Tag Archive for 'Perfect Bunny'

QUILT MARKET : PART ONE

Published on October 19, 2009 in delicious, the workroom and traveling. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Perfect Bunny in Cincinnati

I was super lucky last weekend to tag along to Quilt Market in Houston Texas with Jacqueline and Chris from Soak. (Guess which cute bunny tagged along with me!) I’ve been curious to check out this huge trade show and quilt festival since I opened the workroom.

Funny thing is, this first post has nothing to do with the fabric or the quilts!

We left insanely early on Friday morning to catch a 6am flight. We had a stop over in Cincinnati and then got detoured to Austin because of bad weather. I actually really wanted to go to Austin, but all I got to see this time was the rainy tarmac from the open door of our tiny aircraft as we got extra fuel to make it to Houston.

I’ve never been to Texas and I was hoping for warm weather, but it was cold and rainy the whole time. I had packed my bathing suit for the trip, but didn’t even make it up to see the rooftop pool at our hotel.

One of the tricky things with traveling is finding good local food. I’ll admit that I didn’t do any research on Houston before the trip, so I certainly wasn’t prepared with any suggestions. By some chance, both Jacqueline and I spotted a cute looking restaurant outside the downtown core on a cab ride back to the hotel Friday night. I had the good sense to write down the name, T’afia, so that we could check it out online later.

Saturday night was the famous Moda dinner party. We had originally planned on going to this free dinner. After a bit of thought we made the best decision of the trip and made a reservation at T’afia instead.

Beet Brownie with Honey Comb & Blue Cheese

If you ever go to Houston, you must visit T’afia. T’Afia is owned by Monica Pope and the focus is all local. Every Saturday morning they host a farmers market in their parking lot and develop their menus based on what’s available. It was one of the best meals that I can ever remember having. Absolutely everything we had from start to finish was delightful, including the service. It was so good that we wanted to return on Sunday night so that we could keep eating through the menu. I wanted to try EVERYTHING. Sadly, they are closed both Sundays and Mondays.

I’m listing what I had for dinner because I really don’t want to forget it.

  • Medjool dates stuffed with chorizo, wrapped in bacon
  • Butter lettuce, radicchio & cucumbers, pinenut, goat cheese, sherry walnut vinaigrette
  • Yaokum Co. flat iron steak, roasted sweet potatoes, miso sauce
  • Texas cheese selection: veldhuizen bosque blue & gruyere and paula’s hoja santa with house crackers and panforte
  • Beet brownie with honeycomb and blue cheese
  • Inwood Estates Tempranillo/Cabernet Sauvignon

Before we left, we coerced our kind waiter at T’afia to give us a list of his recommended restaurants for our Sunday night dinner. We picked a Texas BBQ joint, Beaver’s. When we met up with Heather Bailey and her husband Isaac during the day, we invited them to have dinner with us. They brought along their friends Joey and Jona of Fabritopia. My mind is a blur of what we talked about during dinner but it was super fun and filled with laughs. Heather and I both tackled the ‘Pit boss Chickwhich’ sandwich for dinner (All-natural smoked shredded chicken made sloppy with “Ring of Fire” BBQ sauce, a fried egg, crispy cornmeal onions, cole slaw and pickle) and for dessert we all shared Candied Bacon Ice Cream, Brown Butter Ice Cream and Brownie Balls (Fried brownies, peanut butter and vanilla ice cream).

I have to tell you, I would go back to Quilt Market again just for all this delicious food. That’s not to say the fabrics were not amazing. They were! The next post is all about the fabric. Check out the first slide show of my trip…

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

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PARIS TOTE WITH 'FAIRFORD' LINING

Published on June 29, 2009 in stitchery, textiles and traveling. 14 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Paris Tote Bag

Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 2
Paris Tote Bag with ‘Fairford’ Tana Lawn Cotton Lining

I was determined to have a specially designed bag for our trip to Paris. The key feature being ‘impossible to pickpocket’. I was heavily inspired by the Leather Ruffle Bag by Tanaz Ghaffari. I especially liked how the bag closed with a zipper that sits under your arm as you held the bag on your shoulder. And of course, it’s hard to resist anything with ruffles.

For supplies, I decided to head to the Leather & Sewing Supply Depot (7 Vanauley Street, Toronto, ON – 416-913-4868). It was the first time that I had been there, but they have an incredible selection of zippers and I was looking for some heavy duty metal ones. I also happened to find the cool taupe-y denim that I used for the outside of the bag.

In my limited bag designing experience, I’ve found it really helpful to create a mini mock up version, in order to work out any problems with the pattern and figure out the construction. It’s a great way to test out your pattern quickly without using too much fabric. My mock up looked good but when I blew up the pattern and cut out the fabric, the bag was way more over-sized than I wanted. As I went along, I just adjusted the pattern to make it work.

The bag is lined with Liberty of London Tana Lawn Cotton in the Fairford print. I have to say that it is delightful to sew with. Every time my fingers ran against the fabric I had a little thrill. This sweet little floral goes perfectly with the denim I used.

There is a little zippered pocket sewn into the lining and inside the pocket is a special typewritten label in French. For the trip, I left my big wallet at home and only carried my snap coin purse. The snap coin purse was kept in the inside zippered pocket. Thus, any pickpocket would have to get under my arm to unzip the first zipper and then unzip another zipper to get to my money. My Euros were well protected!

I added the cutest popsicle zipper pull from Magic Pony as a final touch.

The bag is not the most refined design, but it fit all my requirements. It was big enough to carry around my camera, a sweater and anything else we needed for our days around Paris. I was also able to fit everything I bought into it while we were shopping, so I only ever had to carry the one bag. Lastly, my money was secure without me having to tape it to my body.

The last photo here was taken at Pearson Airport waiting for our flight to Paris. Perfect Bunny did join us in Paris, but this was the only shot I got of her!

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ADVENTURES OF PERFECT BUNNY IN NEW YORK CITY

Published on September 8, 2008 in art, delicious, hello, textiles and traveling. 7 Comments Tags: , , .

Hi there, it’s nice to meet you!

Some might say that a pristine white bunny like myself should stay at home, safely displayed on a shelf or propped up on a desk. I’m just not that kind of bunny. I love to tag along and see the big world.

New York City was a fun place to visit, though I didn’t see another bunny the whole time! I made you a slide show of the trip to show you all the places we went.

Now that I’ve been to the Big Apple, I’m hooked on traveling. Where will we go next?

xo PB

p.s. I’m not incredibly detail-oriented, so Karyn is posting the specifics below

Porter
What a treat to fly from downtown Toronto, off the Toronto Island Airport. Porter makes flying seem luxurious again with a swanky lounge stocked with drinks, snacks and free WiFi while you wait for your flight. The small planes have a bit more leg room and serve a nice meal and drinks (including wine or beer) out of real glasses.

Duane Street Hotel
A cute new hotel in TriBeCa. The rooms are compact but comfortable. They leave miniature baked goods by the bedside every night. A good location for quick access to neighbourhood restaurants. Next trip we’ll stay closer to the West Village where we wanted to be most of the time.

DELICIOUS
The food is one of the best things about New York. I love French bistro, so New York is the place for me.

The Odeon
145 West Broadway
Classic New York French Bistro in TriBeCa that never disappoints.

Balthazar
80 Spring Street
My all-time favourite place to have brunch which means Eggs Benedict. Balthazar is always bustling, so reservations are a good idea, especially for more than two people.

Cafe Gitane
212-334-9552
242 Mott Street
French Morrocan food in NoLIta. The herbed goat cheese with Pomegranate syrup and baguette is especially delicious.

BROOKLYN
Brooklyn is a MUST and there are so many great neighborhoods to choose from. We decided to check out the new Brooklyn Flea, which was fun but incredibly hot. There was nowhere to escape the heat in the middle of the concrete school yard. The cute tree-lined streets on the walk from the subway were worth the trip alone.

Brooklyn Flea
Every Sunday from 10am to 5pm
A mix of vintage and crafty, but the snacks were my favourite.

