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.

Substack + YouTube

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

We went to Italy for a wedding in Tuscany.

Me, Pop, and Judy heading to Dinner in Venice

Chester County Studio Tour

May 16 and 17 was our West Chester Pennsylvania Open Studio Tour.

Always arranging and rearranging. It's looking good. Merry Mishaps in the basket!

Victoria Naftal in the Post Office. She makes books for Peg and Awl, and will also be part of the studio tour at Warwick Furnace Farm.

Painting En Plein Air with Hannah Sutton

We met Hannah Sutton on Instagram after her family gifted her a Scout Box. It was such a pleasure to meet her in real life, visit her Florence Academy of Art studio where she is a program director, and go out on a painting adventure with her. This was one of the highlights of our already wondrous adventure!

Walter and Hannah’s Paintings

Two Scouts!

Small Finches Coming Soon!

Whilst we were in Italy, Ari made the first batch of Small Finches, and Natalie photographed them!

Substack + YouTube

Everywhere Astonishments

Making Paintbrushes out of feathers! Oh my goodness thank you for sharing Shirley. These are my first roughies (tap for video) but they are luscious! The way they hold water and paint is a pleasure. More on this I am sure.

We’ve been painting fish for days.

Nighttime animation sessions around the kitchen table. Søren has devised a robust project for his class with not enough time to finish. A familiar story. Hand-drawn, hand-painted characters in piles and spread about. Falling asleep at the brush.

Is this living analog? Is this just living? Gathered around the table, papers and characters and colours floating about, waiting for their final details and place in the story, the lot of us bleary eyed and drifting.

There is a skill to documenting – especially as entrepreneurs. But this week we mostly forgot – the fish needed painting.

Søren’s Desk a few years ago

Walter Renovating The Rat Room and Nearing Completion

What isn’t content in a life of making?

Walter has spent the past year touching every corner of the Rat Room, as he says, as if with a toothpick. We ordered custom windows that changed the coziness of the room in a not nice way, so he decided to strip back the layers instead to restore what was already there. The 1818 windows. We snapped a few photographs along the way. But here he is now, repainting them with linseed oil paint outside.

Read Our Blog: Barn Restoration Project at the Five Acre Wood

Makeshift Studio Betwixt Barn and Creek

Making Journals and Mistakes

And in my world – Me, mother whose family makes, who observes her family making, and who makes – I’ve finally finished my journal, without a camera watching.

I’ve been putting off the making for the right light or the right camera or the right something. The journal didn’t turn out great, but it looks good in photographs. I didn’t want to share it, but I will after I make better books to compare.

We are building our YouTube channel and trust we will get better at all of this. We hope you’ll come along with us on this newish journey.

Watch on YouTube

My friend Deb’s Sendaks + pouches on her desk in New Mexico from my February visit!

Watch on YouTube

A Few Of A Kinds Left!

Silas Runs!

Silas has been running.

Since returning to public school nearly two years ago, he has stepped away from making art and stepped fully into sport — soccer, and this year, track. He has transformed.

5:02 mile

Substack + YouTube

Everywhere Astonishments

There is not enough time to live out all of ones dreams. But we did go to see it. This unchanged cottage by the sea...

I love this comment on Substack

I have a running list of old houses that I’m sure I was truly meant for too. I never can stop looking for them and dreaming. They’ve wormed their way into who I am so that I could never forget them. When I can’t sleep I arrange our furniture into them in my head and garden their gardens. Surely the universe will deliver me to one of them someday?
-Chrisi

And all morning, as I’ve been working, this bird has been trying to come in. She’s been knocking on every window. Some people told me she was a he, but she sure seems like a she. I left and returned and found her in the studio.

I always feel so lucky to hold the birds.

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

We’ve got a new sign — come visit and see where everything is made.
The Studio Tour is coming up May 16th and 17th. More on this soon!

How does a thing begin? With a word, a colour, a rhythm thumping around in one’s head. Ideas rise from the perfect and unexpected combination of little things. This one started with a remembered crunch of vintage chiclet gum upon finding partly faded fabric, shells from the water’s edge, and well-worn aprons and quilts bearing evidence of past existence. It is also spring, and the springy colors of Chiclets and chicklets and flowers abound. When I came upon two little hand-stitched curtains with yellow and chartreuse flowers, it all came together. Weird and wonderful – just as we like it.

Be the first to know when future collections of a kind collections launch by signing up for our newsletter!

Bags and Pouches

Pouches, Pipits, Tinned Bookbinding Kits, Oh My!

Walter & Sons Tote

Tinned Bookbinding Kits + Sketchbooks

Tinned Sketchbooks, always your favourites. And something new: Tinned Bookbinding Kits!

We made a video showing how to make the books and more – but definitely go there second because these tins won’t last!

Tinned Bookbinding Kit

Floss and Bundles

Finally, more vintage scrap bundles and embroidery floss for bookbinding and other maker adventures, all in delicious faded tones and bright bursts!

Chiclet Scrap Bundles

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.

Be the first to know when future collections of a kind collections launch by signing up for our newsletter!

Substack + YouTube

Everywhere Astonishments

I went to New York for two days to visit friends. I didn't take photographs except for my little wander to a coffee shop in the morning. We discovered that pigeons nest in the Sycamore Tree hollows. Most of the visit felt like old Sesame Street episodes. The dogs, the crossing guards, the wire fences.

Visited Yoseka Stationery Shop. What a magical place! It was packed. I didn't take a single photograph. :(

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

We’ve got a new sign — come visit and see where everything is made.
The Studio Tour is coming up May 16th and 17th. More on this soon!