she's crafty

this afternoon i went down to the distillery district to catch a show called "she's crafty" at the arta gallery. i've had the postcard for this show sitting on my desk for weeks and today was the last day of the show...i figured i'd better stop procrastinating and get off my butt!



the show was an exhibition for the grad students of the sheridan college crafts and design program (hello? where was this diploma in craftiness when i was shopping around for a post-secondary education 15 years ago!!??). there were so many beautiful and colourful things to look at. it was obvious that these students had poured their heart and soul into what they had made. the attention to detail was incredible!

the woman at the gallery was really nice. i asked right away if i could take photos and (much to my surprise) she said it was no problem. i took a lot of pictures but here are some of my favourite things from the show.

dolls with handmade clothes


skirts with appliques


a life-size "softie" girl with a (fabric) cake for a dress


i think these cute dresses were inspired by pioneers


this woman's work blew my mind! her installation was inspired by couples ending their relationships. kinda sad, but her work was beautiful and looked like it took an incredibly long time to do. these are her individual fabric booklets that tell the story of each character included in her bigger book called "double dutch" (you can see the big pink book on the table to the left).


this is a page from her bigger book. every page was made of fabric and the pictures were a combination of ink drawings and bits of fabric and ribbon. the story was interactive in that certain parts of the text were silkscreened on fabric and and you had to lift it to read the next part hidden under the flap...sort of like a "pop up book".


this next one reminded me of vania because of her lovely {vintage} apron collection. these were beautiful handpainted linen aprons. my camera doesn't do them justice.


and a close-up of my favourite


***
and i have to show a few pictures of the distillery area because it's so old and pretty.




hope everyone had a good weekend!

clothing swap

last sunday, i went to my very first clothing swap! i was so excited because i had been squirrling away a ton of clothes that either didn't fit me properly or i didn't like anymore. i was hoping for an event just like this so i could give some of my favourite pieces a brand new loving home. however, some proved to be extra hard to part with:

like my crazy thrifted golf skirt which has seen years of indierock shows (but not one golf course!)


and my much-loved wraparound panda applique skirt i bought at a used clothing store.
it even had the name of the person who owned it before me stitched inside!


and here's the mountain of clothing i managed to part with and bring to the swap


when i pulled up to the building where the swap was being held, i was so excited to see mishka and her friend claire! turns out they were headed to the same place. claire was a sweetie and helped me carry my massive hockey bag stuffed with clothing up the 2 flights of stairs. another friend, michelle was also there. it was a really nice surprise to see her there too!

i scored some amazing vintage buttons...


...as well as a lovely grey cardigan, a black button-up shirt, a big rusty-coloured woven scarf, an embroidery hoop, a pom-pom maker, and a skirt previously owned by both mishka and claire. i don't have pictures of the clothes though because they're all in the laundry right now.

but my biggest score was this lovely light blue vinyl overnight bag. i love the faux-croc pattern!

(noah's in the picture to provide scale and a bit of cuteness!)

i was a bit nervous someone else at the swap would want it too (which meant it would be decided by a sob story or a coin toss). luckily nobody fought me for it, but i was ready with my plea for mercy. i told everyone i really wanted it because i have plans for a trip i've been hoping to take for years...and it's finally happening this summer! i explained i thought i'd look so much classier walking into the hotel with this swanky bag, rather than my monster-sized backpack. ;)

the coolest thing is that when i got home and went through the bag opening all of the zippers and pockets, i found a restaurant receipt. but not just any restaurant receipt.....i'm pretty sure it's a receipt from the city i'll be visiting ....the reason i wanted this lovely bag in the first place!


am i right? is that a receipt from new york city? well, anyway....that's where we're going in july!

and i've got a hot travel bag to take with me!

if indeed that receipt is from new york, isn't that kinda freaky that it was in there???

