Happy New Year! Technically it's a new year but it never really feels like one for me in January mostly because my birthday is in August and I seem to measure out my life by my birthdays instead of calender years. That's kind of weird, I know.

My new design this week that I'll be listing in my etsy shop www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com is not really new but it's one of my favorite skirts and one of my favorite designs overall. It's my ruffled mini-skirt or as a friend of mine who bought one calls it "the shortest skirt I've ever worn." Hey, it's a mini. It's supposed to be short. It's made out of 100% cotton and measures about 13 inches long. Like the circle skirt from last week it zips up in the back and has back darts for a fitted look. Seeing that this skirt is so daring and rebellious I thought who better to name it after than the free-spirited Lux from the Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. It looks exactly like something she would have put on only to have her mother send her back inside to change into something less revealing:




The Lux Mini

The title of the blog, of course, is also a quote from the last page of the book when the boys try in vain to understand why the girls did it. It's such a sad but beautiful novel.

I also tweaked the design of the Lotte dress a bit this week by shortening the sleeves. I made the dress over in a light blue and I think it looks much better with these short sleeves:







Well I have a million ideas I'm working on right now but I never seem to have enough time to do them. I'm working really hard to get more stuff in my shop but it just seems to be going so slowly that it frustrates me. I need to clone myself or something in order to get all this stuff done. Oh wait, I have a clone but she doesn't sew and she has her own art to work on. Speaking of which, if you haven't checked out my sister Jessica's paintings yet you really should. She's an amazing artist and so talented. I literally love everything she does. Her web site is www.jessicagracebrooks.com
and her myspace is www.myspace.com/jessicagracebrooks.com


That's it for this week. I'm hoping to have more than one thing to show you next week but we'll see how that goes. I'm working on a two toned a-line mod dress this week and some other dresses and designs I've got in the works. In the meantime, don't forget to vote on Tuesday (if you live here in NH of course)!

I'm really crazy about this new skirt I'm listing on Monday. It's darling and cute and very feminine. This is the pink circle skirt that I've been working on this week:








The outer skirt is 100% cotton and the underskirt is nylon tulle. The outer skirt measures about 14 inches long and the tulle peaks out about 1.5 inches from the hem. It zips up in the back and has back darts for a fitted look.

Though technically it isn't a mini-skirt (if you can't reach past the hem of your skirt with your arms straight down by your side it isn't a mini) it's still short and most people would probably consider it one anyway. I will be listing the skirt in my Etsy shop www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com with option to choose any color tulle to go with the skirt (which is available in Black, Buttercup, Dusty Pink, Royal Blue, Sky Blue, Royal Purple or Scarlet). Tulle is available in almost any fabric or craft store in almost any color and shade so there are no limits to the colors you can pair this skirt with. I like contrasting colors (pink and black being my favorite) but matching or complimentary colors can be nice too.

I've dubbed this design The Amy Mini after one of the more precocious and fashionable sisters from Little Women. The title of this blog is a quote from Amy about why she's leaving home to study art in Europe. I read that passage with longing because I miss Italy and Europe (especially Rome) very much and hope to go back again this summer. I like the idea that you can discover and learn more about yourself when you step out of your little corner of the world and I definitely found Europe very inspiring

Another design idea I have been toying with lately is making garters. My friend Julia gave me the idea when I made one for my wedding day and she ended up wearing it when she caught the bouquet and her boyfriend caught the garter. "Oh my god this is hot! You should sell these!" is the gist of what she said. I love lingerie and anything delicate and lacey so it would be a lot of fun.

That's all for now. Have a great New Year's Eve everyone! See you in 2008.

I'm back again. I must admit that I'm a little frustrated lately. It just seems to take me twice as long as ever to make things lately and I keep running into problems and delays left and right. But complaining about it just frustrates me more so I keep plugging away and hope that things will turn out like I want.

So, I'm all about skirts again lately. I'm going to be listing a lot of skirts in the coming weeks because I had so many cool designs from my last shop that I wanted to incorporate into this new shop.

My latest creation is one of those previous designs and it's very cool and chic. It's an asymmetrical skirt. It measures about 13 inches on one side and 20 inches on the other so it has a very dramatic slanted hemline:







I actually made a dress with a slanted hemline like this a few years ago and it is one of my favorite dresses ever. It just looks so cool and fashion forward.

