Homemade | Makers' Almanac From: Susie | Spring 2021

HOMEMADE RESURRECTION

I N S PRING

Herb Gardening

Story-Makers Embroidery 101

Homecooking

with my grandmother

Texas

Lake Living

A behind-the-scenes look at our latest design project THE MAKERS’ ALMANAC

Sp eci al ly DEDICA T ED t o m y G ran d m o t her, NOR MA ROBB T HOM ASON Whose heart, laughter and keen eye for design has made me who I am and set me on this path to pursue faith and beauty in all that I do.

It is my great honor to give you this magazine, with all my love.

DR EAMER | D OE R | E M PA T H ri s k- ta ker, c om m u ni t y- l o v er, enneag ram t yp e 7

a note

Fro m : Sus i e Wel c ome t o O u r In au gu ral Issu e!

Here we are, spring again. You know it used to be one of my least favorite seasons? I’m a woman of instant gratification and spring has always felt like a slow crawl to the more exciting days of summer. If I could have it my way, we would put up our Christmas trees, pack up the winter coats and bust out the swim wear! But nature has always been a lesson in patience. In my preference to her successor, summer, I’ve missed the lessons that God teaches us afresh each new year with spring.

Spring is a fighter. Spring shakes off the dead grip of winter and literally pushes herself up from the grave.

Resurrection is found in spring. The imagery of the buds emerging through what was once dead is a testimony to us all!

We are capable of resurrection. Let us sow and tend in this season so that the harvest will be abundant! And may it come back to us year after year as we tend to our tender shoots.

With these metaphors at the forefront, I present to you the 2021 Spring Décor Box. I hope in each of these pieces you will find a treasure. Take a read behind our mediums, our makers, our missions, our stories. As always, thank you so much for your support. May God bless you this season and the next!

Susie Robb

HOMEMADE E DI TOR I N C HIEF, Su si e Ro bb

Crea tive D i rec tor + I l l u st rat o r, Ashl ey Sl at er P h otog ra p h y b y C o rt ne y Dani Ho st i n O p era ti on s Ma n a ger, Raeg en Hai n D i re c tor of Ma r ket i ng , L au ren Si gal a D i re c tor of R eta i l Ser v i ces, Sarah G ay O n li n e Con tent Cre at o r, Am y Wi l l i am s

Con tr i b u tors : Nor m a R ob b T h om aso n, G rand m o t her Ben Mc C a ll of 8 FD D esi g ns Meli s s a R edd i c k of Mo d ern Hi st o ry Cl aywo rk s K a ti e Cu r ry of Ho ney B r u sh D esi g ns W i ll a n d K i rs ty n Wri g ht , Wr i g ht Ho u se W i c ke tt & Cra i g Ma i ns tree t S eed + Su p p ly

Sp ec i a l T h a nks to. . .

D a v i d Weekley Hom e s

THE MAKERS’ ALMANAC

W E SU PP ORT

T he Ma k e r.

Shopfromsusie.com has a heart for the American maker. Our goal is to create a collaborative effort that supports local businesses and provides our customers with quality goods for their home.

Whether domestically, or a world away, you will find goods here that are responsibly and ethically made. We pride ourselves on sourcing the unique, utilizing superior materials and promoting the talented home artisan .

Meet the Wrights! Read more about their pottery and painting studio in Decatur, Texas on page 78.

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C o n ten ts 14

Spring 2021 Decor Box Guide

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RESURRECTION

24

Herb Gardening

54

The Good Old days A journey into the past

68

Embroidery 101

Story-Makers: 42

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Homecooking

With my grandmother

8FD Designs

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Honey Brush Design

7 8 Wright House

Texas

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Lake Living

A behind-the-scenes look at our latest design project

Spring 2021 | DECOR BOX This season I wanted to tap into the rawness of spring. In this box you’ll find a neutral palette that is designed to pay homage to the tenderness of the season!

We design these pieces extensively and create them exclusively for you! Each collaboration is intent on providing you with quality home décor that tells a story of spring while functioning beautifully in your home.

My grandmother was a large part of this box. I’ve listened to her tell stories of her childhood since I was little. Working with her on the creation of these pieces and this publication has been an absolute honor. I hope you’ll find yourself smiling each time you see her name in these pages!

I’m also so excited to be working with my tried and true craftsmen again on this box. Our Made in Texas Collection keeps growing and growing and this spring we are adding new makers and artists to our repertoire. I can’t wait for you to hear their stories.

