rose hip

plan B...

 

 

...I am off tomorrow to our lake cottage where I will spend most of the next two months of summer. As you can imagine, this last week has been a bit nutty because I was trying to tie up a lot of loose ends; while I managed to accomplish a fair bit,  I didn’t do one of the things I was really hoping to do as well as looking forward to do, which was taking a bunch of photos of the little bedding set I’ve been working on for the last year…

Now, I keep calling it “the little bedding set” or “the little bedding collection” but, in fact, the last thing it is is little as it is made up of at least 20 different pillowcases, over a dozen cushions and three covers! Given all the possible yummy ways to combine all this stuff on a bed, I figure that it would probably take me a good part of a day to photograph it all. With this in mind, I had planned on doing it last Friday because Nico, whose bedroom I was going to use, was going to be away at a soccer tournament in the US and I could therefore take over her room… A perfect plan except for the fact that I woke up on Friday to a gloomy rainy day -- the sunny weather we had enjoyed for most of the week had vanished! At first, I considered setting up and taking the shots despite the dreary day, but then I decided against it because her room has such lovely light from midday on when the sun is out that it would be a shame to do without when taking so many photos...

So, out comes plan B which, to tell you the truth, isn't quite figured out yet... I might just take all the bedding out to the lake and take some photos there, although that will involve coming back probably next week to pick it all up because my car will be jammed to the top tomorrow (we're even bringing up a lovely chocolate labrador named Daisy that we're looking after for the next two weeks!). Or, I might just come back into town in a week or so for a few days and take the photos then. It might seem to you like I'm fixating about all of this a bit too much, but I guess I've been really looking forward to taking these photos because, for one, I can't wait to share it all with you after all my natter about it, and also, it will be the first time I set it all up on a bed and and see how it all works together...

I'm leaving you with photos I quickly took this weekend of some of the pillowcases from my bedding set and I hope to be back before the end of the week with snapshots from the lake ('can't wait to see what's going on in my garden!)...Thanks so much to all of you who've purchased my fabric bundles (here and here); I am sold out for now but I hope to list more in about a week or so... Thanks for popping by and, to all of you Canadians, Happy Canada Day!...

 

true colours...

 

 

...I spent a good part of my day yesterday white-balancing, blue-balancing, green-balancing and pretty much all-colours-of-the-rainbow balancing the photos I took of some new pillowcases in an effort to show their "true colours" in my Etsy listings. I tend to get a bit obsessive about this whole process because I do believe, like I'm sure a lot of Etsy sellers do, that representing items for sale well in your shop is rather important. However, given that everyone's screens are not the same, all this colour-tweaking is not foolproof and sometimes, like yesterday, I get to the point where I've tweaked so much and so minutely that I end up feeling like I just can't see anything any more!

I took most of these pillowcase photos outdoors in my backyard on a day which started as overcast and then became sunny; that, in itself, made for photos with colours that didn't quite stay the same as the light changed, which then lead to a fair amount of editing as I tried to achieve some colour consistency in all my listing photos! However, I love photographing my pillowcases and other bedding items outdoors because it can make for quirkier photos than indoor ones where the bedding is set up perfectly on a bed. In fact, outdoor photos which make use of items lovingly made from favourite fabrics can be so very delicious; I find they can bring back memories of what is best about summertime when life seems easy and there is no longer a need to rush about and even remember what day of the week it is! (Think: simple picnics in the shade of a favourite tree, picking those little sweet wild strawberries in a meadow, lazy afternoons by the lake...)

Just to help you along thinking such sweet and nostalgic thoughts, I thought I'd include a few photos in this post from Selina Lake's very inspiring latest book, Outdoor Living, which were featured in Country Living UK's June issue...

 

 

...'Love the improvised old crate outdoor table and seating set and how perfectly the whole look is framed with the pretty ribbons blowing in the wind...

 

 

...and why not just bring out all those pretty pillows and eiderdowns?...

 

 

I found some more photos in a similar style in the July issue of Homes & Antiques...

 

 

OK, now I find the photo below particularly yummy and inspiring with all those pretty fabrics -- I think it's high time to cut into some of those favourite vintage fabrics and bring them outdoors, don't you?...

 

 

I have an old armchair with half ot its upholstery off -- I wonder if I could recreate something similar to the look below... All very pretty, don't you think?

 

 

I do hope you've enjoyed these last few photos and perhaps they've even inspired you to make your summer a little bit more special with a few outdoor fabric touches here and there -- they've certainly had that effect on me!... Some of you have been wondering when new pillowcases will appear in my Etsy shop... Well, I have stocked my shop with the two top ones seen in the first photo, here and here, with more new ones to come next week. Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a lovely weekend!...

 

 

the last touches...

 

 

...are all done to the little lady above which means that my bedding collection is all wrapped up, at least for now, as I will keep adding more items to it over time... I will spent the next few days taking photos of all of it and, hopefully, I will have some to share with you in a few days. By the end of this week, I will also hopefully start stocking my Etsy shop with pillowcases in new styles, some of which I've made with this bedding in mind, and some which were put together simply because I liked the fabric! Thanks for popping by, and I hope you will come back again soon to take a peek at all this new stuff!...

 

and the bundle giveaway winners are...

 

 

Jessica as well as Leanne and Petra, who both pen two very lovely blogs, little thing called life and byPetra (Yay!)... Congrats to all three of you and I hope you have lots of fun playing with the fabric squares! I decided to give out three bundles instead of only one or two because your response was so incredibly enthusiastic; thank you with all my heart to all of you for taking the time to comment so very kindly and in such great numbers... (Wow!)

I'm a bit late with this post because I ended up going away to our lake house for a few days this last week to work on my very neglected garden over there; I hadn't been there in over two months just because I never seemed to be able to get away from the city for one reason or another, and I was honestly quite worried as to what I would find growing (or not growing) by the house... Well, what I found there was a jungle and I spent three solid days weeding, watering, trimmimg, mowing, seeding and just generally trying to tame things, at least a little...

I'm back now in Vancouver, tired, achey, scratched up from all my nasty encounters with thorny weeds, but feeling like I did at least coax out a bit of a garden out of the jumble of plants I found when I first got there... I was all set to take some photos of it all to share with you but as I pulled out my camera, I realized I forgot my memory card in Vancouver! (Don't you hate when stuff like that happens!) However, I should be back there shortly because we seem to be in a bit of a dry stretch weather-wise and I will need to water my garden, so I will take some photos at that point...

This weekend, I'm looking forward to slowly going through all your comments which I haven't had time to do since I've been back and, while I do so, discovering some new blogs which I have to admit is such a perk of hosting giveaways! Some of you have asked me when I will be listing the bundles in my Etsy shop... While I do have a super-loaded week ahead as my oldest daughter, Stefania, is graduating from high school and all the graduation events are coming up this week (yikes, I can't believe she's already graduating!), I hope to get all the shipping, pricing and listing details ironed out over the next few days so I can list them asap. Thanks again for showering me with so many sweet comments and, of course, for all your visits to my little blog!... Have a great weekend!