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This week: pretty pinks in the studio

roses

Just wanted to share a few photos from around the studio this week.

I had a rather nasty accident earlier in the week involving an immersion blender because I did NOT read this article in the New York Times about how incredibly dangerous they are. So consider this your PSA.

Anyway, I’ve been pretty bummed out ever since. But we had a nice afternoon of cleaning and organizing and there’s something very soothing about folding all this pretty fabric. I’m so into all these colors.

fabric-02

fabric

Have a great weekend, everyone… and stay safe!

Sarai Mitnick

Founder

Sarai started Colette back in 2009. She believes the primary role of a business should be to help people. She loves good books, sewing with wool, her charming cats, working in her garden, and eating salsa.

Comments

Carie

February 15, 2013 #

What lovely roses; that shade of blush pink is such a pretty colour I can see why it would be soothing.

Carla

February 15, 2013 #

Lovely colors for spring!!!

Joy Stallard

February 15, 2013 #

So sorry about the immersion blender accident! I hope you are ok! I chopped the corner of my pointer finger off with my upgraded rotary cutter that my husband bought me for Christmas. It has healed now but sewing with an injured pointer finger was much more difficult than I would have imagined for a few weeks. I hope you are still able to sew and aren’t in too much pain!!

Shawn Schumacher

February 15, 2013 #

Oh Sarai,
Hope you heal quickly. I knew there was a reason why we gave ours away…

Ginger

February 15, 2013 #

Ouch!! I’m so sorry! Feel better soon. :(

Emily

February 15, 2013 #

I’m sorry to hear about your accident! I really love my immersion blender but I know how dangerous it is. I only plug it in right as I am ready to use it and unplug it right afterwards. I do the same thing with my food processor. Spinning blades freak me out!

Jess

February 15, 2013 #

How scary. :( I hope whatever cuts occurred will heal and all will be well in the end.

Thanks for sharing the link to the NYT article; hopefully more folks will read it and realize how dangerous immersion blenders can be. Though, the baker in me doesn’t understand why the author would use one to cream butter for cookies, when a hand (or stand) mixer would’ve been much better suited for the job.

Adri H.

February 19, 2013 #

My guess is they were just inexperienced and were not accustomed to the “right tool for the job” philosophy that we likely share. I love baking myself and prefer my hand mixer for creaming butter. Although for soups, I could see the advantage of avoiding the pouring-of-hot-liquids part. I’m a menace to myself with our current grater, so I avoid using it. After several run-ins with it (grating cheese, grating lemon zest, etc.) a friend suggested chain-mail gloves. :(
Get well soon, Sarai!

Rachel

February 15, 2013 #

Hugs and Hope you heal very quickly and I am so sorry! Thank you for the pretty pictures… a great reminder to take joy in the inspiration like fabric and color! Take care!

Martha

February 15, 2013 #

I feel your pain….. I had an incident with my immersion blender on Monday. My finger nail kept the blade from going really deep. Of course my nail has a nice slice in it!

Samantha

February 15, 2013 #

Yikes, I hope your finger(s) are ok… I have had many run-ins with knives in the kitchen that have resulted in numb fingertips. Recently I ran a (dull, therefore much more dangerous) rotary cutter through my left pointer finger. Hands are so often in the line of fire, and so crucial to what we do. Heal well my friend!

Nicole

February 15, 2013 #

This past December my boyfriend was making hummus and reached in to clear some chunks of chickpea off the blades of our immersion blender with his hands, and next thing I knew, we were at the emergency room stitching his finger back together! He’s an experienced cook and has spent his whole life in and around a woodshop with spinning blades everywhere. But go figure it’s the Cuisinart that gets him, not a table saw!

He is fine now, thankfully, though still slowly gaining feeling back in his finger. We still use our blender frequently, but we are SUPER careful about unplugging it now. Ugh.

Hope you get better soon!

Sarai

February 15, 2013 #

That’s exactly what I did, Nicole.

The frustrating thing is that right before it happened, I thought “I should unplug this first.” Then I didn’t do it.

That’s the thing with accidents like this, I guess. You know you’re doing something unsafe, but at the same time you think, “oh, but it’ll just take a second and nothing will happen.” Then oops, there goes your finger!

Becky

February 15, 2013 #

Oh dear… I actually have an immersion blender on my wedding registry, because I found one with different attachments and I figured it could be used as a blender/hand mixer. You’re making me rethink that a little, because as a flutist, I’m super-paranoid about keeping my fingers intact! I hope your hand heals up quickly!

Kathryn

February 15, 2013 #

I hope you get well soon Sarai! I’m so sorry this happened. : (

Diane @ Vintage Zest

February 15, 2013 #

Eek! I’m reading the article right away!

On a positive note, I love the flowers which are just beautiful. And the polka dot fabric, I’m in love with it! I think the only prints I ever sew with are polka dots. Seriously, I have an addiction!

verna

February 15, 2013 #

I almost lost the tip of my left index finger in one of those things. Two years later and i still have nerve damage. It’s slowly coming back, I can finally type with that finger now. ON another note, it’s a good thing to have a first aid kit at home. I was able to bangae myself up and drive to the hospital…if I had not had wound dressings I would have had to call 911 or even worse!!

BeccaA

February 15, 2013 #

So sorry about your finger–that sounds painful. I hope you heal quickly. Your fabrics and flowers are lovely.

Pixie S. Greene

February 15, 2013 #

Thankfully, I’ve never injured myself with an immersion blender, but I do have one tip regarding them: buy the one that comes with a little enclosed cup blender attachment and use it! I used to just throw it in the cupboard and forget about it. Lately I’ve been using it all the time. If you’re only making a smallish amount of dip, your fingers never have to get near the blade. I made a gazpacho recently and used the enclosed thing to pulp all the ingredients in batches. Then when I used the stick in the soup to combine it, there was no worry about those dangerous jams all the stories seem to mention.

Sorry if that’s lengthy, but I hope it helps those who, like me, can’t yet upgrade to a stand mixer! And Sarai, I hope your finger heals soon!!

Abi

February 16, 2013 #

Oh no, your poor finger. A friend of mine did exactly the same thing – making hummus, too! I took the skin of my thumb with the ceiling fan a couple of weeks ago (standing on a chair, folding blankets. Yes, I know…) Spinning blades in the home are just a bad idea.

Romy

February 16, 2013 #

Ouchies! I hope you make a full recovery and feel better soon!

Sky Turtle

February 17, 2013 #

Scary! Hope you’re ok.
I once forgot how craft knives are and couldn’t sew for 3 weeks.

didyoumakethat

February 17, 2013 #

Sorry you’ve been feeling blue and about the accident. Sending hugs from across the Atlantic. I hope you’re getting lots of hugs and TLC.

Betty Jordan Wester

February 18, 2013 #

wow, that’s really scary. I’ve been going back and forth over whether to get one, but I’m very, very absent minded, so that sounds like a recipe for disaster.
I’m glad you’re ok.

Kessem

February 20, 2013 #

Oh Wow! that sounds crazy! I hope you heal quickly! OMG!
Love the fabrics, can’t wait to see what you do with them!

Jenn

February 24, 2013 #

Oh, ouch! Having tended bar for several years in my youth, I well remember finger casualties– My middle finger on my right hand never really got the feeling back 100%. So sorry to hear you’re wounded, take care and enjoy the soothing pinks. Heal fast!