cute.little.disaster

I saw the scene unfold (sometimes imagination takes control)

2010-07-09T15:00:00.002-04:00

I hope you weren't holding your breath too hard for that surprise, because I'm not sure how excited you will be about it...
I moved to a fancy schmancy dot-com website! With new look!

You can now find me at Hello, Lovelies!

And, the best part: I'm no longer a disaster. I mean, in real life I am still an enormous klutz, but I feel that it was getting to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. And besides, I've gone by that online alias since 2007. It's time for a change!

So, all of my lovely readers, I do hope you'll take a few minutes to update your Google Reader and any links that you may have for me!

I've also updated my twitter alias, so for all of you who are on Twitter, I'm now @hello_lovelies (And no, I'm no longer using Facebook).
Let me know what you think of the new site!

President of What? by Death Cab for Cutie

All the time we get by, trying to figure out our lives.

2010-06-25T14:21:00.003-04:00

Hello dear readers! It has been far too long since I last posted and you might (or--I shouldn't flatter myself--you might not) wonder where I’ve been. I'm so sorry that I basically dropped off the face of the planet!

But here's that update I promised oh-so-long ago...
I finished up my second year of textile design at Sheridan College, got a sweet scholarship from G&S Dyes, landed a summer residency at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, working in their textiles studio a few days each week.
I also just got a part-time job working at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), giving people samples as they walk in the store. (Liquor is pretty regulated in Ontario, you can't simply walk into the local Wal*Mart to get it, as I was shocked you are able to in the states.) Anyway, I'm excited for that, because hey, how much stress can there be giving people free booze?!
Last weekend I went to Toronto Island for an outdoor music festival and saw Broken Social Scene, Band of Horses and Pavement. It was absolutely perfect, except that I was dressed for rain (it was supposed to be awful!), but it was nothing but clear skys all day.
Finally, on Wednesday we had a 5.0 earthquake here in Ontario (Quebec as well), which was crazy. Nothing much was affected in our area, but my studiomate Shuyu and I felt the tables shake and the clock rattled against the wall.
I've also got a surprise to share with you soon, but it's not quite ready yet. I do promise though, I won't wait another two months to update!
Anyway, I hope you've been having a lovely summer so far dear readers!

Oh! One last thing--I've been running every night of late, which is perfection (I always forget how much I love it), but I'm desperately in need of some peppy music. I'm bored with lots on my iPod...any suggestions? Nothing too sugary sweet though.

Sweetest Kill by Broken Social Scene

Wait by the shade-tree one more year

2010-04-25T19:01:00.001-04:00

Since it's been getting warmer outside, I've been keeping my window open a bit at night. Now, in my bedroom I've got vertical blinds, which, when you're trying to get to sleep with the window open, are pretty much the most irritating window treatment ever.
About a year ago I picked up a pair of velvet curtains from a thrift store, always meaning to dye them since they were all discoloured. However, I just never got around to it, so when my last drawing project was assigned, I decided that I would print my drawings on them and would finally then hang them up.
The trees are my own drawings, I went into the forest right between my school and condo and spent a couple of hours drawing trees with India Ink. Then I enlarged my drawings, shot them to a screen, and printed them right onto my curtains!

It was a pretty great solution, because not only did I get a great mark on the project, but once I get some hanging mechanisms in my place, I'll be able to finally get rid of those vertical blinds!
Two Hungry Blackbirds by Iron&Wine

A love is not complete with only heat.

2010-04-22T19:41:00.005-04:00

For awhile I've been wanting to take some pictures of my work outdoors. But by the time I think of it, it's usually midnight, so an outdoor photo op is out of the question. Therefore, in honour of Earth Day, I finally planned to do it. This piece is awkwardly huge, so getting a picture in the schools photo studio would have been difficult anyhow. (The title of the project was "Small and Colourful". Clearly, I am good at following directions).
Without further ado, here is one of my newer pieces. I already shared my colour palette with you. It's a queen sized quilt, strip quilted with linen and heat-set organza, and backed with quilted white cotton. I knotted the layers together with co-ordinating embroidery floss, and, though I didn't actually get a picture of the back, the tiny pops of colours look fantastic on the white. And not only that, but I was able to watch the entire series of 30 Rock while doing them. I'm not kidding.

Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of school for the semester, which is crazy. But I signed up for a summer web design class, so it won't be a total hiatus from school after all. And hopefully by the end of the class I'll have a spiffy new website to share with you.

Intuition by Fiest

Isn't the ending so much as the start

2010-04-21T18:44:00.005-04:00

All around my room I have stacks of fabric. And notions. And patterns. A lot of it I try to keep in Rubermaid bins, but when I need a piece of material that is buried at the bottom, I need it stat. So I'll rummage through until I find it, and before you know it, my neatly folded stacks are not so neat anymore.

I found this small cabinet a few weeks ago at a thrift store and re-finished it with Lake Simcoe by CIL.

Lately I've been adding teal in with the usual mix of sage and olive greens in my work, so that's what I went with for this little project. Hopefully it helps me keep my fabric in order. Or at least hidden!

The handles are actually knots that I made myself with some upholstery piping I had kicking around (the kind without the side you sew along). I made them using the Monkey's First knot from this tutorial. I slipped them right over the knobs that came with the unit and stitched them into place, and added a bit of hot glue to keep them from twirling around.

Now I just have to tackle the organizing part....

Let it Die by Feist

The color of the end of day

2010-04-15T22:46:00.005-04:00

I'm really excited to share my next studio project with you. It's not quite done though, (hopefully by Saturday!), so in the meantime, I thought I'd just share the colour palette with you.
They're colours that I wouldn't normally use (I mean, bright red?), but they're actually all derived from my favorite colour of the moment, sage green, with its compliment (that primary red), and mixing varying degrees of black and/or white. Isn't that crazy? Look at that goldeny yellow!

Before coming back to school for design, I hadn't actually taken any kind of colour theory classes. I mean, I knew that you can get just about any colour with the three primarys, but green+red+white+black=this array? I was impressed, anyhow.

Innocent Bones by Iron&Wine

Here comes the sun again

2010-04-06T07:13:00.008-04:00

This past week has been so delightfully sunny and springy here! Hopefully the weather is lovely where you are as well.
Yesterday, along with my dye and print class, I went outside and used the sun to make prints on fabric. It's actually very simple and quite beautiful, and not nearly as hippie-ish as it may sound.
The fabric is treated with an iron compound and then kept in the dark until you're about to use it. Once you're outside in the sun with all of your printing materials at the ready, pull out your fabric, set it out (rocks make great weights!), place the objects you want prints of on top (the objects act like a resist; I used buttons, scissors and some lace) and wait...four minutes and seemed just right.
Rinse out, then voilà! You've got a some beautifully printed fabric!

It's amazing to have access to a fully equipped printing studio, but if making your own fabrics is something you've been wanted to try out at home, this would be perfect! Check out the selection over at BlueSunprints; you can buy yardages of cotton and silk (mine are printed on cotton) at really reasonable prices. If you don't know what you'd make with your fabric once it's done, they have some beautiful pre-sewn scarves available in teal, pink or green; all you'd have to do is print them!
Here comes the sun again by M. Ward

You watch the words change for someone else

2010-04-03T12:02:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure how it is where you live, but here in Ontario, grocery stores here now charge for plastic bags. Which is great, anything to deter people from using plastic bags and in turn reduce waste! But I never got around to making myself some spiffy ones of my own, and instead just bought a bunch of the grocery store variety. Now, I'm all for grocery store brands (delicious food at reasonable prices? I'm in!), but I can't say I'm a huge fan of their grocery bags. Besides, I use them all the time, carrying fabric to and from school, toting my embroidery and knitting in and such.
But lately I've been feeling like a walking advertisement for the brand when I'm carrying them with me.

So yesterday when I got home from the grocery store carrying these bags, I pulled out some of the beautiful bits of quilting fabric that I have collected; pieces that I love the designs of but know I won't use because I generally don't like the weight of the fabric.
I just cut them into squares, stitched it onto some interfacing, ironed the edges in, and sewed them onto the bags! So easy, and they're so fun now!

Someday, though, I do really want to knit up this Market bag. And make this amazing grocery bag from a t-shirt.

Seashell by Seabear

It's thoughts like this that catch

2010-03-25T07:20:00.011-04:00

When we moved in together, the four of us just compiled a lot of our stuff. Furniture, utensils, pots and pans, and of course, dishes. We aren't like some roomies, who only eat of their one set of dishes; we share pretty much everything.

Which is wonderful, except that we have a few we have a few sets of glasses. And it seems that whenever you go to get a drink, a roomie is using another glass of the same set. Then the two of you start chatting and suddenly, who can remember which side of the roomie's identical glass of water you set yours down on?

Which is why I think that Tanna, the Alaskan Crafter, came up with a brilliant solution: chalkboard glasses. They sound so easy! And fun! You'd have to be careful where you place your hand when picking them up, of course, so that you don't rub off your name and thus defeat the purpose of the label. You can find the tutorial here, though I'm pretty sure I'd be way to excited to start, and neglect the careful taping that is imperative to this project.

Such Great Heights by Iron&Wine

We gladly run in circles

2010-03-24T11:41:00.005-04:00

You know what I love? Venn diagrams. (Well, they're one of many things I love, actually.)
Anyway, as you maybe can tell from that statement, sometimes I like to pretend that I'm a math nerd.
Case in point: in grade eight I stayed in at lunch once every other week to take all the "gifted" extra credit tests. I think I got one question right out of that entire year. (Note: I also may have had a bit of a crush on my math teacher, but that's beside the point.)

Anyway, the other day in the studio, I was playing with layering different colours of dye on white cotton. I had a few simple circle stencils that I was working with, and I came up with this piece that really reminds me of a Venn diagram. Or, a series of them, I guess it would be. Though I don't think I'll fill them in to show any kind of relationships...but I may end up quilting them.
Lion's Many by Iron&Wine

In the battle between book smarts and fright

2010-03-19T16:04:00.008-04:00

I'm so happy it's spring. Finally.

But you know what that means? Rain. And my rain gear is severely lacking. Last weekend when it just wouldn't stop pouring, and I wouldn't stop wandering around outside (thanks to my lack of directional sense), I bought an uber cheap umbrella. But I don't think it'll last for very long, and it didn't do anything to stop the rain from seeping into my winter boots.

Here is a small roundup of the rain gear I've been lusting after, though three weeks of being unemployed has me broke. In the meantime I'll just admire these, and keep my fingers crossed since I just got a call for an interview for a summer job!

Original Neoprene Hunter Boots in olive, Two Paths Trench from Anthropologie (I love the tiers!), Clear Bubble Umbrella from Urban Outfitters.

Now you like me How? by Woodpigeon

I can see a better time when all our dreams come true

2010-03-16T14:45:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I found out some rather disturbing information that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. So to keep my mind off things I've been throwing myself into crafts and imaging myself one of these whimsical settings photographed by the talented Tim Walker.

Wouldn't you just love to step into one of his fairytale-like scenes?

Fairytale of New York by the Pogues (and a great cover by Stars)

Be Clever, not Beautiful

2010-03-15T08:39:00.002-04:00

When we first moved in to our condo, we acquired a paper cut out of a chick to put on our door. However, after a mini unit war, the chick was tragically ripped apart. So. I put up some felt cut out snowflakes to make our house seem a little more welcoming, but those slowly fell down. Though one was still clinging to the door, I decided to take it down, since snowflakes aren't really seasonal anymore (which is wonderful!)

Instead, I replaced it with a cute little bunting! It was fun and simple to make, with just fabric scraps and a bit of yarn.
You can find a wonderful tutorial here if you want to make one yourself. I think you should!
(Note: the tutorial is for threaded bunting, whereas mine is just stitched right onto the string.)

Clever, not Beautiful by Hawksley Workman

So let me turn the volume up get a little bit of Hi-Fi

2010-03-09T16:49:00.006-05:00

This afternoon, after school, I stopped at a thrift store with a few friends from school (including Sabrina, who has a car). I picked up a clock, mirror and little storage unit for $17, which is super exciting! I haven't refurbished anything in awhile, and it's something I really enjoy doing. (I rush home every Thursday to check Design*Sponge's before &after column). Needless to say, my finds are all ready primed, waiting for me to pick up some paint to finish them off!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share one of the things I re-did this past summer, but never got around to posting.

Eons ago, when I first got my apartment back in Guelph, (after moving back to Ontario from BC and living with my parents for a bit), I found this hi-fi unit on someone's curb. Actually, right next to this lamp (see? So long ago!)

Anyway, when I found it, it was really worn wood, chipping and unloved. I had big plans for it, and primed it immediately. But then I left it. Used it as a side table. It was white, which at least made it look nicer, but I had other things on to do besides finish it up.

But then during the summer, when I had tons of time on my hands (ie. in between working three jobs), I finally finished it.
I didn't really think about all the shadows when I opened the curtains before taking pictures, but it's such a lovely day outside!

I re-wired the speakers, so now it actually functions as a sound system, and I replaced the grungy covers with linen; a nice open weave so that the sound quality isn't affected. So though your iPod dock can fit in the palm of your hand, my sound system is way cooler.

Since it was used for a record player before, the inside didn't really work with my "modern" stereo; the top shelf sloped down, and was glued into place. I ended up cutting it out with my jigsaw, and replacing it with a level piece of wood. I also added some decorative trim to the front because hey, why not?

When we first moved in, my roomie Rachel put on some Ella Fitzgerald, and my roommate Katie's boyfriend Jeremy said, "Hey, does that stereo only play music from when it was made?"
Hi-Fi by M.Ward

Into the past, I try to sort it

2010-03-03T08:22:00.005-05:00

The first time I watched the movie High Fidelity was the first night that I held hands with my first boyfriend. (Number one on my list of all time worst breakups).

I watched the movie again the other day, and remembered how much I love the sets. Rob Gordon's (John Cusack's) apartment is wonderful--what with his album collection, dark colours, large basebords and concert posters on the walls. Marie De Salle's apartment is equally amazing, especially this window room divider:

When we first got possession of the condo, I asked what people thought would work as a good room divider for the space between the living room and my makeshift bedroom. I ended up getting a wardrobe unit and have a curtain blocking off rest of the space/functioning as a door. But if privacy wasn't an issue, I would love love love to have a series of vintage windows hung from the ceiling.

Here are a couple of inspiring pictures of people who have actually been able to do this in their own abodes. (I admit, I'm a little jealous!)

The quaint little panel in April and Keith's home, via A Tiny House Blog.

And Dave and Shyla's loft via Apartment Therapy. Actually, their whole home tour is inspiring. Check it out here.

Perhaps next time I move I'll have a chance to do something similar. But (fortunately!) I don't think I'll be moving for awhile yet. I mean, I'm just getting around to hanging pictures now.

This afternoon I'm heading to Edmonton with my Mum to visit some family and just decompress after the last couple of months of crazy stress. We'll be there until Sunday; I'm hoping to catch the Goya exhibit at the Art Gallery of Alberta, as well as spend quality time with my Grandma, Aunts, Uncles and cousins who I haven't seen in eons.

Window Bird by Stars

No looking back, no turning into salt.

2010-02-21T16:35:00.006-05:00

I've had a series of off days, this past week or so.
Nothing has really happened I guess; it could just be the February blahs in addition to life's normal stress, but it's got me feeling down.
I tried a few things--taking vitamins and making to-do lists--but it wasn't enough. So, after giving it some thought, I decided that what would be best for me right now is if I quit my job.
I was finding that I didn't have time for me, and I just wasn't inspired by it anymore. (Not that being a receptionist is all that inspiring at the best of times...) It was getting to be way too much with school and plain old life in general. Besides, the next couple of months are going to be hectic indeed. And I've lined things up so that I can lifeguard again this summer, so finances aren't too big of a worry.

Anyway, right now I'm smitten with these inspirational letterpress prints. I think that the whole letterpress technique is fascinating--such history to it! Though it's one of the few crafty things I have yet to try my hand at.

Hijirik Studio

Happy Deliveries

Lot9Press

The Love Shop (Not a letterpress print, but such a great message).

Safe and Sound by Hawksley Workman

Oh, let’s just digest

2010-02-17T11:28:00.003-05:00

In addition to going to school for textile design, I work part time as a receptionist at a Holistic Health Centre. It's a great environment to work in, they offer massage and chiropractic therapy, reflexology and accupuncture, and there is a naturopath on staff as well. I've learned lots of interesting things from the different therapists, and, in order to be able to tell clients about all the different services that are available, I had a treatment by everyone that works there. Pretty nice, eh? Yes indeedy.

Anyway, when I saw the reflexologist, she told me that she noticed I had a lot of stomach/intestal issues, and that I should get checked out for celiac disease. I scoffed a little bit. I mean, I'm totally healthy. And I love bread. Some people indulge in ice cream, but bread is my go-to comfort food.
Out of curiousity though, I read up on the signs and symptoms of the disease, and I mentally checked off about half of them. Later I found out that often times your body craves the things that are detrimental to it. So, in the case of someone with a wheat intolerance, they would crave wheat products!

So I started doing an 'elimination diet' to see exactly what was causing my issues (like just about everyone else seems to be doing these days), and after a few days I was feeling pretty good. But then my roommate's boyfriend made some of his famous alfredo sauce (on farfalle, my favorite!), and they saved some for me. So naturally, I had to eat it! I mean, they saved it just for me (so sweet!).
I'll spare you the details, but even after just a few days of being sans wheat, my stomach went crazy.

Rather than continuing with this diet (which I'd have to start from scratch on, and it'd take 30 days to complete), I decided to shell out the big bucks for the blood work. I'll get it done Saturday, and in the meantime, I'm back to eating all kinds of things so that my blood will have all the enzymes that they need to check for.
So, for the sake of eating things that I might not be able to eat in the future, I made cookies.
Delicious.

Bread by Clem Snide (fitting, c'nest pas? You can listen to a clip here (track #5); it's a most lovely song)

I'm still tuned to an instrument of greater and unknown design

2010-02-16T07:45:00.010-05:00

More bags! I came across some lovelies while I was looking for inspiration for those bags I just finished.

Although with all the time and money I put into the three I made, I can't justify getting a new bag any time soon.

Clockwise from top left:
Foley+Corinna City Tote $255, Totally Turnlock Percy Cross Body Bag by Marc Jacobs $198 (loved it ever since Liz declared it was on her birthday wishlist), Seedy&Petals Bag Anthropologie $184.29, Deena&Ozzy Harness Satchel $68.00 UO, Soft Cream Ruffles Clutch by DavieandChiyo, Deux De Lux Pleated Flap Satchel $48.00 UO, Afelia by Bulga Handbags, $645

In other news, do you remember this piece that I made? Well, right now it's up on display at the Textile Museum of Canada! Coolio!

Still by Great Lake Swimmers

It's in the way I made you up inside my mind

2010-02-15T17:00:00.010-05:00

Here they are, my bags--finally! I would have posted them a few days ago, but the day after I finished them, I didn't really want to look at them anymore, and then I had to hand them in to be marked. It worked out well though, I was able to get a great photographer to help me take some fancy schmancy shots to share with you!
The only guidelines for this latest studio project was to make a set of three bags, a mini production line if you will. It was a lot of fun--since there were no restrictions other than you had to make a set, everyone was able to pursue an area that interested them. A lot of my classmates used repurposed materials; I used beaten up old leather coats, and created textured insets using heat setting.

I absolutely love heat setting. It's probably my favorite technique of late, actually. (That and embroidery). I made myself a huge duvet cover with this technique last semester--one day I'll share that with you too.
Basically, what you do is fold/pleat/scrunch/tie the fabric, and heat it up. The heat changes the structure of the molecules that make up the fibre, so that they now sit in a different way, maintaining the structure that you coaxed it into. Does that make sense? Well, see those pleats? They aren't going anywhere! (Even if they weren't stitched under the leather.)

Inside I made little labels with my business name, and I also created small hangtags with my logo, care information and such.
Believe it or not, these bags hold a ton of stuff. I can put my laptop in them, as well as the random assortment of odds and ends I always seem to carry with me.
The only thing I wish I did differently was add a messenger style strap. I had planned to, I even made a prototype with one. But it just didn't sit right on my final version, so they're hand bags only. Which is okay, I figure I'll get a pretty great arm workout carrying them around. Plus I think they get more attention that way, rather than being wrapped around your body and tucked under the arm.

Finally, I just have to mention my latest obsession, the Tumblr 300&65 Ampersands. It's great. I've been checking it daily for my ampersand fix. (I'll be the first to admit, I'm a bit of a nerd!)
Cities of Weather by Woodpigeon

There's piles on the floor of artifacts

2010-02-08T20:47:00.005-05:00

This morning in school we had our bag critique. I mentioned a little bit about that in my last post; we made a small collection of bags. It went well, and I'm quite pleased with what I made. I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to do the finishing touches though (handles, lining, lables, etc.), and figured that I had time to go back to my parents' place in Guelph for a mini visit. It was nice, but yesterday I stayed up sewing until about 4:30 in the morning. I used to do that sort of thing all the time last year, but it really messed me up today. I think I must be getting old.

Anyway, I will share pictures of my bags with you another day; right now I need a bit of a break from them! (I will tell you, though, they were partially inspired by the first photograph in this lovely set.)

Our next assignment in our Dye&Print class is to make a "skirt kit", similar to the ones by the British company Clothkits. I adore the one by Rob Ryan, shown above. I love his art; partly because of all of the little hearts and birdies he includes, and partly because I know that I would never have the patience for papercutting myself. I picked up his cute little book This is for You last year in a post-Valentines sale. It's really lovely, but unfortunately I think it ended up with my rooommate's belongings in the spring when we moved.

Anyway, I think I'm going to clean off some of the clusters of threads off of the floor and get to sleep. Have a great night guys!
We Laugh Indoors by Death Cab for Cutie

And there are better days, and I'm on my way

2010-02-02T14:01:00.009-05:00

I found this plastic number in the ditch while I was walking to work Saturday morning (I think it may be from a gas station sign? Though there were no gas stations nearby!), added some toile de jouy with fabric glue (I love toile), and affixed it to the wall. Voila! Instant art!

I'm working on a college of artworks along the stairway...I love how really different pieces all look grouped together. (Though clearly I'm not very far). The framed gnome print is actually giftwrap from a present my friend Kate gave me, and the owl is an embroidery piece I did last year.

I always find interesting things on my walk to work. It is a 45 minute walk, so I suppose that the chances of spotting something are fairly good. Usually it's just a penny or two (I always pick them up and have amassed at least fifty cents since I started working there!), but I once found an iPod charge cord, complete with wall outlet attachment. (Though, ironically enough, I just lost my iPod).

My own Fault by Maria Taylor

Winner!

2010-01-29T16:48:00.003-05:00

Happy Friday everyone! Does anyone exciting plans for the weekend? I'll be working away on my next studio project...a small collection of bags. So far I've made lots of progress, so here's hoping I keep up my momentum!

Anyway, this is just a super quick post to announce the winner of my giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered--I am so amazed at the number of people who posted comments! I feel bad that there is only one prize; I'd love to send something to everyone who entered! In the future I'll have to have more giveaways, for sure.

I used random.org to pick a winner, and comment #15 won (my roommate Katie can attest to that, as I don't know how to take screen shots.)

Anyway, congratulations to Anna, author of Around the Way Girl! I'll e-mail you all the details in a bit, when I'm not in class!

A new name for everything

2010-01-26T12:03:00.013-05:00

Remember ages ago I promised I'd show you our renovations? Way back in September? Well, here's another finished room! Finally! (Actually, you've seen some of the pieces....)

Anyway, the upstairs bathroom is really not all that different I guess--I mean, we didn't touch the tile or anything--but it is much better than it was. (The before picture was from when we did the walk-through--it's not our stuff laying all over the place!)

We painted the walls the same colour as the downstairs bathroom (it works, since it also has the same tile). I also painted the vanity (the inside is yellow!) replaced the hardware, and took down some of the oddly placed hooks on the wall above the toilet.

And that lovely bathmat is from Anthroplologie (sorry it kind of got cut off...it's so beautiful thouugh, take my word for it!) I got an amazing deal on it, believe it or not. I spotted it and fell in love, but there were no tags on it. So I brought it up to the cash to get them to check the price and it took them ages and ages to look it up. In the end, they couldn't find it and ended up calling to another store who told them the original price, and that it was marked down 50%. Then, because it took so long, I half jokingly/half bitterly (I was sick and they took forever!) said that they should give me a deal for having spent so much time there. And they did! An extra 25% off!

A new name for everything by The Weakerthans

Are we not having fun?

2010-01-25T20:27:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I had the chance to go into the city to check out a couple of the shows that were part of the Toronto International Design Festival. I haven't gone outside of Oakville in what's felt like ages, so it was really nice to spend some time outside of suburbia.

Radiant Dark, an exhibit at Commerce Court, had many amazing pieces (including a picnic set by Kerry Croghan, a most lovely girl who graduated from my program last year!).

The downside of the show, though, was that it wasn't overly well put together, which I found really distracted from the work. It was held in the lobby of a bank, and I guess the curators didn't have much control over what could be done. But still. All of the artist's statements were printed out on your regular old 8 ½ x 11" sheets of cartridge paper, in something like a size ten font, and some of these them were placed on the floor. So yeah, difficult to read what the work was all about!

But the work itself! Some really wonderful stuff.

One of my favorite pieces there was Hidden Silhouette by Soon Cho. It's made of melted plastic gimp! (Do you remember that stuff!? I could never get the hang of it, and my friends in elementary school all had these nifty little bracelets and keychains they would make...I was always so jealous.)

