365 : bunny shadow
I’m fascinated by the morning shadows and light as the sun rises and moves across the sky.
Archive for the 'accoutrement' Category
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365 : on top of my dresser
This photo gives you a bit of a sneak peek of my handmade Christmas gift from Andrew. It’s a gorgeous cedar jewelry box with grey wool felt lining. What you see is only a fraction of it, as it is about three feet long. The poor daytime lighting has prevented me from getting good detailed shots that show it off properly, but I’m working on it!
Also in this photo:
address file by lovely design
ceramic vase by nesting emily
crochet stone by resurrection fern
‘judy’ silkscreen print by alanna cavanagh
bunny drawing by sarah mcneil
wood + thread artwork by rosalyn faustino
benjamin bunny by old weston handmade wonders
I got a surprise addition to my bunny family on Sunday. The lovely Kalpna dropped by with a beautifully packaged gift, complete with mini pinecones and my initial stamped on the bag. Inside was a very special bunny, his name is Benjamin. Isn’t he handsome?
Benjamin is a fall bunny, as you can see. Dressed up in his fall sweater and striped scarf, he was ready for an adventure on Monday with the perfect autumn weather we were having. We went off to High Park to check out the fall colours, run through the leaves and then to Sorauren Park to see the annual pumpkin parade.
Kalpna is a regular at our trunk shows, so you may have seen the adorable crochet bears she makes. I’ve been dropping “not so subtle” hints for the last while that those bears might easily become a bunny, which would be perfect for my bunny fetish/collection.
The thing with bunnies is that they tend to multiply, so I’m pretty sure you might be able to pick up one of your own darlings at an upcoming holiday craft fair. Kalpna will be vending at Winter Fling and City of Craft in December.
I just might be close to catching up on all my posts from the last few weeks. Last week was our first ever trunk show that was rummage only. We weren’t too sure what would happen, but it was such a fun event!
It was a gorgeous, sunny fall day and so many people dropped by to check out all the rummage and snap up great deals. I had one piece of rummage that day, a pair of vintage boots that didn’t fit me properly. Sweet Anabela kindly hosted my boots in her trunk and they sold!
Claire gifted me a super cool vintage tin as a birthday present (Thanks Claire!) and I picked out several black & white photos from Grant’s suitcase. A crazy bargain at $.10 each!
Thanks so much to everyone who brought out their awesome rummage and all the shoppers who came and took it away!
I finally decided to get myself an iPhone. My first priority was make a cozy for it, as I have a tendency to knock things about. I had a mental list of features it needed to have – interior credit card/money pocket, closure, wrist handle and clip.
This summer I often found myself heading out the door to walk Maisy with my cell phone and keys in hand, since most of my dresses don’t have pockets. (note to self : start putting pockets in your dresses!) We also walk to and from work everyday and often times I couldn’t hear/find my phone in the depths of my birdie sling. I had been inspired by this pet pouch to make something that might attach to the handle of Maisy’s leash.
My original plan was to do a zipper closure. However, when I was designing this pattern, I quickly realized that having a zipper would mean that the cozy would have to be much bigger than I wanted it to be. A magnetic snap was out of the question, so a button was the logical solution. The clip came off an old bag I had a long time ago. I try to scavenge hardware off anything I might be getting rid of. I used a scrap piece of cotton batting off one of my quilts to add a layer of protection in the middle of the fabrics. That sweet piece of lacy crochet trim is from Melinda. She used it on her zippered pouch and gave me the rest. I have decided I need to have more trim in my life.
The cozy is perfect. When I head out the door, I just clip it to Maisy’s leash. I even clip my keys into it. No more fumbling around in my bag!
I’m loving my iPhone and have already tricked it out with:
- Bunny Blossom Gelaskin by Kozyndan
- my favourite app is Things. I’m constantly writing lists in my head, on scraps of paper and generally, worrying about getting things done. Now, every time I think of something I need to do, buy or remember, it just goes into my Things list where all the items are sorted by priority, tags and projects. I have it on my iMac also and they wirelessly sync to each other. I feel more organized everyday.
- i just downloaded the Style.com app yesterday and I love it. It’s fashion week in New York right now and I can watch all the shows easily on my phone.
- i love anything Polaroid, so I had to get Polarize to change my photos to look like Polaroids that you can even write notes on.
- i really wanted to have bird songs for my ringtone, so i recorded all kinds of wonderful birds from enature.com and created my own… i love hearing the Purple Finch, Northern Mockingbird and Sage Thrasher when people call.
I don’t remember how long the Lovely Design address file has been on my wish list. Perhaps about 8 years? I remember that I first saw it in a magazine when I was living in New York. I knew that I had to have one.
Over the years, I have remembered this address file many times and tried to purchase it repeatedly, but it was always sold out and then it went out of production. Finally, a few months ago, I saw that Sharilyn was going to be making them again and I emailed her to get onto the waiting list.
It finally arrived last week, well packed in colourful paper scraps and it’s just perfect.
I have her Beautiful Leaves of Canada poster. I just need to have it framed. I also noticed that the Beautiful Conifers of Canada poster might be available soon and I’m going to snatch up one of those too.
