Tag Archive for 'new york'

MY FIRST T-SHIRT

Published on September 21, 2010 in stitchery and the workroom. 13 Comments Tags: anthropologie, cover stitch, High Park, new york, organic knit bamboo, serger, t-shirt, underwear.

Hi friends! It seems I took a little unexpected, but much needed hiatus. How have you been?

Yesterday was my favourite kind of fall day. When I left the house early in the morning, I was chilly and bundled up in a sweater. By the afternoon, it was hot and sunny. I took Maisy to High Park and as we walked through the forest, I realized that I hadn’t told you about the t-shirt I was wearing. It’s the first t-shirt I’ve sewn and I made in it our T-Shirt class. I’m still pretty new to sewing with knit fabrics, so I was thrilled to learn to make myself a perfect fitting tee completely on a serger. (Actually, we also use a cover stitch machine in this class, as well!) There are several different neckline and sleeve length options to choose from with this pattern. I combined the v-neck and the jewel neck to make a deeper scoop neck which I quite like. The fabric is a blue jersey I already had, but my next tee will definitely be made out of bamboo jersey. Now that I’ve got this pattern, I’m pretty set with all the basics. (Underwear + Tees) I’m going to draw the line at making my own jeans, but I’ve got a hankering to try making a pair of shoes one day.

I’m also sporting my new sunglasses (on sale from Anthropologie) in these photos. I went to New York City a couple weeks ago for the weekend. I have some fun photos to organize and post up for you.

NEW YORK CITY : DOWNTOWN

Published on March 31, 2010 in delicious and traveling. 1 Comment Tags: Babycakes, BBDW, Freeman's, new york, NYC, Opening Ceremony, purl soho.

Saturday morning of our trip to New York, we headed over to Freeman’s Restaurant. The restaurant is located at the end of an alley and it’s one of the most charming places I’ve been to in a long time. There were all kinds of wonderful taxidermy hanging from the wall, including a flying goose and even a bee’s nest. I noticed they had cinnamon lemonade on the menu and had to order it. It was so delicious and unexpected. In fact, right now our house smells like cinnamon because I’m making some cinnamon simple syrup to recreate this delicious drink. I’ll be buying lots of lemons this summer. Our brunch was great, so great in fact that we decided to head back their the next day for brunch with my former boss, Margaret. We got to try even more things off their menu and I enjoyed a few more glasses of cinnamon lemonade.

Our downtown travels also took us to Babycakes who make wheat, gluten, dairy, egg and soy-free baked goods. A cupcake never felt so healthy and it tasted great.

I also love to stop by The Market on Mulberry on the weekend. I always discover something new there. This time it was Fine & Raw chocolate. I loved their packaging and picked up a stack of chocolate bars for gifts.

We stopped by Purl Soho to visit their tiny Sullivan Street location for the last time. They are moving to big and fancy digs on Broome Street in April. I’m excited to see what it will be like.

Soho

BDDW
212.625.1230
5 Crosby Street
They don’t allow photos in the shop, but this is some of the finest furniture craftsmanship that I’ve ever seen. It’s an old favourite and I always feel so inspired from being in their space.

Dunderdon
212.226.4040
25 Howard Street
Men’s and women’s clothing shop from Sweden. I hadn’t been in this shop before and I loved their aesthetic.

Opening Ceremony
212.219.2688
35 Howard Street
I’ve known them since they first opened and it’s amazing to see how the shop has grown. Filled to the brim with all kinds of design.

Lower East Side

Freemans
212.420.0012
End of Freemans Alley, Rivington between The Bowery and Chrystie
Next time I want to go for dinner. If I lived in New York, I fear I would never want to eat anywhere else.

Freemans Sporting Club
212.673.3209
8 Rivington, East Store Front
An extension of Freeman’s Restaurant, all their clothing is made in Brooklyn. There is a barber shop in the back when guys get a traditional shave!

Save Khaki
212.614.7283
254 Broome Street
Great casual men’s clothing.

Baby Cakes
212.677.5047
248 Broome Street
Delicious vegan bakery. Truly.

Kaight
212.680.5630
83 Orchard Street
A shop for the ladies. I bought the most incredible lip balms here.

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NEW YORK CITY : WEST SIDE

Published on March 26, 2010 in delicious and traveling. 4 Comments Tags: new york, NYC, The Highline.

