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  • Views of the Store Front!

    August marks a full year for Peg and Awl in the barn at the Five Acre Wood in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and we just had our third studio tour. Each one sees wild change as the space evolves, but I hope settling in doesn’t stop that!

    This year Walter showed his “Crossing the North Sea” paintings, which we will share in detail soon. Søren showed parts of many projects he’s been working on this past year, he debuted stickers which will be available for sale through his IG. Silas shared some pen and ink portraits and opened up commissions — his first will be a parrot named Loki! And I shared Shimmera, work from my poetry project, in side an old Post Office Station.

    In addition to all of this, Peg and Awl treasures were fully stocked, and we shared some new experiments in colour. And we brought in some of our favourite art supplies from makers around the world. We will be expanding on these offerings, though most will be available for in-store purchase, we will be offering some online as we can!

    Beam Paints were much loved during the tour as visitors got to play with all of the colours at our Risko Table from Art Graf! We will be bringing more of their colours in, including their new mineral palette, some new — not-yet-launched colours — and we will be working on some long-dreamed of collaborations!
    I’ve been using Noodler’s Ink for years – Catfish Black – but have been intimidated by the options! We ordered a variety of inks and I was lost in the swatching. I’ll share more on this in the future as well.
    A Rural Pen Ink, ever a favourite. Restocked in our storefront and our online shop!
    After reading Breath by James Nester I took up chewing gum again! I do not like chewing plastic (most gums – even those found in my favourite local makets – are made of a plastic gum base.) When I found Refresh last winter whilst visiting New England, I found my gum! I found an old Necco Wafer store display at a Flea Market and couldn’t resist filling it with Refresh.

    Ever a Flea-Marketer, I’ve been gathering vintage and antique art supplies and am working our ways to share the treasures both online and in our shop. [Below]

    Vintage Pens! We have a variety in our store front and will share them on our website from time to time with our of a kinds. Sign up for our newsletter for the announcement!
    Vintage Pencils
    I have been loving Art Graf for years, and was thrilled to meet Jose and Patrice in New Orleans in April! We brought in a lot of their goodies including a Risko desk — the new demo area in the shop!
    Photograph by Emma of Skippy Cotton loving the Graphite Powder
    Penco tape dispensers are perfect for washi tape and are in use at our work stations and available in the shop!

     

    A corner in progress!
    Søren doodling with Noodlers!
    A close-up of the community art project, the result of art supply testing!
    Our old general store filled with new Peg and Awl treasures!
    Walters well-worn Scout and some new colour adventures! Pine and Wineberry (maybe, or help us name!)
    My Marigold Finch. Marigold, our most recent small batch colour!

    Art Supplies from other Makers, and our Storefront!

    Views of the Store Front! August marks a full year for Peg and Awl in the ba...

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  • Our Adventure to Baker Leather!

    Every adventure we embark upon opens our world and our yearning for more. With that, the things we make broaden too, and how we use them – all is ongoing and interconnected. Everything blooms from everything.

    In 2017, we began our search for sustainable leather, starting in the UK. We drove along narrow and winding roads of the countryside, enveloped in greenery. We were greeted and enchanted by the Tannery Cat, who showed us around the 500-year-old tannery nestled along a river. All was luminous in the glowing light – like the light after a storm. The cat paused mid-tour, to devour a headless rabbit that he had hidden under a car for later – now, the later.

    He finished supper and we continued our wandering through whitewashed buildings full of old machinery, piles of tanned bellies, well-worn wooden what’s-its, and a large pool of oak bark soup with hides draped in rows for a long soak. Everything is worn and weathered, like the paths along the edges of farmlands; the stiles polished smooth and shiny from centuries of passers-by.

    Whilst there, we were able to procure some organic animal hides from local Devonshire farms. These special requests, we were told, bore the marks of the animal’s lives lived outdoors — evidence of small battles, bug-swatting, and fence run-ins — things most people don’t prefer to see in their new leather. But this is all part of the story.

    The leather took a long time travelling to Pennsylvania, and when it made it, we held onto it, savouring it for seven years. We have finally transformed it into something new — our Crow’s Feet Journals — made to house new adventures and layers of life’s patina!

    ...
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    On This Same UK Adventure...

    I have a recurring dream in which I am sucked into a body of water with my journal; I flop around in the water – my journal just out of reach. Yesterday, when Søren and Silas’s eyes lit up at the prospect of venturing down the algae-covered steps to the Thames, one would have expected warning signals to ignite my brain, struck with horror from my dream. The warnings came, but not on my behalf. I warned the boys to take the skinny, dry path – to avoid the slippy algae and save themselves from the off color and smell of an unexpected dip in the Thames. They carried on as originally planned, and I proceeded to greedily take photographs and videos of their adventure down the slippy, algae side. Losing my feet from underneath me, I went down fast and uncontrollably! 

    All I could think of were my dreams, and the journal in my backpack as I flew down. I dug my nails into the green muck, trying to stop my momentum. I could hear Silas screaming, horrified, in the background. Turns out, I pressed record as I fell, my phone capturing the Blair Witch-Like audio that had us all in stitches afterwards. As it goes, spread out like a starfish, I didn’t make it into the Thames that day; I stopped my descent and rose up, green with algae – nails broken and knuckled bloodied, laughing my hearty laugh for the unexpected.

    ...
    ...

    Our Adventure to Organic Baker Leather

    Our Adventure to Baker Leather! Every adventure we embark upon opens our wor...

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  • Time moves. Spring has begun its magical decent into the five-acre wood. This is our sixth spring here, and I’ve been enjoying digging in the dirt nearly daily throughout the year, slowly moving through every inch of the land. Most of my work has been ungardening, which allows me to sweat and think and grow stronger. It is the gardening that I am afraid of — what to put where and how! I do not envision (I may not have this skill at all), I just move. But the land no longer wears its thorny drapery and untraversable barbed bushes, and when Pearl steps outside, she doesn’t return with dozens of ticks and sometimes she returns with none — a remarkable transformation!

    Last winter, Amy, a gardener friend, shared some insight which has made the land this spring, not just an undoing project, but a transformative one for me, the pollinators, and the passers-by. Small spring ephemerals are blooming all around, though the deer and geese are munching them at an irritating pace.
    I remain anxiously aware of the summer explosion which will inevitably hide trees with height and abundance of both good and not so good plants. The burst leads to a dispiriting hiding of what I’ve begun. We have a long way to go here, but magic is alive! Earth day is every day, truly, but it is important to remember to celebrate, so here is my wishing you Happy Earth Day(s)!
    May Apple Rhizome
    May Apple Plant!
    Søren’s May Apple Specimen Card
    Søren’s Jack-in-the-Pulpit Specimen Card!
    Jack-in-the-Pulpit Corm
    Jack-in-the-Pulpit Plant

    Plant Pirate! Flower Bandit!

    I discovered an acre of Snowdrops and Winter Aconite when trees were cut down for another Wawa in the area, and filled my truck with plants. When I went back and tried 'the right" way, (I asked), the plants were destroyed within a week.

    I know better than to ask. Why did I falter?

    Snowdrops and Winter Aconite at a new Wawa site.


    Toots and Yedda have been returning to Pond Island for 6 years! We’ve seen them thrive and struggle year after year. So far, their 5 goslings are thriving — no catastrophes, but there is a coyote on the loose!

    Søren’s Toots + Yedda Specimen Card
    Yedda and her Goslings

     

    Pearl, my love! She ran out into the darkness (was it the coyote?) with fervor — straight into the new wheelbarrow we left in the path. She is recovering, but I do wonder if the wheelbarrow saved her from a worse encounter.

    My nursery, Bluebells and my studio, deer munched Dutch tulips, scented daffodils and the Peg and Awl barn in the background, and wood poppy!

     

     

    Slow Transformations – A Rambling On about the Five Acre Wood

    Time moves. Spring has begun its magical decent into the five-acre wood. Thi...