I love the color of this skirt too. Red is so bold and sexy.

I named this skirt "The Shug Skirt" after the very fashionable and bold Shug Avery from Toni Morrison's The Color Purple. The title of this blog is also from the Color Purple though it is actually a quote from Celia about a song Shug is singing about her. It seemed apt.

Some new stuff I'll be working on this week is a pink mini circle skirt with a black tulle underskirt and I've also tweaked the design of the Lotte dress a bit by shortening the sleeves to cap length. I'm redoing the dress in a pretty light blue color so I'll post photos of the improved design when I'm done. Other stuff in the works is a jumper dress, a trapeze dress, a mod a-line sheath, a two-layer circle skirt (also a design from my previous shop) and of course my favorite skirt of all: the ruffled mini-skirt (On a funny note, I recently wore my pink Aargyle mini to Aaron's Xmas party and he promptly referred to me in a mini-skirt as "creepy" because he is, of course, part gay).

Also, I have not abandoned the idea of doing cropped jackets. I want to do them more than ever but I'm trying to find the right fabric (corduroy - very seasonal. Twill maybe? Perhaps linen - it wrinkles terribly though). I want my clothes to be stylish yet easy to wear and care for.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far and you're all ready for Tuesday. I never really seem to enjoy Christmas until about a week away when I'm wrapping presents and getting excited to see people's reactions when they open their gifts. Suddenly it becomes fun again and I don't even mind the annoying music. I've also eaten a good amount of chocolate, cookies and peppermint bark by this point and that'll get anyone excited. Christmas isn't even here yet and I'm already spoiled with cool presents and have spoiled Matt rotten with his. We had a little holiday party with our friends Jim and Nicole this weekend and exchanged presents early (we won't be together on Christmas because both of our mother's would have a heart attack if one of us had to miss Christmas with them to go to the other's house for the holidays so we don't even try). After much whining Matthew bought me the Bobbie D'orsay ballet flats that I wanted so badly. They're so cute and adorable and I'm crazy about the ribbons and the little decoration on the toe:



Matt's birthday is the day after Christmas so I always get him a little something for both days. This year for Christmas I got him a gift card to the local movie megaplex (he has more stuff than one person could possibly need so instead I buy him fun things to do) and for his birthday I bought him tickets to Boston Symphony Orchestra's Mozart and Schubert concert next month. Our seats are on the top balcony just a few rows from the front so it'll be a nice view.

Well, I hope you guys get spoiled rotten too. Have a great holiday! See ya next week.

Well, after a hiatus and a number of delays and revisions I'm finally back and updating my shop, Garrison Hill Designs on etsy. There's going to be some changes to my shop. Apparantly it turns out that it is harder to find a steady supply of stretch knit cotton than I previously thought so after weeks of searching and looking over samples and prices I gave up on the idea and decided to go back to working with cotton (one of my favorite fabrics) which comes in a really large selection of colors and is available pretty much everywhere. No more running out of supplies! I will still be offering the stretch knit designs that I currently have listed in my shop until I run out of the fabric I have in stock (which is actually not a lot so if you want something you should order it soon). I will, though, be remaking the designs in a non-stretch version at some point so they won't be completely gone from the shop after my fabric stash runs out. I'm actually glad to be going back to woven fabrics because I feel like stretch fabric designs are nothing more than a t-shirt with a little more flair. It feels like cheating to me because I don't have to worry that much about fit and shape because the stretchiness of the fabric kind of takes care of that for me. With woven fabrics I can play around with gathers, darts and pleats to get the fit and silhouette that I want. It's a lot more fun and challenging.

The design that I'm showing you tonight is a pretty little dress with puff sleeves, ruching at the bust and an a-line skirt. It zippers up in the back. I think this dress is adorable and while I originally pictured wearing it with dark tights when I went to take the photos I discovered I didn't have any so I threw on some gray knee high socks and realized they look really cute together without being too girly. If I were to wear this in the winter though I'd probably pair it with some gray or black cable knit tights to keep warm and save the socks for the spring. I'll be listing this dress tomorrow morning:











