more from Renate Müller- It's all in the details

Check out these (not so great) images I took at the Renate Müller show at R20th Century on my Ipod. I wish I had brought my good camera so you could see the details, stitches, and materiality in these... but when the book I ordered arrives on my door step (R20th Century in printing a book of Renate's work as we speak) I'll be sure to post about it- with better images... until then:

and look who came home with me:

Renate Müller

One of the handful of reasons I went to New York over the weekend was to see the Renate Müller's Show at R20th Century. I'd been watching her work for the last few years after Andy posted about her toys. A month ago the New York Times ran an article which detailed her history, making me fall in love with her work all over again and compelling me to buy a ticket to NYC to see her show.

The story wove a tale too good to be true complete with being raised in a family of toy makers and attending a toy makers high school. She designed many of her patterns in the mid 1960's only to be transferred out of the toy makers department in 1976, loosing proximity and control of their production in the West German Toy Collective where she'd worked. "The toy factory collective continued to produce Müller’s work without her input (and without compensating her). When the Berlin Wall fell, the toy collective shut down, and in 1991 she bought her designs back. The metal forms she uses today, the sewing machines and cutters in her studio, the cardboard patterns hanging on the wall — they are all hers from the 1960s. When she reclaimed her designs, she also decided to reclaim her authorship." Read the rest of the NY Times article here.

The show was beyond amazing and changed the way I look at and think about making toys- Read more about her on the R20th Website, watch a video from her studio, and see many many more images of her remarkable work.

more beautiful things- part two of the Crystal Hanehan dream box

A while back, I mentioned "the rest of the goodies" in passing while writing about the amazing Owls Crystal made for the limited edition collaboration we did for my last website update... I hadn't had time to post the photos until now... Check out the play by play below- could they be any better?

See more of Crystal's beautiful work on her website, blog, and etsy shop. 

Ohhh and look for more of my collaborations with Crystal in my next website update.

happy bits

I love these posters by Blanca Gomez... so bright and happy. Check them out along with a number of other artists prints at Poster Cabaret or at her Etsy Shop.

taking a break from sewing to look at this bit of sweet by Camilla Engman...

Check out the multi-levels-of-cute in Camilla Engman's illustrations in her new book Richard. Wish I was fluent in Italian or French (for so many reasons) so I could read the story too... Here's a synopsis in English:

Little Richard wants to be too late. But everybody is telling him he can’t: too late is too dark; too late is too cold: too late is all closed. And Richard is too little. So, it is impossible. Unless...Unless he finds three wonderful friends, whom will help him reach the land of Too Late. A relentless, funny, surreal fantastic tale on children’s immense desires: their insatiable lust for adventure and magic and, at the same time, their immense need for love and protection.

I love the sounds of that.

There are days when I day dream of becoming an illustrator and then I look at these drawings and wonder why I would start. She's done all I would want to and more... they're pretty much perfect and that story sounds so visually rich. Maybe in the future I'll have some expansive time to enjoy the process and perhaps make something I like but for now I'm happy just to look at these and smile...

lookie lookie...

This is what my mom has been working on... I really love all of her needle-felted pieces. They're so sweet, and these owls might be an all time favorite (well aside from the amazing mobile she and my dad made for Claude). Whenever she makes a new group of her birds I can't help but dream of a little cabinet all filled with her creations- as if it were a small exhibit in a natural history museum. Wouldn't that be something?!

In other news...

My friend Annie's fall line of knit goods are up in her shop and worth ogling. She's so good... I've been sporting her beautiful knit bag Jay ordered for me for my birthday all summer long. LoveLove- ALL

something I like...

I'm a big fan of needle felting... my moms been working with this process for a while and I haven't seen anyone use it as well as she does until I ran across these oddly wonderful pieces by Ruth Rivers aka Miss Bumbles. Check out her Etsy Shop for more ridiculous cuteness.

See a handful of my Moms beautiful birds on her website or here in the mobile she made for Claude.

from my mom's studio...

A handful of new beauties are now available on my mother's website. Check them all out here.

favorite things...

- Sweet Sweet Sweet-
from Bird and Banner

stitches and a contemporary sampler

Let me begin my admitting that I'm not much of an embroiderer but I just found Charlotte Lyons post documenting her progress on this hand printed sampler by Rebecca Ringquist and I'm kinda in love. I think I may just add this project to my long "to do" list. I like that it's open ended- you choose the colors and what you'd like to stitch. No instructions required. That's my kind of craft project, especially for passing the long summer hours at the lake or on the porch in the evenings. There's something so special about how a finished project recalls the time spent making it- what a sweet way to remember this summer.
Here's the link to Rebecca's etsy shop.

Project from 3191 Miles Apart

I bookmarked this project by Stephine from 3191 Miles Apart some time ago. I love this quiet, utilitarian ingenuity- and frankly I can't wait to make a few. I seem to abandon my knitting needles every Spring, but this project makes me what to get back to it... check out all the details here.

Happy Birthday to my Mamas...

On this the first of March -
on both my Mother's and Jay's Mother's Birthdays...
(I wish you both a lovely sunny birthday! With all my love.)

I'll share my favorite cards for gifting: Rifle Paper Co.
Happy Day to Everyone!

more from the studio of Murphy Bears...

I can't get enough of my mom's studio- and from all of your notes about the post yesterday neither can all of you- so here are some more! It's such a small space but its packed full of beautiful objects:




While I was visiting we worked on a small quilt for Claude in my mom's studio... We had piles and piles of fabric spread out on the floor, arranging and rearranging. The scenery inspires. It's a pretty magical place- not just her studio, but the whole of my childhood home. Yes of course it's important to me because I grew up there but beyond that it's filled with oddities to engage ones imagination. I miss being there already- but my home now is in Minneapolis and it's a pretty great place to come back to-