Peg and Awl

New - Sendaks in Fog!⁠
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We are delighted every time we make our Sendaks in a new colour. These new artist rolls are made in a small batch, constructed with the same durable waxed canvas that we love, hand-dyed in a small batch, and finished with our vegetable tanned black leather.⁠
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What do you think?⁠
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We’ve made the last Weekenders we will ever make! They have and are seening us through so many adventures. We still have a nice colour range in stock, but not for long:)⁠
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Walter and Silas headed to The Catskills for a skiing adventure, whilst Søren and I stayed home. Here in Pennsylvania, it has been warm and sunny. I spent my days ungardening whilst they colded.⁠
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Walter painted Hunter Mountain from their room and saw our (discontinued) Expedition Stools outside by the fire! They traipsed along the highline and sent home photographs of snowdrops!⁠
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Sendak for Knitters!⁠
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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.⁠
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As one who writes and draws, it was easy to share with other writers and drawers. 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.!
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The question of knitting comes up the most, so with the help of one of our stockists, we set up a Sendak for a beginner knitter.⁠
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If you use your Sendak for other things, please share with us – we’d love to see!⁠
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Our newsletter just went out! ⁠Here is an old photograph of us by for American Craft Magazine, tree swings, and

My studio – a view from the woodland, a view I’ve been enjoying as I traipse amongst the trees and crunchy leaves. As I move through and pull things the ground shifts and sifts – and each walkthrough reveals decades’ old trash rising up, as well as invasives to pull, new groundhog holes, and nest remains. I returned home late last week (after seeing Poor Things again), to the hoo-hooing of an Owl. Magic abounds.⁠
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I ramble on about the woodland and handmade art materials — specifically and . Also, tree swings! We made a batch for and put a few extras in our shop. A little choppy here, but that is Instagram these days. Good and choppy!⁠
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We’ve opened up Radish again!⁠
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We found some rolls when we moved. You can now custom order any of the bags and pouches we currently make in Radish until we finish up our stock! Go to our regular bag listings, select Radish, and play your order. We will make it and send it out in 1-3 weeks from the time of your order. ⁠
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We missed a few things yesterday and have updated all bags today!⁠ also slipped in a horrific drawing (woman and dog) from my first this morn’.
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“Turn it and turn it,⁠
for everything is in it.”⁠
–Ben Bag Bag⁠
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Growing and flourishing are not always analogous.⁠
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Our 2023 year in review newsletter is in your inbox - if you receive our newsletter - do you?!⁠
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#2023

Working on the next new version of this new journal with small changes and an unknown cover! This we will figure out tomorrow, but it is also our big 2024 Peg and Awl meeting day tomorrow where we dream we will sort through the next 12 months with ease. ⁠
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Looking for some pixie dust. ⁠(But there is always pixie dust!)⁠
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Our new collection of journals are in the works! This is my favourite so far, made for , using her Pinocchio silhouettes that I so adore!⁠
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I am still working out details and using a thinner version for my current journal to see how it breaks in. We are using leather that we got from years ago, and have been holding onto until the right treasure showed up!⁠
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Yesterday was Peg and Awl's 14th Anniversary and we had the strange good fortune of a power outage from a deluge that sent us out of the house into a small local space. Sometimes it is damn hard to just change the setting in a small way. ⁠
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But this isn't that. This is another change, the easier kind for me, the getting out of Pennsylvania by car, and the going to somewhere else altogether. ⁠
⁠j.stein and I were heading to (a desire since i was 18!) for a workshop with the wondrous who ended up in a covid soup. (I hope you are feeling brighter Elissa!) So Deb and i made the best of our pretend time and found a cabin in the woods in CT and nestled in for a spell. I worked on this project which came together in these little books as chapters that now must be taken apart and put back together again with left-handed drawings and musings and colour! I must find my way back to colour. I'll start with adding watermelons. If I tuck them into a page, I hope they will bloom or grow or explode, even. ⁠
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Portrait of me and last photograph taken by Deb. The skirt, well-loved by me and inquired about by many of you from my stories, was made by - SION gathered linen skirt, lime, i believe, a deliciously a warm yellow greenie. ⁠
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In Connecticut with the promise of a snow storm, sifting through nearly a years' worth of poems. My goal for this weekend is to tuck them into these little notebooks with some intention. ⁠
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I've been making a lot of blank books lately, a surge of paper folding and stitching and string. Something is loosening, I suspect...⁠
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Something about the sharp line betwixt this and last year that makes me want to extend my pause from here into forever! But alas, here I am with a little update from my cluttered over-projected desk. ⁠
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Tomorrow I head north to the cold Berkshires to a cabin in the woods with .j.stein for our makeshift workshop (only 3 of us including her Pablo pup), the result of the postponement of another workshop nearby. There we shall hike and chatter and work on a single project, each of us, if such a thing is possible. ⁠
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For now I will finish these journals that will be my personal next, and something new for Peg and Awl! Struggling with thread choices, the waxy is so hard to maneuver around the chord but I so adore these colours, and the silky green, my luscious vintage treasure, well, I may return to that for a spell. Or perhaps I'll begin with a spool of classic Irish linen... I’ll share soon, I promise.
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2023 has seen us through much change, after so much changing these last few years! We are settling in to our new space, have opened our doors to visitors, and are working on new treasures that we look forward to sharing with you.

Thank you for being here!

Enjoy our 2-day, end-of-year sale with ELSEWHEREAGAIN for 20% off from Dec. 30–31!