We were very lucky to have traveling artist, Sarah McNeil, at the Love & Rummage Trunk Show in February. The bunny brooch I bought from her is too cute for words, I love it so much. I’m so happy to say that Sarah will be vending at the Hunt & Gather Trunk Show on Sunday. I urge you to not miss out on seeing (and buying!) Sarah’s works in person before she heads off to other parts of the world.
In addition to all the lovely things she creates, I just learned that Sarah will do a commissioned portrait of your pet. That’s pretty damn hard to resist.
Continue to follow Sarah’s adventures on her blog, Everything.
What is your earliest memory?
Sarah : I was two and my Dad was dressed as Santa and helped me go to the bathroom. Only I thought he really was Santa.
I have heard that Toronto is only a temporary stop for you. When did you arrive? What/who/where have you fallen in love with here? (if anything)
Sarah : I arrived at the end of November. When I was just about here, looking down from the airplane window, there were multi-coloured reflections on the ground below. It was such a magical and different feeling. I loved the snow, the squirrels and now I love the spring birds.
I am also in love with poutine.
Where will your travels take you next?
Sarah : I’m off to Montreal at the beginning of May, then traveling around the US for a bit. Then I have no idea. I really want to start an art gallery in New Zealand, but I’m not sure if settling down should be too soon in the agenda.
Do you have a favourite way to start your day?
Sarah : Tea. Coffee (although I have been trying to cut down on that). Recently my hours have been a bit odd, waking up at 12pm or even 1pm, and then staying awake until 4am, but usually I like to wake up early(ish) and enjoy morning time too.
Is there anything you’ve been hunting for but have yet to find?
Sarah : Hmm… perhaps more good movies to see? I really like birds, and I haven’t seen a bluebird yet, or indigo bunting, or scarlet tanager, so I am kind of hunting for them with my eyes.
What will you be selling at the Hunt & Gather trunk show?
Sarah : Bird and animal brooches, drawings, prints, some sweaters that I can’t fit in my travel bag, a red beret, a black beret… a few other items too. I may or may not have time to make a few copies of my zine. I still haven’t decided what to bake for the “free delicious snacks” area either.
Sorry about the teaser the other day, I was just so excited that I had to share a wee bit. Here are the beginnings of my idea. I’ve been wanting to cross stitch into wood for a while, of course the thought of drilling hundreds of tiny holes (in a perfect grid formation) into wood does not appeal to anyone. Luckily, the workroom possesses a magical machine called a laser cutter. (That statement alone deserves its’ own post)
After a little computer fiddling, I came up with a few very simplistic designs. I hope to refine them much more. These wooden cross stitch pendants are tiny little canvases that you can stitch little designs or monograms into. How fun! I’m just learning about cross stitch patterns, so my first one is just a simple heart. If you look closely, you’ll see it’s not symmetrical.
In my cross stitch research, I came across the site, Radical Cross Stitch which is full of fun, modern cross stitching. I especially love the Banksy cross stitch. Hmm, embroidered graffiti…
Also, the Antique Pattern Library is a huge (free!) online resource for vintage needlework patterns, including knitting, crochet and embroidery. There are hours of fun there.
Of course, now my mind is racing with a thousand ideas and it’s keeping me up late at night!
I’ve had shoes on my mind recently. Now that it is almost time to put away my winter footwear, I’d like to find some lovely spring-y flats. In my ideal world, they are a) comfortable b) hardy (i walk to work & home each day with a dog) c) cute as heck d) go with everything. This might be impossible, but I’ve been scouting around.
Last week I enlisted the help of Jane and she put together a drool-worthy selection that seriously threatens my bank account. Those Maloles are so so lovely! Thank you, Jane. It is now my mission to add a pair of Maloles to my shoe collection one day very soon.
Then EZ posted about Marais USA. Colourful, sweet and affordable. As soon as this collection is released, I’m going to order a pair.
Yesterday, Ellie posted this selection of grey & mustard flats. I’m pretty much about to buy #3. I’m just debating the right colour – black (practical) vs. grey (my all time fav) or both?
On Thursday night, I went out to dinner with Dominic and we stopped into Franny Vintage, just a couple blocks west of the workroom on Queen. What a cute shop! They sell a mix of vintage clothing, shoes and Cheap Monday jeans. I couldn’t resist buying these Bandolino navy pumps. I have an awesome pair of navy pumps already, but these fit and have that amazing cut-out detail and I do love navy.
It never fails, even when Dom & I don’t mean to shop, we end up finding awesome little treasures that we can’t help buying. Our shopping karma is perfect together. Do you have friends like this? It was always rather dangerous when he came to visit me in NYC and we would hit the shops. The weekend would end with such an enviable stockpile of goodies that I couldn’t even feel guilty about all the money I had spent. Now, that’s a good shopping partner.
I just looked in my closet, I’m getting those #3 flats in black!
{This photo below is Franny Vintage, not my closet.)
Strawberry Shortcake lip balm, braided yarn bracelet by Lily, vintage braille dish
‘Conor’, polymer clay kitty by Ella
Hand-painted ornament by Kathryn Boyd
Crochet-covered sea stone by Resurrection Fern
Wall plaque by Kiln Enamel
