Life, Uncooperative, is Still Beautiful

Under an uncanny sky, smoke drifting down from wildfires in Canada, life has carried on around the pond in all its unruly abundance.

The heat has brought on the stinkiest algae bloom, earning me my title of Ungardener once again. Each day I am in pond, net in hand, gathering long strands and cauliflower blooms.

I empty the net on a rock and sift through finding tiny surprises: tadpoles with varying numbers of limbs, and salamander larvae wriggling. All are delighted to return to the water. The bee balm has exploded and is alive with critters, including a hummingbird moth again. A daytime bat circled above me whilst in the pond, swooping low for a drink.

In the small milkweed patch I claimed years ago from incessant mowing, a monarch flits about.

Oh, and I have weeping poison ivy on my face.

Classic Sendak is back on my desk!

Stacks of Anselms

Chaos and Small Victories

The Scout is Out Again!

Meanwhile, on their annual canoeing trip at the Delaware Water Gap, the boys and men of the family fish and chatter. Walter, in setting up his Scout before the storm blew in, dropped it into the river.

A little river baptism!

P.S. I forgot to mention that in Ireland, his pannier popped off over a bump, hurling his Scout into the road where it bounced multiple times. It wasn't built with these particular experiences in mind — but the Scout endures!

SHOP THE SCOUT

A Few Hours Closer to Canada, the Sky is Clear!

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Watch on YouTube

Everywhere Astonishments

“If we don’t really, in our time, have an awareness of what we lost then, what is it we’ve lost? – Anthony Metivier in conversation with Rick Rubin

Widow’s Bay Looking forward to Episode 8 tonight:)

@ehaidle mushroom 🍄

This Summer We Play!

Plein Air Painting as a kind of journaling. Walter has been painting wherever we travel since making the first Scout Box in 2017! I would love to see a wall of the paintings – that would be an incredible installation that would mark our adventures, along with his progress. But he’s given some away to the people we’ve spent time with traveling, and others he’s sold. So we have photographs. So many photographs of so many things.

Walter painted.

When travelling especially, I am reminded of our Smallness.

In the Workshops

Back at home, we are inundated with our own ideas and desires. There is so much to do, and so much to want to do. There has been lots of experimenting this summer:

Søren is working with me and Ashley on videos and helping out with jewelry.

Silas is spending his time in the woodshop with the lathe working through bowl designs from scrap wood.

Søren at the Pier with His Rogue

Walter’s Pouches

We’ve made a new batch of Writer’s Pouches from scrap and have used up the rest of our Red Maple and Almond — the last are available now along with our regular colours.

Stationery on the Go! (I wrote SO many letters in Ireland!)

Returning to an Old Project, Alas

I need a project to focus and to widdle away on and have returned to a favourite I put on pause at a few years ago. It still holds up and I must navigate what I don’t know. Little By Little Makes a Lot. Here I go. I'll share progress @beingmargauxkent For now, enjoy a colourful Classic Sendak!

Classic Sendak is back on my desk.

Substack and YouTube

Everywhere Astonishments

Podcasts enjoyed during our trip:

• Criminal, always a favourite. We listened to this a lot whilst biking.
• Huberman Podcast - Ido Portal I loved this and related so much to moving outside of a formula or ciriculum for a kind of freedom and agililty of the mind and body. I took pages of notes on the airplane.
• Diary of a CEO — Dr. Martin Picard Mitochondria Scientist talks about energy, a subject I am desperate to learn more about.

Colour has come to the once invaded-only hill, but it is still incredibly overwhelming, the rate at which the plants I am ungardening grow. Alas, a view from a stilt-grass-pulling pause.

Movement and Celebration

We biked and hiked and explored along the coast and up and down the hills and mountains of County Kerry in Western Ireland. I’ve not yet taken it all in, though I’ve taken notes.

I am on Irish time still, not quite ready to be home and navigate the mess I left for myself and we are having a pond party today, so I must jump into the preparation hustle!

Here, a little green from our last two weeks. I look forward to sorting through thoughts and journals and letters and voice memos on a good long walk here in the thick heat of Pennsylvania soon.