My heart has always been with the American entrepreneur. Maybe because I’ve been a single mom for awhile now and I can appreciate the necessity to provide for our families. Maybe it’s because I’m an artist at heart and have always wanted to showcase creatives. Or maybe it’s because in this political season, I see our chance of unity coming from a mutual respect of our neighbors. Either way, there’s too much talent and resources in our own backyard to not buy and support local.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving and supporting our mission at From: Susie. I pray this box blesses you and these pages fill you with such delight!

xo, Susie 14

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Seed Packets

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Bud Board

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Garden Caddy

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Leather Hangers

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Tea Towel

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From: Susie Candle

88 90

French Water Pitcher Custom Throw

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T H E T HREAT OF

RESURRECT ION

By Reverend Victoria Robb Powers A CLO S E R LO OK AT LUKE 2 4 : 1 -1 2

My name is Victoria. I’m the Executive Pastor at University Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. I’m married, have two kids (another on the way), I was raised in West Texas, and I come from a long line of very dramatic people. I’ve got a rich ancestry full of folks who feel very deeply, and I am proud to be among them.

My family has never been very interested in the mediocre life. We need things to be intense, dramatic, high energy whether its positive or negative. We’re over the top when it comes to Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, you name it. We’re gratuitous when it comes to language, nothing is ever just good or nice, it’s “amazing”, “omg, I can’t believe this is real life!”, “pinch me I think I’ve died and gone to heaven”.

I think this is why I LOVE the Easter Vigil service.

It’s dramatic, it’s full of darkness and then bright light, the music is overwhelming, and the story we tell of Jesus alive again, risen from the empty tomb, it gives me chills every time. Nothing about this service is mediocre or mundane, it’s emotional and powerful and full of symbolism. It’s the most over the top service in all the best ways – we get to read not one, not two, but eight scriptures. We get to sing not one, not two, but six songs. We get to not only celebrate communion, but remember our baptisms.

Friends, as a pastor who loves drama, this is my dream come true service.

And yet, it doesn’t take long for these dramatic feelings to wear off for me. And sometimes I wonder why that is?

“He is risen, He is risen indeed.” Is there any better more life altering news than this?

Death: the thing we all fear so greatly, it’s been conquered. We don’t need to be afraid. Christ has risen. Christ has risen indeed.

And yet, sometimes I don’t feel as impacted by that truth as I’d like to be.

Let’s read what it says together in Luke 24: 1-12.

There is nothing so dead that God cannot raise it to life. “ 1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.”

In our gospel reading from Luke, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James come to visit the tomb of Jesus and find the stone rolled away.

When they walk into the tomb two men in dazzling clothes stand beside them and the scripture says that the women became terrified.

This feeling of terror appears in some of the resurrection stories as well. In fact in Matthew, both the guards and the women are terrified by Christ’s resurrection.

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In Mark, the story ends with Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome fleeing from the empty tomb in such terror that they can’t talk. And once Jesus begins appearing again to the disciples they find themselves plain terrified.

To be sure, in most stories the intimate friends of Jesus eventually feel joy at seeing him alive again.

But one theme running through the stories of Jesus’ resurrection is that terror frequently comes first.

And yet in most of our Easter celebration we try to get to the joy immediately. We sing up-beat songs, gleefully proclaim Christ is risen, and maybe even dress up in more festive clothes than we normally wear. We eat Easter breakfasts and Easter dinners.

We treat ourselves to potted spring flowers and fancy chocolates. We suppose the primary Easter feeling is joy. But is it?

The common Christian narrative is that death is the great threat and resurrection is the great hope. You don’t have to be afraid of death, whether that’s literal death or figurative death, because Christ is risen and resurrection is your hope. I preached an Easter sermon last year where I proclaimed that because of the resurrection everything that appears dead or hopeless in our life can be reversed; that there is nothing so dead that God cannot raise it to life.

Now, I do believe this, but I have to tell you, this year I started wondering if that’s really our narrative.

That death is the great threat and resurrection the great hope.

There’s a scripture in the book of Exodus where God says to Moses, see I set before you death and life, choose life.

For the longest time I always found that scripture perplexing. Isn’t it obvious to choose life? Who when set before them is life and death, who would choose death?

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And yet look around, friends. The reality is we choose death all the time. Whether that’s compulsive overactivity, unhealthy relationships, non-stop judgment, work that compromises our integrity, affairs, substance abuse, pervasive cynicism, or what have you, we choose death dealing things in life all the time.

I know I do. I’ve had toxic relationships in my life I

couldn’t let go of even though they only brought me death. I’ve chosen habits that hurt myself and others, I’ve given in to temptation that wasn’t life giving, I’ve even worked jobs that were so detrimental to my spirit, they dealt me a kind of death. And while it may seem obvious in all of those instances that I should have chosen life, walked away, picked new habits, there is a perverse sense of comfort in partaking in these things.

You see in some sense we become accustomed to our pain and dysfunctions and losing them threatens our very identity and ability to make sense of the world.

Who are we without these things? See, there can be a kind of settledness and security about our mistakes or disappointments. Sometimes we really like feeling sorry for ourselves or being angry and disappointed with ourselves. And this idea of resurrection is kind of threatening to our complacent existence.

