I’m learning honeycomb smocking and I’m pretty smitten.
Monthly Archive for July, 2011
Mannish Style – available at the workroom
This is my current favourite Japanese Dress book. Firstly, it has a fantastic title that makes me smile every time I read it. The full title on the book is ‘She has a mannish style’. I am feeling this mannish style right now!
What I love about this book is that it strays from the typical sweet tunics and dresses you find in most Japanese Dress books. It’s great to see some variation in the styling. There are some super cool drapey tops and vestlets that look like they will be fun to make. I’m looking through my stash to figure out what fabric will work for one of the dresses. It will be one of the 13 projects I hope to work on over the long weekend. I need more time to sew!
1. 365 : 91, 2. 365 : 92, 3. 365 : 93, 4. 365 : 94, 5. 365 : 95, 6. 365 : 96, 7. 365 : 97, 8. 365 : 98, 9. 365 : 99, 10. 365 : 100, 11. 365 : 101, 12. 365 : 102, 13. 365 : 103, 14. 365 : 104, 15. 365 : 105, 16. 365 : 106, 17. 365 : 107, 18. 365 : 108, 19. 365 : 109, 20. 365 : 110, 21. 365 : 111 (explored!), 22. 365 : 112, 23. 365 : 113, 24. 365 : 114, 25. 365 : 115, 26. 365 : 116, 27. 365 : 117, 28. 365 : 118, 29. 365 : 119, 30. 365 : 120
This year I’ve finally started taking more people photos. They need work and I’m still really shy about it, but it’s a start. I had a mission to photograph all of the workroom family and that has really helped. It’s just so much easier to take a photograph of a jar of jam!
1. 365 : 60, 2. 365 : 61, 3. 365 : 62, 4. 365 : 63, 5. 365 : 64, 6. 365 : 65, 7. 365 : 66, 8. 365 : 67, 9. 365 : 68, 10. 365 : 69, 11. 365 : 70, 12. 365 : 71, 13. 365 : 72, 14. 365 : 73, 15. 365 : 74, 16. 365 : 75, 17. 365 : 76, 18. 365 : 77, 19. 365 : 78, 20. 365 : 79, 21. 365 : 80, 22. 365 : 81, 23. 365 : 82, 24. 365 : 83, 25. 365 : 84, 26. 365 : 85, 27. 365 : 86, 28. 365 : 87, 29. 365 : 88, 30. 365 : 89, 31. 365 : 90
Finally some more 365. I’m really having a summer of reflection, spending a lot of time looking back. I am constantly trying to make sure that I also don’t forget to be in the moment. Something with the moons and eclipses have been off for me in the last few months. So I am just trying to get through this funny time. I have high hopes for August and the fall, though!
You can see here that we were working on our online shop since March (and before). I can’t believe we started creating those floss palettes in March. It took so long to get it all together. This is the fun part now.
p.s. I really love looking at snowy photos in July.
Looks like friendship bracelets are making a huge comeback this year. Personally, I’m really excited about it because it’s a sweet little gift that requires very little supplies and really no tools (except for a safety pin and scissors!) Portable, small crafts are also a bonus in the summer when you might want something to do in the car (as a passenger!), sitting in the park or hanging out with pals.
I started this bracelet a couple nights ago while watching tv. I went through my Cosmo floss collection and found that I mostly have pink and grey! I’m trying to do a super wide chevron pattern, using 8 different colours. I’m following the tutorial from Honestly WTF, but there is also a tutorial on Purl and if you’re really serious about it, we have a Japanese book dedicated to Misanga, which is what they call friendship bracelets. I’m working my way up to doing some of the fancy patterns like flowers and hearts!
Have you seen our Cosmo floss palettes? They are kinda perfect for this. We’ve selected some super cute combinations of colours. Just pick one of the sets and you’ll be ready to make a bunch of bracelets. I just created two that I’m totally in love with – City Rain and Lavender Fields. City Rain was inspired by this incredible photo of city lights reflecting off the pavement of a dark rainy night here in Toronto. My next bracelets will be using this palette. I can’t wait.
We’ve been having fun packing up orders from our new online shop and sending them out to new friends in Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Calgary, the US and all over Ontario. We’re learning lots, especially about shipping costs. Canada Post is so tricky. Our original shipping estimates were coming out really high, so we’ve been adjusting them as we figure out this new system. No matter what, we have been refunding everyone with the difference between the actual shipping cost and what they may have over paid. If you tried to buy something, but were worried when you saw the shipping totals, try again. They should be much more realistic now.
Also, I’m thinking that a friendship bracelet party would be a fun thing to do….
Cosmo colours in my bracelet : #475, #2222, #476, #472, #2224, #431, #226, #224
The beauty of a mini quilt is that you work through a colour palette or style on a very small scale and feel like you’ve checked it off your list. It would be impossible for me to work out every colour combination I’m in love with as a full sized quilt. Plus, I’ve recently decided that my life needs a wall filled with mini quilts.