I also really liked the piece Cascade by Tsunami Glassworks. It's a sort of chandelier/sculptural light made of recycled glass, with excerpts from spreadsheets etched into each piece. (Photos via Poppytalk; I forgot to bring my camera).

Come Up to My Room was another very interesting show. The Gladstone, an old hotel in Toronto, has artists make installations in the rooms. The only thing was, we went later in the afternoon on Sunday (the last day of the show), and it was raining. So I think that a lot of people who wouldn't have normally gone decided to check it out while they had the chance. You can check out some photos here if you're interested. My favorite room, I think, was Room 211 by Lisa Keophila, Fiona Lim Tung, Kristen Lim and Jon Margono. Oh, and Room 208 by Noelle Hamlyn (another Sheridan textiles grad).

Afterwards, we stopped at Fresh for dinner (an absolutely delicious vegetarian restaurant) and then walked along Spadina to the train station. It was only about seven o'clock, but it was pitch black and raining, and the Chinese markets were open...with the rain and the smells and darkness, it felt like I was right back in the night markets in Hong Kong!

So overall, a very nice mini getaway from Oakville.

Anyway, don't forget to enter my giveaway (and thanks to everyone who already has--I can hardly believe how many of you have entered! Thank you! I'm excited! And if you haven't done so yet, you have until Friday to enter!)

Heretics by Andrew Bird

Gave her gold on a night that it fell from the sky

2010-01-22T16:01:00.006-05:00

A GIVEAWAY!

Ever since making that shower curtain, I've been all jazzed up about ruffles. And lately I've got a ton of new readers--thank you for visiting!

So I figured I would continue to indulge my ruffle obsession and treat both my new readers and loyal readers with...a giveaway! Hoorah!

I made this ruffled bib necklace the other night, using the scraps of my mustard yellow wool, some really pretty yellow silk organza and a variety of buttons from my huge collection. It's pretty, you can dress it up or down, and it also functions as a bib for those messy kids like me!
Still need another reason to enter? I'll send it to you in a pretty little package. Who doesn't enjoy real mail!?
(I hope you enjoy this awkward picture of me modeling it. Taken with the auto-timer on my little point-and-shoot camera, in the bathroom. Yep.)
Anyway, all you have to do is leave me a comment below with your e-mail, or tweet about it (and let me know that you tweeted-@cutedisaster) and I will randomly pick someone in a week's time--Friday, January 29th!
Thanks, and good luck!
In the Arms of a Thief by Iron&Wine

You tilt your head and turn it to the sun

2010-01-19T13:26:00.002-05:00

Lately, I have been completely enamored with the blog notebook doodles.

Pretty photographs, inspiring quotes, and the most lovely handwritten fonts! What other reasons to do you need to check it out right now?!

If you've got time, you should also take a look at her Flickr feed. Absolute loveliness! She's even inspired me to start my own little sketchbook of quotes and doodles (in addition to the three I already keep for school).

Heart by Stars

Looks just like the sun

2010-01-12T06:09:00.004-05:00

The last couple of days have been a little...stressful, I suppose.

Recently my body has decided that the way it deals with stress now is by breaking out into hives...so that's been fun. Though this bout is only on my chest and legs, thankfully.

Anyway, I promised you that I would share that project that I gave you a bit of a sneak peak on in my last post.

Just to keep a positive outlook, I embroidered a little saying in yellows and greys--one of my favourite colour combinations of late.

I absolutely love machine embroidery...it's kind of addicting. Like drawing on fabric! The background is small yellow circles, and then I embroidered the saying with grey and white.

Anyway dear readers, I hope that today will be a wonderful day for you as well!

Looks just like the sun by Broken Social Scene.

Nothing unusual, nothing strange

2010-01-10T13:59:00.009-05:00

A few of the bloggers I follow have recently been showing pictures of their desk/workspaces. So, I figured I'd follow the trend!

The rule is that you show your desk/working space as it is, without any editing or styling. If you want to tag people, go for it...I figure it's a kind of personal thing, so I don't want to force anyone into it!

Anyway, here's where I spend a great deal of my time and energy:

My sewing machine is a Janome that my Mum got for me when I finished up junior high. (Before that I taught myself (with a lot of tears and quite a bit of assistance from her!) on her old Singer).

I plan on finishing up that yellow piece that I'm embroidering this afternoon; I'll share the completed version it with you soon!

In the middle you can see my coffee mug--my roommate Rachel found these wonderful chicken mugs at a thrift store here in town. And in the background you can see an almost-finished birdie that I'm machine embroidering.

And of course, my Macbook, which I got last year when I went back to school. On the front is a vinal decal from Splendid Decals--a gold bird, of course--which distinguishes my laptop from the other two identical Macs that live in our house!

I always have about a dozen projects going on at once...here's something else I'm working on at the other side of my desk. I'm on an embroidery kick right now, can you tell?

I've got one more project to finish up in my room (a headboard...right now it's only half done and quite awkward) and then I'll finally show you that before & after!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far!

Amie by Damien Rice

She's putting on her darkest greys

2010-01-04T16:53:00.007-05:00

I've been in love with the Flamenco Shower Curtain from Anthropologie for awhile. It's so pretty and flouncy! Much better than the raining cats and dogs my roommate put up last year. (Sorry Carolyn, but it's true. Unless you had it up ironically....)

Now, I'm not a big fan of the blue and green colour scheme, nor am I a fan of the $133 price tag. So, naturally, I made up my own! I used greys, to match the bathroom in our home. The floor is quite busy, with this lovely yellow and grey marbled tile, so I didn't want a pattern competing with it. And, though so far things have been okay, there still may be days when one roommate is showering and another needs to get in the bathroom, so I really wanted it to be totally

opaque. This definitely fits that bill, as there are tons of layers! (Although there are two bathrooms, only one has a shower, and all four of us have pretty much the exact same schedule, so there's still a good chance of that still happening.) The only thing is, it makes the shower kind of dark. So we'll see if it stays up.

It's made of windbreaker-type fabric, and there is a water-repellant liner in behind it. The top has large grommets to hang it from, which caused my hands some fairly bloody injuries while I was attaching them. Fortunately I didn't stain the fabric though!

Now for the super embarrassing part...I actually started making this way back in August, and only finished it now. Yeah, not very on-the-ball with this project!

And in case you're wanting to make a shower curtain yourself, I found a few good tips on this tutorial. If you do, hopefully you will beat me and finish it in less than five months!

P.S. I know what you're wondering, and the answer is yes, when it was almost finished--before I put on the grommets--I totally pinned it around myself as a skirt and danced.
Greyscale by James Husband

If you seek a pillow for your head...

2010-01-01T09:45:00.001-05:00

Did you guys have a nice New Years? I hope so! I got to spend some quality time with my friends and roommates, who I haven't seen in over a week! It's crazy how much I missed them, haha!

My roommate Katie loves buttons. I know, you might think that I do too, since I made that button bird, and have a tendency to replace the buttons on my coats and cardigans with prettier, shinier ones, but her love far outweighs mine. Seriously. Her side quote on Facebook is even "I love buttons."

So anyway, I decided to make her a button pillow! Because she's awesome.

I copied this button cushion from the new H&M home collection (sadly only debuting in the UK), but made it in grey (a Katie colour!) and satin stitched the detail rather than printing it.

She may be lying to me to spare my feelings, but she says she likes it!

Goin' to the Country by Sufjan Stevens

Dressing up.

2009-12-31T13:55:00.008-05:00

In my dye and print class, our final big project was to take one of our surface designs and transfer it onto fabric. I ended up choosing this navy stripy one, then I used a variety of techniques to replicate it on fabric. (You might recognize the yarn stripes--I had some leftover from this pillow).

Though I did make a pretty exact replica, I also printed some samples in a variety of other ways; had a little fun with the silkscreen I made to get those silvery stripes. This sample is printed on the bit of extra dupioni silk I had from my quilt.

The second part of the project was to create something fabulous from the fabric, so I made a dress! A pretty party dress! I kind of made up a dress pattern as I went along--I didn't have a lot of my fabric, so I wanted it to only make up the bodice, and I knew I wanted it to be a bubble skirt.

Though my typical, day-to-day outfit consists of a fancy dress dressed down with tights, a cardigan and scarf, this one is a touch too fancy to be casual-ized....so I'm going to wear it to our New Years get together tonight! Which will just be a collection of our friends hanging out in the living room, probably playing drinking games and watching the ball drop on the tv.

Do you guys have exciting plans? It's 2010! Craziness--I remember the millennium hype like it was last year!

What would you say to me, lord by Hawksley Workman

Friends, they are jewels, but twice as beautiful

2009-12-28T17:05:00.004-05:00

I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday and a great long weekend!

I was back at my parent's place in Guelph for the first time in months. It's been so nice to spend some quality time these past few days with some wonderful friends.

My semester ended on the 18th, and, as much as I love my school, and being busy, I'm so glad to have a break. Recently I've been overworked and just stressed. It's a tough balance to strike; though I thrive on stress, the moment there's just a little too much, bam! Total loss of control. This past month I feel like I've cried at everything, which isn't really like me. Oh, and I broke out in hives. And kind of stopped eating for a bit. But one good thing that has come of that was I realized how much my friends are there for me. It's incredible! I haven't really ever had close friends before, and these girls--my roommates and other lovely girls, and some amazing blogger friends--are just, there!

So thank you, ladies! I really, really appreciate it.

Actually, here's one of my newest friends, hehe! My friend Sabrina named him Charles.

I made a wire armature and covered him with fabric. He has wings and can even stand! He was a project for my material explorations class-the one I made all those rings for? I'm going to miss that class now that the semester is over! It was fun and kind of reminded me of kindergarten! (But with soldering).

Enjoy the rest of your vacation everyone!

Friends, they are jewels! by Iron&Wine

Gold teeth (and a curse for this town)

2009-12-02T10:59:00.003-05:00

Remember how, during the summer, I started making all those rings? Well...I stopped at about 48 and the project is due in one week. So I've been working on finishing up the last few....here's a super easy one with hot glue. I really like how it looks, and it's quite comfortable and flexible. Though I have no idea how or why it ended up becoming a tooth!

The other thing fun thing I've been up to lately is working on my surface designs. You can check them out on my Flickr....and if you want, you can help me out by suggesting which one I should print onto fabric for my next project!

New Slang by The Shins

Hold time.

2009-11-27T05:20:00.001-05:00

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about how sometimes you just need a little more analog in your life. Things can be too digital. Too hectic. So. I've put together a series of beautiful, analog clocks for you to admire.

Clockwise, from top right: Cuckoo Clock by Tobias Reischle 2006, MoMA Store, Cuckoo Clock in Lime by Decoylab, In-Motion Clock from Anthropologie, Bronox Alarm Clock from Urban Outfitters, Wenge Series 1-C by Jason Linde, Dulton Chrome Table Clock and Crosley Alarm Clock Radio Speaker both from Urban Outfitters, Felt Clock by Cake (via Supermarket) .

The Ora ILegale Clock by Denis Guidone is also worth checking out. It is produced by NAVA and is designed that, for daylight savings time, you don't have to adjust the dials at all--just tip it over! Genious!

I actually picked up the Dulton Chrome Table Clock from Urban Outfitters last time I was there and I adore it. It looks so sleek on the shelf next to my bed, and I don't have to scrounge around for my cell phone to check the time. But the ticking is a little on the louder side, which is the one downside to this type of clock in general.

Hold Time by M. Ward

Work, Schoolwork, and The Workroom

2009-11-19T11:10:00.004-05:00

One of the latest things ~~that's robbing me of sleep~~ that I've been busy with is Sheridan's textile sale. Every year the second year class does fundraising for the third year grad show; usually they sell hand crafted goodies. This year we're having it at The Workroom in Toronto. Friday. Tomorrow. Not sure how it came up so quickly! I'm in charge of ironing, pricing and packaging all our wares. Which, really, is the best job I could have picked.

Seriously, if I hadn't heard from many sources that graphic design is soul-crushing, I probably would have gone into that. Well, maybe not stuck with it, but perhaps I would have pursued that as my first 'career', rather than the whole medical administrator thing. Not that you can tell from the blog overmuch.... though I did have a swell time making that banner. And I got really excited figuring out html coding. Really excited.

Actually, one of the big highlights of this past week (for me, anyhow) was printing off some new patient information sheets. I re-formatted them and changed the font from comic sans(!). Yes. I think that using that font is #1 on the list of "Ways to have people not take you seriously".

And along the theme of really nerdy excitement, some of my favorite bloggers (Liz, Stephanie, and Anna) have recently moved to new blogs, which has inspired me to get working on coding that .ca website I bought a few months back. That and the CS4 package I just got! Hello, Dreamweaver! Or, I guess I should say, it's one of the things I will get to it once some other, more pressing things get crossed off my to-do list. So. Perhaps after the semester ends.

