Sew Low Fabrics - Cambridge, MA

Short Walk in Sommerville, MA

12-12 with Green Door

Pink Labels with Trash Cans

Open Door with Yellow Wall

Madonna Statue with Blue Paint

Lavender Wall at Mexican Restaurant


Irish Products Sign on Brick Red wall

Chop Suey at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

I've always loved this painting: Chop Suey by Edward Hopper. In my college dorm room I had a postcard of the image taped above my desk. Today I had the chance to see it in person. Brighter and larger than I expected, I was surprised how fresh and new the women looked to me despite their familiarity.

Edward Hopper has long been a favorite of mine. Some of his 20th century paintings have legendary status for good reason. (Nighthawks for example.) This is New York Movie, painted in the 1940s. What do you supposed the usherette is thinking about, alone in the dark?

Garment District, Cambridge MA

I'm in Boston visiting my sister Susannah so we hit the local vintage clothing institution Garment District. When Sus busted out her LBD coin purse, we noticed that it perfectly matched the changing room area decor.


Plus, her outfit perfectly coordinated too. Luckily we both had cameras on hand for an impromptu photo shoot.

After the Show

Puppy Love (A recent order)

First Attempt

Be kind, this is my first ever movie (using still images).

Ringbearers

Snack Hound

So far we've sold sixteen of the 'Happy Dog Zipper Cases,' so that's $240 that we'll donate to Seattle Pug Rescue.

As you can see above, the snack hound is still offering the bags for sale, both here and on our website through the end of June. That means there's still time to get one for your favorite dog lover!

Thanks to all of you near (Ballard) and far (Massachsetts) who've supported our cause! We're excited to help the pugsters in need.

Scoop!

That's Ashley helping a customer up there in the newspaper. This article appeared last Saturday on the business section of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.



That's me sewing a custom order in black and white. You can read the text of the article here.

A June Wedding (in Michigan)

Gold Accents

Playground Morning

Though it was a bit damp and dreary this morning, Ashley and I headed up to the neighborhood playground to shoot some pictures. We're working on some fall bags and preparing images for a new website.


Here's an Amy bag that's available in the shop now. It's a good example of an interesting way to combine brown and black in your accessories.

Buttons and Chocolate

I brought my new 1.25" button making equipment along with me to Adams Elementary School last week. It was the annual Arts in Career day, and I was back for the second time talking to the kids about design, handbags, and creativity in the workplace.

Of course, making buttons was the hit of the day. I gave each student a blank template to color, and they helped me with the button pressing process too. I wanted to give them a chance to make their own 'customized accessory.'

(To thank us for our time, the Adams crew gave each speaker a yummy See's Candy truffle. How sweet.)

On Vegan Handbags

Bessie says, "I love Naugahyde!"

Lucky Day

While Otis and I weren’t able to attend the pug gala, my Saturday was filled with surprises. We knew it would be busy with Mother’s Day gift-buying. (Lots of endearing dads visited us with kid(s) in tow asking for H-E-L-P.)

Surprise #1: A visit from a feisty Boston Terrier named Wednesday.
Surprise #2: I was able to sneak out of the store to stop by little John B’s 2nd birthday party.
Surprise #3: Button sale extravaganza.


For a few years I’d heard rumors of a local button sale held in a nondescript brick building, open only by invitation. Luckily, two generous store customers were kind enough to give me the specifics this year, so off I went for an hour or so.



Photos inside the sale were verboten, but I did take these snaps of my haul back at the shop. The buttons for sale are carefully mounted to colored cardboard, and are sorted by material and look. Needless to say I was drooling over the bounty.

The salesperson told me that the shows, which also feature apparel, often have more buttons. Is that possible?



By the end of the day, a customer visiting from Ohio had already chosen a carved wood button from the new loot to top her green and brown Phyllis flap.

Happy Mother's Day!

Circa 1978, from left to right: Daisy the dog, Laura Bee, Susannah B., and 1952 Buick.

Wrinkled Agility, Etc. (Seattle Pug Gala)

The Seattle annual Pug Gala is tomorrow! This pugapalooza is the biggest fundraiser for Seattle Pug Rescue. Featured events will be Pug Agility, Costume Contest, Pug Races, Pug Massage, etc.

To learn more and for directions, click here.

Transformation

This silk skirt was made entirely by hand in the 1920s. While the beautiful embroidery remains intact, portions of the garment have started to come apart.
Our customer brought us this skirt and asked us to transform it into a purse. Ashley worked with her to select accent microsuedes and lining fabric.
Ashley did an incredible job cutting, pinning, and sewing this one of a kind purse.

What a great way to breathe new life into a textile with a mysterious history.

It was a Happy Monday

This cookie jar, spotted in a local antique mall, is such a cheerful guy.

Listen Up! It's a Contest

Hey blog readers! We want to post your pictures of our products in action, and we're willing to bribe you to get said pictures.

Email your pics of Laura Bee Designs goods and we'll enter you into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to our web boutique or retail store. Entry deadline May 31st.

Email your photos with your name and other pertinent info to: laurabeedesigns(at)gmail.com

Trophy, Bliss, and Yelp

I’ve discovered a new addiction. The reviews of local business on Yelp.com have me completely obsessed. Have you visited this site? It features consumer write-ups of all sorts of enterprises. Anyhow, on Sunday night I was surfing around looking for day off/Monday haunts when I stumbled upon Trophy Cupcakes.

Located in the charming but underutilized Wallingford Center, this place was dreamy. Jeff and I shared a Triple Chocolate and a Red Velvet. Rich, moist, as good as the best cake I’ve tasted. Points for charming décor too.

Next on our agenda was Bliss Soaps on Capitol Hill. We used to buy all of our soaps from Phil at Bliss when he had a little cart in Northgate Mall. I just recently rediscovered my Bliss when I learned that he'd moved to a storefront.

These cupcakes are another type of treat - they are bath fizzies topped by bubble bath. I especially love the little handcrafted roses on top of each cake.

Reading all of the Yelp reviews (good and bad) and visiting these two great small businesses got me thinking about why I like certain stores and cafes. What gets me jazzed are those places where you can see passion in the enterprise. Quirky, fun, random passion.

The kind of place where someone has said to themselves, "This is my dream," and has hung their shingle and part of themselves out there to share. It can be scary to put yourself out in the world like that, where you know you'll be judged, compared to others, and nitpicked. The businesses I love do their work with confidence and joy.

Once Upon a Time..

Our old doorway looked like this:

When we acquired a second unit in our building last September, this was the door we inherited from previous years of neglect. The '70s era yellow bottle glass sidelights were particularly unattractive.


Right away Jeff changed the side windows to standard clear. We designed a bright new sign and installed it before Christmas. The windowless door itself was a bigger project.


The strange size of the door opening meant that we couldn't buy a premade door. Lucky for me, I am married to a professional woodworker who makes doors from scratch! Above is a shot that Jeff took in his shop of the door in progress. Many hours of work and many pieces of pretty wood later, Jeff installed our door.



Not only does this door let in more light, but the grain of the wood also sparkles in the sun.



One more time for emphasis: