Handmade in Germany by artist Sandra Monat, these cuddly fabric toys are patched together from new, vintage, and organic-cotton fabrics, including designs from Harmony Art.

I can’t get enough of the Vikings. Those horns! That nose! When Harmony and Dave Susalla showed them to me at the Green Products Expo last month, I was tempted to stuff a Viking under my shirt and bolt for the exit. Dave is about 10 times bigger than I am, though, so I changed my mind.

Snowflake 66’s tops, available online at Cut+Paste, have me all a-swoon. Patched together from recycled fabrics in unexpected color and pattern combos, each shirt is exquisitely one-of-a-kind. I adore the puff sleeves and the contrast bib on this pretty little tangerine number, which some lucky, lucky girl has already snagged. She’d better pray she doesn’t encounter me in a dark alley s’all I’m saying.

Click on each image for details

Photo by Jek-a-go-go

I’m actually a Valentine’s Day Grinch, but this card is both vintage and knitting-related, so that’s OK. And would you check out the fluffy kitten and those Mary Janes!

Photo by Cakehouse

Just look at that face! These four double-layer cloth napkins by Cakehouse were refashioned from preloved pillowcases and then hand-printed with water-based inks. Odysseus, a cat belonging to the designer’s sister-in-law, served as the model in exchange for a few months’ lodging—fair-enough, don’t you think?

Because Cakehouse works with recycled fabrics—the Brooklyn-based designer gravitates towards secondhand sheets, bedspreads, curtains, and the occasional house dress—every item is limited edition. I was tickled by the disclaimer she puts at the bottom of each page to indicate why you’ll find slight variations in each napkin: “I am a woman, not a womachine.” I might have to start using that as my e-mail signature. ($40 for four, Etsy)

Illustration by Eleanor Grosch

A free downloadable desktop wallpaper to get you in the spirit of the witching season, by one of my favorite illustrators, Eleanor Grosch.

In other news, anyone want to buy a kidney?

Photo by piper, under a Creative Commons license

Take Action, Start a Petition
The Care2 Petition Site makes it a snap to start your own petition. First, identify the target of your protest, then draft out a call-to-action message and decide on your goal number of signatures

Quote of the Day: Carlo Petrini on Taking It Slow
“The quest for slowness, which begins as a simple rebellion against the impoverishment of taste in our lives, makes it possible to rediscover taste.”

Event of the Day: Farm Aid 2007
Are you going to Farm Aid?

Farm Aid 2007: The Press Conference
While we’re recovering from yesterday’s completely awesome Farm Aid 2007, here are a few clips from the press conference, courtesy of the official Farm Aid blog.

Quote of the Day: Marion Nestle on Advertising to Children
“Adults may be fair game for marketers, but children are not. Children cannot distinguish sales pitches from information unless taught to do so.”

Click here for more »

We adopted 4-month-old Mir just over two days ago from a rescue group that takes in cats and kittens bound for euthanasia (i.e. to meet their Kitty Maker) at overcrowded shelters.

Chekhov is PEEVED.

Illustration by The Decoder Ring

This poster perfectly illustrates how the world makes me feel on a daily basis. I have a raging headache now from the circus act that spontaneously erupted in my brownstone apartment’s front yard—two young women completely flipping out over the sight of a dead squirrel. One of them was clutching a couple of plastic bags and tittering nervously, her legs frozen solid to the ground.

After five, maybe 10 minutes of listening to them squawk and flap around in obvious circles, I finally stormed downstairs to tell them to frikkin’ cut it out and CALL ANIMAL CONTROL. Sweet Holy Mother of God, what do they teach kids in schools, these days? I’m going to have to start whipping out Chekhov’s spray bottle out in public, so I can squirt water in people’s faces with a firm “No, no NO. BAD HUMAN.”

Click on each image for details

A man after my own braaaiiins, Matt Cipov. You can find his zombie prints (and more), printed on paper with recycled or partly recycled content, at his store.

Art by Matt Cipov

Art by Matt Cipov

Art by Matt Cipov

Art by Matt Cipov

Photo by Wired

A Very Special Interspecial Reunion
A lion that was raised by humans, but was released into the wilds of Africa, reunites with his former handlers a year later. What else can Treehugger say but “OMGKITTIES!!!11!!!”

Wired’s Artifacts from the Future: Fusion Food
Possibly coming to a produce store near you: Monsanto’s Cinna-Del, the only GM apple that expresses both cinnamon and sugar, only $26.99 per kilo!

Penguins March into New Patagonian Marine Park
Squawk if you’ve heard this one: The government of Argentina is creating a new marine park along the isolated Patagonia coast to officially safeguard more than half a million penguins and other rare seabirds, according to the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

Peace, Love, Earth: Yeah, Baby
Designer Anna Mkhitarian reinvents that tired hippie standard—the ol’ peace sign—into physical, wearable mantras that, though unsubtle, remind us what our groovy voyage on Spaceship Earth is all about.

Global Warming Wants to Eat Your Flesh
We’d have used a picture of flesh-eating bacteria diligently at work, but all our options made us want to disgorge the contents of our stomachs, so here’s a nonthreatening—dare we say even cuddly?—microscopic look at the insidious beasties themselves.

Click here for more »

Photo by Secret Leaves

Ann Hirschfeld and Sharon Derry are the co-conspirators of Secret Leaves, a charming St. Louis, Missouri-based company that breathes new life into discarded books and vintage papers by transforming them into scrap journals, photo albums, and note cards. I spoke with Ann about her love of old paper, and the growing role the environment plays in running their business, right down to the smallest detail.

