It is a good day

Most days I go for a walk. I used to run in the mornings before getting married and having two babies in two and a half years. It is hard now to find a rhythm that supports running but most days I do get in a good walk.
Good thing I have a dog. Okemo is chill as long as she is allowed time to run around in nature unleashed if possible. I feel the same way.
Changes in my morning routine with the school year change where we go. Living in the heart of this small city doesn’t really provide a walkable destination desired for my walks. I need to be off pavement, soaked in oxygen, immersed in nature and that cacophony.
In the mornings after the girls are dropped off at their slice of nirvana, Okemo and I make a loop over to Kirvin Park off Williams St where this solace is found these last few weeks. We walk along the paved way through a large sloping meadow of Queen Anne’s Lace in full bloom and shoulder high Golden Rod working toward its bloom in late summer. Views of our rolling Berkshire Hills grace our way. This place is pure dog heaven. People come from all over Pittsfield with their companions who run freely sniffing and playing and kicking up their heels. After a healthy dose of that, Okemo and I wade through cool clean babbling water skirting the ball field, into my nirvana of quiet meditation, muddy trails, dragonflies, twitters and shrills. Lungs filled with life and calm. Shoulders back, heart open, deep nourishing breath, connecting me to the earth and my dog.
Ohm
Shanti
It is a good day.

Put Me Behind a Sewing Machine!

It feels really great to have a more hands on daily routine. I have been working on some really cool one-of-a-kind blankets in the studio. Rugs are forth coming as well. The website will be up with all the changes in place in the next few weeks. You will be able to shop online www.crispina.com and from my atelier on Melville Street in Pittsfield - retail only - only select FEW old friend wholesale customers to be served on a fill in the blanks basis. Right now I am booked through the middle of August so if you are thinking of any gift giving for later this year allow plenty of time. Order soon - and don't be disappointed! You don't have to wait for the site to be finished. If you know what you want just call or email for pricing and delivery dates.
You can reach the workroom at 413-236-9600 or email me. crispinaff@crispina.com
thanks for your support and business!

Good Green Living

this past weekend I did a hands-on workshop at The Green and Healthy Living Expo that was held at Butternut Ski Area in Great Barrington. Eugenie Sills, of The Women's Times reknown, invited me to participate in there giant SPONSOR booth.
It was really very cool!
Foot traffic was quite light but when you are not trying to sell product that seems a whole lot less important! The exhibitor roster was impressive! Amazing things to learn and network opportunities abounded.
I had a really tight weekend FULL of activities that were not going to allow me any free time at the Expo. The magic of the weekend culminated when my Sweat Lodge sisters decided that the heat of the summer and lack of ability to gather opened my Sunday afternoon to freedom to explore the Expo. It was really lovely. Chris and the girls were there too. We were able to bask in the afternoon sun with all sorts of interesting and smart like-minded people. I hope to help market the event better next year. I felt that it wouldn't take much more work to get a lot more people to know about it.
While I wait for pics from the event to arrive to my inbox, I couldn't wait another day to tell you about it!
The workshop I did was on Flowers. We made a ton of them! There were kids and grannies and everyone in between. Friends and folks I had never met. It was fun and easy to learn, empowering and a great way to meet lots of people. Thanks for the opportunity Eugenie!

This Week's Favorite Artist

In addition to my recently established list of goals for my blog, I would like to add a weekly column showcasing a favorite artist. This is my first pick for that column. Let me know what you think.






I have been noticing these amazing portraits donning our local bridge tressels, dormant train cars and over passes. Got pictures of most of them but missed the biggest work done on the Rt 41 underpass in Great Barrington in my old neighborhood. I love them!
I just heard about a store in GreenpointBrooklyn called Alphabeta that sells supplies to graffiti artists. They have a couple of walls to showcase their clients work that change all the time. This work, and the genre in general, is free, transient art to appreciate before it disappears. There was an interesting blurb on NPR about graffiti yesterday.

Gardening with my girls on Melville Street

My goal is to turn our yard on the corner of Melville and First streets into a small urban farm. This year the first bed went in with cutting flowers, (some edible) tomatoes, beans, lettuce, herbs and some decorative native species. People are beginning to notice. Cami, a neighbor who works with kids in our hood, stopped to introduce herself and ask if we could work together with the kids. Yesssserie!

Fuchsia No More

Hi Peeps,
Many have been wondering what is up with my biz – Crispina Design Workshop/ Fuchsia, Inc. So now that the transition is clear and finished I can speak freely about it.
To begin, Fuchsia, Inc., was owned solely by Nancy Fitzpatrick. Nancy is an old friend and long time supporter. She purchased the company I started in 1987, in 2003. The company, at that point, Crispina Designs, Inc. was having a hard time and she agreed to purchase it to help me out.
Five years into it, Nancy decided she wanted out and, with very little notice, let us, in the studio, know of her plans. My very first response was a huge sense of relief!!! As digestion of the changes Nancy’s decision prompted set in, I traveled a roller coaster of unknowns including the possibility of her passing the company on to another set of investors without any discussion with me. I waited and listened and found calm.
The decision was made on March 28 to stop production. I was asked not to communicate with the company’s customers based on not knowing whether or not production would begin again under new ownership. While that possibility is open for discussion, on the first of July 2008 Fuchsia, Inc. officially closed its doors. Nancy returned to me my name, the company database, and all the contents of the production studio here in our church on Melville Street in Pittsfield. With these changes, the wholesale part of the company was curtailed.

My next steps are:
• To have a more empowering voice in the environmental stewardship arena
• To make more money - never made that much before
• To work at most 40 hours weekly
• To maintain my online store, www.crispina.com and have an atelier, here, in our fine city of Pittsfield, MA, on North Street – our main street, where I would be open to the public for tours and workshops and have one of a kind work for sale.
• To continue the work I have done with large textile producing companies helping them develop products with their scrap that they can manufacture and market.

In the meantime I have been having the best summer – maybe ever – with free time to garden and think and spend time with my two little girls and my amazing 15-year-old son! Please know that I so appreciate all the support and well wishes that all of you out there, have sent my way. Stay in touch and keep the peace and harmony flowing.