Maybe then the story isn’t that death is the threat and resurrection is the hope, maybe resurrection is the threat.

There’s an apocryphal story about the apostle Peter who, after Jesus’s resurrection and being filled with power, sees a blind beggar crouched in the dust outside the city. Moved with compassion, Peter places his hands over the blind man’s eyes and, in the name of the risen Christ, heals him. “The beggar leaps to his feet, eyes wide open and clearly healed. But with his face full of rage he screams at Peter, ‘You fool!

You have destroyed my way of making a living!’ and in one swift and violent motion the beggar gouges out his eyes with his own thumbs.” Friends, in this story is a powerful metaphor ... We sometimes know how to ‘make a living’ from our figurative blindness, but we are afraid that we would starve to death if our sight were restored.

So often, we resist or refuse our own healing. We have gotten used to death. Resurrection means giving up the undisturbedness of the tomb for the uncertainty and responsibility of an open future.

It means being stripped of the consolations of cynicism and resignation, catapulted into the pain of continued involvement and growth. And that, friends, can be terror.

It’s just so easy to stay in a despondent and meek place.

The grave makes sense to us. Nothing is demanded of us here. There’s comfort inside the tomb. We know what to expect. Nothing is safer than staying behind the locked door, the closed tomb, the predictable system.

Maybe this why the dramatic emotional feelings of joy I have on Easter Sunday fade so quickly, because my primary sentiment towards the resurrection is actually fear. The resurrection breaks security, threatens a future that is totally uncertain and different from anything one could imagine.

I sense that maybe the frightened women at Jesus’s tomb were confronted with the same experience.

James Alison, a 20th century French theologian, once wrote that “the stone put aside and the absence of the corpse were not in the first instance a motive for rejoicing, but for terror. Terror because what had happened was quite outside anything that could be expected. Terror because now there was no security, no rules, nothing normal could be trusted in.”

Resurrection is terrifying, especially when we’ve grown complacent with our own deaths in life. And sometimes we don’t want to admit that we enjoy the tomb. We act as though we’re eager for new life, we’re eager for deliverance, we’re eager for hope, but we keep turning to the same things that offer us NOTHING. Why, the angels say, why do you look for the living among the dead? If you really are desperate for resurrection, you have to stop looking within the tomb to find it. You have to take the risk and step out of death… choose resurrection. Choose life.

Mary Williamson once wrote these now familiar words: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all

meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I don’t know where each of you find yourselves today.

I don’t know what pains you, afflicts you, I don’t know all of your sorrows. I don’t know the things that haunt you or what is it that enslaves you to your own tomb. But I do know, friends, that because of the resurrection everything that appears dead or hopeless in our life can be reversed; that there is nothing so dead that God cannot raise it to life. And while there is some terror to that good news, it is indeed good news. But you have to choose it. Because ever and always, set before you is life and death. Choose life.

Choose resurrection.

He is risen, He is risen indeed. Will you rise too?

Amen.

Victoria and her family

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Our work at the 626 Foundation is to help families honor the past and breathe fresh air into the present. Our hope is that through intentional interior design, we can help people find joy in their spaces again. It is our desire that our services can help each family have more means and optimism about the future; this in turn would allow them to focus on cultivating love, support and healing for themselves and their family.

Please consider supporting our efforts at 626foundation.org/donate.

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C U L T I VA T I N G

GAR DE N

HERBS “The kiss of the sun, the song of a bird, one is closer to God in a garden than any place on earth.”

-Dorothy Frances Gurney If you follow @fromsusie on social media, then you may know that a garden is on my vision board. I would love to have a garden of which to pick my favorite fruits and veggies for my culinary experiments. Until now I only really grow my own herbs and even so, there are a few that I’m better at maintaining than others.

This season we are helping you start your own little patch of green with our seed collaboration with Main Street Seed & Supply of Bay City, MI. I will most likely keep my herbs on the kitchen counter and I love them in our Made in Texas Catch-All Caddy. Growing herbs from seeds is a great activity to do with your children as they will love watching nature do what she does best. It will require some patience, but there’s nothing quite like sowing and reaping. My grandma has an old sign that says “The kiss of the sun, the song of a bird, one is closer to God in a garden than any place on earth.”

If a green thumb doesn’t come naturally to you but you love the idea of using fresh, homegrown ingredients, then here are some basics to build on with the herbs we’ve included.

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O cim um B as ilicum Basil is a great herb to grow for cooking because it’s so versatile. I’ve used it in Thai dishes, Italian dishes and summer salads. It is a tender annual so planting it in the spring is best due to basil’s sensitivity to cold weather.

Well-drained, moist soil is ideal for this herb so remember my grandma’s tip to stick your fingers in the dirt! There are no better tools than your own hands, so let that soil speak to you.

