tea party daydreams

clockwise from left: creamer and sugar / cake stand / dessert plate

i love the simple and understated yet altogether original pieces created by ceramic artist whitney smith. her vases, bowls, and other creations would look equally amazing in a modern home as they would in a country cottage.

etsy is currently featuring an interview with whitney promoting her shop. i have been dreaming of the perfect tea party featuring her dogwood cake stand, creamer and sugar, and dessert plates in white. one day maybe she'll make a white dogwood tea pot. i've planted that seed in whitney's head and might have to annoyingly suggest it over and over again until she finally gives in.

you can read all about whitney's creative process and the trials and tribulations of setting up a wholesale business on her blog, this artist's life. but fist you have to see how beautiful her creamy vanilla dogwood flowers look on this vintage green. it's enough to make me give up my obsession with white ceramics.

spring things

those of you who are from vancouver and/or who went to the university of british columbia (i'm 2 for 2) know all about the 1 day music festival piss up that is (or rather was) arts county fair. on the last day of classes for the past 16 years thousands of students attended the on-campus concert where they got drunk and behaved very, very badly. so badly in fact that it's amazing the festival went on for as long as it did. this year some changes have been made. the new slightly better mannered answer to arts county fair is this years first ever ams block party. i was asked to brand the event and had a lot of fun with watercolours and ink, and was clearly inspired by steven harrington and ashley g's bearded men. the best thing about rebranding this event was getting to say goodbye to the ACF yellow and purple. check out the site i built here: amsblockparty.com



in other news, i've decided to help usher in spring by putting all the bunnies in my shop on sale for the next couple of weeks. doesn't someone you know need a bunny?

i have to just randomly bring up the christmas tree again... i know, it's been months and i have to get over it but one more reason to not ever get a potted tree again... bugs. specifically weevils. enough said.

handmade for the holidays

1. porcelain dishes and trays by kg+ab
2. pattern gift tags by elfrida
3. matchbook jotters by freshly blended

the weather outside is frightful. grey, dark and nothing but sleet, it's days like today that make me awfully grateful to have a home office! so i got myself a cup of tea and started going through my bloglines, hard worker that i am.

it seems like every blog i read has been doing holiday gift guides the past couple of weeks, and i've been pretty pleased to see that many of the things i've bought have made those lists. i like to think that means i have good taste and made wise choices, rather than that i'm just unoriginal.

nicole from freshly blended was kind enough to feature my softies in her list today, along with some other beautiful gift ideas. yay! i completely fell in love with the work of another artist nicole profiled: kg+ab, maker of hand painted, handmade glazed porcelain pieces. i have added some of her work to my wishlist, and even if it's too late for christmas maybe i'll get one of her trays for my birthday next month. or maybe i'll just get one for myself!

nicole also featured some spirograph-patterned gift tags from elfrida, and if they can make it here in time i'm getting the multicoloured ones. they'll beat the neon post-it notes pictured in my post below!

now back to work!

arctic front meet pineapple express

alba and lavender

this past weekend it snowed and snowed, and since we still haven't managed to have our snow tires put on i stayed in. i ventured out on saturday afternoon to drag the dog around the park. she's not a fan of the cold, and i actually had to get behind her and shove her along for part of the walk. there were footprints everywhere, but my favourite tracks were the ones left by the long haired miniature dachshunds: two sets of two paws followed by a dash left where their little tails drag behind as they hop along. dachshund tracks look like morse code in the snow.


lavender

the rest of the weekend was spent stitching and stuffing. i finished this little rabbit as part of a swap with hadley hutton. she's stuffed with soft roving and is made of merino, and hand dyed icelandic wool. i spun lavender and cream yarns together to create the mottled detailing on her smock.

it seems like hadley's been adding new work to her etsy shop everyday lately, and i love, love, love the spotted owls below:


new pieces from hadley hutton:
spotted owl // two blue // butterfly, did you take my spots, asked little bird

i also finished a camel for my mum over the snowy weekend. she collects camels. she collects a lot of things actually: baskets, kohl pots, opium pots, shadow puppets... mostly though, she collects camels. this one is made of super soft alpaca, and its little ruff collar is beaded. i'm thinking about adding little white or red french knots to make it look like a christmas wreath, but i'm still mulling over that one...


christmas camel

so i pretty well spent the entire weekend making stuff and staring out the window. i think that birds are always great to watch in the snow. there were a couple dozen crows on the railroad tracks pecking at things they found the the snow. i wonder if grain, jarred loose by the trains breaking and shunting, falls from the freight cars.

and then there were the pigeons, which took to the sky flying in formation like schools of fish every time the snow stopped.


pigeon flight


pigeon flight

i am randomly closing this post with the video to a terence trent d'arby song i was briefly obsessed with as a child, before i moved on to the more important task of memorizing every word of paul simon's rhythm of the saints. please note the shoulder pads, and wicked dance moves.

holiday ornament swap, group 4

holiday ornament swap, group 4:
1. swap packs by nicole, freshly blended / 2. brown flowers by jennifer, swallowfield / 3. elizabeth dye
4. mattie le oobee by leslie, onegirl designwrks / 5. wood walnut evergreen tree from janet, three potato four
6. dachshund combat by caitlin keegan / 7. jessica williams / 8. shoulder bag by emma, showpony / 9. ulrika nilsson

during last week's holiday ornament swap sign up leslie and i decided to make an extra ornament to send to each other. what are the odds that of the 600+ taking part in the swap, we'd wind up in the same group? pretty slim, but it happened. when i got the list of people in my swap group i did a little dance. they'll be glad to know that i've almost figured out what to make them.

