rose hip

beavering away...

...on a little giveaway idea I've had for quite a while now is what I've been doing this past week... I did think I would have had it all ready and posted by now, but, as is often the case with my little projects, it's grown in scope and it's taking me a bit longer to prepare it. However, I'm really having fun doing so, and I do hope you will come back in a few days once it's posted to see what it's all about...

In the meantime, I thought I would share with you a page from the May issue of Homespun which has put a very big smile on my face. (In case you might not know, Homespun is a lovely crafty magazine published in Australia which, every month, features many original and inspiring ideas and projects involving stitchery crafts such as sewing, quilting, embroidery, appliqué, etc...) I'm so wowed that my little curtain hanging at our lake house got a whole page to itself with such a lovely blurb -- thank you Homespun! To tell you the truth, I find it incredible that this photo may be found in newstands all the way in Australia; at times like this, I can't help but marvel at the crazy power of the internet!

I hope this post finds you all enjoying your weekend (it's a long weekend here in Canada, so it's particularly enjoyable!) and I hope that you come back and check out my giveaway when it gets posted in a few days... Thanks for the visit!

 

 

Mollie Makes Crochet book...

 

 

...is out and the publisher of this very yummy book, Collins & Brown, have offered me two copies to give away to you! And why am I so fortunate as to be hosting this lovely giveaway?! Well, about a year ago now, I was invited by the lovely people at Mollie Makes to contribute a crochet design to their latest in a series of Mollie Makes books solely devoted to crochet. Loving all that is "Mollie Makes", I quickly accepted and put together a few crochet edging patterns for a chenille-backed baby blanket. Here is a very lovely shot in the book of the blankets I made...

 

 

I have to say that my blanket edging designs are in amazing company as you can see below with lots of fabulous designs for the home, including something special from a real favourite crochet designer of mine, Emma Lamb. Aren't those little babushka dolls sweet? Take a look...

 

 And, isn't the styling gorgeous?! Look at this shot...

 


But, best of all, this book is not only for experienced crocheters, but also for beginners as it covers the basics of crochet with step-by-step illustrations; so if you've also wanted to learn how to crochet, what an inspiring little book to have handy!To enter this fabulous giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment to this post and I will pick two lucky winners from the comments I receive in exactly a week (you have until Oct. 6th, midnight, to enter the draw). So, please don't be shy and say Hello! Best of luck and thanks for popping by...

featured...

...in the July 2013 issue of Romantic Homes magazine and in such good company!... Check it out here,

 

 

 

and here:

 

 

The last one (So Sylvie ) being that much more special for me because she is a dear blog friend of mine from my early blogging days... Way to go ladies and thank you Romantic Homes magazine!

 

 

 

seeing the light...

... at the end the tunnel is a good way to summarize my month of January... Let me explain: back in June, I posted about our upcoming house renovation -- finishing our basement where we will make a bedroom for our oldest daughter and then redoing our kitchen -- which meant that I would be spending a lot of time clearing the basement where the reno is to be done and compressing my work space with all my fabric and assorted stuff into the only finished room in the basement. Well, while I did spend a fair amount of time down there on and off since then, I have to admit that I had a hard time staying motivated about this daunting task of mine given the sheer volume of clutter to be found there. You have to understand, that when I clean, organize, declutter, I do it at a snail's pace because I look at every single item (down to the last button!) and try to figure out where it should go. I do not prescribe to the cleaning method (my husband's) which involves sweeping it all up into a pile and basically chucking it...

So, since June, I have been trudging down to the basement, spending an hour here and there, slowly sorting and clearing, and it is only in the past week or so that I'm finally seeing the light after all the tunneling I've done. The photo above (where my daughter's bedroom will eventually be) was taken in the first half of January and most of the stuff you see has been sifted through and cleared since then. So, I am celebrating now because I feel like I have finally rid myself of the albatross that's been dragging me down for the last while and kept me away from my creative self and working on some new things that I've been dying to start on... Yippeeeeee!!! Of course, I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself because we still have the actual renovation to contend with and, well, if you've done one of those before, you know what that could be like... Nevertheless, I think it is still cause for me to celebrate and as some wise person once said: one step at a time! Now before I take leave of my basement, I just wanted to show you a point of interest in our basement which we inherited when we bought the house: the supporting column bedecked with beer caps from the 70s...