5-6 hours of sunlight a day is really all basil needs, so make sure it’s getting those rays even from inside the kitchen. This is a great harvest-as-you-go kind of plant where you can pick off leaves as you need. I’ve also picked a few and rolled them in a paper towel to keep in the fridge for later.

Al lium S choenopras um The mild onion-like flavor of chives are my favorite! You can cut off what you need and they will only keep growing.

What a blessing! Just be sure you don’t cut them all the way down. Leave a bit for continued growth.

Chives are hardy enough to grow in moist or dry soil and they love the sun, so be sure they get a lot of it. Partial sun will result in slower growing chives.

Culinary applications are endless. Chives pair well with tomatoes, fish, steaks and butter! Chive butter can be frozen in cubes for later use as a base or as a finish.

An e t hum G raveolens Dill is the most tender of this grouping because it won’t survive the cold nor does it like sweltering heat.

It enjoys the warmth so plant in full sun but with just a bit of shade during the peak of the day.

It should also be protected from strong winds.

Water regularly, never letting it completely dry out.

Snip the leaves directly from the plant and then chop before adding to your recipe to release the flavor.

HERB SEED PACKETS Sourced in Michigan Main Street Seed + Supply “We wanted to include something in the Décor Box that was hands on,” Susie says. “In a world of ipads and cell phones, getting your hands dirty in soil will literally ground you. My children love to play botanist and watch things grow, so this is something I want people to do with their children or loved ones. It requires a great deal of patience, but perhaps that’s what we all need.”

Susie’s great grandmother always had a garden of onions, radishes and beans. Home cooking was the only cooking Norma Robb Thomason knew. There was one old café, but they never, ever went out to eat. Even on road trips, it was a stop at the grocery store for bananas.

We’re sharing her Deviled Egg Recipe in this issue for you to make at home. Use our herb seeds to grown your own Dill and Chives from Main Street Seed & Supply in Bay City, Michigan.

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grandma’s famous

HOMEMADE

Deviled Eggs

Whenever my grandmother and I get together at her house in Texas, every moment is filled with laughter and nostalgia. Making these Deviled Eggs was no exception. Spring cooking at grandma’s has always been filled with the bounty of her classically Southern kitchen. Chopping fresh herbs together brought back so many wonderful memories, and I’m so pleased to share this family favorite with you.

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TIME SAVING TIP: Have you tried the trendy Tik-Tok “Egg Blowing Hack” to remove eggshells?

Well, we did and I am here to declare to you loudly that it does NOT work!

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grandma’s famous HOMEMADE I NGR EDI ENTS

6-12 Eggs Sweet Pickle Relish 1-2TBSP of Bread & Butter Pickle Juice Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip (depending on what part of the country you are from) 1 TBSP finely chopped fresh chives Salt & Pepper to Taste

P re p T ime: 20 minut es

Deviled Eggs INSTRUCTIONS

To hard boil your eggs, cover them in water and bring to a boil over medium/high heat. Let boil for a minute or two then cover, remove from heat and let set for 10 minutes. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and put in an ice bath for 10 more minutes.

When eggs are done, peel and slice in half. Scoop out yolks into a medium sized bowl and add the listed ingredients to taste. After combining, scoop out a spoonful and put it back in the hard boiled egg half.

Repeat until all are done. Sprinkle with just a dash of paprika (wish we could hear you pronounce that word) and garnish with a sprig of dill.

Assembly T ime : 20 minute s

Yie ld: 12-24 halv es

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BUD BREAD BOARD Made in Texas By 8FD Designs Bread boards have become a staple at shopfromsusie.com. “I knew I wanted to include another cutting board in this season’s box, but I wanted it a bit smaller and understated,” Susie says.

“Our oversized boards are beautiful, but when I think about my grandma making a sandwich for herself, or serving up fresh veggies, I wanted something light weight and easy to work with.”

Introducing this Spring’s Bud Bread Board.

In botany, a bud is an embryonic shoot usually at the tip of a stem. It’s an outgrowth and it’s quintessential spring. Our Bud Board pays tribute to the emergence of fullness that is yet to come.

It’s a smaller size perfect for slicing tomatoes or herbs and can be used as a small serving tray.

We chose alder for our medium as it turns so beautifully. Alder is an understated red wood, relative of birch, that’s knotty and rustic in nature. This board is food safe and we recommend washing by hand.

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SPOTL IG H T Ben + Lynne McCall

8FD DESIGNS The McCall’s have created quite the creative compound 64 miles outside Dallas, TX in a town called Decatur. One visit to the shop and you’ll be covered in saw dust and inspiration.

The 32,000 square foot building houses machinery for wood working, welding, and screen printing as well as offices, retail space and rooms for private paint parties.