Soggy Great Blasket Island

Our Favourite Recent Reviews

Thank you, always, for your reviews! It is our connection with you and your treasures after we’ve set them free. We love reading through them as they come in daily with personal notes and tales of your adventures. Keep them coming!

Wyeth Plein Air Box

A wise investment!

“I am not an experienced plein air painter. But this box has made it so easy to just go out and paint. Everything I need in one beautiful, sturdy box. Although it is a bit heavy, I like how it allows me to paint larger. I also primarily paint in watercolor and I haven’t had any issues with the kit. I love how you can arrange the easel at any angle. Moreover, I’m finding that it is completely transforming my practice. I just love it so! The only problem is now I want to bring it everywhere I go. And you do need to invest in a high quality travel tripod so between the box and the tripod it is definitely an investment. But one I’m finding is totally worth it.” –Akane Z.

Classic Sendak Artist Roll

The best gift I ever gave myself was my Sendak Artist Roll

“I have been an artist all my life and was a traveling artist for over two decades. I taught classes at retreats, art stores, and conventions. I spent years trying every type of organizational products for my art supplies. Some worked better than others, but none were the perfect answer for my organizational needs. I needed my supplies to stay in place and be easily accessible as I was teaching. When I saw the Sendak I thought it looked promising and I ordered one that day. My Sendak met all my needs and expectations. I love that my supplies stay where they are put and so easily at hand. Also I no longer waste time checking that my treasured tools are safe. It saves my time from digging for what I need and confidence in knowing it is easily at hand.” –Rebecca K.

I had a great conversation with Miss mustard seed. Read here!

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Everywhere Astonishments

Ashley, my sister-in-law and partner in newsletters and videos and more here at Peg and Awl, has moved to an old farm with her family. I love seeing it come to life!

Visiting Family in Northern Ireland!

I filled magical few days of unexpected Irish sun and unexpected Irish sunburns. Good food, good conversation, an exploration of vintage film cameras, and so many ways to enjoy a lake!

TSA asked why my bag was so heavy 😫 hobbies and glass containers?! And the other one? Food and tinned fish 🐟 help me.

Four Boys in a Boat

In Dublin

We crammed a lot into less than 24 hours. We visited Oscar Wilde’s house (which is in dire need of material), saw a William Blake exhibit, ate good food, walked, and saw Mick Flannery whom I’d return to Ireland to see again, so so good was the show

SHOP STUDIO COLLECTION

Watch our tutorial on making my journal!

Train to Tralee

We are in Dingle today as I write. The cool breeze is coming through a crack in the window, warm coffee and the sound of dishes through my headphones. May break from the heat, the pendulum swings. Today begins our six-day bike ride.

Past Of a Kind pouch full of necessities.

And we’re off!

Substack + YouTube

I didn’t manage to transfer my journaling to Substack yet, having only a phone I’ve pushed it off. I’ll catch up, I’m sure of it!

Everywhere Astonishments

Storefront

The Peg and Awl Storefront is open for visitors! Come see our treasures in person along with other maker’s treasures and vintage finds.

Monday–Friday 10–5

OUR STOREFRONT

We at Peg and Awl, lovers of newness and change, keep going back to the past for a new, new old. Life is mysterious this way.

This collection contains faded quilts, old tools, tins, the feeling of a hot summer porch a hundred years ago, paired with military bits from local soldiers. It’s not the past itself we are longing for it is the overlap of time. And it consumes us.

Bookbinding Pouches!

This is our first filled pouch containing relics of the past – refreshed – alongside our objects, new and classic! We love incorporating old stuff with the new, both found and made. This includes a sweetie pouch made from an old, very well-worn quilt, which I imagine on hot-summer-porch sleepovers atop the family that constructed it and maybe traded some scrap with the neighbours for the variety of colour and patterns it contains.

Eleven new and vintage treasures, cozily contained.
Each pouch and its contents are their own Dusty Summer colour story.

• 4" Anselm Bookbinding Kit
• 4" Book Template
• Bartram Cherry Ruler
• Dusty Summer Scrap Bundle
• Vintage School Scissors
• Antique Awl
• Vintage Floss
• JM Paillard Gouache
• Art Graf Pencil
• MT Washi Tape
• Coccoina Glue Stick

Each pouch and its contents are their own Dusty Summer colour story.

