Here are four examples of my fall line, which is available at Fresh Baked Goods in Kensington Market (Toronto). Each piece is unique: the fabric leaves that I've appliqued on each shirt are different, as are the buttons.
These short sleeved shirts come in two great fall colours--chocolate brown and deep raspberry. They look great with a scarf or chunky neclace and sit quite nicely under a cardigan or blazer. Come check them (and my other summer sale items) out!
I used a combination of silk screening and embroidery for these t-shirts that I made as retirement gifts for my past camp directors, Topaz and Zoic. The phrase I used on the shirts is one that I used in a video that was made of staff and alumni finishing off the sentence, " Because of camp..."
Topaz and Zoic have been a huge factor in my life and in making me the person that I am today. The amazing thing about them is that even though I no longer work with them, they continue to inspire me all the time. I wish them all the best in the next phase of their lives!
One of my dear camp friends had a baby at the end of August. I started this little quilt for her baby while she was still pregnant and managed to finish it 3 weeks after the baby was born. Not too bad, for me!
I've never made a quilt before, so this was a pretty big undertaking. I used a pattern from the book, Doodle Stitching. I think the hardest part was figuring out where to stop my little hand embroidered details; I could have kept stitching birds and lines and dots and hearts until the whole thing was covered. It was a really fun project and makes me even more excited to keep working on my camp quilt!
While on mini-vacation this past June, my sweet guy purchased a stamp set for me that I fell head over heels for in a little shop in Montreal. The set has a number of birds laced with some appropriate plants/leaves/shrubbery. Last month I put the stamps to good use by making this set of gift tags.
I recently inherited a large, old margarine container of good quality card from my mom. These little business card-sized pieces of card were pre-cut and just waiting to be used. I love when my mom decides to give me margarine containers full of amazing treasures from her craft room. Anyway, I simply stamped these cards and then carefully coloured them in using pencil crayons. The effect isn'y very good in this photo, but they turned out to be really sweet and I've already used a number of them. They're so great to have on hand!
I saw a necklace while I was in Anthropologie last week (we have one near me in Toronto now; so expensive, but I love their clothes and housewares SO MUCH) and I was inspired. I got home and decided to try and cover my red necklace with some pretty green fabric I had lying around. I love the results and I already wear the necklace more than I did when it was red. I also love it's green pea qualities.
My roomies and I are growing up. It's true, we are. We're doing home improvements (and by that I mean, cosmetic changes. We don't use any tools more than those that help us hang things on walls).
It started with re-doing the downstairs bathroom: a new (and not mouldy) shower curtain; pretty candleholders; new towels; a toilet paper holder. Then we moved on to the tiny little front porch: spray paint on the chairs so they match and hide the rust; the purchase of lovely chair covers (we even store them inside when they're not in use so they don't get ruined); hanging baskets full of pretty magenta flowers; a planter with yellow and purple flowers.
Yes, my friends, we are growing up. Taking responsibility for both the curb appeal and indoor decor of our little downtown rental. And now, due to a number of unrelated events, we are working on making our living room far more inviting and less student-housing-in-university like. The Ikea shelving unit? Gone. The couch we found on Albert Street in Kingston in 3rd year and named Vinny due to it's curved nature, low-to-the-ground seating and genreal sleaziness? Gone. The other full-sized, pink-hued leather couch that Rob's parents bought 26 years ago and we crammed into our tiny living room space along with Vinny? Gone.
Rob bought a new and very adult-like leather couch. Vikki's sister moved in with her boyfriend and Vikki claimed all the antique furniture that had been in her sister's place. That's right, we have furniture that wasn't found on the side of the road. We have a cedar chest. We have a tall wood dresser. We have a beautiful mirror. We have an area rug. We have a leather couch. We brought the side table and record player down from Rob's room and added it to our decor. Oh, it's so lovely! Well, except for the pieces of furniture I own. That's right, out of all these new pieces and 1940s antiques, NONE of it is mine. What do I own? An old ottoman from my grandparents' place and a crate with ducks painted on it. Now, since I own absolutley no furniture I felt it was necessary to keep these two items just to feel that I own SOMETHING. Unfortunately, the vinyl-covered ottoman and hand-painted duck crate don't go with the new decor.