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Perfecting His Craft Ben McCall began his work as a craftsman at the ripe age of 10. He helped his father build their own home and others. Working as a general contractor after college evolved into McCall’s own shutter company in the 90’s. His constant curiosity is reflected in the ever expanding scope of what is now 8fD Designs. McCall has taught himself to weld, screen print and work with digital art.

When asked if his curiosity is sparked by the mechanics of all the things, he corrects you, “No! I’m fascinated with all the possibilities!”. 8fD is constantly adding resources to create new product categories for their clients of designers, architects, TV personalities and other large retailers.

Shop owner Ben McCall at home in his Decatur-based 8FD workshop, preparing lumber for another original design .

Lynne McCall joined 8fD Designs full time in 2014 after retiring from the corporate world, and in the spring of 2019 they approached Susie Robb about creating products for her store. “They are the key component in the direction I have taken the shop. Their ability to create products that I design, exclusive to our site, all the while supporting local, has resulted in a much more meaningful and intentional experience for my customers,” Robb says.

To l earn m ore ab o u t t h e McCal l s and the ir wor ks ho p , fo l l o w t h e m on Ins tag ram @ 8fd_ de s ig ns

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The “Made in Texas Exclusive Collection” at shopfromsusie.com is crafted entirely by the crew at 8fd Designs.

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GARDEN CADDY Made in Texas By 8FD Designs Made of recycled fir, this multipurpose caddy wants to hold all your things! Susie had originally designed a tackle box of sorts to hold gardening supplies, but the design morphed into a crate that can be used as a planter, a caddy and more! Our palette of natural, neutral tones is carried throughout this piece with a copper patinaed steel handle.

The Garden Caddy is designed, cut, sanded, and assembled in Texas. The Wright House Vessel fits inside beautifully. Fill it with herbs and use our French Water Pitcher to create the most beautiful vignette. Add a couple gardening tools and gardening gloves to create the ultimate set up for spring. We can’t wait to see what you do with yours!

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SET OF T WO LEATHER HANGERS Made in Texas By 8FD Designs Sourced from Wicket & Craig Although simple in design, these leather hooks have quickly become a staff favorite. We’ve sourced the leather from Wickett & Craig, one of only two vegetable tanneries left in the United States. Vegetable tanning is a natural, eco-friendly process that results in the richest leather with the longest longevity.

The raw material is jumbo, heavy native steers from North America. A lot of hard work goes into this family focused business that’s been around since 1867.

With Susie’s sketches of a minimalist hook, the team at 8fD Designs has created a modern twist on hand cut strips of leather with brass screws. We suggest you use these to hang dish towels in the kitchen or hanging baskets through out the home. You can hang a rod between two hooks to serve as a towel bar or purchase a large hoop to hang heavier throw blankets.

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This photo was part of a Father’s Day ad staged by the Sears company for The Marshall News Messenger in 1951. Susie’s grandmother Norma is featured pouring water on the right . Her younger brother can be seen obligingly lighting their father’s cigarette while the rest of the kids grill hotdogs and setup for a family picnic.

TELL ME ‘BOUT THE GOOD OLD DAYS As Remembered

By Norma Robb Thomason

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INNOCENT, HAPPY TIMES I was born in 1933 during the Great Depression. My fondest memories are of my childhood. If I could go back in time, it would be when I was little with my six brothers and sisters growing up under Mama and Daddy. We had such innocent, happy times. We played in the dirt, waded in the creek and climbed in the trees. Mama and Daddy took care of everything, and

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we didn’t know any different. Daddy always had a job because he worked for the paper and ran the printing press, and Mama stayed home with all the kids. We used to ask her why she had all these babies and she would say, well who would you get rid of? We would think for awhile and decide we loved each other too much, so she’d warn us not to talk like that again.

Susie has compiled these photos of her grandmother Norma’s family, The Jacksons.

The portraits included depict Norma’s father Roy, Mother Marie, young Norma, and siblings Annette, Joyce, Larry, Sammy, Jerry and Mellodene.

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“

Mama worked so very hard.

She was always cleaning and cooking and then she would sit down at night and sew. Daddy would ask her, “are you gonna go feel material today?” and that was because when she would go to the fabric store she would wad up fabrics in her hand to see how bad they would wrinkle before she bought it.

WASH DAY Monday was wash day and Tuesday was ironing day, unless it rained of course. Mama had a scrub board and an old ringer washer machine. You would run the clothes through the ringer which was easy to get your fingers caught and there were two tubs for rinsing.

Mama would add bluing to the second rinse to make the clothes brighter.

Mama made her own starch that came in a box and you’d mix it with warm water.

Clothes that needed to be ironed would be dipped in the starch before you hung it on the line.

You’d have to take a wet rag and clean the clothes line first which was just an old, rusted metal post, but after the clothes were wrung out you’d hang them on the line to dry.

After the clothes were on the line, she would sweep off the back porch and pour out the water over the porch and steps. Mama wasted nothing.

