It seems I've not posted a blog in quite some time. Well, honestly, there hasn't been much excitement happening. Except for Twist being totally awesome and successful!! A great time was had by all. So great there is going to be a part 2! YES!!! Besides that I have been sewing, playing with snaps, sewing, and looking for a new apartment. Not exciting.
Actually there is one more pretty exciting thing. My aprons are now available for sale at a fantastic little shop called Dandie in the Underworld. I love this place. They are a craft consignment shop, where you can find the very best products of the underground craft scene. They've got everything from candles to radical clothing to fierce handbags, and everything in between. All made by insane friendly resourceful and brilliant local creatures, and snuggled away in an alley just off Main street in downtown Northampton. Go look! here's their space >>>>> Dandie!
OK, so there has been excitement. I guess the cold hard truth is I'm just not that skilled at blogging. Oh well! Happy Autumn!!!

Vacation is good for the brain

Of course, we did many many fun activities on our vacation, so I was a little exhausted when it was all over. First we hit up Falcon Ridge , which was wonderful as always, but also kinda crazy this year, since I decided I would go back home in the middle of it all to attend my cousin's wedding. I couldn't possibly miss out on either event! Anyone else who has ever made Falcon Ridge their home understands, it really is that important! And the wedding was just wonderful. We stayed waaay later than we had planned (my bro and his gf made the trip with me) and started the pilgrimage back to FRFF at midnight, finally arriving there around the lovely hour of 3 a.m. The next two days there were so fun. We saw our favorite Falcon Ridge band, really one of our most favorite bands of all time, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams (they are actually more magical than their name implies) in the dance tent. I danced nearly to the point of enlightenment, which was quickly followed by feelings of nausea and extreme shakiness, which then promptly dissipated due to high levels of peace, love and grassy fields under starry skies. Yeah. You should really go to Falcon Ridge.
We sadly had to leave early-ish on Sunday to not-sadly attend my Memere's 80th birthday party. The sadness was because GM were playing their main stage show that afternoon. But, as it turns out, a large storm descended on Falcon Ridge, producing hail and pretty much raining out the rest of the fest. So on we trekked to Memere's party. She's the most youthful 80 year old I have ever seen. Seriously, she looks and acts like she's maybe 70. And even that's pushing it. I am very glad to have her genes in me. It was a lovely party, and rather surreal. It was the strangest thing to go from fest to family event to fest and back to family event.
So I don't really remember the next few days. I think I probably tried to get some work done and failed. Then we packed up and headed to Maine! Maine was unproductive as far as b-side fruits goes, but I did some good quality painting, drawing, and yes even relaxing. The weather was misty and cool, a fine alternative to the jungle heat we tend to suffer in the Pioneer Valley summers. It also turned out to be prime bubbling conditions for Ben's Giant Bubbles, turning out several beauties which I deemed "baby elephant sized" as well as a few colossal 50 footers. Certainly record breakers for Ben. I got videos of these bubbles, which you will be able to see very soon, along with other great videos, which will be appearing here on my blog, so stay tuned! So Maine was obviously great. We even fit in a trip to Moody's Diner with Ben's grandparents, and got to hang out with my dad when he came to work on the house (yes we stay in an unfinished house, it's like super high end private camping).
So we drove home from Maine Sunday morning, and as if that all wasn't enough, we topped off our vacation with an incredible Dweezil Zappa concert at the Calvin theatre right here in our own lovely Northampton. I was more or less asleep on my feet, but then we sat down for the concert and had our minds blown. But now that, my friends, is another blog entry unto itself. And speaking of concerts of the mind blowing sort.......

are you ready............???

David Byrne and Brian Eno are releasing their first collaborative album in 30 years on the 18th of this great month of August!!!!! AND Mr. Byrne will be touring the country playing songs from their new album as well as some Talking Heads gems they did together THIS FALL. Can you think of anything more incredible? I didn't think so.

THE END

We goin' Maine!!

even though we just got home from Falcon Ridge Folk Festival two days ago. But it is Ben's mandatory two week vacation, so we are making the most of it. And in Maine I will be able to do some cutting and photographing of aprons. Not so at Falcon Ridge, which was totally amazing by the way.