Okay, here we go! The first installment of our trip to New York last weekend. I decided to organize my NYC photos by location. This way if you’re wanting to check out any of these places, you’ll know what area they are in. We flew Porter airlines, which is just a lovely way to get to New York. I even enjoy the train ride through New Jersey to get to the city.

We stayed at The Standard hotel in the Meatpacking District. We chose it primarily for the location. It’s incredibly convenient to where we like to shop and eat and very close to the subways. The hotel room was great, small but really the perfect size with a seating area, as well. The floor to ceiling windows with views of the Empire State building were definitely very exciting. The downside was that the hotel is now the centre of major tourist and social activity. It was a zoo in the area on the weekend and we had some ‘loud party people’ as neighbours. Also, we ran out of hot water in the shower a couple times and had to ask to switch rooms. They handled this situation poorly and while there were other great things about the hotel, we won’t be staying there again. C’mon people, hot water is not optional!

The hotel stands right above The Highline, that has re-purposed the old elevated train tracks into the most incredible outdoor space. All weekend long, I looked down onto The Highline from our room. It wasn’t until the last day that we ventured up there on foot and it was pouring rain. Even still, we were amazed by how beautiful every detail is appointed. When it is completed, The Highline will extend twenty blocks. I recommend it as a must-see if you visit New York, it is so inspiring. Unfortunately, my camera battery died the last morning and I didn’t get a single photo! Oh well, next time I’ll be sure to document it.

We did a lot of eating in the area. So much great food to be had. Particular highlights were the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck. Artisan ice cream in a truck that travels around the city? Brilliant AND delicious. An old classic is Tortilla Flats, that offers Margaritas with 10 different varieties of Tequila, great Tex-Mex food and a super fun atmosphere. We also made sure to check out The Spotted Pig for lunch on our last day and I’ve already tried to re-create the lunch I had, it was so good. I want to go back again, as there were other things on the menu I really wanted to try.

I created a little slideshow for you, if you want to see all the photos from this area.

Oh yeah, the weather was 24 degrees Celsius over the weekend. It was like summer and we were worried about getting sun burned! We definitely felt like the universe conspired to give us some extraordinary weather for our well deserved getaway.

The Highline
Starts at Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues.

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream
Trucks travel around the city, check their >twitter for daily locations.

The Earnest Sewn
212.242.3414
821 Washington Street

Pastis
212.929.4144
9 Ninth Avenue

Fresh
917.408.1850
388 Bleecker Street

Matsuri
212.243.6400
369 West 16th Street (in the Maritime Hotel)

Tortilla Flats
212.243.1053
767 Washington Street

The Spotted Pig
212.620.0393
314 West 11th Street

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FOUND : METALLIC LINEN & CORDUROY

Published on December 18, 2008 in DIY, found, spotted and textiles. 5 Comments Tags: B & J Fabrics, CBC, corduroy, Liberty of London, metallic linen, new york, Simplicity.

Okay, this is not my usual ‘found by the side of the road‘ post. This is about discovering something in your possession that you forgot you owned. Like finding a $20 bill in an old purse you haven’t used for a few months, only I think this is much better. When talking to Debbie the other day about her metallic tote bag, I suddenly had a flash that I had bought myself some gorgeous metallic linen when I went to New York over Labour Day. When I went home, I scavenged in my spare closet and pulled out a beloved B & J Fabric store bag. Inside it, I found a yard of silvery linen fabric and also a couple yards of the finest wale corduroy in purplish grey. I can’t tell you how delighted and inspired I was.

One of the things I miss most about living in New York (besides French bistro fare, sample sales, Chelsea art galleries and the Strand) is aimlessly wandering the Garment district, slowly scanning shelves piled high with bolts of delicious fabric. I would often spend hours dreaming up creations and carefully choosing which fabrics would come home with me. B & J Fabrics is one of my favourites. This is where I first discovered Liberty of London fabrics. Just to be near those bolts of fabulous prints made me giddy.