1. How did Secret Leaves come about?

Sharon [Derry] had a card/paper arts company called Papeterie, and I worked part-time for her here and there helping to assemble the journals. A little over a year ago, we were talking on the phone and she spoke of her desire to start a web-based paper arts business. She wanted to pursue it full-time but was not interested in doing it alone. She wanted a partner. I immediately said, “Pick me!” We met a few times to discuss her goals for the business and she did—pick me. This was April of ‘06 and we’ve been working together ever since. It seems like we’ve come a long way already.

Click here for more »

Photo by Free People

Free People, the neo-bohemian sister company of Anthropologie, has such a delightfully spirited, eclectic eye. (Who would think to sew pom-poms around the border of a clutch? But it works!) How stupendous, for instance, is this vanity stool? Homespun yarns are whipped around its legs, while its seat is cushioned and covered with fabric cut from a vintage quilt.

This would make a lovely weekend project for a thrifted find if you have deep reserves of patience to draw upon. And if you don’t have a felonious cat who shreds your furniture and sneaks off balls of yarn when your back is turned. Otherwise, it’s $128, which isn’t altogether absurd considering how much work was involved.

Photo by Free People

Illustration by Christian Northeast/The New York Times

I’m not a Potter-head, though my husband is¹, and one of our bookshelves holds a Polaroid of us wearing the iconic black-rimmed spectacles at a Barnes & Noble release party for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (Chekhov promptly sat on mine the next day, snapping them in two, possibly to indicate his lack of enthusiasm for J. K. Rowling’s oeuvre.) I do adore these illustrations by Christian Northeast, however, from an article about Harry-mania by an equally unimpressed Christopher Hitchens in The New York Times.

¹And he very thoughtfully keeps me abreast of everything that happens in and outside of Hogwarts, even when I pretend to have been momentarily struck deaf.

Illustration by Christian Northeast/The New York Times

Photo by Greer Chicago

Sexier than your iPhone. Designs screenprinted in blue on recycled kraft stock; back is letterpressed in deep brown. You get three each of the four designs. ($8 for a pack of 12, Greer Chicago)

Photo by Dolman Geiman

If you like reconstructing your duds, Chicago artist Dolman Geiman’s Rescued Clothing line is a fount of inspiration. From his Web site:

The term Rescued defines the philosophy behind the process, encouraging patrons to revitalize a garment instead of discarding it or buying something new. Dolan’s goal is not to add to an overwhelming array of designers and manufactures, but to provide a consumer-savvy alternative for those with stocked closets. Rescued Clothing gives those garments you love to wear a second chance, and gives the fashionably chic a new adventure.

And if you haven’t already spotted his wonderful constructions from salvaged wood and other found materials at Design Sponge, here’s his Flickr set.

Photo by Dolman Geiman

Photo by Dolman Geiman

Click on each image for details

Felt Frenzy by Heather Brack and Shannon Okey

If Shannon Okey (of Knitgrrl fame) and Heather Brack haven’t written the definitive primer to unraveling the alchemy behind felting, they’ve come exceptionally close. With Felt Frenzy, the two fiber enthusiasts—they live for the needle arts, and it shows—will induct you into the mysteries of shrink felting, welt felting, and needle (”dry”) felting, as well as more-advanced techniques such incorporating beads into felt, Shibori textile dyeing, and quilting felted fabrics.

Among the 26 projects are 5 devoted to recycled felt, or what the authors define as “repurposed knits (such as old sweaters) that are felted, sewn, embroidered, knitted onto, or otherwise manipulated into new items.” (One of the tips they provide: Accumulate lots of thrift-store sweaters in the spring and summer when they’re cheap. Make sure you check out the clothing tag to determine fiber content, however.)

You’ll get to tackle an embroidered felted needle case, a stained-glass sweater pillow, a camera case for your point-and-shoot, a French-press cozy, and a patchwork felted jacket.

The brief note on vegan felting—think soysilk batts, my herbivorous compatriots—was a thoughtful touch. ($21.95, paper)

This review refers to a first American paperback edition, courtesy of Interweave Publishing. Felt Frenzy can be found in stores now.

Photo by freshlyblended

Nestled in upstate New York with her husband and a mini-menagerie, Nicole Lecht runs freshlyblended, a one-woman studio that churns out elegant, nature-inspired journals and notebooks deftly assembled from found materials and post-consumer recycled paper. The talented and effervescent Nicole and I chatted about sustainability in crafting, how she became a “green” designer completely by accident, and where cork paper comes from.

1. How did freshlyblended come about?

Well, I actually went to college for Illustration (that’s what my degree concentration was) and graphic design, but in my last year of school, I took a bookbinding class on a whim and totally fell in love with the structural aspect of it. After graduating, I got a job as a book-cover designer for a publishing house, which opened the door even wider for me, so I ran with it and started to do some research about materials and business.

The word “freshlyblended” came about when I was in a local coffee shop sketching and reading the back of my coffee cup. It said, “… from a fresh blend of eclectic ingredients …” I didn’t hesitate with that name because, at the time, I was struggling over how to hone in on my multiple abilities and eclectic influences. freshlyblended represents just that.

Click here for more »

Photo by Laura Zindel

It began with an innocent question from a potential wholesale customer in Los Angeles: How eco-friendly were ceramics artist Laura Zindel’s servingware, drinking vessels, and vases?

In a guest post on One Black Bird, Zindel details how she stayed up nights researching this storeowner’s assertion that ceramics could be anything but environmentally devastating. She began asking around, discovering mixed opinions.

Read the full post to learn more about the responses Zindel garnered, as well as the conclusion she finally came to.

Photo by Laura Zindel

Photo by Laura Zindel