Decor8. Appreci8.

One of my favorite blogs is Decor8. For those of you who don't follow Holly Becker's fantastic blog, you should! Hop on over there and check it out! Decor8 is all about her fun, funky, fabulous decorating finds and style as well as about her life.....she lives in New Hampshire and Germany,...yes I know, how lucky is she?? (Haus Maus is her blog about her Euro-adventures and it's to die for as well....lot's of eye candy!) Holly has a cultish following, and rightly so, as she is a fantastic writer and has a perfect sense of style. So---I was perusing my site meter (the gadget that tells me who is where and from where on my blog) yesterday morning and am baffled (good baffled) about the increase in traffic---all coming from the Decor8 blog....well let's check that out....

OMG There I am!!! A write up about some of my projects, our home and my bags!!! Really!! Really. And then she says "Simone is one of those ladies that you imagine designing her own line of fabrics or owning a gorgeous shop someday." Can I do both?? Sure! Maybe after someone pulls me down from the clouds....

Thank you Holly! Thank you blog Gods!

luvluv.

Simone

Spoiled

Where have I been?? I had such high expectations of myself posting every other day....maybe I just don't have that much to say. (Ha! Yeah...me...not having something to say!) I have been sewing and sewing and writing patterns and researching--- and doing all the usual activities with the kids. Summer vacation is one week away and I can't wait to have some down time.

I took the time this week to work up two muslins of different dresses (in between bags and in between the hours of 11pm and 1am.) It is a luxury for me to sew for myself, so I am feeling spoiled. I have one finished product. The dress is to die for and it fits perfectly. It also lends itself well to being produced in small, medium and large so you may be finding finished dresses in my shop soon. Take a look!

The beauiful damask fabric is from Jennifer Paganelli's Pretty Please line and the collar is from her Bell Bottoms line. She is one of my all time favorite gals.

I have also been spoiled with custom orders lately! I absolutely love it when a customer gives me the creative freedom to work my magic. Kristin (who, by the way, makes fantastic jewelry)found me on etsy. She gave me two colors (red and pink) and specified that she wanted red damask worked in. Here is her finished bag, along with a pair of her beautiful earrings.

Alright ya'll I must run....fab hubby is making brunch. Did i mention I have been feeling spoiled lately??

luvluv.

Simone

Wrap it up!

So this should just about wrap up all market talk....not fabric talk...just market talk or I guess at least all market talk as the sole topic of the post. I tell you, I could talk about it forever...it was such fun! Saturday, yes. Eventful. I had the honor of meeting the amazing Amy Butler. Her booth was to die for. It featured her new line of bags, called sweet life bags as well as her other home furnishings ventures including rugs! She is crazy talented. Here is a shot of her booth (thanks Jona for this shot) I didn't take too many pictures, I think I was too busy absorbing it all.

While I am on the subject of Jona, let me tell you that she is the sweetest gal in the whole world! She and her hubby Joey were such great organizers for market. They organized a Thursday evening get together, a birthday surprise for Patty Young and a dinner on Friday night. They are both very kind people. She is the face behind Fabritopia....the BEST online fabric shop. If it is stylish and hip, she's got it! And she's having a big sale right now because apparently she bought too much at market and needs to make room for new lines....who can blame her for that?? So head on over there for some great fabric deals! I do believe she has some fun new projects on the horizon so be on the look out for her! Here is a shot of her corner of the world...Heaven!?! Yes.

All the fabrics you see above are from various lines of Jennifer Paganelli's Sis Boom. I love all of her fabrics....all of them. She cannot create anything less than perfect, it's just not possible. She was busy as a bee at market but I did get some time to chat with her as well as pick up a little of her newest line Dance With Me. You should swing be her site to check out all of her fabric lines. She really has the best style. She was wearing the most fantastic tunic at market. It was trimmed with a crisp white linen tape. Jennifer has a line of tunics available for purchase on her website as well as a new pattern for tunics that you can buy on youcanmakethis.com. The best part about that is you don't have to wait for shipping, the pattern is emailed to you! You print it out and off you go! Great fun!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend! I've been sewing up a storm. Stay tuned for pictures of what I've been working on.

luvluv.
Simone

The Happiest Place on Earth

No, not Disneyland. Quilt market! It was almost as fantastic as our family vacation to Hawaii (don't tell my family that!) Those of you who know me, know I must have been like a kid in a candy shop!! Booth after booth of sewing schtuff! Beautiful quilts, fun patterns, fabrics, fabrics and more fabrics-- and the amazing designers behind those fabrics! I had the best time!
I spent quite a bit of time with Paula Prass and her lovely daughter Jennifer Storey at the Michael Miller "compound." I wish I had a picture of the MMF section....really bright and beautiful and cheery. All the ladies had fun aprons on and all the guys had ties to match! Anyway, Paula's booth was fantastic! The grey and black walls really allowed her beautiful, colorful new line of fabrics to pop! I know Jona ordered a bunch of Summer Soiree, so for those of you wondering where you'll be able to buy it, go here! (more about Jona later...she is a doll!) I did quite a few bags for Paula and it was amazing to be at her booth and here someone say "Are those Gardenhouse bags? They are so Gardenhouse!" Love that! Here are a few shots of Paula's booth....can you tell she is also an interior designer...she's got a knack for creating devine spaces!

