover a mat in the same velvet fabric I used in the piece and edge the inside of the mat with a silver trim...sheesh...so many decisions.

I'll think about it for the next few days. Regardless, it was a grand time in New York with my friend Helen...and what's not to love about Tinsel Trading?

It should be on your "Must See" list when you go to New York.

Having said that, it's especially fortunate to be able to go there when there is something specific that you're shopping for...

And they still have lots of those vintage sparklies I mentioned a few months ago...

Happy Weekend everyone!

Treasures Found

I got up at 4:30am to ride the Megabus to NYC...

The morning was rainy and foggy and the bus driver, Yvette, informed us that she was sick, had spent most of yesterday in the E.R., and had been driving for 12 hours overnight without any sleep...What?! Not what you want to hear from someone who will be driving you the 3.5 hours to New York...

So I made it a point to sit up front. And Yvette became my new best friend...I was going to keep that woman awake no matter what. At one point, as I asked her if she wanted another Red Bull, she gave me a sly look and asked, "What? You're worried about me, aren't you?"

Uh. Yea-uh...

Luckily, I made it to New York without dying, met Shirlee who took the train down from Massachusetts and we were off.

Now. You're going to be really mad at me. But I just have to face the music and get it over with. I only took ONE picture.

Okkkkkkkk...I know.

I hear your pain.

I know you don't like to hear excuses either but since it's my blog I just have to write them to make me feel better.

It was raining. A grey day makes the light terrible. I didn't have my good camera. I have to be in the right mood to want to photojournal my day. I like to photojournal my day when I'm alone (so I can take my time). Or, I like to photojournal when I'm in a large group (then no one knows I'm missing). It's hard to haul bags, hang with Shirlee, manage an umbrella and try to think about photos. So...I dropped the photos.

But I do go often so I promise one day to be better at pictures.

I do want you to understand what it feels like for two needle friends to be let loose in the Garment district of New York.

So here's the best analogy I could come up with...it's the 8-year and 5-year old British Youtube stars, Sophia Grace and Rosie on a shopping spree courtesy of Ellen Degeneres and their singing idol, Nicki Minaj:

Now. You know how we felt.

I find it's easier to go shopping with a few specific projects in mind. So, Shirlee was looking for fabrics, sequins and flowers for her current project (you can see here) and I was looking for tiny beads, some gold ribbons, and other "goodies".

We hit Schmalberg's flowers where Shirlee placed a flower petal order, then we hit Mood, Elegant Fabrics, and Lace Star. I had never been to Lace Star -- the place is floor to ceiling with exquisite, expensive laces. I wasn't in the market for lace but I loved finding out what was available.

I'm in a bit of a netting and bobbinet phase of my life and would like to explore this material more so I bought some gold and silver silk tulle and peach cotton bobbinet at Mood...

And I have a Heart of Gold project I'm starting when I'm finished with Audrey so I picked up these gold ribbons at Mokuba...

We hit Joyce trim and a few of the bead stores recommended by Anonymous (I don't know how you're supposed to thank Anonymous but thank you!) We didn't eat until around 2pm (we forgot) and when we were done there, we headed over to Tinsel Trading as our last stop of the day....

And....

We hit the mother lode!

Marcia, the owner had just bought out the entire stock from another store and old boxes were piled all over the floors and tables. They had just brought it in. No one had yet gone through it. No one had even gotten to look at it.

Shirlee, quick to sniff out the best loot, asked, "Is this for sale?"

The clerk answered, "Not yet. We haven't gone through it yet, we just..."

Then Marcia walked out, interrupting her by saying, "Sure, it's for sale!"

OMG! Now you know why we felt like Sophia Grace and Rosie!

See all those boxes piled on the table? There were at least a hundred to look into...Most of the dust-covered, age-rotten boxes contained sparkly little cabochons and sew-ons wrapped in these paper packages...

We opened and squealed and hunted and found!!! It was glorious! Both of us use these sparkly bits in our work so it was a true goldmine for us.

If you live nearby or can plan a trip to Tinsel Trading, you should go soon.

But for those of you who can't...And because I feel so terrible that I didn't take any pictures...

I'm having a giveaway.

One shell full of New York treasures to one of the friends who comments on this post. Just leave a comment by the time I wake up on Tuesday morning. About 6am EST. I'll choose a winner and let you know who it is in my Tuesday post.