What do you think?! I wanted to share it with you because it is a contentious topic for our family -- some of us want to keep it as is and others are dead set against it featuring in our newly-renovated digs... Any thoughts or counsel?!...

 

'Just wanted to also show you a recent photo of my workspace... As you can see, the fabric is slowly finding its place in what I think are some of the best shelving units around (the one in the forefront which my sweet husband made for me) which I will definitely show you more of in future posts. There is still a lot of stuff to locate (a lot of my notions still need a proper home) and fabric lying on the floor to put away, but, bit by bit, I think it will get done...

January has also been sweet since my flower square pattern is featured in the ebook shown below published by Allfreecrochetafghanpatterns.com which has just come out this month (I can't help but also be excited that my photo of flower squares has been used as the background for the cover!). If you're interested, check it out here -- it offers a lovely selection of flower square patterns from beginner ones to a little more advanced and, great news... it's downloadable for free!

 

 

While I was writing about the ebook above, I realized that I hadn't shown you yet that one of my pillowcase pile photos (shown below) was featured in last October's issue of UK's Inside Crochet as part of an article on crochet edging... all very exciting to see one of your own photos included in such a lovely magazine as Inside Crochet! Anyhow -- enough of all my horn-tooting! -- I hope you will all have a fine start to the month of February (yes, it's February tomorrow!) and I hope to be back next week with some new goodies that I've been stitching up... Thanks for your visit and 'talk to you then!

 

 

 

 

 

ready for Christmas?...

 

...well, when I started writing this post last week I would have answered that by "not even close!", but this weekend I felt a bit like an elf in Santa's workshop... You see, my two youngest, Eva (just turned 13 yesterday!) and Nico (10), decided this year that they would like to give everyone gifts handmade by them. Of course, their initiative put a big smile on my face, so this weekend, which fittingly begun with going to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Nutcracker, we spent most of it together sewing, soapmaking, and baking, and had an absolute blast doing so! And I have to admit that, in light of Friday's Connecticut tragedy, I can't imagine a better way to spend my weekend than hanging out with my children and relishing my every moment with them... How fortunate am I?!...    

 

 

I know I promised a pillowcase giveaway in my last post and it is coming... Perhaps it's this time of the year, but I'm flying in too many directions at the moment and I still haven't quite finished putting the final touches on this new batch of pillowcases of mine; it's coming though and I figure my giveaway will be up on Christmas Eve or day and run until New Year's day, so please come back then to enter the draw! One of the things I have been working on is starting up my lunchtime crochet and sewing workshop at Nico's elementary school. I have had a lot of fun putting together the following bag project for them which will involve a bit of sewing and some basic crochet work (they are mostly all beginner crocheters): as you can see in the photos, the bags will be made of two pieces of felted wool sweaters which they will blanket stitch together. They will then use their newly-acquired crochet skills to make the handles for the bag and, lastly, have fun adorning it with some simple crocheted flowers I will show them how to make. The best part about the project is that they will end up with a bag where they can keep all the yarn and supplies they will need for my workshop! I think the girls (yes, they are all girls...) are quite excited about the project and I will keep you up-to-date on their progress as we make them...

 

 

Now, changing the subject entirely... I have been blogging for over 6 years now and I haven't yet done something in my blog that a lot of bloggers do as soon as they first set up their blog... What do you think that is? Well, I haven't show my face yet to you! As much as I love taking photos, I'm absurdly camera-shy -- I cringe when I have to be in photos... Well the time has come for me, dearest readers, to show my face to you as well as the readers of the November issue of a lovely UK crochet magazine called "Inside Crochet" since, a little while back, they flattered me by asking me if I would like to be featured as their "favourite blogger" for their November issue. Of course, I said yes despite knowing that I would have to include a photo of myself... Yikes, so here goes... here I am!...