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  • Specimen Cards and a Closer Look Around

    Specimen Cards

    I look forward to the coming weeks here, the hopeful explosion of plants! Until then, here are some Specimen Cards that Søren (15) and Silas (13) made for me for Christmas, which include a variety of plant friends and creature friends who share the land with us! 
     
    See more of their work on Instagram: @sorenscoutkent and @koshooniart
     
    We have Garter and Northern Water Snakes here...
    And a variety and abundance of frogs and toads!
    We also have a family of Painted Turtles!
    All of these creatures live by and in the untended to ponds.
    Our Pearl!
    Piplup is the last of our many chickens and guineas. She has somehow survived the many attacks of foxes, &c.

    At Home Exploration

    We’ve returned home from Florida, where winter’s end, hormones, lawn talk, and chain stores wreaked havoc on my mood the first day. Fortunately, for myself and everyone around me, a walk around Wakodahatchee Wetlands quickly settled my inner chaos. Florida, like anywhere, can be so many things at once!

    Back home, at the Five Acre Wood, Pearl and I awoke early to sunshine and went outside to visit all the plants’ changes during our weekend away. The three small Witch Hazel transplants survived: their tiny yellow flowers small and sparkly in the woodland. A few Squill, Hellebores, and Crocuses have flowered. Snowdrops have bloomed by the thousands, the snow drop math proving successful here though when I step back, the little clumps have a lot of multiplying to do before they change this comparatively expansive landscape! Even more Daffodils are about to burst, whilst Hepatica, Foam Flower, Geraniums, and other greenies have sent their distinct tops out of the soil and into the sun! A few years ago, I couldn’t have identified these plants by their flowers, and here I am, calling them by their names so soon. It feels magical, this ever-learning.

    I’ve planted thousands of plants since we moved here five years ago. Some will take five years to bloom; others have already started on their journey, only to be destroyed by my rambunctious Pearl or over-eager deer families, hopping the fence when Pearl is elsewhere.

    Snowdops by Silas
    Jack-in-the-Pulpit by Søren
    May Apple by Søren
    Daffodils (most abundant) by Silas
    Bamboo by Silas
    Virginia Bluebell by Søren

    * * * 

    Shop Our Specimen Cards!

    Our Specimen Card Notebook!
    Story on the back!
    Some of the boys’ early drawings on the end pages!
    It fits inside our Sendaks!

    Our Boys Document Creatures and Plants with their Specimen Card Notebooks!

    Specimen Cards I look forward to the coming weeks here, the hopeful explosio...

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  • Sendak for Knitters!

    Like everything we make at Peg and Awl, we made the Sendak first for ourselves, and then for everyone. Our objects most often arise as something we desire, something missing in the world.

    As one who writes and draws, it was easy to share with other writers and drawers — and the Sendak exploded. But we are often asked if it will work for chefs, make-up artists, knitters, crocheters, sculptures, &c. as well. We love seeing photographs pop up sharing these other uses — but it isn’t often.

    The question of knitting comes up the most, so with the help of Brooklyn General Store, one of our stockists, we set up a Sendak for a beginner knitter.

    If you use your Sendak for other things, please share with us – we’d love to see.

    Share with us on Instagram, Reviews, YouTube, or whereever you spend your screen time – we’d love to see!

    waxed canvas storage case filled with knitting needles, stitch markers, and other tools
    Single Subject, Soft Cover Notebook for Knitting Project Ideas
    A Mini Sendak works too!
    An Orra Portrait notebook – perfect for project ideas and notes. 
    A Classic Sendak in Slate.
    I made this for stitch markers from scrap. We had a great response so are working on Leather Scraplings now!
    See our Waxed Canvas Scraplings here!
    A Pouch for Littles!
    The back pocket is great for notebooks.
    Pockets filled with knitting tools from Brooklyn General Store
    Lavender Treasures from Warwick Furnace Farm

    Starter set-up in Our Knitting Sendak


    * * *

    Some Shared Sendaks!

    Sendak Mini for Knitting Needles and Supplies
    Photograph by Alice O.
    Sendak Mini for Storing Crochet Needles!
    Photograph by Maryse M.