Washing took all day, so after the dried clothes came off the line she would sprinkle what needed to be ironed with a little bit of water and roll them up tightly for the next day. She lined a No.2 Wash Tub with a sheet and put all the rolled up clothes in it to be ready for Tuesday. The water kept the clothes evenly damp for the iron.

See the clothespins Norma saved from her mother’s washing days on page 64, featured alongside our Clothespin Tea Towel.

She had an apron she would wear with pins in it and a little sack cloth with more clothes pins that hooked on the line so you could slide it along with you. I still have one clothes pin with her name on it.

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Mama would put on a big pot of beans or soup that could cook all day while she ironed and she would sing hymns.

Nowadays you girls have better fabrics and dry cleaners, but back then laundry was major work! My main regret is why didn’t we help her more? All we did was go and play. Although we did help during Spring Cleaning. We would lay our mattresses out in the sun and move the furniture out so we could polish the floors. All us kids would put on socks and slide all over the place shining those floors. We would wash the lace curtain panels, dip them in starch and hang them on wooden frames with nails from the back.

They were stretched perfectly so you could hang them right back up when they were dry.

Once, when I was married, I made my husband dig up the posts from our first house so we could take the clothes line to

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our new house. I remember hanging diapers on the line in the winter and bringing them in and laying them in front of the heater because they had frozen! I didn’t get a dryer until 1967.

I remember a mocking bird built her nest in the post once and she would swoop down and dive at my head when I went out to hang the clothes.

I miss those times when things were far simpler. I told this story to Katie who made this Tea Towel to remind me of these things.

Your grandmother probably has very similar memories of washing clothes and Spring Cleaning. My grandmother had an even harder time dragging water from the well to heat up over a fire. God bless it! We all come from a long line of hard workers. Don’t forget it!

CLOTHESPIN TEA TOWEL Made in California

By Katie Curry of Honey Brush Designs Katie was commissioned by Susie to design this tea towel for her grandmother. In reminiscing about the past, Norma Robb Thomason remembers her sweet childhood and her mother. The children were always sent to play while her mother (Susie’s great grandmother) worked tirelessly keeping up the home. Norma still has a clothespin of her mamas and this Clothespin Tea Towel pays tribute to the labor of love of the generations before us.

Flour sacks and feed sacks were recycled by many as a source of free textiles. Norma remembers her mother would cut out a small sample from a chicken feed sack to give to her daddy so he could purchase another bag with the same pattern.

This would ensure she had enough fabric to make dresses for the girls.

If you’ve never used flour sack in your kitchen towels, you are in for a treat. The cotton provides water absorption unlike any other. It wrinkles terribly, but we think it only adds to the charm.

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S P OT L IG HT Katie Curry of

HONEY BRUSH DESIGN

“Watercolor is a very unforgiving medium. It has a life of it’s own and I’ve come to love the happy accidents that come along the way.”

Originally from California, Katie has been an artist since childhood. Encouraged by her family to pursue her talent, Curry took formal art classes in high school and majored in graphic design at Chico State.

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Watercolorist Katie Curry painting Hydrangeas in her California studio.

HAPPY

ACCIDENTS She dreamed of owning her own business and in 2016, with the support of loved ones, launched “Honey Brush Design” on Etsy. She began selling custom stationary, invitations and printables.

However, it was when she created her own wedding invites that she fell in love with watercolor.

“It’s a very unforgiving medium. It has a life of it’s own and I’ve come to love the happy accidents that come along the way,” Katie says.

Crediting Instagram for the introduction, From: Susie has collaborated with Katie Curry of Honey Brush Design since early 2018. Shopfromsusie.com began carrying Katie’s watercolor designs on tea towels and then expanded to include her aprons, totes and prints. Susie is often commissioning Katie to create personal designs for her and her grandmother, including this spring’s Clothes Pin Tea Towel; a tribute to her great grandmother.

To l e ar n m or e abo ut K at ie an d h er ar t is t r y, f o l l o w he r on Ins tag ram @ hone ybr us hde s ig n

T he Ar t of

EMBROIDERY

A Tea To we l Anth o l og y B y NORMA ROB B T HOM ASON

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TIP No. 1: Always sew under sunlight. Lamps and artificial lighting are just not the same. Natural light is better for embroidery and especially best for choosing thread colors!

EMBROIDERY 101 I first learned to embroider under the direction of my grandmother who learned from her grandmother.

It’s a lost art of sorts. Nowadays machines are able to pump out mass produced embellished textiles, but there’s something to be said for hand stitched embroidery.

TIP No. 2: I like a lightweight needle with a big eye!

This makes stitching so much easier for me.

G R A N D M A ’ S FA V O R I T E S T I T C H E S French Knots This is my favorite stitch, but I remember being the most frustrated with it as a child. Begin by bringing your needle and thread up from the bottom of your fabric. Before you put the needle back through right next to where you started, wrap the thread around your needle 2 or 3 times. The trick here is to point your needle away from the starting point when wrapping and then turn it to go back through. It also helps to hold the thread tight with the thumb of your other hand while wrapping.