This melon and grey combination has made several appearances on my Pinterest colour board. (1, 2, 3, 4!) Grey plus anything is always a favourite for me.
I’m testing out some new ways of doing improv patchwork. For this piece, I made up a rule that I must use equal amounts of all the fabric I chose. I cut a strip of fabric that was 6″ x 2″ of each fabric and started sewing. I wanted to keep it really simple, so I didn’t chop up my sewing too much as I went along. I like how it just ended up being equal squares and rectangles. So simple.
I’m feeling like I need to be more experimental with my quilting designs. I have not yet braved the world of free motion. (soon!) So, I’m still exploring the world of straight lines. I decided to take out my Hera Marker for this and see how it worked for marking my quilting lines. It was perfect!! It allowed me to quickly mark my design with a ruler as I went along without leaving any chalk or ink lines behind. I was surprised at how well the indentations marked the lines for me. This is definitely a new favourite notion to use.
I finished this mini quilt in four days from start to finishing the binding. Wall full of mini quilts should be a breeze, right?
I’ve been really lucky to be involved with Uppercase Magazine right from the beginning. I can’t believe this is the 10th issue!! Janine has done such an incredible job creating a rich and vibrant publication. Every bit of the magazine is so delightful and engaging.
If you take a look at this issue, you’ll see that I did an interview with Sian Keegan. I have long admired Sian’s pet portraits, so it was wonderful to get to know more about how it all started and how she works on these three-dimensional fabric likenesses of people’s furry friends. Sian recently announced that she has caught up with her waiting list of commissions, so I should hop on it and get a little Maisy portrait done!
You’ll also find lots of wonderful features and stories, including the cutest couple in craft Shauna and Stephen of Something’s Hiding in Here and the lovely Pia Jane Bijerk.
Of course, we stock Uppercase Magazine here at the store and also in our online shop!
I’m so super proud to be included in the Toronto City Guide in the August issue of Lucky Magazine. Since Lucky started I’ve always loved their city guide feature, so it’s kind of a dream come true to be in one! I also think that the editor who has the job of traveling around and putting them together has one of the best gigs around.
We are in brilliant company in the feature, listed among our favourite places (& people!) including Bookhou, Fawn, Mjölk, Robber, Russet & Empire, Shopgirls and Smash.
p.s. Two things I’m currently obsessing over : this pie plate & this half square triangle dress. I want both!
YIPEEEE!! This is such a long time in the making, but I’m pretty much bursting to finally launch the workroom’s pop-up online shop. We actually do a lot of mail order shipping to our friends in other parts of Canada, the US, Australia, Spain, Brazil, etc. If there’s ever anything you’d like to buy from the workroom, we can easily arrange it with you by phone or email. This little pop-up shop is an edited version of some of our most requested and favourite things like our laser cut cross stitch pendants, Japanese Dress Books, Uppercase Magazine, Colette sewing patterns and Selvedge Magazine.
We’ve also brought in some special items for the launch of the shop, like these coloured bauble purse frames and flower bag handles. Everything that I choose for the shop is something that totally inspires me. I’m excited that when I talk about a new pattern or tool that I’ve tried, I’ll be able to have it in the shop so you don’t have to search around for it.
the workroom carries some items that are not always easy to find elsewhere, such as the Lecien Cosmo embroidery floss. We have all 443 colours and you can choose to buy them individually or we’ve started to create some gorgeous floss palettes that include 15 skeins of floss based on different inspirations. Very soon, we’ll be launching a special floss of the month subscription where each month you’ll get a package with one of our floss palettes delivered to your post box. This will be a super fun way to build your Cosmo collection.
For our friends here in Toronto, you can choose to pick up your order at the workroom for no charge. Simply let us know in the notes that you’ll be picking up and we’ll refund the shipping cost.
Let me know what you think of our little shop!
1. 365 : 32, 2. 365 : 33, 3. 365 : 34, 4. 365 : 35, 5. 365 : 36, 6. 365 : 37,
7. 365 : 38, 8. 365 : 39, 9. 365 : 40, 10. 365 : 41, 11. 365 : 42, 12. 365 : 43,
13. 365 : 44, 14. 365 : 45, 15. 365 : 46, 16. 365 : 47, 17. 365 : 48, 18. 365 : 49,
19. 365 : 50, 20. 365 : 51, 21. 365 : 52, 22. 365 : 53, 23. 365 : 54, 24. 365 : 55,
25. 365 : 56, 26. 365 : 57, 27. 365 : 58, 28. 365 : 59
I really like the look of February. Lots of stitching and quilting happening.
Here are two more photos of the same subject, different days. The second photo below is one of my favourites from this year.