     

    * * *

    Sendaks in Clay Studios

    Handmade Waxed Canvas Pottery Tool Case

    My clay set up in a Moss Sendak. Still rather clean, as I've not made time to frequent the local clay studio. 

    My introduction to clay was inside of this big yellow clay pot!
    Cara Graver’s Cob Studio, a time traveling adventure.

     

    * * *

    Here is my friend Darla Jackson’s Sendak in All Black. A well-loved and daily used clayey wonder! 

    Darla Jackson's Sendak Artist Roll filled with Pottery and Clay Tools
    A couple of Darla’s magical creatures...

    * * *

    Your Reviews!

    @tijanadraws has been sharing her Sendak as she’s completely stuffed it with art supplies! I especially love seeing her magical work along with it.
    Shop Tijana’s original illustrations in her shop, here!
    “Beautiful artist roll is from @pegandawl and it’s a keepsake piece to get you round with everything you need in one place, it fits whole sketchbooks, papers and palettes in, next to all the other usual stuff that you can get into these. And if that is not enough it’s extremely beautiful.” –@tijanadraws

    Sendak for Knitters, Potters, and Others ✨

    Sendak for Knitters! Like everything we make at Peg and Awl, we made the Sen...

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  • Of a Kinds, Radish, Ink...

    Happy New Year!
    “Turn it and turn it,
    for everything is in it.”

    –Ben Bag Bag

    Growing and flourishing are not always analogous.

    Join us for a quick wander through 2023, the year we smallened Peg and Awl, and moved out of Philadelphia. Also the year where we found ourselves finding ourselves again. The ‘smallening’, as I’ve been calling it, is a bit vague. I’m an open book when it comes to most things, and would love to engage in conversation on the topic, but mostly, I know neither where to begin, nor how to distill it. The simplest version is this: Peg and Awl was a thriving small business with twenty-five people at our height, reaching sales numbers we’d never imagined nor planned for. But the joy of having a small business, being curious, and exploring this weird world with family and friends, became secondary as our responsibilities to maintain this monster perpetuated. Somehow growing and flourishing are not always analogous.

    And here we are in 2024, returning, already, to what matters most! We’ve ventured south for a little warmth and a lot of biking, I went north for a mini retreat in the snow. We’ve been working on new Peg and Awl treasures, building our barn storefront and workshop, and working on the land.

    We cannot wait to share our progress – there are so many stories to tell!

    Our 14th Anniversary was January 10th!

    I love the weirdness of quilts – especially those that appear to be constructed of spectacularly odd combinations of colour and pattern, perhaps the result of making with what was on hand! 

    Scholar Pouches (Sold Out)
    The Small Hunter Satchel (Sold Out)
    The Mini Tote (Sold Out)
    The Maker Pouch (Sold Out)

    ***

    Jewellery

    Solvitur Ambulando Ring
    Opal Earrings
    Terran Necklace 
    All the Names Collection

    ***

    Some Classics Reframed

    Specimen Cards
    I received these cards from Søren and Silas for Christmas and they are wondrous. They’ve celebrated aspects of the Five Acre Wood. Gift them blank, or fill them in!
    The Sendak Mini
    Ah, the many ways to fill a Sendak. Here is a Spice Mini, with a new project palette, ready for an outdoor adventure.
    The Finch Satchel in Red Maple
    We are down to the last few Red Maple Bags including The Finch!
    Foundlings Prints
    Foundlings originals and prints in a frame or out add mystery to any space!

    * * *

    A Rural Pen Ink is Back in Stock!

    A Rural Pen Ink made from guns!
    I love how this ink mixes with others – the granulation is an experience!

    ***

    Everywhere, Astonishments!

    Movie: Poor Things! Have you seen it? It has created quite a tension in our house with dramatically different interpretations!

    PI started reading Kaveh Akbar’s new book, Martyr! It is the first book in ages that I’ve had a hard time putting down.

    “He studied himself in the mirror, thought his teeth looked sharper.”
    and
    “For as long as he could remember, Cyrus had thought it unimaginably strange, the body’s need to recharge nightly.” 
    The Snowdrops started to bloom a month and a half-ish early. Here they are, the morning after the snow melted away.