Have you ever noticed how clothing companies name their designs after certain fashionable celebrities in hopes of conning people into thinking they'll look like that celebrity if they wear it (like the "Cameron" dress or "Ashley" top) or that it was possibly endorsed by said celebrity? I always thought it was kind of cute but kind of lame at the same time (I liked that the clothing had pretty names but thought it was an insultingly obvious marketing ploy - at least to me) . I've been getting bored giving my designs descriptives names like "puff sleeve top" and "ruched top" so I thought it would be fun to give them more creative names as well except I didn't want to associate them with ridiculous celebrities. So I got the idea to name them after some of my favorite fictional characters. I don't think these are outfits these people would have worn if they were real. They're just pretty names. So this week's design has been named the Lotte Dress after the beautiful Lotte from the Sorrows of Young Werther (Goethe). The title of this blog is also a quote from Werther's suicide note.

I hope everyone had a great weekend you're all ready for the holiday season. I don't care much for Christmas but i love the parties/celebrations/food of the season. My weekend was spent sewing, watching "No Country for Old Men" (great movie but the air gun scenes = gross) and celebrating my brother-in-law's birthday at his parents house by drinking wine in the middle of the day like a European (I miss Italy already) and eating yummy food (even though something I ate was inconspicuously dairy-rich and made me a little ill later that night). All and all it was a fun weekend though. Ciao bella!

I meant to post this last night but I got a bit of a late start. It's not surprising and almost expected considering how much I have on my plate lately. I'm seriously running myself into the ground lately and it's worrying. Only a little over a month to go, though, until the wedding and then I'll have a lot less to worry about, which will be nice.

My new design in my etsy shop, www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com, that I'm showing you today is something that I've been wanting to make for a while and just never got the chance. It's a flounce sleeve top with a v-neck and a v-shaped hem. I'm in love with this and it's one of my new favorite designs:





It's funny because that's how most of my designs come to life. I have a long, long list of designs that I want to make but haven't had the time yet. I rarely ever find myself sitting around wondering what I should do next. My biggest problem is having too many ideas and not enough time to do them. This often works out well for me because it allows me to weed out the not-so-hot ideas that I come up with occasionally due to some phase I was going through at the time. Usually by the time I get to an idea on my list I've thought it through enough (meaning moved on) to realize whether it's worth trying out or not.

Some other things I've been working on this past week was this ruffled black skirt with a pink tulle underskirt:




that my sister Jessica commissioned me to make for her and a puff sleeve top that Tara ordered from my shop (which is almost finished). While working on these things recently I realized that I really love doing custom work. It's so much more fun working on something that is being specifically made for someone and knowing that they like it and want to wear it. When I was working on pre-made items in my old shop I would worry the whole entire time that I was wasting my time and that no one would like it. It got to be a little depressing at times. I'm glad I'm not doing that anymore.

Oh I almost forgot, I'm holding a clearance sale in my old shop at www.rbrooks.etsy.com. Everything in the shop is 50% off. I'm trying to clear everything out of there so I can focus on my new shop. If you want something get it quickly because things are selling pretty fast.

Well that's all I have for now. I'm working on a couple of new designs for tops this week and I'm really excited to see how they turn out.

My weekend was kind of a bust. I hope everyone else's was better. I did have fun though on Friday night watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie, Rear Window, with Aaron and Matt but I had to work Saturday which made my weekend kind of short (I was returning a favor to Ashley who was kind enough to cover my shift last Friday so I could go to Adam and Katie's wedding). On Sunday Matt and I were all excited about our plans to go for a bike ride along the pond trail from last weekend but of course seeing that it was our one day off together it rained all day long. It was kind of a bummer. Let's hope this week is better.

See you guys later.

After much delay I finally opened my new shop on etsy.com called Garrison Hill Designs at a brand new web address www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com.

It took some time getting this shop together because working full time, planning a wedding and trying to design, make patterns and sew prototypes for the shop all at the same time isn't easy.

What will be different about this shop, as I said in my previous post, is it will feature all made-to-order items.

Some of my ideas and designs have changed since I first announced them. I was really excited about offering hoodies in my new shop but after a few small disasters trying to find a sweatshirt fleece supplier online I decided to scrap that idea. I will still be offering jackets though. Some of the designs that I showed you in my earlier blog post have been tweaked a little as well. Here are my newest creations:




Ruched top. This was originally supposed to have cap sleeves but I decided it looked better sleeveless. It has ruching down the front and back center seams.





