Memorial Day

For this we can never say thank you enough. Courageous men and woman who have given up their lives for our ability to live freely. God Bless you all. My father fought in WW II and lost his 7 siblings and parents to the war. So as a child, I was not unfamiliar with stories of fighting, surviving and being grateful to those who have done so. Yet, as I get older and possibly wiser these sacrifices seem to hold a deeper appreciation and importance. I love this poem, written in 1915 by a very inspirational woman, Moina Michaels. Ms Micheals started a movement for making and wearing red poppies in honor of the fallen soldiers.

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

Did You Know?

...That I make pillows with Matouk, the company that I do all my bedding with. We also have a wonderful collection of embroidered throw cushions in classic LULU DK style: Shells, flowers, birds, script, geometrics etc. There are a few published in past posts if you want to browse. I love the first image of the criss-cross tape pillows, I have them in great colors all over my house. To see where these pillows are sold in your neighborhood, go HERE. If you still can't find what you are looking for, you can ask me and I will try and direct you ;-)

Wowowow and Thank You Mucho!

I must say I got slightly damp paws when I awoke to notice that Barbara Mangini from the blog My Dog Eared Pages had selected me as one of her 7 magnificent blogs. What flattery, thank you!!! Can not remember the last time I received a reward. Chuffed. The tricky thing is that in return I am now meant to mention my 7 favorite blogs, which again makes my paws a little sweaty. I think Ivan Terestchenko said it best, I love you all and continue to received endless pieces of inspiration from all my fellow bloggers...I couldn't possibly limit it to 7....

Here's What I am Takin' About!

I should have lived in the 60's. I need to wear pants like this everyday (and.... roll around in the grass a lot more often)! I actually just took some LULU DK Fabrics along with some other linen-type fabrics that I recently bought at Michael Levine, downtown at the Los Angeles fabric market and had my local tailor make me a ton of custom printed pants and shirts....I didn't go this bright, but after seeing these must-have orange paisleys....I am going to tromp back to the fabric market and see what look-a-like fabric I can come up with. I don't know about any of you, but I have a very difficult time finding the perfect pants for me. My tailor told me here in LA that he could copy anything I want...I thought, reeeeally? It is safe to say, I am awaiting my new wardrobe from him. If any one is interested, we are about to start a "bazaar" section on http://www.luludk.com/ where we will be selling fabrics for 70% off to the public, so as to make room for a whole new line I am working on right now...The Bazaar should be up soon (and I will post it when it is), so feel free to shop away and get some great funky pant, shorts or shirt (or sofa and curtain) making fabrics!

Need Your Help on the Batik Shells!

I have 5 new prints that are about to come out. They are all quite large in scale...All vibrant, fresh and washy yummy colors (like the Sunburst below...the first of the new arrivals to come). The above shell print is a much smaller scale and could make a great coordinate to the larger scaled prints...But I am just a smidgen on the fence about it. Thoughts? To make or not to make? I don't usually put un-developed works online...Although I would LOVE to, but sadly there are just too many rip-off artists that potentially can beat me to it.

Happy Mothers Day....

Happy Mothers Day to all the beautiful mothers out there! Giving birth almost 2 years ago really made me realize how incredibly strong and able women are. I am so grateful that in this lifetime, I have been able to share in the joy and privilege of motherhood and feel so blessed to have had such an inspiring role model.

And So The Story Goes...

The next (and most exciting) stage of fabric making! The colorways arrive! Here is a sampling of our Sunburst fabric which I have written about in past post (so if you haven't been following "the making of a fabric", you can scroll down). I always make a ton of color samples...mainly because I don't want to go back to the mill to have others made and also because I am so particular and in love with color, so I want to see every option. This season it is all about bright pastels for me...We are even about to have a bazaar section on http://www.luludk.com/ to sell a ton of our earlier fabrics for cheap (for both designers and public)- to make room for our newer color ways and prints. I have 5 great fun festive bright  prints in the works right now, which is so much fun...We usually pick 3-6 colorways per print and I think the ones that dominate the photo are my general picks from the 20 options that came. Feel free to let me know which colorways are your favorite!

Happy Birthday Mama

Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been turning 71. As I have said many times, she is and was a true inspiration to me. Since she passed away four months ago, I have never been so creative and inspired to work, see and live....She must be beside me each day because the last time I have been this creative and inspired was when I was doing the collages for my book LULU, which was right after my father died... I felt him beside every single moment that I sat on my kitchen floor cutting, pasting and painting the entire body of collages. I feel my mother beside me now in a similar way....She is definitely pushing me along. I did the above collage 5 years ago when my mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer (it is called Into the Womb-meaning if she didn't survive, she would run beautifully through the tunnel and be reincarnated into my womb)...She survived for another 5 years until the cancer spread to her brain and took her this Christmas Eve. My only words of wisdom are to remember to love and appreciate your parents everyday. (even though sometimes a little challenging ;-)