Sendaks, Bags and Pouches

US Mint Sendak Nutshell

Spender Pouch with US Mint Bag Scraps!

Tinned Sketchbooks + Other Art Supplies

Here we are with more clean-cut watercolour sheets tucked into vintage tins for your petite paintings along with some other new arrivals.

Treasures straight from the flea market

Graphite Drawing Bundle offering inspired by inquiries from our Dream Journal Video Tutorial!

Collections Explained

If you’ve been following along with us for a while, you may have noticed that not all launches are the same – some products stay for years, some fly off the shelves, and others fall somewhere in between. Here are some explanations to distinguish between our various collection types.

Standard Collections: Everything in our standard collections will be ongoing until we decide to stop making them! They may include some vintage or antique materials, (ex. journal fabric lining) but these details will vary subtly to ensure their ongoingness.

Small Batch Collections: Limited batches incorporating vintage or antique materials where larger batches can be made, but are not infinite! The quantity ranges, but we aim for minimum of 100 in these collections.

Of a Kind Collections: Limited batches incorporating vintage or antique materials. Each object will be limited from 1–20 items depending upon our findings.

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Storefront

The Peg and Awl Storefront is open for visitors! Come see our treasures in person along with other maker’s treasures and vintage finds.

Monday–Friday 10–5

“. . . Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”
–Kurt Vonnegut

A filthy treasure this one! Not happy unless he is fully submerged in his work. Here he is torching garden boxes in 80 degree weather to finish in time for Søren’s graduation party. May we all spend our days so immersed.

In Italy.

Søren Graduated!

Ah, all of life is bittersweet. The daily loops are easy to lose a thread in, and these monumental events are the shaking I need. Søren’s graduation was intimate and particular – a tearful extravaganza! Now we are settling into the nooks and crannies of our last chaotic summer together.

Art Days with Søren

Claire Rosen Show ft. Goats

We had an incredible experience back in our old neighborhood of Fishtown, which led to some melancholy for both me and Walter, but maybe a push we need! Claire filled the Ice Box at InLiquid with stunning portraits of goats. Memories of baby Søren beneath my table of handmade journals welled up — that space holds a lot. The Philly Goat Project filled the room with actual goats, who wandered around the exhibit being fed from a table spread filled with their favourite garden treats!

Claire at the End of a Long Day Setting Up

Of a Kinds Peek – Launch Date and Time

Our next Of a Kind Collection is coming together and may the biggest and most magical yet! We will send the newsletter out at 10ish on June 20th, 2026.

Pearly in the middle

Substack + YouTube

We’ve been sharing journal-making processes since the pandemic started on our YouTube channel a bit willy-nilly. It’s been fun and we are working more diligently and slightly more strategically to share more. Our channel is creeping toward 9,000 subscribers! The last video included a peek inside my journals and elicited lots of responses, so we will share more innards.

Everywhere Astonishments

Podcast: Hidden Brain.
Book: The Art Thief continued
Movies: Backrooms, La Chimera

Reminder. I always forget to remember.
Keep track of what you've done, not just what you have not done.

The Art Thief has been a fun world to (re)enter. I am remembering Freakonimcs three part series on The Hidden World of Art, Season 11, Episodes 20, 21, and 22. I am also tempted to reread Donna Tartt’s epic novel, The Goldfinch.

Storefront

The Peg and Awl Storefront is open for visitors! Come see our treasures in person along with other maker’s treasures and vintage finds.

Monday–Friday 10–5

Well, the Smallening Lasted for a Little While

We’ve been cozy at the Five Acre Wood, settling into the barn – stretching out in some places, shrinking in others.* But we are getting antsy and are finding ourselves pressing up against the walls and ceilings of the small woodshop and sniffing around for more.

Our woodshop team is growing from 1.5 ish to 2.5 ish – Walter being the perpetual ish, paws in everything at Peg and Awl. We will share bigger projects, like the garden start below, and snippets along the way.

If you’ve been here for a while you probably knew this was coming. O, how we love disrupting the comfort and rhythm of what is working well for new and unknown adventures!