    Small, Small Batch and Valentine's Day Gifts!

    Happy New Year!“Turn it and turn it,for everything is in it.”–Ben Bag Bag Gr...

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  • Happy New Year!
    “Turn it and turn it,
    for everything is in it.”

    –Ben Bag Bag

    Growing and flourishing are not always analogous.

    Join us for a quick wander through 2023, the year we smallened Peg and Awl, and moved out of Philadelphia. Also the year where we found ourselves finding ourselves again. The ‘smallening’, as I’ve been calling it, is a bit vague. I’m an open book when it comes to most things, and would love to engage in conversation on the topic, but mostly, I know neither where to begin, nor how to distill it. The simplest version is this: Peg and Awl was a thriving small business with twenty-five people at our height, reaching sales numbers we’d never imagined nor planned for. But the joy of having a small business, being curious, and exploring this weird world with family and friends, became secondary as our responsibilities to maintain this monster perpetuated. Somehow growing and flourishing are not always analogous.

    And here we are in 2024, returning, already, to what matters most! We’ve ventured south for a little warmth and a lot of biking, I went north for a mini retreat in the snow. We’ve been working on new Peg and Awl treasures, building our barn storefront and workshop, and working on the land.

    We cannot wait to share our progress – there are so many stories to tell!

    Our 14th Anniversary was January 10th!

    Søren and Silas made me a bunch of Specimen Cards of the Five Acre Wood for Christmas!
    I continue to fill sketchbooks and journals, and am designing some new books and journals that will be available soon!


    One of the most thrilling parts of 2023 was finally launching our long-in-the-works Solvitur Ambulando ring – and with much success! We appreciate all of your shared stories. Thanks to Claire of Warwick Furnace Farm for modeling for me!

     

    We opened up our barn shop which we look forward to stocking with Peg and Awl treasures and more. We are heading to New Orleans for the NAMTA show in March!
    We made new treasures out of Sendak scraps, and small batch colours, a puzzle of a kind!

    We spent a week on a cargo ship during a storm on the North Sea – there were two visible twisters at one point! By the fourth day a calm settled over the sky, and the water, and the few floating birds, and we jumped into the cold sea. (no showers on board!) 

    So often I wish to jump back in, to return to the cold depths in that utter post-storm quiet. We went from thinking we’d made a big mistake in booking this trip, to longing to do something like this again – such a harrowing and magical adventure!

    Here in Whitby England, where we wandered in the glorious and misty rain.
    Before the storm and the reality of our upcoming adventure, Walter painted and Søren drew. ps: Walter began to work on a larger Scout!

    We discontinued 3/4 of our catalog – both daunting and freeing! Inevitably, once we sell out, the inquiries start pouring in. We still have some Rogues and Weekenders and more available in our Last Chance! section.
    (Here, in Amsterdam on gigantic rented bikes!)

    Søren, Silas, Pearl, and I moved our studios back into the cozy Springhouse! 
    We opened our barn for the Chester County open studio tour. Come visit us May 18 and 19!



    We traveled! Here we are, on the other side of our wild cargo boat trip after wandering down the coast of England. We spent a quick couple of days in London!

    We cold plunged in Virginia when it was 29 degrees outside and were tingling and spectacularly warm when we climbed out onto the previously cold rock to shake off. 
    Walter bringing flowers over to the barn to brighten the wet and wintry gloom.

    Solviture Ambulando (It is solved by walking)! A Christmas Eve post dinner walk and view of the Peg and Awl Barn from the street.

    I started 2024 with a retreat with my friend, Deb, in CT during a snowstorm! Making progress of a kind on a project. I share bits on my Substack and @beingmargauxkent
    We did a few shows – here we are at Wintherthur, which we shall partake in again in 2024!

    One of our last family photographs in our Philadelphia workshop!

    * * *

    Everywhere, Astonishments!

    I was working on this newsletter at Lentil & Co, and this song came on. It comes and goes as songs do, but this one every time, crawls into that place where only certain songs crawl.