 

 

...and if you want to read the sweet blurb they put together from their interview questions I answered:

 

It was quite the feeling to happen upon this issue at a Chapters bookstore (Canada's answer to Barnes and Noble or Waterstones), nervously flip through the pages and then see yourself staring back at you!... I have to say that I'm very pleased with it all and especially thankful to all of you who read my blog because you are the reason I got this opportunity! It's also so very gratifying to be included in a magazine which seems to get lovelier which each issue I pick up (suprisingly, I can actually find this magazine in Vancouver which isn't always the case with a lot of overseas magazines!); here are some of my favourite pages in this issue...

 

Sweet, aren't they?!...  Well, now that I have shown my face to you, I must run and work on Christmas prep as well my pillowcase giveaway which I hope you'll come back for... Talk to you soon and thank you so much for all your lovely words about my lampshade which I showed you in my last post!!....

 

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look what I got!...

 

 

...I've been meaning to post about this book for the longest time now, but in my usual delinquent way, I just haven't gotten around to it! After all, I've had the book up in my sidebar forever now, saying that my pillowcases are featured in it, and I haven't even written a post about it... So, if you haven't seen the book yet, you'd have every reason to think I'm pulling your leg about the pillowcase feature!

Well, I will come to the proof that my pillowcases are actually in the book, but first let me tell you just a little about  Selina Lake's Homespun Style: it is simply GORGEOUS! If you're at all like me in that you love looking at inspiring spaces filled with charming flea market finds and accessorized with lovingly crafted objects, this book is for you. If you can't get enough of looking at pretty piles of fabric and lovely baskets full of yummy yarn, this book is definitely for you! I had an impossible time trying to select the pages I wanted to share with you because Selina's styling and Debi Treloar's photos make each page a visual treat.

I have to say that this book holds a special place for me because it is all about embracing artists and crafty entrepreneurs who, with the help of the internet, have brought back the importance of that which is "handmade" and "recycled" into our consumer-mad society. Selina's book encourages each one of us to tap into our crafty sides and create ourselves cozy living spaces stamped with our own personal styles. I think Selina should be applauded for conceiving a home decor book from this angle in such a beautiful way and I therefore encourage you to take a look at it at your local library or bookstore if you haven't seen it already... I have a feeling that you'll have a hard time putting it down! Here's a small sampling of the many gorgeous photos you will find in the book:

 

 

 

And as for my pillowcases, here we go...

 

 

Isn't it all so beautifully styled?! And when I look at the book's sources, I have to pinch myself!...

 

 

Happily for us, Selina is a very busy lady as she has a new book coming out in March 2013, Pretty Pastel Style, which I can't wait to get my hands on! This week she revealed the book cover for this new book on her blog and I was tickled pink when I saw her post...

 

 

Thank you, sweet Selina for all the homespun loveliness!...

 

 

 

 

P.S. Wow, I've amazed myself this week -- I've posted twice in 5 days!

 

 

swooosh!...

 

 

...that was the sound of my month of April going by... yes, it seemed to have gone by as fast as that swoosh tone you hear whenever you send a message on an iPhone! Between getting ready for Easter and our youngest daughter Nico's 10th birthday (I can't believe she's already 10!), making (and selling!!) a bunch pillowcases, greening our lake cottage property by planting trees and shrubs and throwing lots of wildflower seeds about, dealing with two separate repairs on my car (Ugh!), and on and on, I didn't even get close to blogging this month after my first post at Easter time.