(michelle....maybe we can meet up for a cupcake while i'm there?)

happy birthday paulie!!

paul's birthday was on sunday, so our weekend was all about celebrating it! the fun started on saturday morning when we went over to our friends andrew and sabine's place for a "birthday brunch". nothing like good friends (and food) to make a milestone b-day a little less scary. they put on quite a spread! i've never eaten so much for breakfast in my life!





we had veggie sausages, herbed potatoes, scrambled eggs, fruit salad, fresh croissants, mixed greens salad, and fancy cheeses from the st. lawrence market).

after dinner, paul's dad and his partner joan came to our place for cake. i picked up a lemon cakelet from dufflet. it was so good...very lemony but not too sweet.


later i gave paul his gifts.


inside these packages were the postsecret book and a silkscreened tee by a local designer named yasmine louis.


the image on the shirt is from a photo she took of the 401 highway. the saying on it says "the 401 was still, we listened to the radio" (or something along those lines...i don't have it in front of me at the moment). especially meaningful since paul and i spent countless hours travelling the 401 to visit each other on weekends when we were dating...i was living in guelph and he was in toronto.

(sorry for the lack of photos of the birthday boy, but my honey was feeling a bit camera-shy yesterday...)

****
ps. paul's new band put up a page on myspace this weekend with a couple of their new songs. take a listen over here if you'd like! his bands older stuff (the songs i knew and loved before i even knew him are over here and here).

thursday's "charming" dinner

last night i made yet another recipe from garden of vegan. this time it was "charming fennel roasted vegetables", on pg. 119 for those following along at home. i also made breaded tofu, which came from my head not the cookbook. the dinner was absolutely, gold star, A+!


i'm loving this cookbook...everything is so easy to make because the recipes use just a few ingredients. (perfect for me because i'm a super lazy cook.)

****

thanks for the tips about blocking acrylic. i think i might give it a go. i've never blocked anything before (i guess i'm a lazy knitter too???) but i feel i should at least try with this project. the spot where stockinette meets garter is doing some mad curling and i'm not so happy with that. pictures to follow...promise!

red buttons

this afternoon i stopped in at a neighbourhood vintage shop to pick up some old buttons to finish off a knitting project that has been gathering dust for months.

with any luck, a picture of the final product will be posted in the next couple of days... (ps. is it possible to block acrylic???)

***

and just as i was writing this post, we heard a clanging bell out on the street. it rang and rang...and then a robotic sounding recorded voice came on over a loudspeaker and said "ask us about our lawnmower sharpening". paul and i ran to the window to see this driving slowly up our street.

i love it! maybe it's just me, but it seems so old-skool!

ahhh... one more reason i love our neighbourhood!

more new dishes

last night's dinner consisted of 2 more recipes from the garden of vegan.

1. "zoe and andy's sesame tofu" (pg. 122)-- soooo easy! 6 ingredients (one of which is the tofu) and let it marinate for 2 hrs in the fridge. this was fantastic!

2. "coconut curry vegetable bake" (pg. 124)-- also super easy! the bad news: i couldn't find any curry in the house. the good news: i substituted a tiny bit of cumin (because i like cumin in everything) and a healthy dose of ground ginger. man, it was so good that paul said that's the way we should make it from now on...forget about the curry. next time, this is going to be even awesome-er over rice.


(no new recipes tonight...paul's out at rock practice and i can't be bothered to go to all that trouble to cook for one.)

****
and a cute picture of noah sunning himself in the late afternoon sun in the studio.

hugs for the library

i hit the library jackpot this week! a bunch of the books i had on hold came in at the same time.

(from bottom: knitting over the edge, simply felt, the garden of vegan, calciYum, readymade: how to make (almost) everything, martha stewart--good things, simple knits with a twist, budget makeovers, budget living--home cheap home, martha stewart--tag sales & flea markets, stitch 'n bitch crochet, 52 projects, sarah harmer--i am a mountain)


last night dinner was from a recipe in the garden of vegan. i made spicy vegetable hot pot (pg. 163) over couscous. it was a super easy dish to make. i made a few substitutions though...i used a tiny bit of asian chili sauce instead of a chili pepper, brocolli instead of cauliflower and a veggie bouillon cube + water instead of stock. it was absolutely delicious! my favourite part was the big chunks of green apple that cooked with the rest of the veggies. the spices were really fragrant but didn't add heat to the dish.


yesterday i also made zucchini carrot cake (pg. 128) from another one of my library books, calciYum. this book also has some great recipes packed with....well, calcium...from non-dairy sources like almonds, leafy greens, and tofu. the cake turned out really yummy but i have to admit, it took awhile to peel the carrots & zucchini and then grate them. it required a bit more prep than i like, (yes, i'm a lazy cook) but i would definitely make it again. i added some ground ginger and nutmeg along with the cinnamon to make it extra flavourful.