    No Hard Feelings by The Avett Brothers

    When my body won't hold me anymoreAnd it finally lets me freeWill I be ready?When my feet won't walk another mileAnd my lips give their last kiss goodbyeWill my hands be steady when I lay down my fears, my hopes, and my doubts?The rings on my fingers, and the keys to my houseWith no hard feelings.

    This paired well with the essay Who Will Mourn Them When They Are Gone? from Margaret Renkl’s new book, The Comfort of Crows.
     
    Also reading Planting in a Post-Wild World which is a really hopeful and process heavy take on regeneration!
    Planting in a Post-Wild World
    The Comfort of Crows

    Our Year (2024) in Photographs and Words!

    Happy New Year!“Turn it and turn it,for everything is in it.”–Ben Bag Bag Gr...

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  • portrait of family standing in a creek

    HOME, AGAIN.

    portrait of family standing in a creek

    HOME, AGAIN.

    A joyous new-place photograph that you’ve seen if you’ve been with us for any amount of time. Every year we promise ourselves a new family portrait, but the year ends and I find myself reaching for this one again.
    This shall be a kind of public self-nudge!

    14th Anniversary Pondering, a Power Outage,
     and a Coffee Shop Pause


    Walter and I started Peg and Awl on the 10th of January, 2010. My journal – which was blank – suggests nothing miraculous. Last night’s power outage from yesterday’s deluge means a coffee shop in-between which rouses the unexpected, always. As I walked and wrote in my new journal*, the in-between felt grounding, as each footfall, each letter, and the sun warming despite the cold, settled me. 

    I was thinking that we should share a timeline of Peg and Awl successes, but it occurred to me as I walked, to share bits of the in-between days instead.

    Thank you for being here!

    As we do our best to plan for this coming year (I am notoriously spontaneous, but appreciate the need for a weaving), I look forward to so much. So here, a little looking forward to 2024:
      • Our Shop! We recently opened it up to visitors for a few days with great success – we met so many wonderful people, which reinforces how lucky we are to connect, through Peg and Awl, to such humans. 2024 will see our shop filled with new treasures from us along with treasures made by others. We are heading to NAMTA in New Orleans in March, on the hunt for art materials.

      • Journals and Kits and Tutorials! We’ve been working on some unusual new designs and look forward to sharing them.

     

    Time Traveling Through the In-Betweens...
    Handmade Library Necklace with Leather-Bound Mini Journal Pendants
    2009
     
    Before starting Peg and Awl, I had a little slow and steady business called The Black Spot Books. I made journals and jewelry and a gathering of my favourite scraps lead me to make the tiniest books, which I eventually strung together into the Library necklace. Boing Boing featured it, making it my first experience with spiraling, viraling.

    2010

    We started out making treasures for our Philadelphia Row Home, including our Tub Caddy out of reclaimed wood and materials gathered from nearby construction sites. At that point, people were thrilled that we were rescuing the materials from them or the deconstruction sites, saving them time and money with trips to the dump.
    Reclaimed Wood Project for Handmade Products
    2011
     

    Now with two boys and a business, and needing a diaper bag that wasn’t paislied, flowered, or pre-gendered, we decided to make a bag that would suit all of us. Thus, the first Peg and Awl bag – The Tote – came to life! This may be when we realised we could keep making things first for ourselves, and then for others. 

    2014
     

    The Black Spot Books and the early days of Peg and Awl treasures were mostly comprised of reclaimed and found materials. As our business evolved, we started using new materials for a variety of reasons, primarily as a shortage of reclaimed materials arose. In our first couple years, we decided to officially launch our Of a Kind collections which harkened back to those early days.

    2016
     

    I went to Spain for Picture Camp, a picture book workshop with my art supplies in various pouches and bags. On the way home, realizing i needed something more conducive to traveling, I started to design an artist roll unlike any artist rolls I could find at the time — one that would hold a variety of art materials, could hold small necessities in a zip pouch, as well as small notebooks. Thus, our most popular treasure to date — The Sendak — was born!