Babydoll Top. This design originally had contrasting straps. I opted instead for cute little cap sleeves.





Puff sleeve top. This top hasn't really changed from the original design. It's pretty much what I planned on.

I'm so proud of these new creations and I really feel like I'm branching out and growing as a designer/seamstress/whatever the hell it is that I'm doing. I worked particularly hard on these designs and am continuing to work on new ones. I also tried really hard at improving my photos this time around because I feel like that was a real weakness in my other shop.

So if you haven't done so please come by and check out my new shop.

Some new designs that will be coming soon include palazzo pants, cropped jackets, dresses and more tops!

I hope everyone has been having a good weekend. Unfortunately it's back to work for me tomorrow but I had a great three days off nonetheless. I managed to get friday off from work so I could attend my future brother-in-law's wedding and it was a really fun time. I didn't want to steal the spotlight from the happy couple by talking about my own upcoming wedding so I tried to keep quiet about it during the reception but every single person I encountered brought it up and wanted to discuss my plans. It was fun throwing around ideas with them though and I don't think the Adam or Katie noticed or minded.

On Saturday Matt and I had planned to go to Paxton, Mass to meet up with his family for a post-wedding "Beni bash" (a Beni bash is when the Benincaso's - Matt's mother's family - get together for a big family party) but Matt got out of work too late and it was too far away so it didn't happen. What did happen instead was fun and very typically random of Matt and I. We went out to the local Pizza Hut for some really gross pizza that neither one of us liked and somehow ended up going for a hike around a nearby pond. The only problem is we didn't really know where the trail we were on was headed so we thought we were looping around the pond on our way back to the car but somehow ended up wandering farther and farther away until we wound up behind a nearby Target store. We were really confused and started walking down the busy main road to the restaurant where we parked our car when everyone's favorite nerd, Aaron, spotted us on his way back from Target and asked us why we were wandering around out there. He got us back to our car and we invited him to come over later that night to watch zombie movies and "dork out" as Matt put it, which he did and we had a really good time.

Sunday was pretty much uneventful as I had to put the finishing touches on my new shop and I tried to make my way through the gigantic new fall issues of Vogue and W ( I only made it 1/4 of the way through Vogue and haven't even touched W yet).

So that was my weekend. How was yours? I hope everyone got outside and did fun labor day weekend things - whatever that may be. Have a some fun for me tomorrow because I'm going to be very bored at work.

See ya'll later.

I apologize for the delay in my weekly blog update but I was having such a good time this weekend celebrating my birthday and just hanging out I didn't really have time to post here last night. But I've got about a half hour before I have to go to work so here goes.

As I said in my last post I will now be doing made-to-order items in my shop rather than making things in random sizes and colors and hoping someone buys them. I'm still in the process of making patterns and finding fabric for new designs so I don't have any of these items in my shop yet but I'm hoping I will by the weekend or early next week. I did however list a made-to-order headband in my etsy shop, Garrison Hill Designs :





This headband can be made in size small, medium or large and is available in the colors and prints shown above.

Though I'm not much of an illustrator or visual artist I'm going against my better judgement and showing some sketches of new designs that will be listed in my shop soon. Please bear in mind that these aren't beautiful fashion illustrations like Jenn's, just rough sketches I came up with to give me a visual idea of what I'm making:The first design is a baby doll top that I will make out of a stretch knit fabric, the second is another stretch knit top with ruching down the center seam, the third is a lined cropped jacket and the last one is a stretch knit top with puff sleeves. I will also be offering hoodies in all sizes but I think everyone has a good idea of what a hoodie looks like so I didn't bother with a sketch.

I'm very excited about these new designs and I'm so eager to get started on making them. I'll let you know when I finally list them in my shop.

I hope everyone had as a fantastic weekend as I did. On Friday Matt took me out to Poco's in Portsmouth where I had some very yummy vegetarian chili and my first ever watermelon mojito. It was as amazing as it sounds. On Saturday evening my mother then took my sisters and I out to eat at the Friendly Toast. It was their first time going there and of course they loved it. Then at midnight that night Jessica, Matt, Julia, Joanna, Kelly, Elizabeth (my boss), Jasmin, Lexi, Acea and I all went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show! I loved every second of it and especially loved the dressing up part:Everyone spoiled me this weekend too by giving me candy, cards, gift cards to my favorite stores and Matt gave me a brand new digital camera that I used to take all these photos with! I'm such a spoiled brat!