I did manage to work out a new design for the everyday apron. It is just as simple and cute as ever, but now with a healthy smack of sass!I will be making some in the pineapple pattern and also in some lovely solid colors. Look for the revamped everyday apron next week!

I also designed a new apron to give to my beautiful cous Marissa for her wedding that happened last weekend. I will also be making more of these for etsy over the weekend! You can't see it yet, because I did not photo it before I gave it to her. But you can see this picture that my bro took of Marissa and I at the wedding!


and now off to Maine! See you monday!

Twist!

B-side fruits has been selected to participate in Twist, a totally new, handmade festival going on in Northampton this September! They had to extend the application deadline, which means LOTS of people applied, which means this is going to be one heck of a show! Don't miss it! For more info, go to the Twist website, right here ===>>> twist!
We are so very excited. Unfortunately now we must pay much money to hold our spot, so help out by purchasing some fine aprons, and tell your friends all about b-side fruits!

I just added the new Kid's Apron, available in two sizes right now. They look great with the new d-rings, and I also made some hand printed labels which look AWESOME! Go for a visit, look around, enjoy. Tell people.




In other news, Ben just made me brunch. I am going to go eat that now and rejoice.

Birthdays, aprons and local history

So we had quite an eventful weekend. It was really busy, but also really fun. Saturday was my Dad's birthday, and we made him a birthday pie!! Of the strawberry rhubarb kind. Strawberry season in New England is over in like, 3 days!!! So we have been getting them while we can.

CHECK OT OUR SWEET PIE!

It was very successful. My Dad loved it. That was a nice mellow night.

Then sunday we had my Grandma's SURPRISE 75th birthday party! I think there were 100 people there. My mom and my aunt baked hundreds of cookies, and there were TWO cupcake towers AND a cake. Unfortunately my grandmother is diabetic, but Ben and I totally had a sugar hangover on monday. I mean, how can I be expected to resist a cupcake tower? They had roses on them!!! Besides the extreme cake levels, the rest of the party was very nice as well. We had some brunch type foods, and my brother's friend Paul played piano. Grandma seemed happy, and definitely surprised.

With all the excitement I couldn't believe we also managed to get some aprons posted (YES THAT'S RIGHT APRONS ARE UP ON ETSY CHECK THEM OUT WOOO!!), have a bonfire, AND take a visit to Redemption Rock with my bro and his girlfriend.

If you ever find yourself in Princeton, MA, first of all make sure you have a full tank of gas and a map, and then go to Redemtion Rock. This is the sight of the release from captivity of Mary Rowlandson by the Wampanog tribe. She was abducted in 1675 from her home in Lancaster, MA along with her children and others. This was during King Philip's War which was really, really nasty. The Native Americans were angry at the settlers for colonizing land they were supposed to leave alone. So they attacked and burned towns like Lancaster, Springfield and Deerfield.
Mary Rowlandson traveled with them for over a year, until this rich guy John Hoar payed ransom for her return. When you go to Redemption Rock now it's kinda in the woods. But back then it would have been in a meadow. It's so cool to go there and imagine it that way.

My town has a lot of cool history like that.

What a great weekend! We had a lot of good quality family time. It always feels good to go home.

Welcome to the b-side fruits blog!

Things have been pretty exciting for us the past couple months as we start to get our little business on its feet. Everything really began to come together once I decided to just go for it and purchase my first industrial sewing machine. What a fine piece of equipment! It really gets the job done.


We had a photo shoot up at Mt. Tom in Holyoke today for all the new aprons and head scarves. I think it was a very successful day. The light was great and there are just so many neat spots to photograph up there. So check out the shop on Etsy! All the new stuff will be up and available for purchase within the next couple days! Yay!

Here are a couple of my faves from the day!


My stuff under a tree:


The Painter's Smock and a flower:


I love how all these plants had just busted through the old pavement of this abandoned lot. It made us think of the song "Nothing but Flowers," by the Talking Heads.

Oh yeah and we saw this wicked cute mushroom. It made my day.






Well that is all for now but please come back soon as I'll be posting some delicious recipes and shop updates that you won't want to miss!