So yesterday, I finally took the time to go through all the photos I took in Mexico during our spring break holiday in Baja (I was at it all day with over 1000 photos to sort through!) and came up with the mosaic above. We stayed at the stunning Hacienda Cerritos for which we found an amazing deal online (no, we didn't pay the rates shown on the hotel's website!) and which is about an hour away from Cabo San Lucas and very close to the charming village of Todos Santos. As you can see in some of the photos, the hotel is perched on a cliff, surrounded by wrap-around pools, overlooking the lovely Cerritos beach (great surfing beach!) and the Pacific Ocean (great sunsets!) and is filled with beautiful old-style Mexican charm and character eventhough it was only built a few years ago (from top to bottom, left to right in the mosaic, photos 1,2,4,5,6,7,9,11,13, 17,18,20,21,22,24,26,27,28 where all taken at the Hacienda Cerritos and its sister beach resort, Cerritos Surf Colony, while the other photos where taken in San Jose del Cabo and nearby Todos Santos.). I have to say that this family holiday gets a big 10 from me not only because the surrondings were stunning, the food delicious, the beach great, the local people lovely but, most importantly, we had a great time as a family with lots of laughter and play and I think much-needed downtime away from all our usual routines and distractions which happily allowed us to reconnect with each other... Now isn't that what a holiday is supposed to be all about?! (...and isn't that a long sentence?!)

As I mentioned before, April was a busy month as far as my pillowcases went -- I made a new batch with new styles and ended up selling a lot of these in my Etsy shop. Thank you so much to all of you who bought some and I hope that they are helping you usher in spring wherever you may be -- except of course all of you living in the southern hemisphere! (In case some of you may be wondering, I will be making more of these same styles shortly along with other brand new ones and listing them in my shop.) A big reason why my sales were so great this past April was because my pillowcases got some great promotion in print, such as being featured in Selina Lake's beautiful new book Homespun Style (I'll show you the book feature soon) which I've mentioned before and which was lauched very recently in London (for some great photos from the launch which was also a crafty market, look here and here). Thanks, Selina, and I can't believe you're already working on a new book... Wow! I've also spotted my pillowcases being mentioned in these Anknel and Burblets and The Beehive Cottage posts -- thank you for the sweet mention. And, also very exciting news for me is my pillowcases being featured in April's issue of UK's Let's Knit magazine -- how cool is that?!     

 

 

With the lovely month of May upon us, I do plan on adding some more pillowcases to my shop as I mentioned before (as well as posting more often than in the month of April!), but I'd also like to start on some fresh ideas... I'm itching to start working on some form of patchwork blankets asap... 'Hope to have something new to show you soon and 'hope you'll stop by for a visit again!

 

 

 

pillowcases in print...

 

...I know I promised in my last post to come back with a planted woolly cushion but, well... I got sidetracked (again!). However this time, my excuse is some very exciting news which I'd like to share with you: Selina Lake, the stylist behind two books which I'm always dipping into for inspiration, Bazaar Style and Romantic Style, included my crochet-trimmed pillowcases in a lovely feature about homemade style in the latest issue of UK's Prima magazine (March 2012)! OK...so how excited am I? How about: beyond over the moon excited!! Luckily, I can share the spread (photographed by Debi Treloar) with you because Selina was kind enough to send me a copy of the magazine...

 

 

What do you think? Selina writes here about the Prima feature and her upcoming book Homespun Style which will be lauched at Liberty's in London in March (Oh, how I wish I could be there!). From what I've seen so far (check out this post), the book looks absolutely scrumptious... Best of luck, Selina!

 

 

toot! toot!...

 

 

 

...Announcing the patchwork square giveaway winners:

Colette from Poppy Cottage

and

Jessie from Inside the Paper Box

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to both of you and I hope you have fun with the squares! I felt very moved by the comments you all left -- must have been all that talk of baby quilt projects which made me so gushy! (And thank you Miss Holly for the poem you included in your comment!) I honestly wish I could send you all a packet of these patches and then, of course, see what you make with it!... If I have enough squares left to make more packets, I was thinking that I would maybe list them in my Etsy shop...

And now I thought I would toot my own horn and share this little discovery with you... A few days ago, a friend told me that she was flipping through the latest issue of Chatelaine, a Canadian woman's magazine (a bit like Better Homes and Garden), and came across a photo with one of my patchworks in it... So, I quickly rushed out and got myself a copy and, sure enough, there it was... a patchwork coverlet I made and sold about four years ago now... How fun is that?!