This knot creates such great texture to your designs!

T h e La zy Daisy The lazy daisy stitch looks like a flower petal or a detached chain. Start by bringing your needle and thread up through the bottom of the fabric. Then go right back where you came from with your needle, but don’t pull your thread all the way through. You’ll leave a little bit of a loop of thread on the top of your fabric. Depending on the size of the daisy petal you are creating, bring your needle back up through the bottom of the fabric at the top of the petal. Catch the loop of thread you left in the previous step with your needle and secure it by pulling your thread and stitching over top of it. Come back up through the initial starting point and create your next petal. Note that you can make thin petals with long stitches pulled tight or round petals with stitches left loose.

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TIP No. 3: Tie a long ribbon to your scissor handles. This keeps them from getting lost.

T h e Sa tin Stitch The satin stitch is typically sewn with fewer strands of thread, but you are welcome to use as many as you’d like. The number that you use will determine the thickness of your satin stitch. You’ll begin like all the others coming up through the bottom of the fabric. Depending on the shape of your design, you simply go out with needle and thread to the perimeter of the design and pull the needle through the bottom. Come back up right next to where you started and go back out right next to the last stitch. What you are creating is long stitches side by side that fill in the shape of your design.

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TIP No. 4: I don’t use embroidery hoops when I sew because I can feel the needle better with my left hand and I can pull the fabric down when stitching.

TIP No. 5: Be sure and check the back of what you’re sewing often. Your thread can get tangled and you wouldn’t know it, but I’ve also found that I’ve sewn my nightgown to my fabric without noticing!

T he Cr oss S titch A cross stitch is just that, a stitch in the shape of a cross. Start by coming up through the bottom of your fabric. Imagine the shape of a square and you’ve come up in the bottom left corner of that square. Go back in to the fabric in the top right corner of that imaginary square and come back up underneath it in that bottom right corner. Finish the stitch by crossing over top and taking the needle into the top left corner. Tada!

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A VISIT TO THE

WRIGHT WRANCH

Husband and wife team, the Wrights have a style all their own! You can feel it in the vibes of their home studio, the organic shapes of Will’s pottery, and Kirstyn’s witty paintings. Rough and historic meets minimalist influence for these two history buffs!

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A Marriage of

C RE AT I V E H AR MON Y The couple met in college, Will a Graphic Designer turned sclupturer and Kirstyn the painter. The pair are both full time art teachers with a desire to pass the love for the creative on to the next generation. Will has been making pots for over a decade now throwing by hand on the wheel and firing in the wood kiln he built himself. He’s heavily inspired by North Carolina potters, Bandana Pottery, and Alex Matisse of East Fork Pottery.

A close-up inside the couple’s Decatur, Texas studio and of Kirstyn’s vibrant paint palette.

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De catur

DR E A M S The dream is to make more pottery, make objects for others to paint, and they want to start private lessons and classes.

The Vessel in this year’s Spring Décor Box was designed to be multifunctional. First as a candle holder and then as a pot. Susie had asked for an earthy, rustic vessel and the couple delivered a gorgeous piece that has been fired on low in the electric kiln and then passed through another.

To learn more about the Wright Wranch visit them on Instagram @the.wright.house 82

Wright’s creations have been sold in Samurai museums, Japanese gift shops and are now on full display in Decatur, TX at the couple’s new store.

FROM: SUSIE CANDLE Made in Texas

By Wright House Art + 8FD Designs The vessel used to hold Susie’s signature scent is two fold. After you finish burning this beautiful scent, recycle your pot to hold potted plants, herbs from our Seed Packets or wild flowers.

The Wright House has thrown each vessel by hand on the wheel in their home studio outside Decatur, TX. It’s been fired twice with a matte green glaze to give nod to Spring. The crew over at 8fD then poured Susie’s soy wax candle in her signature scent to create a truly versatile candle for the season.

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FRENCH WATER PITCHER Made in North Carolina

By Melissa Reddick Modern History Clayworks Simple elegance stands tall in this sleek pitcher measuring approximately 10” in height. Inspired by the forms of early 20th century French Zinc Water Pitchers and handcrafted in white stoneware clay, each pitcher was individually hand thrown on the pottery wheel leaving markings on the surface which are unique to each piece..

Finished in a glossy white, food safe glaze, these make the perfect vessel to hold whatever wets your whistle. Not thirsty? Use to hold a fresh arrangement of tulips or daffodils from your spring garden!

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CUSTOM SPRING THROW Bedford Collection, Manchester, New Hampshire Formerly known as Kennebunk Weavers, Bedford has been manufacturing decorative throws since 1982. They love what they do, and it shows in the depth and variety of the products they offer.