And if you want to see more enthusiasm and unbridled joy, watch these clips of Sophia Grace and Rosie's appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show:

All the treasures in the world aren't worth as much.

If they could only bottle and sell that!

Happy weekend everyone!

NYC = Pizza + Candy + Rock Climbing + Salted Pretzel = Happy Jack

Jack and I went to New York on Monday together with our family friend Colleen. I looked up things to do with teens in NYC since Jack and I have done most of the biggies and I stumbled upon Scott's Pizza tours. Pizza is Jack's favorite food so I went for it.

The tour started in Little Italy, a three block area in NYC right next to Chinatown and Greenwich Village. At first I was disappointed that our tour guide wasn't the famous "Scott" himself...

But I got over that within the first two minutes of meeting our passionate, spirited and quirky pizza tour guide.

Right off the bat she asked the kids what their pizza profiles were...Colleen had a quizzical look and claimed that she had never thought about that before...Jack spouted out..."Thin crust, very little sauce, and LOTS of cheese." And our quirky tour guide responded, "Well Jack. Have I got the pie for YOU!" And we were off...

We learned many obscure factoids about pizza, its origins and its ingredients. Pizza originated in Naples, Italy and the very first pizzeria in the United States was opened in 1905 in Little Italy in NYC...

And we were going to go there, but first we had to investigate the ingredients. We went to the oldest Italian cheese store in the United States, Alleva, where fresh mozzarella is made every day.

Evidently mozzarella is made by separating the curd and whey from milk. Mozzarella that is fresh doesn't keep very long and has to be used within two days. That's why most pizza is not made with fresh mozzarella.

I cannot wait to go back to this deli...There was one amazing cheese after another and the place smelled like heaven.

The kids tasted the fresh mozzarella...it had no salt or additional flavors...it was just the curd.

Let's just say that they really didn't like it at all...

But Colleen is too polite to make gagging noises.

We tasted our first slice of the three on the tour at Lombardi's...the very first pizzeria in the United States.

It was delicious and their secret ingredient is fresh mozzarella, uncooked crushed tomatoes and...the oven.

The oven is very hot (like a few thousand degrees F) and the pizza baker has to wear gloves and goggles and continuously rotate the pizza with his paddle to allow the crust to bake evenly. It only takes 2.5 minutes for a pizza to cook.

The result is a pizza crust that is so thin (about 1/8") and crisp that it doesn't interfere with the tomato and cheese flavors at all. Delicious.

Next we had a typical New York style street slice at Joe's and then Jack's favorite was served up at John's Pizzeria in Greenwich Village.

Thin crust, lots of cheese and a little bit of sauce...And the sauce was on top of the cheese.

After the tour, we headed to Dylan's Candy Bar. Jack wants to go there every trip to NYC. So I ask, "Jack. Why is it you like Dylan's so much? I think it's just a lot of overpriced candy...."

And he said, "Mom. I'm a kid. It's a candy shop. What's not to like?"

Jack loves extremely sour candy and one of his favorite brands is Warheads. They're a little hard to find but Dylan's has a whole wall full of Warheads so Jack feels the need to replenish his supply when he goes there.

You don't get much sweeter than Colleen and she bought her two brothers each a box of candy. Those two boxes cost $8.71...like I said...overpriced.

But with floor to ceiling candy...and a candy stairway. They just love it so I think I'll stop fighting it.

Next we headed to Central Park to cool off. It was 95 degrees F in the city and I think the temperature must have dropped 10 degrees when we got to the park. All those huge century-old trees provide the best shade.

I think Jack could spend all day climbing on the big rocks in Central Park. He loves that place. Next time we go for the day we're going to spend the entire day there. I don't think we've ever seen the whole thing...it's so big...643 acres.

The other thing Jack has to do when he goes to New York is eat a pretzel from a street vendor...completely covered in salt. That's the way he likes it.

We ended the day window shopping on 5th Ave before getting back on the bus. Phew.

When I got back home, it was so nice to read all of your comments about my Sendai block. Thank you.

I'm putting together Japanese fabric packs for sale to benefit Sendai and hope to post them soon. It's the first time I'll be listing something on Etsy so I'm trying to figure that out. All money will be sent to Japan to help the earthquake victims.

Stay tuned.

Oh...and I almost forgot...

For all you Harry Potter fans...I thought you might enjoy seeing the movie billboard in Times Square for the final movie...

Jack's going at midnight tomorrow with my sister for opening night. How about you?