Well I have to run off to work now! See you all later.

Sorry for not posting last week but I didn't have anything new to show you so I thought I'd wait until the next Sunday. This week I do have some new creations listed in my etsy shop, Garrison Hill Designs , so here they are:


A blue flutter sleeve stretch knit top (Size small). I had a hard time parting with this because I'm in love with the color but I already have three of these shirts in various colors in my closet so I don't think I really need another.


Hot Pink Mod Dress (size small). I love the color of this dress as well. A lot of people think that I wear mostly black for some reason. Most people don't know that I'm really into bold colors (hence the rainbow top I'm wearing in my profile picture) and have a particular weakness for pink. I don't really know why I'm drawn to that color so much. Maybe because it's kind of fun, flirty color that you don't really see a lot of people wearing. I'm also really drawn to mod fashion (especially mini-skirts and dresses) because it's really wild and different. I was inspired to make this dress after I saw a cool orange sheath mini-dress dress with a dropped waist in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" last weekend. I saw it and instantly wanted to make something like it for my shop.


I loved that last dress so much I decided to make another one and this time went full out Mod. This one is also a size small (I haven't finished resizing that pattern to fit a medium yet) but is an inch shorter, making it a mini-dress. I made it out of a very Mod-looking black and white fabric with geometric shapes on it. This is the same fabric that I made that circle skirt out of that I sent off to Wholly Craft. I fell in love with this dress so much after I made it that for a while I seriously considered not even listing and just keeping it for myself. The decision I came to is I'm going to give this dress exactly one month to sell on etsy and if it doesn't it's all mine and I'm going to wear it to Italy (I can't go over there looking like some dumpy American tourist now can I?).

I also had a bit of a revelation this weekend as well. I realized that making clothes in random sizes and colors and etc isn't working too well. I want my shop to grow and expand but it doesn't seem to be happening. A lot of the really successful clothing designers on etsy do primarily made-to-order items. They'll come up with a design, make a prototype and offer it in any size or color. It's a great idea because the buyer gets the exact size and color they want and the seller doesn't have to waste time making things that people like but won't buy because it's not exactly what they were looking for. So starting next week (when I can buy more fabric) I'm going to start offering made-to-order items. That'll include hoodies, jackets and some new tops. I'll offer made-to-order skirts and dresses too but summer will be over soon so I'm gearing towards fall clothing right now. I'm thrilled because I think this will work out a lot better for me and will allow me to be a lot more productive too. Hopefully, if things go well, I can open up an Ebay store in the fall as well.

I'm also really thrilled because after weeks of searching I finally bought the perfect wedding shoes. My colors for the wedding are going to be white and blue so I was looking for a pair of blue heels to wear with my dress (which will be knee-length). Surprisingly it's really hard to find dressy blue heels. I did fortunately find something similar and they're so pretty I just couldn't resist:


They're more of a gray-blue but still beautiful and I just love the pink ribbon and trim on them. I have a pair of these in black so I know they'll be comfortable and I can walk in them well. They arrived yesterday and I can't stop gushing over them.

That was a really long post but seeing that I missed last week I guess it counts as two. I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Enjoy the summer while it lasts because it's going fast. I went to Garrison Hill Park today and spread a blanket out on the grass and actually relaxed for a change and got a bit of a tan (I was starting to get pasty from spending too much time indoors this summer). I've been meaning to go to the beach all summer but I've been so busy that I haven't had any time to so I'm making it a goal for August (the ocean's warmer then anyway).
See you guys next week! Next weekend is my "birthday weekend" (I turn 29 on friday) so I'll probably be busy doing fun stuff all weekend but I'll still post a little something on Sunday :-)

I've had a really frustrating weekend. First, I spent the entire weekend working on one damn dress. Just one dress! I don't know why it took me so long. It was a new pattern I just designed and I was still working out the fitting issues and other little problems but every little thing I could have screwed up on it I did screw up so finally, this afternoon, after working on it since yesterday morning I gave up on it and just started another one. That one I finished within a few hours and I love it. I'll show you that later though.

It's just frustrating because I always underestimate how long it will take me to make something and then I overestimate how many things I can do in just one week so when I fall drastically short of that goal I feel like I'm slacking and not doing enough. I know I'm just being hard on myself though and not taking pride in what I do get accomplished.

