OPERATION PATTY

Hello.

I have to have surgery this spring to remove a tumor. Maggie is hosting an "Operation Patty" Sale starting March 17th, St. Patty's Day!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/hellosisters

Just look for the special Operation Patty shop.

The tumor is benign, but our Manhattan doc says it has to be removed from my ear. So Maggie, Susie and Dee Dee have been crafting string/yarn-themed items sold on etsy and all the proceeds go toward my operation and fancy Elizabethan collar I'll have to wear during the days following.

Our goal is to raise $800~thank you for the support!

Sniffing out The Sketchbook Project

Thousands of artists were sent themed, blank sketchbooks to fill and return. Now that body of work is coming to a museum or gallery near you. After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be available for view.

See the website for more details: http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject/exhibitions

28,839 artists from 94 countries participated in The 2011 Sketchbook Project.

Meet my 2 favorite.

Mark Sweeney created The Origin of Love. His prints illustrate the story and I love it! - the expressions on the faces are priceless. Here are some of my favorite pages.

For more of Mark's work: http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/artmark

Maggie (my owner) made If You Lived Here. The book includes charcoal drawings as well as sewn paper pieces. The wing created of maps is my favorite. I even helped by clawing all the feathers as she tried to sew them. I'm very active in the arts! For more of Maggie's book, see: http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/magshag

Hope you get out to check out the tour as it travels across the country over the next few months!

How I Spent My Summer, by Patty the Cat

Dee Dee sent us a care package of wheat grass seeds, since she knows my vices! This summer, while Maggie was out, padding around the city, I was holding down the fort and watching the grass grow. This is how fast it grows over the span of 4 days in our sunny apartment window.

In June, Maggie traveled to SF to do a craft fair with Dee Dee and Susie to sell their Hello Sisters designs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hellosisters

Chalk art the kids from our apartment building did during their lazy summer days.

Maggie loved coming back to that!

However, there were no lazy days of summer for Maggie. Work, work, work. Her buddy Sweeney gave her a custom-made count-down to 6/2011 calendar (Monkey is standing on it, peeping the view from her 34th Street office window).

Summer wasn't all work - Maggie had her fun seeing some shows - The Aggrolites, The Old 97s, Rhett Miller solo shows, Tim Finn, Eilen Jewel, Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women, and Brooklyn faves, The Slackers!

She also joined a few drawing groups - one that meets in Central Park and a figure drawing group on the Lower East Side. Susie was in town for that session. Felt like old times!

July simply requires a trip to the beach. Maggie checked out Rockaway. Rockaway Tacos was worth the trip alone.

Mmm, fish tacos. Groovy that they grow tomatoes on the roof.

But who needs to trek to the beach when Central Park is steps away? Here's her friend Cedric finding some shade on a hot August day in the Conservatory of Flowers.

Now that Fall is officially here, so is the new season of TV. We welcome 30ROCK back into our lives, pull on a sweater, curl up on the couch and toast our first full year in NYC!

TTFN, Patty

I'm bear-y attached to teddy

Maggie made these bears. How will I live without them?

Shipped to SF today, I already miss my little buddies. Each bear coordinates to a custom embroidered bib, onesie or knit booties that Dee Dee closes with a cute bear button. That button inspired the teddy bears. And the sparky fabrics were found at Purl Soho.

http://www.purlsoho.com/purl

The "hello, baby" line will debut at the next SF Indie Mart on July 18th.

http://www.indie-mart.com

They make the purrrfect shower gift.

San Francisco Indie Mart 2010

Hello from the New York Studio of Hello Sisters!

Maggie's been working away for a last push before heading to California for the 3rd annual Indie Mart craft fair in San Francisco.

CARDS have been the theme this weekend. She was inspired by a sewing machine stamp she found and sewed a slew of cards. The designs are mini collages of papers and stamps she's collected over the years.

And we're laoding up the 'pod with tons of tunes for our booth. Eilen Jewell {www.eilenjewell.com} has been the go-to sound for much of the stitching in the studio sunshine, cooled drinks and imported Za pizza from SF, care of Dee Dee.

I helped by waking from my nap and walking through a table spread with freshly stamped envelopes - so look for 'my Patty stamp' when you buy one of these at {http://www.etsy.com/shop/hellosisters} Enjoy!

spring color tour

Spring has sprung in our corner of Manhattan. It means more to me than ever, after surviving snow, sleet, rain and freezing temperatures. Not that I could really experience anything outside our Bikram yoga-heated apt, but it looked really cold out there. Maggie has been adding green to our home, pacing succulents up our painted ladder.

And purchasing a Target lamp that you can fill with any ol thing you want. The colored pencils and china markers make me giggle everytime I cruise by.

To welcome Easter, she brought the outdoors in. Mmm, cherry blossoms smell so good.

I'm sewww good

I helped Maggie make a felt alphabet book spelling out her friend Katie's new baby's name. It's Emerson, but she goes by Sonny. So sweet!

We crafted animals to stand for every letter of her cute name.

It'll be a while before the baby reads as well as I do, but

with Katie as a Mom/talented stylist, Sonny may be sewing first.