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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Nashville & Prince's Hot Chicken

Inspired by the SFA Potlicker Film Festival in Chattanooga last weekend, I celebrated the best of chicken with friends in Nashville today. 

Bring your own water and tissues...

Posted at 6:04 pm
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Citizen Architect

Tune into PBS on MONDAY, AUGUST 23rd, 9PM CST  

(AFTER HISTORY DETECTIVES)
 
for the National Broadcast of    
 
CITIZEN ARCHITECT: SAMUEL MOCKBEE AND THE RURAL STUDIO
 
More Information Here:
 
 
If you can not tune in, check out the website / or facebook page for theatrical screening updates / or buy the DVD online:
 
 

Bravo to our friends Sam and Jay... and, of course, to Samuel Mockbee - who inspired a generation.

Watch and then plan your road trip to Hale County, Alabama... 

 

Posted at 9:58 pm
Monday, August 16, 2010

Homemade Toothpaste

In my quest to reduce the amount of plastic that we consume as a family, I have finally succeeded in making my own toothpaste. After collecting the simple recipes for a couple of months, I played with the ingredients to make a paste that is to my liking. 
 
Alabama Toothpaste
 
6 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
5 teaspoons vegetable glycerin
1/2 teaspoon peppermint flavoring
 
Mix ingredients thoroughly and store in a sterilized glass jar.
Makes about enough for one person for one month.
 
The beauty of homemade paste is that it is much (much) cheaper than commercial paste, is surprisingly refreshing and can be made with products that you have (or can use) in your own kitchen. (Aside from the fact that Maggie was very impressed that Mama knew how to make her own toothpaste. Nothing like being a hero for a moment.)
 
If you have other great tips for reducing plastic consumption, please share them with us by commenting below…

 

Posted at 12:53 pm
Thursday, August 12, 2010

Winter in Summer



Sneak peek to Fall/Winter 2010 when it is 105 degrees outside..
Just a few of my favorites... more tcoming soon!





 

 

 

 


 

Posted at 8:14 am
Labels:
Design
Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Fraktur mon Amour


One of the most amazing books on typography that I have come across in a long, long time… 

In Fraktur Mon Amour, Judith Schalansky has made a love letter to the (sometimes outcast) Blackletter or Gothic script. Judith’s collection of fonts is stunning - CD included. 

All 150 fonts included in Fraktur Mon Amour are accompanied by elaborate and beautiful patterns or graphics developed with individual letters from the font. I find the black and white illustrations – mixed with magenta - inspiring for developing stencils, as a reference for implementing scale in textile pattern development, and simply to understand at how something as simple as a letter can be used to create something so extraordinary.
 
Originally published in 2006 by Verlag Herman Schidt Mainz and Judith Schalansky, the book was republished by Princeton Architectural Press in 2008.
 
The product description asks: “When was the last time a book on typography made you swoon?”
 
And I have to admit that it does… 
 
Fraktur Mon Amour by Judith Schalansky


*Pattern made with the uppercase “U” and “N” from Sebaldus-Gotish, Giesseri H. Berthold Ag 1925/Dieter Steffmann 202, page 110

**Pattern at the top of this post made with the uppercase "K" from FF Koberger Font - Anton Koberger circa 1490/ Manfred Klein 1991, from page 216

 

 

Posted at 2:44 pm
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A World through the Hands

Speaking of Faith is one of my NPR favorite podcasts – which I tend to catch up on while traveling. And this one is especially lovely today when we are talking about sitting and sewing in our office.

 A World through the Hands

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor of Observed
 
“Our destiny is written in the hand.” 
—Renate Hiller, co-director of the Fiber Craft Studio at the Threefold Educational Center in Chestnut Ridge, New York
Practicing mindfulness. Paying attention. Listening generously.
For Renate Hiller, the fiber artist whom you see in the film above, these majestic phrases apply in all their richness. Her German lilt of the tongue reaffirms this exquisite eloquence as she connects the importance of using our hands with the way in which we understand and find value in ourselves and in others. There’s something so honest and pure about her thought — that we gain a deeper, more meaningful relationship with our own humanity and our greater world by using our hands.
 
 
Read the full post here: A World through the Hands

 

Posted at 11:58 am
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Sit & Sew


I have always said that I am equally proud of our manufacturing system at Alabama Chanin as I am of the designs that we create. And our artisans are truly the heart and soul of all that we do at Alabama Chanin.