Kumquat Cupcakery
Sweet little mini cupcakes for $1. I got a 4 pack with Chocolate Peanut Butter, Red Velvet and Strawberries & Cream. Delicious!

People’s Popsicle
They weren’t at the Brooklyn Flea this weekend, and I was totally disappointed. I’d read about their amazing popsicles and was dying to try them.

BLEECKER STREET

Marc Jacobs
There are now three Marc Jacobs outposts along Bleecker Street. A great time to snatch up some goodies is during their seasonal sales, the discounts are generous. They had cute wellies for $29 when we were there.
212-924-0026
403 Bleecker Street

Magnolia Bakery
Usually I’ll line up for these 50′s style cupcakes, but I was already toting around my Kumquat cupcakes. Magnolia cupcakes are delicious with a glass of milk late at night.
401 Bleecker Street

Bonpoint
I wanted everything in this French kid’s clothing shop to come in my size. I wish their website was as good as their shop.
212-722-7720
392 Bleecker Street

Earnest Sewn Co.
My favourite denim brand right now. The shop is a treasure chest of clothing and accessories. I’m promising myself a pair on my next visit.
821 Washington Street

Anthropologie
Urban Outfitter’s older more refined sister. I always get lots of styling inspiration from their shops and catalogues.
375 West Broadway

FABRIC SHOPS
The Garment District will overwhelm you with fabric, notions and trims. This is my shortlist of shops to check out.

B&J Fabrics
Their Liberty of London collection will drive you crazy. Gorgeous fashion fabrics like wools, linens.
525 7th Avenue (2nd Floor)

Mood
Make sure you allow enough time to stroll the aisles here. There are two floors of every kind of fabric you can imagine.
225 West 37th Street, 3rd Floor

NY Elegant Fabrics
Very well priced, large shop filled with home dec and fashion fabrics.
222 West 40th Street

MJ Trim
Trim heaven. They sell a dizzying array of buttons, ribbons, fringe, cording, buckles and rhinestones.
1008 Sixth Avenue (@ 37th Street)

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INTRODUCING : LESLEY-ANNE GREEN

Published on September 4, 2008 in etsy, introducing, local and stitchery. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

Lesley-Anne Green softies

A few months ago, at the Spring Thing Trunk Show, I couldn’t resist picking up a felt bunny by Lesley-Anne Green. Out of the herd of pristine white felt bunnies, I fell in love with this particular one. I named her, ‘Perfect Bunny’ (PB), because she’s pretty perfect.

I quickly learned that Perfect Bunny loved to travel around and was just the perfect size to fit into my handbag. PB has been begging me to take her on a big trip, so this past weekend she came with us to New York City. While PB is preparing her NYC diary for you, I thought you should meet this little bunny’s talented creator.

Lesley-Anne Green is an artist with two distinct styles. Her felt creatures are as sweet as can be, while her ceramic figures tug at your heart strings in a completely different way. Having a recognizable style is something I really admire, but having two is just phenomenal.

What is your creative background? Did you go to school for it?

Lesley-Anne: I went to Sheridan College and took their Ceramics program. My first semester there I took both textile and ceramics courses…I kind of wanted to do both and was really torn, but in the end chose ceramics.

Your work is quite diverse, in terms of aesthetic. Do different things inspire you for your different types of work?

Lesley-Anne: Yah, it’s funny, my ceramic work and my felt work are soooo different. I think because my clay dolls were so intricate and detailed, that when I sat down to start working on the felt animals I wanted them to be the exact opposite….just really simple and stylized….and cute!

Do you have any new projects or ideas that you are working on right now?

Lesley-Anne: At the moment I am getting ready for the One of a Kind christmas show, so that is going to take up every single minute of my time until the show is over! I also have lots of designs in mind for new felt animals…just no time to work on them…if only there were two of me!!!

Lesley-Anne also has an etsy shop, if you’d like to get a fun felty companion of your own.

Stay tuned for the adventures of Perfect Bunny in New York!

Lesley-Anne Green ceramics

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