     
     
    2019
     
    Walter, feeling compelled to find his way back to making art as well, went to a painting workshop lead by Jeremy Mann and Nadezda in Tuscany, Italy. On the supply list was a plein air box. Not knowing what this was, Walter ignored it and found himself taping his canvas to his hand to paint. Thus began his developing of the Peg and Awl Scout Plein Air Box!
     
     
    2023
     

    Growing weary of Philadelphia and the business success story of growinggrowinggrowing, we sold our Philadelphia workshop and moved everything to our land in West Chester, rebuilt the dilapidated barn, set up shop, and are now enjoying our new adventure!

     
     
    2024
     
    Journals! I am always eager for change and currently working on new journals*, tutorials, and kits for Peg and Awl. If you’ve been following along, I started this unusual creature a few years ago, and they are nearly ready for take off! This one I made for my friend Deb, using her Pinocchio illustrations on the cover.
     
     

    Just Yesterday

    When the power went out, we found a box of unused Hannukah candles, sunk them into decade old organic black rice and farro, and lit our way through a few rounds of one of our favourite games, reminiscent of The New York Times’ ConnectionsCode Names! Søren and I started out strong with Roadtrips for 5.

     
     

    Workspace:

    I moved around a lot in 2023 and started this year the same! We’ve already found our way to Savannah, GA and I meandered up to snowy Canaan, CT.
    I’ve been moving around The 5 Acre Wood looking for spot that is just right.
     Sophie Blackall’s, Milkwood in New York, Photograph by Sophie.
     Our Cabin in CT, photograph by Deborah Stein.

    A salvaged flat file turned standing desk! A beloved new corner of my studio. 

     


    Everywhere, Astonishments!

    The Flynn Effect and “kids these days...”

    I don’t know about you, but I hear a lot of mischief about kids these days and see a lot of memes that don’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

    This morning in Turk’s Head Coffee Shop in West Chester, Penna, there was a young person – he must have been 5 – who sat near us and lit up upon seeing a gigantic book of maps on the table and immediately asked “Where is Israel? Where is Japan?” as he navigated the book’s systems. “Mommy, I want to go to Japan.” She considers then realizes he means Japan in the book. Pages turn. “Where is Taiwan. What is this island? Georgian Bay, Ontario. Lake Superior. Where is Minnesota?”

    He reads and pronounces places I am still learning, and goes on to explain what makes 75 an interstate.

    I could have sat and listened all day, but I had to go fetch my own two creatures, full of wonder, curiosity, and magic. I wanted to leave my name and number, to connect this 5 year old map lover to my 13 and 15 year old map lovers. But maybe they aren’t unusual, these curious young people. Maybe they are everywhere.

    Leave us a comment!
    –Margaux

    ✨ This Year, We Celebrate 14 Years of Peg and Awl!

    HOME, AGAIN. A joyous new-place photograph that you’ve seen if you’ve been w...

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  • Our Barn Shop is Open, Now by Appointment!

    Come Visit Our Shop!
    Come say hey and pick up a treasure if you are in the area. Email us to make an appointment.

    Morning Light!
    Cozy Corner and Our Bags!

    Vignettes of our Actual Messies!

    Walter Hanging Photographs
    Silas Setting Up Track Lighting

    Walter’s Original Oil Paintings

    Scout Pochade Box
    Handmade Ink!

    Our Bookbinding Kits

    Vintage Pencils and Dip Pens!
    Bioplastic Pans from Poems About You that fit our palettes!

    Of a Kind Book Necklaces Along with Our Classics.


    Everywhere, Astonishments!

    Søren, Silas, and I went to Philosophical Hall in Philadelphia with Katie to hear Catherine McNeur talk about her new book Mischievous Creatures. The title was enough to draw back to the city – and my homeschoolers are up for most adventures. Catherine, Margaretta, and Elizabeth’s stories were full of magic and wonder, local history and mischievous creatures! The erasure of these two women scientists came undone through Catherine's excavation, as one unexpected finding after another revealed their story.

    Mischievous Creatures by Catherine McNeur on my desk!
    Catherine’s Desk Caddy from Peg and Awl, which she’s had for a decade(!), on her desk.