Usually I find that the fabric tells me what it wants to be. The soft corduroy demands to be a dress and the linen a little sparkly top. As I start having some down-time over the holidays, I’ll be ready with my Gingher scissors to cut into these two fabrics and start creating.

p.s. There was a piece on the CBC radio show, ‘Spark’, yesterday about the resurgence of sewing. You can hear my funny voice for a few seconds here. Just fast forward to 12:30 for the part on sewing. The piece starts and finishes with cute audio clips from the 1948 film by Simplicity, “Pattern for Smartness“. It is extremely entertaining.

I HEART NYC & THE PASSPORT OFFICE

Published on August 30, 2008 in i heart. 5 Comments Tags: impossible, new york, passport, porter airlines.

I lived in New York for five years. I’ve flown back and forth between here and there dozens of times. For a six month period I even flew with an expired passport without even knowing it. Yesterday when I peeked at my passport and realized that it had expired a month ago, I knew it was a huge problem… because I’m flying to New York City this afternoon and things have changed.

As of January 2008, if you’re flying to the US, you MUST have a valid passport. Expiration dates on passports are not like expiration dates on yogurt. Yogurt is still good just after the date on the container. Porter Airlines confirmed that passports are not valid if they are expired, even if they just expired. Even if you have your birth certificate, driver’s license, health card and sing a sad song.

If you know how I feel about New York, you’ll know that not going on this trip was not an option. Especially when this is my first holiday in two years.

I decided to attempt to get my passport done in less than one day. My brother went through the same horror before a trip to Cuba a few months ago. (does this run in the family?) He got his processed in eight hours. I had less than five. By the time I got all my signatures, photos and forms filled out, I arrived at the passport office at 2pm, leaving 3 hours for processing. The Urgent passport service requires 24 hours for processing. I expected the pre-screener to laugh at me, but she just listened to my apologetic story and put me in the front of the line. No questions asked. The processing agent also listened to my tale of woe and seemed skeptical, but went to confirm if it could be done. As long as my references answered their phones, then I could get my passport in one hour. At 3:30pm, I went to pick up my passport and it was ready!

Impossible is possible.

I’ll be in NYC until Tuesday afternoon. Next week I’ll be back with too many stories and photos and you’ll probably have to tell me to shut about it and get back to making stuff.

{i owe a huge huge debt of gratitude to every single person who made the passport renewal possible. xox}

BERRIES & HERBS

Published on July 4, 2008 in gardening. 4 Comments Tags: herbs, ice cream, mint, new york, seed, strawberry.

Berries & Herbs, originally uploaded by the workroom.

Over the long weekend, I got to go to out of the city to visit a few plant nurseries. I wanted to go to Richter’s in Goodwood to pick up some different varieties of perennial herbs. Since it is already mid-summer, they didn’t have their full selection, but they still have many things I haven’t seen here in the city. I was able to pick up some Pineapple mint (it actually smells like pineapples!), Mojito mint (this one is straight from Cuba and I can’t wait to try it in my personal version of the Mojito), Kent Beauty oregano (mostly because it looks so pretty), Thai basil and various Thymes. The other thing I got that day was a flat of Ontario strawberries. This was the best $12 I had spent. Having fresh berries morning, noon and night is my idea of heaven. Also, I made Strawberry Balsamic Sherbet, which is really yummy.

I’ve been getting the Richters Herbs catalog for a couple years now. I absolutely love pouring through seed & plant catalogs, circling all the many things I want to grow. The Richters catalog is especially fascinating because they carry pretty much every herb you could think of from Banana Mint to Nutmeg Thyme to Valerian and Stevia. They also list all the medicinal features and the plants that can be used for natural dyeing. I’m started to get very interested in natural dyeing, so I’m planning next year’s garden (at home and at the workroom) to have plants that can be harvested for just that purpose.

My other favourite seed catalog is Seed Savers Exchange. They save & share heirloom seeds in an effort to preserve our garden heritage. They sell over 70 types of tomato seeds alone! I’ve grown their Yellow Pear tomatoes and Black Krim tomatoes with delicious success.

Partly gardening-related: If you’re going to New York this summer, definitely make a stop over to P.S.1 in Long Island City on a Saturday. This year is the ten year anniversary of their weekly Warm Up event. Lots of great music, art and incredible people watching in their outdoor courtyard. This year the space is transformed into an urban farmland. I’m intrigued by the idea of gardening in cardboard tubes. (via Cool Hunting) The Warm Up event started the summer before I moved to New York, so their ten year anniversary is making me feel old and a bit nostalgic.