Anyway, I'll leave you with pictures of a few of the things that we've been busy getting ready for tomorrow's sale. If you happen to be in Toronto tomorrow, feel free to check it out! November 20th, 5:00-9:00!

tea towels, set of two

aprons

Images via The Workroom on Flickr

quilting and quietly

2009-11-06T11:52:00.005-05:00

I was debating whether or not I should share this project with you. I feel that it's quite boring and contemporary, and, to be honest, I'm not overly proud of it. Or, not the imagery I used, at least.

But lately I've been feeling somewhat out-of-sorts overall...maybe it's because I'm working a lot and just ~~don't have~~ haven't made the time for more of my own projects, or that I haven't gone out jogging in over a month, or maybe it's just the change in season that's throwing me off.

This piece was inspired by a piece I saw at the Textile Museum of Canada. My Dye & Print class went on a little field trip there a month or so ago now, and I was immediately drawn to a particular Obi belt with this lovely flowery patterning. So I spent the morning sketching it out, playing with adding textures and shading, and then took those drawings and made them into a large scale, two-colour print (the blue and navy vines and leaves).

As soon as I started printing, though, I realized that I didn't overly care for my imagery. I liked it when I drew it out, but once I started printing it, I felt like the exact same thing had been done three hundred times already. But rather than re-shooting my screens, I decided to make this into a challenge, and work with it until I liked it. And I feel like I was successful in that....I printed it onto a piece of dupioni silk I got from the remnant area at MacFab (thankfully it was just the right size!) and then machine embroidered some detail. Then, I hand quilted it in mustard yellow around the leaves and vines (that was a fun weekend!), and finally backed it with a piece of mustard yellow wool. It actually makes a really cozy blanket. (For some reason I've been really into quilting lately, I got a bit addicted after making this little one).

The project I'm working on next is kind of inspired by these beautiful, luxurious quilts at Anthro...I'm really exciting to finish it up and share it with you. (See? Addicted to quilts!)

Minor Piano Keys by Iron&Wine

When I was a little bit younger, the strain I was under could make me cry

2009-11-02T07:03:00.005-05:00

Things are ridiculously stressful right now. Granted, I think I bring a lot of it on myself; I find that I thrive under pressure. But still.

I know that people feel my program is super lax; I mean, my homework often consists of making collages. I guess it's stressful in a different way than you guys out there writing your thesis and such. This week I've got to finish an essay for textile history, a collection of six surface designs, a project in which I cast six different materials into a plaster mould I made with my friend Annette, a lovely talented lady in ceramic design (so far I've done paper pulp and chocolate), get my project started for textile investigations, and have basic costuming sketches done to re-create the opera Madama Butterfly.

Not that you needed to know all of that, I basically just typed from my dayplanner. And saying it again reminded me of a couple things I had nearly forgotten about.

Anyway, to keep motivated with it I made a fabulous playlist. It's super peppy and girly.

Where do you go to (my lovely) Peter Sarsgardt
Paper Anniversary Christine Fellows
Le Long de Large Coeur de Pirate

Paris be Mine The Bicycles
Happy New Year Camera Obscura
Twist it to Love Elsa Jayne
Your Beauty must be Rubbing Off Hawksley Workman

Relator Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson

The Party's Crashing Us Of Montreal
The Ghost of Genova Heights Stars
Under the Blacklight Rilo Kiley
Cartoons and Forever Plans Maria Taylor
Mr. Weatherman Rebekkah Higgs

Handle with Care Jenny Lewis (f. Ben Gibbard, Conor Oberst and M. Ward)

I don't make them often, so when I do figure out a good one, I get really excited. If you're in the mood for more, check out the ones Liz makes. They rock my socks.

Sweet Darlin' by She&Him

I finally found you, without ever learning how to

2009-10-27T06:32:00.001-04:00

(I put the right foot in front of the left)

Epistemology by M. Ward

Oh that ain't enough, no, you want me to run

2009-10-17T16:13:00.007-04:00

A week or so ago I ordered this print and just got it in the mail; something about it just makes me extremely content. It's by French artist Labokoff, who I discovered on the wonderful web-place that is Supermarket.

I put it up in our bathroom (it co-ordinates to a tee). Putting things up on the walls in the new house has been a slow process.

And I promise to get back to blogging semi-regularly soon, things are just hectic right now. I've been substituting coffee for sleep lately, but I do have some cool (nearly) finished projects to share with you! Stay tuned!

I love you guys!

Carolina by M. Ward

Rest my head upon the pillow...I'll slumber easy here

2009-10-04T09:16:00.001-04:00

Maybe it's because of the season, but I'm on another knitting kick. Which is kind of ridiculous, since I've got so many other things on my plate; school got super busy right from the get-go, and this past week I started at my new job. Not to mention all the projects I've got to finish. (And start!) But I've got a 40-minute bus ride from school to work, and rather than lugging my big ol' sketchbook to work on during the bus ride, I've been taking along knitting to keep occupied.

I made a pillow for the living room in an attempt to make it a little homier; though it's nothing super exciting like Stephanie's fabulous critters. I used this lovely thick and thin yarn, which created a very nubbly look. I just used plain old garter stitch, which is usually so boring, but I think it actually actually sets off the yarn here.

The way that it turned out makes me think of morse code; as though I have secret messages hidden in the yarn like Madame Defarge from A Tale of Two Cities. (Though sadly there aren't any). The back of the pillow is co-ordinating satin, so you can flip it over if you wanted to nap on it.

Pillow by Adem

The mirror casts mon reflet partout

2009-09-28T08:01:00.002-04:00

The mirrored closet door in our hallway was in pretty rough shape, as you can tell. (I didn't break it, thank goodness! I have enough bad luck as it is.)

Anyway, I tried to keep it hidden behind the other door whenever possible, but I started thinking that seeing our shoe rack wasn't much better than a broken mirror.

Since the break wasn't all the way through, and the glass is not supposed to shatter, I just used some "steel look" contact paper to fix it up. Now we've got a pretty framed mirror next to our full-length one!

Black Mirror by Arcade Fire

I have lived a lot of places

2009-09-25T07:20:00.004-04:00

Good morning! Today is critique day; our first big project of the year was to create a journal piece. Something personal. Something about who I am.

I admit, when we got it, I was kind of stuck. I had no trouble coming up with ideas, but I had a difficult time picking something that really reflected me. (I really wanted to make a bunting with different fabrics I've made...perhaps another time).

One of the things I wanted to focus on was how I've moved, and moved, an

d moved again, and how each of those times I've grown and learned abou

t myself. Tied in with that were memories about all the places I've been, even just within Canada, and how I've gained something from each of those trips.

So for this project, I created a patchwork quilt of Canada, and marked each of the places I've lived or spent any real time in during my adult life. Each of the places that taught me something, and helped me to become who I am now, and to reach the place I am now, which is exactly where I want to be.

The quilt is made up of different pieces of neutral upholstery fabric. The fabric is actually super thick; I embroidered it using a pair of pliers (with minimal injury!) I appliqued it onto dupioni silk that I picked up at MacFab in Toronto; they have an amazing selection and a fantastic student discount.

I affixed a grommet to each of the areas that I feel have influenced me. Some I lived (Nelson BC, Guelph ON, Oakville ON), and others I visited and felt that they impacted me in some way.

Now, although each of the places that I've marked has proven to be influential, none have ever felt like home. Not since I left my parents' place way back when. Even when I moved back in with them, it never felt the same.

On the back of the quilt I embroidered a lyrics from a song I love, the one the title is from. I have lived a lot of places by Woodpiegon. One line that really struck me was, "I have lived a lot of places, but none are mine."

I toyed with the idea of using this quote instead:

"You know that point in your life when you realize that the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden, even though you have some place where you can put your stuff, that idea of home is gone. You can never get it back. It's as though you are homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean, it's like this rite of passage...you won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself; you know, for your kids, for the family you start." Garden State

I think I want to add a quilt style binding around the edges, but I ran out of time and have a million and ten other projects and things to do, such as whip up yet another map quilt(textile history), felt some boots(material explorations), design a two-colour print(dye&print), post a bunch of things on etsy, finish a few odd jobs around the house, and start at my new job!

And on that note, I'm going to get another cup of coffee. Or perhaps two.

I have lived a lot of places by Woodpigeon

P.S. I'm sorry about the poor picture quality! Something is messed up with my camera yet again.

With your pen and notebook, you've blown me away

2009-09-24T12:24:00.000-04:00

During my crazy busy summer, I almost forgot how much I love my school. And love back-to-school shopping. I was so busy picking things up for the house that I'm only just getting to it now. New stationary and supplies are always so full of opportunity. New beginnings.

Now, with my program, we didn't need too many "traditional" back-to-school supplies. Instead of binders and highlighters, I picked up mylar and reed pens. Which, sadly, aren't that cheap. So I didn't have much money left over to buy those other things I needed. So I hit up the dollar store for some spiral-bound notebooks for my craft- and textile-history classes.

While I was there, I also picked up a roll of faux bois shelf liner (or contact paper), and as soon as I got home, I put them together with some stitching, and voila! Pretty notebooks that look like they cost as much as the fancy ones.

I wrote out the steps, just in case you feel like making one for yourself! You could likely pick up everything at the dollar store, and anything you can't find there you could pick up at your local fabric supply store.

Happy crafting!

Pen and Notebook by Camera Obscura

You know, the kind of thing that you hang

2009-09-20T19:10:00.003-04:00

In our kitchen, we have this awkward little area we have designated as our coffee cubby. It houses our coffee maker, as well as all of our coffee paraphernalia; filters, canister, sugar and mugs.

A few weeks ago, I picked up some cheap hooks for our mugs, to give up just a touch more space. They just had an adhesive backing, and when I attached them to the wall, I gave them each a good tug and felt that they were secure enough, but that just wasn't the case. Sadly Katie's mug fell and shattered. (I'm sorry!) So I've since been looking for fun, screw-in type alternatives to keep our coffee cubby a little more organized.

First off, one of my favorites, the Mustache hook by benfloeter. Made from reclaimed wood, which is awesome. I love it, but it won't really work for this.

Next, the adorable people hook from Urban Outfitters. A few weeks ago when I was there I actually debated buying it; it'd be perfect for us! Four roommates, four hooks! And holding hands! But I wasn't sure where we would put it, since again, it won't quite work for this spot either.

I'm also infatuated with these wrench hooks by Freak of Metal.

These monogram hooks from Anthropologie would be great, although we each have our own mug, so telling whose is whose is easy. Besides, we've got Katie and Kerri, so the two 'K's might throw us off anyhow.

Finally, I think these woodland creature hooks are just oh-so-cute. Also from Anthro.

Although, I may just scrap the idea and end up making one of these adorable and super functional tea shelves. Besides, then we'd have some extra storage space as well.

Heretics by Andrew Bird

The rings upon their hands are from...

2009-09-15T16:53:00.004-04:00

So far this semester is amazing. I'm so happy to be back at school; I've got great roommates, a lovely home, and some really fun classes, including...material explorations! That class I've been making all those rings for. It has a new instructor this year, so when I got my schedule I was a bit worried that he would create a new project for us, but thankfully, he kept the same one in place. And now I'm ahead of the game.

However, I've hit a bit of a wall. Maybe it's because of moving and not being able to find any of my craft supplies (which is why you should learn from my mistake and set aside a day to pack and not just throw things haphazardly into boxes the night before you move).

Anyway, for inspiration I've been searching through the portfolios of artists and jewllery makers, and found some amazing pieces. Unfortunately I don't really have the talent or resources to re-create any of these, nor would I want to steal their amazing ideas, but I did think that I would share some of these beauties with you.

First of all, here are some lovely melamine teacup rings by Australian designer Danyka van Buuren. "These rings are constructed from the handles of second-hand melamine teacups which were in production in Australia between the 1950s-1970s. During this time, melamine was a fashionable material for kitchenalia, picnic ware and crockery. I buy the cups from garage sales and estate sales. Each wearable piece is hand-carved and unique. The shapes in the pieces reference the original lines of the products from which they are derived, as well as the natural movements of my tools when I carve."

You know how you still have the odd plastic bag kicking around, even though you've switched to canvas? Well, Belfast's Junkfusion creates a lovely plastic bag ring. (Yes! That's a fused plastic bag! So pretty!)

Finally, Timothy Liles' fantastic crayon rings. I would have loved them as a kid. Actually, I'd love them now. Can you imagine how fun they'd be?! (Buy your own set here)

Inspiring, ce n'est pas?

The Emporer by e.e. cummings

Now the colours have bled to grey

2009-09-13T10:21:00.014-04:00

Finally, they're here: pictures of the house!