Two Scouts, an Italian Adventure!
Pictured Here, Hannah Sutton

Studio life, ever-evolving

More land projects as we navigate this new path. Walter found plans here @OnBeaverCreek for $31 and is building garden boxes into the hillside betwixt house, studio, and pond – just in time (as always) for Søren’s graduation party! He is torching the white oak and oiling with Outdoor Defence oil it so it lasts longer.

Journaling and the 100 Day Project’s End

Day 100 of The 100 Day Project

Nutshell Artist Roll!

I take notes in dark movie theatres when movies inspire the scribbling. Backrooms def had me page filling!

Of a Kinds and a Studio Loan to Goats

Our next Of a Kind Collection is in the works and planned for late June, 2026. This will be a big one filled with Sendaks and Bags, art supplies, kits, and vintage treasures!

The flea markets have been full of magic and I’ve a studio full of goodies to sort and clean and sharpen. I am also lending some of the treasures to Claire Rosen and some city Goats for a night so they can fill some goaty canvases! More here.

*Our Smallened Finch

Such a warm reception to our newest little last week!
And who doesn't love a warm reception?

Substack + YouTube

We’ve been sharing journal-making processes since the pandemic started on our YouTube channel a bit willy-nilly. It’s been fun and we are working more diligently and slightly more strategically to share more. Our channel is creeping toward 9,000 subscribers! The last video included a peek inside my journals and elicited lots of responses, so we will share more innards.

Everywhere Astonishments

Podcast: The Nature Of Podcast with Giuliani Furci
Book: The Art Thief
Movies: Backrooms, La Chimera

It is hard to live in this world – especially the natural world – without a daily dose of awe. Even the days that feel awe-less, upon reflection, can uncover something. It helps to have an awe-asking friend, too.

This morning, as I sat with my journal and my coffee, Pearl began her wild and incessant barking – and lo – a dinosaur. I grabbed Pearl and the Snapper headed straight for the pond. Yesterday a Northern Water Snake slithered in, today a massive Snapper. If we invite you to swim in our pond, be forewarned.

But, oooh, I would love to make little creature signs to post around the edges. The projects are endless.

“MAMA! I’VE FOUND A MYSTERIOUS CRITTER!!!”

Storefront

The Peg and Awl Storefront is open for visitors! Come see our treasures in person along with other maker’s treasures and vintage finds.

Monday–Friday 10–5

I love the Finch Satchel. The familiarity of its shape against my body, holding what I need for the day. It is a good size, but I will always jam it – things rising out over the edge, the weight of it. Over the years we’ve been Smallening everything. We have a Mini Tote, a Small Hunter, two smaller Sendaks — and now, alas, a Small Finch. The comfort of the Finch, with the nudge to carry less.

Coal, Spice, Moss, Truffle, Slate, All Black

Classic Finch and New Small Finch!

Impromptu Bookbinding Workshop + One in the Works!

I was so lucky to have spent a day with these five – Andrea Bruce, Claire Rosen, Maggie Steber, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Kirsten Luce – just scratching the surface of stories. Claire, who has known them for years and taught photography alongside them around the world, brought them to the Five Acre Wood for a bookbinding and paint making workshop.

Photographs by Claire Rosen

Sitting on the floor around our Kino Coffee Table to work!

Sewing Details

Making Little Things

I’ve been making little things for little things.

We love Customer Photographs

Thank you always for your generous feedback! We love reading, seeing, and sharing it. (And my parents love reading it too — the sweetest!)

Photographs by Suzanne N.

Family Stuff

My view through the screen during our meetings. Still zooming.

Substack + YouTube

Everywhere Astonishments

Music: New Mick Flannery and Aldous Harding. Re-obsessing with an old favourite likely responsible for some the ringing in my ears from so many right-in-front-of-the-speaker nights: PJ Harvey. Prayer at the Gate, is perfect during my wild wavy weather wanderings!

Podcast: The Nature Of Podcast with Suzanne Simard

I was walking in the woods last night with Pearl, slurping honeysuckle and enjoying the cool night when Walter sent a song suggestion: Spitting of the Edge of the Earth by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Perfume Genius! It struck all the right chords and I danced with Pearl on the path as the sun set. A reminder to share things we love!