As we grow into the next decade, we are looking for local sewers to add to our team. If you would like to become one of our independent sewing contractors, please contact steven@alabamachanin.com or call Steven at our office: 256-760-1090. 
 
Note that contractors are required to pick up and deliver packages and completed projects personally to our studio at 462 Lane Drive in Florence, Alabama. 
 
If you are interested in full or part-time sewing, call us today…
 
 
 
 
Posted at 9:41 am
Monday, August 9, 2010

Bottega Favorita


Plan your road trip and join Alabama Chanin, along with Frank and Pardis Stitt, on the 28th of August, 2010 for our annual One Day Workshop/Retreat at the award winning Bottega Restaurant and Cafe in Birmingham, Alabama.

Delight in a special menu from James Beard award winning chefs and restaurateurs Frank and Pardis Stitt, sit, sew, laugh and breathe …

Limited seats available - register here or phone: +1-256-760-1090
 
And get ready for your day with Bottega Favorita – one of my all-time favorites.

 

*Photos from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita:  A Southern Chef's Love Affair with Italian Food


 

Posted at 11:06 am
Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Alabama Lemonade


I have been remiss in posting this last week. In all honesty, this heat has made me a little slow.

The interview with Roman (see post below) is coming; please be patient with me.
 
To this extreme heat, add the fact that my (baby) Maggie starts school tomorrow. It seems hard to believe that time passes so quickly – even when you savor every moment, it flies. Seems like just yesterday…
 
Well, my mind has been elsewhere this week. 
 
We have been to the swimming pool. I have been reading (in bits and snatches) Peter Arnell’s new book Shift along with The Backyard Homestead. I have been fighting the heat (and drought) in my own backyard garden and, well, dreaming a lot. I did have an impromptu dinner party on my back patio last Saturday night and caught up with friends. Isn’t this what summer in the South is supposed to be about anyway?
 
Hence my reason for getting back to writing today…
 
It all started with teaching Maggie how to make lemonade. (She is obsessed with Lemonade Stands at the moment.) As we made fresh lemonade, I decided to cook the field peas and as long as the field peas were cooking I decided to go ahead and roast the okra… well, one thing led to another and friends arrived and so we decided to put the lemonade to good use:
 
Alabama Lemonade
 
5 fresh lemons
About 2 quarts boiling water
Sprigs of fresh lemon basil
Bama Vodka (A new find and pretty good. The bottle says that it is filtered with the “world's best limestone quarried exclusively from Alabama” and we do live in Limestone County.)
 
Place cane sugar in a heat resistant jar or pitcher and add boiling water. Stir well to dissolve sugar and et aside to cool. Juice lemons and add to sugar water. Cool jar or pitcher in a bowl of ice if you are in a hurry.
 
Serve the kids and then...
 
Fill  tea glasses with ice, add one jigger of vodka and cooled lemonade to each, garnish with a sprig of lemon basil, stir and drink with friends.
 
Serves about 5 and pairs perfectly with fresh summer vegetables.
 
So, that’s what I’ve been doing while beating the heat and dreaming. 
 
Thanks to all our friends on Facebook who shared their favorite cocktails a few weeks back. I am working on the list and will try to share it over the next weeks. Feel free to post more favorite cocktails below and perhaps I will share my watermelon lemonade next week. 
 
Or oven roasted okra…


 

 

Posted at 9:09 pm
Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A Decade

This year marks a decade on my journey to Alabama Chanin.
 
Looking at where we started, where we have been and where we are headed has been an amazing and beautiful process. What a time of laughter, tears, exploration, and, well, growing up.
 
To celebrate our growing up, we will be launching several exciting collaborations over the next months, planning celebrations, looking back and, of course, looking forward.
 
The first of these collaborations – with our friends at Commune Design – has resulted in a set of new logos for Alabama Chanin and Alabama Studio Style.
 
Here today we present our new Alabama Chanin logo…
 
Look for the new logo to be integrated into our couture clothing, our site and the Alabama Chanin world over the next months. Come back tomorrow for a chat with Roman Alonso, from Commune, about design, his trip to Alabama, a bit of history and the humor behind our new and improved label.
 
Thanks to everyone for sticking with us this past decade... looking forward to the next.
 
 
 
Posted at 1:54 pm
Labels:
Design

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