(you can see we couldn't wait to try it!)

i'm off to make tonight's dinner. not sure what it'll be yet, but i do know it'll be another recipe from garden of vegan. and after dinner....curling up with my mountain of books!!!! bliss...

6 things

last week, vania tagged me to tell 6 things about myself. unfortunately, i've been too busy enjoying everyone else's answers to sit down and answer it myself. so my first tidbit probably won't surprise you one bit.

1. i'm a procrastinator. i always have been and i've come to realize i probably always will be. i don't like this side of myself and i long to be one of those people who live without stress because they are always ahead of the game. i start report cards 2 days before they're due, i leave for work with just enough time to get there, i went through university cramming for every exam, and i never get birthday cards sent to people in time for their day. (shame) i may have finally learned my lesson last month though when i waited until the week before the ooak show to buy supplies for one style of necklace. the store i rely on was sold out of the crimps i needed. i went to every bead store in the city with no luck. in the end, i had to wait until 2 days into the show to feverishly make more necklaces when the crimps finally arrived.

2. i met my husband online. i've always been really shy about meeting guys and when i went into a profession that was mostly female, i realized it would be even harder to meet someone. my friend recommended a site that had lots of artists and musicians on it. that's how paul found me! funny sidenote: on our 1st date, i found out that paul was in a band that i had been crazy about for months! an ex had made me a mixed tape with 2 of paul's band's songs on it and i listened to them over and over. everytime i came to toronto i tried to find their cd with no success. needless to say, i ended up getting a copy from the drummer himself! :)

3. like mishka and jen, i'm an only child too. well, now that my mom has re-married i have a step-brother and step-sister. but until i was in my late-20's, i had none.

4. i'm in a sloan video. many years ago, sloan shot a video at york university and my bf-at-the-time and i went. it's for the song "the lines you amend" and i'm in the audience. somehow i managed to press the pause button on the vcr at the exact right time because even though it's a close up shot of me, that's the only way i can be spotted. (it flashes by really quickly...)

5. i am the least athletic person i know. i've never been co-ordinated enough to play any kind of organized sport. in fact, i never even learned how to skip double-dutch. isn't that totally pathetic??

6. i am terrified of speaking in front of people. i never thought this was odd, until i mentioned it to friends last week and they were shocked because i teach for a living. the thing is, i'm not nervous about speaking in front of kids, it's adults that terrify me. for instance, last week i went to a 2 hour focus group to discuss the bi-election we recently had in our riding. this was a dream-come-true for me...being offered $75 to go and talk politics (heck, i'd do it for free)! of course i jumped at the chance. but sitting around the table with 9 other people reminded me of how nervous i get in these situations. the first thing we had to do was tell our name and how long we've lived in toronto...simple, right? but as soon as i opened my mouth, i felt my face turn bright red and i could barely get the words out! i was so embarrassed. luckily, as the night went on i forced myself to speak and it got easier. but i swear my face was burning red for that first half hour.

...whew, i didn't know if i was going to be able to think of 6 things to tell you about myself! everyone else's answers have been so much more interesting....

so, i'm supposed to tag some people. how about deutsch, tania, and karina?

lovely easter

hope everyone had a good long weekend! paul + i went up north to my mom's and had a super relaxing time. lots of food, laughter and good family fun.

here are some random pictures from our weekend
















1. table setting 2. doggy figurines 3. noah with my step-dad 4. pussywillows paul + i picked on a walk 5. relaxing on the couch with paul 6. our vegetarian chicken prior to slicing 7. my nephew, aaron (isn't he a cutie?)

fastest thrift score ever *

i think i've mentioned before how dangerous it is to have a goodwill strategically located beside our local grocery store. while paul picked up food for dinner on saturday i took a quick browse next door. when he came by 15 minutes later to pick me up, i found this beauty:


i know i won't be able to wear it for long, what with warmer weather coming. but for now it is the perfect spring coat. (will also work nicely for fall)