     

    Come Visit Our Barn Shop!

    Come Visit Our Shop!Come say hey and pick up a treasure if you are in the ar...

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  • As a family, we tend to go against a lot of currents in our world, and are fortunate to have built our own business, which gives us the freedom to do so. We’ve shared fragments of our recent decision to smallen Peg and Awl and move from a massive city building on an acre of land to our barn in Chester County, but I haven’t yet articulated on paper or screen, the whole of it – if there is a whole of it. My exhaustion of the words efficiency and busy certainly played a role. But here, the new-to-me word salutogenesis comes to mind.

     


    Back to School!

    “I will draw in class!”

    Søren and Silas have always been draw-ers, and that they draw has always felt like a good thing to us. But when they went to public school, (and me before them), the message was different: drawing is distracting, or it shows you aren’t listening, or, just don’t draw because I said so!*

    My guys actually had a relatively good public school experience, but this message persisted. When six year old Søren came home one day and told us that he was punished for drawing, we decided to do a little Back to School campaign with our recently launched desk caddies, chalk tablets, pouches, and journals. Søren partook in a magical alternative version of the punishment writing lines with “I will draw in class.”

    I still love this.

    That was then, this is now. We have been homeschooling for five years, which means that our creatures have a lot of free time to do what they love, as homeschool is very rarely (if at all) all of us at a table with textbooks and lined paper.⁠⁠ Søren, 15, is now dual enrolled in our local community college. Dual enrollment is open to most high-schoolers in America and very common for Homeschoolers.⁠ His first class is drawing!

    As a family, we tend to go against a lot of currents in our world, and are fortunate to have built our own business, which gives us the freedom to do so. We’ve shared fragments of our recent decision to smallen Peg and Awl and move from a massive city building on an acre of land to our barn in Chester County, but I haven’t yet articulated on paper or screen, the whole of it – if there is a whole of it. My exhaustion of the words efficiency and busy certainly played a role. But here, the new-to-me word salutogenesis comes to mind.

    Simply put, we smallened Peg and Awl for our mental and physical well being. We started Peg and Awl as a way to adventure and bring objects to life, and we ended up becoming managers of a business much bigger than expected. In smallening, we are gaining our freedom to make and explore once again.


    Let us remember The Lorax:

    “I went right on biggering… selling more Thneeds. And I biggered my money, which everyone needs.”
    –Dr. Seuss


    If you have any questions, I’d love to try to answer them. Perhaps here is where I open a Q+A. I think our story is an interesting one, unfamiliar, but also the kind of story that is gaining confusing and wondrous commonality these days, so I’d love to share!

    *after sharing this on IG, some delightful souls came forth telling their stories of how they encouraged drawing in their classes. Absolutely not to be missed – there are always exceptions!

    Shop Our Shop!
     

    I will draw in class.
    I will too.

    Our Pouch Collection

    A Poem by 7 year old Søren.
    Anselm Bookbinding Kits

    Our Desk Caddies

    The Sendak Artist Roll


    See Søren’s work here!

     
     


    Everywhere, Astonishments!

    99% Invisible Podcast: Roman talks with Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about the Luddites – a story that I, along with so much of the world – have misunderstood! PS: I first learned about them a little over a decade ago at a museum in Philadelphia that also had the story all wrong. I am on a wildly swinging pendulum around the conversation of AI, and this was the most compelling connection for me yet.

    The Doctor’s Farmacy Podcast about Function Health: the other side of the efficiency conundrum! What is wrong with our healthcare system, and how we cannot seem to abandon the stuck channels for costs and fear of the unknown, and how Function Health is aiming to redirect our understanding of ourselves as impacted by the common standards of living, eating, &c. into a healthier future!

    Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones: We all enjoyed the first episode, as Dan Beuttner, a familiar name in our house, visited Okinawa and some of their many centenarian inhabitants.

    As always, if you have any questions, just comment below! 
    –Margaux

    “I Will Draw in Class!” Back to School | Biggering and Smallening!

    Back to School! “I will draw in class!”Søren and Silas have always been dra...

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