So, I took it into my own hands to find a way to make my roomies accept my humble little furniture offerings, starting with the ottoman. I picked colours to match our new rich, earth-toned living room, searched out some fabrics from the collection in my room and went to town measuring and designing an ottoman slip cover. I bet even Ikea doesn't make ottoman slip covers. I'm pretty pleased with the results. And so are my roomies. Hooray! The ottoman is a keeper! Now onto the duck crate...
I love love love to read, but I could count on one hand the number of
books that I have read for myself in the last three years. I'm a
history major with an interest in English, which means that my last
three years of university has been filled with books. Some were
wonderful (Rumor of War by Philip Caputo), and some were just plain
sadistic (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte....haha, well I hated it).
But with all of this academic reading I never had time to pick up a
book that I wanted to read without writing a hair-pulling paper on it
or resenting the author and everyone they ever encountered in their
entire life.
So now you say "what about the summer? Couldn't you read then?", and my
answer is no. Working at a summer camp for four months with the hours
of about 730am to 1030pm six days a week means MAYBE fifteen minutes of
reading before bed IF you can keep your eyes open and your friends out
of your bunkie.
However, since I enjoy a challenge (aka setting myself up for failure), I have piled up NINE whole books that I want to read in the next four months. Just to give you a bit of a contextual timeline here, I will tell you that I managed to finish only one book last summer. That is 290 pages of Bill Bryson hilarity in three and a half months.
But as the deluded say, this time will be different. I am dying to read these books and I'm going to do everything possible to make sure I finish at least five of them by the time I go back to school in September.
Having set that benchmark, if you know me, doesn't establish much, so if any camp people are reading this I'd like to hear your bet for how many of these bad boys I will finish this season. (Or if you have any suggestions on which to read first).
I have recently parted ways with my boyfriend - School. Don't fret, he was all wrong for me.
He was possessive, irate, and needy, oh so needy!
We would spend hours fighting into the early morning, he was jealous of my suitors TV and Internet, and I swear he was stealing from me. There were good times sure, like maybe sometimes he showed up with an "A" and said he was sorry and that he'd change.But then I remembered all the crap he put me through before that A and deep down I just knew , I knew he didn't love me.
Now that I'm free, I have exactly one week to have a steamy fling with super-hunk Toronto before I'm off for my summer romance with Camp.
On the agenda:
-he will read to me (for leisure!) in the park while we bathe in the smog and sunlight.
-he will take me to the AGO and the ROM (free admission Wednesdays because he's kind of cheap).
-window shopping on Bloor.
-of course he'll let me have a night dancing to 50s and 60s rock with the girls (not much of a dancer that Toronto).
-I totally peeked through his wallet and there's a shiny $50 gift certificate to Chapters that he has probably been saving since his birthday to spend on me because he was worried School would go into a jealous rage (he's so wise that Toronto).
-being the wonderful and perfect fling that he is, he will encourage me to write on my blog as much as I can before I dive into my mini-marriage with Camp (he's so perfect. He just gets me y'know?...that's why it can't last).
-
Of course this is only a tentative agenda subject to change - Toronto always surprises me with things he thinks I might like. It's his spontaneity I love.
I'm actually looking forward to my fling and my mini-marriage. But good things don't last forever, I'll eventually expire physically and emotionally from the freedom, fun and fresh-air, and crawl right back into School's waiting arms.
Hey, everyone loves a good on-again, off-again.
I know I'm early...but looking back on some photos from Iona, Scotland, has caused me to pause. It was a series of photos on one of the little islands in the inlet where I worked. You could walk over when the tide is low, (which I did) and wade when the tide came up (which I did for these as well). This evening a wicked storm was rolling in. And roll it did. It was beautiful when I walked out- but then this pillar cloud came right up the inlet- and the weather spun. These were of the simple cross that stands atop that hill. Some of the non-Christians that were my (beloved) workmates found the cross to be offensive.
And so, I suppose, it is.