I met lots of amazing fabric designers while at market (that's Paula and I above). Friday night I had a dream dinner (not the food, the company) with Paula and Jennifer, Patty Young and her husband Jon, Sandi Henderson, Jona and Joey, and a few other fun ladies and gents. I absolutely loved their company. They are all so sweet and kind--- and unbelievably talented. What could be better than having dinner with people who can talk fabric as much as i can...although we talked about lots of other things too! So unbelievably enjoyable!

My Saturday shenanigans are a whole other post...stay tuned for that!

luvluv.

Simone

Marketing at Market

Yes, more about market! And there is still more to come....just so much to talk about! I had the BEST time! Met lots of fantastic people, made some great contacts and saw some really great fabric lines, among other things. I want to share with you some of the pieces I made for different designers booths at Market.

Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom deliciousness had this bag on hand at her table. Isn't it to die for??

I hear it got rave reviews. Jennifer's fabrics are SO easy to work with because they are all drop dead gorgeous! Just like she is...and she is the sweetest gal you'll ever meet! This bag is the same pattern as the bag I carried on the first day of market. This might be one of the first patterns I write so stay tuned for that!

Paula Prass had a booth full of Gardenhouse goodies along with all of the fabulous pillows, patchwork and collages she had done. Here are a few pics of the pretties I did for her.

She, by the way, is amazing! Love her! A very open, kind and caring lady. Her daughter, Jennifer Storey, is fantastic as well. Paula's new line of fabric is delish and she has another one in the works that I am sure will be amazing! Hopefully I'll get a sneak peek of that soon (hint,hint Paula!)

More fun Market posts to come, so stay tuned!

luvluv.

Simone

To Market To Market

I make lots of bags...lots. Very few of them start out as a bag for myself. Most of them I just start with one fabric and go from there. I love all of them, but some of them I find hard to part with so I repress any business like thoughts about twice the work for one sale, keep the first one and make another one exactly the same for the shop...I can chalk that first one up to marketing right? I'm a walking billboard? Yes? So anyway, when I sat down to plan bags for myself for Quilt Market it was a bit of a struggle to wrap my mind around which fabrics I wanted to use because I really wanted to use all of them! I ended up with two bags for day and two for the night. I would have made four for the day and done a bag swap come lunch if I'd had the time. Is that crazy? Not when it's coming from moi! Here is the first bag

My bag for day two started with this top and ended up like this


So today I am jumping out of my skin to actually GO to market and meet all the FAB ladies who designed these fabrics!

Off to Market!

luvluv
Simone

Pretty.New.Blog.

Well, here we are! Welcome to my pretty, new blog. I spent lots of time thinking about how it should look and now I have to write. I don't fancy myself a writer, but I'll get there....I will.
So what am I going to write about here on "Brooch the Subject," you ask? Hmmm, well, lots of creative shenanigans, my handbags of course, and fabric (can anyone ever get enough fabric talk?? OK, don't ask my husband or kids that question.) Brooches, fabulous vintage brooches, and maybe a bit about my early morning expeditions to find said brooches. Some fun posts about all things stylish. And some about my two favorite oh so stylish girls, Miss O and Miss A. Very sassy, both of them! Their dad is pretty great too! So all of the usual chaos that runs my life and that I love! I am also planning on some fun, crafty, fabric based tutorials at some point, like when I find another four waking hours in each day-- but I'll find those four hours and we'll have some fun!
So plan on all of that, all of it, and probably more too. I hope you're looking forward to it because I know I am!

luvluv

Simone

Welcome

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm Simone.First and foremost I am a wife and a mom to two darling girls. Their creativity, boundless energy and constant hunt for adventure inspire me. Next, I am the sole designer and creator of all thing Gardenhouse. I work out of my home studio, which is a guesthouse on the other side of our garden, my Gardenhouse. All of my work is produced with the utmost attention to detail and with an eye for originality. I often draw from items I pick up on my early morning flea market adventures.

My designs reflect the things I love...vintage.modern.pretty