I'll put these up slowly so you can savour the pictures. And because that way I have some time to put the finishing touches on, like pictures on the wall and such. And clean, since a lot of the house is still a bit disasterous.
First of all, the main floor bathroom. The best before and after of them all, in my opinion. It was so gross before! (My before pictures were all taken during the walk-through of the condo, so you can see all the previous owner's stuff everywhere. I was too excited to get to work to bother taking pictures of it the day we got possession.)

As soon as I saw that floor during our first walk-through, I decided to just work with the grey and mustard yellow. Embrace it.

And it goes without saying that I planned to tear off the wallpaper, so I picked up the grey paint a few weeks before we got the place as I had a coupon for a local paint store. (It's CILVeil/00NN5 if you're interested)

That wallpaper came off so easily, it made me really excited. Sadly though, the adhesive didn't come with it. We scraped and scraped (or my roomie Barb's friend did--thanks Andy!), but with little to show for it. And the bit of wall that we did get exposed was just all patched up and uneven as well. Likely why they put up wallpaper in the first place.So I got my hands on a tub of drywall compound and gave the walls a stucco sort of look. Unfortunately the pictures I took don't really do it justice.I also painted the vanity a darker grey (mistint!) to give it some personality. The handles are off of an old dresser I refinished. I love them, they're so pretty; they didn't go with the dresser after I re-did it, but I kept them just in case. I painted these silver (they were brass before), and the cast iron hooks on the wall are from the dollar store(!) they're wrought iron that I spray painted purple at one point, and now white.Also, please note how nice and clean the grout around the tiles is. I my lungs were burning a bit after I finished scrubbing them thanks the the large quantities of bleach I used to clean them.

I know the double mirror is a little rediculous, but the one on the right is a medicine cabinet, and it also covers a giant hole in the wall where the vent is for the fan. Perhaps I'll put some decorative paper or something over top of the mirror to make it a bit less odd.

Since the bathroom is so huge, what I'd like to do is get some kind of table to put in the corner and add another mirror to the wall so that we can have more than one person in there getting ready, which would be handy since there are four of us living here with the exact same schedule. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I want to do that. So stay tuned, I'll probably end up making something. Perhaps something SchubLaden inspired?
Nomenclature by Andrew Bird

The swimming hour was at hand

2009-09-07T08:31:00.006-04:00

We got the house on Tuesday, hoorah! It's been a bit of a process, and I haven't gotten a full night's sleep since Tuesday, but it's getting there! I will show you pictures soon, I promise.

I had to come back to Guelph for my last day of work at the pool yesterday though, and said all my goodbyes to the lovely seniors there. (It's a retirement condo). There's one woman, Barbara, who is just amazing. She turned 90 on August first, and every morning, rain or shine, she comes down for her 30 lengths. Stands at the door, waiting for me to finish vacuuming so she can be the first one in the water. Monday, Wednesday and Friday she comes after playing tennis.
Sometimes she comes down in the evenings as well and brings me cookies and plays in the water, doing handstands and summersaults. In the winter, when the pool is closed, she cross country skis. Amazing.
Anyway, she always dives into the pool, but, every time, manages to do a bellyflop instead. (I tried to capture it here, but sadly I only had my cellphone with me and the video it takes is incredibly short. But you get the idea.)

I'm going to miss this job!
Headsoak by Andrew Bird

Oh, take me back one more time

2009-09-01T07:19:00.000-04:00

School starts in just over a week; I am so excited. I absolutely adore my program, and the ladies I go to school with are amazing. I miss them all so much. This is the first time in my life that I've really gotten close to a group of people; in highschool (and college, first time around) I was always somewhat of a misfit. Then I worked for a few years with a bunch of lovely middle aged women, who are amazing people, but we were just at different parts in our lives.

Now, for those of you who don't really know me, I go to Sheridan College for textile design. Actually, even regular readers probably don't know that...I don't really post too much personal info on here. Basically, I go to school to do things with fabric. Sometimes, I like to brag and I post my projects. I silkscreen, embroider, knit, sew, dye, print, wet felt, needle felt and so on. I found out about this program almost by mistake, applied for it on a lark, got in, and all first year I pretty much lived at the studio.

I know what you're thinking: "Okay, well that's all fine and good, but what do you do afterwards?"
The truth is, I don't really know. No idea. Nada. And I'm a third of the way through.

It's hard; if I was going to school for accounting, people would immediatally relate that to being an accountant. Or for optometry, I'd end up as an optometrist. And so on.

But textiles? There's really no definitive answer. Or, more like there are a dozen answers, and I'd like to do them all.
One of the things I'd really like to do is open my own store (I'd still really like a mobile store!). Or open a little gallery.

Or a (liscenced!)cafe in which everything is made by local craftspeople,with live music; the type of place where you could have a lovely first date.
Or work for a design company.
Or have my own design company; be the next Amy Butler.

Anyway, one of the main components in my program is silkscreen printing. That's kind of what I've been missing the most this summer, because a lot of the other stuff I can do at home without much in the way of setting up.

My last big studio project last year was to print four metres of fabric. We could use any subject matter, it just had to repeat. We used these huge, 4' screens that were kind of tricky to manuver at first...I had a fair share of incidents, including getting covered in blue pigment.

So first of all, what I did was decide my subject matter. I love hydrangia flowers, and since it was just getting to be spring when we started this, flowers seemed to be a fitting subject.

Hydrangia IV by Boston Pozivivor
I found some images on Flickr, since they weren't out in the garden at this point, and I used them as a starting point.

I have this unexplicable weakness for blind contour drawings, and I ended up doing a whole series of BCDs of these flowers. Pages and pages of my sketchbook. Then, I played with image sizing (using my dear friend the photocopier), and layout, played with the layout so that it would repeat, and from that eventually I shot a screen. If that makes absolutely no sense to you, (and I don't blame you if it doesn't, I'm kind of inarticulate!) you can check out this silkscreening tutorial.
I still have the four metres of this fabric, as well as books and books of samples of the same imagery on different fabrics in different colourways.
I had big plans to use my yardage this summer, but they kind of fell through. Ah well...perhaps I'll have time this coming semester since I've gotten a head start on some projects!

Now, I get the house today, so for the next week or so I'll probably be MIA--cleaning, painting, moving and such. But once I'm back in class and not working like a crazy person, I hope to post more regularly!
Oh take me back by M.Ward

She lives with an orange tree.

2009-08-15T21:38:00.000-04:00

Lately I've become addicted to orange juice. Especially with lots of pulp, yum! It's so delicious and filling.

Anyway, I've been buying the "family sized" jugs of Tropicana (there's an interesting read about their recent branding fiasco here), and when I went to crack a new one open yesterday, I realized that the pull tab ring is, well, exactly that! Another ring!

I went to some trouble fixing it up so that it actually looks kind of cute; wearing it won't make you look as though the tab from your juice just got stuck on your finger.

And it takes almost no time at all!

Dogs by Damien Rice

Tie that binds

2009-08-11T21:28:00.007-04:00

Inspired by the adorable Melanie Favreau's silver Milk and Bread Pendant, I decided to create a milk/bread tab ring! It's another super easy project, and I'm sure you've got one (or ten) of these little tabs kicking around your kitchen somewhere. Hopefully not on the floor though; they're a big choking hazard for babies and puppy dogs.

Anyway, I've written out the steps for you (although I'm sure you don't really need them!)
The great part about this ring is you can put whatever date or (short) saying is important to you.

Eyes on the Prize by M.Ward

"Sometimes...he'll sit and think of me" ·

2009-08-08T07:54:00.002-04:00

I'm sure that you've all heard of Fernando and Humberto Campana, the brilliant brothers who make up the design duo Campanas. Their Banquete Chair with Pandas made the blog rounds last year.

But I've only recently discovered their entire chair collection! It's amazing. Of course, I'm a sucker for all things relating to textiles, but still. It actually inspires me to keep going with my sixty rings project, and really push the envelope with odd materials. (I've got some more tutorials to come next week, I promise!)

"They often combine found or mass-produced objects like scraps of wood, stuffed animals, and discarded fabric scraps with advanced technologies. Their work is infused with personal commentary on issues of waste, resourcefulness, poverty, and perfection. They also explore craft vs. production, globalization vs. nationalism, art vs. design, and historicism vs. the contemporary."

Vermelha chair, 2008
Intertwined cotton threads form ropes, which are then hand-woven into upholstery
(Five hundred meters of red cotton ropes were used!)

Sushi IV chair, 2003
felt, textiles, synthetics rolled into concentric rings

Corallo chair, 2004
Bent steel wire meant to recall the random dynamism of coral branches.

Favela Chair, 1991

Natural wood, glued and nailed together by hand.
Designed to mimic the shanty towns often built in Brazil.

The brothers claim that they base their designs around the material they decide to use, which, to me, is such an opposite, almost backwards way to think about the design process. I usually plan my design and then find a suitable material. Unless I had some amazing fabric or something, I suppose, and it that case I would plan based on that material.
Passing Afternoon by Iron&Wine

Love is...

2009-08-04T20:36:00.005-04:00

Today I sent off my piece for the first exhibit I'm showing in! Yeah!

It's the AWOL Square Foot exhibit in Toronto. Perhaps it's not the best venue to showcase my work, since it'll be hard to see amidst all the amazing artwork sure to be there, but it's exciting nonetheless.

All pieces are to be 12" square.
A made a wall version of Love is a Mess on the Floor out of fabric scraps and threads I collected off the floor of my sewing room (and bedroom, and bottom of my purse, and off of me, personally). You can read the thought process behind this piece and the name here.
Last time I tried this, I used cotton muslin to embroider the threads onto, and ended up breaking about sixteen needles before it was finished; all but one of the needles in the studio. It was the night before our final critique, too. I was sure that the other girls in my program would beat me up. (They didn't, thankfully!)
This time I used wool felt to back it, and I didn't break a single needle!

Make me someplace I can call a home

2009-08-03T08:31:00.005-04:00

Can you believe it's already the beginning of August?! Where has the summer gone? Maybe it's nice where you are, but here in Ontario it hardly feels like summer has even begun.
Anyway, in less than a month we get possession of our house. I'm so excited! Since September 2007 I've lived in seven different places, so it will be nice to be stationary for awhile and make it homey. Nest.

There is one problem....
You see, the place we bought is an apartment style condo, and it comes copmplete with a long list of condo rules. Seriously, I had to go through a sixty-page list of rules and regulations. Ridiculous. Anyway, one of the (many) points is that you cannot put up additional walls to the interior of the house. Even though you own it. Crazy. We bought it with the intention of turning the dining room into a forth bedroom, so now I'm left scratching my head as to what to do with that room instead. There's a serve-through window from the kichen, but I think that I can patch that in with some drywall no problem. I've already got three fabulous friends moving in with me, so we do need that other "bedroom". I kind of figure that I'll end up with it, because I don't want the other girls to suffer sans privacy. Especially since my parents bought it...they might end up hating me. (Besides, this room has its own walk out balcony!)
(My floor plan isn't really to scale. And the lines went all wonky when I uploaded it. Sorry!)
I've been thinking that we could put up a track on the ceiling and have some really thick velvet curtains blocking off the bedroom from the living room. That way the light would be blocked, and some of the sound muffled. Or else maybe get an old wardrobe or two and create a makeshift wall that way? Then there would be a closet as well. If we couldn't find one, there's always the Kullen wardrobe from Ikea. It's a little boring, but it's not too expensive and I'm sure we could add nicer hardware or something to give it some soul.I found this picture of some vintage wardrobes in the book Urban Eco Chic by Oliver Heath. It's a super inspiring read, with fantastic pictures and lots of great ideas about how to make your home greener. Pick it up if you get the chance! Anyway, I really like how these two units look side by side. We could always put some pieces of wood at the top to block out any light from the living room. We'd probably have to have a curtain or something to act as a door in that case anyway, though.
I also thought of some Japanese style paper screens, but I'm not sure if that would qualify as walls, and I don't know how well they would provide privacy. Thoughts?

Do you guys have any other ideas? We get possession on the first of September, and have almost a week to paint, clean and fix it up until school starts and things get über busy once again. So you've got some time to think about it!

Home by Zero 7

Lemon and a little lemon

2009-07-30T09:12:00.006-04:00

I have a confession to make: I have a slight addiction to Starbucks. I admit it. I know, it's horrible, and I do feel bad for going there and not supporting the awesome coffee shops downtown...but it's on my way to work. Plus, I've got a bunch of friends that work there who give me amazing deals when I stop in, so I will often grab a soy latte and occasionally a pastry treat; my scooter just so happens to have a little compartment in the front that fits my travel mug perfectly.

Anyway, yesterday I had a huge craving for a slice of lemon poppyseed loaf. But I had to pay my tuition, and don't really have extra money at the moment. Not even for lemony goodness.
I've tried making it at home time and again, but it never comes out quite right. It's either too dense or too cakey or it doesn't rise. But last night I think I finally mastered it!