i read the news today, oh boy

toys that won't send your children to hospital:
1. squirrel pull toy by matsutaki / 2. elephant by tiny warbler / 3. peony le oobee by one girl
4. choco bunny by girl savage / 5. polly by hop skip jump / 6. felt play food by katie made goods
7. kokeshi doll by run amok / 8. alba the bunny by squirrel of snooze / 9. perry the penguin by cynic the lamb

i leave CBC newsworld on in the background while i work, and the headlines today have been fantastic. first off, that tetrapod girl survived having her parasitic vestigial twin limbs removed after a surgery that took a full day less than anticipated. when i'd first heard about the story i couldn't imagine putting my child through a 48 hour surgery that had a 75% chance of mortality. can you imagine being born with 8 limbs in india of all places? her neighbouring villagers actually believed she was the reincarnated deity of wealth, but strangely were still hoping to sell her to the circus. hopefully this little girl will have a chance at a normal life now. isn't it amazing what modern medicine is capable of?

next up, the canadian dollar hit $1.10 USD today. that's nuts! should i believe the projections that it will go as high as $1.25 and get my paypal money out while i can, or should i leave it in hock until it eventually comes back down? i might have to wait until bush leaves the white house for that to happen. what a drag!

but the real story that blew me away is just one more compelling reason to buy handmade this christmas. i didn't think it would be possible to trump leaded paint in toys, but china managed to do it! aqua dots (or bindeez in australia) have been pulled off the market after being found to contain GHB. that's right, china is trying to date rape the children of the world. so this holiday season, buy handmade, because when you buy from a crafter you get linen and merino, not heavy metals and hallucinogens.

fountains, gowns and ships are here...

i sold my first kitten through my etsy shop last week. yay! thank you carrie for ordering clover and i hope you've found a good spot for her in your home! my first sale gave me a good excuse to make another little kitten to fill the spot on my shelf left empty once i sent clover packing. this is francesca and she's a leggy kitten, standing a good inch taller than the others i've made. she's super soft, and i'm really enjoying working with these muted colours. i think it's because it's so grey outside these days that all i want is soup and a crochet hook.


special needs - "francesca"

over the summer i oooooh-ed and ahhhhh-ed over abigail glassenberg's softies. while her two daughters are napping she makes the most amazing creatures. she makes toys and works of art in those 2 hours a day she has to herself, and they are all so whimsical and original and inspiring. i have posted a bunch about birds lately, and here i go again.



abigail has a few pieces available through her etsy shop right now, and is preparing a number of others for some upcoming shows. you can see them all by visiting her flickr page, and you can read all about them by visiting her blog, while she naps.

this past year everyone has gone to the birds. almost 2 years ago now i started work on album art for a boompa artist named lullaby baxter. she did a really cool photo shoot with taxidermy birds -- whiskyjacks to be exact, which are among my top 5 favourite birds, so i was understandably anxious to get to work on them. i begged, pleaded, connived, argued and prayed to use a certain bird photo for the cover, but lullaby was not having it. there was no way she was going to let me put this bird on the cover. she wanted it to be text only. then why taunt me with such a great photo? i lost the battle. a chronic personality flaw of mine means that i still think i am right, an affliction compounded by how prevalent birds have been ever since that album came out. here are the 2 covers, and regardless of getting my way or not, it's still a beautiful record so here's a song you might like, too. and if you do like it you can visit lullabybaxter.com to stream the entire album.




lullaby baxter - "rattled little clam" from garden cities of to-morrow

august again

i've always liked the name august. i imagine an august would be steady, thoughtful, contemplative and kind. when i finished this bunny and thought to myself "and what will i name you?" his sleepy face, and muted colours said "august." and so here is august the bunny, a very soft rabbit made with wool, mohair, alpaca, and linen blends. i've just added him to my etsy shop. i love this colour combination so much i'm going to get started on a grey kitten right now.

last night hans and i went to a party at his mother's house. it was a great excuse for me to splurge on a new black dress. i found the most perfect silk cacharel cocktail dress, and i would wear it every day if i could. there's something to be said about clothing so beautifully made, of such gorgeous fabrics. i'm not sure what specifically that something is, but it sure looks and feels good! i am in the middle of a lazy and sleepy sunday, which is just as well because it's cold out and my throat is sore from talking over music last night. i'm not complaining because it's the perfect excuse to make soup, and cozy up on the sofa with this kitten that needs to be made.

spilt milk and sparrows

over the summer my friend natalie, along with her neighbour lindsay, came up with the idea of making baby clothes they'd wear themselves if they were only big enough. under the name spilt milk, they silkscreen limited edition tees, tanks, and onesies, and sew and hand paint beautiful dresses using eco friendly fabrics. i love the twee little sparrow image on the tee above, and i also love their little pinafores which you can find through their etsy shop.

while on the subject of twee little sparrows, here are some bird-related songs, and an assortment of feathered etsy buys...



1. betsey walton / 2. nancy's view / 3. ashley g / 4. paper love / 5. geninne
6. cindy jaswal / 7. onegirl / 8. restless things / 9. fern animals
10. oh my cavalier / 11. littlest flower / 12. my folk lover


sparrow - "the quiet revelation" from the new pastoral


the boo radleys - "sparrow" from everything's alright forever


architecture in helsinki - "the owls go" from fingers crossed


the hylozoists - "red bird wishes" from la nouvelle gauche


josé gonzález - "sensing owls" from stay in the shade