*sorry to all my flickr friends who've already seen this....

crafting for the fun of it

it's been months since i've sat down and crafted just for the fun of it. it seems like the last several months have been all about spending spare crafting time getting ready for those 2 big shows or filling orders for snazzygirl. don't get me wrong, i absolutely LOVE making my ratgirl stuff! but everyone needs some time to create for pleasure (not profit).

i bought the cutest little light blue glass leaf beads awhile back, just because i liked them so much. i knew i'd get around to using them eventually. finally last night i pulled them out along with some red + green glass beads and decided to play around a bit.




i don't think it's the greatest thing i've ever made but man, it just felt good to play!

sad computer

i'm tired of seeing this screen everytime i boot up so i ordered a new computer last night. it's nothing fancy but it will hopefully work better than what i have now.

one of a kind show hangover

oh my goodness...i am so exhausted! the one of a kind show ended yesterday after 5 crazy days. it went really well and was so much fun! (thanks so much to everyone for the well wishes on my last couple of posts.) so many friends came by to say hi. after hours and hours of talking to strangers, a friendly face is such a pick-me-up! the toronto glitter girls came by to visit and karen brought me some pocky and cookies with cute pictures on them. carla visited too and i even got to meet the lovely mishka!! now that the show is over and my life can return to normal, i can hardly wait to spend some time with all of these cool ladies!

my mom was such a trooper. not only did she open up the booth and hold down the fort while i was at my day job, but she also stayed to help once i got there, working 10 or 11-hours each day. and smiling the whole time! (thanks mom!!)


half of the fun of doing shows is trading. i totally scored the coolest piece of art made with love by candace of candi factory. i can't wait to add this to our wall of art in the studio.


and i bought this cute little hairpin made with a vintage finding


i loved watching people's reactions to these 2 charm bracelets


now i need to go sleep for a few days to recover!

one more sleep

g'bye winter!

last night paul made apple crumble to celebrate the end of winter. it was absolutely delicious and made the house smell like heaven.

we ate it while we watched grey's anatomy. i can't even tell you how much i love this show!! LOVE IT! all of the characters are so complex and interesting. (my cousin tipped me off that there's even a grey's anatomy blog!)

**
in other news, i spent my entire march break (last week) stuck inside making stuff for the spring one of a kind show. it's coming up fast...wed. march 29th to sun. apr. 2nd. i'm just a tiny bit stressed....not too bad. i feel ok during the day when i'm working on it but when i go to bed at night i toss + turn thinking of stuff i still need to do, supplies i still need to buy, new designs i should work on for the next show. i can't turn my brain off even though i'm sleepy.
anyhow, here's a peek at a little bit of what i've been doing.
(waiting to become earrings)


(soon to be charm bracelets)


i've got necklaces & hairpins too but didn't bother taking a photo.

hope everyone had a great weekend...
HAPPY SPRING!!!

looks prettier than it tasted

i made a quick dinner yesterday that i thought would be pretty promising. whole wheat pasta with tomatoes, spinach and goat cheese. i cooked a can of crushed tomatoes with oregano and italian spices and then added a bunch of spinach and cooked until wilted. i added that to whole wheat pasta, tossed and added some goat cheese on top. it was ok but definitely missing something. i should have added garlic but i was too hungry to be bothered. i might try this again but definitely spice it up a lot more. actually, portabella mushrooms might have been a nice addition....

here it is pre-goat cheese.


*update*
i solved the problem! after i heated up my leftovers at lunch, i just drizzled some "sundried tomato" salad dressing on top. it was delish!! :)

spring coming closer

sorry about my absence... i've been out sick for the last couple of weeks. finally, feeling more like myself again.

haven't done the wardrobe_remix thing over at flickr for a long time. i decided to post a recent outfit of mine and get paul in on the fun too.

grey shirt: hm
jeans: hm
belt: llbean (17 yrs ago!!)
scarf: me :)
felted-bead necklace: local crafter



cord blazer: thrifted
hoodie: thrifted
black tee: cbc shop
jeans: hm
toque: hm

if you haven't yet checked out the wardrobe_remix group at flickr, you really should. it's totally addictive.