Lemon Poppyseed Loaf
1 box lemon cake mix
⅓ cup poppyseeds (or more or less depending how much you like poppyseeds)
juice from ½ lemon
1 package cream cheese
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

Mix cake mix and poppyseeds in a large bowl, blend in cream cheese and egg. Add lemon juice, then pour into a loaf baking pan (mine was 9½"x 5½"). Bake, following the suggested times on the back of the cake mix. You want it to be golden brown on top.
Allow to cool, then sprinkle with icing sugar. Slice and enjoy!

Easy peasy! In fact, to celebrate the lemony goodness, I think you should download and print off this poster from Poppytalk! (Plus it looks like a Snellen Chart, which fits since I work at an optometrist's office!) Lemon and a little lemon by Deerhoof

come out like a ribbon; never lie flat

2009-07-21T20:20:00.015-04:00

Hello and welcome to everyone who's found my little webplace through my ring tutorials! Thanks for checking them out, and I hope you've made some lovely ones for yourself!
I'm really sorry for being AWOL for the past little while. Things have been so crazy between work (62hr/week!) and apartment hunting for when I go back to school in September. But we've finally got a place, hoorah! My darling parents are actually buying a condo for me and my three girlfriends to rent. It needs a lot of TLC, so once we get possession I'm sure I'll have many more before and afters to share with you.
Anyway, here's another ring tutorial for you! This is probably my favorite that I've made so far, and it's super easy! And cheap! And pretty!

Poem, Or Beauty Hurts Mr. Vinal by e.e.cummings

Have another glass of wine and I think it will be fine.

2009-07-11T18:18:00.011-04:00

Back when I was in school, I had quite a few little incidents: steam burns, coffee burns, near mishaps with a jigsaw, pigment in the eye; really, these kinds of things are to be expected when your nickname is Disaster. However, one of the more traumatic things that occurred was one night when the girls and I went to open a bottle of wine and realized that there was no corkscrew to be had. Actually, this happened, not once, but on twice. Don't worry though, on both occasions we managed to get to the wine, and there were no real incidents, we just had to MacGyver it. Anyway, I have since started carrying around a corkscrew, just in case. I sound like an alcoholic... I'm not. I also carry around embroidery floss and a collection of needles, needle-nosed pliers and a crochet hook in my purse. (Note to self: clean out purse before boarding a plane).

But I'm tempted to replace it with these, Bourgeois Brass Knuckles by the Toronto-based design duo Chromoly. Aren't they amazing? Sadly it's a limited edition design, with only 50 to be produced at $100CAD a set.

via NotCot

Ice Age by Hawksley Workman

Your beauty must be rubbing off (on me)

2009-07-08T19:56:00.014-04:00

I decided to make my next ring out of an eraser à la YellowGoat. Granted, it's not nearly as cool as hers, what with the inspiring thought behind it, but hey, another ring down!Anyway, I wrote up another tutorial for you! Enjoy!
Be warned though, it's a tad more labour intensive than the paper clips!

I totally want to make another, bigger one for my father who is an accountant. It'd be so handy to have an eraser right at your finger~~tips;~~ none of that tedious flipping the pencil around!

Now, if you don't have a drill, you could probably use an awl, you'll just have to rub out a little more from the inside to get it wide enough. And if you're feeling a bit more ambitious, you could use the same basic process with a scrap of wood and, instead of erasing, just sand like crazy. There's probably a much easier way to go about that though....perhaps I shall try that next. Stay tuned, I've still got 58 more to make!
Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off by Hawksley Workman

Roses are the flower I would prefer

2009-07-02T18:57:00.018-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...I've had nothing much to post about! All work and no play makes Kerri a dull girl. But I had the day off yesterday (stat holiday, hoorah!), so I decided to get down to some serious crafting.

One of the projects that I know I'll have next year is "60 Rings" for my Material Explorations class. The point of the project is, you guessed it, to explore materials. So these sixty rings have to be made of all different things. I decided to get started on it yesterday, because I know that this coming school year will be pretty busy and, when it comes time for this project, I'm sure I'll have a hundred and three other things to do.

Anyway, one of the rings I made yesterday turned out really well, and it's super simple. I wore it to work today and got quite a few compliments. So here are the instructions! Genova Heights by Stars

Why don't you sit right down and stay a while?

2009-06-21T07:40:00.002-04:00

A few months ago, while I was still in school and just in Guelph for a visit, a friend and I went for breakfast. Driving back from the restaurant, we spotted this chair, lonely and dejected on the street in the rain. We both feel in love with it immediately, but I was the one who got to take it home.

I used to have mustard yellow furnishings in the living room in my apartment in BC, so I was almost tempted to keep the padding as a homage to it. But to be honest, it was in pretty rough shape, plus it just looks so much better with the olive green!

I had the satin kicking around (I am absolutely in love with olive green these days. And just olives in general. Yum...) I used that to cover the buttons and piping, then found some coordinating upholstery fabric. It wasn't the cheapest ($14/metre; I got two) but I get a 10% discount at most fabric stores when I tell them that I'm in textile design.

I painted the frame with "Rustoleum" brand high gloss paint in Almond which turned out to be much cheaper than having a colour mixed. (Though it doesn't look very almond-y to me.) The store didn't happen to have any nice mistints, so I splurged. But it seems to be a good brand of paint; I'd always see the ads in ReadyMade, but was never sure.

I screwed in a couple 2"x2" pieces of wood in between the legs and chair base as it was quite short before. It's still a touch on the shorter side, but I was scared that it might get unsteady if I raised it too much.

Recently, I've learned that there's quite the science involved in making chairs! Getting the seat the right size in proportion to the legs and so forth...I'm glad I'm in textile design, and not furniture. (Although I do love my power tools).

Anyway, from now on I'll try to restrain myself from picking things up from the curb. Until my next move, anyway. My current space is gettting to be quite full of furniture.
Why do you let me stay here? by She and Him

Electric feel now.

2009-06-16T19:22:00.009-04:00

When I moved for school back in September, I decided not to take my scooter with me. I mean, I lived directly across the street from the school, plus I figured that I could only use it for a few months before putting it away for the winter anyway.
So instead, I lent it to a friend of mine who was going to the University of Guelph.
He ended up taking it off-roading. It goes a maximum of 34km/hour; I can't imagine it being fun at all. And he broke the motor.

Anyway, the lovely girls over at eRide, where I bought it, were able to replace the motor and get it back up and running for me. There's still some body work to be done; it rattles when I ride it, but it's okay.

One of the things that broke was the 'lisence plate'. Because it's technically a bicycle, I don't actually need to have it liscenced, although it does need to indicate that it is electric. So I made a new little plate for that! I just cut out a piece of really thin wood similar in size to the old one. I sanded the edges (note the slightly rounded corners!), and spray painted it white. I wasn't sure what font to use for it, so I took a poll over at Twitter (follow me here). However, the only response that I got was to use Papyrus. For obvious reasons, that was ignored. (Sorry Perry!) Instead I went with Trebuchet, which I used when I made my agenda pages. I painted it with back acrylic paint, then went over the whole thing with a spray gloss . It's so pretty, and it cuts down on some of the needless advertising. (The scooter already says Motorino on two other places.)
Electric Feel by MGMT

Outside Curve Seam

2009-06-12T08:48:00.001-04:00

Inside Curve Seam

2009-06-10T19:43:00.002-04:00

Be sure to check out Picking Up Threads for a collection of awesome tutorials where you can put this seam into use!

God Bless the Ottoman Empire.

2009-06-06T12:24:00.008-04:00

Yesterday, I got lost going home from work. Which, really, is understandable. I mean I've only worked there for six weeks. Oh, and all of last year.
Okay okay, I admit it, I've got no sense of direction. None.

Anyway, it worked out in my favour yesterday because I went past a student house, where the kids had just moved out. There was a sweet pile of furniture sitting by the curb, which obviously I rummaged through.

I found this ottoman. (I had just been thinking about how nice it would be to have a place to rest my feet, and actually had been planning to knit one of these poofs via Pickles.)I was so excited about it that as soon as I got it through the door, I ripped it apart, put a new piece of foam on top and re-covered it with some fuzzy mustard yellow fabric that had I bought on a whim a few months back. (It was on sale!)

I also painted the legs with some glossy brown paint I happened to have kicking around. They were pretty scuffed up before, but their shape is so lovely, I could hardly belive it when I saw them hidden under that hideous plaid skirt.

God Bless the Ottoman Empire (album) by A Hawk and a Hacksaw (Isn't that a swell name?)

These are my favourite chords cords, I hope you like them too

2009-06-02T10:03:00.004-04:00

The cord that plugs my electric scooter into the outlet is not very long, so generally I use an extension cord. (Last summer I actually had to drape the extension cord out the window of my second-floor apartment because there was no outlet outside.)
Anyway, I carry it around with me in the "trunk", just in case I ever go over 50kms in one trip and need to plug in. However, it tends to get quite tangled, despite the fact that I meticulously wind it before tucking it inside.

I came across this amazing, tangle-proof extension cord by Joris Laarman for Artecnica. It's called the Wirepod and it's just so elegant! It features one three-pronged plug and four grounded outlets placed individually on curled arms that branch out on the end. The cord has a surge protector and is made of thermoplastic rubber but it's designed for indoor use only. It's available from Unica Home for a mere $330.00.

My favourite chords by The Weakerthans

The darkness defines where the light is

2009-05-31T09:00:00.003-04:00

Since I fixed up my desk, I've been spending much more time working at it rather than just using my MacBook wherever. Besides, I'm much more productive sitting at a desk. I realized, though, that the brightest lamp I had was a bedside lamp with a maximum of a 40 watt bulb, which really doesn't do too much. (It is pretty though!)

The other day, while I was putting something in my parents storage room, I spied the desk lamp I had when I was about twelve. Back then I thought it was the coolest thing around: translucent blue plastic so you could see all the inner wires and fixtures. I even had a coordinating alarm clock.

But now....well, my tastes have changed. A new desk lamp isn't at the top of my budget, though, so instead I disassembled it and went to town with a can of spray paint.

I actually bought the spray paint on sale last summer intending to use it on this chair. (I changed my mind after finding the blue satin I used for the seat, I love monochromatic colour schemes).

The colour is called Poached Pear, and since painting it, I really want to try to poaching pears. The recipes I've looked up seem simple enough that even I could handle it, and it would be a lovely summer dessert. Has anyone made them? Do you have any tips?

The change is nothing major, I know, but I love it anyway!

Oh you delicate heart by Hawksley Workman

We exchanged words

2009-05-28T18:24:00.003-04:00

Everyone that knows me, knows that I love shiny things.

I also have a weakness though, for well-executed text and (lately, anyway), the colour grey. So when I came across this DIY project by the delightful Kay of Apartment #412 etc, I just had to share it! Understandibly, Kay fell in love with this painting from Molly Sims' apartment. So she decided to go ahead and re-create it using pearlized grey paints and a quote close to her heart. Kay says she was way too eager to share to bother finishing the piece first, but I love how the quote ends in the middle of a sentence!

It makes me eager to break out my paint collection, which I haven't touched in eons.

We Exchanged Words by Azure Ray

This armchair, it calls to you

2009-05-27T07:50:00.001-04:00

Last year, when I moved into my apartment in Guelph, I went around the city collecting people's rejected furniture off of their boulevards before the garbage truck came and took it away. With the exception of my bed, I furnished my whole place doing that.

Then I ended up enrolling back in school, so instead of following through with all my plans of fixing up the furniture, I used it for a few months, saved the money I would have spent on paint and fabric for school instead, and then returned most of it to the side of the road as my Oakville apartment was pre-furnished.

There were a few things that I kept though, stored at my parents place, like this über comfy club chair. I still wanted to re-do it, and it was the perfect chair to curl up in with a good book. A couple of months ago, while getting supplies for school, I came across some fabric ($5/metre!) that I fell in love with, so I bought a few metres and brought it back with me to Guelph during my next visit. My Mum has done some reupholstery, so I asked her if she would help me with it when I moved back.

Well....I moved back to find the chair totally redone. I was disappointed, because I really wanted to learn to do it myself, since I feel like I'll be doing this a lot in the future, but I can't blame her. I know that if I ever accidentally had a child, I'd do the same. Only worse, I'm sure. "Oh, sweetie, you're not colouring it right! It's like this...here, let me just colour this picture properly for you. You just go watch tv."

I did, however, do the legs myself.

The chair was quite low, so I wanted a little something to add height, but I didn't want to take away from the shape of the chair. So I cut squares cut from a piece of 2x4, then I painted it with the little paint I had leftover from my desk. I drilled holes in the middle, then drilled halfway down with a larger drillbit to countersink the screws so they don't touch the floor. And I realized that, since this is done for me, I've got time for the dozens of other projects I've got planned for this summer! (You know, in between the 64-hour workweek I've impossed upon myself).