On top of that I went to the fabric store today with my digital camera to check out some fabric for a custom order I'm working on and ending up leaving my camera behind somewhere in the store (most likely at the cutting table). Unfortunately I didn't even realize it until later when they were closed so I can't find out if they still have it or not until tomorrow morning. Fortunately Matt has a camera he's letting me use so I can take photos of items for my shop this week. And ironically enough it doesn't actually matter if I lose that old camera for good because it was a big old clunky thing and I'm getting a new one for my birthday in a few weeks anyway. I guess I shouldn't be complaining then. I think I'm just annoyed at myself for being so careless.

So enough bitching, this is what I did do right this week. It's not a lot but I put a lot of work into each garment so that counts for something:


Blue Satin Handkerchief Skirt (Small). I think this is lovely and very elegant.

Pink Stretch Knit Top (Small). I made this out of a funky textured fabric. It reminds me of a black shirt that I had in college made out of a similar fabric. I hand-sewed all the hems on this.

And the thing that took me the longest and prevented my from doing many of the other things I had wanted to work on this weekend was this cute little dress. I think all my hard work paid off on this one because it's absolutely adorable and exactly what I wanted it to look like. I'll be listing this one tomorrow in my etsy shop Garrison Hill Designs :

Other than that I had a nice relaxing weekend with Matt. We went for walks, had dinner on our balcony Saturday evening and then went out to dinner at the Friendly Toast in Portsmouth tonight. So far though our summer has been quite boring so we decided next Sunday we're going to take a little day trip to Vermont and see what we find. It should be a lot of fun. Hope everyone had a good weekend. See you all later.

Next week will be a more interesting post as this week I was busy with the holiday and I was still tinkering with patterns and designs. I went fabric shopping on Saturday though and even though I wasn't able to find any sweatshirt fleece to make hoodies out of I did pick up some really pretty cotton fabrics to make dresses out of and some interesting knit fabrics for tops. I think I'm going to have to turn to the internet for the fleece.

So this is what I listed in my Garrison Hill Designs this week:


Pink Dupioni Silk Skirt (Size Small). I really love this skirt and I think it came out beautifully. Dupioni is such a lovely fabric that pretty much anything you make out of it will look great.


Purple headband (Small)


Blue headband (Small)

This week I'm going to be working on that satin skirt as well as some new dresses and tops. It should be fun.

I had a nice quiet weekend for a change and it was great. Things have been kind of wild lately because of holidays, feistas and friends visiting from out of town so it was good to just hang out at home with Matt and watch movies (the Motorcycle Diaries) and play video games like the dorks that we are. Though we did venture out on Sunday to see the tall ships in Portsmouth (it was disappointing - they're not that tall) and to see "Sicko" in the theaters (It was a really great film and probably one of Michael's Moore's best).


I thought it would also be fun to show some very random photos I took on my camera today just for the hell of it:


Gypsy trying her hardest to look cute


The Thomas Leighton


One of the tall ships






A pretty dress/slip that I saw in a shop window and just loved. The little pink fabric roses are so adorable.

See you all later.

Hey all. I'm exhausted and ready for bed but I just remembered that I didn't do my little blog update for this week yet. So here's what I listed this week in my etsy shop Garrison Hill Designs . :


Black Stretch Knit Camisole (Size Small)


Black Stretch Knit Flutter Sleeve Top (Size Medium)


Pink Headband (Size Large)


Cherry headband with red stitching (Size medium)

I also made a really pretty blue headband that I will be listing tomorrow and I made that Dupioni silk circle skirt today. I just need to insert the elastic into the waistband and then take some photos of it and it's ready. That will probably be in my shop on Tuesday.

Anyway, I had a really great weekend. On Saturday Matt and I went down to the annual St. Peter's Fiesta in Gloucester, Ma which is basically an Italian festival that I used to go to all the time with my family when I was a little kid. I hung out with my family and visited some old haunts that I haven't seen in decades and also introduced Matt to my grandmother for the first time. Matt was very excited that he got to try out his Italian on the locals and also spoke a little with my grandmother. It was an amazing time. It was also kind of a wild time. There was lot of public drunkeness all over the city and a huge police presence. "It was very surreal" as Matt put it.