Design, quality, and development have proven to be the cornerstones of their business.

Bedford Cottage throws are designed and manufactured in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The father and son venture of Edward and Richard Sherman has resulted in beautiful novelty yarns woven into the high quality offerings of the textile line.

Susie has been looking to design her own throw with a company that prides itself on American soil.

The Spring Throw is a collaboration of her color palette for Spring with Bedford’s yarn offerings.

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Texas

Lake Living

A behind-the-scenes look at our latest design project

CEDAR CREEK, Texas

Cedar Creek Lake is one of the largest lakes in Texas and boasts more than 320 miles of beautiful waterfront. The area attracts tourists and DFW residents looking for sun and fun within easy distance of the metroplex.

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A Vibrant Kitchen Redo One of my most favorite design projects this year was this lake house in Mabank, TX. This brand new build constructed by Whiddon Homes boasts 5 bedrooms and built in bunks for 10!

Listed at $1.1MM the home sold in just a few days.

Elements of robust terra cotta and intense indigo made the center island and painted backsplash come alive against shades of white and natural wood.

The Design Process Most of my work starts with design boards, or “conception”. This is where we start pulling all the inspiration together and create the mood. My clients described the desired aesthetic like this: beachy vibes, exposed beams, latin touches and modern fixtures. Taking those directives we created a mood board of cedar, talavera pottery, indigo blues and gold brushed hardware.

Once the inspiration is laid out before us, we then start making actual selections. My favorite flooring when someone says “beachy” is a blonde, wood-look tile.

This color lends itself to driftwood and tile is always a good choice when you’re near a body of water. The extra large planks give the home a modern feel and we carried them throughout to add to the expansiveness of the home.

Let’s expand on the “latin touches” requested by our owners. Talavera is a Mexican and Spanish pottery tradition, a type of tin-glazed earthenware. You can recognize it by its bright colors of predominant blues, yellows and greens. We captured that quintessential Talavera blue in the island.

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MOOD | Mexican Riviera

The island received a pop of that blue with Sherwin Williams “Indigo Batik”. We all loved the way it turned out and the Leather Hooks from the Décor Box were a perfect touch.

Exposed cedar beams added to the Spanish flair both in the living room and over the stove. In the end we opted to forgo the corbels once holding up our beams and I love the more modern feel it gives the space.

We tied it all together with sleek lighting. Seeded glass pendants are matched with the metal chandeliers in the common areas. These modern fixtures are eye candy during realtor showings, but I think even when the home is furnished they will stand out! I’m a big fan of mixed metals so you’ll see brushed nickel, gold, and antiqued brass cabinet hardware throughout the space.

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Eclectic Illumination

After conception we step into “creation”, here I input all of our selections into a program called Design Files. This gives the client a full picture of what the finished space will look like with no surprises. We do this for each room in the house with or without furniture. Nowadays there are numerous designers who create e-designs for their clients. These design boards are very similar to what you can expect when you hire one.

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Bathed in Light The adjoining bath was designed to be a clean and bright retreat. I carried the same latin-inspired theme through this room, running mosaic tile around the perimeter to give it the feeling of resort living.

The crowing glories of this jewel box master suite are the incredible barrel chandeliers, encircled in sheaths of metal.

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A Final Touch A bunk room of dreams! What kid (young or old) wouldn’t want to sleep in in here? I finished the guest bath with straight stack indigo tile in the shower and a charming sunburst mosaic tile on the floor to echo the themes in the kitchen and master bath. This lake retreat is designed for entertaining for years to come!

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SPRI NGT I ME A R e f l e ct ion I recently heard a friend say, “The older I become, the more I love the Spring.”

I understood what she was saying. Not only did I understand, but came to realize that this sentiment had been slowly taking root in my own life as well.

When I was a child, I loved the vibrant brilliance of Autumn (still do), but there’s something about the Springtime that speaks to a deeply held truth.

A landscape that was once lifeless is reborn, with the hues of coolest periwinkle brushed across the sky, sprays of yellow clover dusting newly green hillsides and lush pools of colorful blooms leaping forth in celebration.

It is an Awakening.

It is a promise made and a promise kept.

So awaken, hopeful sleeper, the sun has returned.

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Three years ago, I bought a shop.

It was a risky move. As a single mom, I wasn’t sure what would come of it. Would all of the work and effort amount to something greater?

In spite of those doubts, I kept building. Brick by brick and room by room, I have watched it blossom into something beautiful, meaningful and purposeful.

What is growing in my heart this season is Hope.

It is my prayer that every encounter you have here would inspire and encourage you, and gently nudge you forward.

I’m forever grateful for your love and support. You have made this journey so worthwhile.

We have lots planned in 2021, and I can’t wait to share it all with you. Be sure and stay tuned!

xo, Susie

SUMMER

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