Armchairs by Andrew Bird

Let it dye

2009-05-25T17:46:00.008-04:00

A couple of weekends ago I attended a workshop back at the school I go to, where we learned to dye fabrics using natural items as an alternative to the extremely chemical dyes we normally use. It was so interesting! That hot pink was the colour my friend Kate and I were responsible for; it's made using dried cochineal bugs which are actually greyish in colour. We crushed them ourselves with a mortar and pestle, until we were left with a dark red powder, the consistency of icing sugar. Then we added it to a vat of hot (though not boiling!) water, and carefully added our fabrics.
The violet coloured fabric in the background is dyed with logwood flowers.
This is definitely an area I want to explore some more!
Let it Die (album) by Feist

The raven flies down to the writer's desk

2009-05-23T10:28:00.010-04:00

When I moved back to Guelph, I didn't rent a truck. I lived in a closet of a room in Oakville, therefore I didn't have all that much stuff; really just a desk and dresser (and tons of fabric). So my parents kindly let me borrow their car to transport my few things over to their place, where I'm living this summer.

I had found my desk at a garage sale last summer before school started, and it was in pretty rough shape. It was small enough, though, that I knew it would fit in the car and in my itty bitty room. I kept meaning to fix it up, but that never happened since I just didn't have the space to work on it. At one point during the semester I randomly stained it (using the giant bottle of India Ink I had on hand), which worked well enough, but when I moved, I ended up scratching it up again.

Anyway, I've got a friend in furniture design whose last project was to make a desk, and she gold-leafed the inside of the drawer. I thought that was just brilliant. Can you imagine how fun that would be to open each time you reached inside for a pen!?

So I decided to do something similar and paint the inside of my desk drawers before I re-did the outside. I found the fabulous chartuse colour at the local hardware store for $3 in the mistint section (much cheaper than gold-leaf!), and I had the outside colour mixed for $14. The lovely glass faceted knobs I had actually bought awhile ago with the intention of putting them on my dresser but never got around to it...and I've got a couple left for whatever project I undertake next, I guess!

I've got a new (to me) chair as well, (one that actually fits in the desk!) but I'm not sure what colour to paint it. I'm out of both the paints I used on the desk, any suggestions? It's all primed and ready to go!

Nom De Plume by Calexico

Overlock Seam

2009-05-22T18:34:00.016-04:00

For the next few weeks, I'm writing for Picking Up Threads, a lovely blog which features sewing tutorials. There are so many things on there that I want to make!
But for now, I'm just writing about some über simple seam techniques.

Here is probably your most basic seam, used to attach two pieces of fabric together. I just re-did my desk--you can see the colour I painted it under my cutting mat--I'll post the before and after soon!

Our aspirations are wrapped up in books

2009-05-13T19:43:00.009-04:00

One of my favorite things to do is wander around bookstores. I need to be in the right mood, mind you, because if I'm feeling the least bit jittery (ie. if I have a coffee, or, more often than not, three coffees before hand), I rush around and don't really take the time to look at anything.

But this afternoon after work I took a stroll through the local bookstore and happened upon Classics Re-Covered.
Classic novels like Oscar Wilde, Wuthering Heights, Jayne Eyre and many others, have been put out again with these absoultely lovely (and hard) covers. I hadn't seen these before, but I adore them!

Right now the classics on my bookshelf are ones my Dad had when he was in high school (complete with doodles!) and a bunch I found in thrift stores, but I am sorely tempted to replace them.

I've read most of these before, so it doesn't really count as judging a book by its cover...does it?

Aren't they so pretty? I love repeating patterns.

Wrapped up in Books by Belle&Sebastian

Get out your measuring cups

2009-05-11T10:04:00.010-04:00

At the office I work at, you have to bring treats on your birthday. And they follow it to the T--I think it's enforced more strictly than even the 'no denim' policy. And everyone has to follow it, the doctors included.

It's a great idea, I mean, that way you don't worry that someone will forget about your birthday; it's an excuse to make sure everyone knows.
"Who brought the treats?"
"Oh, I did..."
"Oooh, it must be your birthday! Here, let me do that filing for you; it's your day, you shouldn't have to do that!" (Okay, so maybe that last bit hasn't ever happened, but you get the idea.)

Anyway, when I started back for the summer, the first thing that my co-workers did was check on my birth date (which is today!), and all last week were asking what I was planning to bring.

So I was forced to get myself into another cooking mood (twice in a week?!), in order to make up some goodies.

I made Strawberry Banana muffins, a loose interpretation of this recipe that I came across on the website Pickles awhile ago. (I have been wanting to make ~~some things~~ everything on there since they started translating it into English).

The original recipe called for raspberries, but they are just too expensive right now, so I substituted strawberries. Everyone in my office is super health conscious (no white flour!), so I altered it a little bit...here's my version.

Strawberry Banana Muffins
Makes about one dozen
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
half cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
half cup applesauce
half cup strawberry yoghurt
2 cups strawberries, cut into small pieces
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 400°C. Line muffin tin with paper cupcake liners, or coat with butter so that they don't stick.
Put the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix. Put wet ingrediants in a bowl (including bananas), mix and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir.
Cut the straberries and fold into the batter.
Fill bake cups so they´re almost full.
Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes, or until they start to rise. (Yes! They actually rise a little bit; muffins never do that for me!)
Wait as hard as you can for them to cool, then enjoy! (Otherwise you'll burn your mouth, like me).

They're delicious! And making them distracted me from the fact that I am now (ack!) twenty-three.
Measuring Cups by Andrew Bird

Chic Peas

2009-05-03T17:24:00.009-04:00

I don't cook. Not at all. I hate it. Generally I try to avoid the kitchen at all costs. I recently discovered that roasting potatoes is even easier than making pasta and opening a can of tomato sauce, and that eating a red pepper as though it were an apple is pretty much the best thing ever (plus you don't dirty a knife and a cutting board).

Anyway, in quite an out-of-character move, I decided to try my friend Kate's suggestion of roasting chickpeas. I was bored this Sunday afternoon and thought that hey, I could probably handle that. It turns out they are delicious and addicting.

Roasted Chickpeas
1 can chickpeas

1.5 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sea salt

pepper

paprika

Heat your oven 400°F.

Open the can of chickpeas, and, using a collander, drain. Give 'em a rinse and carefully pat dry.
Toss the chickpeas with olive oil and salt, and spread them out on a cookie sheet. Roast for 35 minutes or so, until they're nice and crispy. Turn every ten minutes so they don't burn.
Take out and toss to taste with spices. Enjoy!

Next time I think I'll try them with basil and oregano, and then maybe rosemary and lemon...

Will you make a plan... sometime soon?

2009-04-27T08:37:00.003-04:00

I have officially moved back to Guelph for the summer. Tomorrow I start work (well, at job one of three).

I am so transient. In the past three years, I have not lived at the same place for any longer than eight months. The first time I moved out on my own, I was so excited and painted the entire apartment (including my rommmate's room). But after going through a few dozen cans of paint (it needed a lot of coats. A lot), I haven't had the inspiration to touch the walls of any new places I've lived. However, I absolutely adore wallpaper. Maybe it's the texile artist in me ("ooh, repeating patterns!") that makes me really want to put some up, but I think it'd be too much work for a rental.

There is a fabulous collection of both new and vintage prints over at 5QM, a German supplier(they deliever internationally!)

Because I know that my life is going to be über hectic this summer, I just made them into pages for my agenda. I totally missed getting new pages back in January and all the little lists I've been making just aren't cutting it, especially since they tend to get lost. (Though I'm keeping my fingers crossed that whoever finds them will take the iniatiative to finish everything that hasn't yet been crossed off, like my friend Erin would!)

I'd post the templates for you to print out yourself, but I'm sure that there's copyright infringement, so next time I'll do it using my own designs!

Anyway, I used Woods by Cole and Son. I had decided to branch out and try some sans sarif fonts for a change, but I did stick with the rounded corners that I'm in love with.

Make a plan to love me by Bright Eyes
(After I first heard this song, I got it stuck in my head and kept singing it as "Make a plan to leave me". I kind of like it better that way....I'm so pessimistic when it comes to matters of love)

Love is a mess on the floor

2009-04-23T13:27:00.014-04:00

It seems as though nearly ever intimate relationship I’ve had has incurred a fair share of messiness. By intimate, I mean not only romantic attachments, but also relationships with family and friends; those I love most of all. (Although, of course, whose relationships are free of drama, right?)
I created this pillow with that in mind; the messy, scratchy surface reflecting the messiness that love can become, which is juxtaposed by the soft and silky backing, and the cushioning inside, which reflect the soft and sincere love that, often times, drives the messiness. It's made with scraps of thread and fabric that I collected off the floor of the textiles studio over the course of the semester, and it's backed with brown satin.

(It's also the perfect size and shape to hug when the messiness is simply too much to take).

Love Is by Rebekah Higgs

(actually, this song is kind of what inspired the project. Go to her MySpace. Listen. Enjoy.)

O My Heart

2009-04-22T06:09:00.003-04:00

Screenprinting, an anatomical heart and text; three of my favorite things, all at once?! I think I'm in love.

Only $18, available from Ork Posters (via Apartment Therapy). (Where the next $18 I have to spare will be going!)

O My Heart by Mother Mother

All You Need

2009-04-18T09:07:00.004-04:00

...is love Sidewalk graffiti caught my eye while walking home yesterday. I had been having a bad day, but it helped raise my spirits a little bit.

All You Need is Love by the Beatles

My strength is in administration

2009-04-17T15:55:00.002-04:00

In a week I'll be done school for the semester and heading back to work at the optometrist's office for the summer. I miss everyone there terribly, but at the same time I really don't want to leave school, not even for the summer! As much as I complain about Oakville, it will be hard to leave!

Anyway, to get myself psyched up about going back to the office environment, I'm checking out some well-designed office products. Like these lovely office staples, like a wooden stapler and tape dispenser, and cork pencil holder all from DCI.

I'm also loving these faux bois CD labels by MIXIT (I actually bought their "Fleurish" design on sale a few months back, though have yet to use them).

Step into my Office, Baby by Belle & Sebastian

Are the details in the fabric?

2009-04-16T15:10:00.007-04:00

I finish this semester in just over a week; it's crazy! I cannot believe how quickly the year has gone by. Anyway, on Monday I have my major critique, and I thought I'd share with you some of the pieces I've made this semester, which I will be displaying. They're just yardage at this point, so I'm not sure how interesting you'll find it, but I really enjoyed printing them!

I've got one other piece that I'm nearly done, four meters of burnt orange cotton printed with drawings I did of hydrangia plants. I decided to be a touch masochistic and hand-embroider lots of it, so that's keeping me busy. I've got until Monday to finish!

Poppy Pods (2009) dyes on cotton velvet (1.6m)

Spirographic (2009) pigment on satin (1.2m)

Untitled (2009) dye on linen (3m)

In Flight (2009) dye on dubioni silk (1.5m)

I do have big plans for making these into things, but likely not for a little bit. At least not until May, when I'm finished school for the year.

Details in the Fabric by Jason Mraz

Small young ground owls are like the weather

2009-04-11T09:47:00.007-04:00

A few weeks ago, I went a little crazy with machine embroidery. It's so much fun: drawing with the sewing machine. I did quite a few samples, as well as a few larger pieces like a bird (I posted it here), and an owl.

I was super pleased with how the owl came out, and I embellished it further with beading and hand embroidery. Immediately I pinned the piece to the wall above my desk, and there it hung for nearly a month. But as of yesterday, it's finished.

I stretched it over a piece of wood that I cut (with my jigsaw! without incident!) and padded with quilt batting.

Instructions on how to dissect a ground owl by Christine Fellows

Pacing the Panic Room

2009-04-10T15:12:00.007-04:00

I'm sure this has made the blog rounds, and likely several times over, but I couldn't resist posting this for anyone who (like me) hadn't seen it yet.

Pacing the Panic Room is a blog written by a photographer/writer, whose adorable wife has given him permission to document her pregnancy. He's been taking a picture of her each week, and writing little notes to the baby in a postcard format.

Maybe I've been in baby-mode for the while (a few of my friends are expecting), because I'll be honest, normally I find belly shots somewhat off-putting (I know, I know pregnancy is beautiful etc. etc..), but these are so tastefully done and fun!

I can see a lot of life in you.

2009-04-07T08:06:00.020-04:00

Faux bois party dress.

I finished it for my 3D Design class last week, and this morning realized that I didn't really do all the backwork that leads up to it. So now I'm trying to make up the thought process behind it, since the project itself is worth a relatively minimal part of the mark.

(Really though, there wasn't a process, I just thought that it would be neat to have a fake woodgrain patterned dress since I keep seeing it on pretty much everything else! Shhhh!)

I silkscreened the woodgrain pattern with pigment onto satin, then sewed it into a little bubble dress. It's lined with green, which I thought was super fitting with the 'tree' theme.