Storefront

The Peg and Awl Storefront is open for visitors! Come see our treasures in person along with other maker’s treasures and vintage finds.

Monday–Friday 10–5

This week has been hot, hot – now it’s cold! I found refuge in ungardening our pond, in pulling up the algae with hands and feet and swirling it around like cotton candy around four limbs.

We also hosted our open Studio Tour!

When we open our studio doors for the weekend, who walks through is a mystery. I am always excited by those who come with stories or obsessions to share. And I loved seeing people write with dip pens with such enthusiasm!

Phew. We’ve taken all morning and into the afternoon finishing this one.

A look into the algae from the outside!

New Bookbinding Tutorial on YouTube!

As I’m discovering, you’re discovering.

In this video I bring you into my mess with me: figuring out the spine of my book, testing materials, and rambling as things come to mind. I’m inspired by nature and trash, and I don’t always know where I’m headed. I use an antique book from my grandma’s house, leather from the trash, vintage textiles, and inspiration from the land to make my journal.

The question that initiated this video came from Natalie, who works with us – she saw my journals in the studio and asked: “How do you make these spines?”

So here’s my answer!

At the end of the video, I flip through the journal once it is finished. This is three journals ago already!

Unexpected Jewelry Section

The Bluebird Mama visits me everyday. A gentle landing. A tap tapping. Her nesting box is just below my studio and she flies from the box and to my window and back, and I wonder if she has a message or is just curious like I am.

So, distracted whilst working on this newsletter, I wanted to look back and find when I held her. I typed “bird hand” into search and found so many held birds and saw so much of our jewelry which we don’t often share.

Then I typed “bird” and found 2,881 photographs of birds at home and in our backyards, and our hands and all over from our travels. There are so many ways to filter a life and see from a new perspective. Here is a little peek into that bird-filtered world!

Secondhand!

You know we love secondhand things and we know you do too!

Peg and Awl is in its 17th year and we are fortunate enough to hear from people who have bought our things second hand from eBay, (there is a nearly new Elderberry Mini Tote available now and more!) Poshmark, (mysterious pricing – a $5000 Rogue?! Hmmm) and even antique shops.

We often get requests for discontinued bags like the Rogue, and for colours we don’t always have like elderberry. Some people are happy to buy secondhand for the cost, others for life choices. Whatever brings you here – yay!

We have tips for cleaning and rewaxing on YouTube. It is fairly easy and really satisfying. I have a bag waiting for a wash and rewax that I will film and share soon:)

“I just found you guys. Love this. Have purchased a pen case on eBay. I always start small and worn in.” –Jerry

“I recently purchased the hunter satchel, and it has taken a road trip around Ireland. I have to tell you that it was and has been the most comfortable bag that I have ever taken on our international road trips with my husband. The long and thick leather strap was so comfortable that I forgot that I had it on. This bag got caught in the rain and the cold wind in Ireland and when we returned to the AirBNB, I would lay it out to dry. The contents of the bag did not get wet, and it dried well and quickly. For me, it is such a good bag, and I had plenty of room for additional gifts, water and gloves. Also, I want to tell you this bag was not purchased on your website but at an antique store, so it had its own journey already and was able to make another one with me. Great bag and love the thick and durable canvas, just wonderful!!!!!” –Sandra

Substack

Everywhere Astonishments

Maria Popova on David Perell – This was such a wonderful interview. I love Maria's perspective and how she constructs sentences is an absolute pleasure to listen to and learn from. Haha.

It inspired me to find more interviews with her – including relistening to an old one on Cultivating Place. And I started Figuring which has been in my stacks since it came out. I love Jennifer’s reminder to plant a seed. I planted an invisible seed — a wish really, aloud to friends — to be on the same podcast and not long after Jennifer reached out to us! This was one of my favourite conversations to be part of:)

I discovered The Nature Of through this obsession as well, which I look forward to digging further into!

Can’t wait for Robin Wall Kimmerer and Suzanne Simard in Conversation in Philadelphia May 30th. Tickets are still available!

Storefront

The Peg and Awl Storefront is open for visitors! Come see our treasures in person along with other maker’s treasures and vintage finds.

Monday–Friday 10–5