Well, I'm off to bed. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

While updating my page tonight I realized that somehow someone had posted porn on my profile page. I was really horrified when I saw it and just wanted everyone to know that it wasn't me. Under the "interests" section I had posted a number of photos of cities I have been to. One of the photos was somehow replaced with porn - most likely from the page that I linked it to. I took those photos off and I hope the same doesn't happen with my other images. If it does and someone notices it before me please let me know.

I did though happen to post new photos in my album. They're porn-free.

I don't even know why I'm bothering to blog here this week because I barely have anything new to show but I'm going to do it anyway just for the hell of it. I'm running low on fabric as well as money to buy more so I don't have a lot of new stuff in my etsy shop Garrison Hill Designs . I do have this though:

It's a lace skirt lined with cotton and decorated with a little pink bow (Size medium).

What I've mostly been doing this week is working on new designs and patterns for some tops, dresses and some skirts. I'm working on ideas for some ruched tops, mod mini-skirts and some summer dresses. I also want to start making outerwear like hoodies and cute little jackets. I think it'll be a lot of fun.

I've also been working on some new tops for myself. Though I have skirts galore I barely have any tops to wear (I don't really own a lot of clothes in general - surprising as it is) so I decided to make myself some new stuff:

I made this out of a thin light blue stretch knit (it's slightly sheer). It's a v-neck top with flutter sleeves that I designed myself. I've made a couple of tops for myself from this pattern including a purple one that I posted months ago and a red one. I love this design and am going to be making a bunch of these for my shop.

I made this tank top from the same pattern as that striped tank top that I showed you last week. It's hard to see it well because it's almost impossible to take good photos of black clothes. It drives me crazy trying to do it.
I made this top from a really soft black stretch knit. I really love the scoop neck and the overall fit of this top because it looks really clean and simple yet delicate and feminine at the same time.

That's all for now. I'm really exhausted after a really late yet fun saturday night out with friends. I had a really fun weekend though and hope you all did too. See you guys soon.

I'm having a really hard time trying to come up with a lot of really fun music for my guests to dance to at my wedding reception this fall. I've started a pretty good list which has enough music on it for a couple of hours but I think I need more. The reception starts at 3 pm and pretty much goes until whenever everyone leaves. I think the latest we can be at the hall is about 8 p.m. but I'm not really excepting everyone to stay that long. I basically want to have more music on hand than we can actually play so that way we won't run out of songs and have to repeat them. Matt's brother Adam is going to be our DJ and he's basically going to just make a playlist on an mp3 player or ipod. So this is what we've got so far. If anyone has any suggestions let me know:


First dance: "Unchained Melody" - Righteous Brothers
Bridal Bouquet Toss: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - Cindy Lauper
Gartel Removal: "Foxy Lady" - Jimi Hendrix
Cake Cutting Song: (I have no idea yet)

