I was really excited to be invited to Erica’s birthday party on Saturday, hosted by Anabela & Geoff. Little did I know just how dreamy this party would be. Firstly, their apartment is the cutest thing ever. I hardly knew where to look, there were so many great pieces of art by artists that I love. The place was lit up with twinkle lights and decorated with balloons and peachy, frilly banners. There was a tower of cupcakes and lovely nibbles to eat.
I finally got to meet Nikole in person. Finally. Nikole brought THE cake. I have never seen anything like this spectacular cake. I almost cried when I saw it and it wasn’t even for me. It was a chocolate cake with sour cherries in the middle. It was completely devoured towards the end of the night, but not before it was lit up with over thirty candles which set the tiny little flags on fire.
Did I mention the pink unicorn pinata? or the sparklers, the glitter birthday hats and the exploding streamers? Anabela, you totally set the bar for future birthday parties!
p.s. Celine’s photos from the party are pretty great.
p.p.s. Anabela’s party post is here.
I’m probably the last one to try this, but I finally went to the Pentagram site to find out what ‘type’ I am. Looks like I’m Marina Script. Pretty!
I just found out yesterday that the workroom/make something had been nominated for a Poppy award under the ‘Favourite Handmade Crafter’ category. How sweet!
The Poppies are a brand new virtual awards event to give recognition to all the awesome talent out there, put forth by the wonderful crew at Poppytalk. Every day for the next week, a new category will be announced and you can vote for your favourites in each category. You can vote once per day for the entire week for each category.
There are so many great people represented, so it’s a wonderful opportunity to discover some new crafty shops and blogs. There is stiff competition in the crafters category. Atlantic Treefox, Film in the Fridge, Leptitpapillon, Miniature Rhino, Resurrection Fern, Sandra Juto, Stitchface, and Yokoo are just a few of the folks in the running!
Vote for your Favourite Handmade Crafter here!
365 : bedside table
Happy New Year! I’ve just had three seriously relaxing (& luxurious) days off. They were much needed! Everyone is abuzz about doing the 365 photo project and I’ve decided to join in. This is just the push I need to start taking more photographs this year, hopefully with people in them, sometimes. I wish I took better people photos. I know that Anabela is doing it, any one else out there embarking on the challenge?
Perhaps now is a good time to share a few other goals I have for the coming year…
- decorate. i’d like to spend more time working on projects for the house & shop. this includes acquiring and especially hanging more artwork. this also includes a very big project of re-doing the workroom’s couch in natural dyed fabrics. (with help from erin)
- journal. (offline) i used to spend a lot of time working on a visual diary and i really miss it. at the very least, i’ve started a project/fabric diary.
- grow. more herbs, vegetables and flowers. i also need to learn how to prune plants properly. i get scared to trim them and then they grow all wild and gangly.
- preserve. i just started getting into it last year with pickles, canning tomatos and jam, but there is so much more to try!
- quilt. especially hand quilting. i hope to start lots of fun quilting projects this year, but i especially want to finish this quilt. soon. ish.
- natural dye. i’m completely fascinated and want to do make all kinds of things from naturally dyed fabrics. i’ve also just learned about solar dyeing and it’s the most beautiful process!
Right about this time of the year, things always seem a bit blurry to me. I must admit I’m looking forward to a few days off, lots of holiday eating and sneaking in as much sewing as possible to finish off gifts that haven’t quite gotten done yet!
Yesterday’s giveaway winner was comment #7, Jean! Her comment was, “Oooo the fabric definitely! My favourite holiday food is nice a juicy roasted goose with super crispy skin. I love the anticipation of it while it’s roasting and how the house slowly begins to fill with the aromas from the roast! Mmmmm I’m hungry now!”
I really want to thank each of you for commenting over the last few days. It’s so lovely to hear from you. I hope you get all the things on your crafty wish lists and have a super holiday!
I was tagged by Constança to show my desk, which also happens to be my dining room table. At the end of each night (or so) I clear the table off until my next sewing session. This is probably best, because I would have one of those desks that was full of piles and overly messy.
I took these photos over the course of a weekend, so you can see me jump from project to project.
Photo 1 : Working on a plaid cotton quilt top for a Christmas gift, eating Coconut Liberte Yogourt and drinking hot chocolate
Photo 2 : Drafting a shoo-fly block for another new quilt using my French General jelly roll
Photo 3 : Adding the Mokuba trim to my new blue tunic
Photo 4 : Checking out flickr with my new Shinzi Katoh agenda and drinking hot chocolate (drinking hot chocolate seems to be mandatory when working, I am drinking some right now)
I’m usually the worst person to tag for these things, but I was determined to get my act together for this one. The three people whose desks I’d like to see are – Lauren, Ayalah & Rosalyn. You are meant to show your desk/working space as it is, without any editing or styling and then tag three more people. If anyone else out there wants to play along, just post a link here to a photo of your desk. (the messier the better!)
I hope you have a lovely weekend, friends. I’m making great progress with my holiday gift making. I won’t be able to tell you about a lot of it until after Christmas, but I’ve got a few projects that should be ’safe’ to share with you.
Our trip was fantastic. I’m starting to sort through all my pictures (not quite a billion, more like 500) and thoughts, there’s so much to tell! I’ll be posting lots of little individual posts all about Paris over the next couple weeks sprinkled in with my regular postings.
One of the nicest things was knowing that everything was in such great hands while we were away. Our lovely neighbours kept an eye on our house and picked up our mail. (and then delivered it upon our arrival all sweetly bundled up) Maisy stayed with Debbie and apparently charmed her entire family. Classes were taught by Reva, Johanna, Erin and Kristiann. While my special ‘workroom girls’ – Debbie, Jerisse and Ayalah kept the show running smoothly at the shop.
It’s amazing to be back home.
I’ve had this idea in my head for a long time… over a year. I am finally working on my first sample. So far, I’m REALLY excited!!
It’s so easy to carried away this time of the year. I cut out this comic years and years ago and use it to remind myself that although the calendar says spring is here, I’m better off wearing my winter coat for just a little bit longer. It’s still really cold out there!
It seems perfectly timed that I spotted this Guerilla Knit Up on my walk down Brock Street to work this morning. A lovely blast of pink in a grey landscape. So pretty and cheery.
The feeling of that stayed with me all day and then tonight I went to see the Toronto premier of the indie craft documentary, ‘Handmade Nation‘, by Faythe Levine. What a fun time seeing so many of you out at the screening and sitting packed in the Lennox Gallery together. I’m going to have to sit down with the Handmade Nation book over the weekend. There were so many people featured that I want to learn more about.
I was particularly inspired by a patchwork dress they showed. It reminded me that I’ve been wanting to make a piece of clothing out of patchwork, so I’ve just put that on my list. Also, the opening credits were pretty fun and you can watch bits of it here.
There was a crafty chat after the film, but I had to leave to pick up Maisy. Did anyone stay to discuss? Did you have favourite bits or people from the film? It really made me feel very proud to be a part of this community that is just bursting with talent and creativity.
And thank goodness for Google! I just found out that this Guerilla Knit Up is the handiwork of Martha Brown. You’ll notice that she even added paper tags and a pencil, so people have been adding their comments. You made my day today, Martha!