That dress looks nice on you by Sufjan Stevens

The story’s always the same

2009-04-06T21:59:00.012-04:00

I was really late checking Design*Sponge today (it's usually part of my morning routine, but our internet was down this morning, as is often the case).

Anyway, when I finally got on this afternoon, I saw that the lovely Lauren Levy had been featured. I hadn't heard of her up until a few weeks ago when I made this piece--a bird (of course) using buttons and embroidery-- one of the girls I showed told me all about Lauren's button-centric art.

I'm in tune with the zeitgeist, I guess!

Fuel for Fire by M. Ward

The boys are back new in town

2009-04-05T20:06:00.002-04:00

I went to Guelph this past weekend, and part of my visit was spent meeting some cute new babies! My friend Rachel had Kasey about about six weeks ago, but things have been crazy and I only just got a chance to meet him. And then my Mum's friend Catherine gave birth to baby Noah on Saturday, and I was able to visit them in the hospital!

Anyway, I printed each of the boys each a little onsie. I had mixed up some brown dye, but once I steam set it, it turned green! So then I stitched around one with brown (to coordinate with the teeny tiny brown pants I bought) and for the other one I gave up and printed it again on other fabric using white pigment and appliquéd it onto the onsie (over top of my failed attempt). (Pigment kind of sits on top of the fabric, whereas dyes actually dye the fabric a different colour. With pigment, what you see is generally what you get, but dyes can be finicky).

And here's me with little Kasey! He's so cute, alert and such a good baby!

The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzie

Anoanimal

2009-04-03T14:05:00.006-04:00

Recently I've developed this huge love for deer trophies. My brother thinks they're super tacky and white trash-y, but I can't help but adore these pretty handcrafted ones.

Although, I suppose the antlers would be a pain to dust.

Papier mâché 'Deer with Flowers' by Stray Dog Designs. $300.00 each

Papered resin 'Handmade Wilderness Project' by Ruby's Lounge. $345.00 each

'Buck Jr.' by Cardboard Safari. $28.00 each

'Deer Trophy' glass and copper necklace by Lovelies & Reas' Designs. $10.00

(No harm in a little self-promotion!)

Anoanimal by Andrew Bird

Have I found you, flightless bird?

2009-04-02T19:55:00.010-04:00

Today I went to Toronto for a lunch date with my Dad. Unfortunately once I got to his office, he was called into an impromptu meeting, so we agreed to meet up a little later in the afternoon so we'd have time to sit and chat.

To kill time, I wandered down Queen Street West, the indie area of the city. My intention was to just window shop since I have all my money budgeted out from now until the end of the semester. But then I found this lovely little bird pendant lamp by Hung Ming Chen on sale for $6.99. I'm über excited; I've had my eye on it for awhile!

(And lunch was lovely!)

Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron and Wine

It's hard to see your way out when you live in a house in a house

2009-04-01T18:35:00.010-04:00

My friend Kelsey bought me this tapestry a few weeks back, because it reminded her of me (I have this slight obsession with birds).

Anyway, I've been brainstorming about what to do with it but haven't been able to come up with anything that seems good enough. Today, though, I came across it on the Urban Outfitters website, and I think I'm going to make it into a wall hanging like this in my next place; I move out of this apartment in 24 days...crazy!

Talking Bird by Death Cab for Cutie

I like the tree tops 'cause they're reaching just like me

2009-03-28T10:26:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine weaves baskets which I think is pretty awesome, and someday, when I have the time, I am tempted to try my hand at it. (Here's a mini tutorial if you want to give it a try) But, because I like to make things difficult, I really want to make one of these instead of a simple basket.

They're coatracks that I spied on Apartment Therapy, but I think they would also make awesome lamps, with tiny lights shining out the 'branches' (I've got a thing for lamps-as-trees)

Ball Cap by Mother Mother

Our electric version calls

2009-03-22T12:36:00.012-04:00

I am so excited to get back to Guelph for the summer and break out my little electric scooter. It didn't make sense for me to bring it with me to Oakville because my school is directly across the street from my apartment (usually a seven-minute trip, depending on how fast the elevator makes it to the fourteenth floor). Plus I don't really have anywhere to charge it easily.

As much as I enjoy my scooter and can't wait to be reunited, I'm head over heels in love with this amazing electric bike via NotCot (thanks for the link, Kate)!

It seems to be just a prototype, but still, it's phenomenal. The redeeming point for my bike, though, is 'trunk' space. I always have soo much stuff that I'm carrying around with me, and I can fit much more in my scooter than I could in the briefcase!

The Electric Version by The New Pornographers

All the trees are hers

2009-03-20T17:28:00.008-04:00

This room by Laurie Owen (via Apartment Therapy) nearly made me swoon.

Her other interiors are all just as lovely. I wish I had such an incredible, cohesive room to enjoy myself, but I know I just couldn't keep it up. I'm always finding/making random knick knacks!

Happy first day of spring! (In the northern hemisphere, anyway.)

All the trees are 'hers' by Hawksley Workman

I woke up to the sound of German hip-hop in my head

2009-03-18T15:03:00.005-04:00

I've got an assignment due in a few weeks that is to be made from found objects. They can be collected from any environment as long as everything was found in the same place. I was thinking of collecting the threads and scraps of fabric that are always laying all over the floor in our studio and spinning them into yarn.

But earlier today, while doing a few errands, I took a shortcut and walked by a huge heap of neglected scrap wood and a couple pieces of broken furniture. And yesterday I bought myself a jigsaw... so I may end up hauling the wood and scraps back to my apartment....and maybe do something inspired by these dressers by the German shop SchubLaden (which means "drawers" in German). They are based out of Berlin; the drawers are actually old, lone drawers and the bodies are made from MDF. If I had the space and skill, I'd totally whip up some kind of dresser like this!

The sound of German hip-hop by Clem Snide

Stretched and Pilled, Faux Distressed Letters

2009-03-17T18:19:00.019-04:00

If you haven't noticed, I'm a huge sucker for typography and love puns. (Ah, if you haven't already noticed, I'm a pretty big nerd.)

Anyway, it goes without saying that I absolutely adore these shirts from Workerman.

I wish I could get it in a print though, because I cannot even remember the last time I wore a t-shirt!

(Kerning refers to the space between letters.)

(The baseline refers to the line where most letters "sit".)

The Naming of Things by Andrew Bird

Paper shoes, where do you think you're going now that it's raining?

2009-03-13T07:17:00.008-04:00

A few months ago I made paper, which was fun. Aside from the setup, it's pretty instant gratification. But I so wish I had the patience for paper cutting. I feel like it's tons of work and, knowing me, it is more than likely to get damaged way before completion.

But (or maybe, therefore) I have tons of respect for these lovely paper cutting artists.

Isn't it amazing how something so beautiful could come from such a mundane, everyday object?!

Toilet Roll Forest by Yuken Teruya (via WhipUp)

I have a huge soft spot for anything featuring nicely executed text, and the fact that this poem is embellished with leaves and branches just makes it that much lovelier.

Voltaire by Hina Aoyama

Jen's fantastic construction paper pieces make me so giddy. They're a little too bright for me, and I'm not sure how colourfast they would be, but I love them nonetheless.

Piece of an Infinite Whole by Jen Stark

I love the origami influences of Peter Callesen's paper sculptures. His large scale pieces are worth a gander as well.

Distant Wish by Peter Callesen

Paper Shoes by Hawksley Workman

Everything rises, going at it all.

2009-03-12T07:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday (or, earlier today, I suppose) I managed to get a lovely steam burn on my forearm . I really should have known better than to think that I should steam-set dyes at 12:30 when I was all alone in the studio!

Anyway, I find this sign hilarious. It's right above the first aid kit, so whenever I have to get anything (fairly often), I need to write down what it is and whether or not it required followup care (so far so good). I mean, it makes sense, but I have to laugh at their threat. Wouldn't taking away our first aid kit be a pretty major health code violation?!

Size too small by Sufjan Stevens

This life is not a prison, we are always free to go

2009-03-10T23:29:00.003-04:00

So I've come to terms with the fact that I never see guys anymore. Seriously, it's almost to the point that if I spot a boy, I'll do a double take. I spend pretty much all my time in the textiles studio, and there is an excess of estrogen. My classmates and I all get along famously, there's no cattiness like there can be with all women (like when I worked as a receptionist at that clinic in BC....shudder!)

But still, it'd be nice to have a guy around. I mean, I don't mind it...it's not like looking for a relationship or anything crazy like that.

Anyway, yesterday I spent the entire day in the studio. I had class from 9-3, but was so involved in my project that I didn't leave until 11:30 at night. I took a half hour break for lunch (delicious stir fry leftovers) and ate a piece of licorice for dinner. (Hmm, maybe I should re-think that relationship comment; I could use a boy to bring me food, and maybe text/call me every so often to make sure that the discharge dyes haven't burnt out my lungs...)

Women's Studies Victim by Of Montreal

Pretty bird, pretty bird, I've been waiting on you

2009-03-07T21:47:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I went to the studio with the intention of shooting some screens and getting started on my next project, which is going to be a repeating print of poppy seed pods.

....but instead I ended up machine-embroidering a picture of a mockingbird.

I bought this frame last year but never got around to putting a picture inside it. Nothing lived up to the frame, I think. So yesterday while I was procrastinating, I came across this big interior design sample (it's some kind up upholstery fabric) that was going to be thrown out.

So I saved it from early demise and went to town with the sewing machine! I'm so happy with it!

Plus it's nice to finally have something to put into my frame! (Especially since I've had it hanging up empty since I got it...and in two different apartments!)

He needs a name though, any suggestions?

My friend thought Mortimer, but I think that would be better suited to a falcon (thanks for that, Wes Anderson!)

Pretty Bird by Jenny Lewis

Good things come to those who fake

2009-03-06T19:23:00.006-05:00

For the past few years, I've been very interested in Myer's Briggs personality typing. I compulsively try to categorize my friends and coworkers.

So you can imagine my excitement when I came across this website where you can figure out the personality type of your blog! (Yes, it would seem that a blog is a separate entity entirely, and not an extension of its author.)

To my dismay, mine comes across as an ESFP (my polar opposite). But, I figured that it was just reading the coding, so that gave me the kick that I needed to clean up a little bit and re-work some of the html jargon that I had given up on last time I 'renovated'.

But the analyzer actually looking at the writing style. So I feel a bit like a fraud...writing in such an opposite manner. Fortunately the new Woodpigeon album is cheering me up, especially the song the title is from. So catchy! And appropriate!

Piano Pieces for Adult Beginners by Woodpigeon

Imagine that you're standing here

2009-03-05T21:51:00.004-05:00

Right now I'm on my reading week for school, and I've taken a few days to go back to Guelph and visit with my family. This morning, my Mum and I went to Kitchener (a city about half an hour away) and caught the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Children's Gallery.

It was really neat, I really wasn't familiar with the Children's series he did. What I find fascinating is the amount of work he produced in his relatively short-lived career. And how it's all so diverse; he wasn't kidding when he famously said "everything fascinates me".

Anyway, at the museum there were only about twenty or so genuine Warhol pieces scattered amidst appropriations. My absolute favorite was this Thread Spool work by Devorah Sperber, made using 698 spools of thread. Her work is just amazing.

"Interested in the links between art, science, and technology through the ages, New York artist, Devorah Sperber deconstructs familiar images to address the way the brain processes visual information versus the way we think we see. “As a visual artist,” she says, “I cannot think of a topic more stimulating and yet so basic than the act of seeing—how the human brain makes sense of the visual world.”

After Warhol(2008)

A thread cut with a carving knife by Stars

Our words move aimlessly through empty city squares

2009-03-02T13:49:00.008-05:00

I'm in school for textile design, not graphic design, but I still desperately want to make use of these sticky labels via Design Police.

I'll use them up in no time, I'm sure. Especially "comic sans is illegal" and "do not use word art", since these bother me nearly as much as amateur PowerPoint presentations. I had a teacher that always would make up presentations with tons of clip art animations and excel spreadsheets copied right onto the slides which no one could even read and these slide fade ins that took forever. (I'm not sure how I would have attached a sticker to that, though!)

Miss Teen Wordpower by The New Pornographers

Tables and Chairs

2009-02-26T22:24:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I made some booklets to go along with items in my etsy shop, detailing how I make my glass items. (I gave you faithful blog readers a little tutorial way back when...)

Anyway, I turned our frosted glass kitchen table into a light table by putting a lamp underneath, so that I could trace images. Now, the light wasn't bright enough on the floor, so, without really thinking about it, I took the shade off and layed it on a chair directly under the glass. After about twenty minutes, I realized it was burning....and low and behold, it burnt a perfectly round hold right through our chair!

Tables and Chairs by Andrew Bird (I think I've used this song a few times...I have a lot of posts about chairs and tables, and not a lot of songs about them. Any suggestions?)