"Last Goodbye" - Jeff Buckely
"Satellite of Love" - Lou Reed
"All of My Love" - Led Zeppelin
"Trampled Under Foot" - Led Zeppelin
"Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin
"I Will Follow" - U2
"Stay (So close so far away)" - U2
"One" - U2
"In A Little While" - U2
"With or Without You" - U2
"You're all that I have" - Snow Patrol
"Blame it on the Tetons" - Modest Mouse
"Dashboard" - Modest Mouse
"Tiny Dancer" - Elton John
"Beast of Burden" - Rolling Stones
"Angie" - Rolling Stones
"That's Alright Mama" - Elvis
"Heartbreak Hotel" - Elvis
"Love Me Tender" - Elvis
"Jailhouse Rock" - Elvis
"Just like Heaven" - the Cure
"I am the Walrus" - the Beatles
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - the Beatles
"Twist and Shout" - the Beatles
"Imagine" - John Lennon
"Let it Be" - Paul McCartney
"Whisky in the Jar" - The Dubliners
"What a wonderful world" - Louis Armstrong
"Head over Heels" - Tears for Fears
"I'm On Fire" - Bruce Springsteen
"Higher Ground" - Stevie Wonder
"Superstition" - Stevie Wonder
"We Are Family" - Sister Sledge
"Tribute" - Tenacious D
"Rock the Casbah" - the Clash
"Train in Vain" - the Clash
"Purple Rain" - Prince
"Kiss" - Prince
"Smile" - Lilly Allen
"Feel Good Inc." - Gorillaz
"Dare" - Gorillaz
"YMCA" - the Village People
"Shout" - Isley Brothers
"Proud Mary" - Tina Turner version
"Beat It" - Michael Jackson
"Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson
"Wanna Be Starting Something" - Michael Jackson
"Hey Ya" - Outkast
"Sexy Back" - Justin Timberlake
"Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison
"Call me" - Blondie
"Rapture" - Blondie
"Heart of Glass" - Blondie
"Ain't No Sunshine" - Bill Withers
"Can't Help Falling In Love" - Elvis
"Margaritaville" - Jimmy Buffet
"It's Raining Men" - The Weather Girls
"What's Goin' On" - Marvin Gaye
"Mercy Mercy Me" - Marvin Gaye
"When the Stars Go Blue" - Ryan Adams
"Boys Don't Cry" - the Cure
"Under Pressure" - Queen/David Bowie
"Life on Mars" - David Bowie
"Build Me Up Buttercup" - the Foundations
"Keep the Car Running" - Arcade Fire
"Sunrise" - Norah Jones
"These Boots Are Made for Walking" - Nancy Sinatra
"Fly Me to the Moon" - Frank Sinatra
"I Can't Help Myself" the Four Tops
"ABC" - the Jackson 5
"I Want You Back" - the Jackson 5
"Just A Girl" - No Doubt
"Ray of Light" - Madonna
"Take Your Mama" - Scissor Sisters
"Don't Feel Like Dancing" - Scissor Sisters
"Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
"Do You Want To" - Franz Ferdinand
"Wind Cries Mary" - Jimi Hendrix
"I Turn My Camera On" - Spoon
"You Look Good on the Dancefloor" - Artic Monkeys
"Hotel Yorba" - the White Stripes
"Fell In Love With a Girl" - the White Stripes
"Is This Love" - Bob Marley
"Three Little Birds" - Bob Marley
"Stir It Up" - Bob Marley
"Is It Any Wonder" - Keane
"Mr. Brightside" - the Killers
"Read My Mind" - the Killers
"Somebody Told Me" - the Killers
"American Girl" - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"Take On Me" - A-ha
"Safety Dance" - Men Without Hats
"Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond
"Heart In A Cage" - the Strokes
"Juicebox" - the Strokes
"Last Nite" - the Strokes
"Ruby" - the Kaiser Chiefs
"I Predict a Riot" - the Kaiser Chiefs

I made some lovely new skirts this week and once again wanted to keep them for myself. Unfortunately, I'd never make any money if I kept doing that so I listed them:


This is a pretty little blue ruffle skirt with small white flowers on it and a black satin bow. (Size small)


I adore this one. It's a ruffle skirt covered in little cherries and a little red satin bow. (Size medium)


I decided to tone it down a little with this little ruffle skirt and opted for a solid color instead of a crazy print. It's a really pretty shade of blue and I decorated it with a dark blue bow. (Size medium)


I used the same pretty blue fabric for this circle skirt and added a black tulle underskirt. (Size large)

I've been pretty busy all weekend working on new stuff for the shop but also working on some new clothes for myself. I designed this tank top and made it out of striped knit fabric that I got on Ebay:


I like it so much I think I'm going to make some for my shop (probably out of a different fabric seeing that I don't have any more of this). I'm also working on making a bikini for myself seeing that I hate every single one I've been looking at in the stores lately. What's with all the halter top bikinis everywhere? I'm really not that keen on sporting halter top tan lines everywhere I go nor am I too thrilled with the idea of those skimpy little ties coming undone with the slightest movement and having the top fall down on a public beach. Is it just me who has a hard time finding a decent bathing suit or do other women have this problem too?

Anyway, lately I'm getting really bored working with cotton all the time so I'm going to start working with new and higher end fabrics like silks and satins. I bought some beautiful pink Dupioni silk this weekend that I'm going to make a circle skirt out of and I also bought some light blue baroque satin that I'm going to use to make a handkerchief skirt. I think they're going to look gorgeous. I can't wait to post photos of them here when they're done.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Matt and I had a picnic in Portsmouth on Saturday where we ate Italian pasta salad and my very first homemade cherry pie. I'm so amazed at how well it came out. I can't wait to make another one :-)

That's it for now. See you next week!