“There are moments of harmony that rise to the level of serendipity, coincidence, and beyond, and certain passages of time that seem dense with such incidents.”
–from A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

We are opening our barn shop tomorrow - come say hey and pick up a gift if you are in the area. ⁠
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Visit us at: 1240 Samuel Rd. West Chester, PA 19380⁠
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Thursday (Dec 21): 12-7pm⁠
Friday (Dec 22): 12-7pm⁠
Saturday (Dec 23): 12-5pm⁠
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Working on our storefront for the holiday — finishing stock of all of our treasures, digging through 14 years of Peg and Awl stuff, and a quick run to an antique shop for an old biscuit shelf! Tomorrow through Wednesday, we will print and tag and tidy. By Thursday our shop will be open!⁠
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We are also still shipping and will do so 4+ days a week, so you risk takers out there, get your orders in!⁠
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⁠Who wants to visit?!
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I had a most delightful conversation with a stranger last night. So many unexpected morsels always floating about for those looking. ⁠
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is set up at for their annual holiday market so I've been single parenting this week. Which, in its brevity, has gifted me an active week of magic.

In passing this morning, the light perfectly illuminated my desk, so, here, a little photograph of what I've been working on in the evenings. ⁠
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Bookbinder by night, page filler by morning, mama in the middle, resulting in an unexpected 25 hour + fast yesterday which probably fueled my manic day!⁠
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I blather on. ⁠
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⁠hi!

Greetings! I've gathered some photographs of Peg and Awl treasures to remind you that tomorrow is the final day to get your holiday orders in!⁠ Pearl and I are at the very end.
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We have a lot of goodies, we can still customize, and we are here! So reach out if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer whatever the question may be. Send 'em all our way. ⁠
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Now Ima get back to making a journal which I'll share in stories or somewhere soon. ⁠

And finally, when the holiday shipping rush settles down, we are going to work on setting up a store front in the barn. Wanna visit? Let us know below!
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I was invited into an attic, which I need time to take in and write about. Swipe to see one of the rooms in that attic - completely unexpected! Until then I’ll leave you with this message:

We are approaching the holiday shipping deadline! Get your orders in this weekend for surer holiday arrival. ⁠
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We will be shipping up until Christmas, of course, but why stress?⁠
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We can still customize treasures, too. ⁠
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The more I return to the same flea markets, the more I know where to look and who to go to for new treasures. It is a wild world, the Fleas – a time capsule of people and their things, and people and their other people's things.⁠
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New Of a Kind collection coming soon! Sign up for our newsletter for the announcement. ⁠
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ps: it includes Alternative Sketchbook Tins, an oft' asked for treasure, along with pouches and bags made from antique and vintage textiles. ⁠
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pps: Wearing skirt over a well-worn linen dress and over that a dress! shoes⁠
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Our Sendak, for those curious, was named after Maurice Sendak.

I have foggy memories of the first time I heard his name, sitting with a group of same-aged littles, in the school library, in a closed, small, many-windowed room, likely on my knees, likely drawing on a manilla folder, whilst Where the Wild Things was being read to us.

I only remember this one book of his from my childood, but for my boys', I scooped up as many of his books as I could find, and we read them over andn over again. Our favouirte, a beat-up flea market find of Outside Over There.

The other name in consideration was The Gorey Artist Roll, for we all also loved and love Edward Gorey. It just didn't have the same ring to it:)

Our Sendak, for those curious, was named after Maurice Sendak. ⁠
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I have foggy memories of the first time I heard his name, sitting with a group of same-aged littles, in the school library, in a closed, small, many-windowed room, likely on my knees, likely drawing on a manilla folder, whilst Where the Wild Things was being read to us. ⁠
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I only remember this one book of his from my childood, but for my boys', I scooped up as many of his books as I could find, and we read them over andn over again. Our favouirte, a beat-up flea market find of Outside Over There.⁠
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The other name in consideration was The Gorey Artist Roll, for we all also loved and love Edward Gorey. It just didn't have the same ring to it:)⁠
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There is some joy in finding an old thing unused, in its original packaging, a time travel of a kind, but there is a greater joy in seeing that saved thing used in some way. Here, it is clear. Paints were meant to come together into something other, something miraculous. I only wish I could find the photograph from when I found them. From when they were imperfectly perfect. ⁠
But we are not a museum. ⁠
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paintings are in the shop now, and Of a Kinds are coming soon!⁠
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And here, I ask for help. I've been weary of this name Of a Kinds for sometime. I love Foundlings and Found. Other, what other? Do share some name suggestion to replace Of a Kinds? I would so love a stirring of words. ⁠
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There is some joy in finding an old thing unused, in its original packaging, a time travel of a kind, but there is a greater joy in seeing that saved thing used in some way. Here, it is clear. Paints were meant to come together into something other, something miraculous. I only wish I could find the photograph from when I found them. From when they were imperfectly perfect. ⁠
But we are not a museum. ⁠
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paintings are in the shop now, and Of a Kinds are coming soon!⁠
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And here, I ask for help. I've been weary of this name Of a Kinds for sometime. I love Foundlings and Found. Other, what other? Do share some name suggestion to replace Of a Kinds? I would so love a stirring of words. ⁠
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Foundlings Collection: The unexpected discovery of paintings at a flea market, the process of figuring out how to transfer the lines into clay, and then into metal - this collection was so fun to make and photograph.

I am dreaming of new jewerly collections, but like with everything, the magic happens when I am not looking - in time something will reveal itself! Until then, I hope you enjoy our Foundlings collection The result of the layers and generations of hands making.⁠
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Use code BARNSAVERS for 20% off in our shop!⁠
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